Rhino GP Hunter in .308 Custom Rifle

Custom rifles and their use in Britain is certainly gaining momentum these days. Interest in extreme accuracy and owning something different is very appealing but where do you start? Picking a good custom shop can be tricky if you have not seen their work before, so it was a nice surprise when a full custom .308 rifle from Rhino rifles based in Cheshire landed on my door.

Rhino was established by Graham Glover, although Chris Blain does the engineering and chambering, etc. The rifle was called the GP Hunter and was a blend of custom parts that forms a general purpose rifle that sits between the sporter and varmint. So it will appeal to shooters who want an “off the shelf” rifle ready to shoot with the lightness of a sporter yet has the accuracy potential of a more tactical or varmint form.

The company will make what you want, be that a light weight mountain rifle or full blown F Class weapon, but this GP rifle and is an ‘off the shelf’ custom rifle ready to go at a retail price of £2300. You can upgrade the rifle with different barrels, stocks etc. or you can downgrade by opting not to have a Jewell trigger or having an unfluted barrel.

Fluted Barrel

The barrel is sourced from the well reputed firm of Pac-Nor from Oregon USA. I have used many Pac Nor barrels and can attest to their quality. This particular barrel is a Super Match Grade stainless steel item chambered in .308 Win although .243 will also be available as an off the shelf item, but other calibres can be chambered if desired. Length is a pretty standard 24 inches which is more than sufficient for the .308 cartridge and is threaded with a 15x1mm end spigot for moderator use. The profile is very nice, 1.2 inches at the receiver end tapering down to 0.834 inches at the stock forend junction with a final diameter of 0.726 inches at the muzzle. This is finished off with a well profiled 11 degree target crown, so crucial to good accuracy.

The whole barrel is free floated from the stock to a good degree, so even with a heavy moderator fitted and mounted on a bipod the barrel is still well clear of the stock barrel channel. There are barrel flutes to reduce weight, yet keep the heavy barrel look. There are well defined six flutes that are cut for ¾ of the total length of the barrel giving a practical and aesthetic appeal also. The finish is a very nice satin that dulls the brightness of the stainless yet still looks good, although a bead blasted or colour coating option can be accommodated as required. That’s the nice thing about a custom rifle you can mix and match as desired, it gives you a bit of control on the final product.

Final point of the barrel is the rifling twist which was a 1 in 10 inch pitch - my preferred twist rate for .308 calibre as you can stabilise all bullets up to 220 grains weight so given good flexibility. If you were to only want to shoot lighter bullets then a slower twist - say 1 in 12 or even 1 in 15 - will work with the lighter 110 or 125 grain bullets very well.

Pierce Precision Action

The action is a new one to me and is made by PIERCEision Gun Works of Lansing, Michigan in the USA (Editor’s Note: I think this company also builds racing engines, so they should know a bit about precision engineering). It takes the form of a Remington Model 700 clone like so many others but is built to far greater precision and final tolerances. Because it takes on the external model 700 action profile it is able to drop into any stock inletted for this action, which is handy and also any aftermarket triggers or scope mounts etc are readily available from a vast source.
The Pierce action has a precision made recoil lug which is thin – similar to a standard Remington. The action is drilled for attachment of separate bases and Graham had fitted a 20 MOA aluminium one piece unit of 6.5 inches length with the obligatory Weaver style scope attachment with 15 slots for any scope length. Overall finish of the action is flat black.

The bolt is very well made and finished with a bright polished finish and eight spiral flutes to the 6.5 inch bolt body, which look superb. There are two opposed forward locking lugs with a recessed front and Sako type extractor and plunger ejection system. There is a Remington aluminium black bolt shroud to the rear and polished target round ball bolt handle which operates with a silky smooth movement, yet with that nice tight feel of a precision or custom action.

Stock Options

When it comes to stock options for custom projects you are limited in this country to what you can source. Usually these are McMillan, HS Precision or Robertson derivatives but a good alternative of late is the semi Tactical stock from Bell and Carlson. This is a synthetic stock that is solid, with no hollow cavities that can make a stock feel unbalanced and cheap. It takes the form of a typical target/tactical profile with a fixed cheek piece with high comb and length of pull of 13.5 inches and large and rather square forend which extends 10.5 inches and is 2.25 inches wide. It’s not my style of stock but from a shooters and practical point of view it handles and balances very well and compliments the barrelled action perfectly. There are three swivel studs, with two being up front so you have a choice of bipod or sling attachment points. Overall finish is a black crinkle texture which I like and is finished off with a black Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad.

Bedding is achieved by an internal aluminium block with further aluminium pillars for the two securing screws. Rhino have further enhanced this bedding block with a small amount of bedding material around the recoil lug area and extending just forward to support the first inch of barrel.

Jewell Trigger – It’s a Gem!

This model is fitted with the superb Arnold Jewell trigger with a top safety and is factory set for a 1lb trigger pull with the ability to adjust from 1.5 ounces to 4lbs as required. Its single stage operation is perfection and breaks like glass and is designed to eke every last bit of accuracy out of any rifle. You can adjust for sear engagement, over travel and pull weight via three separate screws filled with Nylon inserts that stop movement when the screw is set. Alternative triggers such as Timney or Jackson’s Universal can also be ordered or even a standard Remington unit if you are counting the pennies.

The magazine assembly is the one of the customiser’s first choices when faced with a Remington clone action and wants to upgrade from the standard hinged floor plate unit. The test rifle has a black finished HS Precision stainless steel detachable magazine with a final single column feed.  It is certainly far better than a normal Remington unit, gives a reliable feed and finishes off the stock nicely. Ten shot options are available if you intend to shoot high volumes of ammunition.

On The Range

Overall length is 43.75 inches but well balanced for its size, so not to destroy this I chose to fit a new North Star ‘over the barrel’ sound moderator from Jackson Rifles that suited this rifle to a tee. Noise reduction was good, even with those full power house loads, and being stainless steel should last a long time too. It also balances nicely being an over the barrel design.

From a bench the Rhino showed its pedigree and digested a variety of factory ammunition and many reloads very well. Some thing did come to light in the course of the testing and that was that the stock screws had a definite likeness for one tension. In this I mean accuracy was best when the front stock screw was tightened to 55lbs and the rear set at 40lbs. A small re-bed at the rear tang would solve this, and as this was a prototype model the problem has been fixed, so no worries from here on.

With this sorted, accuracy was impressive. At 100 yards all factory ammunition shot less than 1.00 inch with most at 0.75 inches or less. The Norma 150 grain were particularly good with velocities of 2782fps and 2579ft/lbs energy. Federal 165gr Game Kings also shot sub 0.80 groups with a velocity of 2698fps and 2668ft/lbs energy.

Load to Suit

With reloads - as always - the rifle really comes alive. The ability to feed the rifle the diet it prefers is certainly the strongest reasons to me for reloading. Having checked the throating depth of the Rhinos chamber with a Stony Point OAL gauge I started seating bullets 30 thou off the lands to start with.

Lapua brass was the preferred case option and I seated Federal Match primers first off. I wanted to ring out every last inch of accuracy from the rifle so loaded a variety of light 110 grain fox loads right up to 220 grain Nosler Partitions to gauge the rifles preferences, then home in on a promising load.

The 110 grain Berger - despite being a light bullet - actually has a tough frontal jacket and penetrates rather well but can only be used as a fox or vermin load due to its Match bullet status. A velocity of 3257fps was good translating to 2592ft/lbs and accuracy was hovering at the 0.40 mark, very useable with 42.25grains of H4198 powder. You can substitute the Berger for a 110 grain V-Max for more explosive results and several hooded crows in Scotland would not argue with that fact!
The 125 grain Nosler Ballistic tips wh ere great performers too with cracking 0.35 inch groups. Clipping along at 2904fps and generating 2341ft/lbs with 44 grains of H322 powder you have an all-round load that will shoot flat and hit hard.

The 150 grain or heavier bullets suit the 1 in 10 twist better, although the light weights shot very well too. Hornady SST 150 grain bullets and a load of 45 grains of Vit N140 produced 2788 fps and 2590ft/lbs shot 0.55 inch groups that shrank to 0.45 when I seated them at 20 thou off the lands. The 150 Accubonds with the same load also shot well, but needed to be seated further back at 35 thou off lands and gave 2793fps velocity with 0.65 inch groups.

178 grain A-Max bullets and a charge of 44 grains Varget produced 2601 fps from the Pac-Nor barrel and would be a good choice for some longer range shooting due to their high BC value. At 500 yards, five shot groups hovering at just over three inches with the odd flier, caused by me or the wind or both.

The Rhino also liked the 180 grain Sierra Game King bullet but with 42 grains of Alliant RL-15 powder this time for a velocity of 2514 fps and groups of 0.65 at 100 yards. The last up where some 220 grain Nosler Partitions that I like but the Rhino was less gracious regardless of seating depth and much powder! Groups hovered at 1.5 inch plus so I would give them a miss.

Conclusions

This Rhino GP Hunter takes a generic custom rifle form with stainless match grade barrel and synthetic stock but the use of a Pierce action makes it stand out. The whole rifle is built to a high standard and certainly shoots well and offers a blend of sporter and heavy weight varmint models in one well-balanced rifle. The Pierce action is a good precision made unit and nice to see something a little different.