The Mossberg Patriot Rifle.

[35 Whelen]

So the little .708 Patriot rifle came in so after some evaluation of it, here is what I see. Since these are under
$300 dealer cost, one needs to keep all this in proper
Perspective! This is NOT a Kimber.
It is however quite a lot of gun for the money. The fluting on the bolt is very shallow, and mostly for looks, the bolt when it's pulled back has a bit of slop and felt gritty. The bottom of the lugs showed a lot of machine marks and they had Parkerized right over them. Safety lever seams to
Also have excessive in and out slop. The trigger pull has some creep and broke right at 4.5 lbs. So I decided to pull
It apart and see if we could improve it some. I noticed the safety lever was connected with a large head rivet style pin, allowing the lever to move a lot because the pin was not bucked up correctly. So I tighten that pin up and it made a big difference in its travel, much better. Barrel fluting is well done and functional, looks nice.
Then onto the trigger, CC with standard screwdriver.
Back this screw out for less. So set it up for 3lbs. MUCH better. Clip works flawlessly, the stock is very very lightweight so they saved some weight with that stock.
Did polish the underside of the bolt lugs and it now slides without any binding. Do still have a tiny bit of creep. Reassembled and it is now a lot better.
Now to see if it will shoot! Overall handsome it isn't; but practical it is! Good value. More later.

 

[SJB358]

Sounds like a good rifle for the bucks E. little brother has a 243 Mossberg. Stock is 5x too big for the action but the rifle shot well and did feed well from the magazine.

 

[DrMike]

I've had good success shooting several Mossburg rifles. They appeared to be a great bargain. I was shooting either .243 or .308 Win when I did work with them.

 

[35 Whelen]

I would call them "Utility" guns, however they do everything a $6/800
Gun does, without the attention of detail. I am going to guess looking at the rifling it's a 1 1/2" gun???
But I thought that about an American and it shot a half Inch groups..... :mrgreen:

 

[DrMike]

I have worked up loads in three or four, and all shot sub-MOA with selected loads. I was favourably impressed.

 

[35 Whelen]

Well I will probably scope it up today ,and see what it does??? It sorta makes me laugh cause this thing could be
Left in the bottom of the canoe, throw behind the seat of the pickup for months, bungee to the front rack of a ATV or strapped to a wing strut or snowmobile and you couldn't hurt it a heck of a lot............... It's the original working man's gun. And some young guy, will undoubtedly climb to the top of yonder mountain with one and kill a monster ram, with one of these little Patriots, while the rich guy is sitting down In his safari tent, waiting for the weather to improve, admiring his custom deluxe, blue printed, made and engraved for him by the guru of all gunsmiths, where he comes from..........
Funny how that is....
One is for go, and one is for show & blow.

 

[DrMike]

Well I will probably scope it up today ,and see what it does??? It sorta makes me laugh cause this thing could be
Left in the bottom of the canoe, throw behind the seat of the pickup for months, bungee to the front rack of a ATV or strapped to a wing strut or snowmobile and you couldn't hurt it a heck of a lot............... It's the original working man's gun. And some young guy, will undoubtedly climb to the top of yonder mountain with one and kill a monster ram, with one of these little Patriots, while the rich guy is sitting down In his safari tent, waiting for the weather to improve, admiring his custom deluxe, blue printed, made and engraved for him by the guru of all gunsmiths, where he comes from..........
Funny how that is....
One is for go, and one is for show & blow.

An appropriate assessment, without a doubt.

 

[35 Whelen]

Well here is the latest on the Patriot, after some more messing with it, I was not happy with the tiny bit of creep still in the trigger...... So attacked that, and would NOT recommend folks attempt that project! There is a witness hole to check the sear clearance in the side of sheath.
It was obvious it had about .040 too much distance. To remove the trigger from its housing you need to grind off
The rivits holding it all together, no big deal but not for the
Meak of heart....... :shock:
So Then milled it off, leaving the correct Step, for proper engagement, without any creep. Reassembled with new rivet. Checked for discharge from heavy dropping, no problem
Creep now crisp, then removed one turn on the coil spring and reset the pull weight to 2 3/4 lbs. Then Hand lapped the Action to remove all factory left behind machiningMounted a Minox Z3. Tryed some Prvi Partisan 140gr @ 100yds.wind blowing about 10 it's from 020 degrees.
Gun shot 1.6" group, I am going to guess it will shoot a lot
Better than that with some hand loads... Did the standard breakin cleaning between ever shot for the first twenty shots

 

[SJB358]

Looks like a good start. Picture of it looks pretty sharp. I'd bet it'll take some rounds to smooth out but it should be good. 7-08's shouldn't be hard to make work.

 

[35 Whelen]

I bet we can wind up at MOA or with in a knats whiskers, with some tuning. This accuracy almost unheard of a few years ago, from entry level guns...
Interesting feature some may not recognize, the CNC lightning bolt in center of the trigger;is your visual indicator the rifle is "cocked" and ready to fire!
And discharged it then looks like this!

Anyway she is officially ready for action!

 

[SJB358]

Not too bad buddy. Little brother has a Mossberg and it shot the 90 ABs at 3250 with 26 really well. Stock has enough material for two rifles but it was plenty accurate.

 

[35 Whelen]

Scotty,
I wonder if his is the 4x4 model? As this Patriot stock is as light or lighter than by buddy's American??

 

[SJB358]

Scotty,
I wonder if his is the 4x4 model? As this Patriot stock is as light or lighter than by buddy's American??

I'm not sure. It's some sorta birch or something like that. Very thick throughout the whole thing. It shoots fine and he is 16 and just carries the weight!

He smoked 3 deer with my loads this fall. Said it killed deer as fast as his 257 Wby... can't complain about that.

 

[35 Whelen]

I am totally impressed with the way it hits stuff at 300 yds, it hits HARD. I am a dyed in the wool .270W guy from reading waaaaay to much O'Conner but got to admit this .708 is no kids caliber. I think you could shoot anything that lives around here with it, no problem.

 

[Thankful Otter]

Scotty, Earle

I am sure I will get hammered from the pm crowd for this, but I dont understand this obsession with rifle weight. Lightweight, featherweight, semi featherweight, invisible zero weight. Is this just a fade or what. The rifle is probably the least heavy thing I carry or wear and if I sling it over my shoulder, I can literally forget it is there. I have never considered the weight of the rifle when considering a rifle. I honestly dont know but that old 30-06 I carried for years was pretty heavy, but of all the things I have and do complain about, I dont remember ever saying --boy this rifle is heavy

talk to me ?????????

 

[35 Whelen]

Lol, Cheyenne that reminds me of a story of a hunter we had years ago, that thought he was a "tough guy", Dad had some guides that really were tough cookies, they worked in the woods all their lives, and one of them in particular was about 6'2" but only weighed 145lb soaking wet.
This kid from NY city that though we were all a bunch of rednecks showed up at camp for a big Whitetail.
He was real mouthy the first night in camp, and was going on and on, about how far he could walk, and all the guys he had kicked their a*s, and that sorta foolishness.
So back to concerning the weight of rifles , This skinny guide, that was in fantastic shape carryed a little 1892 Winchester [5lbs], the "baloney mouth" from NYC, had an old Remington 81 auto that was around 9lbs.
Dad told Franky to "let some of the wind outta his sails" , and take him all the way around the "burntland" in the morning. They left camp just after daylight and its 22 miles all the way around the edge of the burnland behind camp, and we used to figure half way was a LONG way for the first day. :roll:
They came in at 7:30 that nite and Franky looked tired to me," Baloney mouth" stumbled in about 200 yds later, and literally had ahold of his rifle by the end of the barrel only, and was dragging the buttstock behind him on the ground ......... and thats a fact! He could JUST pick his feet up and put one in front of the other.
I think the 9lb model 81 auto was getting "kinda heavy". Frank told us later he had been draging it that way since about 4pm. :twisted:
He didnt eat his supper, and I never heard anymore BS, or bragging outta him again that week.......... lol. I think he would have probably argued with ya about a lighter rifle! :lol:
He did find out what tough really was while he was in camp; and he also found out, that he really didnt qualify for that title.................

Side note:
I just paid 50% more for a Tikka than I could have got a Howa 1500 for!! I really wanted to try the Howa but it weighed 2 lbs more than the Tikka :evil:

 

[truck driver]

Cheyenne I'm with you on this one also. Unless it is a bench rest class 10-15lb or more rifle I don't get it. I had to carry an M14 till they came out with the M16 and wondered if it was really a rifle. Most all my rifles run 8lb-9lbs and carried a Rem 1100 12ga for years with a 30" barrel and I don't know what it weighs but I will say it is heavier than my rifles. My arms get tired but seldom sling the rifle on my shoulder for fear of missing a chance at game but that is my style of hunting where I stalk or still hunt. If my arms get too tired I stop and take a break because the rest of me is tired also. The new pack I bought does have a rifle carrier built into it but have to remove the pack to get to the rifle so I doubt if I'll use it much.
Also my experience has been the lighter the rifle the harder it is to shoot accurately. JMO

 

[Thankful Otter]

So for those of us who actually prefer a rifle that is a pound or two heavier than the lightest rifle on the market,( like myself and Rodger ) we are just bragging and in real hunting situations we would be unable to keep up with anyone carrying a rifle that weighs a pound or two less than ours. The fact that it hunts better for us, or that the recoil is perhaps a little less, is not as important as following along in lock step with the those who like the lightweight rifles and feels anyone not using them are just bragging and have no legitimate reason for using a heavier rifle. I assume nothing was hunted before lightweight rifles were the only rifle one should hunt with, I will have to ask my grandfather how he hunted before the lightweight rifles were the hunting rifle of the day.

I have used a lightweight rifle and did not like how it hunted, but maybe if I shot one for a while that would change. Can you imagine how many MORE miles I could snowshoe if my rifle was two pounds less. I am certainly not afraid to try new things, so I think the first thing I will do is borrow it and check out how much further I am able to snowshoe each day with a lighter rifle and if I find that I can extend the distance considerably, then I will attempt to get use to the extra recoil and train myself to hunt with a lighter rifle.

So, I am assuming the answer to my original question is I will be able to walk more miles carrying a lightweight rifle, than a standard weight rifle, o.k. thanks.

Rodger, I had the same experience when I tried using a lightweight rifle and maybe we just need to use one more often and we would get use to it, but right now I am thinking if it isn't broke why fix it

 

[SJB358]

Well, call me a whimp, but I do enjoy a lighter rifle. I don't sling rifles unless I am climbing something so steep I need to. I was raised to keep my rifle in my paws and it has paid off more than one time to be ready. Saying that, I don't have any rifles over 9lbs at all, but I am putting my 7 MSM together to be 8lbs all up and scoped. It isn't really "light" but it should be about perfect for the cartridge.

My 338 goes about 8.5 all up and feels about right for a 338, a 270 or 30-06 doesn't need to weigh anymore than 8lbs and less is a bonus. I haven't found light rifles super hard to shoot, but they do require me to get on my shooting game and get serious, where as the heavier guns are a little more forgiving.

After running around Oregon and Wyoming, covering in excess of 10 miles a day, a little lighter rifle doesn't hurt my feelings at all. Sometimes it isn't so much the weight for me either, it is the bulkiness of a stock that I can't wrap my hand around easily while hiking.

 

[SJB358]

Cheyenne, I am not sure if you'll go farther the first day, but if you are doing it day after day and I think fatigue in the overall picture may come into play. I have carried alot of weight all over the mountains while hunting and while deployed overseas. If any member of my team could have cut 2 lbs, we would have. ounces make pounds was our mantra and being on your feet for hours on end everything counts in my opinion.

If youre only hiking a few miles a day and not being pushed to get over the next drainage or into the next bunch of timber, I personally don't care what I am carrying. If I am starting at the top of 9 Mile Ridge and know it'll likely be 15-20 before I hit camp, I'll drop some lb's to make it easier on myself if it doesn't diminish my effectiveness..

Same goes for heavy scopes that do alot of cool things, but honestly, if I can't kill it with a 6X these days it isn't really the scopes fault. I have some heavy scopes, but they are tradeoffs as well, right along with extra weight in the rifle..