Monday, May 05, 2014

A rifle that I really liked at the NRA convention

As I mentioned briefly in my first post, PTR Industries was there with their all-new, made in America PTR91, a clone of the venerable Heckler & Koch HK 91, which is now long out of production.
I'd heard good and bad about these rifles over the years and to be fair, most of the bad came from the older rifles made back when the company was JLD and still building the rifles from a mix of surplus and new US-made parts. But now PTR is manufacturing all of their parts here in America on a mix of new state-of-the-art machinery and original HK-licensed machinery that they bought from Fabrica Militar when the Argentines quit using the rifle. Their goal is to put out a rifle that equals the original in quality, and after looking over their rifle at the convention and talking to a couple of their reps, it looks to me like they've come pretty close.
The rifles that I saw were tight, well-finished, and came apart and went back together like good rifles should. The rifles shouldered well, the rear drum sights looked good, and the trigger was pretty smooth for a battle rifle--not exactly M-1A Super-match but better than some ARs I've tried.

Parts and magazines are cheap and plentiful as the HK-91 was and still is being used all over the world. Midway is currently selling used 20-round magazines for $4.00 each.

I liked what I saw, and I liked the prices. These rifles can be had new in the box if you look around for under a grand, and as much as I like my M-14s and FALS, you're not getting either of those in that range. For someone looking for a heavy-caliber addition to the home-defense armory, this one would be tough to beat. And as soon as I can find a few spare dollars and an excuse, I'm probably going to snag one for myself.

10 comments:

  1. We're anticipating the AAR already. :)

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  2. My niece got one of the first made in SC, got to choose her own serial number. I got to go with her to the factory to place the order, way cool.

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  3. I remembered you talking about it, And yes that one is on the list for purchase as soon as the funds are available. I always liked the HK91/93 series of rifles since I read about then in the 80's.

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  4. One thing about the HK-91.. When it ejects empties, it ejects them with VIGOUR. You can be injured standing 10 ft way. I mean seriously injured.

    It throws them quite far and hard.

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    1. And with that fluted chamber, salvaging cases for reloading's a bit of a bother.

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    2. Not a big deal on the brass. I hate what the fluting does to it but It'll just get cleaned up as best as the tumbler'll do it and recycled into new ammo. It'll be ugly but it'll still chamber and shoot.

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  5. Good rifle, as an HK, I'll wait and see if you're happy with yours.

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  6. When I buy my 7.62x51, that is what I'm getting. I've seen where they are making some of them with a rail on top for an optic, so you don't have to go with a "claw" mount, which isn't as stable. That's what I would be going with, personally.

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  7. Anonymous9:20 AM

    Had a Century Arms version many years ago.
    Loved it!

    gfa

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  8. The only bad things I’ve heard about PTR rifles was early ones that had trouble digesting certain surplus ammo. All new ones are good to go!

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