During our time at The Remington Tactical event at Gunsite we had one new hunting rifle, which is unusual at this kind of  seminar.  It is the R25 GII in .308 Win. The rifle is based on the DPMS Gen II .308 I liked so much in the past. The first thing that gets your attention right off is its 7-pound weight. That’s impressive for a .308 hunting rifle. How did they get the weight down? The design uses a carbon fiber forend along with the reduced sized Gen II DPMS receiver.

Stats:

• 20” stainless steel, Teflon coated barrel, target crown muzzle.
• Fixed, lightweight stock with super-cell recoil pad.
• Hogue pistol grip.
• Carbon fiber vented free float hand-guard.
• Two stage match trigger.
• Mossy Oak Infinity camouflage.

As opposed to the existing R25

• More than 1lb Lighter. 7.62lbs due to GII receivers, bolt carrier, stock, and carbon fiber FF tube.
• More reliable due to GII technology
•Fully functional forward assist
• Steel feed-ramp for feeding soft nose hunting ammo
• Elastomer extractor spring, improved extractor, and dual ejectors, getting your second shot off faster
every time.

This is one of the rifles we tested on our first day, which I might mention was one wet and cold day. Come to think of it not unlike many Midwest Deer season days. This rifle had been shot a good deal without cleaning and I didn’t lube it throughout my shooting time. There were no malfunctions of any kind. My groups averaged right at 2 inches at 200 yards.

The match trigger was very nice. I didn’t have a trigger pull gauge but I’d say around 3 pounds tops. It’s certainly a good-looking rifle with nice balance. The caliber selection, which includes .308 Win, .243 Win. and 7mm-08, covers most any game in north America. There is also going to be a “bullet button” version chambered in .308, for those of you living in States that require such devices. Overall it is a very desirable rifle. The Price to be announced.

This is how water ends up in the action. Rules are rules!

Just as a side note we had one other rifle of the tactical variety which is loosely based on the R25. It was not ready to be shot so all we got to do was look at it. It does have a carbon fiber forend as well as the other enhancements to make it a light .308. It has a B5 stock and Hogue grip. It also uses a fluted barrel for weight reduction.