Use Your 5.56 mm Ammo and AR Mags…In Mossberg’s Crossover Bolt Gun, a Hot Bolt Action Rifle

The first of Mossberg’s expanding lineup of MVPs (Mossberg Varmint Predator series) started appearing at the ranges early in 2012, with the Varmint 24-inch fluted HBAR wowing gun writers, prairie dog hunters and bench shooters with its style, grace and accuracy.

The MVP Predator is equipped with a “medium fluted bull barrel”, which can create somewhat vague connotations. To put some teeth into this title, I measured my Predator’s relatively thick mat black oxide coated carbon steel barrel at three critical points along its 18.5 inch length. She’s .75 inches at the muzzle, which features a recessed button rifling; .844 inches at the midpoint; and a full 1.00 inches thick where the barrel screws into the receiver. A six-pack of 6.5 inch long recessed flutes wrap around the barrel forward of the laminated sporter stock’s foregrip, to lessen muzzle weight and to increase surface area to promote faster cooling. The barrel is also totally free-floated in the laser-routed stock and pillar bedded via a pair of beefy hex bolts into the meat of the steel receiver. Translated, if you use a sling to steady your aimed shots, a bipod, or simply rest it on a sandbag before sending your rounds downrange, barrel harmonics and accuracy will be consistently the same throughout.

The heart of the MVP’s appeal rests in the user-adjustable Lightning Bolt Action (LBA) trigger that’s common to all family members. This unique consumer feature allows each operator to custom-tailor the trigger squeeze to his/her precise liking, something that is just not offered on many competitively priced bolt action rifles. To dial it in, merely loosen the barreled action from the laminated stock via the front and rear action screws and turn the trigger pull adjusting screw as needed…the pull can be set anywhere from two to seven pounds.

I set my trigger for 2.5 pounds, which worked best for my hand and shooting style. That’s pretty light…but the Mossberg engineers have insured that the light trigger will not be a potential hazard when you go afield (where the possibility exists that an owner might accidentally drop a loaded weapon). Their solution is a safety bar (similar to those Glock handguns) that protrudes from a groove in the center of the LBA’s trigger, and must be fully depressed to disengage the sear. Only then will the firing pin drop on a chambered cartridge.

The MVP’s safety is a simple on/off lever design located starboard (right) and aft (rear) of the bolt handle. Its operation is simplicity itself, with the lever to the rear indicating “safe” and the lever forward exposing a large visible red dot that indicates “fire.” You can only make the weapon “safe” if the striker is cocked and the LBA trigger will indicated a visible center safety bar when the weapon is cocked and potentially loaded.

When An Active Shooter Goes On a Rampage, Employ These Survival Measures

Another mass shooting massacre.

This, like the others, took more innocent victims.

Everyone seems preoccupied with asking so many questions in an attempt to understand why these perpetrators kill and who is to blame: parents, media, video games, guns or the economy? These are all the wrong questions!

Men, women and children worldwide have been the victims of such attacks for years. The massacres in Columbine, Virginia Tech, Fort Hood, Aurora, Mumbai, India; Beslan, Russia; Tuusula, Finland; Utoya Island, Norway; Toulouse, France and many others are tragic examples of the threat that shooters pose to public safety.

Yet, many people chose to ignore the risk by assuming that such attacks will not happen or believing that they can be protected by local law enforcement.
These are dangerous assumptions.

FULL SECURITY

We all know that there is no such thing as 100% security, and no one knows where and when the next attack will occur.

Active shooters and terrorists always attack the most vulnerable targets. They plan their attacks meticulously and over a long period of time and exploit weaknesses in security systems. They attack with surprise and their goal is to inflict the largest number of casualties as quickly as possible. That is why most casualties in these incidents occur during the first 10 minutes, before law enforcement intervention.
Whether the shooter is a mentally derange person, a religious fanatic, a vengeful employee or an outcast student, they all use similar tactics and the results are always the same: large scale death and suffering.
As community leaders, business managers, teachers and parents, we are in a position of trust. If we do not act responsibility, we are failing those who put their trust in us and accept the loss of innocent lives. Doing nothing to prepare and accepting defeat is unethical and un-American. As Americans, we do not give in or give up. We know that life is sacred and we fight for what is right. A mass murderer killing innocent men, women and children is wrong!

It is time we start asking ourselves the most important question: What can be done to survive and stop the violence during the attack … when escape is impossible and the shooter is on location killing people?

What You Must Do

• Think like a survivor
• Manage the stress
• Follow through with an effective plan of action
• Rapidly assess the threat
• Locate exits
• Use cover
• Evacuate safely when possible
• Barricade in an enclosed space and deny access to the shooter



Behind the Evil
VULNERABLE TARGETS
Active shooters and terrorists always attack those they believe are vulnerable.

THE PLANNING
Their attacks are planned meticulously and over a long period of time. They also exploit weaknesses in security systems.

THE ATTACK
This is always done with surprise.

THEIR GOALS
Inflict the largest number of casualties as quickly as possible.

THE FIRST 10 MINUTES
Most casualties in these incidents occur during the first 10 minutes.

Kel-Tec’s Radical RFB Is Loaded with Power, Accuracy

Kel-Tec is not your normal gun manufacturer.

If anything, they are the polar opposite, with some of the most creative and singular designs in the marketplace. I had a chance to field test and review one of their most creative, “out-of-the-box-thinking” designs to date: the RFB, or “Rifle, Forward ejecting, Bullpup.” This extremely portable 7.62x51mm NATO rifle is one of the most interesting and intriguing weapons I have ever taken to the range or afield. Let’s lock and load and take a closer look at what makes the RFB such a show stopper!

History Lesson

Kel-Tec’s owner and founder George Kellgren is no stranger to the bullpup design. The RFB traces its roots back to the late 70’s at Interdynamic AB of Stockholm, Sweden, where George was involved with the design of two MKR bullpup rifles. Although neither MKR rifle ever reached the production stage, the “spine” concept, where all components were mounted around a long and rigid barrel, eventually carried over to the RFB.

Kellgren’s work on a bullpup design resumed in the early ‘90s after he founded Kel-Tec. His next bullpup design was the SUB-16, which used 5.56x45mm NATO ammo and standard M-16 magazines. The SUB-16 had dual pivoting extractors actuated by cam surfaces in the receiver and a forward eject feature. The project was suspended with the adoption of the Assault Weapons Ban in 1994.

Kel-Tec’s bullpup work resumed in 2003 with the SRT-6, a dedicated sniper rifle firing a special 5.56x45mm load. In mid-2005, they decided to have another try at the “Holy Grail” of bullpup rifle design, with forward ejecting operation, so the SRT-8 began development in the larger 7.62x51mm NATO caliber. Metric FAL magazines were chosen for the new rifle because of their availability. The design also featured a unique tilting bolt design. A stationary, curved sheet metal forward-chute solved some of the earlier expended case ejection problems and the early prototypes had 18” barrels for convenience of handling.

After the sunset of the assault weapons ban in 2004, they decided to rename the SRT to Rifle Forward ejection Bullpup and the RFB was born. Consequently, the names of the three main models were changed from Sniper (32” barrel), Hunter (24” barrel), and Battle (18” barrel), to the less menacing names Target, Sporter, and Carbine. The RFB was perfected during pre-production trial runs in 2008; Gen2 models were introduced in 2012, and include this RFB I’m reviewing.

Style Points

 The Kel-Tec RFB is unlike anything that you have ever pulled out of a case. The cool-factor is totally off the charts.

 The barrel of the RFB is made from 4140 Chrome-Molybdenum ordnance-grade steel. Recent models (mid-2012 production and later) employ a Salt Bath Nitride-QPQ (quench, polish, quench) finish. According to Kel-Tec engineer Ryan Williams, this process is superior to chrome-plating with a better overall (black) finish that offers superior corrosion and heat resistance and lasts longer.

The bolt, receiver and gas system are also made of 4140 steel, with the bolt receiving a special Titanium Nitride (yellow) finish that was chosen for its protective ability and its resistance to wear and flaking. Ryan also mentioned that the RFB was recently upgraded with a thicker CNC-machined piston plate that is welded onto the front side of the carrier that comes into contact with the gas piston during operation. The gas system was also redesigned to keep the parts simpler and to provide a larger adjustable gas setting range to accommodate different types of ammunition. Additionally, the new gas piston is a ring-less design and can be easily removed for cleaning. Lastly, the carrier channel has a longer internal spring that keeps some tension on the piston post for more reliable functioning.

Both the bolt carrier and upper cover are manufactured from stamped 4130 grade sheet steel that overlaps to offer excellent user protection in case of a catastrophic failure in the breech. A durable parkerized finish coats all external metal parts. The pistol grip and forward handguard are made from a high-tech polymer material. Each is textured to provide operators with positive purchase, plus the handguard features an integral slope or bump at the lower front end to prevent the user’s support hand from sliding forward and coming in contact with a potentially hot barrel.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This was excerpted from the January 2013 issue.

Take All The Anti-Gun Reporting With A Grain Of Salt

The Romans had a term for warning buyers about possible defects in property they purchased that might render it useless or unfit for the use for which it was intended. /Caveat emptor/ means “Let the buyer beware.” In other words, there was no liability on the part of the seller unless he/she concealed the defects or made false representations about the product being sold.

Of course, under today’s laws, buyers have many safeguards to protect them from defects or dishonesty—but certainly not for all products, and not all of the safeguards are enforceable, so buyers must still beware.

Today, Americans should familiarize themselves with another Latin term: /Caveat lector/. It translates as, “Let the reader beware,” and is similar in many ways to /Caveat emptor/. Rather than accept as fact everything they read or hear in the news, readers/listeners need to sort things out for themselves to determine what’s factual and what’s agenda driven.

This holds especially true in terms of Gun ownership, which is constantly under attack by the media, as well as by those who hold public office who believe the Constitution is “a living, breathing document,” whose text is meant to be flexible. Often, the handiwork of armed lunatics is used by the media and lawmakers to make us law-abiding gun owners look like we’re all a bunch of fanatics who live in the past.

During the two short years I’ve been editor of /Gun World/, Supreme Court Justice Breyer, who dissented from the majority in the landmark cases District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010) told Chris Wallace in a televised Fox News interview that the role of the court is to interpret the Constitution flexibly, in light of ever-changing consequences. We’ve also seen the ATF push for new regulations on gun dealers near the Mexican border—ironically, at the same time Fast and Furious was still in full swing.

In that same period, the tragic Tucson shooting led to an anti-gun outcry on the parts of both the media and members of Congress; the latter used it as an excuse to propose stricter gun-control laws, and the former crafted stories to influence public opinion in favor of these stricter regulations.