Looking for a simple yet rugged precision rifle but don't want to wait 2 years to get it? Consider an order from Tactical Rifles. (Photo: David M. Fortier)

A bit of investigation soon revealed whoever put his rifle together hadn't sufficiently relieved the barrel channel in the stock. With his barrel bearing directly against part of the stock, the end result was spotty accuracy. The sad part was, it was something his riflesmith should have easily seen and corrected. Keep in mind: This was a duty rifle being used by a police department in one of the largest cities in the entire state.

Luckily the problem was diagnosed at an Advanced LE Sniper Course at Centermass's facility in Connecticut and not on a call. Our lead instructor, Mike Tkac, came well equipped and the student in question was soon hard at work relieving material from the barrel channel. Luckily they were able to rectify the problem on the spot, and the rifle was soon back in action punching tiny little groups. However, it shows the importance of having a first-class riflesmith building something as important as a sniper rifle for law-enforcement use.

When it comes to a precision rifle, it's often the small details that count the most. With this in mind, I recently had a chance to spend some time with a precision rifle built by Tactical Rifles of Dade City, Fla. As it's a fairly new company, but doing good quality work, I thought it would be interesting to take a quick look at who they are - what they do and why they do it.

Company Roots, Genesis

Tactical Rifles was created to specialize in bolt-action precision rifles. Although it does build some long range hunting rifles, the company's true love is sniper rifles.

A look at the oversize bolt handle used on the M40-A5. It provides a good purchase for rapid manipulation. (Photo: David M. Fortier)

I found it interesting that Campbell apprenticed under Bruce Dow. Dow's been building rifles for some 35 to 40 years now and is well respected for his work on M1 and M14 National Match rifles (his rifles have set National records in NRA High Power competition). Evidently he taught Campbell well, and he continues to act as a consultant to Tactical Rifles.

While Dow specializes in M1 Garand and M14 rifles, Campbell went his own path and uses the skills he learned to build Remington 700-based tactical rifles. These are crafted "old-school" style in the traditional sense using the best modern materials available.

The Builds

Although Tactical Rifles will use other actions, and also build custom AR-15s, the vast majority of rifles are built on Remington 700 actions. Why? Simply because the folks feel the Remington 700 is a simple and well-proven action where accuracy is very easy to achieve.

Using one of these as the foundation, the staff then squares all the contact surfaces and tightens the tolerances. The bolt and receiver are trued and squared in relation to the axis of the bore.

McMillan's rugged A5 stock features an adjustable cheekrest. Also note the Accu-shot monopod added by the author during testing. (Photo: David M. Fortier)

Each barrel is carefully crowned and can be cut for a muzzle device. If a customer desires, a muzzle brake can be mounted to help maintain a sight picture on rapid-fire strings. Campbell has had good luck with Darrell Holland's brakes, so these are the norm. If you prefer a flash suppressor, that's not a problem either. Tactical Rifles will mount one of Ron Smith's highly effective Vortex flash suppressors upon request.

In my opinion both of these are fine options, but on a sniper rifle, I'd opt for a sound suppressor. I brought this question up to them, and they said that's not a problem either. So from a plain target crown to a sound suppressor, you can have what best suites your needs.

The barreled action is then dropped into either a McMillan or Accuracy International stock. The two most popular McMillan stocks are the A1 and A5, so Tactical Rifles keeps a supply of these in hand. Anyone who's ever ordered a McMillan stock and waited for endless months will appreciate this.

The M40-A5 featured H-S Precision bottom metal and detachable box magazines. Currently the company's are offering an improved magazine system of their own design. Center: Shooting through barriers, such as glass, is a fact of life for a LE sniper. A detachable box magazine aids in a rapid change of ammo types. Right: A look at the McMillan's wide, but nicely rounded forend. Dual studs allow the mounting of both a Harris bipod and sling. (Photo: David M. Fortier)

The McMillan is best described as a traditional American stock. It's simple, rugged and nicely made but does require the loving attention of a gunsmith. The Accuracy International stocks on the other hand are quite different. They're as rugged as a Bedford lorry and much simpler in regards to bedding. Tactical Rifle's T7 stock is a new offering sure to be popular as well.

Bottom metal can vary from a standard floorplate to a detachable magazine system depending upon a customer's needs. There are a number of extremely well made, and beefy, aftermarket triggerguards available for the Remington 700. In addition, Tactical Rifles offers a well-designed detachable magazine system it developed specifically for precision rifles. Detachable magazine systems are increasing in popularity as their real-world advantages gain recognition.

One extremely important aspect of a precision rifle is a quality trigger. A customer can have his or her rifle built using a number of different match triggers to provide the pull weight and reliability for his specific application. Another useful item is an oversize bolt handle. As to be expected, these are offered as well, along with steel one-piece MIL-STD 1913 scope bases. If a customer requests it, oversize scope base screws can also be installed.

The rifle's metalwork is bead blasted with aluminum oxide and then coated in a moly-based epoxy for a durable finish. Standard colors are desert, woodland camouflage, olive drab and dark gray. If a customer requests it, Tactical Rifles can supply a ready-to-go rifle package complete with scope (Leupold tacticals are in stock but NightForce and I.O.R. are also available), rings and hard case sighted in and ready to perform.

Upon completion each rifle is test fired on an outdoor range from sandbags at 100 yards using factory match ammunition. Group size cannot be over .5 MOA or the rifle will be reworked.

What about pricing? Actually, it's quite competitive, especially given the quality of work.

Rifles can be ordered with a plain muzzle, Holland muzzlebrake (as seen here), Vortex flash suppressor or can be set up for a sound suppressor. (Photo: David M. Fortier)

Recon

Sounds good? I thought so, so I decided to take a closer look. First, I had a friend do a little recon work. My buddy George was a Marine sniper instructor who worked on exchange with the British Royal Marine sniper school for almost a year. He's forgotten more about building sniper rifles then I'll ever know.

So I had George call up and pretend to be a potential customer. He spoke at length with Campbell about not only how he built his rifles, but why he built them that way. Basically, he got into the nitty-gritty matter of theory. George gave him two thumbs up saying, "He builds them old-school - nothing fancy, just a well thought out package which should shoot."

Next, I met with David Rooney at the 2006 SHOT Show in Las Vegas. Here I had a chance to form an opinion of him face to face. Rooney's English, and served as in officer in the Queen's Army, but I didn't hold that against him. He expressed a strong desire to provide the best customer service possible.

Rooney was quite blunt and stated, "Crap customer service has become accepted as the norm by many in the gun industry - that's not right."

Liking what I heard, I took a look at one of the rifles. The company shipped me an M40-A5 in .308 Winchester. This sported a 24-inch stainless match barrel with a Holland muzzlebrake and a M852 chamber. The barrel measured 1 inch at the breach and .89 inch at the muzzle. The barreled action was bedded into a McMillan A5 stock. This stock features an adjustable cheekpiece and a wide, but rounded forend.

The action was topped with a one-piece steel MIL-STD 1913 rail upon which was mounted a Leupold 3.5-10x40mm Mark 4 scope in Warne Tactical rings. An oversize bolt handle was fitted and the rifle fed from detachable H-S Precision box magazines.

Nestled inside the triggerguard was a Jewel match trigger.

A tactical rifle intended for professional use has to perform - every time, on demand. That includes the all-important cold-bore shot. The review rifle averaged .42-inch groups. (Photo: David M. Fortier)

My Thoughts

Out of the box the rifle looked quite good. It balanced well and handled nicely. The bolt operated smoothly, rounds fed easily and the trigger was very crisp. Accuracy? This rifle can best be described as a hammer. With a handload of H380 topped with a 168-grain A-MAX, Rooney had shot into .07 inch with it at 100 yards. Egad! I have trouble measuring groups that small, nevertheless shooting them.

Suffice to say accuracy wasn't an issue. I managed to average .42-inch groups prone off the bipod using Hornady's 168-grain TAP load. That'll more than suffice for what this rifle was intended.

Next I moved to shooting steel plates out to 300 meters. This was done to check reliability and how well that Holland brake worked. No problems were encountered - the rifle simply stuffed a .308 slug into whatever you put the crosshairs on. Engaging steel silhouettes in the head was quick and simple.

I came away impressed by the M40-A5. If you're interested in having a heavy-barrel tactical rifle built for professional use, competition or fun, I recommend taking a look at what Tactical Rifles offers.

Notable

> For more info on Tactical Rifles, or to order, visit TacticalRifles.net.