R55 Benchmark: still a great rifle, even when dirty

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Odd Job

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I was reminded today why I like these rifles so much. I have two of them: one was bought new for £450 back in 2007. After S&W took over Thompson/Center, these rifles were no longer made. When I found out, I got another one second hand. I paid more for that second hand rifle than I did for my new one, and it only had one magazine which was pitted. No box, no trigger lock, nothing.

I had both those rifles threaded for a suppressor.

Here's the one I bought new. It's had 19k rounds through it with very few failures. It's had a variety of scopes over the years and currently it has a Weaver:

P4DC3nV.jpg


This is the second-hand rifle, with a Bushnell Tactical Elite scope on it. If I could afford it, I would put that same scope on the other rifle also. This rifle has had 8k rounds through it:

YzoBEfS.jpg


Some of you may have heard that I am doing some research on suppressors. I fire 500 rounds a session and I then weigh and X-ray the suppressor, tracking the deposition of lead residues in the baffles.
I started that research with a SIG522 but became frustrated when I couldn't get through 500 rounds without having some kind of failure to fire, because of dirt accumulating between the bolt face and the barrel. I was getting too many light strikes and had to clean the rifle during the session.

So I sold that SIG and switched to the No 2 R55 above. Amazingly, despite the better precision of that rifle and the fact that it has no feed ramp at all, it is far more reliable than the SIG522 was. I put it down to two things:

1) A barrel mouth that stands proud of the receiver
2) A flat firing pin with a completely exposed channel

Those two features enable crud to migrate away from the bolt face (far away enough to prevent a hard layer forming on the bolt or barrel, which would prevent the bolt coming into battery properly)

Here's how much crap collects around a bolt and barrel after 500 rounds of RWS Target Rifle fired through the rifle with a suppressor:

Nd7QYRF.jpg


X3PzAuG.jpg


Despite all that crap, the rifle remains fully functional. Hard to believe, but it is true! And this is a very accurate rifle for a semi-auto.

I love these guns, and it baffles me why S&W stopped making them.
 
I should add that the suppressor and ammo shown in the photos are not the ones currently being used. Those are ASE-Utra Dual Rimfire suppressors with Eley Sport ammo, and the suppressor I am currently testing is an A-TEC CMM4 with 6 baffles. That's with a mixture of Eley Sport, RWS Club, RWS target Rifle and historically CCI Mini-mag (which I stopped using for this test).

I have another test planned with 10 other suppressors, but that's for another thread in a few months's time.
 
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