MasterPiece Arms, the same people who brought you such awesomely useful firearms as the MAC-10 SBR in 5.7mm, have now decided to get into the high end rifle manufacturing business. Their first offering is a $4,000 .308 Winchester bolt action rifle, and I’m not feeling it. It might be that the barrel uses button rifling instead of the more precise cut rifling process that high-end rifle manufacturers use, or that the stock is basically a chopped up Magpul PRS, or that it looks as ugly as the rest of MPA’s line of firearms, I can’t put my finger on it. Press release after the jump.
MPA’s first bolt-action rifle, chambered in .308 is built on a MPA tactical aluminum chassis with a Remington 700 type bolt design with a Stiller’s Precision TAC Series action. This is the first MPA rifle incorporating a Spencer Precision barrel since MPA purchased the company in 2013.
The MPA chassis is produced from 6061 aluminum with a v-bedding system that is matched perfectly to the Stiller’s TAC series actions providing zero twist or distortion. The stock is a Magpul PRS stock with a custom adaptor. The .308 also features a front mounted bridge with Picatinny rail and a lower mounted Picatinny rail, plus a 20 MOA scope rail. The body is finished in a durable medium texture powder coat or ceramic finish. The MPA .308BA is compatible with any AICS type magazines.
The Spencer/MPA barrel is produced from 416 (Condition T) stainless steel and is precision gun drilled, reamed and honed. It is pull-button rifled using CNC produced twist guides to exacting and consistent twist control and stress relieved in a Cress Vacuum Furnace. The barrel is available in a straight or helical fluting version.
The Stiller’s Precision TAC Series premium actions, produced solely for MPA, have a bolt-to-action fit of .0005″ or less. The action is machined from heat-treated stainless steel and the face, tenon and lug abutment cuts are machined in a single setup, ensuring exact parallelism and perpendicularity for critical features that affect accuracy. The Stiller’s Precision TAC Series bolt, also produced solely for MPA, is a one-piece design with the bolt, lugs and handle machined from a single piece of 4140 heat-treated steel and all critical features and dimensions are finished on a CNC OD grinder. All bolts feature spiral fluting and are hand-lapped and fitted individually to each action. The bolts have a nitride or armoloy finish.
Additionally, the MPA .308BA rifle is available with a counter twist muzzle brake and a jewel or Timney trigger. The MPA .308BA (other calibers coming soon) retails for an MSRP of $3,475.00 and includes the tactical chassis and an AICS or Accurate International 5-round magazine.
I’m with DG on this. If I spend that much cash on a rifle I want fine wood and pleasing lines. There’s a place in the world for tactical ugly. But i’m long past the age of needing it.
For that much cash it better have the type of pleasing lines that get me going at night, you know what I mean?
.308 ain’t a big enough bore for that, you know what I mean?
Sadly, no… :\
I think Matt’s implying that something in .45 would be better to “get the job done.”
I was making a small wee wee joke…
Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more.
Yeah, that things like Glock ugly.
It’s like DiFi naked covered in tapioca pudding with a cold sore ugly…
Man, you’re one sick and disturbed puppy. I knew there was something I liked about you.
I’ve come to the right place.
I will buy Armalite’s offering long before this
There are so many things wrong on that gun, I don’t even know where to start. What’s with the scope offset, what is that, like 3-4 inches off of bore, that’s good for losing probably 20 MOA of adjustment. The lines of that stock, who designed that, a first year CAD student? could it be any more boring, and well, ugly? A polished compensator on a “tactical” rifle, brilliant, and a $4000 rifle, and that cheap bipod……… How are these guys still in business?
If I’m going to spend $4k on a .308 rifle, I’m just going to save a bit longer and get a TRG or AW308. Everything about that photo screams “trying too hard”, like they had a management meeting and took all the bits that shooters seem to like, then slapped them together.
Jesus A Christ!! Put that expensive paper weight into a real world environment…mud/dirt/sand/dust/rocks/sage/unsanitary conditions….what the hell is that rifle good for?!! I’m guessing pure ass looks?! That thing is pure ass ugly!
I think sometimes…if many of the long gone snipers that had to drag their asses thru hell and back along with a rifle and then make incredible shots while knowing full well their time on earth could be snuffed out at any time because of the hunting by opposing snipers…crapping/pissing their pants cause that’s what snipers have to do when in the hunt…are looking up/down shaking their heads in total disgust because a bunch of wannabe’s have this illusion of superior firepower by shooting a rifle of this sort of configuration at the local shooting range…..WOW!! Aren’t these rifles so manly!!
Nothing but total hype and B.S.
My introduction to MPA was when they were making MAC carbines in .460 Rowland, which is a .45 ACP re-engineered to produce the energy of a .44 Magnum.
Back then they just did Mac-10/11s and they seemed like they were trying to innovate… but the main reason I didn’t bite then is because they are friggin MAC-10s and they look hideous. They have not gotten any better looking and I see no mention of the .460 anymore.
It is good they are doing other platforms than the tactical drive-by blaster, but I don’t see why anyone would buy this over a serious rifle at that price. If you want something ugly for long range shooting you can get an Armalite with the same MSRP and it is probably more accurate.
Yea, that is rough. Looks like a damn mosin nagant conversion kit. And that scope/bore height thing is unforgivable.
Seriously not even a folder?? Who is that guy with the green rifle I see on here sometimes from Scully systems? Now THAT is a bolt gun done right and not tacticool fanboyed. Too bad he doesnt have a website anymore…
Its scally hill systems and the rifle is the Mk4Mod7. I did a search and it looks like he went total spook and has been up to some secret squirrel stuff. there is just zero about him out there besides the posts on here.
If I remember his rifles had more features than this lump at half the price. Anybody else know if he is still building?
The real sin here is that for like 10% of the cost you could get a .308 that you could actually use somewhere other than the range.
Damn Straights!
Yeah….so many want to be the next Carlos Hathcock…why I don’t know….he toted a worn out Winchester model 70 that would group no better the 2″ at 100 yards.
Now what could be the real reason Hathcock was so effective? Hmmmm….
Hathcock had no qualms about pulling the trigger on another man. With that mindset equipment is secondary.
That was his mindset…that and he’sd sit in his bunk and dry fire that Model 70 and rehashing scenarios over and over and over….but he didn’t kill for fun.
You mean I dont have to take out a mortgage on a rifle if I want to shoot past 300 metres? But in all seriousnes, people are too obsessed with accuracy. A 1 MOA rifle is good enough to hit a man at a 1000 metres, I do understand people who shoot F-class or similar but for general purpose 1 MOA is the goal for me.
Regarding the rifle:
Thanks but no thanks. I will stick with my SSG 3000 mainly because its almost 3 times cheaper (and I borrow it) and it can probably outshoot this monstrosity.That and one can switch barrels and bolts on it easily. This is also I believe the first the aesthetics of a firearm bother me (if that happens you are doing something wrong, very wrong).
So why is this even an article? Many other guns deserve this space.
I don’t mind a workmanlike EBR, but it seems to me that many manufacturers are going overboard in making their firearms just as ucking fugly as they can. Modern firearms don’t HAVE to look like something the Evil Zurg would carry around, or the side of an Alien’s head, or something portrayed in ‘Tour of Duty: The Absolutely Final Positively Very Last Time Before Things Really Start To Go Bad And Get Serious’ [for ages juvenile delinquent to prepubescent].
This is not really innovative, or ‘modern,’ or cutting edge; It’s derivative and silly. Frankly, it’s nothing more than a tarted-up Remington 700 with a WWI Lee-Enfield box magazine and a kewl fanboi plastic stock. And a thing in the back that goes up. And a rail in front of the rail with another rail underneath for the GPSballisticcomputercompassthingthattellstime.
And it’s expensive.
Neat you can put a scope, in front of your scope.
Yup, and one underneath too. Back up to your back up to your back up.
It’s for night vision, but yes please join the crowd with uninformed bickering over a design you don’t understand.
I will agree with the consensus of “WTF is with the extra high rings?!?!?!?”
Brad, you should work on your Sense of Humour. We KNOW that the front rail is for ‘night vision.’ You see, we are ‘gun people.’ This ain’t ‘Reader’s Digest.’ We are merely commenting sardonically on the overkill and ugliness featured in this firearm.
We also know that the spiral-fluted barrel is so that the gun can be used to make SnoCones or finely-grated cheese in a pinch, and that the two holes in the butt-stock under the cheek-rest are for amputating the tips of two cigars at once. Or two fingers. Or that that forward rail could also hold a record player, or an iPhone mount with the iPhone set to video. And that the bottom one could mount the bayonet lug or target winch.
Here are examples that may help: If I say that the sky is blue, you needn’t look up and wonder how I claim to know that the sky is sad for some reason. If I ask why there is an expiration date on sour cream, you don’t have to explain to me about bacterial growth in certain semi-solid dairy-food mediums over time. If I comment about the Miracle of the Thermos, which keeps hot things hot and cold things cold without any apparent internal switching mechanism to differentiate between product temperatures, you needn’t explain the principle of the insulation value of a vacuum.
See? ‘Funny,’ Brad. ‘Sarcasm.’ ‘Hyperbole.’ Why so serious?
Bro, I heard you like scopes on your scopes so we scoped your scope!
You can’t polish a turd and sell it as a diamond.
These people are physically incapable of building a half decent looking firearm… I swear I couldn’t design uglier guns if I tried.
I’m picking up a Chinese SKS Tuesday on trade. I’m excited about that. This, not so much. No.
If the scope were juuust a bit higher, one could get a proper arm pit weld.
*golf clap* Nicely done.
if i spend $4,000 in a .308, it better have the special ability to reproduce! if not, then i will spend 4k on something else. maybe on like 8 American rifles and some ammo, or 20 mosin nagants and some ammo, or 4 aks and some ammo, or anything else.
4 grand on a MPA? No thanks.
Not a word on accuracy or MOA. Hmm.
Not ugly, TACTICOOL!
I can already see “that guy” drooling over this as it sits on the counter at the gun shop.
I think that is exactly the market they are targeting. A $500 savage likely shoots better, and it definitely looks better. I suppose you could show it to your enemy and it might ugly them to death.
I guarantee my savage model 10 precision 308 with a3 medalist stock and vortex viper scope will shoot twice as good as this beastly thing. I probably got $1200 in my rifle including scope and homeade upgrades to boot and it is a true 1/2 moa rifle and a 1/3 moa when the stars align.
A couple of years ago I bought a Remington 700 AAC-SD SPS Tactical .308/7.62, with the Remington Custom Shop trigger. After adding a Burris MTAC 4.5×14 MilDot scope and a Harris bipod, I’ve got a grand total of $1,506.00 in this rifle. It will, and does, put 3 shots in one hole at 100 yards with Federal Premium Gold Medal Match factory ammo using Sierra Match King 168 grain BTHP. This, in my opinion, is all that a RIFLEMAN needs in the way of performance. There are many, many factory rifles that will do the same, and are not nearly as butt-ugly as this monstrosity in the article.
Now that’s a scary black rifle. But not in a good way.
Sure there’s not an extra ZERO on the end there?
If they said it was $347.50, I would’ve said: Hmmm ok, they’re trying to corner the low-end tacticool operator market. Probably sell a bunch. …but $3,475.00? Really?
Besides looking like it was made out of a plastic dishwasher pallet, the scope mount height (presumably in order to clear a ‘forward rail’ ?) is just unforgivable, and I see not one redeeming feature that would even make me consider a second look (let alone a first look), let alone investing $3475.00 into MPA for a precision shooter …. over say… a DTA SRS A1 for a few hundred less (doh) – or heck even a Ruger American for $320, which least I could do something with other than look like a total fool at the range.
Not sure who they’re targeting with this, but it sure aint me.
Ugh. They make ugly but affordable MACs, and that I can at least understand. Don’t need, but understand. Making ugly AND unaffordable bolt-action “DMR”s? Can’t fathom a use, audience, or even a want, let alone a need.
The first thing I noticed that contributed to the ugliness, was the extra rail out in front.
A continuation of the main rail would have eliminated the ugly gap.
“tactical…chassis…”
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!
jk.
My god that stock is ugly. Who needs smooth lines when you have random geometric shapes, I guess.
I want to say that my Savage 110 BA is my ugliest gun, and it is way less ugly than that Frankenstein – lookin’ monstrosity. I imagine this thing would be plenty accurate at that price point, but the only way it could be uglier is if they painted DiFi’s face on it.
You must be from Kalifornia
Nonsense. I LOVE my Savage 110BA in 338L….and i think it looks great lol
That was only $1850 though, and probably better than this $4000 wannabe.
What I dont get is, you can get a Field Strike chassis, which is very similar to this for a Rem 700, for $1100, then $500 for the action. That leaves $2400 in upgrades to have it match this price point.
NO WAY IN HELL.
Look up the Field Strike to see what im talkimg about. Hell, the Dual Strike chassis is 2700 with rem 700 action and thats a WORLD better chassis
Piffle….
Now this is a beautiful precision rifle, if I do say so myself.
Is that the Bushnell ERS 3.5-21 34 mm FFP with the H59 in FDE? I was thinking about getting that from LaRue and mounting it on my 110 BA .338 Lapua. What are your thoughts?
Buy a Savage bolt and call it a day. It’s just silly the money people will spend on a tacticool POS when you can just buy a quality .308 for 1k.
This is the new business model of low grade companies.
1. Find cheap materials, or source the parts from China.
2. Introduce new product that is not actually new or innovative. Call it “Tactical”!
3.Charge as much or more as well established reputable companies even though your company is crap.
4. Pray to your personal higher power that nobody notices.
5. If this doesn’t work the first time rinse and repeat.
You forgot “. . . and put a bunch of Picatinny rails on it.”
As much as I love my cut rifled barrels made by Kreiger, your comment about button versus cut rifling is debatable. There are good custom barrel makers that specialize in making high end rifle barrels with button rifling. Lilja is a very good example of a high end button barrel maker. Button is faster and cheaper and is really the only sort of rifling machine made today. Nobody builds machines to do cut rifling anymore. Most cut rifling machines are relics. If there were a process that yields a lower than average accuracy its the hammer forge process.
My question…. Will it shoot? That $4000 price tag better have some AMAZING accuracy behind it or the reviews are going to be BRUTAL.
I wonder how much the bright green zombie version will cost…lol.
After reading and re-reading that press release, I have distilled what would be an otherwise long rant about “buzzword bingo” into but one question:
What is “tactical aluminum” and why do I need it?
I saw this rifle at shotshow last week. After talking with the booth personnel, it has some potential. The action and bolt are stillers, timney or jewel trigger and a hand lapped spencer barrel (MPA purchased Spencer – (bench rest) – last year). The chassis is light and v bedded and I think they said it might also be epoxy bedded. The muzzle brake is a spencer design. Side folder version coming soon. Claimed 1/2 MOA on the sheet I picked up. They also sell the chassis separately. Admittedly, the optic on the above image looks ridiculous, but time will tell. Lets see how the actual reviews come out. I will save my money till some reviews come out.