This is and isn't a review. There's a story and then a review Sorta.
It occurred to me one day whilst loading for a long range plinking session that I probably don't need to send 175 grains of thirty caliber bullet across the desert to let a piece of AR500 know that I've got it's number; I mean, they ain't cheap. Sure, there are PLENTY of way more expensive bullets but when we go out a "session" lasts all day and is usually a few hundred rounds through a bolt gun and that adds up. 22 caliber bullets are cheaper and the load uses half the powder. But will it work for my purposes?
I thought about it, went on line to JBM ballistics compared a few numbers, read a few things that I forget now, and it seemed that for all but the farthest gongs we planted a .223 would be fine. Initially there were concerns about wind drift etc.; but, I'm shooting friggin' steel for no reason in particular other than to hang out with my buddies, drink some sodas, bust each other's jewels and just enjoy the day out in the sun. Like golf with a tad more violence and overpressure.
Now the search was on in earnest for a cheap .223 bolt gun of the Savage persuasion. I like Savages they are pretty modular and I figured if the .223 thing didn't work out I could turn it into some sort of 5 million caliber super death ray beast or give it to my 12 year old daughter.
At this point I ran into my first problem, and I think it's my problem rather than anything else. The area of concern revolves around the word "cheap". When I think cheap, I think $300-ish, which presents the problem with Savages surge in popularity and a nation wide gun-lust in full swing: there isn't a "cheap" Savage .223 bolt gun. I know you can go the Stevens route but I wanted the Accu-trigger ( I like these just fine and adding stuff to the Stevens to make it better results in "Not Cheap") and the Savage tends to hold it's value a little better. This is important because I'm poor and fickle; things tend to leave when I bore of them. I made the decision that the .223 deal was going to be a bit more of a commitment, so I better do some more reading.
Another discovery was that the lower priced rifles were only available with a 1:9 twist. Sucks for me because I wanted to shoot heavies and seems that 1:9 stabilizing 80's is hit or miss depending on the rifle. To be on the safe side I wanted a 1:7 which meant I had to look up-market to the stainless guns.
Of course all of this cerebral crap went right out the window when I ventured down to Phoenix and found myself at Cabela's staring helplessly at a 1:7 twist VLP that my friend had alerted me to. Out came the card and out the door I pranced (yes pranced, I'm a little fruity).
I find it infuriating that when you get a new rifle on the spur of the moment they never have all of the crap you need to go play and inevitably you gotta wait. Such was the case for the Nightforce 20 MOA one piece rail. Not being known for patience when it comes to impulse purchases I ponied up the extra $28 dollars to get it here NOW from Optics Planet.
Yay! I'm good to go. Except for one thing. I told the buddy that alerted me to the VLP that if he ever wanted it he could buy it for the sale price I paid and he "found" the money. I never even got to shoot it :( This gun ended up being a whole other story that I'll save for another time.
I had handled an LRP about a year before in 6mmBR or something and I really liked it (at the time I was still in the "it has to be a .308" phase and didn't give it much more thought, gimme a break I'm new)
Gunbroker is where I look for deals and this day it did not let me down. Some chap in Arkansas had ordered an LRPV with a 1:9 and inadvertently received one in 1:7. Having no use for it he put it in the closet and let it sit there a couple years until he wanted for something else. His "Buy it Now" was about $300 less than anyone else and he confirmed via telephone that if I sent the money overnight he'd send the quickest way shipping budget would allow. I was also clever and ordered the rail the same day.
Initial impressions:
- It's HEAVY, Very HEAVY. Not a walking rifle.
- The barrel is HEAVY and looks ridiculous with a .22 caliber hole in it.
- The Stock is nice, strong feeling, and grippy.
- The setting on the Target Accu-trigger was scary light.
- Someone put the ejection port on the wrong side.
- Stock comb could be a little higher
- Length of pull could be a little longer for prone work.
- Did I mention it was HEAVY?
Once out in the desert I figured I'd "do" something to the rifle to make it mine. I've had pretty good luck with Final Finish fire-lapping bullets, so I administered a course of these right out of the box.
With that done it was time to shoot some different bullets and see if there was a good starting place. I picked an initial charge that would work with all the bullets and work with anything that looked nice. I've since changed a few things, more blog fodder for later, this was how I did it at the time.
These are the first twenty shots, groups are five, grid is 1/2", and the distance was around 120 yards.
For a first outing I was happy. No Recoil. Cheap to shoot. Big Fun.
A little playing around with the far gongs revealed that, though they get blown around a bit more and don't have quite the energy, I could easily reach out and touch any of our gongs out to 900+ yards. One afternoon found me expending round after round in pursuit of our 1400 yard target. Absolute Blast! In our group a Hit's a Hit.
Since the first experience with this rifle it has over 2000 rounds through it. It serves every purpose: Tannerite "Fuse", F-TR tool, Steel assassin, and new shooter trainer. It's a confidence inspiring solid package that will ALWAYS be around (I'm Fickle but REALLY appreciate something that works well).
I have a lot of new guys (I teach things by trade) ask what they should start with for target shooting. I tell them to get one of these and then evaluate if the need more. My experience with the LRPV is that it IS worth the price and it will keep you grinning a lot longer than you might suspect.
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