Target Sports

SYSS SURGEON: PART ONE SMOOTH OPERATOR

Created on 14th May 2009

The Surgeon rifle action, distributed by SYSS, has caught TIM FINLEY's attention. Here he reports on its history and performance

READERS WILL be aware that South Yorkshire Shooting Supplies (SYSS) is best known for its superb gallery rifles. It has specialised in these since we lost our handguns. What may be less well-known is that it is now making a name for itself in the fullbore custom rifle world, soon to be branded as ‘Tactical Magic'. This name clearly follows on from the ‘Rimfire Magic' .22LR range of rifles that have built a desirable reputation. SYSS is also now the sole UK distributor for the Surgeon rifle action from the USA. These actions are coveted in the States, where the man behind the Surgeon action, Preston Pritchett, started his machine shop in 2001 in Prague, Oklahoma.

Pritchett is an avid shooter and started making the action in 2004. Along with fellow shooters, he wanted a tactical magazine-fed rifle action which was built to the same standards as the numerous benchrest actions made in the States. It could not be as ‘tight' as the ultra-accurate benchrest actions due to possible use in real tactical situations such as rain, dirt and dust. It could, though, be designed and built with these environments in mind and get as close to the accuracy of the benchrest guns as possible. Terry Cross of KHW Long Range Solutions, a very good sniper competitor, gave significant help with the design of the action. He knew what was needed to make a specific tactical rifle action.

Pritchett's company makes parts for the aerospace industry. It looked at the commonly found Remington 700 rifle action as the basis of a compatible design. The offering needed to use as many after-market Remington parts as possible, as well as fitting into Remington-compatible stocks and using Remington 700 ‘add-on' triggers. The company looked at the failings of the Remington action and possible improvements, bearing in mind Pritchett's state-of-the-art machining facilities. Some of the resources would have been unheard of for rifle production when the Remington 700 action was first designed and built in 1962.

The scope rail was made part of the action to stiffen it up. It was kept a right-hand round-ejection port but extended by 1/8" (3.2mm) over the 700s. An integral recoil lug as a solid part of the action is a major improvement. The lug on the Remi is 3/16" thick (4.76mm), whereas the Surgeon's is ¼" (6.35mm) thick. Thickening the lug to make it stronger meant some material had to be taken out of the stock, but for a bedded stock that does not matter - a competent gunsmith would manage that. What tactical competitor would not have their rifle's action bedded?

Pritchett wanted to improve upon the small diameter screws that retain the scope rail on a Remington. On my own Remington 700 I have Devcon'd the rail on to the receiver top. This is to stop it from deforming as the top of the action does not precisely match the profile of the bottom of the one-piece ‘add-on' scope rail. It still does not line up with the scope so I have to use a set of adjustable scope-rings to get my Nightforce NXS anywhere near its optical centre. The 20 minute of angled, tapered scope rail is Picatinny/Weaver style and part of the action. It was designed to have a 20MOA taper.

EDM machined action

The Surgeon action is EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) and CNC-machined from a solid billet of 4340 aircraft-grade steel. They use a wire EDM to cut the receiver raceways and bore square to the receiver face, threads and locking surface. This is exciting to me, as a holder of a Higher National Certificate in Mechanical and Production Engineering. Such machines are capable of maintaining tolerances of 0.00001". For those who do not know, an EDM tool is normally used on hard-to-machine steels because of its tight tolerances. EDMs do not alter the mechanical properties of the metal being cut, nor put any residual stress into the material. It is a very precise process for producing high-grade machine parts, which is what a rifle action really is. The Surgeon action has a 37% increase in receiver threads over a Remington 700. Having an integral recoil lug also gives the Surgeon an extra thread tenon over the 700.

The bolt on the Surgeon is machined out of a billet of 4140 steel with only the bolt-knob itself a separate piece to the body. The handle extension is an integral part of the bolt. The whole bolt handle on a Remington is silver-soldered onto the bolt body. I have seen these break off, so again Pritchett's design is an improvement on the standard 700.

Pritchett's company not only makes the Surgeon action, it also builds rifles for customers in the US. Its tactical multishot magazine-fed rifle is called the Scalpel. Barrels fitted to the Surgeon actions include Krieger and stocks include the McMillan A5 (of course). The company is working on a lightweight hunter action called the Razor and have a single-shot target version called the Laser. It is even in the process of launching the Remedy, a .338 Lapua Magnum-based action for engaging targets at longer ranges. This is a bigger, longer action akin to an Accuracy International (AI) or Remington Long action. SYSS is getting stocks of four of the actions: the short action repeater at £900, the short action WSM at £995, the single-shot short action at £995 and the XL repeater at £1,300. These prices were correct at the time of going to press but, as we know, the currency market is rather volatile at the moment.

Proven performer

I had seen a Surgeon shot some time ago. Rob Hunter used one to good effect to gain a top placing in the World Sniper Championships. UK tactical shooters or, indeed, any UK shooters looking for a top-notch action now have SYSS to thank for obtaining the distribution rights in the UK for all Surgeon actions. Having spent a small fortune to stock up on these actions, SYSS is seeing them fly off the shelves. Not only does SYSS build its own rifles under the Tactical Magic banner but also supplies actions to UK and European gunsmiths and custom rifle makers.

Dave at SYSS has built quite a few Surgeon-based rifles now, including his own magazine-fed Surgeon chambered to 6mmBR. He made it because a lot of people said it could not be done. It works faultlessly, as his last score with it at Diggle on the 300yd McQueen's shows: a perfect 50ex-50 won the day. SYSS has its own magazine floor plates for Remi 700s and Surgeons made here in Yorkshire. These take the AI magazine; at the last count SYSS had 100 such magazines in stock. SYSS has its own floor plates, built here because it is hard to get hold of basic parts from the USA. Knowing all of this I duly ordered a rifle from SYSS. It would be a Surgeon action with a 28" Border Archer barrel, SYSS's own floor plate for AI magazines in 6.5x47mm Lapua, and a McMillan A5 stock. Dave had already built a similar rifle for Ross Borough, but with a 30" long Trueflight barrel and a Badger muzzle brake. The Badger brake works well and has the words ‘Front Towards Enemy' engraved around the muzzle exit hole for the bullet. Who says Americans don't have a sense of humour?

I shot Borough's rifle in the McQueen's at Bisley, my first visit to Britain's home of shooting, and duly beat Borough with his own gun by hitting a 53ex-60 (four Vs, five fives and a four). I would have scored higher, but it was the butt lad's first ever McQueen's and he gave me gaps between the 10 exposures of five seconds or less. It was like Linford Christie was on the stick! As it happened I came sixth out of 40-odd competitors. I could have been higher if I'd been given the correct time to take aim on the head rather than snapshooting. Borough's rifle was finished in green using Gunkote at SYSS. I have opted for Yeager Sporting Arms and James Clark to Duracoat the action and magazines.

In part two I'll go over the riflesmithing process at SYSS as well as looking at my rifle's specification and how it shoots.

SYSS SURGEON: PART ONE SMOOTH OPERATOR

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SYSS SURGEON: PART ONE SMOOTH OPERATOR

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