Mossberg, a familiar, all-American brand among blue-collar hunters since 1919, recently raised the bar with its newly designed, classic, walnut-and-blued Patriot Revere bolt-action rifle. With its nicely figured, straight-comb stock, cheekpiece, rosewood tip and light maple spacer, the Revere echoes the heyday of mid-20th century American deer rifles. Modern furniture such as a rust-proof, nearly indestructible polymer trigger bow, detachable magazine and bedding block contribute to the Revere’s amazingly low MSRP, placing it in the same ballpark as many brands’ bland, black, synthetic-stock “starter” rifles.
The Revere hasn’t the hand-finished fit and polish of a custom gun, but it gives the working man and woman a classy option in an affordable, traditional hunting rifle. Mine is chambered for the light, popular 6.5 Creedmoor, a fully modern cartridge providing the recoil and ballistics of once popular deer rounds such as the 257 Roberts, 250 Savage and 6.5×55 Swede. If I do my part, it will keep most bullets inside MOA or 1.5 MOA at worst. In two seasons it has accounted for whitetails, mule deer, coyotes and two ibex.
In keeping with the philosophy that your rifle is only as accurate as your scope, I fitted a Swarovski Z5 3.5-18×44 to the Revere.
