Hands on with the PTR91GI

By Chris Upchurch, Director of Marketing

I've been eying the PTR91 ever since I came to work at S.I. I've always had an interest in the HK roller-delayed blowback guns and a good semi-auto .308 to fill the universal rifle/DMR/GSR role has been on my list for a long time. After handling a couple of them in-house here at OST, I decided to take the plunge.

First Impressions

The first thing you notice with these rifles is that the fit and finish is just impeccable. Everything fits together very nicely, there are no blemishes or rough spots. This is a very nicely made rifle.

Picking it up, its heft is about normal for a .308 battle rifle. Like the AK, the whole rifle is essentially one solid unit. This is definitely a gun you could beat someone to death with. It balances very well, thanks to the HK profile barrel, which is a bit thinner than the bull barrel PTR puts on some of their other models. The balance point is right at the magazine, so it points very nicely and is easy to transfer from shoulder to shoudler. The long handguard works great with the floating support hand technique that SI teaches.

The barrel is 18", which is about right for the universal rifle. It's not a gun that's made for CQB, though it's handy enough to fill that role if necessary. Nor is it a long, unwieldy, dedicated long range shooter. This really fits the bill as a 'do it all' gun, the essence of the universal rifle.

First Shots

When I got this rifle we'd been getting a lot of rain here in Prescott, so it took a while before I was able to take it out and shoot it. When I finally did, it was worth the wait. The rifle shoots beautifully. It's hard to do a true test of accuracy without an optic (at least with my eyes) but when I was zeroing it I got small, consistent groups at 30 yards with the irons.

The HK diopter sights are just marvelous. They work great with our long gun point shooting continuum. If you need a quick torso shot at close range, just put the front sight ring on the target and press. At slightly longer distances, the wide notch on the rear drum works like an express sight or for more precision you can nestle the globe down into the inner notch. Rotate the drum to the longer range settings and you get a peep sight adjusted for the appropriate drop.

The PTR has been absolutely reliable with all ammo that I've shot through it, both brass and steel case. Ejection is vigorous, to say the least. The HK manual of arms is a bit different from what I'm used to, but some dry practice should take care of that.

Final thoughts

The PTR has been great so far; I'm very happy with it. Compared to the other semi-auto .308s on the market the PTR91GI is an incredibly good deal (particularly if you get the package deal with 10 mags that we offer at OST). The lack of a semi-auto .308 has been a hole in my arsenal for a while now and this will fill it quite nicely. The rifle will soon be heading out to Investment Grade Firearms to have a paddle mag release installed and a picatinny rail welded to the top of the receiver. Then I'll put a good optic on it and it should make a great DMR/GSR.

Comments

[Leob]

Thank you for the review. I purchased the PTR 91 G.I. Rifle and have found it to be as reliable and accurate as my M1 Garand. I was able to purchase the STANG scope mount and 4x24 Hensoldt scope and a mil. surplus bayonet with adapter for my rifle. An "Ops Gear" sling finishes out my kit for my MBR of choice for "home defense" or SHTF situations.
I would like to hear from other users about reliability of ammo such as German Army Surplus, Wolf, Silver Bear, Black Hills and etc.
Respectfully Submitted,
Leon

[Milt]

Gabe,

Reading your reviews is getting expensive. First the 556R, now the PTR. You seem to be reviewing all the rifles on my short list.

I have heard mixed reviews on the trigger. Your thoughts?

[Andy]

Hi Leon,

My PTR-91F has eaten Brown Bear, Federal, and Malaysian/South African surplus ammo without a problem. Never tried Silver Bear or Black Hills (or Gold Medal, for that matter) because I'm not interested in using higher-quality ammo on what is generally only a 2/3-MOA-capable rifle.

FWIW, you can definitely hit man-sized targets out to 300 yards using iron sights with relatively little effort. I'm sure with your scope, hits out to 4 or 500 yards would be equally uncomplicated.

[J.D. Fleming]

Mine shoots the surplus german ammo without a problem, as matter of fact, i was seeing where my open sights were sighted in at, and My rifle was making a ragged hole at 25 yards, no fliers,so I plan on getting a optic on this asap, the trigger was better than my fancy ptr, I was shooting the GI, no complaints here, spare parts are everywhere, the mags are the best quality of any 308 rifle produced, and I have gotten them for as little as 99 cents! Looking forward to a DVD on how to run this machine.

[Chris Upchurch]

Milt:

I think anyone who is disappointed by the trigger needs to remember that this is a fighting rifle, not a gamer gun. The trigger is pretty typical for a stock fighting rifle trigger. It's not a match trigger or a sniper rifle trigger (though you can get those for HK style guns if that's what you want).

[Jack]

When I bought mine from Williams Trigger Service, since this was Denny's personal gun he had already installed a set trigger. At 2.5 pounds it's sweet. Compared to the AR platform this is a heavy rifle and trying to shoot it at Appleseed next month is going to take a lot out of me but I'm looking forward to putting this bad boy through it's paces, or it putting me through mine. I love the accuracy and with the German original H&K scope it makes a pretty good long range rifle.

[Jeffrey]

My HK91 eats everything I can feed it. I can hit the 400 yard target with the iron sights.

I trimmed the flange on the ejection port so my cases aren't dented upon ejection. Now they only go about 40-50 feet straight to the right.

[Leob]

Thanks to all for your info on your experience with the PTR-91 GI and the ammo.
My trigger was just fine out of the box (4 lbs, no creep and a clean break ). I was curious about ammo function to judge what the chances were to fire any type .308 available in a "hard times" situation; or, to stock several thousand rounds in advance of "hard times". Needless to say this is a big $$ situation. I have decided to invest some $$ in "non-ferrous metals" to have on hand ammo that will be sure to work well in my weapon of choice.
I have in my battery a SMLE III* in .303 British and a Springfield 1903A3 in 30.06 along with my M1 Garand.
Thanks to Gabe and all respondents.
Yours in Liberty,
Leon
Oathkeeper