I’ve posted briefly about this rifle before, but here’s a more thorough follow-up, now that I have everything dialed in.
I’ve been hunting as far back as I can remember, and have been around and used bolt actions all that time, but I’ve never actually had my own. Family rifles essentially, namely a .300 Savage from the 1940’s and Browning in .270 Win, using fixed 4 and 8 power scopes.
I’ve been shooting some semi-precision gassers for the last handful of years, with variable scopes up to 9x. This is my initial entry into a high-end/custom precision bolt action rifle. Perhaps a bit overkill for my first, but I like to jump headfirst.
After some brief forum interaction earlier last year on the Hide, I was contacted via PM by Mike Rescigno of Tactical Operations, who walked me through narrowing down what exactly it was that I wanted. He was and continues to be nothing but a pleasure to work with, and beyond helpful with any questions or concerns, which there have been plenty of considering my obsessiveness. The guy can also talk your ear off in general, but he knows his shit, and is nothing but generous with his time. I have a titanium TacOps can on the way as well, partly due to too MUCH talking with Mike perhaps. 
The rifle originally shipped with Leupold Mark 4 medium rings, but they put the bell of the NF scope far too close to the heavy barrel at 0.84" - he gladly swapped them for some highs at 1.06". I took the rifle to Utah while on vacation, where my Pops and I dialed it in to a rough zero on some prairie dogs out on a ranch/farm. The next morning we took a 6-point mule deer with it, so the rifle was definitely off to a good start! I had handled a Tango model previously, and frankly I wasn’t quite expecting this rifle to be as much of a beast as it is with a seemingly much heavier stock and far heavier barrel, but hoofing it around wasn’t bothersome. The stock feels great, especially in the hand, and the heft lends nicely to eating up perceived recoil and staying on target.
I decided the high Mark 4’s gave me a bit more clearance than I wanted, and started looking at other well known ring manufacturers. I had it narrowed down to Badger and Seekins, but ended up going with the Seekins high rings at 0.97". Off to Birdsong they went for the TacOps Green-T finish, and the rifle hibernated until I received them in mid-December.
I have now taken the rifle out to the range 3 times since the Christmas holiday, to start putting some groups together and to bang steel. I’ve adjusted and dialed in the LOP, eye relief, and comb height over the course of these 3 trips. Granted, I’ve just layered some high density foam under the cheek pack because my OCD ass doesn’t like the gap when the McMillan is raised.
My first two shots on paper with the rifle and new rings were just a tad high and a bit right at 100 yards. I dialed down and left, putting one shot right of center. Dialed left again and stringed my first 3-shot group.
Factory loaded FGMM 168
Hits on 24" steel gongs down to 4" diamonds/circles back to 500 yards have been like clockwork with this rifle. Although I find shooting on steel and silhouettes from various positions and barricades to be much more satisfying, I’m really trying to lock it down and shoot consistent solid paper groups.
The below groups are from today, my third range trip out with this rifle. I still have a lot of work to do, and I’m hoping to get to the PR course with T3 this year, and get the fundamentals better locked down, but I’m enjoying the hell out of it thus far. I’ve never used a scope with a turret for parallax, so that’s taking some acclimating as well.
I find the MLR 2.0 reticle to be a tad thick for precise paper work, and the trigger could stand to be a bit lighter only as it pertains to the same, but that’s probably me making excuses as much as anything. I’d probably be jumping prematurely on the shots if it was lighter. The trigger breaks at just over 2.25#, but there is absolutely no creep or over-travel whatsoever. This really only pertains to shooting at gnat asses though - no complaints about the scope/reticle or the rifle at this point, and I’m quite elated with my choices in both scope and builder, and don’t intend to change anything. I’m working on tightening up my precision/group shooting, but that’s actually the least that this rifle will be used for. I consider both aforementioned aspects to be optimal for my main usage, and have lost finer reticles during dusk/low light conditions, or hunting with heavy/busy backgrounds. The reticle is very clean and holds with it are a breeze.
I’ve mostly shot FGMM 168gr, but I think I prefer the A-MAX at this point. I’ve shot/function tested 150gr soft points, 155gr A-MAX, 168gr match, 175 FGMM, M118LR and 180gr soft points. Everything has chambered and sent without issue.
3 shot group at 100 yards - .410" top edge to bottom edge with factory Hornady A-MAX 168
10 shot group at 100 yards - 0.795" top edge to bottom edge with factory FGMM 168
I placed a half inch green circle sticker on hadji’s forehead, and kept punching it in each time to where I couldn’t see any green. After walking to the target in between every shot to replace the sticker, I said screw it and put the last two shots between his eyes. Perhaps I should have taken two more walks…
- Tac-Ops Delta 51 in .308
- Built on a Remington 700 action - 2.25# trigger
- 21.75" TacOps proprietary heavy contour stainless Krieger barrel - 1/10 twist
- Class 3A threaded for TacOps titanium suppressor
- McMillan A-3 stock w/ adjustable comb and ‘Sniper fill’ weight
- Nightforce NXS F1 3.5-15 FFP w/ MLR2.0 illuminating reticle
- Seekins high rings (0.97")
- 24 MOA 2-piece rail
- Anschutz rail with BT28 AFAR Kit
- Atlas PSR bipod
Cert target
w/ Original Mark 4 rings
