By Chris Upchurch, Director of Marketing
Back in September I wrote about my PTR91 GI in its stock configuration. Since then, I’ve made a few modifications. I sent the rifle out to Investment Grade Firearms to have them weld a rail to the top of the receiver for mounting optics and install a paddle magazine release to bring it into line with the G3 design.
They really did an excellent job with this. It truly looks like the rifle came from the factory this way. The paddle mag release makes magazine changes a lot easier, particularly for those of us with lots of experience running the AK system. It’s definitely a must-have upgrade.
I also added up a Magpul PRS G3 Sniper stock. This provides a lot of adjustability in terms of length of pull and cheekweld. It does add a fair bit of weight to the rifle, so this is something I’d only really recommend for a DMR or GS type role. Thankfully, the HK platform is very modular. You can swap stocks in a few seconds by popping out a pair of pins, so it’s easy to go from a battle rifle configuration to a DMR and back. To complement the stock I picked up a wide HK handguard and the integrated bipod. I also swapped out the stock flash hider for an AAC Blackout that will (eventually) mount a suppressor.
I still don’t have a dedicated optic for this rifle, but Gabe was kind enough to let me borrow one of his ACOGs, the battery powered TA02. This optic has a .223 BDC rather than .308, but the BDC wasn’t really necessary for what I wanted to use it for: putting the rifle’s accuracy to the test.
Out at the range I backed up to 100 yards and deployed the HK bipod. It was very solid when loaded up. Add a rear bag and the rifle was extremely steady. I got a rough zero with some Prvi Partizan 147 grain ball. Groups with the Prvi ball were decent, but not spectacular, about 3“. With a rough zero in place, I went to work with the match ammo. I got everything dialed in with some Hornady 168 grain A-MAX match ammunition. With this ammo the rifle consistently shot between 1” and 1.25" 5 round groups.
Now the caveats: to do this you need good ammo, a good optic, a good optic mount, and a good shooter. My rifle really likes the 168gr AMAX load. I also tried some Hornady Steel Match and 175 grain Prvi Match ammo. Neither of them shot quite as well as the AMAX, but they were substantially better than the ball. The ACOG is a great all-around optic and would make a good Universal Rifle optic for the PTR. 4x certainly suffices for a demonstration like this, though it might not be enough to fully exploit the accuracy this rifle provides at longer distances. Having a rail welded onto the rifle by Investment Grade Firearms is really the way to go. It’s rock solid and perfectly aligned, I think it’s a far better choice than any of the other options. As far as the shooter, I can lay claim to being pretty decent, and shooting from a bipod and a rear bag eliminates a lot of imperfections.
Overall, I’m quite pleased with this rifle. A reliable semi-auto that shoots 1.25 MOA is nothing to sneeze at. This is more than enough accuracy to get minute of man out to the ballistic limits of the .308 cartridge. I’m looking forward to the Guerrilla Sniper class next spring so I can take this rifle out and shoot it at some extended ranges.
This is a Great "Set-Up" on the rifle! Thanks for posting this.
Posted by: Alaska_Rod | 12/31/2012 at 00:09