LooseRounds has posted an early review of the Colt 901 MARC rifle. In addition to doing standard 100 yard accuracy testing, he also tested the target at 1,000 and 1,200 yards. That’s really stretching its legs!

ACCURACY TESTING

For the accuracy testing of this new 901, I did things a little different this time around. Instead of using the stock trigger, I replaced it with the Geissele  S3G trigger. I didn’t do this because the factory trigger was so bad, or I think it has to have some match trigger, but it was a 2 birds with 1 stone kind of thing. I will have more testing on the trigger as time goes by.  I wanted to see how it worked out in a 762 gun and to make the long range shooting a little easier on myself since I had less time to shoot due to the weather.

As I am wont to do, I started out shooting the gun at 100 yards for groups in 5 shot strings, I used Federal match ammo in 175 and 168 grain bullets, The Federal 165 grain TSX solid copper hollow point made by Barnes for hunting ( I used this load to kill the deer), Black Hills 175 grain match and my own handloads.

I set the gun up with my trusty test mule Leupold 18X target scope and used a front rest and bags. I used a bench and the caldwell BR type front rest.

Going the extra effort this time, really allowed for better groups. The front rest and bags with the match trigger tightened things up a bit from the results from the first LE901 test gun.

I shot 5 rounds of each at 100 yards, then I fired a 20 round group at 200 yards with the Black Hills match with 175 grain bullet.

His 1,000 yard target proves the 16″ barreled .308 is useful even out to that distance:

With a 16″ barrel, some 175gr match ammunition, and the help of a steel popper to get on target, the Colt 901 MARC can hit a man-sized target reliably at a kilometer. From a 16″ barrel, the Black Hills ammunition must have been coming down close to 2,400 ft/s in velocity, making ranging difficult.

At 8.4 pounds weight (about a pound lighter than the original 901), according to Colt’s website, the 901 MARC appears to be a pretty competitive light .308 caliber AR platform rifle. The cheapest variant of the MARC is even priced fairly low, at $1,623 MSRP.