I know there have been some negative thoughts on the stock for the Seekins Havak PH3. Anyone have experience with other Seekins models?
Both the Havak Slam and the Element Hunter sit in a chassis.
Curious if those solve the problem?
Seekins guys LOVE Seekins. They have great customer support and seem to be genuinely working hard to make a great product.
I’m mixed on the PH2 I have. It’s a lightweight 7 prc so we can’t expect precision rifle levels of accuracy but it’s really not better than a cheap Tikka.
I also shot an Element and it was not capable of 1 moa but it was a 300prc in a light package so I wouldn’t expect it to do any better.
I haven’t shot other models to compare though, and Seekins does have raving fans, so I may just be missing the story. I need to investigate them more.
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Oh man…I don’t think that’s what I was hoping to hear.
I am thinking about a 7PRC or 300 Win Mag.
Was hoping Seekins might be the one. I’m also considering the Sig Cross Magnum Sawtooth, Sako 90 Quest or a Christensen.
I’m not sure I want to build, but have been looking at the Oregon Mountain Rifle builds.
Open to any other suggestions you guys have that I should consider.
Was also just looking at the Horizon rifles. I can’t see much about them other than reviews on 22 Creedmoor.
But, they look amazing. I did see a YouTube short where Jim had a 7mm Backcountry, but there wasn’t much of a review.
Anyone have experience with Horizon in a larger caliber?
As a Seekins owner, I like Seekins rifles because they just simply work.
No experience with their chassis models. I’m not that much of a chassis kind of guy.
I have an older element in 308. It consistently shoots 10 shot groups right at 1.0 Moa with a mean radius of 0.325 consistently. That’s using Factory Federal ammo.
I have another older element in 7prc. I’ve got probably 350 rounds through that gun now. Initial load development took a lot longer than usual took quite some time to find the right powder combo for this bullet.. Then I had an accident where I dropped the rifle and needed to do testing to see if something was damaged, it was. I was in advised I should do further testing just to make sure so I did and things were still not right. I ended up replacing the scope and had to do a lot of testing to see if that fixed things, it did, then I needed to sight in the scope. Then they came out with new load data and I did some more development/testing.
Looking back at my notes from reloading, out of the past 50 rounds, the average three shot MOA is 0.6. The worst is 0.91 and the best is 0.28. I don’t have any mean radius data for this rifle. I also only shoot three shots group with this rifle. As much as I believe in larger sample sizes shooting a five shot group with a suppressed Magnum is quite difficult, especially when it gets hot around here.
I have a newer model element also in 7prc. I’ve only shot Factory Barnes ammo through it so far. It’s average is right at 1.0 Moa.
Can I nitpick things I don’t like about these rifles? Absolutely. Yes the stocks don’t feel like they’re that substantial. But, in the end it puts the bullets where I want them to go. The new stock definitely has improvements over the older models. I wish they would not have switched to carbon fiber barrels for the new elements. The older fluted steel barrels I like better especially shooting in the high heat and humidity around here.
In the end, yet again results are what’s the most important for me and these things shoot wonderfully. I would personally compare them favorably right along with fierce rifles. I know people can get upset about them too but I’ve had nothing but great results from mine so far, knock on wood.
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Should have mentioned this, don’t know why I didn’t.
A bit more than a nitpick.
Magazines
The 308 comes with a standard aics magazine, I believe it’s made by Magpul. It runs like the proverbial sewing machine.
The two prcs, as well as a PH2 28 Nosler come with proprietary carbon fiber magazines. Between the three guns as well as a spare, I have four. Two of them run perfectly fine but two of them don’t. They tend to bind. When that happens the first round will feed perfectly, but the second round will nose dive and slam into the front of the magazine. You then have to remove the magazine to clear that round. The third round then feeds fine.
It’s not an every time kind of thing. But if I take a box of 20 rounds to the range it’ll probably happen once maybe twice. You can typically tell when it’s going to happen if you test as soon as you load up all three rounds by compressing the rounds down. If they spring back forcefully it’ll work fine but if they spring back weekly then that one’s going to jam on you.
I’ve read this online and a few places also. Most of those people have said that the company will replace the magazine for you when that happens. I don’t know why I haven’t asked for them to do that for me yet.
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I have the Seekins Havak PH3 in 7 PRC. I’m getting really good accuracy out of mine. So far my only 2 gripes are the magazine is temperamental and the cheek riser has a very stiff spring and needs to be pushed in deeply to move the riser. They say you can use a bullet but with how stiff the spring is, I’m not going to risk altering the seating depth of my bullets.
I was able to look in person at both the PH3 and the Element M3 this weekend. The newer stocks on these are better than the previous ones.
There are some other slight differences but the Element M3 has a carbon fiber barrel.
Curious if anyone has experience with the Seekins carbon fiber barrels?