matt85
AH legend
I had already posted some pictures in the big bore addiction thread but to be fair I believe this rifle deserves its own thread.
Back in April I contacted Wayne of American Hunting Rifles and told him I was In need of a proper rifle for my upcoming cape buffalo hunt and that I wanted it to be chambered in 505 Gibbs. After talking about some details I decided on an 11 pound rifle with a 24" barrel, AHR fancy pattern checkering, and a 14" LOP. I told him that my hunt was coming up quick (September) and the rifle was needed ASAP so he agreed to get the build done as quick as possible in order for the rifle to make the hunt.
Here are some pictures of the build process:
Here is pictures of the completed rifle taken by Wayne:
The great day finally came when the rifle showed up at my door roughly 3 months from the order date. Pictures taken at my house:
As you can tell AHR truly produces a beautiful hunting rifle! The rifles are semi-custom affairs built to your basic specifications and while they aren't cheap they certainly aren't expensive either when compared to most other custom rifles. The rifle is built on a CZ 550 Magnum action that has been tuned up and slightly modified to become an excellent reliable large bore action. No feed issues and no magazine issues just smooth reliable feeding and ejecting even under stressed operation. The trigger is crisp and light (around 3 pounds) per my request with absolutely no creep. The iron sights on the rifle are simple but effective with an easy to see fiber optic front sight. A strange part about AHR rifles which worried me at first but I've since decided I like it, is the satin GunKote finish. GunKote isn't exactly the first finish that comes to mind when considering a finish on the hunting rifle but its much more durable then bluing and actually looks very nice. This rifle came in at 11 pound 2 ounces with a barrel cut to exactly 24" and a stock cut to exactly 14" LOP with a Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad. Wayne customized their QD holographic mount to house a Trijicon RMR which should serve me well in the Africa Bush.
Range report: I took the rifle to my favorite rifle range today and was extremely pleased with the results! The RMR was fairly easy to adjust using Norma factory loads (600gr Woodleigh SP at 2100fps). Once adjusted it stayed put under recoil. However, I do wish the RMR was available with a dot smaller then 4 MOA. The rifle is easy to manage under recoil and very comfortable to shoot despite generating around 6000 ft/lb of muzzle energy with its standard loads. By the end of the day I had played with a couple different loads consisting of the Norma factory loads, a hand load pushing a 525gr Woodleigh SP at 2300fps, and another new hand load using 600gr hard cast gas checked bullets. All three of these loads shot under an inch at 50 yards off sticks which is about as good as I can do off sticks.
If you are considering a new large bore rifle then I strongly recommend checking out AHR at americanhuntingrifles.com.
thanks for reading
-Matt
Back in April I contacted Wayne of American Hunting Rifles and told him I was In need of a proper rifle for my upcoming cape buffalo hunt and that I wanted it to be chambered in 505 Gibbs. After talking about some details I decided on an 11 pound rifle with a 24" barrel, AHR fancy pattern checkering, and a 14" LOP. I told him that my hunt was coming up quick (September) and the rifle was needed ASAP so he agreed to get the build done as quick as possible in order for the rifle to make the hunt.
Here are some pictures of the build process:
Here is pictures of the completed rifle taken by Wayne:
The great day finally came when the rifle showed up at my door roughly 3 months from the order date. Pictures taken at my house:
As you can tell AHR truly produces a beautiful hunting rifle! The rifles are semi-custom affairs built to your basic specifications and while they aren't cheap they certainly aren't expensive either when compared to most other custom rifles. The rifle is built on a CZ 550 Magnum action that has been tuned up and slightly modified to become an excellent reliable large bore action. No feed issues and no magazine issues just smooth reliable feeding and ejecting even under stressed operation. The trigger is crisp and light (around 3 pounds) per my request with absolutely no creep. The iron sights on the rifle are simple but effective with an easy to see fiber optic front sight. A strange part about AHR rifles which worried me at first but I've since decided I like it, is the satin GunKote finish. GunKote isn't exactly the first finish that comes to mind when considering a finish on the hunting rifle but its much more durable then bluing and actually looks very nice. This rifle came in at 11 pound 2 ounces with a barrel cut to exactly 24" and a stock cut to exactly 14" LOP with a Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad. Wayne customized their QD holographic mount to house a Trijicon RMR which should serve me well in the Africa Bush.
Range report: I took the rifle to my favorite rifle range today and was extremely pleased with the results! The RMR was fairly easy to adjust using Norma factory loads (600gr Woodleigh SP at 2100fps). Once adjusted it stayed put under recoil. However, I do wish the RMR was available with a dot smaller then 4 MOA. The rifle is easy to manage under recoil and very comfortable to shoot despite generating around 6000 ft/lb of muzzle energy with its standard loads. By the end of the day I had played with a couple different loads consisting of the Norma factory loads, a hand load pushing a 525gr Woodleigh SP at 2300fps, and another new hand load using 600gr hard cast gas checked bullets. All three of these loads shot under an inch at 50 yards off sticks which is about as good as I can do off sticks.
If you are considering a new large bore rifle then I strongly recommend checking out AHR at americanhuntingrifles.com.
thanks for reading
-Matt
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