I too, would like to hear sum feed back, as I am looking for a higher end take town, for a travel rifle, I looked at the Sauer, Merkel, Mauser early this year, but have put it off for now, as relocating overseas for a couple years,
Any Merkel RX Helix owners here?
- Thread starter Dmitri
- Start date
Yes, i pulled that trigger in February, and just received it two weeks ago. It was a very long wait.. but it's worth it. I will write a review in a week or two, when I get a chance to shoot it.. as for first thoughts, I'm impressed.
I'm not an owner, but in case you care, my 2 cents.
This is a merkel helix reciever:
Take a look at it and imagine a gear on the bolt handle going on these teeth. There is a 2:1 ration, such that the length of the bolt travel is a half of the bolt travel. The fallout of this is that the force on the bolt handle needs to be greater. In case of the stuck or stubborn feed it will be harder for you to apply additional pressure. The condition of the teeth and gear will greatly influence the feel of the action, people said that new helixes have different feel from rifle to rifle.
Secondly, it might be immediately apparent that that the action is very sensitive to the dust and dirt. The bolt cutout is the perfect place to feed junk into the teeth and the gear mechanism. A gear like that is much easier to jam with a bit of sand or whatever you might get by walking in a bush. Most importantly you will have zero chance to know if the action is clean until you cycle it. For the take down procedure AND for the bolt head change procedure you are not taking out the action, such that it is not a normal disassembly of a helix to even take the receiver apart.
Scope is mounted to the reciever, which is aluminum (bolt lock to the barrel directly) no matter what Merkel claim you zero can shift with a barrel in and out of a the rifle.
Forearm is a sliding forward separate piece. There is a small latch to hold it in place. But there is no way you can mount a bipod on it - the very front is too delicate, and middle is taken by the latch and the rod from the barrel retention mechanism.
Having said all that - Helix is a neat, nice to handle, fast, quality euro hunting rifle. It is designed to be short to medium light to carry fast to operate rifle for the people who usually hunt in europe (mostly rich, not extremely skilled, occasional hunters) The ease of travel and legal restriction are more important than reliability. From outside it looks very simple, nothing moves out of the back, everything closed and hidden. In case something goes wrong you send it to manufacturer (inside a euro borders) and they fix it all.
In Canada it seems to me it is neither too fast (vs semi auto) nor too accurate (against even most of custom hunting rifles, not to mention precision rigs), neither too cheap ( $3k+ ) nor serviceable (good luck finding any part of it or even someone who knows this clockwork). Resale value extremely questionable.
But if you know all that and still want it, I have no doubt you will enjoy it quite a lot.
This is a merkel helix reciever:
Take a look at it and imagine a gear on the bolt handle going on these teeth. There is a 2:1 ration, such that the length of the bolt travel is a half of the bolt travel. The fallout of this is that the force on the bolt handle needs to be greater. In case of the stuck or stubborn feed it will be harder for you to apply additional pressure. The condition of the teeth and gear will greatly influence the feel of the action, people said that new helixes have different feel from rifle to rifle.
Secondly, it might be immediately apparent that that the action is very sensitive to the dust and dirt. The bolt cutout is the perfect place to feed junk into the teeth and the gear mechanism. A gear like that is much easier to jam with a bit of sand or whatever you might get by walking in a bush. Most importantly you will have zero chance to know if the action is clean until you cycle it. For the take down procedure AND for the bolt head change procedure you are not taking out the action, such that it is not a normal disassembly of a helix to even take the receiver apart.
Scope is mounted to the reciever, which is aluminum (bolt lock to the barrel directly) no matter what Merkel claim you zero can shift with a barrel in and out of a the rifle.
Forearm is a sliding forward separate piece. There is a small latch to hold it in place. But there is no way you can mount a bipod on it - the very front is too delicate, and middle is taken by the latch and the rod from the barrel retention mechanism.
Having said all that - Helix is a neat, nice to handle, fast, quality euro hunting rifle. It is designed to be short to medium light to carry fast to operate rifle for the people who usually hunt in europe (mostly rich, not extremely skilled, occasional hunters) The ease of travel and legal restriction are more important than reliability. From outside it looks very simple, nothing moves out of the back, everything closed and hidden. In case something goes wrong you send it to manufacturer (inside a euro borders) and they fix it all.
In Canada it seems to me it is neither too fast (vs semi auto) nor too accurate (against even most of custom hunting rifles, not to mention precision rigs), neither too cheap ( $3k+ ) nor serviceable (good luck finding any part of it or even someone who knows this clockwork). Resale value extremely questionable.
But if you know all that and still want it, I have no doubt you will enjoy it quite a lot.
This is spot on ^^^^^
Very good points. If I win the lottery, sure, I'll buy on, otherwise I'll stick with my vanguard!
H.K.Glock 007
Regular
- Location
- 6 Feet from the Elks a$$! MB
More MERKEL! More more more!
