Up for review, The new to me, SPECTER-BABR by Underground Skunkworks.
Initially I was in the market for something else. I have a HS Precision HTR in 308 which I love. I was looking for something different. At first I was thinking maybe bigger, 300 Win Mag, perhaps. I looked and was seriously thinking about a GA Precision build. After a little bit of research I found Underground Skunkworks and was pretty impressed with what I saw on the website. The real nail in the coffin so to speak was when I called and spoke with Mike.
I don't really know what kind of setup he has, if he is by himself or has employees, but for the owner of any company to take time out his or her day to talk to me about there product says a whole lot. And believe me he earned his paycheck talking to me. (I called a bunch) Mike was always polite and personable. He seems to be the kind of guy that you would become fast friends with.
After really looking over my situation and real world needs for a new rifle. I decided to purchase a SPECTER-BABR. It is a 308 which I already know and love and am set up to reload. Mine is the MIL-SPEC which sports an 18" barrel and the OD stock. Mike had two on hand that were lightly used... So he gave me a great deal and I purchased one.
After being promptly shipped and beating out the crazy snow storms this country saw, I picked it up at my local dealer.
Fit and finish are impeccable. Being a used firearm, particularly being tested by the Army (which I am in) I expected the condition to be less than what I got. After looking it over very well, there are very few cosmetic blemishes. That says a lot about the overall build quality, because if you give joe anything he breaks it or steals it.
It is solid feeling and the BUIS are awesome. This was a stand out idea. In reality I will be using it for the range and hunting. I am a huge fan of shooting iron sights and love having them as a backup on a hunt.
I do have a Leupold Mark 4 3.5-10 with TMR ILL. as primary optic so I should not have any failures but you never know.
Range time. I was shooting Black Hills 168 and some 175 hand loads.
OK. before I start I want to say I hate 100 yard shooting. I hate looking at group sizes and when I zero I happily don't do it again unless I have too. I zero on a caldwell lead sled, which I don't prefer to do. I shoot more comfortably in the prone but this helps nail the zero for me.
I had trouble with the BH 168. Between this rifle an my HS Precision I had 6 primer dent with no bang 1st round. I re-fired them and only 2 didn't go off. This has to be a BH issue because the hand loads did not do this at all. ( I have called BH, but the people I need to speak to are at shot this week)
I did have a failure to eject first round. Groups were as great as they can be at 100 yds, 3 shots touching each other.
All in all I believe the rifle to be top notch. The rifle lived up to my expectations and I am going to purchase some AI AW mags and try to work some loads to reach out and see how it compares to the HTR at distance.
I hope you like this review. Pics can be found at Mikes website. Check it out and give him a call if you want an amazing rifle built by a great guy.
JohnnyD.
Initially I was in the market for something else. I have a HS Precision HTR in 308 which I love. I was looking for something different. At first I was thinking maybe bigger, 300 Win Mag, perhaps. I looked and was seriously thinking about a GA Precision build. After a little bit of research I found Underground Skunkworks and was pretty impressed with what I saw on the website. The real nail in the coffin so to speak was when I called and spoke with Mike.
I don't really know what kind of setup he has, if he is by himself or has employees, but for the owner of any company to take time out his or her day to talk to me about there product says a whole lot. And believe me he earned his paycheck talking to me. (I called a bunch) Mike was always polite and personable. He seems to be the kind of guy that you would become fast friends with.
After really looking over my situation and real world needs for a new rifle. I decided to purchase a SPECTER-BABR. It is a 308 which I already know and love and am set up to reload. Mine is the MIL-SPEC which sports an 18" barrel and the OD stock. Mike had two on hand that were lightly used... So he gave me a great deal and I purchased one.
After being promptly shipped and beating out the crazy snow storms this country saw, I picked it up at my local dealer.
Fit and finish are impeccable. Being a used firearm, particularly being tested by the Army (which I am in) I expected the condition to be less than what I got. After looking it over very well, there are very few cosmetic blemishes. That says a lot about the overall build quality, because if you give joe anything he breaks it or steals it.
It is solid feeling and the BUIS are awesome. This was a stand out idea. In reality I will be using it for the range and hunting. I am a huge fan of shooting iron sights and love having them as a backup on a hunt.
I do have a Leupold Mark 4 3.5-10 with TMR ILL. as primary optic so I should not have any failures but you never know.
Range time. I was shooting Black Hills 168 and some 175 hand loads.
OK. before I start I want to say I hate 100 yard shooting. I hate looking at group sizes and when I zero I happily don't do it again unless I have too. I zero on a caldwell lead sled, which I don't prefer to do. I shoot more comfortably in the prone but this helps nail the zero for me.
I had trouble with the BH 168. Between this rifle an my HS Precision I had 6 primer dent with no bang 1st round. I re-fired them and only 2 didn't go off. This has to be a BH issue because the hand loads did not do this at all. ( I have called BH, but the people I need to speak to are at shot this week)
I did have a failure to eject first round. Groups were as great as they can be at 100 yds, 3 shots touching each other.
All in all I believe the rifle to be top notch. The rifle lived up to my expectations and I am going to purchase some AI AW mags and try to work some loads to reach out and see how it compares to the HTR at distance.
I hope you like this review. Pics can be found at Mikes website. Check it out and give him a call if you want an amazing rifle built by a great guy.
JohnnyD.
