Big Jim Fish Reviews the Mesa Precision Arms Crux Custom Rifle
Link to Full Review
This review includes a 5% SH Discount
I first learned of the Mesa Precision Arms guys when I was doing the Grayboe Ridgeback stock review earlier this year. Prior to using their own branded bottom metal, Grayboe used the Mesa bottom metal. While sourcing the bottom metal for the Grayboe review from Mesa, they asked me if I would like to do a review of a custom rifle built by them with their soon to be released titanium action. They are a fairly new shop, started in 2017, and were looking to get their name out as well as get a little third party validation that they know what they are doing.
I tend to do a lot of research before agreeing to a review. This is because if the product does not do well I will give it a bad review. Bad reviews don’t just ruffle the feathers of the folks who make the product, but also tend to make other companies a bit shy about having their products reviewed. These reviews also are of little help to a reader since they just introduce one product from among what is usually a faceless horde of products only to say that it is no good. This doesn’t help the reader much since he is still left with the horde to choose from. I avoid all this as much as possible by doing substantial research before accepting a review.
What I found researching Mesa is that it is a partnership of two guys with resumes that looked encouraging. Chad Drayer served two years as a scout sniper in the Marines before working for U.S. Optics for seven years. John Hakes also served in the Marines. Since then, John has become an accomplished long range precision hunter, recently added to Proof’s pro staff. He built rifles at Red Hawk rifles for a number of years before they decided to stop building rifles to concentrate on online retail. Having plenty of experience at that time, John decided to partner with Chad and start his own shop.
John and Chad’s history, connections with others in the industry, and what I had read about Red Hawk’s rifles during the period John worked there, convinced me that their rifle would probably be well made and so we worked up some specs for one of their specialties, a lightweight Crux hunting rifle to review.
Continue reading on the Home Page
Link to Full Review
This review includes a 5% SH Discount
I first learned of the Mesa Precision Arms guys when I was doing the Grayboe Ridgeback stock review earlier this year. Prior to using their own branded bottom metal, Grayboe used the Mesa bottom metal. While sourcing the bottom metal for the Grayboe review from Mesa, they asked me if I would like to do a review of a custom rifle built by them with their soon to be released titanium action. They are a fairly new shop, started in 2017, and were looking to get their name out as well as get a little third party validation that they know what they are doing.
I tend to do a lot of research before agreeing to a review. This is because if the product does not do well I will give it a bad review. Bad reviews don’t just ruffle the feathers of the folks who make the product, but also tend to make other companies a bit shy about having their products reviewed. These reviews also are of little help to a reader since they just introduce one product from among what is usually a faceless horde of products only to say that it is no good. This doesn’t help the reader much since he is still left with the horde to choose from. I avoid all this as much as possible by doing substantial research before accepting a review.
What I found researching Mesa is that it is a partnership of two guys with resumes that looked encouraging. Chad Drayer served two years as a scout sniper in the Marines before working for U.S. Optics for seven years. John Hakes also served in the Marines. Since then, John has become an accomplished long range precision hunter, recently added to Proof’s pro staff. He built rifles at Red Hawk rifles for a number of years before they decided to stop building rifles to concentrate on online retail. Having plenty of experience at that time, John decided to partner with Chad and start his own shop.
John and Chad’s history, connections with others in the industry, and what I had read about Red Hawk’s rifles during the period John worked there, convinced me that their rifle would probably be well made and so we worked up some specs for one of their specialties, a lightweight Crux hunting rifle to review.
Continue reading on the Home Page
