She's finally complete, the 1000yd (2000+yd
) rifle!
There have been a couple posts on the products described within so my intention is to review them on what I believe is the first .50BMG and .416 Barrett rifle to this board with these products, not one of those little .408 pop guns some have showed us. Just kidding guys (JimmyM40a2, Goldbeachman, Dogtown, etc.) I don't want to start a holy war on calibers here. Your rifles and photos gave us inspiration during this important build. Thank you.
To start, I talked with Bill Ritchie almost a year ago, to the week, about this build. It's an EDM M-96 Windrunner 50bmg with an additional 416 Barrett barrel conversion. We elected to have all the bells and whistles: upgraded stock with adjustable cheek rest, a crisp 8oz. and 2lb. adjustable Kepplinger trigger, stock rail stiffener, etc. We changed out the EDM rail with a USO 20moa rail. Then we began the quest to change out the EDM bipod with a cant capable bipod and put on a viable railed forearm so a PVS-22 could be mounted correctly.
EDM makes one of the best bolt action and breakdown rifle platforms in the industry hands down. That's why we went with it. The machining is top notch and the reputation of EDM/Bill Ritchie speaks for itself. But I digress.
The final, and what we think is some of the best, upgrades are the RND railed hand guard and the new RND bipod. The machine work is awesome and very tight. The hand guard is screwed on to a turned down and threaded EDM barrel nut (done by RND). A stop nut is used to tune the rails to exactly line up. It's built very strong and shows no change nor flex when the full weight of the rifle is put on the hand guard. The rails can be custom cut to length, I believe, but you will have to check with RND. I have no affiliation with RND so I can't speak for their products any more than actual use and customer service experience. So let's get that out of the way... EDM and RND have the best customer service in this industry. They actually answer the phone when you call and respond to emails! Yeah I know, crazy isn't it!?!?!?
Moreover, the RND bipod is awesome. We have owned and used cheytac bipods and I/we can say with real experience the RND is better. We procured, and were actually planning to use, the cheytac bipod for this build and once we got it in and tested it against the RND our choice was easy. The RND all the way. The RND is made out of steel and the tolerances are tighter and it offers a more stable platform while also giving more control of the leg extension length. Both important attributes for a bipod. Again, it is rock solid. The collar plates where the legs lock in to the collar are made of steel and are easily replaceable with a couple bolts vs. the one piece aluminum cheytac collar that is not as well engineered nor replaceable. Also a very important attribute in testing was the RND legs have minimal recoil flex when shooting the rifle. We can't say the same for the cheytac.
*Note: A point that needs to be made, in fairness, EDM sells a mount for a PVS-22 but was not our best option for the overall build requirements. Also, the EDM bipod is one of the most rugged bipods made. We just wanted to be able to cant this platform differently than the EDM bipods capabilities.
You can find info on the EDM Windrunners at: EDM website
You can learn about the great semiauto rifles that RND builds and contact RND for a hand guard and bipod for the 408 and 50bmg Windrunners through their website: RND website
*Special note: The EDM 408 and 50bmg recievers are different in size and thus have different barrel nuts.
Please enjoy the photos. I just rebuilt the camera from a freak accident (read: blonde, female, beach, drinks, etc) and it still isn't working great. But I think you will enjoy anyways. I also didn't want to get hit with the 'ole "this post is useless without pics".
I hope this post can help some of you with your new builds or upgrades to your existing hole punchers.
Disclosure:
*Each question will be answered in the order of payment of $20.
**Each question can be expedited for an additional $10.
Regards,
Mountain Rogue
There have been a couple posts on the products described within so my intention is to review them on what I believe is the first .50BMG and .416 Barrett rifle to this board with these products, not one of those little .408 pop guns some have showed us. Just kidding guys (JimmyM40a2, Goldbeachman, Dogtown, etc.) I don't want to start a holy war on calibers here. Your rifles and photos gave us inspiration during this important build. Thank you.
To start, I talked with Bill Ritchie almost a year ago, to the week, about this build. It's an EDM M-96 Windrunner 50bmg with an additional 416 Barrett barrel conversion. We elected to have all the bells and whistles: upgraded stock with adjustable cheek rest, a crisp 8oz. and 2lb. adjustable Kepplinger trigger, stock rail stiffener, etc. We changed out the EDM rail with a USO 20moa rail. Then we began the quest to change out the EDM bipod with a cant capable bipod and put on a viable railed forearm so a PVS-22 could be mounted correctly.
EDM makes one of the best bolt action and breakdown rifle platforms in the industry hands down. That's why we went with it. The machining is top notch and the reputation of EDM/Bill Ritchie speaks for itself. But I digress.
The final, and what we think is some of the best, upgrades are the RND railed hand guard and the new RND bipod. The machine work is awesome and very tight. The hand guard is screwed on to a turned down and threaded EDM barrel nut (done by RND). A stop nut is used to tune the rails to exactly line up. It's built very strong and shows no change nor flex when the full weight of the rifle is put on the hand guard. The rails can be custom cut to length, I believe, but you will have to check with RND. I have no affiliation with RND so I can't speak for their products any more than actual use and customer service experience. So let's get that out of the way... EDM and RND have the best customer service in this industry. They actually answer the phone when you call and respond to emails! Yeah I know, crazy isn't it!?!?!?
Moreover, the RND bipod is awesome. We have owned and used cheytac bipods and I/we can say with real experience the RND is better. We procured, and were actually planning to use, the cheytac bipod for this build and once we got it in and tested it against the RND our choice was easy. The RND all the way. The RND is made out of steel and the tolerances are tighter and it offers a more stable platform while also giving more control of the leg extension length. Both important attributes for a bipod. Again, it is rock solid. The collar plates where the legs lock in to the collar are made of steel and are easily replaceable with a couple bolts vs. the one piece aluminum cheytac collar that is not as well engineered nor replaceable. Also a very important attribute in testing was the RND legs have minimal recoil flex when shooting the rifle. We can't say the same for the cheytac.
*Note: A point that needs to be made, in fairness, EDM sells a mount for a PVS-22 but was not our best option for the overall build requirements. Also, the EDM bipod is one of the most rugged bipods made. We just wanted to be able to cant this platform differently than the EDM bipods capabilities.
You can find info on the EDM Windrunners at: EDM website
You can learn about the great semiauto rifles that RND builds and contact RND for a hand guard and bipod for the 408 and 50bmg Windrunners through their website: RND website
*Special note: The EDM 408 and 50bmg recievers are different in size and thus have different barrel nuts.
Please enjoy the photos. I just rebuilt the camera from a freak accident (read: blonde, female, beach, drinks, etc) and it still isn't working great. But I think you will enjoy anyways. I also didn't want to get hit with the 'ole "this post is useless without pics".
I hope this post can help some of you with your new builds or upgrades to your existing hole punchers.
Disclosure:
*Each question will be answered in the order of payment of $20.
**Each question can be expedited for an additional $10.
Regards,
Mountain Rogue
