Icon Logo Gun Mart

Riflecraft LSR II

Riflecraft LSR II

Let me tell you a story! I knew Andrew Evans Hendricks (Riflecraft) before he set out on his path of world domination. An ex-Para; but you could forgive him for that as he was also a very talented gunsmith with some good ideas. It was not enough to build one-off custom creations though he did plenty of that, as he also envisaged a line of semi-custom guns based around the Remington 700 chassis. He identified the areas that needed attention – stock, trigger, crown and locking lugs and got them sorted. No expensive re-barrelling as the standard 700 tube was good enough with a re-crown.

SORTED AND SUITED

Locking lugs were lapped, the standard Remy Walker trigger as fitted to all 700s back then is capable of being nicely adjusted without recourse to fitting anything better and an average weight of 2-3 lbs was achieved with a lovely, clean break! He brought the most basic rifle the ADL with synthetic stock and with a non floor plate magazine and binned the furniture. I recall a whole stack of them in the corner of his workshop! The finished barrelled action was then pillar and synthetic bedded into an HS Precision stock, with a replacement, floor plate mag system, which makes them that bit easier to unload. The end result was a good looking, purposeful and more importantly highly shootable hunting rifle.

Called the LSR (Light Sporting Rifle), he built me one in 308 Win in a 22” tube (un-threaded) and to be honest it was the first decent hunting rifle I ever owned since I got back into the sport. Before that I just bought off the shelf with little thought for build and features, but I was young and ignorant back then! With Leupold, swing-off mounts holding their 3-9x50 Vari-X II scope it has accounted for more deer than all of my other guns put together. Using Hornady’s 168-grain A-MAX bullets (you could use them back then for deer) my reload used 44-grains of Vit N140 and off the bench that rifle would shoot 1⁄2” groups @ 100 yards until it got too hot after about 8-rounds.

However it was a hunter and I never managed to engage more than two deer at any time, normally one! What this performance did was inspire confidence for longer/harder shots and by no means unique my best shot with my LSR was a 380-yard roebuck. I saw it out in a field and pinged it for range, dropping down and deploying my bipod I held over the required 14” for my bullet and ballistics and with not a little trepidation placed the cross 7” over its back lined up on its elbow and squeezed and it went down. In retrospect I did it properly and the LSR did the rest!

BIG MISTAKE

The LSR was soon followed by the TSR (Target Sporting Rifle); identical in build but it used a heavy barrelled 700 chassis to offer a hunting and range gun combined and it was good like before. LSR sales exceeded the TSR unsurprisingly and the range proved popular. I eventually shot my first barrel out and got it re-barrelled and made a big mistake that I still regret to this day. I was tempted by a heavy fluted tube and thought it will be OK and reckoned accuracy might improve; like it needed to? The end result was like a super TSR! It shot 1⁄4” groups off the bench with ease and I hated it as it was now too heavy to be practical. I converted it to a TMR2 (Tactical Marksman’s Rifle) in an Accuracy International Chassis System (AICS) stock but never used it in that role and eventually sold it… The new owner loved it!

Time moves on as did Andrew with new and larger premises and my collection of rifles grew and I never replaced the LSR. At one stage I thought that what with him being the Kimber importer he had stopped making them. Apparently not; as the LSR II has been available for some time.

SAME AGAIN, BUT

The first example I saw was in a Bell & Carlson synthetic stock. If you don’t know B&C make some good furniture – rigid synthetic material with at worst pillar bedding and at best a full alloy inner member, they also do a lot of work for Howa, Weatherby, Winchester and Browning too. The switch to this brand was due to the problems of getting in HS Precision stocks. Apparently B&C now no longer want to ship direct outside of the USA, so LSR II has gone quite upmarket with a change to McMillan stocks for this and another reason.

story continues below...

So what I got was different in many ways to my original, though in terms of work done – re-crowning, threading, locking lugs lap and bedding had not changed. First and most noticeable was the McMillan stock that the LSR II now wears and you can’t get much better than that! The model used is the Holland Sporter and comes in a grey/green marble finish. The build is a medium sporter with decent but not overly heavy dimensions. For example the tapered forend fills the supporting hand easily with no extra bulk.

The pistol grip is long and shows a nice angle, both this and the forend have cast-in panels of chequering. There’s a slight, RH palm swell going on and most noticeable is the large, high-combed cheek piece section, which offers a very nice head position with the eye centring in the scope even in medium height rings. The stock is finished off with a decent recoil pad and QD sling swivel studs.

RECIPE OF CHOICE

LSR II as standard shows the Model 700 detachable magazine system. OK my gun was a top loader and maybe a tad slower to fill but we are not taking this rifle to a gun fight! It releases by twin, integral catches at the base and holds 4-rounds in 308 Win; more than enough! The action is the time-proven ‘three rings of steel’ as Remington describe it and is probably the blue print for many modern sporters. Locking is by large twin lugs with the trademark, swept back bolt handle with flattened/ checked knob. A plunger ejector is fitted so no worries there.

The safety is located rear/right of the action and well positioned for operation by the firing hand thumb with little upsetting of the shooting hold. It pushes forward to FIRE and reverses for SAFE, in either position the bolt can be operated. Another major departure is the fitting, again as standard of a Timney trigger. I asked Andrew why, as what was wrong with the Walker and he said nothing, but the new Remy Xmark Pro unit that replaced it had a safety recall and was reconfigured in such a way as to preclude ever getting it down to something workable. Hence the fitting of the Timney. Can’t see why Remington did not leave well alone and stick with the Walker?

LET’S GO

The barrel on this 308 Win example was 24”, mine was 22”. On top of the receiver again in Leupold, swing-off mounts was a Vortex Viper 4-16x50 scope. Unsurprising really as Riflecraft distributes this ever popular brand and it’s a good bet if you want ability at a good price. It came with a Hardy Gen IV reflex moderator also distributed by Riflecraft; this is an effective and light can with an integral muzzle brake.

Andrew supplied some Hornady, 168-grain A-MAX for accuracy testing only as it’s now no longer classed as expanding ammo so not deer legal, funny back in the day the deer did not seem to mind! Boringly and predictably the rifle shot the expected 1⁄2” clusters at 100 yards off the bench; good to see some things do not change! I recall also shooting 150-grain Lapua Mega through my LSR with great success too and rounded up some Hornady Interbond and their newer Superformance, GMX monolithic ballistic tip both in 150-grain loadings.

The Interbond shot a solid inch and I was very pleased to see the GMX was cutting around 0.6 – 0.7”. I have had mixed success with this load, but when it works it works well and I would be happy using it! There’s not a lot more to say really, as if anything and though accuracy has not improved – like it ever needed too - this is a really professional rifle! The LSR II package takes from the original design and adds extra features that if anything makes it a tad more shootable and user-friendly.

PRICE: £1850 Inc vat
CONTACT: Riflecraft Ltd, 01379 853745 www.riflecraft.co.uk Hornady ammunition Edgar Brothers Ltd, 01625 613177 www.hornady.co
FOR: Ideal hunting rifle design Accurate and shootable
AGAINST: Not a lot
VERDICT: If you’re looking for a quality hunter then this is it

  • Riflecraft LSR II - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Riflecraft LSR II - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Riflecraft LSR II - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Riflecraft LSR II - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Riflecraft LSR II - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Riflecraft LSR II - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Riflecraft LSR II - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Riflecraft LSR II - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

  • Riflecraft LSR II - image {image:count}

    click on image to enlarge

gun
features

  • Name: Riflecraft LSR II
  • Chassis: Remington 700
  • Calibre: 308 Win (on test)
  • Capacity: 4 + 1 (DM)
  • Barrel: 24”
  • : Stock McMillan Holland Sporter Synthetic and pillar bedded Timney trigger Threaded 1⁄2 x 20 UNF
Arrow