Nice rifle. I have a ton of questions. It will probably take me awhile to think of them all, but let me start with this: does it look like the picatinny rail on top of the receiver is slid into an 11mm dovetail and then screwed down, or is it mounted some other way? What I describe is the way the old (AW) rifles were done. If you wanted dovetail, that is how the receivers were finished anyway, and if you wanted picatinny then they bought these rails made by Brugger & Thommet in Switzerland that slide onto the dovetail, and then they were epoxy bonded and screwed in for a permanent (or close to it) bond. You can also buy the rail yourself and mount it on a dovetail receiver. I don't think you have to epoxy it, but that is what they did at the factory. A lot of the old-time AI guys (in the U.S., U.k., etc.) seem to swear by the dovetail as the simplest, most repeatable (in terms of hold zero when removing and replacing the scope) system ever devised. But, times have changed, picatinny is what NATO militaries use and so do all the civy products.
So my question is, they seem to be doing something different with the rail on these AT's - are they? Is your scope a 5-25x56mm PMII? It looks like your rail height is designed to line up with the night vision bracket.
In this picture, the top one is my AW. It has the "dovetail"-type receiver. It is showing a 12-50x56mm PMII. The guy I bought it from had those "extra high" rings, to line up with a night vision bracket. I don't want that, so I have been waiting for a "normal" 45MOA mount for the 11mm dovetail. Should be here fairly soon. I also ordered the folding rear sight, which - like all things AW - is still just barely available now... but is about to fade into history... like the dovetail and the AW itself. The flip-up rear sight is only for the dovetail.
The rifle below is my old one which I sold, and it shows the picatinny rail, and sitting there is a 3-12x50mm PMII. The height of the rail is lower, but if you were going to line up with a night vision bracket you would need higher rings (those are "normal" 18MOA rings there). It is one or the other in terms of lining up with an NV bracket - the rail or the rings must be higher.
I would really love to see all the "guts" of the AT rifle. The bolt, the receiver with the skins off, how the barrel comes off, etc., etc. If you have time and are into it, show us the pics. I understand it share a lot of common features with the AW. More so than the AE. The AW is a flat-bottom receiver which is permanently bolted and epoxy bonded to the aluminum block that runs the length of the rifle. The AX is similar, except that the block doesn't extend as far forward. The AE was a round receiver in a "v-notch" (similar to a Remmington 700 in an AICS stock). I'm curious as to exactly what these AT's are in the lineage of AI. It certainly looks a lot like the AW receiver, bolt, etc. from the outside, but with the "field" removable barrel.
I hopefully will have this AW the way I want it soon, and will post pics.
any plans on some switch barrels?
