Ok, first two pictures. My set up for barrel break in. Sun wasn't up yet on Sunday when I went out. You can see from the photo, the bipod was near the front of the table and the smaller sand bag had to be put on my owner's manual from my car to get it high enough. It was really too high for comfort and steady holding, but that was as low as the bipod went. Eventually, a larger sand bag and removal of the bipod resulted in my best set up for steadier shooting with this rifle. It wasn't ideal but the point was more to begin the break in process than to test the barrel for ultimate accuracy. The stock shape is a little different than a traditional rifle and the smaller sand bag/bipod combo just didn't work well. Also, the rifle kicks substantially, even with the muzzle brake. If you just cradle the gun without the rifle firmly planted in your shoulder, you're going to get "scoped". It isn't unpleasant, but the rifle requires to be firmly held. Weight minus the bolt was 7 lbs 6 ounces. This rifle is going to weigh less than 8 lbs with scope. Great for walking but makes for a bit of a hand full when practicing.
Next picture plus the two on the next post. Just some shots of the rifle and engraving on the barrel. The trigger is a very wide, flat trigger. It has a different feel from any I have used on other firearms. Also, the break is going to be over 3 lbs, I think. It is advertised as 2.5 lbs, but I have 5 rifles with 2.5 lbs triggers and this one feels a little heavier than them. Really, it isn't enough for me to worry about, but I do not think it is 2.5 lbs. None the less, it is very crisp. Pretty generic Timney feel if you've ever used one.
The magazine I give a poor grade to. Honestly, there are places to save weight and places you probably shouldn't bother much. This is one of those. While carbon fiber is very rigid and light weight, a steel magazine would be a better choice. The magazine flexs some which isn't great. Loading the magazine can be a PITA. The follower can slide out the back of the magazine as you compress the front of it when inserting a cartridge. On a hunting rifle, I'm not really planning on doing a massive quantity of loading magazines like on a 1911, but it is annoying. Also, the magazine release can be very tight and difficult to depress making magazine removal hard. I feel that at least a portion of these problems could be alleviated by a metal magazine. I did read a review of the rifle elsewhere and he had the same problem. He also said the rifle broke in eventually and stopped being fussy.
Which brings me to some points. I've purchased 2 custom 1911's, 1 custom rifle, and 2 semi custom rifles. I've also owned many other auto loader shotguns, bolt action rifles, pistols, etc. Almost all of them worked better after some shooting than when fresh out of the box. This rifle needs to be shot some. The action is tight and annoying. It is difficult to work the action in one smooth stroke from front to back and back to front, loading a shell into the chamber. You'll almost always hit a snag somewhere along the way or struggle to get the push feed action to cleanly push the shell into the chamber and close without having to really add some pressure. You can clearly hear the snap of the action as it gives up and grabs the base of the shell when closing the action, often after two or three tries. Additionally, You could see bits of metal inside the action of the rifle from wear after I shot. Clearly some of the cerakote and metal surfaces need some wear and tear on them before it is going to be smooth as silk. As I have never had a "Fully Blue Printed 416 SS machined action" I don't know if this is normal or not. I know in my custom 1911's, the surfaces took some time to mate to one another before operating flawless. In my Cooper's, the action was perfect from the beginning. In my other custom rifle, a Kidd 22, it worked perfectly from the beginning. I'm inclined to be annoyed. The price for this rifle was too high for the action to be as fussy as it is. I'm going to call today just to see what they say. Nothing I have read suggests that the action was hard to manipulate early in the process of shooting the rifle but that doesn't mean it was just omitted.
The last three shots are the two groups I did on Sunday and a picture illustrating the movement of the scope. First let me explain my routine. Barrel break in is a controversial subject. Some swear by it and others ignore it completely. Fact of the matter is that most barrels will benefit some from a break in procedure of some kind. And by benefit I mean they will become slightly more accurate if you break the barrel in slowly and meticulously rather than just going shooting. Also, most hunting rifles are plenty accurate right out of the box that breaking in the barrel isn't really needed. Here's the but: If you plan on doing any long range precision shooting, breaking in the barrel to get from 1 MOA to 0.80 MOA is worth it. My gun requires a break in for two reasons. 1. The action is tight. 2. The gun manufacturer requires it if you want to keep the accuracy guarantee. The routine rec'd from the manufacturer is this: clean the barrel after every shot for the first 10 shots. Clean the barrel after every 5 shots for the next 50 shots. I altered it a bit because I feel that if a rifle is shooting .50 MOA right out of the box, what is the potential benefit of breaking in the barrel further? Maybe you could get to .4 MOA. I probably couldn't with hand loads. I damn sure couldn't with the soft points I'm shooting. So I shot 5 rounds cleaning the rifle after each shot. I then shot the first 3 round group. I then changed the scope a little, cleaned the rifle and shot the 2nd group. The flier was my 2nd shot. I also noticed that my scope was moving. You can see the line on the scope. I always draw a pencil line on scopes after I mount them so I can see if they are moving. Since I'm still very much in a break in and the scope is moving, I'm ok with the group.
I have to admit, I was disappointed with my shooting. I am a little intimidated by the rifle and felt that I could have tightened up the groups by shooting better. While the scope did move a little, I don't think it would affect the point of impact much. I'll need to get the scope firmly seated to be sure, though. I'll also need to get some different ammunition. The bullets are not exactly uniform with the soft point and will affect the POI a little. At the end of the day, I didn't learn a hell of a lot besides that I need to reset my scope mount and that I need to shoot more before my trip. Luckily, I don't think this will be a problem.
Thoughts on the rifle: I do like the stock shape and the aesthetic look of the rifle. The carbon fiber barrel marks up easily but would clean just as easy. I worry a bit about it getting marred by rocks and stuff when hunting, but I openly decided to take a risk on this rifle. Time will tell. I'm not a fan of the ultra wide trigger. Theoretically, it should be better, but it just felt weird. I'm sure that I will grow accustomed to it over the next two months and don't anticipate it being a long term complaint. Whatever brand of recoil pad is on the gun is a good one. I like it. I don't like the paint on the stock, but it seems to be very popular these days and I don't have a lot of other options. It's also completely unrelated to the quality of the rifle. I'm less than pleased with the action but am optimistic it will get better. I've said very little about the scope. It is nice glass but I wish I had time to get a custom one with a different reticle in it. I just consider the Leupold Duplex too heavy and prefer a finer reticle. I may replace the scope with a custom one after the hunt. Time really wasn't my friend in this situation so I went with what was safe rather than what was my personal ideal.
rifle stock 9/10
trigger 8/10 (because of slightly higher break than preferred)
scope 7/10
action 4/10
magazine 3/10
accuracy 2/10 because of price and guarantee. This could get significanly better with a little practice and better ammunition. And it could be entirely me and the scope moving too. Jury is still out.
That really looks terrible for a rifle of this price range, but I think both the action and accuracy will improve dramatically over the next 100 or so rounds. The magazine is going to suck no matter what and I may see if they offer metal magazines for sale.
Ask away if you have any questions.