Mossberg

Not a lot of people would argue that the .223/5.56 is an extremely versatile and useful cartridge. The problem is that not everyone wants to shoot an AR-15 platform for every task, and let’s face it, AR-15s aren’t cheap. Mossberg came up with an idea to make a .223 bolt gun that uses AR-15 mags and for SHOT Show of this year, they released the MVP series. A lot of us are jumping up and down yelling YES YES YES. The MVPs come in several different configurations, from a 24″ barrel and target stock, down to a 16″ stubby patrol rifle that takes a suppressor. All of the guns have a 1:9 twist rate, so they will handle the same range of bullets as most AR-15s, and from what we found with our test gun, an 18″ laminate stock Predator model, these new Mossberg bolt guns are tack drivers. Our primary concern testing the gun was whether the reverse engineering for AR-15 mags worked as hoped, because nobody has really done this before and you have to wonder why. But our little MVP had zero problems digesting from its own 10 round mag and even the long 30 round P-Mags, never failing to pick up the next round, and you could jiggle the magazine back and forth with no hitching of the bolt whatsoever. It works because Mossberg put a little tab sticking out of the bottom of the bolt to pick up the shells. The MSRP for our MVP Predator is $729, and the series tops out at the Flex Patrol version at $928. The street prices will be well under that when the market comes back to normal, and your local stocking dealer most likely has them well below MSRP right now, but call before you go. The MVP seems like an idea whose time has come, and these guns are 100% Made in USA.