Is the FN Herstal SPR A1 worth the expense?

[astroman2057]

Been desiring an accurate bolt gun in .308. Went to my local neighborhood gun store to price a Savage 10FP and the store owner who I've known for years laid the "boy do I have a deal for you" on me. He bought a bunch of FN rifles in a promotion and has 3 FN SPR A1's in stock. He's had them for 1 1/2 years as there is no real market for them around here. $1275 out the door NIB. More money than I want to spend but appears to be a good price for that rifle. Seems to be a Cadillac when I'm shopping for a Chevy. Thoughts and opinions please.

[IanMor]

A friend of mine used to have one. He liked it. It went down the road a long time ago to fund his shotgun fetish.

[DesertFALrat]

I have the A3G and let me tell you, I think it is the best "off the shelf" bolt gun money can buy.

Get a Harris bipod and some nice optics and you will be shooting like an expert overnight.


Case in point, we just had what I would call a medium range tactical match on Saturday and I used the SPR for the course of fire. It invloved timed, moving and pop up targets, at the 200 yard line, with additional steel targts at about 300 yards. I won the match easily, even beating out guys with tricked out AR's.

I even shot clean on 2/4 events. You just dial the range and windage in, breathe, and pull the trigger.


Who says a bolt gun isn't 21st century?

[astroman2057]

Hey D-Rat, What optics did you go with? Very minimum for me is Nikon or maybe Super Sniper since I have 2 and I'm ok with them. S&B , US Optics or NightForce are out of my league (like this rifle isn't!) pricewise.

[DesertFALrat]

I went with the Leupold Mk4 3.5-10 x 40 LR/T

Get quality mounts too, as they are as important as the glass.


It was pricey, yes, but worth every penny.

I figure I will have this rifle forever.

[Outlaw Patriot]

Anyone know how different/inferior the pbr and psr rifles are from the spr series? They're all supposed to be the same action right? Is it the same bedding?

I'm thinking of getting one of these but the price tag and 12lb weight of the spr has me looking at the lighter/cheaper models.

Their site doesn't list weights for the pbr's, but I'm guessing they're closer to the psr's than the sprs.


In regards to your situation, thats a hell of a deal, but if you need a pickup truck, a caddy is just going to be a pain in the ass. I think the spra1 is way to heavy to be anything other than a range gun for most people.

[firewalker]

I had an A1 and it was something I'd like to buy back. My first exposure was an article in small arms review. The barrel was chrome lined and the same as the 240. FN had test fired 10k rounds, I think, and with no accuracy loss. That says a lot to me. Any custom M40 type I see will be needing a barrel long before that.

Do all FN sprs still come with this barrel?