Chronos wrote:Oh but it does(sp) bring something extra , it's cerakoted to look like stainless
Actually it is Cerakoted to look like satiny-dull-titanium. It's quite attractive to look at in the flesh, doesn't reflect light to scare off quarry and most importantly is less likely to rust than either stainless or blued steel. Considering how much an after-the-fact Cerakote job costs ($300-$350), it's actually one of the things that helps the CrossOver justify its pricing premium over a $700 blued CZ452.
Chronos wrote:What concerns me is that in the magazine reviews they showed some groups around the 1"mark, so what You might say? They then go on to say they shot the rifles using various brands of ammo at the factory's 25 m testing range.
It was over 50 metres... trust me, I was one of the blokes there in March for the pre-release media event.
The very short amount of time we got to actually fathom the rifle's potential for accuracy was pretty frustrating, to be honest... the breeze was rather variable on the range, we were bouncing between I think 6 different types of ammo which seemed to be producing a lot of fouling shots/flyers on otherwise promising groups... that and with 7 blokes all hankering for trigger time it was all rather rushed. I don't pretend to be the greatest benchrester on the planet - nailing rabbits is more my thing - but given the likes of Briel, Andy, John and Sir Nick Harvey himself were managing the same sub-1" groups that I was, something was definitely up.
Lithgow Arms said prior there were managing under 1MOA and sent me through some groups from one of their testers, averaging 0.8 to 0.5MOA. It's on the CrossOver thread at ShootingAustralia.net if you're interested.
To be honest the rifle's real accuracy won't be known until a bunch of very capable shooters get the time to sit down and tinker, but all signs indicate it should be a pretty darn capable rifle.
1290 wrote:Don't for a second believe they're an Aussie company.... They may be employing Aussies (I would assume unless there importing the workers too)
and they'll produce the 22 rifle until the bosses in PARIS say so..... yup. as Aussie as frogs legs mate!
No getting around that Lithgow Arms is ultimately owned by Thales and Thales is a French-multinational, but to claim it isn't an Aussie rifle is drawing a long bow. It was designed in Australia, by Australians, and is built in Lithgow and Melbourne (where the stocks are made) by Australians. And yes, most of the blokes on the factory floor looked pretty darn Aussie to me. Lithgow Arms say that 92% of the rifle's value is Australian made.... by way of comparison, to apply for the 'Australian Made' logo/programme requires only 50% value. About the only thing on the rifle that isn't Australian is the raw steel for the barrel and action, which comes from Europe as decent barrel steel is simply not available locally these days.
It's worth mentioning that the CrossOver is Lithgow Arms/Thales first venture into branching out into the civilian market to decrease their dependency on the Australian military market, which will contract once the SA2 program is complete. The CrossOver program has been designed and costed entirely around our local market; if it is successful other models will follow. They're pretty damn serious about taking a decent chunk of the market here long term. Given that few would have thought 2 years ago we'd see a mass produced Australian made rifle again, the times are indeed exciting.
Mark TAC wrote:Not big on the stock. They are talking about plastics moulding based on F88 tech. Assault rifles are not exactly known for precision. So we are talking tough and nice finish - great- but how about the accuracy / stiffness / bedding of that stock? I doubt it is really very good.
The stock uses a fairly intricate 4-point bedding system and the barrel is fully floated as you'd expect. The prototype I handled/shot was machined rather than the moulded polymer the production rifles use but it was very solid indeed with no discernible flex or twist. I've handed a few sub-$500 plastic stock'd rifles and this felt nothing like any of them.
Invariably some people will always prefer timber stocks (it'll happen sooner or later) but the polymer stock for the initial version made sense; it's where Lithgow's expertise and supply ability was at, and as an all-weather hunting/farm rifle, combined with the cerakoted metal, it's the smarter option IMHO.
And you're talking about someone who owns over a dozen timber-and-blue'd rifles, including 8 Lithgow Slazengers
Cheers, Ben.