Topic: The Best Rifles of 2023, Tested and Reviewed (Read 61 times)
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Mossberg Patriot LR Tactical Specs
We have been shooting, hunting with, and broadly praising the Mossberg Patriot rifle in its many variants since it was introduced in 2015. New this year is the Mossberg Patriot LR Tactical, which matches the familiar two-lug action with a chassis stock and heavy barrel.
Line extensions like this tend to be ho-hum affairs, eliciting little in the way of remark, let alone excitement. That’s not the case with the Patriot LR Tactical.
This precision rifle is one of the best deals going for affordable long-range shooting and trotted off with a Great Buy award in the precision rifle category.
This LR Tactical configuration suits the workmanlike Patriot action to a tee. This rifle is very accurate. In fact, it turned in the tightest group of the test, a .247-inch five-shot group by editor in chief Alex Robinson with Federal 140-grain Berger Hybrids. (Ours was chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, but you can also get them in .308 Win. and 6.5 PRC.)
The rifle also handles surprisingly well. Though the barrel is heavy, the rifle isn’t cumbersome. It weighs 8.75 pounds without a scope and was easy to maneuver in and out of position during the practical shooting portion of the evaluation.
The action isn’t the smoothest but we were still able to cycle it quickly while running through a variety of drills. The rifle takes AICS pattern magazines, which are widely available and co*e in varying capacities. The effective paddle magazine release made reloads a snap.
The stock adjusts for cheek height and positions the hand nicely thanks to its vertical grip. The texturing on the grip is fairly aggressive and gives a solid purchase. The chassis stock also has slots to mount M-Lok co*patible accessories.
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Stevens 334 Walnut Specs
The Stevens 334 Walnut was the most surprising gun of the rifle test. It is a basic wood-stocked bolt action imported from Turkey, and at first glance doesn’t seem to be anything special.
While the stock is nice enough, the metalwork and design of the action is basic—though in keeping with the rifle’s modest $489 price tag. After dry firing the trigger, you’d have no reason to anticipate any particular ballistic magic, either. The 5-pound 10-ounce trigger has a bit of mush before it breaks.
But handsome is as handsome does, and the Stevens 334 charmed the entire test team once we started shooting it for accuracy. Its five-shot groups averaged less than ¾ MOA, making it one of the most accurate rifles of the test, and easily the most accurate hunting rifle we evaluated.
It shoots way better than it has any right to, was our collective takeaway.
It has other features we liked as well. The three-position safety locks the bolt down when fully engaged, while the central position lets the shooter clear or check the chamber without putting the gun on “fire.”
The polymer single-stack magazine loads easily and holds three rounds of 6.5 Creedmoor, though the rifle is also available in .308 Win. and .243 Win.
The three-lug design, with its 60-degree bolt lift, is surprisingly smooth and easy to operate from the shoulder. It co*es with a Picatinny rail that runs the full length of the action which makes mounting an optic a snap.
In sum, the Stevens 334 Walnut is a wonderful rifle for the price and is our Great Buy award winner in the hunting rifle category in 2023.
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CVA Cascade XT Specs
The CVA Cascade XT is another solid value among this year’s new rifles. Like other rifles in the Cascade family, it has a three-lug, large-diameter bolt and a two-position safety that is easy to manipulate.
Larger and heavier than the other Cascade rifles, it was built with hunting at longer distances in mind. It co*es with a stout No. 5 contour barrel, dual swivel studs on the fore-end, a radial muzzle brake, and a user-adjustable trigger.
It isn’t an elegant rifle. Nothing on it can be considered svelte. But for its intended purpose—placing accurate shots at longer distances—it hits the mark.
The rifle’s weight, stock design and brake do a good job mitigating recoil, so it is a rifle you can put a lot of rounds through without beating yourself up.
The polymer double-stack magazine holds four rounds of 6.5 Creed. (The rifle can also be had in .223 Rem., .308 Win., .450 Bushmaster, .350 Legend, 6.5 PRC, 7mm Rem. Mag., and .300 Win. Mag.) It loads effortlessly and is easy to insert and remove from the mag well.
The double-stack design and open-bridge configuration of the action make it easy to top-load the magazine when it runs dry. That’s a good thing, because when we fed the rifle with single rounds after emptying the magazine they often had difficulty chambering.
The synthetic camo stock has a tacky rubber-like texture and effective checkering molded into the fore-end and grip, so you won’t need to worry about this rifle slipping from your grasp.
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Fierce Firearms Carbon Rogue Specs
We’ve been a big fan of Fierce Firearms’ rifles. This semi-custom maker based in Redmond, Utah, makes high-quality lightweight big-game rigs that perform under trying conditions. Their prices, while not cheap, represent a good value for the quality.
New this year is the Carbon Rogue, which Fierce introduced as a more affordable carbon-fiber barreled mountain rifle at $2,199. To get the cost down, the Carbon Rogue uses a stainless two-lug action, rather than the titanium actions found in the flagship Edge ($3,995) and Rival ($3,050).
The fit and finish on the rifle is superb. The hinged floorplate magazine, for instance, is nicely inletted so that it sits nearly flush with the stock. Likewise, the gap between the barrel and barrel channel is small and even.
The accuracy of our sample in 6.5 PRC didn’t wow us. At 1.033 inches it was good but not outstanding. We had some feeding issues with our sample too. The second round in the magazine rarely fed properly because of how it would tilt in the magazine. This is something that wouldn’t be too difficult to resolve, but it did cost the rifle some points.
Other than that, the rifle impressed us. Most of the judges loved the shape of the stock, which has a moderate swell at the grip—though one of our evaluators who has smaller hands found it awkward.
Like many carbon-fiber stocks, the one on our sample is a bit slick. Some hunters make a big deal out of that, while others don’t care. It’s a matter of personal taste.
One thing about the stock we all liked was the short section of Picatinny rail recessed into the fore-end. It’s a great mounting surface for clamping on a bipod in a flash. The rail has a QD cup in it as an attachment point for a sling, and the buttstock of the rifle has a QD cup as well.
The spiral fluted bolt can be taken apart without tools in the field for maintenance, and it incorporates dual ejectors and a nicely designed extractor. We didn’t have any issue with extraction and ejection of the empties.
At 6-pounds 4-ounces, the empty weight of the rifle makes it portable but it still has enough heft to handle properly. During the dynamic drills the rifle was nimble and steady. Fierce is chambering these rifles in a slew of cartridges ranging from the .22 Creedmoor to the .300 PRC.
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Nosler CCH Specs
Any notion you might have had of Nosler as an old-school firearm and ammunition co*pany that caters to your grandpa is dispelled by the new Carbon Chassis Hunter (aka CCH). This thoroughly modern rifle is a marked departure from the traditional lines of the M48 that Nosler launched their firearms business with nearly 20 years ago.
It takes the same action as their award-winning Model 21 and pairs it with a folding carbon-fiber stock made by MDT to cater to technically savvy (and well-heeled) hunters.
If I had to describe the CCH in one word, I’d go with slick. Slick describes the smooth-running action, which was our favorite of the test, as well as the feel of the non-textured chassis stock.
The slickness of the chassis, which in theory makes the rifle more difficult to hold on to, is largely mitigated by the pistol grip, which allows for a strong handhold on the rifle. The flat-bottomed fore-end, which has an integral ARCA rail machined along its length, is easy to grasp firmly, too.
Our sample, chambered in 6.5 PRC, has a 26-inch barrel. Normally that makes for an unwieldy rifle, but the light weight of the carbon fiber barrel helps the rifle balance well. Even with that long tube, the rifle tips the scales at just over 6.5 pounds.
Because the stock folds flat, transporting the rifle is more convenient too. I carried this rifle last fall on a spot-and-stalk mule deer hunt in Northeast Montana and slinging the rifle with the stock folded made for easy hiking.
The accuracy of our rifle was good, but we found it a struggle to get great groups out of it. We turned in a handful of five-shot groups between .65 and .85 inches, which is quite good. But most of our shooting was right around the 1 MOA mark.
There’s nothing wrong with that level of precision, but for the price you couldn’t blame a guy if he expected a bit more.
Speaking of the price: If the CCH has an Achilles heel, it is cost. Nosler spared no expense assembling best-in-class co*ponents to build the rifle and—for better or for worse—that expense is passed along to you. The Proof Research barrel, Mack Bros action, TriggerTech trigger, and MDT Chassis aren’t cheap. With an MSRP of $5,295, this isn’t an everyman’s hunting tool.
It’s capable, fun to shoot, pretty accurate, has wonderful balance and handling—but whether the shooting public will take a shine to it to the tune of 5Gs remains to be seen.
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Henry Repeating Arms Homesteader Specs
The fun factor of the Henry Homesteader is undeniable. This simple 9mm PCC, which operates from standard pistol magazines on a blowback design, quickly established itself as a test team favorite.
It is reasonably accurate, has negligible recoil, doesn’t cost a ton, is super handy, and fires cheap ammo. What’s not to like? I wrote about the Homesteader at some length after I first got it, and it turned out that the other judges shared my positive impression.
We topped it with a couple very fine LPVO scopes—a Leupold Mark 5HD 2-10×30 and a Nightforce ATACR 1-8×24. Both pieces of glass are, admittedly, overkill but we wanted to get the best accuracy possible from the carbine while testing for accuracy.
This rifle doesn’t require an optic at that level to perform, however. A simple red-dot reflex sight mounted on the rifle’s Picatinny rail is all the Homesteader really needs.
We ran the rifle a lot on Gunsite’s famed Scrambler, where it was right at home ringing the steel targets that are about 50 to 100 yards downrange. It functioned flawlessly here and throughout the week-long evaluation.
Getting picky about the rifle’s design, we did note a few things that could stand improvement. The recoil pad is thicker and squishier than needed. A thinner, harder pad would shorten the length of pull and make the rifle less likely to hang up on clothing as it is shouldered—both good things.
The team was split on the blocky fore-end. It reminded me of my old Crossman 7600 BB gun as a kid and brought images of the M1 Thompson to another judge, good associations both. Another judge thought it could benefit from a bit of contouring.
But in the end we were united in our appreciation of this fun little gun. If we gave out an award for top plinker, the Henry Homesteader would have it.
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Bergara Wilderness Ridge Carbon Specs
Our impressions of this new rifle from Bergara were mostly positive. We liked how it handled and balanced. It operated flawlessly, feeding, cycling, and ejecting everything we shot through it. Its intuitive controls make it easy (and fun) to operate.
That said, it didn’t exactly win our hearts either. For $1,599 we were expecting a bit more—particularly with its fit and finish and its accuracy.
It’s 1.346 in. five-shot group average was near the bottom of the test and is humdrum for a rifle chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor. It did manage three groups (from three different shooters using three different types of ammo) that were just above 1 MOA, which was encouraging. It was consistent, if not super precise.
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