Target Sports

PROJECT RIFLE: ULTIMATE TACTICAL RIFLE

Created on 30th June 2009

In part two of his quest to create the ultimate tactical-style rifle, VINCE BOTTOMLEY completes the beast, ready for its test against the best of the best

In part one of this project, we outlined our specification for the ultimate tactical rifle. We were careful to point out that this is better described as a tactical-style rifle, for its use will be confined to punching holes in paper and therefore it is really just another target rifle.

Nonetheless, as I am writing this article, Rob Hunter is on his way to Prague to take part in one of the most demanding professional tactical competitions on this side of the Atlantic. Rob's fellow competitors will be military and police marksmen from across Europe.

If you recall, we carried a report of Rob's earlier attempt at this event. Although his Unique Alpine rifle served him well, he decided that a new rifle, built specially for the competition, would make an interesting project.

Getting started

First job is to thread and chamber the barrel blank. Although the Surgeon action offers a Remington 700 ‘footprint', the barrel-tenon is significantly longer. This is one of the shortcomings of the Remmy and I'm glad that Surgeon has not simply copied the Remington design. It has, however, retained Remington's ‘ring of steel' where the bolt-head is recessed into the end of the barrel, thus offering an ‘overlap' of steel which, in theory, should help contain things in the unlikely event of a rifle blow-up.

Although we are looking for half MOA accuracy, we will not be using a tight-neck chamber. This would not be appropriate in a field rifle where care and cleaning may need to be neglected, but our reamer is a ‘min spec' no-turn neck, throated to use the 123gn Lapua Scenar bullet.

The Surgeon action has an integral recoil-lug, so that's one less thing to worry about at the barrel-fitting stage and should we need to remove the barrel, the integral lug will make this easier to accomplish. I know that needing to remove the barrel is an unlikely event but it happened to me quite recently. I pierced a primer and the tiny disc of metal found its way into the bolt - as it usually does. When I attempted to fire the next shot - click - firing-pin jammed. I was in the middle of a competition and of course when I opened the bolt (after 30 seconds), the bullet was jammed in the rifling and powder spilled into the action. It's almost impossible to remove every grain of powder without removing the barrel and sooner or later - if any powder finds its way onto the bolt-face, lock-up! One granule of powder could ruin your whole competition.

After chambering, the barrel will need to be reversed in the lathe for crowning and screw-cutting the muzzle for a moderator. Personally, I don't think a supressor is really needed with this moderately-sized cartridge but ultimately it's Rob's choice and he has obtained a prototype light-weight model from Stealth Moderators. This is a reflex type moderator but it is made from aluminium and stainless-steel and can be dismantled for cleaning and replacement of components should it be necessary. For more information, have a look at www.thewholeshootingmatch.co.uk.

I'm leaving the barrel with its natural external ground finish as Rob intends to paint it and the action which already has a sand-blasted finish. Initially, to me, this seemed a superfluous act as it would cost money, delay things and not make the rifle shoot or function better in any way, but when I saw the result, I was bowled over - fantastic!

Handily, James Clark, proprietor of Jager Sporting Arms, has just set up a coating facility close by in the West Yorkshire area, offering the American Dura Coat process. Dura Coat is more than just a paint. It is a specially developed process for applying a protective epoxy coating to firearms, and it is claimed that it will withstand the usual treatment that the military or police routinely mete out to their weapons. Although it would be possible, in theory, to carry out the coating process yourself, having visited James' facility, there's clearly a bit more to the procedure than meets the eye and, having seen the quality of James' work, I would definitely leave it to the professional.

The first step is a thorough immersion in the degreasing tank, followed by grit-blasting to remove any existing finish and provide a key for the Dura Coat. Four base-coats are then applied, followed by two top coats. The resulting finish is now cured with a low-temperature bake and the final finish can be matt, satin or gloss. There are over 70 colours to choose from, but Rob wanted a colour as close to the drab-green anodising of the US Optics scope as possible, and James has done a fantastic job matching it (the pictures perhaps don't do it credit).

It costs around £100 for a barrelled-action but of course you must expect to pay more for non-standard colours. Almost anything can be coated, including wood and synthetic stocks. Rob had all the metal-work coated, including magazines, bi-pod, swivels, moderator - everything. I must admit the result is stunning. Now it's just a matter of assembling all the bits.

Assembly

The McMillan A5 stock is already neatly inletted for the Surgeon action and because we have a large load-spreading floor-plate, we aren't going to install any pillars. In fact, we could just drop in the barrelled-action and see how it shoots. The recess for the recoil-lug is, however, over-size, so a bit of bedding in this area is a good idea. Now we've mixed some bedding-compound, a light skim over the whole area will do no harm and should ensure a perfect bed for the Surgeon. Should accuracy deteriorate we have the option to pillar-bed, but my own ‘drop-in' Howa/McMillan A5 is still delivering excellent accuracy after over a year of use.

Rob was also contemplating bedding the first couple of inches under the barrel but I managed to talk him out of it. Have you ever seen a benchrest rifle bedded under the barrel? No! Also, bedding under the barrel can create an issue if we need to swap barrels. Don't do it - not necessary! Finally, we just need to torque-up the action-screws, check that the bolt-handle isn't fouling the stock and we are ready to mount the US Optics scope and go and do some shooting.

To the test

After bore-sighting the scope and two or three shots to establish a zero, Rob kindly invited me to shoot the first group. At this stage, I got my first chance to look at a target through the US Optics scope. The picture was superb and the reticle is excellent - a crosshair fine enough to shoot accurately but not so fine that you can't quickly find it against a dark background. The crosshair also has stadia lines, which permit accurate aiming-off and, in Rob's case, range-estimation. Rob was instrumental in designing the reticle and, to my knowledge, Nightforce is the only other major manufacturer to offer anything similar.

I already have my own tactical rifle chambered in 6.5x47 Lapua, so I have a good idea of where to start with load development. I use Vihtavuori N550 powder and the 123gn Lapua Scenar bullet. Although I'm no fan of moly-coating bullets, I do use them in the 6.5x47. We are using a near full case of powder and pushing the bullets around 3,000fps so the moly-coating helps to lower the pressure a little, while still taking advantage of the high-energy N550 double-base powder.

Rob had advisedly started with a slightly reduced load from the one I'm currently using. Don't forget, rifle bores vary in diameter and a slightly tighter bore will obviously raise pressure, so never simply duplicate someone else's load - it could be dangerous. For the initial load development we were shooting without the moderator. Once the rifle's performance is assessed we can screw on the moderator. A properly fitted moderator shouldn't compromise accuracy but the impact-point will certainly shift and it's essential to document this shift in case the moderator has to be removed for some reason in the middle of a competition.

As usual, the Jewell trigger was superb and my first shot hit the tiny red spot which Rob was using as an aim-point. Shot two was touching the first and the third shot made a pleasing little clover-leaf which, measured about 3/10". Rob now took over and, not to be out-done, fired a five-shot group which was under half an inch. Off the bi-pod, with a guessed load, I thought that this was quite phenomenal and I was relieved to see that my work was now done.

Once load-development and running-in is complete Rob's final job is to establish zeros at all range distances out to 1,000yd. In the Czech competition Rob will be shooting at unknown distances, so range estimation is critical and so is making use of the information. With settings logged out to 1,000yd, it will be easier for Rob to interpolate the come-ups at any intermediate distances - provided his estimates are correct!

It only remains for me to wish Rob well in the Czech Republic and hope that the new rifle performs to his expectations in the field. I look forward to reading part three of The Ultimate Tactical Rifle which will be penned by Rob on his return.

Last month, we gathered together the major components for our ultimate tactical rifle and these are:

Action: Surgeon, USA
Barrel: Krieger heavy profile finishing at 26"
Trigger: Jewell HVR with safety.
Stock: McMillan A5 tactical
Scope: US Optics 5-25 magnification
Scope-rail: Integral Weaver-style with 20MOA taper
Calibre: Lapua 6.5x47
Magazine: Detachable 10-round Accuracy International
Bi-pod: Harris
Moderator: Prototype Stealth ‘reflex' moderator

PROJECT RIFLE: ULTIMATE TACTICAL RIFLE

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PROJECT RIFLE: ULTIMATE TACTICAL RIFLE

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