Page 1 of 2

Mossberg MVP in 204 ruger, review

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 7:44 am
by scatterbrains
Hello,
New here found your forum while looking for load information. The forum helped me so i figured i would post my "review" of the new Mossberg MVP that i have recently purchased. Hope you enjoy and that it may help someone. :mrgreen:

It will be broken up with possibly a fair amount of time between updates especially when i get to the load development section. I will be keeping record of every shot down the barrel of this rifle.

Oh and there will be blood

Image
some quick info about the rifle:
204 ruger chambering

24" fluted bull barrel 1/12 twist

uses AR15 magazines

laminate wooden stock with flat forend and pistol grip stock with huge palm swell raised comb for better eye/scope alignment

equipped with the Mossberg LBA Trigger (Lightning Bolt Action)user-adjustable for pull weight between 2 and 7 pounds

equipped with weaver 2 piece scope bases(rings not included)

Ill add updates as i sort the pics.

Ok so heres some hard data now that ive stripped and cleaned the rifle"

Ok first off well start with the stock
Its a nice greyish tan laminate stock flat forearm nice pistol grip, perfect LOP and a pretty hefty rubber butt pad that im sure is overkill.
Image

Pistol grip and forearm have some nice checkering with an embossed "M" on the forearm
Image

Image

The forearm is hogged out drastically ensuring no part of the barrel comes into contact with the stock
Image

the action is set into the stock with this plastic bottom "metal" assembly with aluminum pillars.It fits nice and snug
Image

The magazine well bottom pieces and trigger guard are all plastic
Image

Magazine is held in by a typical AR mag button, but it is released in the front of the magwell like a 10/22. Mags do not drop free (I see a future mod ill be doing here)
Image

Magazine seems to be a standard Cproducts affair stamped mossberg on floorplate with a yellow follower
Image

Ok on to the meat and potatoes the barrel and action

It comes out of the box fitted with weaver 2 piece scope mounts #'s51 and 36
Image

The whole action reminds me of a med sized Mauser with a aftermarket trigger safety assembly
Image

Overhead view of the controls left side is the bolt release push down and bolt slides out the back. Right side is the safety push forward to fire pull back to safe works very positively, and easy to manipulate.
Image

Picture of safty 2 dif sized holes the bigger one allows a pin to be pushed past the trigger to release the sear
Image

In this pic you can see the LBA adjustment screw CW is higher weight CCW is lower weight. The red stuff is some sort of sealer so the screw doesent back out yet it still adj.
Image

Here is the LBA adj, stupid simple a plug holding a spring pressing against the trigger itself
Image



Trigger assembly removes from the receiver with one phillips head screw (would like to have seen allen hardware) through the hole you can see the trigger to sear relationship while decocked
Image

Bottom of receiver with trigger assembly removed
Image

Here is the sear engagement while cocked (should be pretty easy to slick the trigger up once you get it out of housing) all the pins seem to be peened over which is a bit annoying you should be able to get some pins to fit if you decide to pop them out.
Image

I tossed some PTFE sealant on the threads of the trigger adj screw to help it stay put i reassembled it and turned screw in 1 full turn to begin with seems it should be about 3.5lbs guessing. (One of these days ill get a trigger pull gauge)
Image

The bolt has a little "lip" that folds down to strip the round off the mag, its a typical plunger ejector and a fairly small extractor. So far the only "worry" is the smallish extractor
Image

The bolt head is held in by a large pin that the firing pin travels through akin to an AR setup. I have not taken the bolt apart as Mossberg states it is not end user recomended. (Ill take it apart eventually for now i hosed it with brake clean) It is nicely fluted and polished with a comfortable bolt handle.
Image

Ok onto the barrel
It is a 24" fluted tapered bull barrel, measures 1" at receiver, .830" at beginning of flutes, and .750" at the muzzle. It has 6 flutes .040" deep measuring 12" long.
Muzzle has a small degree crown ( i would have liked it more if it were recessed )
Image

Barrel to stock fit is generous the stock is applying no pressure it is fully freefloated
(I may bed the action and see what i can do in the future)
Image

Barrel is screwed into receiver and held on by a smooth round barrel nut that pinches the recoil lug between the barrel and action.(should make barrel swaps easy)
Image

For the time being i have a primary arms 1x4 i took off my PTR set in some leupold prw med rings. The plan is to outfit it with a Vortex Viper 6.5-20x44 scope in the future as $$ allows. Also will be adding a Harris bipod.

As the rifle sits now
Image

All said and done i think the fit and finish is great for the price finish seems like it could be a little tougher some spots are "shining" up around the bolt area and the stock is excellent. The trigger is nice and i expect it to get better with use. Action is a little stiff the interwebs says that it loosens up nicely after @ 100rnds.

Stay tuned hopefully this weekend ill get to sight it in and shoot some groups with Winchester 32gr Ballistic Silvertip

So i got a little range time in today shot 30 rounds.
took 6 rounds to sight it in (bore sighted at home)
tried running @ 10 over chrono got one reading battery was taking a shot got 3850fps
so i shot 2 5 rnd groups and one 4rnd group.

Before i post the pics some notes from shooting:
Shoots awesome! love seeing hits in the scope almost zero recoil, i found me a new fun caliber
Action worked flawlessly used lancer, stock and gi mags all fed perfectly.
fast or slow the bolt worked the same, The trigger... im in love it breaks so crisp its amazing. Best trigger i have shot yet (till i put one in the AR)
Accurate considering (ill explain) The ergos are fantastic everything was where i wanted it safety bolt mag release etc nothing was a detriment IMO.

Ok the groups, I shot at 50yds and 100yds. The gun is accurate i think its a sub moa gun all day long if i do my part i was close. However the scope i was using is a Primary arms 1x4 its AT LEAST a 2moa dot reticle needless to say at 100 yards it covered my POA so the groups are the best i could do with what i have.

After seeing the dismal display at 100yd i pulled back to 50yds to try and redeem the gun i did a little better. All groups shot off front and rear bag.
I MAY take the scope off my precision AR and toss it on the MVP for a range trip so i can really show the true potential, i havent decided yet.

So with a grain of salt here are the targets all 4 shot groups or better. This is the first 30rnds through the gun with one swipe of a bore snake AFTER sight in.

Image

Image

Image

The last photo is why i think this gun is a sub moa rifle. It was 50yds the yellow is 2.5"x2" the dot was almost covering the aiming point i finally settled down and the rifle was getting better. I WILL have better targets to show in the future so take these with a grain of salt knowing the circumstances i had to deal with.

I pulled this post right from another forum where i made it so if some extra words show up i apologize.
Hopefully by next weekend ill have some handloads made up to work over. 8)

Re: Mossberg MVP in 204 ruger, review

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 9:37 am
by Bill K
Welcome aboard.. Interesting photo's and comments. Looks like it may turn into a good rifle for you.. Now to find that sweet spot and load. Bill K

Re: Mossberg MVP in 204 ruger, review

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 3:11 pm
by Bodei
Really nice stock for a factory gun. How much are these rifles selling for? Think you need to get a decent scope and find a good load to see what it can really do. Please post follow up.

Re: Mossberg MVP in 204 ruger, review

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 3:56 pm
by scatterbrains
Bodei wrote:Really nice stock for a factory gun. How much are these rifles selling for? Think you need to get a decent scope and find a good load to see what it can really do. Please post follow up.
I believe buds has them for $500, i paid a little over that through my dealer.

I caved i really want to see what it can do, so took off My precision AR's scope

Image

Re: Mossberg MVP in 204 ruger, review

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 9:30 am
by bow shot
Beautiful review, that's a fantastic way to intro yourself!!! A class act that will be hard to beat, LOL!

Welcome, and we are honored!

I really like that stock, especially the target-ish belly on the buttstock portion. Bedding looks promisisng too!

Re: Mossberg MVP in 204 ruger, review

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 2:33 pm
by scatterbrains
Thanks guys the rifle feels real good in every way (thats coming from an AR diehard) LOL

Looks like sunday ill get out with the rifle and put the scope to work and really know what itll do.

Re: Mossberg MVP in 204 ruger, review

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 10:26 am
by scatterbrains
Just ordered up all the items needed to start load work up so hopefully by next sunday ill have a pressure ladder and chrono #'s. Ill be working with the 34gr dogtown bullets winchester brass and H335 powder.

Primer Question? everything says 205m or rem 7 1/2. I have cci400, and cci 41's. Will they work or should i get different primers?

Re: Mossberg MVP in 204 ruger, review

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 11:13 am
by Bill K
Try about three or so, if they do not pierce the primer, they may well work. But ususally lighter cup/metal primers will pierce, reason Rem 7.5 and 205m's are recommended. Bill K

Re: Mossberg MVP in 204 ruger, review

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 8:06 pm
by Trent
I could never get the CCI400 primers to stay together in my R700.

Re: Mossberg MVP in 204 ruger, review

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 11:54 pm
by scatterbrains
Picked up 40rnds of the hornady vmax 32gr and 1k cci450 primers $30 for the primers, should have gone to GS last weekend LOL

Re: Mossberg MVP in 204 ruger, review

Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:45 am
by scatterbrains
So i was at the range for 5.5hrs today doin some shooting put 50 rounds through the MVP 10rnds of Win silver tip to get scope dialed in. Then 40 rounds of Hornady 32gr vmax.

To start i really not impressed with the vmax the silvertips shoot better IMO. i shot groups of 4-6 it was raining and nasty humid so most of my printed targets ran literally LOL.

So i saved the last 4 shot on a larue grid target the rest were shot on a paper plate with a target dot sticky. These groups are a good representation of what the gun does, i shot fairly quick just enough time between rounds to eject into my hand maybe 10-15sec.

Enough here ya go this is a bone stock rifle with a Vortex 4-16x44 HS LR w/ the BDC reticle

Image

Best 3
Image

Image

Image

The gun flat shoots I'm def the limiting factor next time i go out ill be prone from a bipod hopefully i shoot better than off the bench.

This week ill have my dies and equipment so ill be starting load development.

Re: Mossberg MVP in 204 ruger, review

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 7:15 am
by scatterbrains
Woot load development can commence this weekend

Image

Re: Mossberg MVP in 204 ruger, review

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 7:43 pm
by scatterbrains
So got all my dies setup and have my OCW and PSI ladder ready to go Image

Image

Going to try and get to farm tomorrow to test them
Hornady brass cci450 primers, 34gr dogtown FBHP bullets
Loaded with H335
starting at 25 ending at 29gr in .5gr increments

so far pretty darn easy round to load for Image

Re: Mossberg MVP in 204 ruger, review

Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 4:15 pm
by Sth Oz Dan
Looks like fun Scatter.
I always enjoy testing and analysing loads. Can be very frustrating at times when things don't go as predicted, but that's what the challenge is all about - working out WHY???
Hope you get some good weather for it

Re: Mossberg MVP in 204 ruger, review

Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 2:38 am
by Bodei
Testing is fun...as long as its not windy!!!!