I’m excited to announce a new member of the family. After a five-month wait, my Hill Country Rifles custom rifle arrived on Thursday.
Here’s a closer look at the action and scope:
Why am I excited? Consider these features:
- Stainless steel left-hand Stiller Predator action (a high quality Remington 700 clone).
- 20″ stainless steel Hart #3 match barrel in .308 Winchester.
- Timney match trigger.
- McMillan Edge Technology stock with Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad.
- Talley Light Weight Rings.
- Weight without scope: 6.5 pounds
- Leica ER 2.5-10x42mm riflescope with AquaDura lens coating.
- Weight with scope: 7 pounds 9 ounces.
- Guaranteed 0.5″ three-shot groups with Federal Premium Vital-Shok 165 grain Sierra Game King ammo.
One of the great things about this rifle is its ability to shoot small groups. Below you can see signed test targets from Hill Country Rifles showing that the rifle will shoot 0.4″ groups with Federal Vital-Shok ammo loaded with Sierra Game Kings, and 0.17″ groups with Federal Gold Medal 168 grain Match King ammo!
I’m waiting on some Federal Gold Medal and Vital-Shok ammo to arrive, but during my first range session with the rifle I shot a 0.7″ group with some Federal Fusion 165 grain ammo that was in my gun cabinet.
One of the bad things about this rifle is its ability to reveal the deficiencies in my shooting skills. I won’t post images of the rest of the three-shot groups that I got with the rifle that first time out, but they were fairly mediocre. They were:
- 1.5″ – Nosler Custom 165gr Accubond
- 1.9″ – Winchester Supreme 168gr Ballistic Tip.
- 2.0″ – Federal 150gr Fusion
This will be the first time I’ll be able to hunt with a left-hand rifle in many years. I can’t wait for deer and antelope season!
Here are the targets that came with the rifle demonstrating that it more than meets the Hill Country Rifles guarantee. (There really are three shots in that first target. )
