Fiftydriver
Official LRH Sponsor
When i started my business back in 2002, my goal was always to build precision rifles fpr the big game hunter. I never intended to cater to the competition crowd although i have certainly shipped my fair share of comp rifles. I never focused on building tactical rifles, although, again, many have been built and shipped for that purpose.
My original intention was to build rifles specifically for the north American big game hunter focused directly toward the hunters in my beloved western States and Canada. Providing a level of precision that was world class but also offering a level of ballistic and terminal performance that had yet to be Seen. This is where my thoughts and dreams and hand drawings of my wildcats eventually developed into the line of wildcats I offer today.
As my dreams came to reality, along the way, they were molded and tweaked onto the final products I have today, which in my professional opinion, is the ultimate in portable, precision, powerful big game hunting rifles with no peers when looking at the total package including ballistic and terminal performance.
Spent my entire life chasing deer and elk and in some of the most amazing country on the planet. All those years are what brought me to design what i feel is the ultimate general purpose deer and elk rifles, the APS Stalker.
this past week i was able to test and ship three of these rifles which i feel are the perfect versions of my Stalker rifles for western big game hunting here in north America.
the first two i was actually able to take out the two owners of these rifles and spend a morning setting up their rifles, testing and proving drop charts out to past 1000 yards. The first of these rifles is perhaps my favorite all time. If i grab a rifle to hunt with, its basically some version of this rifle, my Stalker Hunter In my 7mm Allen Magnum chambering. Here are two rifles that shipped this past week
these Stalker Hunter rifles come in at 8-8.5 lbs, use fluted bartlein barrels in the 26-27" length range, McMillan Game Hunter stocks, jewell or trigger tech trighers, pillar bedding, my small PK muzzle brakes and of course my APS Stalker receivers.
these two rifles were developed with two very different loads. Top one used the 180 gr berger Hybrid loaded to 3375 fps at very comfy pressures.
the bottom one used the 170 gr tipper Hammer loaded to a rather mild 3420 fps and both shot lights out from 0 to +1000 yards.
Standard loads for the 7mm AM in the Stalker rifles will be:
180 gr berger @ 3300-3350 fps
195 gr berger @ 3225-3275 fps
for those wanting a tougher bullet, the Hammers do extremely well with proper twist barrels and the Barnes LRX have performed extremely well.
on the same platform but with a but more terminal umff when wanted, an APS Stalker in 300 Allen Xpress is very hard to beat for an all around north American big game rifle. Extremely user friendly with powder and bullet choices, very consistent and extremely powerful. These two Stalkers in 300 AX also shipped this past week:
this one is a Standard Stalker Hunter with the adjustable CP option. Load developed used the 212 gr eldx loaded to 3250 fps Out of the 26" bartlein. Crazy consistent well past 1000 yards yet still quite portable and comfortable to shoot.
this one is one of my Stalker LW Mag models. Carbon fiber Game Hunter stock, special lighter contour barrel, my Stalker LW receiver. rifle weight, ready to shoot with optics is 9.3 lbs. certainly nothing special by todays UL standards but consider this, this rifle was built and developed to shoot the 245 gr berger hybrid. Thats a bullet with a g1 bc pushing .850, g7 of .435 and a sectional density of roughly .370……
this LIGHT rifle drives these big pills to 3250 fps With no serious pressure signs at all. I dropped the test load to 3200 fps just to maintain my quoted 8-10 firings per case requirement. Thats roughly 5800 ft/lbs of energy at the muzzle. For a 30 cal 8 lb class rifle, incredible. Thats over 2300 fps and 3000 ft/lbs at a full 1000 yard range…..
this combo is even slightly better then the 7mm AM/195 gr berger at 3250 fps performance which is simply amazing at 2250 fps and 2200 ft/lbs at 1000 yards.
now by design, the 7mm AM and 300 AX were designed from the ground up to eat the western wind and give the big game hunter the most margin for error in wind estimates possible as the wester wind is the killer of clean kills on big game at long range. Only variable we can not know stone cold dead on along our trajectory. These two wildcats were specifically designed to give the hunter the most advantage in the wind.
with a full value 10 mph crosswind, the 7mm AM 195 gr load only needs 2.6 moa of windage at a full 1000 yards…..
the 300 AX 245 gr load, only 2.3 moa at a full 1000 yards.
yes that is still enough to result in a wounded animal if no wind correction is taken at all but misjudging the wind by 3-4 mph with a 7mm AM or 300 AX at 1/2 mile will result in a very different outcome then if you have that same wind error using a 7mm prc or 300 prc at that same range.
add to that, when the shots do land on the fringes….. and they do more then we like to admit, the dramatically more potent kinetic energy payload will help much more to quickly resolve the situation compared to lesser rounds impacting in the same location……
Of course, one needs to know the wind as close as possible and more importantly know when NOT to shoot but in capable, practiced hands, these two really take alot of bite out of western winds.
and the APS Stalker packages all this power and precision in a package that is easily portable, easy to shoot, easy to make hits with because of very low felt recoil. These have been fun to develop and offer to the public. Watching these customers shoot their rifles last week was an honor and joy to witness!!
My original intention was to build rifles specifically for the north American big game hunter focused directly toward the hunters in my beloved western States and Canada. Providing a level of precision that was world class but also offering a level of ballistic and terminal performance that had yet to be Seen. This is where my thoughts and dreams and hand drawings of my wildcats eventually developed into the line of wildcats I offer today.
As my dreams came to reality, along the way, they were molded and tweaked onto the final products I have today, which in my professional opinion, is the ultimate in portable, precision, powerful big game hunting rifles with no peers when looking at the total package including ballistic and terminal performance.
Spent my entire life chasing deer and elk and in some of the most amazing country on the planet. All those years are what brought me to design what i feel is the ultimate general purpose deer and elk rifles, the APS Stalker.
this past week i was able to test and ship three of these rifles which i feel are the perfect versions of my Stalker rifles for western big game hunting here in north America.
the first two i was actually able to take out the two owners of these rifles and spend a morning setting up their rifles, testing and proving drop charts out to past 1000 yards. The first of these rifles is perhaps my favorite all time. If i grab a rifle to hunt with, its basically some version of this rifle, my Stalker Hunter In my 7mm Allen Magnum chambering. Here are two rifles that shipped this past week
these Stalker Hunter rifles come in at 8-8.5 lbs, use fluted bartlein barrels in the 26-27" length range, McMillan Game Hunter stocks, jewell or trigger tech trighers, pillar bedding, my small PK muzzle brakes and of course my APS Stalker receivers.
these two rifles were developed with two very different loads. Top one used the 180 gr berger Hybrid loaded to 3375 fps at very comfy pressures.
the bottom one used the 170 gr tipper Hammer loaded to a rather mild 3420 fps and both shot lights out from 0 to +1000 yards.
Standard loads for the 7mm AM in the Stalker rifles will be:
180 gr berger @ 3300-3350 fps
195 gr berger @ 3225-3275 fps
for those wanting a tougher bullet, the Hammers do extremely well with proper twist barrels and the Barnes LRX have performed extremely well.
on the same platform but with a but more terminal umff when wanted, an APS Stalker in 300 Allen Xpress is very hard to beat for an all around north American big game rifle. Extremely user friendly with powder and bullet choices, very consistent and extremely powerful. These two Stalkers in 300 AX also shipped this past week:
this one is a Standard Stalker Hunter with the adjustable CP option. Load developed used the 212 gr eldx loaded to 3250 fps Out of the 26" bartlein. Crazy consistent well past 1000 yards yet still quite portable and comfortable to shoot.
this one is one of my Stalker LW Mag models. Carbon fiber Game Hunter stock, special lighter contour barrel, my Stalker LW receiver. rifle weight, ready to shoot with optics is 9.3 lbs. certainly nothing special by todays UL standards but consider this, this rifle was built and developed to shoot the 245 gr berger hybrid. Thats a bullet with a g1 bc pushing .850, g7 of .435 and a sectional density of roughly .370……
this LIGHT rifle drives these big pills to 3250 fps With no serious pressure signs at all. I dropped the test load to 3200 fps just to maintain my quoted 8-10 firings per case requirement. Thats roughly 5800 ft/lbs of energy at the muzzle. For a 30 cal 8 lb class rifle, incredible. Thats over 2300 fps and 3000 ft/lbs at a full 1000 yard range…..
this combo is even slightly better then the 7mm AM/195 gr berger at 3250 fps performance which is simply amazing at 2250 fps and 2200 ft/lbs at 1000 yards.
now by design, the 7mm AM and 300 AX were designed from the ground up to eat the western wind and give the big game hunter the most margin for error in wind estimates possible as the wester wind is the killer of clean kills on big game at long range. Only variable we can not know stone cold dead on along our trajectory. These two wildcats were specifically designed to give the hunter the most advantage in the wind.
with a full value 10 mph crosswind, the 7mm AM 195 gr load only needs 2.6 moa of windage at a full 1000 yards…..
the 300 AX 245 gr load, only 2.3 moa at a full 1000 yards.
yes that is still enough to result in a wounded animal if no wind correction is taken at all but misjudging the wind by 3-4 mph with a 7mm AM or 300 AX at 1/2 mile will result in a very different outcome then if you have that same wind error using a 7mm prc or 300 prc at that same range.
add to that, when the shots do land on the fringes….. and they do more then we like to admit, the dramatically more potent kinetic energy payload will help much more to quickly resolve the situation compared to lesser rounds impacting in the same location……
Of course, one needs to know the wind as close as possible and more importantly know when NOT to shoot but in capable, practiced hands, these two really take alot of bite out of western winds.
and the APS Stalker packages all this power and precision in a package that is easily portable, easy to shoot, easy to make hits with because of very low felt recoil. These have been fun to develop and offer to the public. Watching these customers shoot their rifles last week was an honor and joy to witness!!
