Mossberg is introducing two new rifles at the show this year, one is a .22lr AR style rifle and the other is a .223 Remington rifle with an interesting twist.
Mossberg has been producing a .22lr AR style rifle for a while now, but the NEW news is that they’re now going to be producing it in a flat top configuration. Full length rails span the entire top of the receiver, and it comes with detachable rear sight.
The other interesting news is that Mossberg is making a rifle in .223 Remington that takes standard M-16 magazines. I can just imagine it now, a bolt action rifle with Surefire’s 100 round AR magazine. The rifle has a 1:10 twist, so lighter bullets are better, and the chamber is .223 Remington instead of 5.56 NATO.
[UPDATE] Mossberg has since released the specifications for their .223 Remington rifle, and the twist is actually 1:9. We printed what the sales rep (pictured at the top) told us and claimed as God’s honest truth, but obviously they were wrong. Just one more reason to never trust a sales rep, I guess.
AAGH! Another swing, another miss. The Mossberg .22 has generally been received as a fun and cheap gun, but neither accurate nor true to most of the details of the AR platform. It’s basically an existing Mossberg .22 receiver cradled inside of a detailed plastic stock that looks like an AR. But now it’s a flattop plastic stock.
And I *love* the idea of a bolt-action rifle that uses one of the Universal Magazines (AR or AK), but why the slow-twist barrel if it’s only chambered for .223 Remington? A 1:10 barrel would work just fine for the majority of low-priced 5.56 ammunition out there, but this gun won’t be able to shoot that stuff. Why not spend a few hundred bucks each for new chamber reamers and use the Wylde combination chamber instead?
Mossberg tells you outright it is a 1:9 twist
And it will shoot the majority of the ammo out there up to 67 grains
The sales representative from Mossberg stated, checked, and confirmed on the show floor that the barrel was 1:10.
Obviously they were wrong.
We printed what Mossberg said was true at the time. I have amended the post to fix that error.
I spoke to a rep recently and it is indeed 1:9. Also, as excited as we are to get our hands on this rifle, for varmint/predator hunting here in the midwest, we felt inclined to start a forum dedicated to the rifle. You can visit at http://www.mossbergmvp.com. Moderators needed.
How is the trigger pull