Hi All!......First post here for me...
While talking to a friend recently, he mentioned he had bought a MVP in .204, and it was a absolute tack driver. This guy knows accurate rifles, and is a great shot out on the prairie dog fields. I was surprised he said that as a few years ago, I had picked up a MVP Varmint in .223, and it was a terrible shooter. I traded it off (at the same dealer where I bought it... they gave my full price I paid, which was actually discounted cause they were clearing them out at the time) after many range sessions and several handload tests.
I'm mostly a prairie dog shooter with a few coyote calling hunts sprinkled in here and there.
To be clear, I have 2 other .204 rifles: A Savage 12FV in a custom stock: .365 avg groups at 100 yds with the Sierra 39 SBK. A few of the prairie dog shots this gun/combo has made are unbelievable!
Also a Custom RRA AR in .204, and it’s a 1/2” gun all day, and used when the action gets heated up.
I recently reduced the calibers I load for to 3: .204, .223 and .22-250.
I sold off 4 rifles and loading gear in .243, 22BR, 6.5CM, etc., and had a bit of money to play with.
SO... I was at the local gun store about a week ago, and they had received a MVP Varmint in .204 with the threaded barrel. I was surprised as I had been keeping an eye on the usual online sources for one after my friend praised his. We dickered on it and I bought it for $540 OTD.
It took about 20 patches of Pro-Shot bore solvent to get the bore clean and copper free... from a new barrel. Mounted a proven good B&L Elite 4000 6-24 on it from one of the rifles I sold. I have windage adjustable mounts, and adjusted them while boresighting to get it close and in the middle of the adjustment windage range. Vertical was off enough that I may revisit that when the weather gets a bit better. I needed 24 clicks down from centered adjustment to get the elevation close.
I took it to the range this afternoon and brought along 50 of my handloads: 25 loaded with 32gr V-Max and 25 loaded with Sierra BlitzKing 39 gr.
The 39 gr. SBK load shoots fantastic in my other 2 .204 rifles, and I was hoping it would also shoot well in this MVP to reduce the recipes I need for different rifles.
I had to shovel and plow the access to my range. It was 30* and dead calm, overcast. I set up at the 100 yard concrete bench, and bore sighted the scope.
The first 5 fouling shots were 4" left and 4" high. I made a few adjustments and shot for accuracy.
Dang it ... the 39gr SBKs didn't shoot too well ... ~1.25 avg. The 32gr shot a bit better ... ~.900 for all groups. A bit of vertical stringing.
BUT... the 2 5-shot groups I shot at the end of the session with factory Hornady Superformance 32gr V-Max shot both groups right at .642 + .643 with nice round groups ... no stringing. Which is about the same as my other two rifles shoot that factory loading... so there's hope!
I measure each powder drop to a tenth of a grain, and these loads for my two other rifles always have performed great.
I do load them with a rather longish LTO (OAL), and perhaps the throat on the MVP isn't as deep as the other two rifles. No pressure signs using 8208 XBR (w/39 gr bullets) or H4895 (w/32gr bullets) powders at the level I load for the other guns.
Likes:
Fit and finish is pretty good.
Smooth feeding from both the single shot mag and the 10 rnd P-Mag I used.
Fits me great, and I'm 6'4". I liked the shorter LOP of the stock. Perfect cheek weld. I dad add a UpperCut pad to the comb. Much better fit than that Savage 12FV, but not quite as "comfy" as the RRA AR.
Light as a feather compared to the Savage and AR.
Rode the rear bag well (shot from a bipod, just like I'll do when PD'ing), recoiled straight back and up a bit.
Dislikes:
The trigger isn't very good... yet. Crisp but heavy. I'm kind of a "Trigger Nazi" and I bet I have it where I like it soon.
The mag rattles, but that'll be an easy fix.
I wish it shot the favorite 39gr loads better.
Otherwise, I think its going to be a great little rifle, even if I do have to feed it $.80 a round ammo. I'll work on getting the 39s to shoot better, but it looks like 2 different loadings will be required.
If I can figure out how to upload picts to this forum, I'll pop up a few pictures.
Take care and have a great week!
Mike
While talking to a friend recently, he mentioned he had bought a MVP in .204, and it was a absolute tack driver. This guy knows accurate rifles, and is a great shot out on the prairie dog fields. I was surprised he said that as a few years ago, I had picked up a MVP Varmint in .223, and it was a terrible shooter. I traded it off (at the same dealer where I bought it... they gave my full price I paid, which was actually discounted cause they were clearing them out at the time) after many range sessions and several handload tests.
I'm mostly a prairie dog shooter with a few coyote calling hunts sprinkled in here and there.
To be clear, I have 2 other .204 rifles: A Savage 12FV in a custom stock: .365 avg groups at 100 yds with the Sierra 39 SBK. A few of the prairie dog shots this gun/combo has made are unbelievable!
Also a Custom RRA AR in .204, and it’s a 1/2” gun all day, and used when the action gets heated up.
I recently reduced the calibers I load for to 3: .204, .223 and .22-250.
I sold off 4 rifles and loading gear in .243, 22BR, 6.5CM, etc., and had a bit of money to play with.
SO... I was at the local gun store about a week ago, and they had received a MVP Varmint in .204 with the threaded barrel. I was surprised as I had been keeping an eye on the usual online sources for one after my friend praised his. We dickered on it and I bought it for $540 OTD.
It took about 20 patches of Pro-Shot bore solvent to get the bore clean and copper free... from a new barrel. Mounted a proven good B&L Elite 4000 6-24 on it from one of the rifles I sold. I have windage adjustable mounts, and adjusted them while boresighting to get it close and in the middle of the adjustment windage range. Vertical was off enough that I may revisit that when the weather gets a bit better. I needed 24 clicks down from centered adjustment to get the elevation close.
I took it to the range this afternoon and brought along 50 of my handloads: 25 loaded with 32gr V-Max and 25 loaded with Sierra BlitzKing 39 gr.
The 39 gr. SBK load shoots fantastic in my other 2 .204 rifles, and I was hoping it would also shoot well in this MVP to reduce the recipes I need for different rifles.
I had to shovel and plow the access to my range. It was 30* and dead calm, overcast. I set up at the 100 yard concrete bench, and bore sighted the scope.
The first 5 fouling shots were 4" left and 4" high. I made a few adjustments and shot for accuracy.
Dang it ... the 39gr SBKs didn't shoot too well ... ~1.25 avg. The 32gr shot a bit better ... ~.900 for all groups. A bit of vertical stringing.
BUT... the 2 5-shot groups I shot at the end of the session with factory Hornady Superformance 32gr V-Max shot both groups right at .642 + .643 with nice round groups ... no stringing. Which is about the same as my other two rifles shoot that factory loading... so there's hope!
I measure each powder drop to a tenth of a grain, and these loads for my two other rifles always have performed great.
I do load them with a rather longish LTO (OAL), and perhaps the throat on the MVP isn't as deep as the other two rifles. No pressure signs using 8208 XBR (w/39 gr bullets) or H4895 (w/32gr bullets) powders at the level I load for the other guns.
Likes:
Fit and finish is pretty good.
Smooth feeding from both the single shot mag and the 10 rnd P-Mag I used.
Fits me great, and I'm 6'4". I liked the shorter LOP of the stock. Perfect cheek weld. I dad add a UpperCut pad to the comb. Much better fit than that Savage 12FV, but not quite as "comfy" as the RRA AR.
Light as a feather compared to the Savage and AR.
Rode the rear bag well (shot from a bipod, just like I'll do when PD'ing), recoiled straight back and up a bit.
Dislikes:
The trigger isn't very good... yet. Crisp but heavy. I'm kind of a "Trigger Nazi" and I bet I have it where I like it soon.
The mag rattles, but that'll be an easy fix.
I wish it shot the favorite 39gr loads better.
Otherwise, I think its going to be a great little rifle, even if I do have to feed it $.80 a round ammo. I'll work on getting the 39s to shoot better, but it looks like 2 different loadings will be required.
If I can figure out how to upload picts to this forum, I'll pop up a few pictures.
Take care and have a great week!
Mike