Re: PWS MK114
Finally got out for some trigger time on mine this AM. Temp 25 degrees, windy as hell, and I ffffrreakin' ffffffroze. Platform is a standard MK114 in FDE with a Geisselle SSA Combat trigger.
There's not much you can add to DMack's excellect review and I didn't experience any previously reported issues. Receiver halves fit tight and feel solid. I pre-lubed everything since it was delivered somewhat dry and everything felt slick and smooth.
I was limited to bench shooting today but sucked it up just to get a close zero on the optics...I'm not convinced I'm sticking these so I wasn't after a gnats-ass zero. I first mounted an Eotech with 3X magnifier and once on paper was able to group 2 inches @ 100 yds. Given the level of precision <span style="font-style: italic">available</span> from a EOTech I was more than happy with that.
Recoil? I almost can't call it that. I was shooting off my pack with pretty much just the weight of the weapon holding it in place and you certainly don't have to worry about catching an ocular in the forehead. Rifle barely moves and I can tell this rig will be a dream to shoot unsupported. Next I mounted a Loopy MKIV M3. As you can tell I was having too much fun to notice I was cooking the top of my bag...
Once I had a close enough zero I shot the top left 3-shot group, then overcorrected and shot the bottom right group. I should mention here that I was fffffreakin' fffffreezing, downright shivering, and I couldn't feel my fingers so I'm impressed with that...
I then moved to the next target for a 5-shot group. The stray at the top was from a different string during initial zero...
Up until this point I was shooting 60gr Hornady TAP and it's a safe assumption that it really likes this ammo. After the 1st 20 rnds it felt a little tight extracting an unfired round so I gave the chamber a quick swabbing. I didn't feel the need to repeat this after this one time.
I then tried some XM193 and Fiocchi Match 69gr and it didn't like either of those and pretty much sprayed them around 3moa. Given it was all I had left I decided to just pump some rounds through it to warm it up and run some thermals after a few mag dumps.
Now this range is not rapid fire friendly but I dumped 30 rnds at 3 sec intervals followed by another at slightly faster at 1 second between. In this 1st thermograph you can see the chamber. Note the spotmeter won't even lock on it and zeroes in on the barrell. Note to the left of the spotmeter you can see the rail area where the piston resides. This was the biggest surprise in that the piston doesn't get very hot...
The hottest thing I gould find was the barrell about 4 inches forward of the chamber...
This stand-off was within 3 minutes of the last and I just put it up for an overall look at heat dispersion patterns. It was so damn cold the rifle was cooling rapidly. You can see the lower span reading in the lower left corner which is likely several degrees above ambient...
Given that I had no rest other than my bag I didn't get too fancy with the thermals since I only have 2 hands. I tried to get a shot of the piston areas but there was simply nothing to see....the piston simply didn't really heat up and even the gas block was relatively cool. I ran the thermals after about 140-ish rounds with minimum cool down once I found zero.
Overall I'm extremely happy with it and I can see that its really going to shine when used in its element...<span style="text-decoration: underline">off</span> of the bench. Weigh/balance feels perfect for me and there's none of the front-heaviness you hear about with some piston systems.
All I can say in summary is that it's a <span style="font-style: italic">whole lotta badass</span> for such a small package. Nice work PWS and thanks DMack for the recommendation!