MPA barrels

[ssteve]

Looking at building or buying a gun for recreational precision shooting as well as some hunting. The new masterpiece hybrid chassis has really caught my attention due to the features and the light weight. I am half tempted to buy a Bergara hmr and drop it in the MPA chassis but also kind of kicking around just buying a complete rifle from MPA and being done with it.

Doing some research on MPA I have found very little info and feedback on their complete rifles. Mostly just a bunch of people praising the company cause they have a bunch of competitive shooters running their stuff. For the price of the rifle I have a fair amount of options, drop a factory barreled action in it and spend the rest on glass, maybe go real light and have a action trued up with a Proof barrel, a completely different direction etc.

Overall I would like a system I could comfortably hunt and hike with that's under 3 grand. I have been kicking around buying a Q fix but what I have seen from the factory barrel isn't to my liking and adding an additional $200+ to upgrade the barrel makes the price of the rifle a little unreasonable for me.

 

[Bandit31]

I wouldn't spend the money to buy a Bergera or 700 to just have it trued up and slap a Proof barrel on it. With all the new action choices it wouldn't make sense unless you already had one and it was sentimental to you.

The Bighorn Origin and Gunwerks Grb are solid actions for $850 or so. Cap it at $1k +/- you have Stillers, I think the Kelblys Atlas, and the new ARC Nucleus.

An old or used Tikka T3 for a donor can be found sub $500 also.

The KRG Bravo is a solid chassis and are $350-400

So with a Proof Carbon barrel spun up with any of those actions and the Bravo you're at $2100ish to $2800ish. Cheaper than the MPA and gives you what you want.

Even I feel you're not sure that's what you want, you could pick up a Tikka ctr with your choice of chassis and it would certainly do what you need to make the decision of which route you end like to go.

 

[ssteve]

What I am after is a lighter weight rifle with a quality chassis I won't need to upgrade down the road and something fairly accurate. MPA has their MPA BA Lite competition rifle that's $2000 on their light weight chassis and a trued/honed 700 action. I just shot them an email to see if they can do that rifle but in their hybrid chassis. Seems like it would be about perfect for what I am looking for and once I shoot out the barrel I can figure out if I want to go lighter with a proof or whatever then.

 

[tnbowhunter]

Myself and a buddy both have mpa complete rifles with their Spencer barrels. Mine is built on a Kelbys action, his is a Curtis both chambered in 6.5 creedmoor. They both shoot the 3/8 accuracy guarantee and have no complaints. Great shooting rifles in our experience.

 

[tnbowhunter]

Myself and a buddy both have mpa complete rifles with their Spencer barrels. Mine is built on a Kelbys action, his is a Curtis both chambered in 6.5 creedmoor. They both shoot the 3/8 accuracy guarantee and have no complaints. Great shooting rifles in our experience.

Also I like you was skeptical at first as all research and reviews mainly talk about their chassis. But after shooting my buddy’s I bit the bullet and bought one. Glad I did...no complaints

 

[V-Ref]

3/8 moa guarantee at the MPA price point is an exceptional value

 

[ssteve]

But how does it shoot with lighter weight projectiles?

 

[tnbowhunter]

Both mine and my buddy’s mpa’s are Creedmoor’s throated for the 140 eld. I’ve never tried any lighter bullets because I like the bc of the 140’s. I’ve had great accuracy with the 140 eld and 140 Berger hybrid

 

[Mr.Horsepower89]

Both mine and my buddy’s mpa’s are Creedmoor’s throated for the 140 eld. I’ve never tried any lighter bullets because I like the bc of the 140’s. I’ve had great accuracy with the 140 eld and 140 Berger hybrid

What powder are you using for this load? I have an MPA Curtis with the switch lug and I cant seem to do better than sub MOA. I am loading the Berger 140 Hybrids with 42.2gr H4350 I have not tried the Hornady 140. I am using resized Prime Brass and BR2 primers.

 

[XLR308]

It sounds to me like you are describing the Seekins Precision HAVAK PH1. Light weight and handy with a custom action that has the ability to change boltheads if you later want to try something else a great starter stock and a high quality barrel. If you havent looked at them all ready there worth a few minutes to check them out. I was torn between getting the HAVAK action or the Kelblys I bought.

 

[tnbowhunter]

What powder are you using for this load? I have an MPA Curtis with the switch lug and I cant seem to do better than sub MOA. I am loading the Berger 140 Hybrids with 42.2gr H4350 I have not tried the Hornady 140. I am using resized Prime Brass and BR2 primers.

We are both using H4350. It’s hard to beat the 140 eld in these rifles. That’s what both of ours are throated for. You can load them closer to the lands and still fit in the mag. Mine shot under 5/8 moa with all charges from 41.5-43 but velocity es numbers were better around 41.5 and that’s where I found the 3/8 guarantee. Even the factory eld match shoot awesome.

I’ve only shot about 60 140 Berger hybrids so far through it. They produced good chrono es numbers and 41.8 is where I found the sweet spot. I found they shot better in mine seated to mag length which gives them about a .050 jump vs closer to lands and having to single feed. All loads using Hornady brass and either br2 primer or fed 210m

 

[Rondogg]

I was able to purchase the MPA competition in 6.5 with the 26" barrel. I purchased mine from Core Solutions due to the extended wait form MPA. I broke the barrel in with the Hornady 140gr as rifle is throated for that. What OAL are you guys running with your loads? Any help is appreciated. Thanks

 

[tnbowhunter]

I was able to purchase the MPA competition in 6.5 with the 26" barrel. I purchased mine from Core Solutions due to the extended wait form MPA. I broke the barrel in with the Hornady 140gr as rifle is throated for that. What OAL are you guys running with your loads? Any help is appreciated. Thanks

Mine shoots the factory loaded almost as good as my handloads. In my seating depth test with the 140 eld mine liked a .030 jump best

 

[Rondogg]

Mine shoots the factory loaded almost as good as my handloads. In my seating depth test with the 140 eld mine liked a .030 jump best

What all are you using to load? And what is your OAL? Thanks

 

[A5scott]

I bought a 6.5x47 complete MPA build on a Stiller Tac 30. I had no choice but to order direct since I'm a lefty. With the factory 139 Scenar ammo I was hitting 6" plate at 900, and my buddy hit a 24" gong at 1700 yards twice in a row after 2 misses. Now I load Berger hybrid 130's over 37.8 grains of Varget with about a 5 SD and have shot 1/4" groups at 100. I've hit 4" hostage swingers at 1000 yards.
I'm definitely going to get this rebarreled by MPA, though I'm gonna switch to a different action. I would say their barrels are up there with the other top names, and I'd recommend them no problem.
My brother found a new MPA 308 for $2550 on gunbroker a few months ago. If you don't need a custom order, they are a lot cheaper thru dealers on GB... or if you find a dealer that will give you dealer pricing and order the config you want, you are set. Green Top in VA will custom order them, as well as maybe Copper Custom in Indiana. I'm sure there are other dealers out there. $2550 for that 308 is a great deal.

Scott

 

[TripleBull]

I have the MPA BA in 338LM. I have not shot a bunch of groups with it as it was purchased for ELR. It shot the factory spec of .5MOA at 600 yards during break in. I was surprised how often the action screws needed to be re-torqued and eventually got Mile High to bed the action. After that mod, it shot just over .3 MOA at 300 yards.

 

[tnbowhunter]

What all are you using to load? And what is your OAL? Thanks

MPA 6.5 creedmoor / Kelby's Atlas Tactical Action

Load is 41.5 H4350
Hornady brass
Cci br-2 primer
OAL 2.814 which is a .030 jump in my chamber ( yours may be different)
I’ve tested this load out to 1050 yards and accuracy remained excellent when I do my part in the wind.

 

[450AK]

I have two MPA 6.5BA rifles and I guarantee you won't be disappointed. I shoot mine at a grand every weekend and they outperform all of my 6,000 and $7,000 custom rifles. Here is a 5 shoot group at a thousand yards. This a regular occurrence if I get a calm day. Under half Moa at a thousand yards for under $3,000 is unheard of.

 

[Prebanpaul]

I have 3 friends running their complete rifles. One in 6.5 creed on in 6 creed. If I was buying a complete rifle I would be looking specifically for the Curtis action. They all have hits with easy at 1k. Great guns. Most custom actions are 2500, you're getting theirs for around 1700 when you factor in the chasis.

 

[NamibHunter]

What powder are you using for this load? I have an MPA Curtis with the switch lug and I cant seem to do better than sub MOA. I am loading the Berger 140 Hybrids with 42.2gr H4350 I have not tried the Hornady 140. I am using resized Prime Brass and BR2 primers.

The Berger 140 Hybrid is a superb bullet, and it is my all time favorite. It can be made to shoot 1/4” to 1/3” five shot groups at 100 and 1-1.5” groups at 300 in my MPA with Curtis action and MPA/Spencer barrel. Pics below. Both shot at 100, first pic is a three shot group, second pic shows two five shot groups.

If you load the Berger bullet to feed from the mag (2.800” COAL), you will need something like a jump of 0.100” (100 thou) or a little more. In this configuration, i get good groups out to 400 with this setup. However: SD is then around 9-11 with ES higher than desired at 32-36 fps, which causes some undesirable vertical stringing at 500 plus ranges. Still workable, but not perfect.

If you want to achieve lower SD (6-8 fps) and ES (23-28) with the Berger to build a 1000 yard load, you will likely have to try a much smaller amount of jump, somewhere between 5 and 25 thou or so, and then single feed. [I have tried a jam and it did not work well for me. My buddy had the same result.]

In summary: Because the Berger Hybrid is a very pointy bullet (secant profile around the nose section), and the rifle has it’s freebore set up for a tangent Hornady 140 ELDM bullet, you end up with COAL around 2.9” if you insist on using the superb Berger projectile. [Your chamber might be a little different from mine so your results may vary some.]

After trying the Berger Hybrid for several weeks, i can give you a few shortcuts: The MPA chamber is throated for the 140 ELD match bullet. You will find it easier going if you stick with that bullet. Even the factory Hornady ammo achieved 0.4-0.6” three shot groups at 100.

If you want more detailed info, do a Google search for (“Snipershide does crimping help or hurt accuracy?”), there are some useful comments there.

Don’t expect ES below 25 in any 6.5 CM for long strings (50 or 100). If you want lower ES then go with a 6 Dasher or 6 BRA.

First pic below is a three shot group at 100, and this is not abnormal for the Berger loaded to mag length.

The second pic has two 5 shot groups at 100. Scope was dialed to offset the groups. Both done with a Berge 140 Hybrid, H4350, and a short jump (single feed). One group was around 0.35”. Second group has three though one hole, two through rhe second hole, because i broke position. The 035” is close to my “best” performance, mostly due to my limitations. Has seen one 0.1” three shot group, but that might just have been luck. The gun shoots better than me - by far.

 

[Steel head]

Like me, you will likely find that because the Berger Hybrid is a very pointy bullet (secant profile around the nose section), if you want to load it to say a 15 thou jump (where better accuracy is possible) that the loaded round will be very long, and it won’t fit in the mag anymore (single feed only).

Hogwash.
hybrids love jump.
Often lots of it.
I have absolutely no problems jumping them a tenth of an inch in some barrels to maintain mag feeding and getting excellent accuracy.

 

[NamibHunter]

Hogwash.
hybrids love jump.
Often lots of it.
I have absolutely no problems jumping them a tenth of an inch in some barrels to maintain mag feeding and getting excellent accuracy.

Yes the Berger Hybrid is one of the most jump tolerant high BC bullets in existence. It also benefits (a lot) from optimizing powder charge and a little more from optimizing seating depth.

I have a Savage 12 with 2,800 rounds through the pipe and so much throat erosion that the Berger projectile will fall out if i tried to seat it at a 15 thou jump, and it was seated with a very large jump (0.050” to 0.120”) between shot count 2,000 and 2,800. It did find that it did a little better chasing the lands while that was possible, and when that became impossible, it was still adequate for shooting small steel targets at 600. It shot great out to 600 yards until shot count reached 2,500 rounds. SD was 8-10 range and ES was 30-36 fps. Nothing wrong with the Berger Hybrid. My favorite bullet!

The MPA chamber is cut with a very different reamer, and at least in my rifle i could not get good ES or SD until i reduced jump to small numbers. That is not the fault of the bullet. Likely that has more to do with bullet dwell time, and barrel vibration, and chamber dimensions.

The main point is that the MPA is throated for the Hornady 140 ELD-M and a 5 thou jump. Not my favorite bullet, but it usually shoots well enough. Some batches have large variations in base to ogive measurement, but then again all the bullet makers take turns to occasionally commit that particular sin. So i check and if needed sort them. PITA but it works.

Try both bullets, shoot whatever shoots. Load one box to mag length and load another box for a short / optimized jump, and see what works for you. Your chamber will be a little (or a lot) different from mine anyway. Just thought another MPA owner would benefit from my experiments. Almost certainly YMMV.

 

[NamibHunter]

I have 3 friends running their complete rifles. One in 6.5 creed on in 6 creed. If I was buying a complete rifle I would be looking specifically for the Curtis action. They all have hits with easy at 1k. Great guns. Most custom actions are 2500, you're getting theirs for around 1700 when you factor in the chasis.

Agreed. MPA chassis rifles are superb value for money. Effectively a semi-custom at a very reasonable price. Bought mine off the rack for around $1,800 several years ago, and it shot below 0.4” with factory Hornady ammo from day one. There was zero wait, got it from Xtreme Guns and Ammo in Houston. It has the Curtis Axiom three lug action, so a 60 degree bolt lift.

It does slightly better with hand loads, average of around 0.35”. Best five shot group ever at 100 was 0.23”, and frankly i don’t have the skills to shoot better than that. Might well do better in the hands of a better shooter.

My favorite rifle at this time. Very happy to recommend it.

 

[Sagesniffer]

MPA makes an excellent rifle. I have around 3000 rounds threw my pmr pro in 6.5cm...time for a new barrel. The rifle shot 3/8 groups all day long with 140gr Berger hybreds or Hornady 140 gr eld-m. Powder was n555 or H4350,velocities are 2870fps. Curtis axiom action. Sending her in for a new 26 in barrel. Vortex scope 6-24-50, JP rings. Full weight kit. Loving it.600 bucks plus shipping for new polished barrel. Its a keeper!!

 

[NamibHunter]

MPA makes an excellent rifle. I have around 3000 rounds threw my pmr pro in 6.5cm...time for a new barrel. The rifle shot 3/8 groups all day long with 140gr Berger hybreds or Hornady 140 gr eld-m. Powder was n555 or H4350,velocities are 2870fps. Curtis axiom action. Sending her in for a new 26 in barrel. Vortex scope 6-24-50, JP rings. Full weight kit. Loving it.600 bucks plus shipping for new polished barrel. Its a keeper!!

Have to second that: I have three of their barrels, a 26” 8 twist 6.5 Creedmoor, a 28” 7 twist for heavy mono bullets in 300 WSM, like the 212 PVA Seneca bore bullet with a G1 BC of 0.95, approaching the performance of a heavy 375 lead core bullet. And a 30” 8 twist 300 WSM barrel for heavy lead core bullets between 200 and 250 grain.

All three of them shoot really well in one short action West Texas Switchlug system. Curtis Axiom action.

 

[Dead Eye Dick]

But how does it shoot with lighter weight projectiles?

130 Grain Norma Golden’s. Three shots (primer/powder/bullet shortages precludes shooting 5 shot groups. Mine will put 130 Berger VLD’s 130 grain Sierra Matchkings and 130 grain Norma’s into less than 3/8” all day long.

 

[Sagesniffer]

Sweet

 

[NamibHunter]

130 Grain Norma Golden’s. Three shots (primer/powder/bullet shortages precludes shooting 5 shot groups. Mine will put 130 Berger VLD’s 130 grain Sierra Matchkings and 130 grain Norma’s into less than 3/8” all day long. View attachment 7895003

Yep, for my 6.5 Creedmoor barrel, the best group ever was with a 135 Atip using RL-16, and i got multiple three shot groups that ended up just below or just above 0.20” at 100. Best group was around 0.1”. Hard to aim that small, and requires very good form, so i was likely the limiting factor. And maybe there was a degree of luck involved.

Ran out of RL-16, will revisit when powder becomes available again. Have not tried the 120’s.