My very first impression is that this is a LIGHT rifle. With the empty magazine in place, this "heavy" barreled rifle weighs 6 pounds 10 ounces. On first impression, the stock is nicely shaped, and has appropriate stippling in the wrist and forearm area. The stippling provides a good grip, without punishing you if you want to have a prolonged range session, the way some synthetic stocks do. It is not a rubbery grip the way some Hogue overmolded stocks are made.
The barrel is by no means a "bull barrel", tapering to .745 at the very nicely recessed and crowned muzzle from over 1" at the action. From the way I shoot my Grendels, (generally at long range) I would have preferred at least a 22" and even better, a 24" but the heavy barrel is only offered in a 20". (Longer is better, right?)
However, this will make a VERY nice hunting and varmint rifle, I suspect.
Length of Pull is approx. 13.5-14", a bit short for my 6'3" frame, but very workable for just about everyone. The recoil pad is a very nice, comfortable, nearly one inch thick cushion. (I tend to crawl the stock, so I like longer LOP). It is very comfortable to dry fire in both standing and prone positions and the bolt is easy to manipulate in both positions.
The two stage trigger breaks very crisply and consistently at 3 pounds 11 ounces, (average of 5 pulls, with the lightest at 3 pounds 10 and all the rest at 3 pounds 11), with a first stage at approximately 1 pound 8 ounces. This is straight out of the box, no cleaning, so I expect it will be better once I clean everything. Factory spec says it is 3 pounds 8 ounces.
I will say that this is a HUGE improvement over the factory trigger that was in my HOWA 7mm WSM.
That's the first impressions. More later. Overall, impressive so far.
Addendum: This appears to be a completely new rifle, with no wear on the bolt, and factory oil in all the places I would expect. Serial number is XP...., so I am assuming this is eXperimental Prototype..... That said, it is in what appears to be completely normal factory packaging, so I believe that it is probably exactly as the production rifles will present.
Factory recommendation for break in is "Shoot one, clean" x 10 shots, then "Shoot two, clean" for 10 additional shots, with at least 5 minutes between rounds. This is NOT my standard protocol for a new rifle or barrel, but I will follow it for standardizations sake.
This rifle did come with the Nikko Sterling scope, rings and rail. Once I have mounted the rail, I will put the factory glass on for the initial break in, but switch to glass I am familiar with before shooting groups.
You seek escape from pain. We seek the achievement of happiness. You exist for the sake of avoiding punishment. We exist for the sake of earning rewards. Threats will not make us function; fear is not our incentive. It is not death that we wish to avoid, but life that we wish to live. - John Galt
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