Re: Accurate Ordnance Grand Opening
Maybe some of these would be interesting...
This one was built for a Harris Publications magazine article coming out in the next couple months.
There is a new Harris Publications magazine coming out called Rifle Firepower. We were asked to build something for a feature article. Since the magazine is more focused on leading edge technologies and gear, we decided to build something using components that few other companies were using or even able to gt their hands on.
This is what we built.
When picking the components I decided on the Pierce Engineering short-action. Pierce is very well known in benchrest communities but not in the "tactical" world. We're hoping to help change that. They offer a cone bolt face and that is a feature I wanted. It aids in positive feeding in adverse conditions and also helps feed certain specialty rounds that otherwise can get hung up on tradition squared bolt breech faces. (More on those rounds later. We were also asked to test some different and new to the market ammunition for a side article and felt the cone breech might help feed those rounds.)
You can see the bolt face here but also notice the Sako-style extractor for better reliability in extraction.
The action also is available with a tactical oversized bolt knob, pinned recoil lug and 20-MOA base. I opted for all those features.
Next up was barrel. Easy decision for me, I wanted a Rock Creek finished at 22" in their Sendero contour which is slightly bigger than their Remington Varminter. The contour provided enough material to machine into it the taper I'd need for the suppressor I wanted to run, which is a custom one of a kind suppressor. Ron Allen from Ops Inc made me the suppressor. It is serial number 001 from Allen Engineering, Ron's side company he solely owns and runs for suppressor design. There is more on that story but I can't say anything just yet. But what I can tell you is the suppressor is similar to an Ops 12th Model except it is a direct thread mount to the muzzle without using a brake.
I had a requirement to use forward mounted nightvision with this build. So when it came to the stock I selected the new AX chassis from Accuracy International. These are starting to become available but a few months ago when we built this rifle no one had these. Our friends at AI hooked us up for this special project.
For the trigger we had been playing around with a new trigger from X-Treme Shooting Products. I'd used their two-stage and liked it a lot but the new single-stage that was being developed in part for some tier one groups is what intrigued me the most. Tom at X-Treme was just coming out with some changes and I wanted them on this rifle. The trigger is fully enclosed in a protective body. It is user adjustable and can be set as low and as crisp as the best benchrest trigger yet remain absolutely consistent and reliable. It is not prone to losing adjustment or becoming gritty without regular cleanings like some other triggers. Keep in mind the target market for these triggers.
The last thing was the glass. I knew it had to be a Nightforce but I wanted something special. So, NF hooked us up with one of only two 3.5-15x50 scopes with the new Velocity reticle. These will be commercially available around April. This is a calibrated reticle. Get a 200-yard zero then you have holds for each 100-yards out to 1000. You still have a 100-yard holding point (first horizontal line above reticle center). The vertical bars on the horizontals are 5, 10 and 15 mile wind holds.
The reticle proves VERY fast in the field. I love it.
After it was all together we tested it before the Harris folks came up. It was easy to shoot sub .25-MOA groups with various factory ammo.
The side-folding AX chassis is very comfortable to shoot and really packs a lot of cool features. I couldn't be happier.
The nightvision scope mounts securely to the forward rail on the chassis. It does not need to sit perfectly in line with the day optic to work. So, it might look a little too high, but it works perfectly.
I knew pretty quickly into the process I'd be keeping this build so I personally picked each component to be exactly what I wanted. Jason Nixon did all the machining work on the rifle. David Walker was project supervisor checking everything along the way. Then Dave mixed some custom Cerakote for me to best match the color of the chassis skins.
I couldn't be happier. We've let a lot of folks shoot this rifle in the last couple months and everyone has had nothing but positive feedback and praise for it. I went shooting last Friday night with a few friends and my buddy Kevin shot this five-shot group with Federal Gold MM. He put three of the rounds literally in the same hole with two more shots starting to drift slightly down to the right. Several other guys were there to witness it and they also got to shoot the rifle and easily shot groups pretty close to this one.
Mark
