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About 6 years ago I was visiting Virginia, and dropped in to Alexander Arms to talk with Bill Alexander. As he was showing me around, I saw a design drawing of a modified AR15, and a 17 HMR cartridge sitting next to the design. I asked Bill about it, and he told me he was fascinated with the 17 HMR and was working on an upper for an AR that would be modified for the 17 HMR. The 17 HMR remains a favorite of mine, and Bill very much enjoys it as well.
Several years later, I had the opportunity to play with a prototype of what became the 17 HMR that AA now markets. Its a great rifle and brings grins to everyones face when they shoot it because of the lack of recoil.
As time went on, I became enamored of long range rifles, and eventually ended up shooting a 7mm WSM in F Class competitions. A few years ago, a friend showed up with the Savage .338 Lapua rifle in prototype form, and we enjoyed it quite a bit.
I was discussing that experience with Bill Alexander, and he started chuckling. I asked what was so funny and he told me that he had been considering developing a semi-auto hunting .338 Lapua. We discussed what I would like in such a rifle, and he told me some of his ideas. Its taken a bit longer than both of us hoped, but AA released the .338 Lapua at NRA and here are the first published pictures. From what we can tell, this is the first online report on the rifle.
The finished rifle will be less than 20 pounds and features a 6 deep groove barrel with conventional lands and Melonite finish. It has a 5 position adjustable gas block and uses a 10 round double stack mag to keep the rifle down low to the bipod and ground. Because of the weight, and a constant recoil system, recoil is very mild overall. Much more like a .243 or Grendel than a Beowulf. You get to watch shot impact anddo not require a muzzle brake even for extensive shooting.
First picture in the wild, I'm not sure who took this, but it is outside of AA:
Several years later, I had the opportunity to play with a prototype of what became the 17 HMR that AA now markets. Its a great rifle and brings grins to everyones face when they shoot it because of the lack of recoil.
As time went on, I became enamored of long range rifles, and eventually ended up shooting a 7mm WSM in F Class competitions. A few years ago, a friend showed up with the Savage .338 Lapua rifle in prototype form, and we enjoyed it quite a bit.
I was discussing that experience with Bill Alexander, and he started chuckling. I asked what was so funny and he told me that he had been considering developing a semi-auto hunting .338 Lapua. We discussed what I would like in such a rifle, and he told me some of his ideas. Its taken a bit longer than both of us hoped, but AA released the .338 Lapua at NRA and here are the first published pictures. From what we can tell, this is the first online report on the rifle.
The finished rifle will be less than 20 pounds and features a 6 deep groove barrel with conventional lands and Melonite finish. It has a 5 position adjustable gas block and uses a 10 round double stack mag to keep the rifle down low to the bipod and ground. Because of the weight, and a constant recoil system, recoil is very mild overall. Much more like a .243 or Grendel than a Beowulf. You get to watch shot impact anddo not require a muzzle brake even for extensive shooting.
First picture in the wild, I'm not sure who took this, but it is outside of AA:
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