FDE Highlights - The Sum Of All Parts

It’s not a dog. Doesn’t look like one. Doesn’t shoot like one. But it followed me to work today like a dog. A lot of youngsters, mid-sters and old-sters, too, shy away when there’s work to be done. Not this rifle, though. Last shooter at a meatball stage? Let’s go! First in the squad to shoot into the rising sun? Do it!

Why combine these parts into one unit? Funny you should ask . . .

A couple of years ago Kent - badly - wanted the action I was using, so I swapped him for a brand new Impact Precision 737R, 75 degree bolt, action. New actions need new barrels, and I’d wanted a Schneider barrel since David Tubbs started endorsing them in the mid 80s. Nate made it happen with a contour named after his son: seven inches of 1.25” tapering to 1.15 at 30”, wrapped around a 1-7.5 twist.

I wanted 30” because, shooting a straight 6mmBR, I didn’t want to fight for velocity, and later found my velocity was just above where it had been with the rest of my 27.5” BRs. It shoots with the Dashers and GTs. 

Why a 6mmBR, especially when feeding from a magazine is such a critical part of the PRS game? CUZ . . . Cuz I didn’t wanna do load development, find nodes, or get some finicky whatzit, and have it fall off on me when faced with charging steel in any state. Everyone said - when I began my search for the round to stick with after the 6.5 Creedmoor and the 6 Creedmoor Days Of My Life - throw 30 grains of Varget, Lapua brass, a 450 igniter and a 105 Berger Hybrid in a bucket and if it don’t shoot, it’s yer fault!

They were right. Every barrel I’ve had, and have got now, makes me look like I know what I’m doing when I get one in the pipe, and pull the Bixn Andy 700 Competition trigger’s shoe into the rearward position. Yup, that was a thing in the beginning - getting one in the pipe! Feeding . . . It wouldn’t feed in a frenzy. It wouldn’t feed in slow mo.There was that day in South Dakota when I didn’t think it would feed no mo! 

Frustrated the RO, squad mates, my ride home, and almost made me a Creedmoor guy again. One excited feller said, “Your rifle can really shoot, if you can get one in the pipe!”

We sometimes put off what we know we should do longer than we should. That’s Les Than Practical, as a rule. So I went to lip tuning school. Built a tuner tool, and stood beside the rifle adjusting magazine lips from too far, to too close, to just right. Kin dang near eyeball it now. The last hurdle was crossed.

And just when I had full and complete confidence in my magazine tuning ability - Dave Preston shows up with his Gray Ops BR specific billet magazine! I'm telling you - everybody outta have a pair and a spare of those for each rifle! If he’da bin a bit quicker I’da NEVER learnt that lost art!

Hanging off the muzzle today is Corson Piper’s Demigod Precision ⅝” threaded muzzle brake. Having seen hundreds of braked muzzles on the firing line, just this year, I can say from my own use, and from my observation that Corson’s brake rivals the best. And when you consider price in the equation? Bonus! Best Bang For MY Buck! Makes my BR an immovable object! AndItAin’TAHeadacheWait’nTaHappen!

That’s all I got to say about that . . . 

I’d sold my MDT gen one Premier chassis last year, so when I found out I needed to shoot this year - even threatening the buyer’s life couldn’t separate him from that chassis. (You can read into that what you will . . . ) So I bought an Elite. Should have had one years ago, but hey, I was in love.

MDT’s Elite chassis is adjustable in every way I need it to be. Its forend is long enough for stability when shooting off a bipod, and narrow enough to carry without getting a cramp. (No offense, JK. I’m old, and not even as fast once, as I once was, let alone half as tough.) There’s a GRS spigot, for their bipod, attached to the top of the NV bridge. When in use the GRS bipod attaches at the top and the rifle hangs under it, mostly used when in the prone position. 

Because of the rifle’s balance being a bit farther forward a MPA magwell protector was added, allowing me to lean into the bag on a barricade, some.

Glass? Vortex Razor Gen 3 6-36X56. Everyone has their favorite, etc., and it ain’t at the top of the popularity chart with the best 200 guys, but I see better with it than I’ve ever seen in the ten years I’ve shown up to play PRS.