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For those of you who have experience with these rifles, what are your thoughts? I’d like to get my hands on a 6.5 PRC and this rifle is more appealing to me than the other options that I see out there. Thanks!

Jeff

If you use the search function, you will find several threads over the past year. Most recent one for LH MRC Mountain Rifles

Upshot is mixed reviews: Generally 8 to 16 oz heavier than advertised. Quality is hit or miss. Customer Service is generally a miss. People who get good ones, love them. If you get a lemon, you're in for a long pull to get it corrected.

ETA: I have had two MRC rifles. Both were excellent fit, finish, feed, and function. Just heavier than expected. However, based on negative experience of a number of other 24HCF members, I would not buy another MRC rifle unless I could handle it in person and cycle cartridges through it to ensure smooth feeding and ejection.

I have five and have been happy with them. Four of five, .260, .308’s, and .338 Lapua were easy to find a good load with minimal effort on the first range visit. The .300 Win Mag took a few range visits.
All are synthetic stocks, four are stainless, one is carbon steel. The stainless barrels will hold 1/2 MOA. The carbon barrel will do slightly better. They are ready to go out of the box without any tinkering required. The comb on the X2 is lower than I prefer, so I taped some bubble wrap on it. That is the only mod to any of them. Their muzzle brakes are very effective.

Sample target checking loads before going longer. Aiming point is the intersection of lines.

Get this one instead!

https://ruger.com/products/HawkeyeLRH/specSheets/47197.html

I handled a MRC ASR .308 and shouldered it several times in a gun store a few years ago. It felt heavy, particularly at the action, and less lively in the hands compared to my Ruger M77 MKII Stainless 30-06. It was either new or mint condition and priced attractively, but I passed on it because of the weight. Probably should have bought and flipped it. I want to like them for their general features, but just can't get past the clunky feel. For target shooting or perhaps hunting from a stand with a short walk, would be alright. And I'm sure one could get used to carrying it, but I don't think it would be the best choice for all day carry in rough terrain.

I've got an X3 in 26 Nosler. I've also got two CZ 03's, which is an MRC barreled action stocked by a 3rd party, and the sold under the CZ name. Exterior fit and finish on all three guns is very nice, except for the action bedding on one of the CZ 03 guns.

The CZ 03 was a short lived collaboration between CZ and MRC done around the 2003-2005 time frame. One CZ 03 is blued steel/Walnut in 270WSM, and the other is SS/Walnut in 300WSM. Due to the obscure nature of the CZ 03 guns, I picked them up for very cheap. They will be project guns.

The X3 came with a crooked throat. I returned it to MRC, and they rebarreled it and returned it to me in about 3 weeks with no problems. New barrel looks really good under a bore scope, with the bore having almost no machining marks. It actually looks better than some of my custom barrels. Of course, how it shoot is what counts, but it does look promising.

I've been too busy with other rifle projects to do any hand loading for any of the guns until after hunting season, so I can't comment on how they actually shoot.

I can say the design of the MRC action is very well thought out. It is not an exact clone of the Winchester M70 action, but has some subtle improvements. If you get one that is fitted and finished well, you have an extremely nice CRF action.

The guns are a little on the heavy side. Consequently, I would say they are best employed by someone who will carry the gun only a little, or is recoil sensitive and likes the extra weight, or wants to shoot a big boomer cartridge like a .338 Lapua where the weight helps with recoil mitigation.

Thanks for the input, gents. I’ve been on the hunt for a 6.5 cal, and my thoughts on what cartridge and rifle have changed over the last year or so. I’ve also got a thread in the custom rifle forum about building a pre-64 model 70 from a beat up featherweight that I have on hand. Still haven’t made up my mind but getting closer. Thanks again.

I have both and used a pre-64 M70 as my one and only rifle for 35 years. The MRC has a safer design for gas handling in the event a case fails, which is rare, but important when it occurs. I still have the P64, but use the MRC’s.

I handled an elr the other day. Not impressed at all. Everything about it felt "gritty".

This is part of the "hit or miss" I referred to above. The two SS MRC rifles that I bought were hands down the smoothest / slickest factory actions I have ever owned. With the bolts lightly lubed, it only took raising the nose of the rifle about 20 degrees for the bolts to slide all the way back against the bolt stop. The one CM MRC action that I bought felt like it still had casting sand in the action.

And play Ruger Roulette with QC? The nice thing is that Ruger CS is very good and Ruger most often gets it right the second time they have their hands on it.

That beats sending an MRC rifle back three times with apparently nothing other than paper shuffling ever being done to solve the problem.

I have 3 of them. 1 243 HCF fast twist and 2 creeds. 2 have been flawless and shoot excellent.
1 creed has been a nightmare. Customer service is lacking for sure.
Sent in for repair twice, the third time I talked with the sales manager and they are replacing it with a rifle of my choice. I am upgrading to a 6.5 PRC XER in a custom color at no charge.