Eureka! My LONG search for THE hunting rifle may be over. So here is a LONG post about the rifle I played with today.
This stage of my hunting rifle journey started when I bought several boxes of Hornady 175-grain ELD-X 7mm PRC ammo without a rifle. The ballistics and modern case design just seemed exactly right for what I've been looking for in a rifle. So, upon buying the ammo, I thought I would build a rifle. After adding up build costs and looking at options, I instead had Eurooptics ship me a Seekins Havak Element in 7mm PRC.
Upon receiving the rifle, I was thoroughly impressed. The quality seems great. Balance is about perfect. Trigger is crisp albeit a little heavy at 3.5 pounds as set from the factory. I will adjust it to 2.5 pounds or so at some point. The pistol grip feels good, though my initial impression was the palm swell was a little too fat. The stock, which gives the initial perception of being plastic (aka "Tupperware"), is STIFF. It is advertised as being reinforced with carbon. It must be because it has the stiffest forearm I can remember having had, on ANY rifle. There is a generous gap between free-floated barrel and stock, and I can't pull them together. I've got pretty good grip strength and can't remember not being able to squeeze a stock and barrel together and I've messed with a lot of rifles. The aluminum receiver with steel liner and two sets of stacked locking lugs sort of reminds me of an AR-15 type design, but in use, it is light and functions well.
I dug through my loose scopes and rings and found an SWFA fixed 10x and some Seekins low rings, which I mounted to the rifle earlier this week.
I was able to shoot it today. Recoil was not bad without the brake installed. I installed the brake and with hearing protection, could not tell a difference in sound, but there was a definite reduction in recoil. I would say down to .243 level.
On a side note, I was researching brakes a couple of years ago in that I was looking for something that didn't subject the shooter to too much noise but still offered some recoil reduction for spotting shots when shooting out past 1,000 yards. Cal on the Precision Rifle Shooter Blog did a great test regarding brakes, recoil reduction and noise for the shooter. After reviewing his test, I felt the Seekins brake was the best option to meet my goals for another rifle set up for shooting way out there.
It also worked well on this rifle. The Seekins brake comes with a collar that is adjustable and makes it easy to time. This should make it easy to swap muzzle devices. My plan is to get a Thunderbeast flash hider / mount for the rifle and switch between my Ultra 7 in the field and the brake on the range. An added advantage to the suppressor in the field is the added weight at the end of the muzzle really helps me steady a rifle off sticks, which I've increasingly come to depend on since first hunting Africa 15 years ago.
I'm not huge on barrel break-in but do believe a rifle settles down and starts to shoot better after being cleaned 5-6 times. Today as I was getting it on target, I would shoot 3-5 shots and then clean. I think I put 20 rounds through it doing that so should be good to start load workup next time out.
I ended the day with this rifle by shooting one group. It was around 0.75", though I wasn't holding great. I recently moved and my shooting bags are still packed. The range had carpet covered 2x4s, and I was stuffing gun cases under the butt to try to obtain a little stability.
I did notice the Hornady ammo is loaded pretty hot. In today's 100 degree Fahrenheit heat (thank goodness it finally cooled down to 100!), bolt lift would start to get a little heavy after I fired four or five shots in quick succession.
Of note, I was switching between this and Springfield Waypoints in 6.5 Creedmoor and .308. Going into the today I felt the Seekins stock looked a little cheap and the palm swell was too agressive. This morning I would have said I liked the AG Composite stocks on the Waypoints better. By the end of the day, I think I may prefer the Seekins stock. And it looks pretty good once you get it out in the sunlight. I think mine is the Mountain Shadow pattern and even my moderately-color-blind eyes could see the greens and some of the colors in the light. I also came to like the palm swell as I shot the rifle.
Regarding function, the rifle fed great through the carbon-fiber mags, but it takes persistence and talent to get three rounds into the magazine. It may be more of a two-round rifle, especially if you don't want to spend five minutes messing with it. I'm also not excited about having proprietary magazines for the rifle.
Next steps include doing a little hand loading to wring the rifle out and get it out and hunt it. I wanted a 7mm because I've been thinking about getting back to Namibia and they have a 7mm minimum over there. Hope to get some hunting done over the next few years with this one.
The Good:
*Well balanced and should shoot well off sticks and from a variety of field positions.
*Light weight yet controllable if not light recoil.
*Flat shooting with power for larger game.
*Modern stock design with excellent stock ergonomics.
*Muzzle brake that works without excessive noise to the shooter.
*Should be easy to switch between the Seekins brake on the range to a suppressor in the field.
The Questionable:
*The magazine
*Fat palm swell may annoy some, but even with my medium to short fingers, I came to really like it.
