accuracy, only now it closed down to 1/2 MOA in all three. It’s important to remember here that in normal conditions I can hold 1/3MOA with the Remy. Given this was my first shoot with the SRS and I wasn’t used to its balance, I believe the 1/4MOA claim from DTA. There are no pictures of my groups because the drizzle made my targets look like something fished out of the local canal!
I have already discussed some of the consequences of scrunching everything up into the buttstock – the butt-heavy balance and heavy recoil – but there is another aspect of the design that I have not touched on yet – the placement of the bolt relatively far back and its effect on cycling.
Because of this cycling feels strange - at first - but it’s not uncomfortable and I quickly settled into this aspect of the rifle’s behavior. After a few rounds, it began to feel pretty natural. The action cycles flawlessly if it’s treated with a bit of discipline and the only jam I got was my fault for being too limp with it. The short, rearward cycling is very nice if you are shooting prone but I didn’t find it comfortable sitting or kneeling and found it quite difficult when standing. My conclusion is that the balance and bolt placement of this rifle constrain it to being a prone stick.
The rest of the layout is fine. The pistol-grip is comfortable and the ambi. safety is in a natural place and easy to flick on and off. The cut-out in the trigger blade is sexy. If you know what I mean (group therapy sessions are being arranged).
The magazines are single-stack and are currently only available in a 5 round option (DTA assure me there is a 10-round magazine in the pipeline). They clunk-click into position reassuringly and drop out smoothly with a push of the ambi-release (which is sensibly positioned on both sides of the butt). The 308 magazine is quite long; the reason being is that the chassis has to cope with everything from 243 – 338. Consequently the magazine- well is built to cope with the largest caliber. The solution was to make all the mags. the same length but internally partition the ones holding shorter rounds.
16 Target Shooter
Owning to the fact that the action has to cope with different calibers and some calibers share the same bolt, the position of the rounds are indexed in the magazine by the shoulder. The bolt itself is a complex piece of kit and is beautifully engineered - it is just as impressive as the legendary AIAW’s.
It has three paired lugs at the chamber end, and a sleeved mechanism at the back. Given that the quick-change barrel set-up relies on the barrel head-spacing off the bolt, I assume the paired lugs ensure the repositioned barrel is accurately indexed.
After spending a good two hours shooting these three side by side (and losing three pints of blood to the midges) I have to say they are all impressive in their own way. The AIAW is fool proof – any idiot could shoot good groups with it - and I did but, I hate the trigger. The Remy feels like a tailor-made suit, it’s an extension of your body but, like that suit, it’s vulnerable to the big outdoors. The SRS is compact and pin-hole accurate but is butt-heavy and exaggerates felt recoil.
This was the first time I have shot a large caliber bullpup and it was up against stiff opposition. The more I shot it, the more natural it felt and, I suspect this will be the experience of many people who get a chance to play with one. It provides a new shooting experience in terms of how you manage the gun’s balance. Some will like it, some won’t. I enjoyed shooting it and would jump at the chance to shoot one again but have still to be convinced that I will find the heavy butt attractive.
DTA have built an exceptional rifle and, in retrospect, the price tag is quite reasonable given the impressive engineering that has gone into this gun. I didn’t get a chance to remove and re-fit the barrel but from the build quality elsewhere I would bet that DTA’s claims of robust indexing are true. Given what I have seen and judging from sales in the States, I suspect we will be seeing quite a few of these beautifully built rifles at comps around the country once they start landing in the UK in numbers.
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