I have been looking for a handy mag fed bolt action 308 whose price wont break the bank. Something to medium game hunt and punch paper with. I bought the new Mossberg MVP Predator 308. My initial impressions is that it fits the role I intended. With some nice features and a few draw backs.

This MVP came with the 18.5" 1X10 twist, 7.62 chamber, end fluted, slightly recessed crown, heavy barrel. Although I'd call it more of a heavy sporter barrel as its not as heavy of a profile as my Remington 700 heavy barrel. The stock and receiver have a nice fit. The barrel is free floating. There are metal pillars inside the plastic action block/mag well. Probably the main negative is the plastic block/mag well. Time will tell how well it holds up. The trigger guard is plastic also. There are feed ramps cut into the receiver. A little ruff and may need to be polished. The fluted bolt/action operation is quite loose. Don't know if it has to do with functioning for the different mags it can use or if its just what you get from a $500 rifle. The bolt locks up tight when in battery. Seems to feed well enough.



It comes with their LBA adjustable trigger. Pretty nice feel and clean break for the money.



The MVP does takes M1A and DPMS style mags. You can see from this pic there are mag catch points on the side for DMPS style and front for M1A style. Both are activated by the same mag release button and release freely. Pretty neat design.


The rifle comes with a Mossberg 10rd mag (seen above). Their mag has the mag catch holes both front and side. I read that the DPMS style mags are a little loose fitting and the M1A fit better. Since I didn't have either I'm going with the M1A style and I'm happy I did. The M1A mags fit very nice. Very little play and drop freely. I think the rear tab on the M1A mags help. The M1A mag also rides a bit higher in the action than the Mossberg mag. I can see that the bolt face makes more contact with next round. Also, the M1A mag follower acts as a bolt stop when empty.  I think 20rd mags are too long to be practical on a bolt gun. The M1A 15rd mags (seen below) are about perfect.



I'm working on some hand loads over this weekend for it. Should have a range report on Monday.

In for range report

Interested in this thread. Almost pulled the trigger on the .223 version, but think I will hold out for the .308..

Got out to the range today. It was a beautiful 45degrees here in Michigan. Slight breeze 5-10mph. The above rifle has a Leupold 2-7x33 scope on it. Not the one I hope to have as I want a 3-10x or 4-12x but its all I have right now. I took it off my muzzleloader which I wont need again till November.

I cleaned the barrel after every shot for the first 10, then after every 3. I have to say the rifle surprised me. I was hoping for 1-2" groups for my first time out and I got <1" with Hornady TAP 168gr VMax. I didn't have any 168 or 180 grain bullets on hand for my reloads. I had to settle with 150gr Hornady Interlock SP and IMR4064, loaded to Hornady published length. Will be using a chamber gage this week and hope to start tweeking the reloads with some better bullets.

I mounted the scope on the Mossberg and just eye balled down the bore to bore sight it. To my surprise I shot this 3 shot group with shots 2,3, and 4 at 50yards with the Hornady Interlock 150gr handloads. Happy with that I moved to 100yrds.


The 150gr Interlock groups opened up to about 1-1.5" at 100yards. My best was 1.150". The TAP rounds did better as expected. This 3 shot group was .895" at 100yrds with the Hornady TAP 168gr.


All and all I'm quite pleased. I think with a little work and a better scope the rifle will consistently be sub MOA.

A note on function. The bolt action/feeding is a little ruff. I can see that the feed ramps will need polishing. The Mossberg magazine needed more push to strip the rounds. The M1A mag performed better. The Mossberg mag is also very tight when inserted with a full mag and the bolt closed. Its also difficult to drop the full mag. The M1A mag had no such issues. Hopefully cleaning up the feed ramps will make the M1A mags perfect. If not I may try a 10rd Magpul mag to see if the bolt riding over the polymer works smoother. I wonder if the bolt fluting is also adding to the ruff feeding. I noticed some brass on the bottom of the bolt when I was done.

All and all a well spent $500. Looking forward to the fall deer season already.

Wow that is awesome I may pick one of these up in the future. Those are pretty good groups for how cheap that rifle is.

Looks like a pretty good setup for someone wanting a mid range rifle without breaking the bank.

I'm looking forward to getting one of these in .223.

Exactly how I feel about it. I wanted something to knock around the woods with and punch paper at 100 and 200yrds. I wanted a rifle with detachable magazines as I hate loading down through the action. Just never came easy or seemed efficient to me. This rifle fits that nitch perfect. It even has enough metal forward of the fluting to thread.

I think im gng to pick one up in tan.  Just looks cool and fun.  

Thanks for the report.

That's pretty awesome that it takes two different styles of mags.

Picked one up in 5.56. I've had it to the range twice with about 150-175 rounds through it. Best group was 5 shots in a 5/8" cluster @ 100 yds. I can only think that the .308 would do just as well.