I know there are only a few here into tactical rifles but I just wanted to share the recent acquisition of my grail bolt gun that I picked up on Monday.
Tac Ops in based in Beverly Hills, CA of all places. Mike Rescigno is renown for his incredible attention to detail in building these guns. He literally touches everything on these rifles from the action to the barrel to the fit and finish which is as close to perfection as one can achieve. Look at the screws on the built in rail on the bottom of the stock. They are all timed to line up . Tac Ops makes a bunch of different rifles in different stocks for different requirements. His primary customers are LE and alphabet agencies rather than military from what I have gathered but of course only he would know.
He for the most part uses Remington actions but has made rifles on other actions that have been supplied by the owner like say a Surgeon. When some see the prices, a few people decry that it's "only a Remington." True but when he is done with one, the name Remington stamped on the side is about the only thing he does not change or modify. Barrels are Krieger made to his spec. Unless specified, all of his .308s are chambered for 168 FGMM. Not even the more expensive 175s. Of course you could roll your own but when you see the test target, you'll probably give that idea up. I am.
The finish in Birdsong T made is Mike's preferred green color that he offsets with black. The barrel is threaded like nothing I have ever seen before. Absolute perfection. He makes his own titanium cans that are also expensive but are the quietest I have ever heard. The bottom metal is of his own design. I have seen a few of his rifles with a DBM but not many.
This trigger is a old style Remington that he tunes. He hates the new Remington X triggers. Recently I heard he is using Timneys. The stock is a McMillan Sako varminter with his trademark texturing and is the stock used on 51s Other models offer different stocks, barrel lengths and calibers. The Tango-51 is considered Tac Ops flagship rifle and is the most well known.
The first time Mike stated his accuracy guarantee years ago, a LOT of people called B.S. Accuracy guarantees are kind of hard as it is so dependent on so many variables. But you certainly see them and Tac Ops ships every rifle with a test target fired by Mike. Minimum guarantee is .25 MOA. If he tests it and it won't do it, he tears that rifle apart to figure it out. As you can see below, mine did not have that problem.
And now the cost and time. Wait used to be up to two YEARS. Yep, that's a lot and you can certainly buy a LOT of very nice custom bolt guns from excellent makers with much shorter lead times. Mike has it down to about a year know from what I hear. You pay 50% upon order and the rest when done. Price. Ahhhhhh, yeah about that. Mike will have to quote you individually but bank on $3000 or so. That's for the 50% deposit BTW.
Yep, not cheap. No doubt.
Good news for me is that I totally lucked out. While I wanted one, I'm not big on waiting. At all. Like traffic lights drive me nuts. But, the vaunted arfcom EE came to the rescue. There was a gentleman there who placed his Tango -51 for sale. If it was on snipershide or a couple of other bolt gun places , it wouldn't have lasted a day. I don't know if people here didn't know what it was or even at the price asked what kind of a huge bargain this was. As you see it plus a fitted storm case for less than just the rifle if I ordered it. Case, scope (leupy 6.5-20 LR/T), rings, stock bag, bipod...all free. And at least a grand off of the rifle with no wait...well, about 5 days. It was hell I tell you.
Funny part is that this rifle is NIB. Never been shot since Mike's test target. In May of 2009. This rifle is new but 8 years old. And he has the matching can that he might sell to me as well. How you can have one of these and not use it, I have no idea but since I have a few cases of ammo for it already, I am certainly going to use it this summer.