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 floated. Twist was stated by Fulton to be 1 turn in 12 inches. To our surprise, the barrel was chrome-plated, something not usually associated with extreme precision. In this case, it was all to the good, offering the cleaning and maintenance ease of chrome combined with outstanding accuracy. There was a four-round, all-steel, detachable magazine that came out and went back in easily. Extra magazines are available from Fulton for $50 each. Fulton also offers items like a Harris bipod and a sling for this rifle, as well as headspace gauges and other accessories.
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.)
