By Jeff Johnston, FE Hunting & Shooting Editor
Some of the best and most affordable rifle components anywhere in the world are currently coming from a precision machine shop in Tacoma, WA, called Aero Precision. Aero Precision is still a relative youngster at 10 years old, but in that time it has done nothing but expand, perfect its craft, and update its catalog to meet consumer demand as it changes. The company’s roots are in the aerospace industry where absolute precision machining of small parts is the name of the game. I wasn’t real privy to what Aero was doing or who they were until the SHOT Show a couple years ago when their booth was buzzing with gun-nerd-types and PRC competition dudes, shoulder-to-shoulder, talking as if they were in on some big secret. As it turns out, I, just like most of us, had shot Aero’s stuff plenty, I just didn’t know it because it was bought from Aero and branded by another gun company.
Aero’s bread and butter is its precision AR actions/uppers, lowers, handguards, barrels, bolts, and virtually any small part found on an AR, all of which can be bought directly on the website. But what is really drawing attention to the name at the moment are complete rifles, because rather than selling them to someone else to sell at retail (including sister company Stag Arms) Aero is emerging from the mysterious, NDA-laden OEM world by proudly stamping its own.
One new bolt action rifle is the Solus Bravo. Solus is a line of similar rifles, Bravo indicates the model that wears a third-party Kinetic Research Group “Bravo” stock. It’s a bull-barreled, 10-plus-pound hybrid hunting/target/PRS rifle; though it’s not really something I’d want to lug into the deer woods. I rarely hear the term bull-barrel any more, because most all rifles that wear truly heavy barrels these days have been fluted. But not this one. Aero went old-school with the non-fluted, M24-contour pipe that makes up the vast majority of the Bravo’s weight and even makes it top-heavy. M24 is a reference to the Remington 700-actioned SWS [Sniper Weapon Systems] rifles made in the 80s by Remington for the U.S. Marine Scout/Sniper program that have become iconic, largely due to their very heavy, barely tapering barrel. The Solus Bravo wears either a 20-inch .308 Win. with a 1:10 twist, a 22-inch 6.5 Creedmoor 1:8 twist, or a 26-inch 6mm Creedmoor 1:7.5 twist. All of them are threaded for a suppressor.
It’s mated to Aero’s own Solus action, a short-action M70 footprint that’s machined from 416 steel. It features a 60-degree bolt throw, integral recoil lug, a 3-lug interchangeable bolt head, and is compatible with AICS-style magazines. I love the fact that Aero spent the money required by the extra machining steps to build an integral, 20-MOA pic rail directly into the top of the action, rather than bolting one to the top like nearly everyone else does to save money. Finally, the entire inside of the action and the bolt are coated with Aero’s proprietary metal finish that is glossier than nitride. It makes the action slicker than proverbial shit, and is indeed very likely the slickest I can ever recall working. It comes with a 5-round detachable Magpul mag and an excellent Trigger Tech trigger.
Its KRG stock consists of a three-piece, rigid polymer exterior that’s bolted to a full-length aluminum chassis, which is then bolted to the barreled action. Basically, I want a target stock to perform two actions: Touch the gun as little as possible so it won’t influence the barrel’s harmonics, all while fitting the shooter so that the pressure points placed upon it can be as consistent as possible. The KSG Bravo, with its vertical palm-swell grip, square forend, and adjustable comb and recoil pad, accomplishes the goal, although I don’t love the fact that its four parts in total (counting the chassis) which requires about a dozen bolts to hold it together. It has more rails on it than Charlie Sheen’s end table.
I mounted a Leupold MK5 on my test gun and began shooting. Here’s what I observed: Weighing over 11 pounds with the scope, chambered in .308, and with the trigger dialed down to two pounds and the comb adjusted for my face, the rifle is just easy to shoot because it’s so steady. My first groups, however, much to my surprise and disappointment, were not impressive (1.5-inch avg.), so I tried various types of ammo including Black Hills 168 Gr. Match, Nosler Ballistic Tips and Hornady SSTs. What I found was that the rifle began to shoot better the more I shot it, indicating that it needs a break-in period—if my particular sample model is representative of the whole. On my 80th shot, or my fourth box of ammo, I tried Winchester’s 168-grain MatchKing HPBT load, and bingo. I recorded my personal best group ever—a .174-inch cloverleaf—and then my best three-shot group set ever that averaged .32. I can work with that.
Cost: $1,700
Pros: very modestly priced for a custom-like gun with a top-notch action, stock, trigger and barrel; everything you need to get into the PRS game, minus the scope and tripod.
Cons: required a break-in period before displaying accuracy on par with its expectations
