So I told myself that I would never do this again, but let's hope this thread doesn't end in flames like the last one I wrote. This review is for those who would like to know about this rifle, the scope, the scope mount, and the bipod.
First off I have Ross at PGW to thank for this beautiful rifle. It took exactly 2 months from the day I placed the order, until it arrived on my door. Great service. Also, when I decided to upgrade the bipod, Ross was again great with the service...two days to my door and he didn't even charge my credit card until two days later. Tells you the kind of business that PGW is. I must stress this for those who are looking for those companies who really know customer service.
The next thing on the list was a scope. Thanks to Jerry at Mystic Precision, and a quick review he wrote about a new scope that had just became available. It is the new Sightron SVSS 10-50x60. A bit of a monster and for me, an untried brand. I had heard good things about Sightron and I went out on a limb and trusted Jerry's expertise and decided to give one a try. Being a Nightforce fanboy, I was kind of concerned. My initial choice was the ATACS ffp offering. But since at the time, there were none available, I dove in head first with Jerry's recommendation. And again, what great service! It was received in 4 days packed like it was going to a different planet.
And lastly, I must thank Richard Near with NEAR Mfg. in Camrose, AB for the mount. Richard really went the extra mile with me. He had never mounted such a large scope on a PGW rifle, and his recommendation about how to figure out which mount I needed wasn't really working. So he invited me to his shop to have a look and see if we could come up with a solution. Five mount choices later, and we had success with one of the biggest of his offerings. A milspec 1.25 heavy mount. We spent almost three hours trying different things before we came up with what you see below. Beefy is an understatement.
So, here's the first pictures of the set-up
And a close-up of the mounting details.
So, the next thing to do was barrel break-in with a trip to the range. Those of you who saw my previous post will recall the details. I won't bore you again with them. After this initial range trip, I decided to head out to Edson's Longest Mile range to stretch her legs. Sighting in at 400m wasn't an issue. Then the move to 600m and then a kilometre. Very easy hits! The scope is very intuitive and has a fine focus adjustment that is this scope's biggest selling feature (besides the glass). Next, out to 1100m and then 1200m. While the hits weren't as numerous as the 1k distance, it was gratifying none the less. Shooting those distances with the .308 in 168gr A-Max and 175gr SMK is really cool. Three or more seconds from the bang to the splash is just so much fun! I was kind of worried when I was heading out that I didn't have a spotter with me to help. But the light recoil of the rifle and the time lag made my worries unfounded.
The rifle now has 299 rounds down the pipe. It operates flawlessly. Both mags I received work and I have had no issues with the operation of the rifle or scope. The original Harris bipod though, is a different story. It seemed to work itself loose about every 20 rounds or so. My belief is that it's just not heavy enough for this beefy set-up. That's when I decided to upgrade to the LRA Light Tactical unit. And as is the case with the rifle, scope, and mount...it is also a beast. Very easy to load and never comes loose.
So that leads me to today. I wanted to zero the scope at my known distance of 100m. I had initially done it at 100 yards and wanted to make sure it was dead on at 100m since the Longest Mile range is measured in metres. Now, I'm no competitive shooter. This is my hobby. I have become less concerned with shooting "groups" at 100/200/300 metres than I have become obsessed with much longer distance hits. But, I decided to do a few groups today at 100m just to show what measured groups could be accomplished with this set-up and a mediocre shooter...me. I shot 6 five shot groups. my average for the six groups was exactly .750". Here is the best group of the outing.
So, let's remember that I'm just a hobby shooter and groupings are just not my thing anymore. But the fun of the hit surely is!!
First off I have Ross at PGW to thank for this beautiful rifle. It took exactly 2 months from the day I placed the order, until it arrived on my door. Great service. Also, when I decided to upgrade the bipod, Ross was again great with the service...two days to my door and he didn't even charge my credit card until two days later. Tells you the kind of business that PGW is. I must stress this for those who are looking for those companies who really know customer service.
The next thing on the list was a scope. Thanks to Jerry at Mystic Precision, and a quick review he wrote about a new scope that had just became available. It is the new Sightron SVSS 10-50x60. A bit of a monster and for me, an untried brand. I had heard good things about Sightron and I went out on a limb and trusted Jerry's expertise and decided to give one a try. Being a Nightforce fanboy, I was kind of concerned. My initial choice was the ATACS ffp offering. But since at the time, there were none available, I dove in head first with Jerry's recommendation. And again, what great service! It was received in 4 days packed like it was going to a different planet.
And lastly, I must thank Richard Near with NEAR Mfg. in Camrose, AB for the mount. Richard really went the extra mile with me. He had never mounted such a large scope on a PGW rifle, and his recommendation about how to figure out which mount I needed wasn't really working. So he invited me to his shop to have a look and see if we could come up with a solution. Five mount choices later, and we had success with one of the biggest of his offerings. A milspec 1.25 heavy mount. We spent almost three hours trying different things before we came up with what you see below. Beefy is an understatement.
So, here's the first pictures of the set-up
And a close-up of the mounting details.
So, the next thing to do was barrel break-in with a trip to the range. Those of you who saw my previous post will recall the details. I won't bore you again with them. After this initial range trip, I decided to head out to Edson's Longest Mile range to stretch her legs. Sighting in at 400m wasn't an issue. Then the move to 600m and then a kilometre. Very easy hits! The scope is very intuitive and has a fine focus adjustment that is this scope's biggest selling feature (besides the glass). Next, out to 1100m and then 1200m. While the hits weren't as numerous as the 1k distance, it was gratifying none the less. Shooting those distances with the .308 in 168gr A-Max and 175gr SMK is really cool. Three or more seconds from the bang to the splash is just so much fun! I was kind of worried when I was heading out that I didn't have a spotter with me to help. But the light recoil of the rifle and the time lag made my worries unfounded.
The rifle now has 299 rounds down the pipe. It operates flawlessly. Both mags I received work and I have had no issues with the operation of the rifle or scope. The original Harris bipod though, is a different story. It seemed to work itself loose about every 20 rounds or so. My belief is that it's just not heavy enough for this beefy set-up. That's when I decided to upgrade to the LRA Light Tactical unit. And as is the case with the rifle, scope, and mount...it is also a beast. Very easy to load and never comes loose.
So that leads me to today. I wanted to zero the scope at my known distance of 100m. I had initially done it at 100 yards and wanted to make sure it was dead on at 100m since the Longest Mile range is measured in metres. Now, I'm no competitive shooter. This is my hobby. I have become less concerned with shooting "groups" at 100/200/300 metres than I have become obsessed with much longer distance hits. But, I decided to do a few groups today at 100m just to show what measured groups could be accomplished with this set-up and a mediocre shooter...me. I shot 6 five shot groups. my average for the six groups was exactly .750". Here is the best group of the outing.
So, let's remember that I'm just a hobby shooter and groupings are just not my thing anymore. But the fun of the hit surely is!!
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