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Fulton Armory FN Special Police Rifle .308 Win.

Courtesy, Gun Tests

The FN Police rifle had a nearly classic-contoured stock, detachable magazine, and outstanding accuracy. This rifle was a bargain compared with the previously tested super-accurate heavy-barrel .308s by Robar and Autauga, and .300 Dakota from Dakota, and delivered equal accuracy.

Back in November 1999 we tested three precision .308 rifles by Robar, Autauga, and Dakota. The cheapest of these, by Autauga, cost $3,200, and we thought it was a “Best Buy” at the time. The Dakota Longbow was over $4,000, and the fine Robar was over $5,000. The accuracy of all of those rifles was simply astounding. Half-inch groups were the norm, with match-grade ammunition. We got the distinct impression it was necessary to spend inordinate amounts of money to guarantee such precision, with all the bells and whistles of that group and class of rifle. We may have been wrong.

We recently had the loan of a similar rifle, made in the U.S. under FN (Belgium) supervision, and sold only by Fulton Armory, in Maryland. It didn’t quite have all the bells and whistles of the other three precision rifles we tested, but had the more important ones. Called the FN Special Police Rifle, it was a .308 Winchester caliber, with heavy barrel and synthetic stock. Best of all, its listed retail cost from Fulton Armory is $999.95, which we round off to $1,000.

This rifle looked pretty good, if austere. The metal was Parkerized in matte black, and polish and workmanship were excellent. The gray stock, actually an H-S Precision Pro-Series, looked almost normal, compared with the “tactical” McMillan stock used by the previously tested trio. The very comfortable stock was fitted with a non-slip rubber butt pad. With a rifle of this weight, 10.1 pounds, the recoil pad is chiefly for a non-slip grip on the rifleman’s shoulder, and for protecting the rifle when standing it on the ground.

The stock had two sling lugs under its forend and another on the buttstock. It had internal aluminum bedding blocks for a stiffer action and, presumably, improved accuracy. The bolt handle was checkered for a better grasp.

The action was a Winchester Model 70, with that fine action’s coned breech, controlled-feed extraction, adjustable trigger, three-position safety, and easy bolt disassembly. The right side of the action was marked, “Made by USRAC, New Haven, CT, USA.” The left side had “FN SPECIAL POLICE RIFLE.” The trigger pull was very clean, but weighed 5.8 pounds, way too heavy for us. Because this rifle was on loan to us by its owner, we left the trigger alone. Model 70 triggers can be made as good as any in existence, and that’s good to know. The over-$2,000 price difference between the FN and the Autauga would buy the world’s finest trigger pull, with quite a few dollars left over. The trigger guard was of aluminum alloy, and was larger at its front, to offer more room for large or gloved fingers.

The nicely crowned, rotary-forged barrel was 25.8 inches long, and was unfluted and fully

Courtesy, Gun Tests

The action was a Winchester Model 70, with adjustable trigger, easily reached bolt release lever, and controlled feed. The trigger guard was aluminum.

The action was drilled and tapped for conventional scope mounts. We mounted one of our favorite target scopes, a 36X Weaver, and headed for the range.

We tested with two types of match ammunition, by Federal and Winchester, both with 168-grain bullets. In spite of its heavy trigger, the FN Special Police Rifle performed with great precision. A lighter trigger of around 2 pounds would have made our work easier, but we couldn’t ask for much improvement on the FN’s accuracy. Our best three-shot group at 100 yards was 0.3 inch, fired with the Winchester match fodder. The average of all groups, with both types of ammo, was 0.6 inch.

Our shooters’ impressions were that the FN Special Police didn’t kick much at all, so its 3 pounds less weight than the previously tested rifles’ 14 to 15 pounds were not necessary to keep the kick down for the .308 cartridge. The 36-power scope was NOT what you’d want for a tactical rifle. It was on the dark side on overcast days, making it hard to see the fine cross hairs. While the Weaver 36X Target was precise, clear, and easily adjusted, it didn’t lend itself to fast target acquisition, and that might be very important in a real-life situation.

We’d prefer one of the scopes of the type found on the previously tested three, two of which were Leupold Tacticals (about $1,500), and one Leupold variable, all designed for rapid use in the field while providing about 10- to 14-power maximum magnification. (We must clarify that the 36-power magnification did not make this rifle “more accurate” than the other three. We’ve shot less-than-MOA groups with rifles having 2.5X scopes from our machine rest setup, and are quite sure we got everything there was to be had out of the former three rifles.)

Reader Comments

Yes it is I, will do.

Mike.

Comment by: Scouse | January 28, 2010

Looks like a winner to me! This tactical rifle from FN at $1000 and offerings from Remington and Savage for that price or less put a precision rifle in the reach of most folks with the money that would have been spent on a more expensive rifle now available for a good scope and mounts.

Comment by: PH/CIB | January 28, 2010

I'm a Savage3 fan. I have a Savage scout I purchased 4 years ago that comes close with regular 150 gr. power point from Winchester. I paid $350 for it. All I did was adjusted the trigger pull from 12 lbs. to 3 lbs.. Wala!!

Comment by: tbone | January 28, 2010

I have a FN PBR that I purchased from CDNN last year for $600.00. After adjusting the trigger and puting decent glass on it I had something like $1150.00 total in the weapon system. Using either Blackhills 168s or my handloads of 41.0 gr H-4895 and a Hornady 168 gr A-Max, I get 3/4inch groups @ 100 yards consistently.

Comment by: VAN P | January 28, 2010

Looks purty much like a Remington 700 PSS to me. Same price, weight, finish, twist, etc. I'd have to go Remington for the easy access to intimate tribal knowledge and aftermarket bling. I can't see anyone going wrong with this FN, Winchester, or the Savage either. This IS the golden age of firearms!

Comment by: Dragonchow | January 28, 2010

Nice, but my Remmy 700 SPS and Savage Model 10 Precision Carbine will both shoot sub MOA out to 300yds...which is as far as my local range allows.

Comment by: NORMAN N | January 28, 2010

It is not necessary to spend a lot of money to get an accurate rifle. My experience with Savage rifles demonstrates that with a varmint weight floated barrel and with their adjustable trigger, that they easily shoot under one inch with match quality ammo. For that matter, I have a Swiss K-31 bolt action straight pull rifle, bought surplus for about $300 which shoots hand loads under one inch. This rifle is essentially new as far as the barrel and action are concerned but with some easily corrected cosmetic defects to the stock. Remember, the Swiss never used corrosive primers in these rifles and they never fought a war. They took good care of their guns. The two stage trigger of the K-31 is of match quality. An excellent scope mount is available for this rifle from Brownells which bolts on with one screw and I put a 6x to 24x , 44mm objective scope on it and it was shot from a solid rest. The Swiss manufacturing quality can't be beat and all the parts of this gun have the same serial number. I highly recommend these rifles as a high precision , very accurate rifle available for a cheap price. I had two previous K-31 rifles and they were of the same high quality and shooting accuracy.

Comment by: MichaelDolin | January 28, 2010

yes

Comment by: wild romanian | January 29, 2010

yes

Comment by: wild romanian | January 29, 2010

Brazed on bolt handle which can fail under hard use. Original pre-64 Win. had a one piece forged bolt.

Cheap cast extractor which breaks. Original pre-64 Win. had a spring steel extractor.

Flimsy magazine spring which failed.

New system enclosed trigger less reliable than the original open faced M70 trigger.

Has stamped sheet metal feed lips which can bend or wear, does not have the original milled in lips that were found on the original pre-64 M70.

"Hammer fudged" rifling. Walks shots when it heats up. Original pre-64 M70 had cut rifling that was hand lapped.

Built my own rifle on 1940 Quality M98 Mauser action for way less money.

Comment by: wild romanian | January 29, 2010

I have an M-1A that has been converted to an M-21 by a super Gunsmith. It even has an original Leatherwood ART II Scope on it that I got from the CMP several years ago along with the fiberglass case for the scope! It is as accurate as can be & I wouldn't sell it for anything. Ed at 0011 hrs 30/01/10.

Comment by: draider6 | January 29, 2010

Tikka T-3 will do the same thing for under $500.

Comment by: nimrod666 | January 30, 2010

Just further proof to me that people that pay $3500-$5000 for a rifle are not doing it for the accuracy, but for some sort of bragging rights. One real shame is that the FBI fell for that BS and bought a LOT of $4000 rifles! Seems to be one salaried armorer from Savage would save them a lot of money every year.

Comment by: Markbo | February 3, 2010