The final product with a little snow on the porch. The .223 FNH-TSR in the Manners EH4 stock, with its camo paint job, sling, bipod, Leupold MK4 2.5-8 optic, and Mountaineer rigged cheek riser. The rifle is not pretty but it is field ready.
by John Markwell | Contributing Editor
I needed another .223 bolt gun like another hole in my head. However, when given the chance to wring out the Tactical Sporting Rifle from FNH, how could I refuse! This rifle pretty much meets my requirements for a varmint rifle at this point in my life; i.e. light enough to carry around the dog towns and just heavy enough to stay on target when it goes bang, so the results of the shot can be seen. The fact that it shoots both light and heavy bullets well is a plus on the fun side.
The FNH-TSR 223 in the new Manners EH4 stock out “on the mountain” for its first session shooting steel on the hillside 600 yards distant.
Now, my buddy Krot still thinks prairie dog rifles should weigh in at 15 or more pounds and have barrels long enough to close the distance to the intended furry target in order to shorten the bullet’s flight time. I, however, still like to ramble around the dog towns with my Heeler dog, and prefer my PD guns to be more on the conveniently portable end of the weight continuum. The FNH TSR XP, at 8.25 pounds, sans optic, is heavy enough to stay on target at the shot and yet not too heavy for a longish walk.
Based on the Winchester Model 70 Ultra Short action, and with a 20-inch medium contour barrel, the TSR has an overall length of just 39.5 inches. That’s a pretty compact rifle in anyone’s book. The TSR mirrors the heavier FN Special Police Rifle but in a smaller package. The TSR’s cold hammer forged barrel is fluted and has a recessed target crown. The action is forged steel with an integral recoil lug. This action is what FN calls a “controlled round push feed” and has a SAKO-style extractor and a blade ejector. A one-piece steel MIL-STD rail, with 5MOA built-in elevation, is attached to the receiver with oversized 8-40 mounting screws. Ammunition is fed from a six-round magazine with a hinged floorplate. The TSR’s single-stage trigger is factory set at approximately 3¾ lbs. and can be user adjusted from 3 to 5 lbs.
The FNH TSR barreled action is set in one of the Hogue over-molded rubber stocks. This stock incorporates an aluminum bedding block and pillars for increased accuracy and stability. So stocked, the TSR is a real shooter with sub-MOA groups being the rule with some loads. The Hogue stock is extremely rugged and the rubber exterior allows resting on most any surface without fear of damage or slippage. We found only one problem with this rubber coated stock and that was that it was “sticky” which some folks may like, but we do not. We use Eberlestock packs for a lot of our hunting and inserting and removing the Hogue stocked TSR from an Eberlestock pack’s backscabbard was, quite frankly, a bit of a pain. We also did not like the feel of the rubber against our cheek when bearing down on the gun. These criticisms of the Hogue stock are purely a personal thing. The TSR, as issued with the Hogue rubber stock, is one rugged and fully functional rifle.
However, to get past the “stickiness” we decided to re-stock the FN TSR with a stock from Manners Composite Stocks. With input from my son Brock, and with the help of Tom Manners, we decided to put the TSR’s barreled action in one of Tom’s EH4 stocks. The Manners Elite Hunter Series of stocks have 100% carbon fiber shells with two different fillers; one that is light where great strength is not vital and another that is tough where strength is desired. All Manners stocks are covered by a lifetime warranty. You break it and they fix it, period.
The re-stocked TSR shown with the original Hogue Over-Molded stock. Both stocks performed well but the author prefers the non-sticky feel of the Manners stock.
The EH4 stock is a short compact stock with a forend that is 3.25 inches shorter than normal. With its 20” barrel, the TSR looks good in the compact EH4. The EH4 has a high comb, to get the head up, and a nice palm swell which, quite frankly, we could do without. With two sling swivel studs in the forearm and one in the butt, our EH4 stock weighs in at 24 ounces. The complete rifle, fitted with a Leupold 2.5-8 x 40mm Mark4 in Mark4 aluminum rings, a sling and a Harris bipod, weighs a very manageable 10 lbs. When placed on the produce scale at the local general store, I was, quite frankly, surprised at the 10-lb. weight of the rifle. The balance of the re-stocked TSR is such that it doesn’t seem nearly that heavy.
At the bench, the newly stocked FNH-TSR proved to have distinct preferences in the ammo realm. During our initial testing we shot 13 different loads through the TSR; both factory ammo and handloads. Interestingly, the hammer forged 1:9 barrel shot its best groups with projectiles on opposite ends of the weight spectrum. The smallest groups fired by the TSR were with a handload: 40-gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip bullet/ Win. SR Primer/ 27.5-gr. Benchmark/Nosler .223 cases. This load consistently printed .5”, and smaller, five-shot groups from the TSR; and, I’m not that good of a bench shooter. This recipe is also my go-to load in my Mark Soulie-built Walkabout varmint rifle. The other load of preference for the TSR was one launching the Sierra 77-gr.MatchKing at 2740 fps. This heavy bullet load printed five-shot groups in ¾-1¼ inch range. To be honest, most of the mid-weight varmint bullets, 45-55 grains, did not perform all that well during the initial testing of the FNH-TSR. However, we will continue to experiment with them to see what we can work out. For now, the 40-gr. BT load will more than do for busting prairie dogs, woodchucks, and hopefully a coyote or two.
Just before it received a good camo paint job, we took the re-stocked TSR out on the mountain to shoot some steel and immediately found the comb of the stock was a bit low for a proper cheek weld with the 2.5-8 MK4 Leupold scope and MK4 medium height alloy rings. We could have ordered up an entire new mounting system to lower the center line of the scope or we could do what any good Mountaineer would do; improvise. A bit of closed-cell foam, some of Brownells Tactical Tape and a few strips of tan Duck Tape and we were in business. It’s not pretty but the comb is now the proper height.
The Leupold Mark 4 2.5-8 telescope we used on the TSR has the TMR reticle as well as target knobs graduated in ½ minute clicks. For most varmint shooting, within the limits of our .223 40-gr. Ballistic Tip load, the TMR reticle can be used for hold-overs pretty easily, once one has the dope worked out. For shooting the 77-gr. SMK load, we had our son Brock run a computer-generated come-up sheet for the FNH-TSR so we could dial in the elevation corrections necessary for shooting steel at longer ranges. As this is written, it has been pretty cold here in the mountains so verification of the ballistic data by actual shooting is coming along slowly. However, we had one day nice enough to get out to the mountain and managed to shoot our 77-gr. load out to 600 yards. Obtaining hits on the 12”x18” target at 600 yards required an elevation correction of 16 MOA and was quite the hoot. We look forward to doing more long range work with this rifle/ammo combination if, for no other reason, than it is great fun, and the 223 doesn’t beat us up like a lot of bigger cartridge/rifle combos do.
The re-stocked FNH-Tactical Sporting Rifle has now been given a camo paint job, using the color selection of spray paints from Brownells, and is field ready. We have a long winter ahead of us and Brock is planning on taking the TSR out for some coyote calling. We will be experimenting with some other bullets and loads in preparation for the summer’s varmint hunting. As we look forward to the summer of 2015, and spending some time in the dog towns with our re-fitted .223 FNH Tactical Sporting Rifle, we really need to be getting to that reloading we’ve been putting off for some time now. You might consider doing the same; and, Good Shooting.
Sources:
FNH-USA LLC
PO Box 9424, Dept. TGM
McLean, VA 22102
Phone: 703-288-3500
Online: fnhusa.com
Manners Composite Stocks
1232 Swift St., Dept. TGM
North Kansas City, MO 64116
Phone: 816-283-3334
Online: mannersstocks.com
Leupold & Stevens, Inc
PO Box 688, Dept. TGM
Beaverton, OR 97066
Phone: 503-646-9171
Online: leupold.com
