Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Beer Goggles Creedmoor (Mossberg Patriot Predator) A Crappy Review

Mom won't approve because drinking was involved while making a decision. 16Bore won't approve because this ain't a Tikka. PaulBarnard will not approve because it says Creedmoor on the barrel.

Once upon a time, I was enjoying a few adult beverages, minding my own business while perusing the 'Fire and checking a few websites for sales. You know, innocent stuff. I've enjoyed poking fun at the 6.5 Creedmoor folks even though I know it's a good cartridge. Low and behold I find what appears to be a good deal on a Mossberg Patriot Predator chambered in the said cartridge for $320. I've spent more than that on a bad (good?) night in Vegas without batting an eye. I figured with the popularity of the 6.5 CM this might be attractive to folks who are new to the sport, and being made in America is a nice bonus:

Cheap, I mean, uh, affordable: Check
Threaded barrel , an obvious must-have? Check
Uber camo pattern? Check
Tactical cerakote? Check
Wicked fluted bolt? Check

I bought it here https://www.sportsmansoutdoorsupers...n-rifle-with-strata-camo-synthetic-stock

Ordered late evening on 12/28 after the Christmas shipping madness and still had it at my FFL on 1/7, which I consider to be pretty darned good. Sadly, it did not ship with skinny jeans or a flat-brimmed hat, but I shall survive.

The gun is advertised as 6.5 lbs and mine weighs in at 6 lbs. 11 oz.


The bolt travel feels like most fluted bolts, and it bumps along the magazine so Sako aficionados will not be impressed. Decent amount of play when opened, but so what. It locks up pretty tight and opens relatively easily. The 2-position safety won't lock it closed so that will be a no-go for some folks.


The magazine is about what you'd expect from a gun in this price range. It weighs 2 oz. and isn't impressively rigid, so I wouldn't hammer nails with it. It has a wide mouth and loads easily by popping in rounds straight from the top. It drops freely and the release is intuitive and easy to use. It's not perfectly flush with the stock but I didn't find it uncomfortable to carry bare-handed for a short trial. Balance point with my rig seems to be slightly forward of the mag. The stock won't convert any McM fans but it doesn't suck too bad. The butt stock actually feels more solid than many economy offerings and is shaped well. There are some molding lines meant for decoration (I think) that felt odd at first but I didn't notice them when shooting. The forend flexes quite a bit under pressure, but there is so much clearance between stock and barrel that I can't imagine putting enough pressure on it to touch during normal use.

It comes with a premounted rail, which I removed to check and de-degrease. It seems well made but is very lightweight. There was a small amount of thread locker on the mounting screws from the factory but I reinstalled with blue Locktite. I decided to use a Sightron S-Tac 2-10X32 with plex reticle that I had on hand. The scope weighs just over 16 oz. I used Warne 30mm low rings which aren't lightweight, but I've had good success with them over the years. Bolt clearance is good with this combo. It's not a bad looking rig, IMO, and all-in the weight is acceptable:




With my assumed target audience of young shooters and cheap-azz buzzed middle-aged doods, I approached shooting it in an appropriate manner. I bought 1 box each of the two cheapest loads available at the store and went to the range. I used a fairly basic set up on the bench and didn't take a lot of time doing it:


I pulled a bore-snake through the barrel a couple of times and loaded the mag. I started with the 140 grain Remington Core Lokt to sight it in. My intent was to shoot all 40 rounds in one day, but I got to the range a little late and the wind was doing some funny things. After each 5-round magazine I pulled the bore-snake through twice; that was the extent of the cleaning regimen. The trigger is surprisingly decent and I'd guess around 3.5 lbs (didn't check). It feels like an Accutrigger to a great degree, but not exactly the same. Take up is fine and it breaks pretty cleanly. To be consistent with the theme of this crappy review I made no adjustments to the trigger. I shot all 20 rounds of the Remington and honestly wasn't overly impressed. Granted, the wind was giving me a yeast infection and 20 rounds including the sight-in isn't some great test, but I didn't shoot any better than about 1.5 to 2 inches.

Day 2 I shot Winchester 125 grain Deer Season XP, which is $19/box at Wal-Mart. The wind was down and this ammo shot much more consistently. I shot all 20 rounds and made some small adjustments to the scope, with this being the final 5-shot group:


Granted, it's only 40 rounds up to this point, but I've experienced no issues with the rifle. It feeds fine without having to force anything, and ejects without fanfare. The recoil is pretty mild in my opinion, so it should be a good rifle for my daughters to get a fair amount of trigger time on. For the price of admission, I won't care if it gets bounced around in the truck or if the kids don't treat it gently, and it will save my Win 70 in 6.5X55 from that fate. Hell, I'd even let PaulBarnard shoot it...