M 40 Lapua Sniper Rifle

Despite its prohibitive anti-gun climate and socialist leanings, there is still a great deal of engineering genius coming out of the European continent. It’s one of thengreat ironies of our day that many of the firearms most sought after by American shooters come from countries where private gun ownership is restrictive at best. One of the hottest cartridges to come from the “old country” is the M40 Lapua Rifle (6.5x47 Lapua). Long known for their innovation and accuracy, the Finnish company has released a round that has grabbed the attention of precision shooters across the pond and has just recently started to catch on here.
 
My first introduction to the cartridge was during a telephone conversation with my friend David Rooney of Tactical Rifles. David mentioned that during a military sniper competition held last year in Europe, the M40 6.5x47 Lapua was the number-one performer, edging out the venerable .308 (7.62x51 NATO). 

This cartridge was developed as a joint venture between Lapua and the Swiss gun maker Grünig & Elmiger. For starters, the 6.5x47 shares very similar dimensions with the .308, so similar in fact that the platform for the 6.5 is essentially the same as the 7.62mm NATO. The projectile is a 6.5mm or 0.264 of an inch. The Lapua factory loads utilize their Scenar projectiles in 100-, 108-, 123-, and 139-grain weights. While factory ammunition is a bit difficult to come by in the United States, unprimed brass can be readily purchased, as can the 6.5mm projectiles.


As for the rifle itself, this long gun is based upon the M40 design. The short action is a Remington 700 with a Tactical Rifles floorplate assembly for detachable magazines. Both 5- and 10-round magazines are offered. The 1-in-8-inch twist stainless steel match grade barrel is 22 inches long and has a recessed match crown. A McMillan A1-3 stock supports the free-floated barrel and action. Atop the rifle I mounted a NightForce optic. This riflescope is 5.5x22 power with a 50mm objective lens. It is mounted to the gun with a NightForce direct mount. The barrel, action and scope were finished in OD green at the Tactical Rifles. As for the  Naturally, the entire rifle was assembled with precision and durability in mind. Each Tactical Rifles creation is custom built and the parts are hand fitted with attention to detail. The bolt action is sure and smooth and the trigger is precision tuned to approximately 3.5 pounds.

As I mentioned earlier, my range testing would include a number of different loads including both factory ammunition and custom hand-loaded rounds. My first chore would be to chronograph each one. As I had not worked with the 6.5x47 previously I was not sure what to expect. It turned out that all rounds averaged in the 2,600 to 2,700 feet per second (fps) range. For a benchmark I would pattern each load at 100 yards. As this is a true longrange weapon, the elevation turret on the NightForce scope was zeroed out for 100 meters. I would soon discover that this rifle was not a MOA gun. It wasn’t even a 0.5-MOA gun. No, when fired from a solid platform with a steady hand, the custom M40 proved to be a sub-0.25-MOA precision instrument.


While not every load grouped into 0.25 of an inch or better, three of them did and all the other loads clustered below a 0.5 of an inch with regularity. While I normally fire four or five rounds on paper and calculate the best three to minimize human error, I found that this was not really necessary with this rifle. Keep in mind that I was not firing from sandbags or some type of vise rest. For stability I used the Harris bipod and the CTK Monopod. A steel and concrete bench was my shooting platform. The best group recorded using this setup was a 0.18-of-an-inch three-shot group with the 123-grain Lapua factory load. The 142- grain MatchKing hand load was hot on its heals with a 0.20-of-an-inch cluster. The next in line was a 0.25 of an inch group from the Lapua 139-grain factory load.


Naturally, such a rifle as this is just getting warmed up at 100 yards. Out at 250 yards my range has a 6x6-inch swinging steel plate. Adding a dozen clicks of elevation I smacked the plate with the first shot. Putting rounds on paper at that distance, I had no trouble posting 0.5 of an inch groups with regularity. The 142-grain MatchKing posted a very respectable 0.44-of-aninch cluster. As mentioned previously, the distance limit on my range was 350 yards. Again, there was a swinging steel plate, this time 8x10 inches. Applying another 12 clicks of elevation, the reactive target was struck time after time. During my first session I was able to dial in the scope and record shot groups in the 1.5- to 2-inch range at 350 yards. This is certainly an honorable achievement for any rifle and ammunition combination. While reviewing this custom M40 Rifle I actually hit the range on several occasions. Before putting pen to paper I went out one more time and was glad I did.


For this last session I would again stretch out the 142-grain MatchKing load. Through my spotting scope I could see the resulting three-shot cluster. I felt pretty good about it, but it was not until I went downrange to pull the target that I truly realized just how well the rifle and the new 6.5x47 load performed. The group measured 0.55 of an inch, center to center. If you consider 3.5 Monopod rest from CTK Precision. inches as MOA, and 1.75 inches as 1/2- MOA, then 0.88 of an inch is 1/4-MOA. When you fire a sub-1/4-MOA group it’s a good time to pack up for the day and that is what I did.