Posted: 1/15/2011 5:47:03 PM EDT
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Has anyone purchased one of these yet? I was going to buy an Elite Op 2, but I saw one of these at the gun show today. An 18 inch stainless match barrel is the thing that sways me to getting it instead of the Elite Op 2.
If you have one, I would like to know what you think. |
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OK, since I am functionally incapable of posting pics, let me give the first impressions.
I like the design of the rifle, and I especially like the 18 inch stainless match grade barrel. IMHO, the 16 is too short for what I want to use this rifle for, and the 20 is too long. The trigger is incredible, there is no other way to describe it. The finish on the receivers is good and even, and the fit between them is tight overall, but the front of the receivers has side to side play. The downside has to do with how the rifle was put together and one of the components used. When the gas block was installed, whoever built the rifle gouged the crap out of the barrel in a couple of spots, and merely scratched the tar out of others. I don’t understand how someone could not take adequate precautions to prevent damage during assembly. Breaking the rifle down for cleaning, I saw that the lower receiver has an odd characteristic. The left wall of the receiver is visibly thinner that the right wall. What originally made me look was the amount of overhang of the upper. In all of my previous AR15s, I have never seen a lower that was thinner on one side than the other. Will the scratches and the uneven build on the lower affect functionality? Nope, (at least I hope the lower won’t) but it does affect that “pride of new ownership” factor. I have mounted a Nikon M-223 1-4x scope on it and am looking forward zeroing it in for a hog hunt next month. If someone can help a brother out with the pics, I’ll post them. |
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Today I took my son to the range to give him the chance to shoot his Christmas present, a Mosin Nagant. Naturally I took the ATH, because I wanted to see what it could do in its scratched and uneven condition.
I zeroed the scope at 50 yards in 7 shots using 55 grain ammo without any boresight device. Several groups I had after that would have 3 and 4 shots in one ragged hole, and 2-3 shots that would open the group up to an inch. Not bad for the first few rounds. I then set up a 100 yard zero using clay pigeons on the berm further out. In less that 5 shots, I had the 100 yard zero and was breaking the clay pigeons in one shot each. At that point i had to call it a day. My thoughts are that this is a great rifle. The trigger was everything I expected, which is to say very, very good. This is now my favorite trigger on any rifle I own. The side-to-side play of the receivers was noticeable a couple of times as I was sighting on the target and just as I was about to fire, I felt the movement of the rifle. All manufacturing defects aside, I can see this rifle easily being a sub MOA piece. I really, really like it, but I am hoping to get some help from RRA concerning the uneven lower. |
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OK, I have to say that I am officially an excellent shot. I took the ATH back out to the range today. Out of the 7 groups of 5 shots each that I got to shoot at 100 yards before succumbing to the cold, 5 of the groups were in the 3/4" range. The last two were in the 2 inch range. This rifle is an excellent shooter, and appears to have the ability to overcome my 52 year old eyes. I attribute that to the 18 inch barrel.
I would love to see what I could do with a true long range scope. The Nikon M-223 1-4x is not for precision, but certainly serves something close to the purpose at the ranges I am shooting in preparation for the hog hunt in February. |
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I spoke with Steve and will be sending the rifle in this week for an evaluation. Thanks Steve!
In the meantime, I took my 13 year old daughter to the range for her to shoot her Marlin .22. The club was hosting a three gun match, so most ranges were taken for the competition. The only range I could find to use was the 100/200 yard range. So we settled down to shoot , she her Marlin, me the ATH. I was shooting well enough, 10 ring and some 9 ring hits on the traget at 100 yards. My daughter asked to shoot the rifle, and I was only too happy for her to shoot. She rests the rifle on my range bag and fires her first shot. I saw nothing on the paper. "What happened with that shot?" "I dunno." "OK, fire again." She fires and hits the X. I hoop and holler, because I'm very proud of her. She asks me what happened, and I just told her to keep on shooting. The next 4 shots were X ring. Five shots total in the X ring. I'm not surprised, as this was the 4th time in a row that she has performed better than me with my rifles at the range. She loved the rifle and could not get over how easily it handled. We will miss it when I send it back for evaluation. |