Mossberg patriot synthetic cerakote rifles

Hollow Point said:
anyone have any of these rifles? how do they shoot? hows the fit and finish?
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I have one that I keep for the kids to use hunting. I think I paid maybe $430 at P&D this spring.

The fit and finish is excellent!

The fluting on the bolt and barrel is a nice touch in such a budget rifle. Mossberg used to use the howa 1500 action and it’s clear that they’ve taken some design cues from their experience there. The receiver has a flat bottom and a recoil lug similar to the howa except that it’s sandwiched between the barrel and receiver rather than being integrated. The bolt is similar is shape to the howa as well and the rear end of the bolt is easily twisted off which allows you to remove the entire firing pin for field cleaning. Nice! Where it differs, is the howa has a solid bolt including handle. On the patriot, the handle is brazed on and the bolt head is floated, meaning it’s a separate piece. Be careful when you field strip the bolt because the firing pin retains the cross bolt which in turn retains the bolt head. Reassembly is easy but be sure to catch those pieces. The extractor is changed from the excellent Sako style found in that Howa to the cheaper ball and detent style found in savages and remingtons.

The found the stock to be stiff “enough” for such a budget gun. The bracing inside the stock uses an X pattern and is fairly rigid. I find the barrel to be free floated and won’t touch the stock when using a bipod. However,if using a sling for off-hand support it likely will apply enough pressure to cause barrel contact.

I used some Talley lightweight one piece mounts and found the alignment to be “okay” meaning that the factory drilled holes were aligned well and the receiver was not warped. That’s a lot more than I can say for some rifles.

The magazine loads unbelievably easily and the rounds just push in the top like an internal box magazine. They don’t need to be slid in from the front like some. Further, the magazine is almost magically drawn into the firearm and snaps in easily and authoritatively. It’s truly wonderful. Using the the magazine well as a kind of in between bedding material between the stock and receiver may help with this. It’s a good idea but be careful follow the torque specs. If you go farmer right here, that intermediary plastic magazine well will not survive.

The recessed crown is quite nice!

There are some weak points:

The magazine is a wonder as described above but it’s not, in my experience, as reliable as an internal box magazine. I have found that if the round is not quite pushed far enough back or if the bolt is operated too lightly/slowly the round can go nose up and jam against the chamber face. However, if the magazine is loaded correctly and the bolt is operated with reasonable speed and strength, this doesn’t happen. Something to consider for a new shooter who may not be attentive when loading and may not work the bolt with authority or who may let the bolt ride forward and pull it back at some point which may cause the same issue. I could also see it being a problem if the shooter has “buck fever” and short strokes or similar. There are much more reliable feeding firearms.

My copy is 7mm08.

The trigger is sort of a negative. From the factory it was set to 3lbs and a quick turn of a screw had it at 2.5 in moments. That sounds great but it does have a touch of creep. If you’re squeezing it slowly, you can feel and see it move 1/100th before pausing briefly and then completing its travel. That creep isn’t to my taste but honestly when shooting at targets in various field positions rather than from the bench, I stopped noticing it. It’s pretty good. The creep is similar to what you might find in a ruger American or many accutriggers. It’s quite light. I think it’s fair to say you won’t find as nice a trigger in its price class.

It’s like they took the basic design of the howa 1500 they were using and streamlined it to be manufactured more cheaply: barrel nut, sandwiched recoil lug, ball and detent extractor, floating bolt head, etc. They kept a lot of good elements too like the field strippable bolt, and flat bottom receiver. The trigger is easily replaced with a Timney or similar using a single screw just like the howa.

All in all, it’s alright. For the price: it’s better than a savage axis or ruger American. The fit and finish on my cerakote (grey) synthetic is good! The machining seems alright.

If I were buying for myself, it would be a model 70 or w vanguard s2. Both have solid base machined receiver with integrate recoil lugs, no barrel nuts. The model 70 has a crf design of course with a blade ejector and while the vanguard (or howa) has a plunger style ejector at least it has a sako style extractor and a one piece bolt that is easily field strippable. The trigger on the m70 and s2 vanguard are far superior with no perceptible creep.

Buuuuut I didn’t buy mine for me. I bought it for the kids. It’s excellent for that. For $430 you get what seems to be a nicely (enough) finished rifle that seems like it will be hard wearing and that you won’t cry over it taking a tumble. If you hunt in cold weather the field strippable bolt is a huge advantage over the axis or American. Cerakoting at that price is a stunning thing. My 11 year old son was shooting it at the range this weekend and it got wet when weather rolled in. No problem. Oh? And the accuracy? My son printed a couple of three shot groups that could be covers by a loonie at 100m. Not bad, especially given the very heavy wind.

It’s definitely an entry level rifle and if buying for yourself, you’ll get more long term enjoyment out of spending another $300 at least. But for kids to grown into or a gun to lend out to new hunters - it’s a fine rifle. I can’t say I regret the purchase for its intended purpose. I can send some pics along if you PM me.
 
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My SIL has one in 25-06 and i have shot it a few times, it wont "one hole" its rounds but very close clover leaf at 100 yrds....I was very impressed with it as a very usable rifle....the price point makes it a wonderful choice for a new shooter getting into the game I think.
 
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