Chris St. MH
21-05-2005, 03:09 PM
I received this rifle yesterday. Unfortunately the rifle that arrived was not the wooden stock variant I ordered (apparently Viking claimed there was a problem with the woodstocked version due to the seasoning of the wood and there were also issues relating to a large order from Libya :eek: ). The silencer that arrived wasn't the 'sound-biter' that I ordered. I also only received two of a total of four spare mags. You get used to these sorts of things happening in Orkney - likewise the price which was considerably higher than you would pay 'doon sooth'.
Anyway, the rifle looks workmanlike. It also looks very much like a Marlin, with a cast aluminium receiver. The Magtech is fitted with very nice US made open sights that are fully adjustable and fold down, allowing the use of a scope of up to 32mm objective lens diameter without removing the backsight. As my scope (a Simmons Deerfield 3-9x40 AO) was 40mm, I had to remove them, revealing some hardened, glue-like translucent material beneath both sights (Loctite?) that came off with the use of some Butch's on a piece of flanelette. Some two-piece mounts that came from Dave Hughes with the sight (Pro mounts?) worked a treat. The stock is allegedly GRP but falls into the 'what were they smoking?' category, featuring an insane amount of drop which is a real problem when shooting prone. The fore-end is also very flexible and can be made to bear against the barrel. I'm thinking of either getting them to swap for the wooden stock or reinforcing the front end of the stock with metal rods secured with some kind of resin - this would also help to make the rifle heavier. I haven't weighed the rifle but I would guess it's not much over 4lbs. Fitting swivel studs to a hollow plastic stock is also going to be less straightforward than to wood, though the plastic makes more sense up here from a weather protection standpoint.
Now for the good part. This afternoon I got to try the rifle with four types of ammunition:
RWS 40 grain HP subs
Remington .22 38 grain HP subs
Remington 22 Golden Bullets HP HV
CCI MiniMag HP HV
The mags take some care in loading as it's possible to have the bullet rub against the front pair of magazine lips damaging the bullet. Getting the last round into the ten round mag also takes a bit of force.
I fired approximately 150 rounds with no failures to cycle. I had one failure to ignite (can't remember which brand) and two inital feeds (pulling the charging handle back and letting go) that sent the tip of the bullet into the breech face above the breech. This happened once with two different brands. I also got vertical stringing in my groups until I realised that the base of the magazine was touching the ground and adjusted my shooting position.
As you would expect, accuracy varied dramatically between rounds but I was delighted to find two that performed well. The results of four 40 round 30 yard groups fired prone are as follows. The rifle wasn't benched and there was significant crosswind (c. 5-10 mph at about 45 degrees).
RWS subs: 27mm wide by 22mm high
Rem subs: 81mm wide by 66mm high
CCI HV: 47mm wide by 38mm high
Remington golden bullet HV: 29mm wide by 23mm high.
I always though HVs were meant to be crap!
The amazing thing (to me!) is that the above groups were fired with intervals of about 1 second between shots. The trigger (which had fettled itself with a little use) broke cleanly and did not significantly limit accuracy at the rate I was firing. The above groups would improve significantly if the rifle was shot indoors, benched and a target scope used, but the flip-side is that they do represent what an average shot can achieve with this cheap Brazilian rifle in the real world.
Having sighted the rifle in, I decided to check my zero on lumps of earth that had tumbled down the sand slopes where sand had been extracted about 55 yards away. It amazed my how quickly I could destroy consecutive lumps of earth or pump bullets into the same lump. In every case I could see the bullet impact.
The rifle uses the mag follower as a last round hold open device. There is a manual hold open device that consists of grasping the charging handle, pulling the bolt all the way back and pressing inwards. It's very simple and works a treat. Thre is a manually operated crossbolt safety ahead of the trigger guard which can only be operated if the rifle is cocked, providing a check on the condition of the rifle.
The overly long and and expensive (£39.95) silencer from Viking didn't quieten the rifle as much as I expected (in fact the rifle didn't sound quieter from the firing point than an unsilenced BSA Martini with eley Extra+ HP subs) though the RWS subs in particular were quiet enough. The perceived noise may well have been due to the noise of the action cycling. I'm (still!) getting a sound-biter which I think will compliment this comparatively short rifle very well. I also have an AGS 3-9x40 on order from JSR to replace the Deerfield which never seems to be quite in focus despite constant tweaking of both objective and ocular focus.
I haven't stripped the rifle yet but the proceduce involves undoing the stock screws and knocking out a couple of pins. The pins are substantial though and not something likely to go zinging off into the distance, never to be found.
My overall impression is that this rifle offers excellent value for money and will prove an excellent lamping tool (at night I seldom take shots beyond 40 yards). It's also a hell of a lot of fun. I'm delighted with it. Now if they'd just make a proper synthetic stock for it - something more along the lines of the Marlin 7000 target, that would be appreciated. otherwise, highly recommended!
Anyway, the rifle looks workmanlike. It also looks very much like a Marlin, with a cast aluminium receiver. The Magtech is fitted with very nice US made open sights that are fully adjustable and fold down, allowing the use of a scope of up to 32mm objective lens diameter without removing the backsight. As my scope (a Simmons Deerfield 3-9x40 AO) was 40mm, I had to remove them, revealing some hardened, glue-like translucent material beneath both sights (Loctite?) that came off with the use of some Butch's on a piece of flanelette. Some two-piece mounts that came from Dave Hughes with the sight (Pro mounts?) worked a treat. The stock is allegedly GRP but falls into the 'what were they smoking?' category, featuring an insane amount of drop which is a real problem when shooting prone. The fore-end is also very flexible and can be made to bear against the barrel. I'm thinking of either getting them to swap for the wooden stock or reinforcing the front end of the stock with metal rods secured with some kind of resin - this would also help to make the rifle heavier. I haven't weighed the rifle but I would guess it's not much over 4lbs. Fitting swivel studs to a hollow plastic stock is also going to be less straightforward than to wood, though the plastic makes more sense up here from a weather protection standpoint.
Now for the good part. This afternoon I got to try the rifle with four types of ammunition:
RWS 40 grain HP subs
Remington .22 38 grain HP subs
Remington 22 Golden Bullets HP HV
CCI MiniMag HP HV
The mags take some care in loading as it's possible to have the bullet rub against the front pair of magazine lips damaging the bullet. Getting the last round into the ten round mag also takes a bit of force.
I fired approximately 150 rounds with no failures to cycle. I had one failure to ignite (can't remember which brand) and two inital feeds (pulling the charging handle back and letting go) that sent the tip of the bullet into the breech face above the breech. This happened once with two different brands. I also got vertical stringing in my groups until I realised that the base of the magazine was touching the ground and adjusted my shooting position.
As you would expect, accuracy varied dramatically between rounds but I was delighted to find two that performed well. The results of four 40 round 30 yard groups fired prone are as follows. The rifle wasn't benched and there was significant crosswind (c. 5-10 mph at about 45 degrees).
RWS subs: 27mm wide by 22mm high
Rem subs: 81mm wide by 66mm high
CCI HV: 47mm wide by 38mm high
Remington golden bullet HV: 29mm wide by 23mm high.
I always though HVs were meant to be crap!
The amazing thing (to me!) is that the above groups were fired with intervals of about 1 second between shots. The trigger (which had fettled itself with a little use) broke cleanly and did not significantly limit accuracy at the rate I was firing. The above groups would improve significantly if the rifle was shot indoors, benched and a target scope used, but the flip-side is that they do represent what an average shot can achieve with this cheap Brazilian rifle in the real world.
Having sighted the rifle in, I decided to check my zero on lumps of earth that had tumbled down the sand slopes where sand had been extracted about 55 yards away. It amazed my how quickly I could destroy consecutive lumps of earth or pump bullets into the same lump. In every case I could see the bullet impact.
The rifle uses the mag follower as a last round hold open device. There is a manual hold open device that consists of grasping the charging handle, pulling the bolt all the way back and pressing inwards. It's very simple and works a treat. Thre is a manually operated crossbolt safety ahead of the trigger guard which can only be operated if the rifle is cocked, providing a check on the condition of the rifle.
The overly long and and expensive (£39.95) silencer from Viking didn't quieten the rifle as much as I expected (in fact the rifle didn't sound quieter from the firing point than an unsilenced BSA Martini with eley Extra+ HP subs) though the RWS subs in particular were quiet enough. The perceived noise may well have been due to the noise of the action cycling. I'm (still!) getting a sound-biter which I think will compliment this comparatively short rifle very well. I also have an AGS 3-9x40 on order from JSR to replace the Deerfield which never seems to be quite in focus despite constant tweaking of both objective and ocular focus.
I haven't stripped the rifle yet but the proceduce involves undoing the stock screws and knocking out a couple of pins. The pins are substantial though and not something likely to go zinging off into the distance, never to be found.
My overall impression is that this rifle offers excellent value for money and will prove an excellent lamping tool (at night I seldom take shots beyond 40 yards). It's also a hell of a lot of fun. I'm delighted with it. Now if they'd just make a proper synthetic stock for it - something more along the lines of the Marlin 7000 target, that would be appreciated. otherwise, highly recommended!