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Mossberg Patriot Hunting Walnut - Vortex Scoped Combo .30-06 Rifle By the Guns and Shooting Online Staff  Most of us on the Guns and Shooting Online staff are used to nice hunting rifles. Consequently, economy rifles intended to appeal to entry level shooters and hunters by their low price don't generally have a lot of appeal to us. (This is why those of us who live in Oregon usually try to stick Randy Wakeman, who lives far away in Illinois, with writing such reviews.) Rifles are like anything else: the more you know, the more you appreciate the subtleties of design and workmanship that go into a superior product. This is true of most sophisticated products, including guitars, cameras, audio amplifiers and firearms. Thus, the news that we were receiving a new .30-06 Mossberg (www.mossberg.com) Patriot rifle for review did not exactly occasion shivers of anticipation among the staff. The Patriot is intended to replace Mossberg's earlier ATR and 4X4 bolt action rifles. The Patriot is offered with short (.308 length) and long (.30-06 length) actions in 11 calibers and 60 variations. The standard barrel length is 22 inches for all calibers and the standard metal finish is matte blued, although a few calibers can be ordered with Mossberg's Marinecote (rust resistant) finish. As far as we can tell, almost all of the Patriot versions are supplied with synthetic stocks. We are so tired of look alike rifles with cheap black plastic stocks . . . But wait! (as they say in the late night TV commercials), there is a walnut stocked Patriot that is the exception to the cookie-cutter plastic stock rule. The walnut stocked version is listed under Patriot Hunting rifles. Available calibers include .22-250 Rem, .243 Win, .25-06, .270 Win, 7mm-08, 7mm Rem. Mag, .308 Win, .30-06, .300 Win. Mag, .338 Win. Mag. and .375 Ruger. A few calibers are available with iron sights, but most are not; the others come with Weaver style scope bases. In addition, combo packages with a mounted and bore sighted scope are available in several calibers. We requested a .30-06 Patriot Combo with a mounted 3-9x40mm Vortex Crossfire II scope and a walnut stock (product #27891) for this review. Like most experienced shooters, we normally prefer to choose a scope and mounting system for our specific purposes. However, rifle/scope combos are the best sellers to entry level shooters, so we decided to give the combo a try. The .30-06 is generally purchased as a cartridge for an "all-around" rifle and a 3-9x40mm variable power scope is a reasonable choice for such a rifle. Surprisingly, the difference in 2015 MSRP between the basic rifle and the combo package is only $41 dollars, so one can hardly go wrong with the latter. When our sample Patriot arrived and the box was opened for the first time, the initial reactions of those in attendance (four persons) were better than expected. Only one, who is even more averse to dull, matte black barreled actions than the rest of us, blurted "It's ugly!" The other three thought the Patriot looked better than expected, despite its unpolished external metal finish. The modern classic style, black walnut stock certainly made a good first impression, immediately placing the walnut Patriot a cut above economy rifles with blow-molded plastic stocks, both functionally (being stiffer) and appearance-wise. This standard grade walnut stock has pleasing lines. We would like a thinner forend and wrist, but it is satisfactory as is and very few production rifles come with slender stocks. This one-piece walnut stock is designed with a well shaped cheekpiece and a fluted comb. It comes with a functional black rubber recoil pad, black plastic pistol grip cap and steel sling swivel studs. It features a satin finish with bordered, five panel (three panels on the forend, two on the grip) laser stippling in place of conventional checkering. While obviously an economy measure, this stippling provides a good grip and is attractive. The barrel is free-floated in the stock. Although advertised as enhancing accuracy, free floating normal big game hunting contour barrels (#1 and #2) is actually a cost cutting measure designed to eliminate the pesky and time consuming chore of properly bedding the barreled action. (Sporter contour barrels will normally shoot better when properly bedded, as they are stabilized by the stock.) The Patriot is an economy rifle, so a free floating barrel is a reasonable compromise to help keep the price down. Browning, Remington, Ruger, Savage and everyone else does the same, so we cannot criticize Mossberg. However, the gap between the barrel and forend of our Patriot is so large the barrel could be said to soar in the forend channel. There is no functional reason for the wood to metal gap to be this large. If a business card will slide between the barrel and stock, that is all the gap you need. Our test rifle's barreled action was not exactly centered in the oversize gap, although it did not come close to touching the stock. We loosened the barreled action's Allan head mounting screws and corrected this. The 22 inch, tapered, sporter weight barrel measures 0.615 inch at the recessed (rather than crowned) muzzle. The barrel is threaded into the receiver and locked in place with a smooth, tapered, Savage type nut in front of a washer type recoil lug that is trapped between the receiver and the barrel lug. This system can provide very precise head-spacing. The barrel is adorned with half-length flutes. The flutes start about an inch behind the recessed muzzle and extend from there about halfway down the barrel, abruptly terminating in front of the tip of the forend. Barrel fluting is intended to increase the barrel's surface area to improve cooling and to (slightly) lighten the rifle. Half length flutes only do a halfway job, so we wonder why Mossberg bothered. The real purpose is probably to give the boys in advertising another feature to extoll. The Patriot action is a front locking, push feed design incorporating a lot of Savage 110 design features. These include a round receiver drilled from bar stock, separate washer type recoil lug, a pinned in place bolt head, bolt face plunger ejector and a small extractor sliding in dovetail grooves in the face of one locking lug. Speaking of locking lugs, there are two of them and the bolt rotation is approximately 90-degrees. The bolt is assembled, rather than machined from a single billet of steel. The head, body and handle/knob are all separate parts. The bolt body is left in the white and decorated with spiral flutes that are blackened. This gives the Patriot's bolt a distinctive appearance and may provide the added benefit of trapping grip and crud, making for smoother operation. The bolt knob shape is a sphere flattened on the bottom with a band of checkering intended to provide a secure grip. The striker is left in the white and its large, circular tail end is flush with the rear of the matte black bolt shroud when the action is cocked, so it can be seen and felt. The bolt shroud is designed to prevent the bolt from entering the receiver unless the striker is cocked. When the trigger is pulled, the striker retracts about 0.394 inch (approximately 10mm) into the bolt, indicating that the action is not cocked. We found cycling the Patriot's bolt smoother than most of the economy rifles we have used. Indeed, it is as smooth as many more expensive rifles. Unlike some rifles, a separate bolt stop and release button is provided. It is located at the left rear of the receiver. The two-position safety lever is mounted at the right rear of the receiver. Forward is "fire" and back is "safe." With the safety lever in the FIRE position, a red dot is revealed. The safety does not lock the bolt closed, so the bolt can be opened to eject a chambered cartridge with the safety on. This also means that, in the field, the bolt handle can catch on a branch, sleeve, strap or anything else and allow the bolt to be opened inadvertently, dropping a chambered cartridge. We hope you are not hunting a grizzly bear if that happens, but normally it is not a problem. The patented Mossberg LBA user adjustable trigger has a blade in its face to prevent inadvertent discharge, reminiscent of the Savage Accu-Trigger. The adjustment range is advertised as two to seven pounds. Our test rifle was set for a three pound trigger pull out of the box, which is just about right for a big game hunting rifle. We left it alone for our test shooting. There is only the tiniest hesitation in the trigger pull, which we would rate as excellent overall. The Patriot uses a plastic magazine and plastic bottom parts. We abhor plastic trigger guards and bottom parts, which just scream "cheap." However, it must be admitted that, functionally, a plastic trigger guard bow probably prevents the trigger from inadvertently catching on something as well as does a metal trigger guard. On the Patriot Walnut there is not a visible mold line in the trigger guard, which is a separate part, or the bottom of the magazine and magazine well. The color and texture of the plastic is virtually an exact match for the barreled action's dull matte finish, so at least the plastic parts do not stand out. Inside the stock, the plastic bottom furniture forms integral bedding blocks for the action. The one-piece, detachable magazine works great. It holds five .30-06 cartridges in a staggered row. To load, just push the cartridges straight down into the magazine. The magazine release is located immediately in front of the magazine well and is easy to use. In our experience, plastic magazines generally work smoother, are more reliable and are harder to damage than their metal counterparts. Specifications
We must make a few comments about the 3-9x40mm Vortex Crossfire II scope included in this combo package. It came with a Vortex Dead-Hold BDC plex type reticle, which has three little hashmarks on the thin part of the right, left and bottom cross-hairs. These are used to estimate bullet drop and windage for long range shooting. The eye relief is 3.8 inches, which is sufficient for an eight pound .30-06 rifle. The hard anodized, one-piece, one inch diameter aluminum main tube is nitrogen purged and sealed to prevent fogging. The scope is 12 inches long and weighs 15 ounces. Windage and elevation adjustments are made with resettable, fingertip windage and elevation adjustments that move in 1/4 MOA increments with a tactile click. The adjustment range is 60 MOA. The scope's matte black finish is a good match for our Patriot rifle. Sold separately, the 2015 MSRP is $199 and the Midway USA online discount retail price is $150. We checked the scope mounting screws and found everything was properly tightened and torqued. We also checked the bore sighting with a laser bore sighter and found it to be right on. Mossberg did an excellent job mounting the Vortex scope. Having ascertained that the rifle was ready to go to the range, we took advantage of nice summer weather to visit our usual testing venue, the Izaak Walton rifle range south of Eugene, Oregon. This facility offers covered bench rests and target stands at 25, 50, 100 and 200 yards. The weather was sunny and warm with a high of 79-degrees F. Unfortunately, there was a variable and gusty wind, so we tried to shoot in between the major gusts. Guns and Shooting Online staff members Chuck Hawks, Rocky Hays and Bob Fleck handled the shooting chores. As usual for testing hunting rifles, we fired three shot groups at 100 yards for record at Hoppe's Crosshair sighting targets and used a Caldwell Fire Control Lead Sled rest. We were able to accumulate three .30-06 factory loads for this review: Federal Premium with 150 grain Nosler AccuBond bullet, Federal Premium with 180 grain Barnes MRX bullet and Remington Express with 180 grain Core-Lokt bullet. As always, we need to express our thanks to the good people at Federal and Remington for providing test ammunition. Without their support our gun reviews might be impossible in these days of ongoing ammo shortages. Shooting Results
This time out Chuck shot our smallest recorded group. However, the smallest three shot group of the day (11/16 inch) was actually fired by Rocky. He was using the last of a small number of 125 grain target handloads he had brought along for preliminary zeroing of the rifle at 100 yards. Unfortunately, we did not have enough of these loads for all three shooters to shoot them for record. This illustrates the necessity of trying a wide variety of bullet weights and loads in any new rifle to ascertain what it prefers. Given the ongoing Obama regime ammunition shortage, this can be difficult for us to do, particularly when it is necessary to meet a publication deadline. We feel, given more time and a wider variety of loads, we could have found one that delivered smaller groups from the Patriot. We all appreciated the good Mossberg LBA trigger. It definitely makes accurate shooting easier. We also praised the operation of Mossberg's Patriot bolt action, which is smoother than most and reliable. There were no malfunctions of any kind. The detachable magazine loads easily and feeds cartridges smoothly and reliably. If you want to single load cartridges, just click the empty magazine into place and manually slide a cartridge into the chamber. Actually, you can just drop the cartridge into the open action and slide the bolt closed. It will chamber the cartridge. The modern classic style stock handles recoil well and the recoil pad helps. It fit our three, medium size (heights between 5' 8" and 5' 11") shooters just fine. However, any eight pound .30-06 rifle is going to kick. We found the Vortex Optics Crossfire II 3-9x40mm scope suitable for its intended purpose. Everything worked correctly. The optics are nice and sharp across most of the field of view. Sharpness falls off somewhat toward the edge of the field of view, but not enough to be irritating. The eye box size and eye relief provide adequate latitude in eye position. The fast focus ring at the end of the ocular bell is very convenient when more than one person needs to shoot the rifle. Since we were shooting at a known distance of 100 yards, we simply ignored the reticle's BDC hashmarks. The Patriot rifle, including the factory mounted scope, was correctly set-up right out of the box. All we really had to do was take it to the range and start shooting. Of course, this should be the case with all new rifles, but it often is not in these cost-cutting days when most gun manufacturers are dominated by corporate financial officers and lawyers, rather than shooters. Despite its low price, the made in the USA Mossberg Patriot - Hunting Walnut does not, at first glance, look like an economy rifle. If it were in a rack with an assortment of medium priced hunting rifles, is would not particularly stand out as a "cheapie." This is a real complement and it certainly can not be said of most other economy class rifles, including the Browning AB3, Savage Axis, Ruger American and Remington 770 with which the walnut stocked Patriot competes in the market place. RIFLE REVIEW SUMMARY
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