Estimated reading time: 14 minutes
When it comes to getting a bang for your buck, Aero Precision has been delivering for quite some time. I’ve been running some of their ARs and AR components for years and I have received reliable performance at great rates. This value is extended into their bolt gun or SOLUS lineup as well. Relatively new to Aero Precision is the SOLUS Competition Rifle which features a honed and lapped match grade barrel, TriggerTech Trigger, a modular Solus Competition Chassis, integral 20 MOA top rail, compatibility with AICS and AIAIW magazines, and so much more.
Table of contents
SOLUS Competition Rifle Specifications:
- Made In America: Yes
- Action Body Material: 416 Stainless Steel
- Footprint: Remington 700 SA
- Bolt Face Size: .478 +/-
- Barrel Contour: M24
- Action Length: Short Action
- Caliber: .308 Winchester
- Barrel Length: 20″
- Thread Pitch: 5/8×24 Threaded
- Magazine Cut: AICS, AIAW
- Weight: 11.7 lbs
SOLUS Competition Out of the Box
From the factory, a full Aero Precision SOLUS Competition Rifle comes with the SOLUS action, a SOLUS Competition Chassis, TriggerTech Trigger, a single 10-round Magpul AICS mag, stickers, a gun lock, and an owner’s manual. This is all packaged in a nice foam padded box with a bolt and chassis parts diagram printed on it. I received a Magpul FDE Cerakote 20″ 308 for this review. However, the SOLUS Competition Rifle is also available in 6mm Creedmoor, and 6.5 Creedmoor. Either way, it is offered with Anodized Black, Magpul OD Cerakote, and Sniper Grey Cerakote color schemes.
Chassis
When it comes to rifle chassis, the Aero Precision Competition Chassis about does it all. It features a great adjustable stock and modular forend which I will dive further into here in a bit. The chassis utilizes a Remington 700 short action footprint and a V-block bedding surface. While it may not be well known, Aero Precision machines the center section and stock from 7075-T6 while the forend is machined from 6061-T6. This provides more rigidity where it matters while shaving down the overall cost for consumers. Near the trigger guard on the right side, this chassis also features an adjustable thumb rest. I find this to feel great, and allow me to maintain a relaxed firing hand position for improved precision shooting.
Magazine Latch
One of the most interesting features of the chassis is the inclusion of an adjustable magazine latch on the ambidextrous magazine release. While most rifles offer no adjustment, the SOLUS Competition features a screw to easily adjust the magazine latch height. This ensures users can tune the rifle to proper retention among various magazine types with varying tolerances. If whatever mag you are using feels too tight, simply back off on the height adjustment screw until it drops freely.
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However, one failure I had with this rifle during my testing came from a missing locking screw. I kept having trouble with mags binding up, or not properly seating in the rifle. Come to find out, the locking screw was completely gone. This issue caused the magazine to be locked into the magwell and required me to take the magazine latch out with a small Allen wrench to remove the mag. For this reason, follow Aero’s guidelines of using Vibra-Tite VC-3 or Loctite 222 to prevent the loosening of the fasteners.
Stock
Featuring a fully adjustable length of pull, cheek comb height, and recoil pad cant, the SOLUS Competition provides shooters with a hand-tailored fit. To adjust the length of the pull, simply back out the adjustment knob all the way, push the spring-loaded knob and then slide the stock forward or aft in 1/4″ increments. The cheek riser is also fully adjustable. Instead of featuring incremental adjustments, it can be locked in place wherever you want it. It is very easy to loosen the adjustment knob, and then place your cheek on the riser and slowly push down until you perfectly align with the scope.
While the Competition Chassis currently does not have a folding mechanism for the stock, Aero Precision features a “fixed stock link” that is removable. They intended to make a folding adapter, but have not hinted at any release date for it. However, I would love to see this come to market as it would provide more versatility to the platform.
Handguard
Adding to the overall modularity of the SOLUS Competition Rifle is the M-LOK/Arca compatible forend. The entire bottom surface of the forend utilizes a full-length Arca rail. I spent a lot of time shooting this rifle from The Kit from Two Vets Tripods even out to 500 yards. This full-length rail has provided flexibility for where I mounted a tripod or even an Arca bipod.
Adding even more modularity are the M-LOK slots provided at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock. Aero Precision even utilizes steel QD inserts on both the left and right-hand sides of the handguard. Where aluminum pockets wear out with use, steel stands the test of time!
For those night hunters and shooters out there, a unique feature of the handguard is that it has threads to mount a SOLUS NVG mount. This Picatinny rail is the perfect host for those who want to securely mount clip-on night vision or thermal devices. Throughout my testing, I spent some time with a PVS24 clipped on in front of a Vortex Viper HD 5-25 utilizing this NVG mount. The NV bridge can be mounted in six positions to best fit your needs. While the NVG mount features enough space to mount most NV and thermal clip-ons, it is possible to even mount two of these back to back for an extended front Picatinny rail.
SOLUS Competition Action
The Aero Precision SOLUS Action boasts a variety of impressive features, providing a great heart to this rifle. Designed with a Remington 700 short action footprint, it includes an integral 20 MOA biased top rail and an integral recoil lug. Where many bolt action rifles use screws to hold down a top Picatinny rail, this one is machined into the action. I have personally had multiple rails work loose with other rifles. Utilizing this design, Aero Precision eliminates a failure point and gains my favor with this choice.
The action also features a magnum-sized ejection port, accommodating cartridges up to 3.00″ OAL, and is compatible with AICS and AIAW detachable box magazines. The bolt of the SOLUS Action has a 60-degree throw, a 3-lug interchangeable bolt head, dual ejectors, and a “cock on lift” design. The action for this rifle ran very smoothly. Feeding rounds was effortless, and I was honestly quite impressed with how well it ran.
Constructed from high-quality materials, the receiver body is machined from 416 stainless steel, the bolt from 17-4 stainless steel, and the firing pin from S7 tool steel. In terms of compatibility, the SOLUS Action works with Savage small shank barrels with a barrel nut and shouldered Zermatt Origin pattern pre-fit barrels, and it accepts Remington 700 triggers.
Trigger
The SOLUS Competition comes with a TriggerTech Primary single-stage trigger. This model is adjustable from 1.5-4.0 lbs and delivers a crisp zero-creep break. TriggerTech manufactures amazing triggers, and I am happy to see one being used in this rifle.
Barrel
While Aero Precision offers fluted and heavy barrels, this 20″ option features an M24 profile, a 1:10 twist rate, and 5/8-24 TPI muzzle threads. When they say heavy, they mean it. This barrel is quite hefty, but for a precision gun, this increases the overall weight which makes recoil softer. I spent most of my time shooting with a SilencerCo Hybrid mounted up. The barrel is finished with an Elite Cerakote coating, providing enhanced durability and corrosion resistance. The barrel is honed and lapped to achieve increased accuracy and consistency. It is specifically designed to work with SOLUS Actions and is also compatible with Zermatt/Bighorn Origin Actions.
Precision
From the factory, each SOLUS Complete Rifle “carries a sub-MOA precision guarantee.” Unfortunately for me, after trying 7 types of ammo with multiple groups each, I was not able to average 5-round groups better than around 1.5 MOA. For this reason, I had the opportunity to test out Aero’s great customer service team. They were quick to work with me to get this addressed. They swapped the barrel and said they shot a 0.77 MOA group with Federal Gold Medal 168gr Sierra Match King.
After sending the rifle back in and getting re-barrelled, the SOLUS was returned and I had high hopes. However, I then proceeded to shoot multiple groups with 5 types of premium Hornady ammunition. I ended up getting worse results than originally with an average group size of 2.8 MOA, and my best being 1.9 MOA. I then sent the rifle back in again and waited for 4 months at the time of writing and never got the rifle back to finish the test. As I can’t draw these reviews out forever, I just concluded the testing after the second barrel.
Groups
5-round groups are always larger than cherry-picked 3-round groups. However, I feel like they give a better overview of how a rifle/ammo combo shoots. The table and picture below show what I was able to achieve shooting 5-round groups from 100 yards shooting a variety of Hornady ammunition:
| First Barrel – Ammo Type | Avg Velocity (FPS) | 5-Round Group Size (MOA) |
| Hornady Black 155gr A-MAX | 2742 | 1.321 |
| Hornady 178gr BTHP Match | 2513 | 1.522 |
| Hornady Superformance 168gr ELD Match | 2754 | 1.854 |
| Hornady Whitetail 150gr InterLock | 2744 | 1.857 |
| Hornady Precision Hunter 178gr ELD-X | 2529 | 3.291 |
| Second Barrel – Ammo Type | 5-Round Group Size (MOA) |
| Hornady Whitetail 150gr InterLock | 1.930 |
| Hornady 178gr BTHP Match | 2.509 |
| Hornady Superformance 168gr ELD Match | 2.821 |
| Hornady Precision Hunter 178gr ELD-X | 3.543 |
| Hornady Black 155gr A-MAX | 3.568 |
Impressions of the SOLUS Competition
During my time with the Aero Precision SOLUS Competition Rifle, I grew quite fond of it. From the great stock adjustments and thumb rest to the full-length M-LOK/ARCA rail, this rifle remains comfortable and versatile. It feels great to get behind this rifle and it truly feels tailored to me. Due to the weight and rubber butt pad, it is also a soft shooter which makes quick follow-up shots while staying on target possible. I had a blast running it quickly at 100 yards with an offset red dot. I had no problem engaging steel out to 500 yards.
SOLUS Competition Performance
Throughout my review, I only had two issues. The first one was losing a screw from the adjustable magazine latch. While having adjustments can be nice, I don’t know if the trade-off of potentially losing the ability to seat magazines is worth it.
Secondly, the rifle I originally received didn’t live up to Aero’s sub-MOA guarantee. However, Aero Precision was quick to address this and get me a new barrel. After getting it installed, the rifle shot still wouldn’t achieve this guarantee with popular premium ammunition. It may be able to get cherry-picked groups that meet that standard with a few loads, but I found that not applicable across the board. As a competition gun, I want this rifle to be a tack driver, and that is just not the result I have had. I have heard great things from friends and other people reviewing this rifle, but sadly those praises aren’t universal.
Either way, during my testing I was even able to take it out hunting multiple nights with my buddies at Black Sheep Outdoors. While the gun is geared more for competition than hunting due to its overall weight, it is a soft shooter, runs smoothly, and is great at putting rounds on target. For these reasons, I had no problem stacking up pigs with my friends when I mounted up a Pulsar Thermion 2 LRF XL50 thermal scope.
Summary
With a fully adjustable stock, an integrated 20 MOA rail, an awesome TriggerTech Primary Trigger, compatibility with AICS and AIAIW magazines, a versatile M-LOK handguard, and the option for an NVG mount, the Aero Precision SOLUS Competition Rifle stands out as a feature-rich option. With the ability to accept pre-fit barrels, this rifle remains modular for those who want to swap things out for a customized build. The trigger felt great, and the action ran extremely smoothly.
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Priced at an MSRP of $2210, the SOLUS Competition Rifle has a lot of modern features packed into the build. However, I was not able to achieve sub-MOA groups. Some buyers may need to speak to Aero’s customer service team.
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That rifle should be shoot at least 1 moa. I would not buy that rifle with those groups sizes. You could buy a Ruger American or a CVA rifle and shoot better than that is showing.