If precision rifle shooting begins with precision rifle engineering, the Anschütz 1761 APR XRS is ahead from the very start. It is a lesson in uncompromised rimfire building, every detail suggesting it will dominate the competition.
But Anschütz, a German company that’s been making superb firearms for almost 170 years, cannot claim all the credit because the APR XRS is clothed in a chassis built by a Canadian company that’s only 15 years old, MDT.
The very old and the very new are united in their equal determination to be the best, and their combined success makes this a particularly appealing rifle.
The Anschütz 1761 action is available in a range of stocks and chassis, along with various barrel specs, for hunting and competition use. The APR XRS is aimed squarely at Precision Rifle Series shooting, a practical sport that forces a shooter into an sorts of scenarios, trying to hit targets at varying ranges, all against the clock.
The rifles must not only shoot well, they must be rugged enough to deal with the most adverse conditions an outdoor range can throw at them. Admittedly those condition won’t be too bad but the rifle risks being knocked about a bit.
That’s where the MDT XRS chassis comes into it, its mixture of 6061 aluminium’s strength and polymer’s resilience endowing it with the right characteristics.
The central bedding section is attached to the fore-end by six screws and to the grip and butt section by two large bolts. The grip has an aluminium core that the bolts run through, and all up this chassis is as rigid as bridge girder — the humble .22 LR is never, ever going to stress it.
The left and right halves of the polymer butt are screwed to the aluminium grip core, and formed a quite rigid structure themselves that houses an adjustable cheek riser. Under the heel there are two threaded holes, one fitted with a swivel stud.
The cheek piece is quickly adjusted by loosening to screws on thumbwheels, with 6cm of extra height available, and length of pull is adjusted by clipping as many of the 6mm spacers as you need: five are supplied.
The underside of the fore-end is full of M-Lok slots, along with a swivel stud you can remove if it’s in the way. It has polymer sides screwed in place with more M-Lok slots, and it is designed to accept accessories rails for Picatinny, ARCA and whatever other mounting systems might be available.
Two grips come with the chassis, the smaller one being 42mm at its widest towards the top and angled back a few degrees, the larger flaring at a fat 47mm at its base and its face vertical.
The angled grip is the more versatile in use from a range of shooting positions and is the one most people will prefer in PRS style competition but the other is great when you’re prone or on a bench and looking for that tiny bit of extra control over your trigger pull.
Apart from the cutout for the bolt handle to drop into, the XRS chassis is perfectly ambidextrous, even to the point where you can swap which side the cheek-riser adjustment screws on fitted to. The only hindrance to shooting from your non-handed side will be you.
It’s a chassis that’s designed for supported shooting and for that it is comfortable once you’ve set the butt to fit you. Where thumbhole stocks and fancily shaped grips are intended to wrap into you and lock you into place, this chassis is designed to give you freedom of movement without getting in the way, yet still provide the kind of support that’s good for accurate shooting, and it does this eminently well.
That makes it quick in operation, too, and another little detail that adds to speed is the magazine release inside the front of the trigger guard. Nudge it forward with your trigger finger and the magazine falls out. There’s a chance you might accidentally activate it if you’re clumsy during fast-paced competition, but it seems a minor risk to me.
Reinserting the magazine is facilitated by the funnelled shape of the mag well, which guides the little box into its slot. It’s another genuine benefit to performance.
The magazine is new for the APR XRS. It is a stainless steel 10-rounder with a polymer lower section; the steel part is a straight-sided box while the lower bends forwards. It’s a little longer front-to-back than typical .22 LR magazines, allowing the inclusion of a low-friction block behind the rounds and a small feed ramp at the front to lift them as they are pushed out by the bolt.
The magazine’s follower acts as a bolt stop after the last round has been fed out of it, a very handy addition to any rimfire, let alone a PRS rifle.
The chassis bedding block holds the flat-based receiver by two action screws, and, unusually for a rimfire, there’s a recoil lug integral with the front of the receiver. There’s no doubt about the integrity of the bedding contact.
The 16cm long receiver is very solid with thick walls — another rock-solid piece of Anschütz engineering. The bolt release button is set into its left side. The APR XRS comes with a 30 MOA Picatinny rail screwed to the top.
The bolt has three locking lugs, each only 7.7mm wide, providing lots of strength with minimal contact. This is one part of a bolt design that is extremely light and fast to use, again giving you an advantage in competition. You can cycle the bolt with your fingers without lifting the thumb pad of your shooting hand from the butt or losing your sight picture.
The roughly 60° lift and the 40mm throw only add to the ease and speed.
And then there’s the two-stage 5061D APR trigger (single-stage is an option). It is an utterly perfect piece of complex clockwork — levers, springs, pivots, stops and adjustments that couldn’t work better if they were a natural part of your trigger finger.
This is a new version of the Anschütz 5061 match trigger, with added features and altered mounting. The documentation about it that you’ll find online doesn’t gel with what’s actually on the rifle, depending on where you find the info, but here are the basics:
Sear adjustment, trigger weight, over-travel and trigger take-up are all adjustable, as are the fore/aft position (by 13mm) and cant angle of the trigger shoe. A lighter main string is also available as an accessory. The standard spring allows a pre-set trigger weight at 750 grams.
The test rifle arrived with a trigger already dialled to a delightfully light 600 grams, and over 10 measured pulls it varied over a mere 30g range — almost impossible to notice. Sear engagement was minimal yet perfectly safe, with the release being beautifully fine and creep-free.
When the sear releases the firing pin, lock time in the 1761 is very quick — around 3 milliseconds.
It it were possible to say a gun could literally fire a round by intuition, you’d say it about this Anschütz.
The final thing to describe is the match-grade barrel, which is 544mm (21.4”) long with eight grooves and a 420mm (16.5”) twist. It has a heavy profile — 22mm diameter all the way to the threaded muzzle.
Fed match-grade ammunition, this rifle shoots exactly as it should: regular one-hole groups at 50m and tight clusters of 10 shots at 100m in good conditions. You can push that accuracy as far as a .22 bullet will fly straight.
Even CCI Standard proved pretty accurate, so there are money-saving options for doing lots of practice.
When you put this accuracy into a competition-style scenario, where handling becomes as critical as the rifle’s ability to shoot straight from a benchrest, the APR XRS can be wielded to great effect.
As you see it here with the Leupold Mark 4HD scope (there’s a review of it coming soon) and the Magpul bipod, this is 5.5kg of rock-solid rimfire shooting platform that responds to your lightest touch.
At less than a metre long it’s also quick to manoeuvre around obstacles.
It’s a true precision rifle in the way it handles as much as the way it is built.
The 1761 APR XRS is advertised for about $4000-$4500 in Aussie dealerships and it’s very easy to see how that’s justified. And it’s not even the most expensive 1761, making it look like better value still.
Serious shooters — especially competitors who live to hear someone yell “hit” after every shot — will not baulk at the price if it’s within their budget. The Anschütz promises and delivers the performance they want.
SPECIFICATIONS
- Manufacturer: Anschütz, Germany
- Action: Turn bolt repeater
- Calibre: .22 LR
- Barrel: 544mm (21.4”), 420mm twist, match chamber, heavy 22mm diameter, threaded
- Bolt: 3-lug, rear locking, 60° lift, 40mm travel
- Magazine: 10-round detachable, stainless steel and polymer
- Trigger: Type 5061D APR, multi-adjustable, 750g standard release weight
- Chassis: MDT XRS aluminium and polymer
- Scope mounting: 30 MOA Picatinny rail on drilled and tapped receiver
- Length of pull: Approx 320-365mm depending on spacers and trigger position
- Cheekpiece adjustment: 6cm range
- Length: 96-99cm
- Weight: 4.25kg (bare)
- Price: Approx $4000-$4500
- Distributor: NIOA
Thanks muchly to our local gun shop, Mudgee Firearms, for help with transfers and other logistics in this test. They’re a good mob!
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