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Mossberg MVP Bolt Action Reviews

"I have been watching a few youtube reviews on the MVP. I hear a lot of stuff repeated but the one thing that I don't hear anyone discuss is how the action/bolt compares to other rifles, of similar type. Is there a specific reason or benefit to how it is made over another brand? Why is a Ruger American rifle fitted with a smooth, tight fitting bolt assembly and the Mossberg is very loose? I can see that the Mossberg bolt/action will benefit in that it will probably handle dirt and trash better than a tighter fitting assembly, but I have not owned many rifles so I really can't form an opinion."

I am a noob...so reviving another old thread since no one else answered. This is just my opinion, but the sloppy bolt, I think, is because of the tongue needing to almost "flop" down and grab the next round from an AR mag? It does take some English to get it to battery as compared to my Ruger American and Ruger GSS. I found a little bit of Frog Lube on the lugs does help....maybe in my own mind?

Also, I do not like the factory mag. My 20 rnd generic runs just fine. Just looks a little goofy imho. I plan on trying MP's and the other plastic brand that has slipped my mind.....
 
I've had literally only two rifles. An AR and a Savage. I don't have anything else to compare it to but when I made up my mind to get a bolt action it came down to the MVP and Savage 10 (or 11 in this case). The Patriot was still fairly new and there were only a couple of MVP models. I tried the action on each just in stores. I didn't know enough that I could tell a significant difference. I tried a couple higher end guns that I definitely wasn't going to buy. Those I could tell a difference and they were smooth as glass but of the ones I would chose from, they all felt the same. Somewhat gritty at first but smooth enough.

While I had no reason to not like the Mossberg rifles, they cost a little more and unfortunately the past reputation of Mossberg QC and CS kinda put me off when the Savage action is almost legendary.

Having said that, I can't say I k is of any problems with the MVP.

Ultimately I went with the less expensive gun and make little sub MOA groups like more expensive guns. I don't try for rapid fire on running targets. I hunt with it and I'm extremely confident in my shot placement. Except for last night when I misjudged the distance and my hold.
 
Some notes on my MVP LC .308 trying to shoot long range....

My home club only has 25 and 50yd ranges, so that mainly where the LC is used.. I normally use 175gn Amax to suit the 1:10 barrel, over 37 gns of H335, moving at about 2200 fps.... at 25yds its a 1 hole group.

To be a bit more range friendly, I've taken the standard muzzle brake off and replaced with a suppressor.

I was then given a chance to go shoot at 900yds, (the farthest I've ever shot) and the LC .308 is the only thing I have to reach that sort of range.
I realised that my normal ammo would be more like artillery than rifle shot at that sort of range, so I started working up some loads using lighter, faster bullets.
I eventually went with a load using 155gn SMKs, over 43 gns of H335, moving at about 2600 fps (chrono'ed), that Strelok said would need 29-30 MOA of adjustment for 900yds... well within the adjustment of my scope.

So... yesterday morning I arrived at Bisley near London, the home of the UK NRA and the home of British shooting, and set myself up with a few others (all experienced long range shooters) on the 900 yd firing point. Weather was very changeable, wind gusting between 10 and 20 mph from the left, some sun, some rain showers.
I dialed in 30MOA elevation and 10MOA windage, and got ready to send one down range.

Thats when the problems became apparent.... with the standard Caldwell bipod, and the angle of the rifle, I struggled to get low enough to even see through the scope.....

Ideally I needed to bend my neck 90 degrees backwards while laying prone to get a good sight picture...!!!

If the bipod extended a few more inches i would probably have been OK, but as it was I was forcing my neck as far back as possible, and my eyes as far up in their sockets as they'd go.... not a very relaxed shooting position..!

Because of this, and probably the weather conditions too, I couldn't get many shots on target.... I had the others in my group looking for sand splash, but nothing, so I dropped the elevation a few MOA, and still nothing...

The Markers down in the butts could obviously hear the crack of the bullets, as they were dropping the targets after my shots, but marking them as misses.
After 40 rnds I gave up... plus the rain was getting heavier... I think i only got 4 or 5 shots on the target.

One of the others in my group commented that the ammo was overpowered for the rifle, as there was a 12'' fireball coming out the suppressor...!
I think in my efforts to get velocity, that load is wasted in the 18'' barrel.

So... basically I think the MVP LC is unsuited to long range...at 300 to 600yds it would probably be fine, and hopefully I'll get a chance to try those in the future.

  1. The Caldwell bipod only extends to 9''.. if it went to 13'', as some do, it would have been better.
  2. The 18'' barrel doesn't allow the sort of velocities needed for longer range. H335 is one of the faster rifle powders, something like Vit N140 (a powder I've been recommended) is slower so would be even worse.
So... to be honest i was disappointed... after a couple of weeks of load development, a long drive down to Bisley, standing around and laying for several hours in the wind and rain, all i had to show for it was a lot of wet and dirty shooting kit...

Would i do it again..?? probably not..
 
New MVP Patrol 223/556 owner's first range visit. Some background, I'm 71 years old and shoot at a great local 50 yard range. I started shooting target with a Mossberg single shot 22 when I was a kid. Spent weekends on my grandparents small horse farm, best days of my life. Army vet served with the 116th Assault Helicopter Co as crew chief/door gunner '67-'68. Traded my Troy Ind. 223/556 PAR in at Cabela's for the Mossberg Patrol. Other guns are S&W M&P 15, Ruger American 22 and Benelli Supernova 12 ga w/pistol grip stock and Fiocchi LE low recoil slugs. All have scopes except the Benelli which has a TRS 25 red dot. Scopes are on the low end but have been pretty accurate, two are Monstrum and one is a UTG Bug buster w/ Nikon 223 rings.

I experimented with several sets of rings before using the UTG quick disconnect ring to mount the 3x9 Monstrum scope. Loaded 4 PMAGs, one Lancer and one Mossberg with PMC 223 55gr 10 rounds each. (This is NY and that's as many as we're allowed!) Note: Cabella's Locktited the factory rail.

Packed up my gear and headed out. Set up the target at 50 yards, set the scope at x9 and fired 5 shots. Pushed the target return code and to my surprise, not one hole in the target or the larger backup sheet I'd attached to the range cardboard sheet! Checked the scope and found that the QD ring adjusters had unlocked and left the scope wiggle. Took the scope off and after trying to use the iron sights at 50 yards moved the target to the 25 yard distance. I had watched many youtube videos of the MVP Patrol and found most informative. Unlike the Troy PAR I was able to maintain the shooting position while cycling the action. The bolt was pretty smooth and seemed smoother than most of the videos I'd watched. The bolt knob on this rifle is similar to the one on the 308 version. The Mossberg and Lancer mags had the least amount of wobble but all worked without any loading/feeding problems. Very comfortable to shoot with minimal muzzle rise, I don't see a need for a brake. Had I done a better job of scope ring selection and mounting the results might have been better.

I'll mount the bug buster w/Nikon rings and try again soon. I'll try to attach pictures of the 25 yard target and bolt handle to this post.
 

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My last 3 shots were at the lower left target. For some reason it's not letting me post the bolt handle pic. I'll try again.
 

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Just bought a .223 MVP Varmint. They now come suplied with a 10 shot P Mag rather than the earlier metal mag... and they still wobble...
But, it feeds every time....I did think I was going to have problems, I'd tried it with a plastic snap-cap and that fed OK, then I tried feeding some of my homeloads... they fed fine from the mag, but the bolt wouldn't close..!!
I then realised it was a batch that had only been neck-sized from being fired in my Steyr AUG. I tried another batch that had been FL sized and they fed and loaded fine.

But like Griz44 on the first page, mine barrel was filthy... I tried various bore solvents and Froglube and alternating PB brush and patches and I just got dirty patch after dirty patch....first was some brownish crud (preservative?), then once I'd got that out it was just normal carbon fouling... but loads of it.

I never did get a totally clean patch, but its now an acceptable level of cleanliness.... now to make it dirty again :D

I won't get a chance to hit the range until next weekend, but I'll come back and let you know what happens.
 
Ok, follow up to the above...
I took it down the range with some 55gn plinking handloads and did the break-in thing.. fire 1, clean and repeat a few times, then fire 3 and clean, and repeat, until i got bored.... but when I'd done, it only takes 3-4 patches to go from fouled to clean.

The following week I made up some loads using 69gn SMK's and 75gn PPU bullets and Ramshot TAC powder, and I also had some Hornady factory 75gn ammo.
My next visit to the range I intended to get on the 50yd range ( the longest my club has), but the 50yd was out of action, so I had to use the 25... I only fired half of the loads, but a couple of them were basically 1 hole groups, with both bullet weights, and the factory ammo.

Today I went again and got on the 50 yd range.... best of the (5 shot) groups was with the 69gn SMKs and 23.6gn of TAC, 8mm c to c, so about 0.7 MOA. The 75gn PPU bullets did best with 23.3 gns of TAC, and a 10mm group (but only 4 shots, excluding a flyer), but thats still under 1 MOA.

One group I'm not sure about was the 69gn with 24.2gns of TAC.... 3 of the shots made one .308 sized hole, but then the other 2 went left and right making it a 20mm group... I don't think i pulled those 2 shots, but its possible... I'll make some more up and try again. If I'm going for long range loads, I'll benefit from the added velocity.
Next step will be to chrono the loads...

So far I'm impressed...! And still no feeding problems with any of the 100 rnds through it so far..
 
ok, its definately getting run in now....but it looks like it could be a gun that likes to run dirty.

Took it on the 50yd range again today with that same 23.6gn load but a different scope, first 10 shots got it roughly zero'd, then some more 5 shot groups to fine tune.

First group was about an inch, then the groups started shrinking... by the 5th group it was on song, giving me a 5 shot group that works out at .27 MOA...!!

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I'm happy with that..!!
 
I've had my MVP Patrol in 308 for 2 years now. With 180 or up to 220 round nose it shoots tiny groups all day. I've never had a single problem with it once. It does open up groups with 150 grain bullets though for some reason. With the heavy barrel it never gets very hot and never looses point of aim at all. I did make a 5 round magazine out of a 10 for hunting so it doesn't stick out so far.
 
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