A precision “” on a mission! By Gary Paul Johnston aving first appeared dur - sarmoury.com). The term “bullpup” mean to use on the poor little myrmi - ing World War I in bolt ac - is now all but a household word. dons of the “religion of peace,” have tion , the style called Throughout this time, bolt-action declared it a “weapon of war,” and “bullpup” consists of a bullpup rifles continued to take a have made using it on sub-ho - Hrifle that has its and re - back seat. But they finally began to mosapien barbarians by our heroic ceiver behind the and pistol find their niche almost a century later, warriors punishable by spending the grip. This arrangement puts the ’s appearing as precision rifles for com - rest of their lives in prison…really! butt right behind the magazine, with petition, hunting and military appli - Yes, the .50 BMG long-range rifles can the operator’s cheek on the right cations. Such rifles are now usually only be fired at materiel targets, such over the bolt, thereby removing offered in mainstream calibers, in - as vehicles and supplies. What if the roughly 10–12 inches from the overall cluding .308 Winchester (7.62x51mm ride is full of “pull-starts?” Well, OK, length of the weapon. NATO), .300 Winchester Magnum, our troops can shoot at it (I think), but Interestingly, self-loading bullpup .338 Lapua Magnum, and others. A if the driver stops and they all un-ass rifles also first appeared near the end few of these have been designed with the truck with RPGs and AKMs, of the Great War, such as the 6.5mm quick-change barrel systems in these using the .50 on them is a big no-no! French Faucol-Meunier fielded in calibers. This means that an operator The folks whose asses we saved from 1918. However, both the bolt-action can quickly convert his or her Hitler have even gone so far as to out - and self-loading “bullpup” were all bullpup to .308 Win., .300 Win. Mag. law any based on the .50 but forgotten until World War II. They or .338 Lapua Magnum for the in - BMG casing from being used against didn’t enter serious testing or produc - tended use. enemy personnel. Ah, but don’t get tion until after the war, with such me started. models as the British EM-1 and EM-2, Fifty is OUT! and continuing with the AUG, What about the .50 BMG, you ask? A Happy Compromise French FAMAS and British bullpup Well, the 21st century European com - In the meantime, in 1983, Research that became the L85A2. All of these munity, quivering in their way too Armament Industries had begun de - were capable of (see The tight shorts over John M. Browning’s velopment of a new long-range car - World’s Assault Rifles from collector - magnificent .50 caliber being just too tridge case based on the .416 Rigby

Top: DTA’s .338 Lapua Magnum Stealth Recon Scout Rifle is right at home in any terrain against any enemy you can see at any distance.

4 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE SUPPORT OUR TROOPS case necked down to .338 caliber. detach then be exposed. Hornady made cases with reinforced mounts. On these Being of the interrupted multi-lug walls to handle the extra pressure rails can be type, the bolt of the Stealth Recon and the late Macomb Cooper of Ac - mounted a variety Scout has three sets of two lugs for a curacy International did significant of excellent lights total of six locking lugs. It is also development of the cartridge, along and lasers from abbreviated, with the bolt with the Finnish company Lapua. such compa - handle located directly be - Called the .338 Lapua Magnum nies as hind the lugs, a necessity (8.58x71mm), this cartridge has es - SureFire, with the bullpup design sentially been standardized as the Laser De - to achieve overall short - optimum anti-personnel round for vices, In - ness. The modular military use. Carrying a 250-grain sight trigger group is bullet that leaves the muzzle at a ve - Tactical quite simple, locity in the range of 3,000 fps and a and others. with an am - range out to 1,800 yards, the .338 Once again, bidex - Lapua Magnum will likely be mili - reminiscent of the trous tary’s the long-range car - Steyr AUG, the safety tridge for the foreseeable future. rear portion of the that is logical, i.e., Stealth Recon push forward to The Stealth Recon Scout Scouts’ upper re - allow bullets to go Gaining momentum around 1990, ceiver carries forward and pull back the .338 Lapua Magnum began to the rotating to keep bullets back. appear chambered in a variety of bolt and slides No need to stop and bolt-action rifles, a trend that contin - into the rear look at this safety. Al - ued for almost two decades. More portion of the though it is easily ad - recently, however, with the advent polymer stock, justable, the trigger of modern 21st century bullpup which covers it Sgt. Joe Scott on our sample SRS holds the Stealth bolt-action rifles, the cartridge seems and forms the Recon Scout as he was set to perfec - to have found a new home in repeat - cheek piece, with scans the rugged tion at about two ing rifles. The latest is from Desert the polymer acting terrain. The ballistic pounds with slight Tactical Arms, of Utah, USA. It is fit - to protect the face knee guards he’s take-up. wearing proved tingly called the Stealth Recon Scout from heat and quite valuable. (SRS), a catchy name, but one that freezing cold. On Premier Scope also fits. the right side is a Our sample Desert Tactical SRS The simplest way to describe the channel in which the bolt handle came with the factory 34mm scope construction of the Stealth Recon moves fore and aft, and underneath mount, which held a Premier Reticle Scout is that it uses a hard-coat an - the stock is the magazine well with 5–25x56mm illuminated reticle odized aircraft alloy monolithic re - an ambidextrous magazine release scope using a 34mm tube. This scope ceiver component similar to that of that is pressed in to release the uses the USMC Gen IIXR MilDot ret - the self-loading 5.56x45mm NATO formed metal magazine. All maga - icle, which we found totally impres - caliber AR-type rifle introduced by zine bodies use the same exterior sive. Premier’s LeverLock system Lewis Machine & Tool several years with modifications made to the in - requires only the rim of a spent car - ago. The main difference is that side to fit the various calibers in tridge to unlock the turret to make Desert Tactical designed this compo - which Desert Tactical offers the SRS. fine adjustments to windage and ele - nent to use a bolt-action repeating These include .243 Winchester, .308 vation. system of operation. The other dif - Winchester (7.62x51mm NATO), .300 ference is that the SRS’ Winchester Magnum, and of course Quick-Change Barrel group is housed in a robust, glass-re - .338 Lapua Magnum. The bolts The Desert Tactical Stealth Recon inforced polymer stock somewhat themselves are also essentially iden - Scout can be had with all four cal - similar to that used in the Steyr tical and have conical knobs, making iber barrels, two of which (.243 Win. AUG, but being comprised of right them easier to operate. And .308 Win.) use the same bolt and left sides held together by hex The SRS’ bolt is installed/re - and magazine. The .300 Win. Mag. cross bolts. moved by first depressing the butt and .338 Lapua Magnum calibers Integral with the top forward por - plate lock (located at the toe, or bot - use their own bolts, but use the tion of the receiver is a long MIL- tom of the butt) forward while push - same magazine. To change a barrel STD-1913 style rail running to the ing down on the butt plate. Because to another caliber, after removing front end of the handguard. On the the rails holding the butt plate in the magazine and bolt and making that creates the fore end are place are interrupted, the plate sure the is empty, use the three additional integral rails at 3-, needs only to be pushed down an supplied torque wrench to loosen 6- and 9 o’clock, and at the fore and inch or so in order to remove it rear - four barrel locking screws in the aft ends of both side rails are quick- ward. The channel for the bolt will right side of the stock; then turn the

SOFMAG.COM JUNE 2011 5 DESERT TACTICAL’S STEALTH RECON SCOUT Continued barrel lock on the left side of the stock 180 degrees counterclockwise. The barrel can then be removed out the front of the rifle. With the initial barrel removed, a different barrel is then carefully in - serted from the front of the receiver, making sure the feed ramp is posi - tioned correctly. Final reassembly is in reverse order using the furnished 68 foot-pound torque wrench. The proper bolt is then inserted and the butt plate replaced, all in less than two minutes. Total field-stripping simply requires the removal of the The Stealth Recon Scout disassembles as shown in about four minutes. Barrel remaining stock bolts using the pro - changes take less than half that long. vided Allen wrench, but is seldom necessary. In any case, Spring-loaded, ball-bearing Joe Scott also certified them against reading the instruction tracks in the upper portion “knee-monia” from the rugged rocks manual is vital before provide some recoil attenua - he had to scale in the accompanying any disassembly or re - tion, as the is abutted on photos here. moving the bolt. the front of a bench or in the Groups with both the 250-grain Hornady .338 Lapua Magnum, and Trigger Time 300-grain Scenar Cor-Bon were shot Because of traveling until mirage became too much for requirements, I precision shooting, so was only able to we waited to return have the Desert early a few days later. Tactical Stealth On this occasion, in Recon Scout for order to compare with three weeks. Al - using the SRS off a though I had lots , we switched, of .338 Lapua but I replaced the Magnum brass, I Harris Bipod fur - did not have any nished on the rifle quantity of live with the Vltor Mod - ammo to test. Pod. Consisting of Luckily, Cor-Bon two separate pieces, and Hornady the ModPod mounts Sgt. Scott checks the location of a target on the far side of the canyon above the range came through in used to test the Stealth Recon Scout. The Vltor ModPod bipod proved excellent. one leg to the 3 one week and a o’clock rail and the break in the other to the 9 o’clock weather allowed a day of shooting ground. Originally designed for fast rail, placing the locking fulcrums at the private range of Jim Carroll, of pace varmint shooting in a target- above the bore. This way the rifle ac - Carroll Targets, and home of the rich environment, the Ultimate Pre - tually hangs between and below the World’s Most Accurate Shooting cision Shooting Rest is equally at bipod instead of on top of it, making Rest, which we used for all sighting home for bench rest competition. for an extremely steady mounting in and 400-yard shooting. Also on platform. hand was Sgt. Joe Scott, a special re - Ballistic Knee Guards Using the same two brands of am - sponse unit sniper with our local On the advice of SOF publisher Lt. munition, Sgt. Scott and I again fired sheriff’s office and a long time rifle Col. Robert K. Brown, I had obtained a number of three-shot groups at 400 shooter. a pair of the new ballistic knee yards. In comparing all the groups of With Sgt. Scott and I both using guards (tacarm.com). Designed by a both loads with each other, we found Carroll’s Ultimate Precision Rifle US Army Special Forces veteran, no discernable difference in the per - Rest, we took turns shooting 3-shot these new knee pads resist penetra - formance of the SRS. This was im - groups at 400 yards. A unique piece tion from high velocity fragments portant, as the rifle would be used of equipment, the Ultimate Precision and projectiles from RPG rockets, ar - off a bipod or a natural platform in Rifle Rest holds the rifle’s fore end, tillery shells, IEDs, land mines and the field. The results of all groups and is quick adjustable for windage more. They have been certified by fired at 400 yards by both shooters and elevation, with fine tuning done the USNIJ as well as MIL-STD-662F with both brands of ammunition by turning knobs on threaded shafts. requirements for body armor. Sgt. were also interesting. The average

6 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE SUPPORT OUR TROOPS Continuing with Available in .243, 308, .300 Win. the Hornady, all Mag. or .338 Lapua Magnum, the three of us fired rifle can be had in one or all of these another couple of calibers with or without accessories, boxes to scopes and so on, or in a rapid de - strengthen our ployment package similar to what I findings, even was sent. As you read this, DTA will though they offer a sound suppressor for the SRS weren’t on paper. system. Designed in .338 caliber, We judged that this suppressor will be suitable for the Cor-Bon was use with all other SRS calibers as holding at about well, but that’s not all. 10 inches and the Desert Tactical also offers its Hard Hornady at about Target Interdiction (HTI) package. 15 inches with Available in .50 BMG, .408 and .375 fliers. Unknown CheyTac and .416 Barrett, the HTI The Stealth Recon Scout’s bolt was easy to manipulate. The winds up the can be had in all of these calibers rifle’s safety is simple, positive and ambidextrous. The Premier rugged zigzag and/or a rapid deployment package Sniper Scope performed superbly. canyon from the similar to that for SRS. Prices for all range could have DTA weapons vary with options, spread with the Hornady 250-grain also played a part, as we felt all of but the base price for the .338 Lapua OTM .338 Lapua Magnum was 3.19” our presses had been good. Magnum SRS without accessories is and with the Cor-Bon 300-grain Shooting the converted Stealth $5,022.00 (suggested retail). For OTM 2.91”, both well below 1 MOA. Recon Scout in .308 proved equally complete information, contact The best 400-yard group with the spectacular after I left the rifle with Desert Tactical Arms, 801-975-7272, Hornady ammo was 1.03” center-to- Jim Carroll. Testing the SRS with or deserttacticalarms.com. To keep center, and the best from Cor-Bon several brands of Federal 168-grain your Desert Tactical Arms rifle and measured 2.26” (both by Sgt. Scott). .308 Match ammunition at 100 the rest of your guns, JOIN THE Since 400 yards was the farthest yards, Jim’s best three-shot group NRA… DO IT NOW! distance at which target stands were measured just 0.242”, and his largest WARNING AND DISCLAIMER: Any content in this used on Jim’s range, we used the re - group was 0.84” with a handload. publication, including technical data, reports of any mainder of the .338 Lapua Magnum The average of all groups, including activities, information, events and circumstances ammunition on a 12-inch armor Winchester, Hornady, Federal and under controlled situations and under supervised control have not been tested nor approved nor were square Jim had hung in front of a handloads from two sources, was an under the control of Soldier of Fortune Magazine. huge rock at 880 yards down the astounding 0.52”! Reports are transmitted from independent sources to which SOF has neither supervision nor control. canyon. Although we had to hold The sample Stealth Recon Scout The data is transmitted for reporting events by the well under at 400 yards to avoid came in a fitted OD green Pelican author. Soldier of Fortune Magazine, its agents, offi - cers, consultants nor any other individual or entity having to re-zero with our limited Case with accessories and a .308 reject any and all responsibility for any reporting in ammunition, we held dead on at 880 Winchester barrel, bolt and maga - this publication. Any reports in this publication do not and were surprised to find we were zine, and all tools necessary to con - provide detail for comprehensive safety techniques, training techniques, training precautions that are ab - good to go. vert the rifle. The optional .308 solutely essential for any covered or similar activity. At this distance, we agreed that conversion also makes practicing The reader MUST not attempt any reported activity, technique or use of equipment based upon any re - the Cor-Bon again held tighter than with the SRS easy and economical. ports in this publication. Comprehensive training, the Hornady, but we only had Desert Tactical Arms offers the guidance and supervision is always necessary when engaging in any activity of which any report in this about a dozen rounds of it left. SRS in a have-it-your-way format. publication mentions or gives any reference to. The views of the authors do not represent the views of the Soldier of Fortune Magazine Characteristics: DTA/Steal Recon Scout Calibers: .243 Win., .308 Win., .300 Win. Mag. and .338 Lapua Magnum Other Contacts: : 3000 fps in .338 Lapua Mag Carroll Targets Operation: repeater (970) 240-8600 Barrel Length: 26” (carrolltargets.com) Rate of Twist: 6 grooves, 1-in-10-inch RHT Overall Length: 37.5” Ballistic Knee Guards Weight: (gun alone) 12.4 pounds TACARM Safety: Positive ambidextrous (tacarm.com) Sights: None Stock Furniture; Black, OD green or tan, glass-reinforced polymer Vltor Weapon Systems Finish: Matte black, hard-coat anodized (866) 468-5867 Price: $5,022.00 (sugg. ret.) base rifle in .338 Lapua Magnum (vltor.com)

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