Annie 64 MPR ?

[bored184]

Earlier in another thread I asked what rifle to start looking at as a beginners rifle into benchrest shooting and I thank those who answered my questions. After a little more research I came to the conclusion that 500 dollars wasnt really enough, so I did MORE research and I found a rifle that I think will make a good intro, an Anschutz 64 MPR. Does any one have any suggestions on this rifle? Ohh on rimfire central there is a long spat about the 64 vs. 54 action, so to prevent that here I ask to keep this strictly to the 64 action please. You can though private message me if you want to do a comparison to prevent me from getting a 64 action and save my money for a 54.
Thanks

 

[TMan88]

Annie 64 MPR???

I have been shooting my 64 MPR with weaver T36 scope and Hoehn tuner in benchrest comp. at the 2 gun clubs I belong to here in Buffalo, new York for the past year. For an entry level and fairly competitive score, it will serve you well. Really the only drawback it has is it is just that a multipurpose rifle. It lacks the real benchrest stock needed for optimum stability and proper parallel recoil that a benchrest stock gives you. I can shoot scores in the 240's on a regular basis, but have not been able to shoot a perfect 250 as of yet. As a real mid level benchrest rifle I recommend the Cooper TRP-3. I bought one recently added a weaver T36 scope and tuner. The barrel is a match grade Wilson and the action is single shot and beeefier than the annie 64. I am still presently tuning it in, but my first time out shot a 241 and that was without the tuner, so I know my scores will surpass what I was able to achieve with the Annie. The stock is a fiberglass Bell & Carlson true benchrest with straight parallel comb and base to the stock and wide 3" flat forearm. It is an out of the box $1,256.00 benchrest rifle at a price between that of the Annie and the custom made $3,000.00 and up benchrest rifles that I have seen at some of the shoots. Good Luck and take the time to read as much as you can in the bechrest forums.

 

[benzy2]

The problem here lies with how far you want to take this rifle. At a local level you may do fine with it and win some too. The barrel on the MPR is supposedly a higher quality barrel than one on the 1416HB beavertail stock model. They are both on the 64 action so they are close relatives. Also the MPR has a much nicer in most people's eyes two stage trigger than the 1416HB does. If the $800 or so they run new is already pushing your budget limits then it probably is the best $800 you can spend on a new rifle.

From here it really is dependent on what you expect from your rifle as to what is worth the extra money. Personally I see this as something I am going to do for years to come. I plan on spending a lot of money on a nice rest, a nice scope and rings, some wind flags and lets not forget match grade ammo. That doesn't touch the initial cost of the rifle and I am still way in money wise compare to all of my past firearm purchases. If I am going to do the other items right the first time through I might as well save the headache and go with a BR rifle. The used firearms forums here has a few rimfire guns for sale. I know RFC has some used Annie 54 actioned rifles there as well. It seems like for right around a grand you can get yourself a much higher quality rifle than you can getting a new anything.

The great thing about a lot of those used firearms is that they were owned by people who played the BR game. I don't know if you have really paid attention to a lot of what goes on but it takes a special person to spend the time and money a lot of these guys do. As such you see a lot of care taken with the equipment for sale and a ton of attention paid to the details. Most are bedded if not rebedded after being rebedded until it shot well. Most have a quality trigger so they could compete. Most are on a quality action that is trued and of great strength that should last forever. A lot have top end barrels on them though often they have been shot out and will need replaced to get the most out of the gun. I personally like the idea a BR shooter owned it before me. Most BR shooters know far more about the game than I do and the small details they changed or had changed will surely be things I would look past while I learn the ropes. Another great thing about the BR crowd is they always are looking for better. The thought that another route could lead to better accuracy is often enough to sell an already proven rifle. As such a lot of what shows up used is quality. It isn't like ebay where a guy is dumping his broken computer that is junk. With centerfire BR being out there you see even more quality rimfire rifles popping up because some guy wants to try a new centerfire option out.

I know the price seems hard to swallow at first but for how long a quality rifle can last you the last thing I personally want is to regret spending what I did on a rifle that won't get me better than last place with the guys I know. If you want to have fun you may get away fine with the MPR. If the guys around you don't shoot well they could have any rifle and be beat. If they are like the guys around me a lot of them are retired with nothing but time to fiddle with stuff and not a ton else hobby wise to spend their money on. That leads to tough competition as they already have better equipment and with the effort they have to put in they understand shooting better as well. To me that spells a lot of poor finishes that make the game a lot less fun. You don't always have to win but doing better than last normally helps.

 

[hoser]

If the $800 or so they run new is already pushing your budget limits then it probably is the best $800 you can spend on a new rifle.

That is probably the best advice I have ever heard.

My son had one for about a year, and I don't think there is another new $800 rifle "out of the box" that will compete with it. He shot a few informal BR matches, 4 NRA prone matches and even a 3P match with it.

We sold it for $700 on Gun Broker, and bought a custom. No regrets at all ...It cost $100 for the use of it for a year for about 20 or so range outings (which is about $5 per session depreciation) and learned a ton about BR shooting.

He added a flat plate to the front forearm and a parallel aluminum strip under the butt to get it to track better on a bench. He slugged the barrel using information he got from this website. As a matter of fact, I don't expect he would have wanted a custom rifle if he hadn't found this website.

Hose

 

[RLB 40X]

I started out with an mpr m64 ,i had a 1875 agg in my first ara match about 5 years ago,didnt win but was in the middle of the pack,shooting with a barroed rest that did not fit my gun.i thought i needed more gun and up graded to a 40x,but i think if i had the nerve to spend $ for a good bench stock i think it would have been competitive,especialy since i probley was not shooting it right wind, set up, etc