Mossberg Patriot Carbine Rifle: Suppressor Enticing

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Part and parcel to the explosion in the popularity of suppressors for hunting rifles has been a shift to shorter barrels, or at least a wider range of lengths to choose from. Mossberg’s well regarded Patriot line is in on this game, with a new Patriot Carbine model that includes barrels of 16.25, 18 and 20 inches. By contrast, the standard Patriots begin at 20 inches, stretching to options in 22 and 24 inches.

While the term “carbine” is usually associated with close-range hunting and calibers for same, the Patriot Carbine is clearly meant for much more. Its chamberings include the 6.5 and 7mm PRCs, the .300 Win. Mag. and even the .22-250. But if close range is your game, this suppressor-ready line is also chambered to cartridges like the .350 Legend and .450 Bushmaster.

While the carbine version does share the 20-inch barrel length with some models in the standard series, its barrel profile is different. Mossberg calls it a medium-bull contour, and it tapers from 1.2 inches in diameter in front of the smooth barrel nut that joins barrel to action down to 0.75 inch at the midpoint—a diameter it carries to just behind the knurled protector that guards the 5/8x24 threads.

In theory, this contour should be stout enough to provide good accuracy even in the 16.25-inch version I tested. Spoiler alert: This one didn’t, depending on your take on what accuracy means, but I’ll get to that later.

Barrel and Action

As mentioned, the barrel and action are joined by a smooth barrel nut, a process that makes it easy to get proper headspacing: Throw in the proper “go” gauge, spin the barrel in until it hits the gauge, then tighten the nut.

Sandwiched in between barrel and action is the recoil lug. The lug doesn’t fit into a mortise in the stock per se, rather it slides into small slots molded into the belly of the stock on both sides. Only the rear of the lug has significant contact with the stock. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; stock and rifle maker Mark Bansner recently told me that the interface between the back of the lug and the stock is the important part.

The front and rear action screws pass through the box magazine insert, and the barrel rests on the forward portion of this insert. It’s free-floated for the rest of its length.

The Patriot action is cylindrical à la the Remington 700. The bolt features a floating head with beefy opposing dual lugs, a plunger ejector and a sliding extractor. A guide groove in the right lug mates with a rail in the receiver wall for wobble-free cycling.

Ergonomics and Styling

The body flutes are relatively shallow and finished in black. The bolt handle is all one piece, which means it is, as one of my California buddies likes to say, “hella strong.” It’s machined with a large safety flange on the left side of the shroud that’s designed to deflect gases in the event of a case rupture.

The safety is a two-position rocker that doesn’t lock the bolt, and the release is a tab on the left side.

The trigger is Mossberg’s excellent Lightning Bolt Action, which is a user-adjustable trigger with a safety blade in the face of the finger lever. It’s adjustable between two and seven pounds, and you do need to remove the barreled action from the stock in order to adjust it. Turn the slotted screw in the front of the trigger body clockwise to increase pull weight, counterclockwise to decrease it.

The pull weight on my sample averaged one pound, 11 ounces, which is less than published specs, and it was very consistent from pull to pull. I left it alone for bench testing, although I might’ve cranked it up closer to three pounds for hunting.

Mounting Options

Atop the receiver you’ll find a Picatinny rail that measures 0.34 inch from base of the rail to base of the slots and runs the length of the receiver.

Rails are pretty much a fact of life on a lot of rifles these days, and I’ve found them to be a blessing and a curse. On the curse side, when you combine a rail and scope rings, scope height grows exponentially.

For instance, I mounted a Burris Fullfield 2.5-10x42mm in medium-height Warne Hyperlite rings but was unable to move the scope back far enough to get ideal eye relief because the objective hit rail. High rings would’ve allowed it to go back farther, but at that point I’d really be wishing for a stock with an adjustable cheekpiece to get a good head position.

On the blessing side, for scopes with short mountable tube lengths—this Burris has just five inches of mountable length—you basically need the rail. I’m not even sure if extended standalone bases would work in this case. However, should you want to go the separate-base route, you can pull the rail, which is secured with four 3/32 hex head screws, and underneath you’ll find the receiver has Remington 700 scope-mount geometry. That gives you loads of aftermarket mounting options.

Stock

The black synthetic stock is a straight-comb sporter with a shadow line. There’s stippling at the wrist and the fore-end, and the fore-end’s barrel channel has bracing to make it nice and stiff. Flexing can be an issue with inexpensive molded synthetic stocks, and that can detract from stability and therefore accuracy. With the barreled action removed, I tried to twist the Patriot Carbine’s stock—to no avail.

Sling swivels are installed fore and aft, and the Mossberg logo is impressed on the grip “cap.” The generous rubber recoil pad is nice and squishy.

Because this rifle’s primary mission is hunting with a suppressor attached, I spun on a Banish Backcountry from Silencer Central for three of the five loads I tested for accuracy. The other two I shot without the suppressor.

Now, about that accuracy. These days a lot of us get wrapped around the axe handle about a rifle’s level of accuracy, or precision if you prefer. We expect m.o.a. accuracy or better from every rifle, all the time. If you’re in that camp, you’ll find the Patriot Carbine’s results disappointing. I did have a couple groups that were an inch or better at 100 yards, but I also had groups right around two inches. You can see in the accompanying chart how the averages stack up.

Accuracy

Let’s take a quick second to talk m.o.a. and hunting. A deer has a vital zone of eight to 10 inches in diameter; an elk’s is 12 to 18 inches. If you use the small ends of those vital zones range as a yardstick, a rifle that shoots 1.5 m.o.a. can, in theory, hit an eight-inch target at just over 500 yards and a 12-inch target out to 800 yards. Expanding the target size a bit, a 1.75 m.o.a. rifle can still theoretically hit a nine-inch target at 500 yards and 14-inch target at 800.

In other words, the level of precision I got out of the loads tested in the Patriot Carbine is plenty for any distance I ever plan to shoot at game—at least for a first shot on an unwounded animal. Do I want the increased margin of error that a one m.o.a. or sub-m.o.a. rifle delivers? You betcha, particularly if I’m hunting open country where a shot might be as far as my self-imposed 300-yard limit.

And also, yes, you’re going to lose some speed with a 16.5-inch barrel. The same day I was shooting the Mossberg I was working with my .308 Benelli Lupo, which has a 22-inch barrel. The velocity I got out of that barrel with the 180-grain Norma BondStrike was 2,531 fps, compared to the same load out of the Patriot Carbine, which yielded 2,391 fps—a difference of 140 fps. Sounds like a lot, but it’s actually only a 5.5 percent drop. Whether that matters is up to you.

There’s more to life than straight-up accuracy and velocity, though. Handling counts for a lot, both in the shooting and in the carrying. The Backcountry suppressor measures 5.5 inches long. Pair that with the 16.25-inch barrel on this particular Patriot Carbine and you’ve got a rig that’s only 42 inches long.

Easy-Carrying

By comparison, if I threw that same suppressor on a rifle with a 22-inch barrel—a common length—you’d be pushing four feet. That’s getting pretty unwieldy in heavy cover or in the cramped confines of a blind.

One standard hunters look to when it comes to an easy-carrying rifle for climbing really high or hiking really far is seven pounds total. The Patriot Carbine’s bare weight is 6.2 pounds. Add 7.8 ounces for the suppressor, and you’re at that seven-pound mark. This Burris Fullfield weighs 14.7 ounces, and Warne’s Hyperlite rings add another 2.6 ounces. So all together you’re looking at 7.75 pounds, call it eight even with ammo and sling.

Maybe that doesn’t make mountain-rifle standard, but it’s a damn good weight for most hunting, especially with a suppressor aboard. Yeah, you could beat that weight, but it’s likely going to take some higher tech construction and a whole lot more money. This particular rifle/scope combo would set you back $730—that’s suggested retail, not street—and is less than what most suppressors alone would run you.

The Patriot Carbine is great to shoot as well. The bolt cycles smartly, and rounds feed smoothly and flawlessly out of the five-round magazine. That’s five rounds, not the measly three you often get with flush-fit detachable boxes.

Testing and Results

I tested two of the loads without a suppressor for a few reasons. One, I realize not everyone has or wants a suppressor, and since suppressors often change centerfire accuracy for the better, readers opting to go without one deserve an idea of how the gun might shoot unsuppressed. I also wanted to get an idea of what the recoil level might be. You’d think that a 16.25-inch .308 would be a handful, but the Patriot Carbine is actually quite manageable and well balanced, thanks largely to the medium-bull barrel contour.

But what really would sell me on this rifle is how steady it is from field positions with a can mounted. While I shoot a lot of suppressors and love them overall, I need a really good rest to shoot them well because the weight so far out front makes it hard to get rock steady. Conversely, the Patriot Carbine’s short barrel reduces wide, pendulum-like swings in my hold, and while I’d still want a well-built, rested position, I found it easy to make hits with this rifle even from hasty rests or solely sling-supported positions.

Mossberg knows how to build a quality rifle, and I’ve shot a number of Patriots and found them to be good guns—not just good guns for the money. While this carbine version doesn’t check every box for me, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a handier rifle for the hunting that most of us do, especially if you’re using a suppressor.

Mossberg Patriot Carbine Specs

• Type: 2-lug centerfire bolt action
• Caliber: .22-250, 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 PRC, 7mm PRC, .308 Win. (tested), .300 Win. Mag., .350 Legend, .450 Bushmaster
• Capacity: 5-round detachable box mag
• Barrel: 16.25 in. (as tested) medium bull, 1:10 twist; threaded 5/8x24, thread protector
• Overall Length: 36.5 in.
• Weight: 6.2 lb.
• Finish: matte blue
• Stock: black synthetic
• Trigger: LBA adjustable; 1 lb., 11 oz. pull (measured, as received)
• Sights: none; optics rail
• Safety: 2-position non-bolt-locking rocker
• Price: $515
• Manufacturer: Mossberg, mossberg.com

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