| Some of you may have
caught the article in the Feb. 2000 issue of Gun
World magazine about the Izhmash
LOS-7-1. This article, written by David Fortier, was seven pages of
high praise for a little known Russian bolt-action rifle that "knocked
the socks off" the writer. I was thoroughly impressed by the reported
accuracy of this lightweight .308 gun which had given a three shot grouping
of 1 7/8 inches at 300 yards to Mr. Fortier. But the hard part was actually
finding the rifle anywhere. The importer, Kalashnikov-USA of Port Saint
Lucie, Florida, did a lousy job of marketing what could have been a strong
seller. |
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| When I finally came
across one, it was in a local gun shop that I'd never been to. I spotted
the rifle hanging on the wall almost immediately. It stands out because
of its light-colored wood stock and hooded front sight. It’s not the
beauty that its cousin, the Dragunov SVD (which is manufactured in the same
Russian factory),
is but I was more interested in its performance over its looks.
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| If you read Fortier's
article, you would know that this rifle has a very impressive array of features.
These include a medium-weight floated barrel, a stock that is both glass
and pillar bedded, fully adjustable trigger, detachable 5 round magazine,
iron sights with a removable front hood, scope groove on the top of the
receiver, and a thick rubber recoil pad. It also comes with an accessory
package of a spare 5 round magazine, scope rings, cleaning kit and rod,
tools and an oil bottle. All this for a suggested retail price of $357 though
you could opt for a Russian 7x29 scope bringing the price to $495. |
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| Since I was in a retail
shop, I ended paying full $500 price for a used gun with only one magazine
and no accessories or manuals. It did come with the Russian scope but to
be honest because of its busy range-finding reticle (with multiple aiming
chevrons) it is the first thing I will be replacing on the gun.
|
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| OK on with the nitty
gritty: I took the rifle out for some accuracy testing with several different
handloads and some factory Federal
Gold Medal match. I was shooting at 100 yards and as I only believe
in 5 shot groups (instead of 3) that are repeatable here are my honest results: |
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| I have no idea what
the twist rate is of this chrome-lined barrel so I shot both 147 grain and
168 grain bullets for comparison. The 147
grain NATO FMJ bullets were bought from Midway and I actually weighed
each one to keep things as consistent as possible. The rifle really hated
those bullets. If I only had surplus ammo to shoot, I would think this rifle
sucks. Average grouping was like 5 inches. Recoil was quite comfortable
with those light bullets. |
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| The 168's I used were
from Hornady and Nosler.
The powder charges varied from 41 to 43 grains of IMR 4064. First of all
I am no expert reloader so don't try anything you see here without looking
through a manual. I am self-taught and still have a lot more to learn about
reloading techniques. What I found was the rifle didn't like my Hornady
loads but really liked the Nosler
HPBT's. I would have tried Sierra
Match Kings but they are so expensive now that I prefer the Noslers.
|
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| The factory Federal
Gold Medal Match was probably the best performer as you can see from the
picture. That's a sub inch group. It also hit to point of aim whereas my
reloads were a bit to the right even though the bullet weight was the same.
What's really impressive is that it usually takes me a couple shooting sessions
to get used to a new rifle's trigger and get the thing shooting well. This
LOS-7
was easy to shoot from the get-go. I don't have much experience behind commercial
bolt actions but my opinion is that the trigger is really nice and the rifle
feels well balanced. Because its fairly light, the recoil is a bit firm,
but the thick rubber recoil pad does help reduce shoulder fatigue. I didn't
come home with a bruised shoulder which is normal when shooting a Mosin
Nagant with a steel buttplate. In fact there was nothing about this
rifle that reminded me of the Russian surplus rifles I'm used to shooting. |
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