Think twice
Rod Pascoe tests an attractive combo by Magnum Sports
Sydney gun shop Magnum Sports launched an interesting rifle/scope deal earlier this year. Now while there’s nothing unusual about firearms retailers putting together a package, Magnum’s new proprietor Aubrey Sonnenberg has chosen the versatility of Howa’s 1500 barrelled actions. He’s paired that with an SCSA metal chassis and topped it with a Nikko Stirling riflescope, to cater to the hunting and ever-growing precision target shooting markets – and all at a spectacular price. Australian Shooter was keen to give the package the once over.
Howa 1500 barrelled actions are available in various calibres, lengths and profiles and the original trigger has been swapped for an H.A.C.T. two-stage, fully adjustable system pre-set at the factory. Currently the barrelled actions in the package are available in either stainless or blue, though ‘blue’ is actually an attractive dark Cerakote. The .223 Remington options offer a choice of a 20” Sporter or 24” Varmint profile barrel, while for the .243 Winchester and .308 Winchester you can choose from either a 22” Sporter or 24” Varmint.
All listed rifles cater to both target and hunting applications. With the growing number of target sports now including divisions for off-the-shelf production rifles, the combination of Howa barrelled action and Nikko Stirling scope offers an excellent entry-level platform for competitions such as Practical Rifle Series (PRS) or SSAA Practical Rifle competitions. But it’s the rifle reviewed here that’s the masterpiece of this package deal, offering a 26” blued and threaded varmint-weight barrel in 6.5 Creedmoor. It’s not exactly a carry-around-the-bush sporter, it’s a serious target rifle using one of the most popular long-range cartridges, but more on this special piece of kit later.
The stock in the Magnum package or, more correctly, chassis is made by Sydney-based firearms manufacturer Southern Cross Small Arms. Their Tactical Shooting Platform (TSP-X) is designed, made and tested in Australia and is compatible with AICS magazines. One MDT 10-round polymer magazine is supplied in the package, with the chassis itself machined from 6061 T-6 aluminium and with light grey anodised coating.
The forehand allows for the barrel to float freely and incorporates a special recoil lug clamp design. There are 15 slots, five on each side and five under the handguard, to fit M-Lok compatible accessories. There are also QD sling cup mounts on the chassis. There are additional spacers for the butt to extend length-of-pull with comb height adjustable also and, importantly, it doesn’t get in the way when removing the bolt from the action.
The 20 Minute of Angle (MOA) Picatinny tapered base and a pair of 34mm scope rings, to handle the larger than normal tube of the Nikko Stirling Diamond 5-30×56 scope, are supplied by Tier-One of the UK. The rear ring even has a level bubble to help shooters avoid canting the rifle. While the photographs feature a bipod, this is an optional accessory although Tier-One also offers one which suits the package.
The first focal plane scope is a perfect match for this rifle and has an MRAD XTR reticle graduated in milliradians (or mil-rads). Windage and elevation adjustments in radians are becoming more popular as MOA graduations are slowly fading out of the shooting lexicon. The primary advantage of using MILS over MOA in scope adjustments comes down to the simplicity in making range and windage calculations, especially for shooters who work with metric systems and particularly at longer ranges. One radian represents one metre at 1000m or 10cm at 100m, each click of elevation and windage adjustment on the Nikko Stirling FFP representing one centimetre at 100m.
In a first focal plane scope the reticle is positioned in front of the magnification lenses, so the size of the reticle changes proportionally with that of the image as you zoom through the magnification range. FFP scopes are better for situations where accurate holdovers, range estimation and adjustments are needed at all magnifications (especially for long-range or tactical shooting). The mil-radians graduations on the reticle also change in size, so the shooter can calculate hold-off or hold-over at any power setting. Reticle patterns also allow you to size targets, judge distances and calculate wind brackets.
The side-mounted parallax focus adjustment comes down to 15 yards, meaning you can do your dry-fire practice indoors or tracking tests on the wall. There’s a huge amount of internal elevation and windage travel in the scope’s turrets. The windage adjustment has a dust cap that’s pulled out for adjustment then snapped back in once set. Some shooters prefer to aim off from a known windage setting so, by loosening the turret with the supplied key, zero can be set then aligned to ‘0’ on the turret. Incorporated within the parallax knob on the left of the body is the battery compartment and adjustment for the illuminated reticle.
The scope has a bright, 56mm light-gathering objective lens and the optics in general are better than I anticipated. The ZeroStop feature on the elevation turret allows you to return quickly to, and stop at, a pre-set zero. There’s the option of installing the supplied power throw lever to adjust magnification quickly, even when wearing gloves in cold or wet conditions. There’s an extra elevation turret with graduations but no numbers to allow shooters to customise the turret for their particular application.
As mentioned, the reviewed rifle takes the 6.5 Creedmoor cartridge and has a 26” varmint profile barrel, bringing the unit up to almost 7kg. This isn’t for long hunts on foot and, in Aubrey Sonnenberg’s mind, the rifle fits perfectly into one of the National Rifle Association of Australia’s latest disciplines, Sporter Class. According to the NRAA, this match is specifically intended to allow commercially available, shop-bought sporting, hunting or varmint repeating centrefire rifles to be used on NRAA ranges, as a way of introducing new shooters with existing compatible rifles to the sport. Like all target disciplines there are rules, though the underlying principle is you can shoot on NRAA ranges matches ranging from 300 to 1000 metres/yards.
So it was under these conditions I put the gun through its paces and I wasn’t disappointed. The rules only allow a bipod for support and not a bench rest, while the match is shot from the prone position with a rear bag under the butt permitted. Not having too much experience with chassis stocks, I found the rifle very comfortable to shoot and once eye relief and comb height was set, it performed exceptionally well. At time of writing I’d only shot at 300, 400, 500 and 600m with factory loads and in varying light and wind conditions. For a brand new rifle which hadn’t been run in I thought groups a tad over half a minute were highly acceptable.
While running in the barrel I used some loads I have for my other 6.5 Creedmoor rifle and these performed exceptionally well. So much so I’ll continue using the Nosler Custom Competition 140-grain projectiles and 40.7 grains of VihtaVuori N-160 powder in both rifles at all distances. One change I did make was to swap the supplied 10-round magazine for a smaller MDT three-shot mag to act as a floor plate in the action for manual single-loading of ammo.
The scope performed as expected. Precise tracking was a given as was the return to pre-set elevation and quick, easy-to-adjust parallax and windage settings. Brightness at all settings was astounding and on an afternoon of overcast and diminishing daylight, detail on targets at long range was excellent. With the aid of electronic targets, precise shot-to-shot tracking is possible and gives instant feedback. The range of illumination intensity settings enhanced the reticles through the entire magnification range.
Magnum Sports’ Howa/Nikko package has been well thought-out and provides an excellent, value-for-money way of breaking into some of the long range precision shooting sports, as well as offering the hunter a robust and accurate combo. The blued rifle packages retail for around $2199 and $2299 for the stainless options.