Photographs by Kenda Lenseigne
We’d as nicely get this out of the way in which. The unique Strasser RS14 straight pull is our favourite looking rifle because of its versatility, accuracy, and general construct high quality. But it surely’s not with out drawbacks, notably its value and lack of aftermarket assist.
The tiny Austrian firm has tried to deal with these shortcomings by taking know-how embodied of their flagship rifle and mixing it with the most well-liked bolt gun in manufacturing, the Remington 700.
To our information, that is the primary time anybody has managed to realize this, and once we first heard of it, we have been involved that the tip outcome would possibly become like Frankenstein’s monster, cobbled collectively out of scraps and displaying apparent seams the place the 2 Austrian and American icons have been smashed into one another.
It seems, we have been flawed. The ensuing marriage could be very excessive class — kinda like that of these different two Austrian and American superstars, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Schriver. Earlier than he began banging the assistance.
NUTS AND BOLTS
The Remington 700 motion was initially designed to be low cost and simple to fabricate, being machined out of a bit of spherical bar inventory. By luck fairly than logic, it turned out to be able to superb accuracy, as soon as it was tuned up and trued by a reliable gunsmith and any warping attributable to warmth remedy taken care of.
4 years after its introduction in 1962, the Marine Corps adopted it because the M40 sniper rifle, and each man and his canine began utilizing R700 actions for precision builds, resulting in the explosion of aftermarket chassis, magazines, triggers, scope mounts, and barrels we see at present.
The Strasser RS 700 faucets into this huge assist community, as nearly any accent you possibly can consider is suitable with their extraordinarily slick, impressively quick, straight-pull motion. The corporate is introducing each an entire rifle to the U.S. market, in addition to barreled actions for many who wish to construct one thing to their specs. We’re the primary U.S. media outlet to get hands-on with each.
THE RIFLE
Designed to fulfill the expectations of the American client, the RS700 rifle is supplied with a medium sporter profile barrel, which matches the unique Remington magnum tube’s contour — not Kate Moss skinny, so there’s some mass to withstand stringing after a few photographs. Barrels are sourced from Lothar Walther, Europe’s premier maker, and machined to Strasser’s spec so we have been curious to learn the way they’d group with American calibers.
The muzzle is threaded to simply accept a suppressor or brake, which dictates how skinny this space might be made and nonetheless kind a suitable shoulder. Sadly, the thread sample is metric, which limits the variety of cans that’ll bolt up instantly, however Strasser does provide thread adapters to transform it to five/8×24, and Useless Air’s Xeno mount has an M14 possibility.
The producer strongly recommends in opposition to taking aside the bolt, so naturally we did simply that. And what we discovered was a murals.
A key function the RS14 incorporates into its design is uncommon within the straight-pull world, and it’s carried over into the brand new rifle. Main extraction is a kind of belongings you don’t actually need till you do, after which you actually need it.
In most bolt weapons, breaking the fired case freed from the chamber partitions is achieved by a cam path on the rear of the receiver, which acts on the basis of the bolt deal with to present the bolt a really quick however highly effective nudge rearward. Within the case of the RS700, that is accomplished by an extension of the bolt deal with performing on a plunger contained in the bolt shroud, which shoves in opposition to the left aspect of the receiver. When the bolt’s in battery, it’s fully hidden till wanted.
In addition to offering main extraction, when the bolt deal with is drawn to the rear it retracts 4 identical-locking lugs within the bolt head. These have interaction a recess within the receiver wall to offer a robust, self-centering lockup.
Based on CEO, Matthias Strasser, the motion energy might be overkill for many cartridges. “We had the proof home in Vienna take a look at the RS700 motion with just one locking lug current, and it withstood the stress generated by three 308 proof hundreds.”
For sure, anybody who manages to reassemble their rifle on this configuration in all probability shouldn’t reproduce, however it’s reassuring, nonetheless. With the intention to idiot-proof the motion and forestall the tip person from assembling the rifle with none locking lugs in any respect, there’s a spring-loaded lever within the receiver wall that forestalls the bolt getting into on this situation.
The 4 locking lugs are pressed outward by a protracted sleeve over the firing pin. Within the occasion of an overpressure state of affairs resulting in a pierced primer, there’s an opportunity of gases flowing into the bolt via the firing pin gap and pushing again on the locking sleeve, with a fair smaller probability of this shifting sufficiently to retract the lugs.
To forestall this distant eventuality, an impartial locking block within the bolt shroud swings into place when the bolt’s in battery, fully blocking the locking sleeve. Within the occasion of an enormous quantity of fuel getting into the motion, say from a case head separation, most of it would take the trail of least resistance and blow out of the 2 an identical ejection ports, channeled by the bolt contours.
The rest will exit via the magwell, with something making it previous these areas being stopped by the bolt shroud. Having had an impromptu face tat courtesy of blowing up a case in a Ruger motion, we’re kinda huge on catastrophic dealing with of propellant gases.
As a result of 99.99 p.c of Remington 700 actions aren’t straight pull, and as a consequence want a spot to accommodate the vertical part of their bolt throw, this begs the query of what to do with the bolt deal with slot in all of the shares and chassis techniques on the market.
In a stroke of genius, the corporate’s engineers used this location for the bolt cease, which is each large and simple to entry. “We acknowledge that straight-pull actions invite the person to slam them forwards and backwards,” Strasser mentioned. “So, we designed the bolt cease to carry as much as laborious use.”
Problem accepted. We naturally tried to interrupt it by working the bolt as quick and as violently as we might, however throughout testing it held up simply superb. In case you have been questioning, the RS700 rifle’s inventory is hand-laid carbon fiber, with a reasonably vertical pistol grip, hand-painted camo end and for many who recurrently use bipods, an hooked up Picatinny rail on the forend.
Comb top is well-suited to scopes with a 40mm and above goal lens, and it accepts AICS sample magazines, with MDT’s three-round, polymer, flush-fit magazine delivery with the rifle.
Scope mounting is taken care of with the included one-piece Pic rail, which is proprietary to this design because of totally different spacing between the entrance and rear mounting holes. Remington 700 two-piece scope mounts match with out problem, as do light-weight, direct-mount rings equivalent to Talley’s choices.
BARRELED ACTION
Out there in .308 Win, 6.5 Creedmoor, and 6.5PRC, the RS700 barreled motion permits customers to configure the rifle the way in which they need it, inside sure parameters.
These of us who simply can’t go away nicely sufficient alone and need the liberty to twist up their very own barrels are going to be dissatisfied that stripped actions aren’t presently out there, however we’re assured that possibility will turn into a actuality within the not-too-distant future. As issues stand, barrels are headspaced utilizing a Remage barrel nut, that means you possibly can mess with swapping in numerous calibers and barrel configurations at residence, as long as you will have a barrel and motion vise, together with the proper headspace gauges.
We’re instructed that shouldered pre-fit barrels may even headspace accurately, however because of the Strasser’s fats bolt design, each techniques require the corresponding barrel recess to be opened up by 80 thousandths of an inch. Whereas that is presently a 10-minute job for anybody with a lathe, there ought to quickly be aftermarket barrel makers providing these as off-the-shelf gadgets. Within the meantime, we’re trying ahead to seeing the primary one accomplished with a Dremel — you already know it’s going to occur.
An extra profit to anybody wanting a one-gun resolution might be discovered within the bolt head. Just like the RS14, the RSS700 can accommodate a number of cartridge households by merely swapping out bolt heads, enabling the person to go from a 0.378-inch case head, all the way in which as much as magnum case head diameter. You can prepare with 0.223, then screw in a 6.5 PRC barrel and go hammer out to a mile with the identical gun.
The RS700 motion might be configured in accordance with the wants of left- and right-handed shooters, by merely unscrewing the bolt cease and swapping sides. Left-handed bolts can be found from the producer, so this throws up the intriguing chance of a right-handed shooter holding their grasp hand on the pistol grip and working the set off whereas they run the bolt with their left.
Whereas we haven’t really accomplished this, we have now to consider that with a heavy gun on a bipod chambered in a low recoiling cartridge, it’s obtained to be very quick. Perhaps it’s time to attempt to break the file for the “Mad Minute.”
In step with the design intent of the heavy-barreled take a look at unit we have been despatched, we dropped it into an MDT ACC Elite chassis. This necessitated tweaking the journal catch, because the RS700 bolt requires the magazine to take a seat about 1mm decrease.
Not an issue on this case, because it simply wanted a few activates the adjustment screws; in different much less subtle techniques, chances are you’ll have to do some grinding. Leupold’s excellent-but-discontinued Mk8 x-25×50 was added to the 20 MOA one-piece base. We additionally swapped out the included Timney set off for his or her HIT mannequin, after eradicating the superfluous Remington bolt cease.
Whereas the equipped unit is a wonderful set off in its personal proper, we wished to have the ability to regulate it down beneath 2 kilos, which the HIT permits.
ROUNDS DOWNRANGE
Proper off the bat, the RS700 confirmed a touch of what it was able to. With none barrel break-in voodoo, it began stacking bullets on prime of one another.
After zeroing at 100 yards, my spotter for the night, a former USMC Scout Sniper strapped a Magnetospeed to the barrel, and we took some velocity readings utilizing Norma 143-grain Golden Goal hundreds. With the chrono in place, the RS700 turned in 0.3-inch teams and surprisingly exceeded the often optimistic knowledge printed on the ammo field — 2,735 fps common velocity.
Banging metal was hilariously straightforward, all the way in which out to the furthest goal out there, some 1,080 yards distant, and because of the velocity of the straight-pull motion, it was potential to get a second spherical within the air earlier than the primary had impacted the goal.
We’re trying ahead to seeing what this combo can do in a aggressive setting. Definitely, it could possibly group in addition to any manufacturing unit rifle on the market, and the straight-pull motion ought to provide benefits with regards to a number of goal engagements.
We’re additionally intrigued by the potential of constructing a single rifle to fulfill each want, utilizing a number of calibers and swapping in barrels and bolt heads as required, counting on the huge amount of R700 aftermarket elements to tailor the gun to the job at hand. Which provides us an concept for one more article — watch this house.
Strasser USA RS700
- Caliber: 6.5 Creedmoor, .308 Win, 6.5 PRC
- Capability: 3 to 10 rounds
- Barrel Size: 22 to 26 inches
- General Size: 46 inches
- Weight: 14.1 kilos (as configured)
- MSRP: N/A at press time
As Configured:
- Leupold Mk8 3.5-25×56: N/A
- MDT ACC Elite Chassis: $1,600
- Atlas Bipod: $280
- Timney HIT set off: $245
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