post positions. With the fine haze associ- ated with the damp ground and early spring weather, the Zeiss optics were a real godsend to me. The ultra high optical quality of the Victory system cut through that gray dust and allowed me to confirm prairie dogs as opposed to strangely shaped rocks. At close to 400 yards, rocks in bad light do take on the look of hunched over grass rats at their midday, or in most cases all day, meal. My first attempt on a long-range
350-yard (or more) dog resulted in the sending of five rounds downrange prior to putting copper jacket and lead on target. The wind conditions were giving me fits in that I had a following wind over my shoulder, but a crosswind up along the ridge downrange. What was required was the need to dope my im- pact points based on what I was seeing with my trial and error shooting. Inter- esting, however, was that in every case if my target had been a badger, coyote, or fox, it most likely would have bought the farm with the first round down the pipe. These heavy-barreled ARs can deliver the mail, and do so with very positive accuracy. I can’t say that my first day afield
with the Stag Arms rifle went as smooth as glass. It did not. I had a single-shot rifle much of the time and that was driving me nuts. Every now and again I would get the rifle to complete a re- charging cycle, but for the most part the bolt failed to move far enough to the rear to eject the spent hull or pick up a fresh round from the magazine. My rifle was having a case of the AR blues, and I knew what needed to be done. However, the basic service work would have to wait until I could get back to my workbench and some very basic clean- ing aids. This rifle had been fired prior to being shipped to me and required some cleaning in its gas tube, action, and trig- ger group. Because I could find nothing wrong with the receiver or basic action, I figured that running some solvent through the gas system and spraying Liquid Wrench into the action would get the rifle up and shooting in short order. The next afternoon, again with
strange weather and a few dogs on the ridgeline, I again pushed a magazine into the magazine well of the Stag Model 6. Then I proceeded to go to work on the prairie dog targets. This time the system ran without a hitch, as the rifle
spit out three rounds on two separate targets. While working with some rifle designers and professional hunters who use the AR class rifle a good bit of the time, I was informed that in almost ev- ery case these hunters and shooters will run a hundred rounds or so through a new rifle just to wear in the action, and season the bore at the same time. Because being fast on the reload
is not a problem when gunning a dog town, this was not my concern, and for the most part the Stag varmint rifle was getting the job done quite well. To be very clear in terms of my test rifle, the lower receiver frame was stamped Model 15 and not Model 6. This was, I believe, because my rifle was so early out of the box that there were no receiv- ers as yet marked as Model 6 Varmint rifles. A small point indeed, but in the event a reader locates the stamping on a photo and it is different from the Model 6, this is the reason why. Evolution
in SnipEr/long rangE riflES? Before moving along to the field
review of the Model 6, I would like to take some space and cover a develop- ment by our U.S. Army in terms of a replacement for the Remington M-24 7.62 NATO sniper rifle. Because the AR class rifles have become so very good in terms of their performance records in combat, the Army is buying a large quantity of M1-10s which are, in effect, not much more than a very well-tuned varmint rig for front-line snipers. The M1-10 is equipped with a suppressed medium-weight barrel that is 20 inches long, tube fore-end with attachment points for added sights and lights, and a flat top receiver that mounts battle sights, scope (looks to be Leupold snip- er) and is set up for night vision or laser sighting in conjunction with the scope. In other words, with the exception of the suppressor, this new rifle built by Knight Arms is a dead ringer for the Remington R-15 Varmint. How’s that for a full circle event? The military is realizing that a
good rifleman behind this 20-round magazine semiauto (not full auto) can get on multiple targets in half the time of a turn bolt rifle, and take out targets with precision accuracy based on the ad- vanced production methods associated with these upgraded AR-15 designs. I have crossed into this area of military
The 2012 600 Yard IBS Matches
are almost here!
Regular Matches: #1 May 12 #2 May 13 #4 Sept. 8
State Championship: #3 July 27
Club Championship #5 Sept. 9
For rules and info:
VarmintHunter.org 800-528-4868
* Schedule is subject to change.
www.varminthunter.org Page 39
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