Arctic Warfare project

ghostie

ghostie

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I've been saying for awhile now that I am planning to do an Arctic Warfare "project" - switiching to a longer barrel, adding a muzzlebreak, adding the handstop, getting rid of that NV rail, and basically returning it to a "military" spec, rather than the short-barrel police-type look. I had to order some parts from England. Anywhere, here is installment #1 in my "blog" about transforming my AW. Hopefully some people will find this somewhat interesting.

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(This second photo was supposed to be larger, but the CGN site shows it as the same as above)
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Items shown here: Transit case for folding stock rifle, manual, cleaning kit, Parker Hale patches, platic bore guide, bolt, AW308 rifle with 20" fluted barrel and IMUNS rail, bore brush, sling, cleaning rod, Schmidt & Bender 12-50x56mm PMII, two AW .308 10-round double stack mags, Schmidt & Bender 4-16x50mm PMII with AI one-piece mount, 7.62x51mm threaded barrel 26" long, hand-stop with sling loop, long and short ling attachments, block for mounting the PH bi-pod, Parker Hale bi-pod with rubber feet installed, Harris bi-pod, muzzlebreak, cap for muzzlebreak, hardware.

New barrel. The rubber thing is a cap for the muzzlebreak.
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Proudly made in Great Britain! :) You don't see a whole lot of that in the world of firearms these days.
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Holy crap!! Very nice Ghostie. You will like that 26 inch barrel. I love the single chamber brake you got, mine has the newer style two chamber brake. I finally did find some older style AW stocksides for mine while vacationing in Germany of all places.

Here`s a cell phone pic for now, will try to get some better ones in a few days.

 
I thought the two chamber break was supposed to be for .300 WinMag?

I really liked this photo when I first saw it. Sort of my inspiration for this thread:
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Gotta love these AI "box" photos:
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If the question above was a serious one, back in the early 1990s AI entered a rifle called the "Arctic Warfare" in the tender to provide sniper rifles to the Swedish Army. The rifle was similar to the "Precision Marksman" model provided to British Army in the 80s, but had several features designed to be used in Arctic conditions. The name stuck, later becoming famous all over the world. This is one of the Swedish rifles:
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These things are so "neat", even the Bundeswehr loves these transit case shots:
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My favorite AI photo. If this isn't the spirit of the British Military I don't know what is. Must be Kosovo or Bosnia.
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This is the type of rifle he has: Precision Marksman or L96A1 (adopted in 86, not 96, but, that`s what they call it), reproduced from a book I have. Note the green receiver, green fixed 6x S&B scope, no muzzlebreak, no adjustable cheek rest, etc. Definitely a relative of today`s AI rifles, and pretty far ahead for almost 30 years ago.
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Here's a better picture of the L96A1, showing the proper scope and mount, etc.
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Had to do a little research on the above photo. The soldier is from 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment, in Kosovo, probably in or near Pristina in June of 1999. Here are some of his comrades with different weapons:
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It is what the rifle was delivered with, I love the look of the single but the double pretty much eliminates all recoil so I will keep it for now.
 
This is great. I just saw and fell in love with wolverines 308 ai awx..almost bought it last night but I think I'll wait. But loving the 308.

Keep posting gents.
 
Stage 2 of the project:

This photo shows the right side panels taken off. The IMUNS rail has six screws in the top, and then the top part comes right off. The Harris bi-pod adapter screws into two threaded holes in the bottom of the "insert" part of the IMUNS rail.
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All four stockside pieces are now gone, and the IMUNS rail is gone too. It is removed simply by drifting out that large shiney role pin.
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Other side. You can see the obvious difference between these rifles and the AICS system or the AE rifles. The action is permanently screwed and epoxy bonded to a large aluminum block that runs almost the length of the rifle. As this is a folding stock model, there is an (incredibly robust) joint in the aluminum block.
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Now the new (original style) bi-pod mounting block has been inserted, then the front ambidexterous sling loops go in, then the silver roll pin. For this picture I put the bi-pod back on, the bolt and mag in... and that is pretty much what the rifle looks like minus the stocks. Note also that the picatinny rail is "scalloped" on the bottom near the barrel, so it comes nowhere near the barrel.
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Here is a close-up of the trigger without the stocks on. The screw directly on the trigger is the take-up. The other one is, what I would call "tension". I'm not sure what the gunsmiths actually call them.
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So, all put back together now... along with the handstop and sling. Next step... go to the gunsmith to get the new barrel on and the muzzlebreak.
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Rifle looks amazing. So what are your specs there:
AW308
26 inch barrel with a two chamber muzzle break that is also threaded on the front
older-style FDE stocksides
folding stock, quick adust cheekpiece, quick adjust butt, butt spike, picatinny rail
3-12x50 S&B PMII with cm adjustments and P3 reticle?

Have I got it pretty much right? So how does it shoot?
 
Good eye ghostie, everything right on except the S&B reticle is the P4F :)

I have it shooting right around 1/2 inch. Have so far fed it 175 SMK's and 155 Palmas. As the rifle was brand spanking new this should improve as the barrel wears in and I get more trigger time behind the rifle.

I am currently loading up 168 AMAX, 178 BTHP's, 178 AMAX, and more 155 Palmas and 175 SMK's to try out in this rifle for next week.

 
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Nice, good shooting. That seems to be about what I have done with mine as well. 1/2" at 100m and 1" at 200m. That is nothing special for a "good" group, but the AI's seem to be very consistent - in that, you get something close to that with basically every group (barring horrendous technique).

Have you tried adjusting the trigger at all? When I got my rifle, it had been evaluated by several police tactical teams, hence the night vision rail, short barrel and whatnot. The trigger was also fairly "police" in that the first stage had a fair bit of tension on it, and then it broke clean - but requiring some weight. Since I took the stocks off this week I decided to adjust the trigger to something more conducive to what I am trying to do at my local range (basically group the shots directly on top of one another at 100 and 200m), so now, it takes up real easy to a clearly discernible breakpoint, and just requires a slight squeeze to break the shot. I have never shot it like this, but I think I am curious enough that I am going to try this weekend - before taking the rifle in to be rebarrelled.

I have many times shot groups with it, using the "police" trigger, where the group is clearly suggesting that the set-up is capable of shooting better than 1/2" inch at 100m or 1" at 200m. I did shoot a 3/4" group at an honest 200m (back wall at PoCo), but that was the best I ever shot it (so far, with that trigger). The group below was at 100m and, but for that shot #5 going to the left, would have been a "best ever" for me at that distance - something like 5 shots into 3/8 of an inch at an honest 100m. With a .308 that is pretty much one ragged hole with a bit of "clover leaf" variation around the edges. I always planned to get the trigger adjusted when I barreled the rifle, so I am eager to try this with more of a "target" type trigger. It should make a difference. All my groups I am showing are with the 4-16 scope at 12 or 16 (which look almost the same at 100m). I have the 12-50 scope as well, but have not been able to improve upon those results with it - which I thought I might, but I think it is the issue of tension on the trigger - which I have now tried to remove. By the way, what I am shooting at is the cap of your standard grocery store bottle of water, traced with a felt pen. It is just over an inch diameter. Sort of puts in perspective all the guys that talk about shooting 1" groups, 1/2" groups, etc. Not a lot of room for error. Anything 1/2" or smaller is amazing in my book. And despite what their owners say, most rifles won't do it. One guy at my range, who obviously had "AI-envy" told me that I should be able to shoot 1/4" groups "easily" with my rifle. I just ignore those guys, and the ones that tell me it is pointless to have such a big heavy rifle in .308 and, if they had one (which, they never seem to) they would get one in .338 Lapua Mag. I've had the opportunity to shoot .338LapMags. Awesome rifles, but for a range gun that you shoot all afternoon? No thanks. If I want that kind of abuse I'll spend more time with my clients :) I'm going to see if I can come back with some good groups this weekend! :)
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The trigger in mine is very nice, takes very little pressure. I did some reading up on AI triggers over on Snipershide and the consensus there is to leave them alone. It does sound like yours was messed with at some point.
The guys on that site also report consistent .3 - .4 out of their AI's (and there are quite a few) but lets face it, they are alot better shot's than the two of us are I'm sure.

Hell you know they are accurate when guys are doing this with them: "Darrel Evans picked up seven trophies in 2012, all for 600yrd bench rest championships and seven small group patches for the year, for light gun custom class and the factory sporter class using his Accuracy International AW rifle. He also came second in the 100yrd championships. He shot three consecutive groups of 2″ at the start of the 600 yard competitions." - From AI news feed. http://www.accuracyinternational.com/news/?p=228


I shoot mine off the parker hale bipod using a sh!tty old rear bag setup. I have ordered a new one that should be more stable. Once I get my technique and load development sorted out I will be very happy with this rifle indeed. I love the smooth as silk 60 degree bolt throw, double stack mag, SS barrel i can change myself, no bedding and the fact that if it ever gets dropped you just pick it up, dust it off and keep shooting. Absolute tank this thing.
 
For a best so far group with it I almost had a .315" but blew the fifth round so does not count. This was with 175 SMK M118 brass 40 grains IMR4895 OAL 2.825

Cant wait to keep playing with this thing.

Ghostie I'm sure your newly adjusted trigger will yield good results, let us know how you make out.
 
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