When I took the straight-pull bolt-action Arttech Prima SP out of the box I was immediately impressed by the wood and the wood-to-metal fit of what’s a mid-price hunting rifle by a Turkish brand we’re not yet very familiar with.
It hefted well and balanced nicely just ahead of the trigger guard, making it easy to carry and manoeuvre. It made me very interested in trying it out in the field.
Arttech has a lengthy history of making various firearms. It was established back in the 1940s by three brothers who began making shotguns, pistols and tools before formally becoming the Arttech company in 2020 to focus on rifle production.
It became the first Turkish company to produce commercial hunting semi-automatic, pump-action and straight-pull rifles, all of which are becoming popular in parts of Europe.
This is a well-balanced and attractively stocked hunting rifle that will deliver good performance for anyone seeking the speed its straight-pull design offers.
The Prima SP features a 56cm (22”), slim-profile, button-rifled barrel with very practical iron sights with fibre-optic dot at the front and two smaller dots on the rear to help with rapid sight acquisition.
Nice to see a set of irons, as many manufacturers simply leave them off these days, knowing we will all put some type of optic on the gun. I still like having them as an option in case I damage my scope on a hunt.
They are easily adjustable and can be completely removed with two screws holding the front and two on the rear, if you choose.
The barrel is installed into a receiver made of two parts, a steel upper providing strength and durability, and an aluminium-alloy lower which saves a bit of weight.
The trigger housing is held into the lower with a single pin and is easily removed for servicing.
The bolt has a rotating head with three locking lugs. It rides on the same action bar used on the semi-auto and pump-action versions of the Prima (the semi isn’t available in Australia, of course) but in this case the action bar plays no role in opening the action; that’s what the bolt-mounted handle is for.
In the SP, the action bar’s sole purpose is to pull the action closed again, driven by the return spring under the barrel.
The stock fitted me very well. This rifle had a lovely piece of Turkish walnut that matched well with the fore-end wood. After using mostly synthetic-stocked rifles recently, it was a nice change to be back using wood. There is something special about the feel of it that synthetics never have.
However, for those preferring a hard-wearing synthetic stock, that’s available in the Prima SP at a slightly lower cost.
The attractive and practical matte-black finish of the metalwork looks great against the walnut. It held up very well to several bangs and even a drop from a rack during use; a quick wipe with a cloth and it looked new again with not a scratch to show anywhere.
This was impressive as some new finishes look great out of the box, but mark and scratch very easily, so watching how well the Arttech finish held up was a real plus.
I am not someone who is at all familiar with straight-pull rifles so I was curious if I would adapt quickly to using it. Happily, I found it very intuitive and within a couple of rounds I was loving the large bolt knob that you simply pull back and then release, as the action’s return spring takes over and closes the bolt, chambering the next round.
It is a quick and sensible system on a hunting rifle and I was able to get off follow-up shots noticeably faster than with a traditional turn-bolt design.
It is certainly far smoother than many of the lower-cost bolt guns on the market.
NIOA claims it is twice as fast to reload as a traditional bolt gun and it certainly does seem noticeably faster under pressure.
The four-round magazine loads easily and snaps into place with an audible click, which I like as it lets me know it is fully seated and ready to roll.
It was a bit stiff to remove and you need to apply pressure from both sides, firmly, but was becoming easier to remove by the time we had put a hundred or so rounds through the rifle. [As we’ve learned since, clearances between the magazine well and magazine of some Turkish designs in nice and close but there have been instances of the magazines’ paint being applied too thickly, hence the stiffness; wear will overcome this fairly quickly — Ed.]
The magazine feeds smoothly and the rifle was very reliable, with only one hiccough when we were bench testing, and that was almost certainly caused by me when I tried helping the bolt closed rather than letting it close itself by simply letting go and having the spring take over. The handbook specifically tells you not to ease the bolt closed, which of course I had not read at that time!
Extraction and ejection were very positive and completely reliable, even when I put some grungy old military ammo through it to test reliability. The rifle simply ran as advertised — fast and smooth.
The trigger was crisp and consistent, with very little creep at all. It broke at 2kg (4½lb) and seemed much lighter when shooting offhand in the field — all in all a nice hunting trigger pull.
Cleaning is accomplished by removing the large nut at the front of the forend to disassemble the rifle. Stripping is clearly described in the manual, and I found it was quick and easy to do.
The barrel does not have to be removed from the upper receiver for cleaning, but if you need to take it off for any reason it is easy to accomplish with an open-ended spanner. You will likely need to re-zero your scope after reassembly.
The Prima SP test rifle came fitted with one of my absolute favourite hunting scopes, the Leupold VX3 3.5-10x with duplex reticle. This provided a beautifully clear picture and reliably repeatable settings when I was re-zeroing the rifle. It’s an ideal scope for a hunting-focused rifle like this.
To test the accuracy and functioning, we used three types of factory .308 ammunition: Federal Power-Shok 150gn soft points, Australian Outback 165gn GameKing SP and Federal 130gn hollow points. All ammunition grouped between 1 and 1½ MOA (30mm and 38mm at 100m) with three-shot groups. We stuck with three-shot groups because the barrel is quite a lightweight profile and we felt it was a fairer representation of how the rifle will be used in the field.
Even with the differing bullet weights there was very little deviation in point of impact down range, which was great news and very helpful when hunting with different ammo.
The Australian Outback ammo seemed consistently the most accurate but to be honest there was not enough difference to matter for hunting purposes and any of the choices would work well, depending on what game you were hunting.
The Arttech Prima SP is a rifle with a non-traditional action that works very well and does truly speed up the reloading process while retaining a quite traditional appearance. It’s both practical and attractive.
If you are in the market for a hunting rifle in .308 or larger, take a good look at the Prima SP. It’s very good value for the price, considering what you get.
SPECIFICATIONS
- Manufacturer: Arttech, Türkiye
- Action: Straight-pull bolt action
- Barrel: 56cm (22”) light sporter profile, 1:12” twist rate in .308
- Finish: Matte-black finish on metal
- Stock: Turkish walnut; also available in synthetic
- Calibres: .308 (tested), .30-06, .300 Win Mag
- Magazine: 4-round, detachable
- Sights: Adjustable iron sights with fibre-optic front. Receiver drilled and tapped for scope mounting
- Length: 110cm
- Weight: 3.3kg
- Price: Typically around $1800 or so but look out for discounts
- Distributor: NIOA
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