S_S_2015_05_

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

■ Name Mossberg MVP Varmint

■ Calibre 5.56x45/223 Rem

■ Capacity 10 (any AR magazine)

■ Barrel 24” heavy/fluted

■ Length 43”

■ Twist rate 1-9”

■ Weight 7 ¾ lbs

■ Stock laminate BR-style

■ Adjustable trigger

■ Price: £640

■ Contact: Saddlery & Gunroom,

01959 573089, http://www.mossberg.com

Well priced and good features

Good accuracy potential

FOR

Short LOP

I’d get it synthetic bedded

AGAINST

For the money a rifle

you can’t ignore

VERDICT

▲

80 SHOOTING SPORTS MAGAZINE

FIREARMS | GUN TEST

Action void

detail; note the

pillar bedding and

mag well insert –

a bit different

weight choice. For the test I ran, 50, 55,

56 and 62 and 69-grain loads.

For the test I fi tted the MVP with a

Harris BRS bipod, Vortex Viper 6.5-20x50

with target turrets in Tier 1 (ex TET) 30mm

rings. Ammo went to 50-grain (V-MAX)

Norma Varmint, 55-grain

Winchester Varmint X,

56-grain GECO Express,

62-grain SP Hornady TAP

Barrier and my Sierra

69-grain HPBT Match

King loads running on

Ram Shot TAC powder.

ASSUMPTIONS

AND REALITY

The overly slim butt profi le

was not to my liking and

given the MVP is also

available in 308 Win I reckon it

could be a real cheek biter! However, in

223 Rem and though not feeling how I like

it I had no problems with stock weld, head

alignment or general comfort! I did fi nd the

LOP a bit short, which forced me to push

the scope all the way forward to suit. But

the rifl e is more than useable from the box

even by a gorilla-armed shooter like me.

Filling the mag to 10-rounds did not do

a lot for the feed and I found initially that

reducing the payload to fi ve made things

easier. This is not helped by the seriously

slack fi t in the well. To be fair towards the

end of my testing session the Mossberg

clip begun to ease up a bit, it obviously

needs some running in! Both the Colt alloy

20 and Magpul curved 20 fed far easier

and also entered and removed better too.

The bolt is a bit a bit loose in its run,

however, it locks up solid and is something

you get used to. Likewise the fi rm bolt lift!

One thing I would say is check the rifl e

over before you start shooting it as fi rst

results were variable, which I tracked down

to the scope bases being slightly loose as

were the action screws. SOP for a new gun

I agree; but sometimes we can forget!

Tight and ready to go the MVP proved

itself a shooter – it shot ¾” with the

Norma and Winchester and a most

pleasing ½” with the GECO and on the

inch with the Hornady. Moving up to my

69-grain reload showed it open up to 1 ½

to 2”, which did not really surprise me. It’s

plain to see it’s ammo-friendly within its

twist rate and I reckon some

experimentation with handloads would

produce something rather special. The

build with its 24” tube does lend itself to

both varminting, small deer work and

certainly targets. I can see some people

buying this as opposed to an AR15 for

Practical/Service use or just as an

accurate paper puncher.

OK there are a some things I do not

like such as the overly slim butt profi le and

the rather slack magazine fi t. But others I

do – well presented and fi nished, common

box mag feed, adjustable trigger, versatile

rifl ing twist and price, which is sub £700.

The grey laminate

BR-style stock is nice

though the butt is a bit

tall and thin and short

in the LOP department

The LBA™ Lightning

Bolt Action™ Adjustable

Trigger follows the Savage

Accutrigger concept

and offers some decent

weights and breaks

The barrel is a medium/

heavy, semi-fluted, 24”, 1-9”

twist and proved accurate

with the right ammo