Thank you for the attention to our little entre into the Production Rifle class, gents. This is a massive project for me/PVA. Some have accused me of "slapping together a rifle and now it's in Production" however I can say to the contrary that this rifle is anything but slapped together. Though I can see why, as some of the competition within the production class certainly seems "phoned in" and done without depth of thought or preparation to it.
My vision was to create a rifle for folks that they can purchase, mount a scope and go to the range in every sense of the word. It's actually "competition ready" as opposed to just paying lip service to that phrase. Our competition in the market is going to grow, others are going to do this, but everyone else now has to answer "Is it going to outshoot the John Hancock" and "Are your barrels better than the John Hancock"
We put every dollar we possibly could into the quality of parts and the quality of manufacturing on this. So much so that almost anything not regulated by the rules is cut out so that we can put more $$ value into the rifle. That means no magazine, no muzzle brake, special paint. All that can be added and still maintain the rule book. Instead we are using the best barrel blanks in the production market right now. Believe me, I spent thousands on barrel blanks all year long from several suppliers and then when we had it down to Rock Creek we STILL worked with them to create a barrel that is better than any other OEM barrel blank that they've produced for any of our competitors. Our closest competitor in that aspect doesn't put a lapped blank on the rifle. Not even machine lapped, just not at all lapped. By comparison ours are getting lapped and normalized twice. That costs money, the cost of the hand lapping could pay for an AICS magazine. But the AICS magazine isn't regulated by the rules so we put the dollars into the barrel where it needs to be for performance.
The new line of button rifled Savage prefits that was announced here last month by
@padom is the same specification barrel that we are using on the John Hancock. It's not an accident that the barrels for Savage, Remage, etc prefits are coming out. We have not entered the market before because the level of quality in OEM barrels simply wasn't up to our standards to put our name on it. The close relationship with Rock Creek has afforded us an avenue to create a championship winning OEM rifle barrel. The barrel I used to win 2 MDSS matches and the MDSS Season Finale was this spec barrel.
@padom is getting group sizes in the 0.2/0.3 range with the barrel I asked him to wring out for me. His SD's over 30 rounds are 4-5! That's the quality we put into the chambering work and the quality that Rock Creek puts into their rifle barrel work. It's not an accident that we use their cut rifled barrels and it's no accident that their OEM barrels are so damn good. They don't make trash and they stand behind everything.
The same with the receiver, the stock and the trigger. I wanted to work with American companies to bring a product to market that every piece for each vendor would be proud to say "We are involved in that." I have great respect for the folks at Timney Triggers, Kinetic Research Group and American Rifle Company. Ted made me the action that I've wanted for years. He stepped up, he bet a big investment to make this happen and he listened and provided a unique solution in many ways. The commitment each of the companies has put forth is real and it's our pleasure to work with them on this rifle.
I've been asked, why the name? Here's what I put out in our press release on the website:
The name was chosen due the significance of his role in the American Revolution and his actions leading to signing the Declaration of Independence.
There is a popular story that most of us were probably taught in history class that Mr. Hancock signed the DoI so prominently such that "King George would be able to read it without his spectacles." Historians have managed to disprove the story and it's just an urban legend although a darn good one.
We chose the name for the rifle because of Mr. Hancock's actions against the tyranny levied against the American Colonies in the 1760's. He was one of the wealthiest men in the American Colonies at the time and by all conventional thinking he could have profited and kept to himself by towing the line for the British Crown. Yet when they levied taxes and began searching ships without warrants he stood his ground in the face of unlawful search and unjust prosecution. (Reference The Townsend Acts and the Liberty Affair). He pledged large sums of personal fortune towards supporting the revolution and the rebellion. His financial support was a not insignificant piece of what kept the rebellion alive in the years leading to the Boston Tea Party, the Continental Congress, and eventually our War of Independence.
He is largely known today for being the man with the flamboyant signature but without him we may have a quite different history as a country. He stood for what he thought was the right thing to do, he stood as an American.
Patriot Valley Arms is a proudly American company with a 100% American rifle. We are located in the Brandywine Valley in southeast Pennsylvania. Shortly our new facility will be located on the Brandywine itself, not far from one of the more important battles in the American Revolution. Mr. Hancock inspires us to challenge the establishment. It is our privilege to honor his legacy in this way.
What barrel profile is that.
It’s ugly lol. I have no idea why but the step down from the chamber doesn’t look right.
It's probably like a parent looking at a kid and thinking "my child isn't ugly..." but I have to admit, that picture is not flattering. It's also snapped from a cell phone in 17F snow just outside my shop door while I'm shivering so I could show a mockup photo of the rifle for folks that are not familiar with what it would look like.
That is a medium palma contour, normally the contour is buried down inside a stock or a taller wall of a chassis but that's the way it goes on a Bravo. Keep in mind that there is also no scope, rings, etc tacked on that rifle in the photo. If you pull that stuff off anything else it is going to look similar.
That pic probably doesn’t do it much justice. I’ll bet that once it’s decked out with a good scope, bipod, and all the other goodies, it’ll be one sexy bitch that’s sure to be a shooter! Are those KRG chassis compatible with their bipod spigot mounts?
Thanks, it's not a great pic, it's just a mock up and it has been darn cold here...
The KRG Bravo takes their spigot mounts for ARCA and PIC rail attachments. It also comes with MLok slots molded into the chassis skins and it has the option of getting an ARCA mount plate for ARCA accessories. The ARCA mount plate, I am told, kicks it from Production Class.
Not much detail on any options, I would like one of these in a light palma profile. I'm trying to build a rifle that I don't mind carrying in the mountains but I need to lay off the Scendero/HV/Med Palma profiles. I like everything about them until I spend the day carrying one.
I don't mean this to come across as obstinate, so please bear with me as I'll explain as much as I can why the options are limited in the manner shown.
The options are fixed out of necessity for making this meet the rules of a production class rifle. You can get a barreled action from us using the same action, just not branded as a John Hancock. We've turned down probably 20-25 people that want custom calibers, custom barrel lengths, let's just change the stock, but but but.... sorry. This is a production rifle and I must adhere to the standards as agreed upon with the PRS Rules Committee. We at PVA are not going to deviate from that agreement and jeopardize the eligibility of the entire project.
There will not be any JHR branded anything out there that is not a fully production class legal setup when it leaves from us. All barrels for OEM eligibility will be marked as explained above, there will not be any NUCLEUS receivers that are configured with the stock, barrel, etc such that it could be confused for an OEM class rifle. The JHR model rifle is ONLY setup for the specific options because it must adhere to the rules. Owners are free to do whatever they want to them but the rules are very specific that modification from factory configuration produces ineligiblity. Just like buying a Rem 700 5R and having the muzzle threaded or putting an aftermarket barrel on it, the rifle is no longer considered a production rifle.
Alternately, as some folks have already elected to do, they are buying the complete John Hancock and ordering non-OEM replacement barrels to get exactly the barrel and caliber they want for use outside of Production Class. The Hancock barrels for OEM replacement are being engraved "The John Hancock" on them to delineate their eligibility for use in PRS Production competition.
We can certainly make you an LP barrel to go on it in any caliber and length you want but you won't be able to use it in Production class.
We will be making NUCLEUS barrels that will fit directly onto the JHR but they will be engraved differently and will not be eligible for the Production Class. In fact we've already sold about 3 dozen of them, but they're clearly not going to be allowed within the OEM replacement protocols.
