Back in May and June Wolverine had a used AW on their website. I stared at that thing long enough that I convinced myself I had to have it. The round count was 1,650, which apparantly is barely a break in on this barrel. Later when I recieved the rifle I learned that this rifle was a demo which had been sent to various police agencies and evaluated. I was cool with that though. It is an interesting history. The log book (round count book) shows that it spent some time with the OPP TRU, and others. It has a few scuff marks on it, but very minor, and mechanically it has very low miles on it. The only thing that was really scuffed up was the OD green aluminum transit case, which I am in the process of cleaning up and getting all the courier stickers off.
Wolverine sold it for $4,999. The one-piece AI mount (not included) was $199. The S&B 4-16x50 PMII scope I had from a previous project, and is worth/costs about $3,000 - so with taxes and shipping I have about $8,900 into this set-up. Ouch! If it doesn`t shoot well.... Ouch!
I don`t know what it would cost to buy everything new... but it did include a few extras like the aluminum transit case, the bi-pod, the night vision rail, the butt spike, the Harris bi-pod adapter, etc.
By the way, this is the 20 inch fluted barrel. Wolverine quoted me prices for all the other barrels that are available. They are all like $1,000-$1,200. I like the barrel that is on there though. It is very thick, and seems to be thicker than the 24 and 26 inch barrels which are available. Unlike with the larger calibres, there are no longer fluted barrels available from AI in .308. The only fluted barrel is the 20 inch. The only one you can get a muzzle break for is the 26 inch (unless you go aftermarket).
These things are pricey at the best of times, so even being used I put it on layaway for 90 days, and paid it out by the end of September. It showed up last week, and I shot it for the first time last Saturday. Let me just say... I was very impressed. It seems you do get what you pay for with these. Using the one-piece AI mount I didn't have to sight it in for windage at all. The whole thing just lined up right out of the box. I adjusted for elevation at 100m and sighted-in in about 3 shots! That was the quickest sight-in I've ever been through. I brought up a bunch of that American Eagle "El Cheapo" 155gr. stuff, because I thought I was going to use more than a few rounds sighting in.
One of my buddies, who is a range officer at my range, stops by... "So how's it shooting?" And I say, I'm just using the American Eagle, but it is looking really good so far. "How's it group with American Eagle?" I think it is going to be about dime size at 100. "With American Eagle?" Yep.
I know, talk is cheap, but I`ll post some group stuff soon. I had some 165gr. Nosler ammo with me too, and it was shooting even better with that. At 200m it was shooting ragged holes, and I was having no trouble dropping the rounds into the centre of 1 inch circles traced on paper at 200m. I love my Steyrs but, honestly, this rifle is much easier to get the results with (it also damn near twice as heavy, and three times as expensive, and I suppose that is why there is a market for everything). I know these rifles are meant to shoot at much longer distances, but we only have a 200m range at my regular range, so I`ll have to go somewhere else to try any further. I reload as well, but I rarely have much time to work on that. I`m usually going to the gun store on Saturday morning to buy ammo because I haven`t had a minute to do it all week. I might get some time to reload this winter if work lets up a bit.
The thing is a total tank. Very, very heavy. But that seems to be part of what makes them accurate. In my research, what really sold me on this design vs. some of the other ones I was looking at was the fact that - rather than bedded - the action is actually permanently bolted and bonded to an aluminum block which runs the length of the rifle. This photo is from the AI website, but shows what they look like under the hood:
That system made a ton of sense to me, based on my experience with other rifles. One-piece mount - onto a factory set-up pic rail on the reciever - reciever is permanently bonded to the aluminim block - and the bi-pod is mounted to the aluminum block. Solid. Solid. Solid.
Anyway here are some pics:
Video:
I`m still learning how to shoot this thing. I`ve already learned that I need the scope mount moved back about one notch, or the length of pull decreased. I think the friction lock is something I`m going to be interested in as well for the bi-pod (as I am more used to Harris bi-pods tighted up).
Wolverine sold it for $4,999. The one-piece AI mount (not included) was $199. The S&B 4-16x50 PMII scope I had from a previous project, and is worth/costs about $3,000 - so with taxes and shipping I have about $8,900 into this set-up. Ouch! If it doesn`t shoot well.... Ouch!
I don`t know what it would cost to buy everything new... but it did include a few extras like the aluminum transit case, the bi-pod, the night vision rail, the butt spike, the Harris bi-pod adapter, etc.
By the way, this is the 20 inch fluted barrel. Wolverine quoted me prices for all the other barrels that are available. They are all like $1,000-$1,200. I like the barrel that is on there though. It is very thick, and seems to be thicker than the 24 and 26 inch barrels which are available. Unlike with the larger calibres, there are no longer fluted barrels available from AI in .308. The only fluted barrel is the 20 inch. The only one you can get a muzzle break for is the 26 inch (unless you go aftermarket).
These things are pricey at the best of times, so even being used I put it on layaway for 90 days, and paid it out by the end of September. It showed up last week, and I shot it for the first time last Saturday. Let me just say... I was very impressed. It seems you do get what you pay for with these. Using the one-piece AI mount I didn't have to sight it in for windage at all. The whole thing just lined up right out of the box. I adjusted for elevation at 100m and sighted-in in about 3 shots! That was the quickest sight-in I've ever been through. I brought up a bunch of that American Eagle "El Cheapo" 155gr. stuff, because I thought I was going to use more than a few rounds sighting in.
One of my buddies, who is a range officer at my range, stops by... "So how's it shooting?" And I say, I'm just using the American Eagle, but it is looking really good so far. "How's it group with American Eagle?" I think it is going to be about dime size at 100. "With American Eagle?" Yep.
I know, talk is cheap, but I`ll post some group stuff soon. I had some 165gr. Nosler ammo with me too, and it was shooting even better with that. At 200m it was shooting ragged holes, and I was having no trouble dropping the rounds into the centre of 1 inch circles traced on paper at 200m. I love my Steyrs but, honestly, this rifle is much easier to get the results with (it also damn near twice as heavy, and three times as expensive, and I suppose that is why there is a market for everything). I know these rifles are meant to shoot at much longer distances, but we only have a 200m range at my regular range, so I`ll have to go somewhere else to try any further. I reload as well, but I rarely have much time to work on that. I`m usually going to the gun store on Saturday morning to buy ammo because I haven`t had a minute to do it all week. I might get some time to reload this winter if work lets up a bit.
The thing is a total tank. Very, very heavy. But that seems to be part of what makes them accurate. In my research, what really sold me on this design vs. some of the other ones I was looking at was the fact that - rather than bedded - the action is actually permanently bolted and bonded to an aluminum block which runs the length of the rifle. This photo is from the AI website, but shows what they look like under the hood:
That system made a ton of sense to me, based on my experience with other rifles. One-piece mount - onto a factory set-up pic rail on the reciever - reciever is permanently bonded to the aluminim block - and the bi-pod is mounted to the aluminum block. Solid. Solid. Solid.
Anyway here are some pics:
Video:
I`m still learning how to shoot this thing. I`ve already learned that I need the scope mount moved back about one notch, or the length of pull decreased. I think the friction lock is something I`m going to be interested in as well for the bi-pod (as I am more used to Harris bi-pods tighted up).
