By Jeff Johnston, FE Hunting & Shooting Editor
Let’s talk about accurate rifles for a minute. Since the 1960s the general method for building the most accurate rifle possible was to start with a solid action—the old Remington 700 was the standard—before squaring it perfectly to a flawless, hand-lapped, full-contour barrel, tuning the trigger to the danger zone, then hand-bedding the whole thing into a custom stock with time, expertise and a tub of epoxy. Mounting a “powerful” 10X scope took a half-day’s work. Then the trial and error would begin by testing loads and adjusting action-screw pressures until the perfect barrel harmonics were reached so the rifle would shoot half-inch groups, maybe better. Each one had so much time and care invested into it by a master gunsmith that such a rifle was almost impossible to produce en masse.
At the time it was good enough for our snipers in Vietnam, but so were their shitty combat boots and cotton fatigues. Still there were several problems with the build, the most significant of which was the weight resulting from the finished rifle due to the sheer amount of steel involved. We all know heavier rifles are generally more accurate across a wider range of ammunition as well as being easier to shoot—and that’s fine for snipers and competitive shooters whose livelihoods depend on the rifle—but hunters have a limit as to what is practical. If a rifle is too heavy, once the shine wears off it often gets left at home. These days with modern materials, evolutionary know-how, and CNC production, plenty of companies can crank out silly-accurate rifles if weight is of little concern. Likewise, there have been a few companies that specialize in ultra-lightweight rifles, and though they are great for one shot on a sheep at 400 yards after hiking up a mountain, they are terrible for sustained shooting at truly long distances. Making rifles, en masse, that are world-class accurate and of practical hunting weight is the challenge.
But alas, thanks to capitalism and shooting tradition, America is the global leader in rifle development, and there’s arguably one company that currently represents THE cutting edge when it comes to complete rifle systems of average weight that can be counted on to deliver 1/2-minute accuracy out of the case, shot after shot. That company is the Gunwerks firm of Cody, Wyoming. Certainly you’ve heard of it even if you haven’t yet fired one of its rifles that start at $4,000 and go up to $15,000.
As a hunter, I’ve blasted the company for promoting the shooting of game animals at ridiculous distances, so let me clear the record here: Although I have my own opinions that I’m sometimes paid to divulge, I’m not the hunting police; do whatever you want to do. But as a rifleman, I’ve always admired Gunwerks for what it’s doing. The company is pushing the envelope of what defines state-of-the-art rifle technology. Of course accuracy is not just about the rifle nor the shooter, but also about the aiming system (scope and mounts), the environmental factors, the ammo and all the data that a shooter must input to make first-shot hits at ranges past 1,000 yards.
Gunwerks realized that if it couldn’t control these variables and make them as easy as possible for the non-professional shooter to use, the rifles would never reach their full potential, nor would the business. So it began building complete rifle systems, even creating its own optic line called Revic that consists of high-end rangefinders, scopes, custom turrets and ballistics solutions that are some of the most advanced currently available. Gunwerks melds the entire system together, fits it all in a custom case and sells them to guys that like to hit things that thirty years ago might seem impossible to anyone who didn’t do pushups at Quantico.
Perhaps Gunwerk’s most exemplary model is the Magnus, an average hunting weight (7-8 lbs.) rifle that utilizes every bit of know-how and available tech to deliver one-shot, one-hit accuracy across a mountain valley. I could write 2,000 words on the intricacies of its proprietary GLR titanium action, barrel, stock, and all the small features that make it so expensive, but I’ll go into the weeds on the actual build in a future story. For now I want to talk about the complete system.
Gunwerks encourages the buyer to customize the system via a series of dropdown menus on its website, so I chose the company’s own Revic Acura RS25i scope (other top-notch optics are offered, such as Kahles), an ARCA plate for use with a Spartan Precision Tripod, Gunwerks’ 6IX Titanium suppressor, and a 20-inch carbon-fiber barrel with a brake, all in the Magnus carbon-fiber stock. The rifle itself weighs 7.5 pounds, although the scope and rings and suppressor bring it slightly more than 8.5 in total. With factory Hornady 180-grain ELD-X Match 7mm PRC ammunition, I shot a .52-inch, 100-yard group from a shifty home rest. I suspect it will do even better with Gunwerks’ own expensive-as-hell ammo that it loads with Berger bullets. (This ammo is en-route as I write this, so I’ll give an update on how it performed.) But plenty of high-end target rifles will produce ½-inch groups nowadays.
The difference is, after chronographing my load, I ranged the target with my Revic Acura bino that automatically sent all relevant environmental info to the Revic app, where it was combined with my rifle and load data to give me a ballistic solution based on the turret ring that was on the rifle. I dialed accordingly and hit the 400-yard gong damn-near dead center on my first shot. Impressed, I skipped to 800 yards and dialed. I was three inches to the right, so I corrected more for wind. At 1,000 yards and now knowing the wind, it was the same thing. It was amazing.
Certainly, the shooter must know the fundamentals of shooting and be experienced enough to make the wind calls, but this is the rifle that most hunters, including myself, likely can’t shoot to its full potential. But if you are an expert—a real rifle nerd who is not frustrated by computers and electronics—who takes the time to learn the complete system, dope it out, and tune it so that you have learned the proper dials for any wind and range at any elevation, it is downright stupid what can be done with such a rifle system, both on a mile-long target range or on a mountain where a miss at 732 yards means going back home to explain to the wife how you could “buy” a sheep hunt but fail to bring home a sheep.
I’m not trying to sell you on a Gunwerks rifle here; In fact, I’ll be sending my test unit back because gun companies don’t often forget about $10,000 loaner rifles. But I am tempted to sell about 15 of my run-of-the-mill guns to buy a Gunwerks of my own, because there remains something very American and very dangerous about a man who owns one such a state-of-the-art weapon and truly knows how to use it.
Price as set up w/ scope and suppressor: Around $10,000
Pros: Pinnacle of modern hunting rifle technology; 1/2-inch groups; weighs 7.5 pounds.
Cons: Will not magically make poor shooters great shooters; very capable of wounding game animals at long range
