Bolt-action rifles with an user adjustable chassis stock have been enjoying growing popularity among sports shooters for some years now. Such a metal chassis with plenty of interfaces for accessories and a multi-adjustable buttstock – preferably equipped with a folding system – is usually not a cheap pleasure. However, the Turkish manufacturer Huglu, based in the mountain village of the same name in central Anatolia for over 110 years, has put together a complete package with the Ovis G2 consisting of a chassis rifle in .308 Winchester, including bipod, monopod, mounting rail and soft case in velour look for a manageable price that in the European market is under the €2,600 mark. (The exact price depends on the country you are buying in, of course, due to local VAT and import duties.)
Action, safety and trigger of the Huglu Ovis G2 bolt-action rifle
The receiver of the Huglu Ovis G2 has the typical features of the classic Remington 700 Short Action. The action length, the size of the ejection port, the distance between the action screws and the diameter of the receiver correspond to the Remington 700. The two locking lugs also lock directly in the receiver and not in the barrel. An almost 160-mm long Weaver rail is attached to the top of the action with four screws. The forward tilt of the rail is 20 MOA. The bolt carrier and the trigger group are pinned to the receiver. According to the manufacturer, the direct trigger pull weight can be adjusted between 1,300 and 1,500 grams. However, the test firearm had an average pull weight of 2,333 grams, which is extremely high for a sporting firearm. The trigger also creeps minimally before it releases. The two-position safety is located on the side of the trigger housing and only acts on the trigger and not the firing pin. The safety can only be operated when the firing pin spring is cocked. The bolt and the attached bolt handle are drop-forged from a single piece. The bolt head has two lugs in a classic 180-degree arrangement, resulting in a 90-degree bolt throw. One lug has a continuous groove which corresponds to a spring in the action housing and serves as an anti pre-engagement mechanism.
Compensator and barrel of the Huglu Ovis G2
A three-chamber flash hider is screwed to the muzzle. The exit hole in .30 caliber is 9.5 mm. This effectively directs the high-pressure propellant gases into the exhaust ports and onto the baffles after the bullet exits. The angles are selected so that the shooter is not affected by the gas blast. Behind the muzzle thread, the barrel diameter is already an impressive 25 mm. This then increases evenly to 29.3 mm towards the barrel root. Over a length of 500 mm, the barrel surface is provided with six deep, spiral grooves, or flutes. Inside the barrel, four grooves guide the bullet. A complete revolution is achieved after 254 mm, or 10 inches. The barrel length from the breech end of the bolt head to the muzzle – not the brake – is 660 mm, or 26 inches. The high muzzle velocities and muzzle energies achieved with the test loads show that this barrel length makes perfect sense. Energy values of just over 4,200 joules were achieved in the test. In general, however, the barrel appears to be relatively tight, as weaker loads fired from the Huglu have also been known to achieve high energies. As is usual with the Remington 700 action, the barrel root is screwed into the action by means of a 1 1/16"x16 thread. The headspace is set via a recoil lug, which is clamped between the action and the barrel root to prevent twisting.
The aluminum folding stock of the Huglu Ovis G2 Long Range, designed according to the chassis construction method
The aluminum chassis essentially consists of the two-part handguard, the action carrier and the buttstock. The lower handguard is bolted to the action carrier. There is an elongated connecting element at 3 and 9 o'clock, which connects the action carrier and handguard. There is also a fifth screw inside the handguard under the barrel, but this can only be reached if the barreled action (barrel with receiver) has been removed beforehand. The barreled action, in turn, can only be removed if the upper, short part of the handguard has been removed first. To do this, twelve small M3 Allen screws must be removed. This is quite a fiddly job and should not be repeated too often, otherwise the thread in the hand guard will be damaged. The hand guard has a rectangular cross-section, is very robust and milled from a solid billet. At 3, 6, 9 and 12 o'clock there are slotted hole mounts according to the M-Lok design. Like the rest of the chassis, the action carrier is made of black anodised aluminum. As an alternative to black, the chassis is also available in sand color. The polymer magazine holds five cartridges and is free-falling when the magazine release is pressed. The built-in pistol grip has an AR interface and can therefore be easily replaced with aftermarket accessories. However, the grip angle and grip size of the original pistol grip suited the testers very well. There is a practical aluminium thumb rest for the shooting hand on the right side of the gun in front of the folding stock joint. This is axially adjustable by around 20 mm and can also be freely adjusted for angle. The thumb rest can be mounted on the right or left side.
The link between the actiobuttstockn carrier and the shoulder support is the steel hinged stock joint. Two interlocking hooks lock the connection. In addition, two very tight spring-loaded pins press against the inside of the joint in opposite directions to make it as free of play as possible. Nevertheless, some radial play is noticeable, but this did not interfere with shooting. What could be solved in a much more user-friendly way, however, is the unlocking of the joint. To do this, the buttstock piston must be held or pressed down with one hand, while the other hand pulls the shoulder rest vertically upwards to unlock the two hooks.
The buttstock itself offers several adjustment options to meet the different requirements of shooters. The recoil plate can be infinitely adjusted up and down by 23 mm from the center position in a T-slot guide. To do this, only one knurled screw needs to be loosened by hand. Two further knurled screws allow the recoil plate length to be adjusted. The recoil plate is held in the chassis by two guide rods and a threaded spindle between them. The length can be infinitely adjusted by turning the spindle. An adjustment range of approx. 25 mm is available if both rods are still to run in the guide. After tightening the knurled screws, the set stock length is absolutely free of play. An identical adjustment mechanism is used to adjust the comb height. A maximum, infinitely variable travel of around 22 mm is possible here. Although the knurled screws fix the set positions absolutely free of play when tightened, the screw heads sometimes protrude very far from the chassis, especially those of the upper back adjustment. You can get your clothes or even your elbow caught on them. The problem could be quickly solved by using shorter screws.
On the shooting range with the Huglu Ovis G2 Long Range bolt-action rifle
The bipod included with the rifle can be adjusted in height by 15 mm in six settings. The feet can be locked at angles of 0, 45, 90, 135 and 180 degrees at the touch of a button. The bipod is manufactured by Huglu and will be available from retailers at a price of 149 euros. We fitted the rifle with a riflescope from Alpen Optics. The Apex XP has a 6x zoom and a magnification of 5 to 30x with a main tube diameter of 34 mm. The illuminated BDC reticle is located in the first focal plane and adjustment is 0.1 MRAD per click. The Apex XP 5-30x56 BDC offers a very good elevation adjustment range of 350 clicks and 145 clicks for windage. The parallax compensation can be adjusted from 15 metres to infinity. The recommended retail price of the optic is €1,499. Two (relatively high) mounting rings are used to connect the scope to the mounting rail.
A total of 13 loads in .308 Winchester from Federal, GGG, Hornady, Lapua, Nosler, PPU, RWS, Sellier & Bellot and Sako were available for determining the grouping at distances of 100 and 300 meters. The bullet weights ranged from 110 to 180 grains. The accuracy that could be achieved on the shooting day was relatively volatile. At a distance of 100 metees, for example, five loads were able to impress with a grouping of less than one MOA, three of which were less than half a minute of angle. The 167-grain Lapua Scenar performed best with 9mm at 100 meters and the 168-grain GGG (bullet: Sierra HPBT) with 55mm at 300 meters. The remaining loads allowed themselves a little more space on the target. It was noticeable that with these loads, a single outlier usually enlarged the group, sometimes significantly.
For the accuracy and functioning test, the testers fired around 200 cartridges in .308 Winchester. Subjectively, the muzzle brake only slightly reduces felt recoil. However, this is due to the fact that the muzzle gas pressure of the .308 Winchester is already very low due to the long barrel length of 660 mm, or 26 inches, and therefore the gas impulse acting on the buffles is also lower. In principle, the brake would work much more effectively with a short barrel, as can be seen from the smoke pattern on the baffles, which are also sufficiently large. In terms of functioning, the Turkish rifle had no weaknesses whatsoever. The cartridge feed from the magazine and the ejection of the cases went smoothly. Even the shooter-specific adjustments made to the buttstock before firing remained in position during the test shots. The riflescope from Alpen Optics, which is not part of the set, did a very good job. The parallax adjustment enabled a consistently sharp target image.
Huglu Ovis G2 Long Range technical specifications
| Manufacturer: | Huglu |
| Model: | Ovis G2 Long Range |
Caliber: | .308 Winchester |
Capacity: | 5+1 rounds |
Overall Length: | 1,205 mm (946 mm with folded stock) |
Barrel Length: | 660 mm |
Barrel Twist Rate: | 1:10" |
Trigger Pull Weight: | 2,333 g (average of ten measurements) |
Weight: | 5,500 g |
Features: two-lug bolt with Remington 700 footprint, aluminum chassis, folding stock, buttstock adjustable without tools, two-position trigger safety, adjustable direct trigger, polymer magazine, handguard with M-Lok mounts, fluted barrel, muzzle brake. | |
Conclusion: what can you expect from the Huglu Ovis G2 Long Range?
Anyone opting for the Huglu Ovis G2 Long Range will receive the rifle in a suede-look soft case, plus a barrel cleaning kit, the bipod and a butt spike. In this price segment – at aound 2,600 euro – the Huglu is up against serious competitors such as the Haenel LR/One, Ruger Precision Rifle, Sabatti, Savage 110 Elite Precision, Tikka T3x and others. There is certainly room for improvement in terms of accuracy, but the Huglu Ovis G2 was able to show what it is capable of with a number of loads. The aluminum chassis offers enough adjustment options and the workmanship is consistently good to very good. If Huglu offers the Ovis G2 in other calibers, barrel lengths and versions in the future, the gun is likely to become more popular.
