Super Test II:
So Many Guns, So Little Time L.P. Brezny
indicated range. With a light benchrest setup and some gusting winds at the following position, I didn’t make any attempt at getting some kind of tight group out of the new rifl e for a photo. Rather, I wanted to break in the barrel a bit, work the action some, and obtain a basic zero for some additional work on a better day afi eld. The two-stage match trigger on
Jerome used this DPMS 243 for both varmints and big game.
made longer barrel, the AR-15 type var- mint rifl e can be a long-range delivery system of the fi rst order. Early spring was not the sort of
W
weather that most varmint hunters would care for if the targets were grass rats out on the open prairie. Snow con- ditions had come and gone with some frequency and the land was left in the state of a damp, cold environment. With the fi rst rays of the sun each day, mirage waves seemed to come right out of no- where. Tough conditions when trying to wring out a new AR-15 or any rifl e at a bit longer range than what is common for the caliber, or type of rifl e. My rifl e in this case was a special
package offered by the people at Stag Arms, a major builder of AR class rifl es today. Stag had offered to bring together their fl agship ambidextrous Model 6 Super Varminter. The rifl e has a fl at top Weaver-style mount receiver, steel tube fore-end that is free fl oated, and a me- dium heavy stainless steel barrel with a recessed muzzle crown. Add the Harris bipod system, and full M-16 style fi eld stock, and the rifl e, when empty, runs
Page 38 Spring 2012
ith a tight upper receiver, fitted action, and well-
about 9.7 lbs. with a 10-round magazine installed. In terms of sights, since the rifl e
was a full-size 10-pound rifl e I elected to use Jim Leatherwood’s Hi-Lux 3-9x40 with sniper hash marks and turret set- tings for locking in ranges out to 500 yards. The rifl e package was without question effective for the fi rst go around in fi eld testing. Stag Arms indicated that this rifl e would shoot ½ moa at 100 yards right out of the box. With its stain- less steel match barrel in 1:8" twist, I was not very worried about the performance level that this system would produce. What I liked a whole lot was that the gun sold retail at $1,000.00 complete, and it was all American-made down to the last screw. After reviewing a variety of AR-
type add-on systems and guns during the SHOT Show in Las Vegas, I can tell you that not everything for ARs is good old American built, even though the gun is “America’s Gun.” Zeroing work consisted of shoot-
ing Russian-made Wolf 223/5.56 NATO 55-grain FMJ at 100 yards, thereby setting the Leatherwood turret for a dead-on zero with the fi rst ring at that
the Stag was outstanding right from the start. Easy to control, with a smooth, crisp let-off every time a round went downrange. Now, with a zero com- pleted, I ranged a small cluster of white stones, with my Swarovski rangefi nder showing a distance of 315 yards. Re- adjusting my portable bench a few yards forward, I soon had an exact range from the muzzle of the rifl e to a 300-yard tar- get impact point. With some elevation turns on the Leatherwood, I had a quick reference when adjusting for elevation on 300-yard targets. Several rounds out and impacting on a few selected rocks clearly showed that I was now dead- zeroed at 300 yards. At more than 10 pounds loaded,
the Model 6 is a handful if you’re go- ing to take long walks in prairie dog country. I elected to do much of my work from the truck … or close to it. Hence, the term “truck rifl e” comes to mind here. Getting the Model 6 onto prairie
dogs consisted of some 300- to 375-yard shooting along a low ridgeline that al- lowed me to use the following wind as an aid to staying on target. Dogs were up and moving around small patches of old snow and the damp, early season prairie fl oor. Setting the Leatherwood glass at 9 power, the cross hairs just about covered my pop bottle-size tar- gets. Because I had nothing but wide open prairie for the next 20 miles out beyond the backstop of the dog town, I stayed with the Wolf FMJ 55-grain bul- lets as I took on my fi rst targets. Using a new Zeiss binocular de-
signed around the Victory 8x32 T series, I glassed and marked targets using fence
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