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Austin Orgain's Complete Precision Rifle Setup

The 2-Time PRS Champ’s Precision Rifle Setup: Austin Orgain Spotlight Part 2

Austin Orgain is a two-time Precision Rifle Series (PRS) champion and has the highest total accumulated PRS points over the past 7 years. The PRS is the major league of competitive long-range shooting. Austin was the PRS Overall Season Champion in both 2020 and 2021. He was the 2017 National Rifle League (NRL) Season Champion and won the 2020 Armageddon Gear Cup (AG Cup), the annual rifle match with the biggest cash payout that always attracts the best talent. Frankly, if you had to name one guy that has consistently dominated precision rifle shooting over the past 5-7 years – that would be Austin Orgain. (Learn more about Austin)

Austin Orgain 2 Time PRS Champion

That’s why Austin Orgain was an obvious choice when I chose the top shooters to do a “What The Pros Use” spotlight article on. The other shooters that I plan to do spotlight articles on are below. I’ll publish these in alphabetical order (left to right in image below). I’ve already posted the spotlight on Austin Buschman, so my deep dive with Austin Orgain will be the 2nd in this series.

Top Shooter Spotlights

I had an in-depth interview with Mr. Orgain, and here is how I currently plan to organize the content into several articles, each with a different focus:

  1. Meet Austin + His New Experiment with the 25×47 and 25 GT
  2. Complete Custom Rifle Setup (this article)
  3. Everything He Carries at a Match
  4. Ammo Load Data & Reloading Process
  5. Shooting Tips & Strategy (Practice, stage strategy, mental management, etc.)

Austin’s Custom PRS Rifle

Austin was gracious enough to let me ask him about virtually every detail of his custom precision rifle setup, so let’s look at exactly what he’s using to get into the winner’s circle so frequently!

Austin Orgain Custom Precision Rifle for PRS Competitions

First, what kind of precision are you looking to get out of a rifle before you have the confidence to take it to a match? Austin: “At least 0.5 MOA at 900 yards. If I’m checking it on a really windy day, I mostly just look at the waterline and mostly ignore left-to-right dispersion. I don’t want anything that has more than 2-3 inches of vertical at 900 yards.

Cartridge: 6 Dasher, 25×47 & 25 GT

6 Dasher vs 6 GT vs 6.5x47 vs 6.5 Creedmoor

Austin almost exclusively used a 6 Dasher for several years, which is the cartridge he used to win all of his major championships and titles up to this point. But, for the first half of the 2023 season, he competed with a 25×47 Lapua, and beginning in July 2023, he started competing with a 25 GT. I published a ton of details on those cartridges, why Austin started experimenting with them, and how he has liked them so far in Part 1 of this series.

Everything I will describe in this article applies to what Austin was running for any of those cartridges (6mm Dasher, 25×47 Lapua, or 25 GT). He even said his barrel twist is the same on those cartridges, so only the bore and chamber dimensions vary.

Action: Impact Precision 737R Short Action

Impact Precision Action

At the heart of Austin’s competition rifle is a left-handed Impact Precision 737R action. Austin has been running an Impact action for several years.

Austin: “As Tate Streater and Wade Stuteville designed the Impact action, they basically tried to improve on anything they could think of that was wrong or occasionally caused issues with other actions. They did a great job. I have no complaints. In fact, I actually have Serial #0001 of their left-handed Impact action, and I’d venture to say it has close to 30,000 rounds on it and still never has any hiccups.

Does the action have an AICS or AW cut? Austin: “It has a standard AI cut.” (Note: An “AW Cut” allows you to run double-stack magazines but requires a larger hole to be cut in the bottom of the action.)

Stock: Foundation Centurion

Austin has been running a Foundation Stock since 2018, and he specifically uses the Foundation Centurion model. Here is a look at Austin’s stock:

Austin Orgain's Foundation Centurion Stock for PRS Matches

Austin: “I really like the grip on the Centurion stock and that it has a little bit wider of a fore-end, which seems to ride a sandbag really well. Lots of this comes down to personal preference, but the grip on the original Foundation Genesis stock seemed too far from the trigger to me. It made me feel like I had to really stretch to get my finger into the position I wanted. My first Foundation Stock was the Exodus, which has a grip that is closer to the trigger – but it still had a little more spacing than I liked. So then, talking to John-Kyle [the owner of Foundation] about it, he did a little bit of a redesign and designed one with a closer grip that is also more vertical, which is more similar to what you’d get out of a chassis. I really like the way that grip angle felt, and I like that spacing pretty well, so the Centurion works best for me.”

Do you add weights to your stock? Austin: “Yes. I run a weight kit made by Jon Wells out of Texas, which is basically just lead-cast weights that fit down into the honeycomb holes on the inside of the Foundation stock, and they use rubber o-rings that slide in there to hold them in place. I think it adds a couple of pounds, so it’s not drastic, but I like where the weight is and how it balances the rifle. The weight is very centralized, and when you sit the rifle down on a sandbag, it just wants to stay there because of how the overall weight of the rifle is balanced.”

Jon Wells Weight Kit for Foundation Stocks

One unique thing about Foundation Stocks is they feature an Anschutz rail on the bottom of the fore-end. Instead of an arca-rail or picatinny rail to add attachments, it has an Anschutz rail that can basically provide the same function and allows you to attach or move a bipod, tripod, or other accessories anywhere on the bottom of the fore-end.

Foundation Stock Anschutz Rail

Austin runs a brass Anarchy Rail attached to his Anschutz rail, which adds another 1.16 lbs to his rifle. That rail is made by Kent Rush of Southern Cerakote, and it provides an RRS/dovetail arca rail interface on the bottom. That’s what he attaches his bipod to. Austin typically leaves that weight out front at the end of his stock but can move it anywhere along the fore-end if needed on a particular stage.

Where do you like the balance of the rifle to be? Austin: “I don’t know the exact measurement, but I’d say 4-6” in front of the mag well. Basically, I want to be able to set the rifle down on a bag, with the magazine touching the bag, and I want the rifle to be able to balance right there without any other input from me as the shooter.”

What is the total weight of your rifle system, including optics, bipod, and everything typically attached to it? Austin: “It’s right at 24 pounds.”

Do you bed your Foundation stocks? Austin: “No. Well, I actually did bed one of my Foundation stocks, and I have another one that is not bedded. I wanted to see if it made a difference – and it didn’t. So I never bothered to bed the other one.”

Why do you run a Foundation stock instead of a chassis? Austin: “I started out in the PRS with a rifle with a Manners stock. I like the feel of a more traditional stock. I did try some chassis. I tried some of the early Masterpiece Arms chassis. I tried an MDT chassis. I’ve tried an XLR chassis. I never liked the way the rifle felt through recoil. It felt like you were shooting a tuning fork to me. There was a lot of vibration and resonance in it. I did like the modularity of a chassis, but then the Foundation came out, and you still had some of the modularity with it by being able to add attachments using that Anschutz rail. The Foundation stocks are made out of a material called Micarta, which has a super, super dead feel to it. So you get virtually no vibration when you shoot the rifle. It just has dead recoil, and it’s solid. You don’t get that kind of tuning fork effect out of it like I felt like I would experience in the chassis that I ran.”

Are there any other must-have accessories on your stock? Austin: “I do like to run a thumbwheel on my cheek rest. It’s not because I adjust my cheek rest a lot, but because if it’s a really dirty match, I like to take it off to remove the bolt and clean out my chamber. The thumbwheel simply lets me do that without having to get an Allen wrench out.”

I asked John-Kyle, the owner/founder of Foundation Stocks, what finish/color Austin’s stock was, and he said, “The finish on Austin’s is a well-worn Coyote finish. Most will have a lighter undertone than that one. It must have been a darker blank to start with.”

Trigger: Bix’N Andy TacSport Pro Single-Stage Trigger

Bix and andy trigger

Austin Orgain has been running Bix’N Andy triggers for several years. He originally ran their competition trigger that was designed for Benchrest shooting, but he had issues with it when the trigger got dirty from field conditions. So when they released the TacSport Pro trigger, Austin jumped on it. He said it’s a great trigger and is more appropriate for the dirty/sandy field conditions that we’re usually in at a PRS match.

Austin runs the single-stage version of this trigger with a pull weight of 8 ounces.

One of the unique things about the Bix’N Andy TacSport Pro is that you can customize the trigger shoe and even swap it out yourself. There are a few trigger shoe options to choose from, and Austin runs the Gator Grip trigger shoe. Austin: “The Gator Grip trigger shoe is very textured, and it helps me better feel exactly how much pressure I’m putting on the trigger. I like it so much that I run it on all my rifles.”

Bix N Andy Trigger Shoes

Barrel: 26” PROOF Competition Contour 1:7.5” Barrel

Austin runs PROOF Research steel barrels in their Competition contour. Austin said, “The Competition contour is about as heavy as a contour as you can go before you get to a straight barrel.” The Competition contour barrel tapers from 1.25″ on the chamber end to just slightly over 1.0″ at the muzzle.

PROOF’s website says Austin’s 26” finished barrel weight for that competition contour should be right at 7 lbs 5 ounces. That is the weight they advertise for a PROOF steel, competition contour barrel chambered in 6 Dasher for an Impact action with a 5/8-24 muzzle thread.

PROOF Competition Contour Barrel

Barrel Length: 26” – Austin said he has run both 26” and 28” barrels and doesn’t get too picky about the length. He does slightly prefer the 26” length because it seems to balance a little better. A 28” barrel gets a little front-heavy when you’re running a competition contour. Keep in mind that these top shooters are primarily picking the barrel contour and length NOT to maximize velocity but mainly to get the overall weight and balance they want their rifles to have.

Muzzle Thread: 5/8×24

Twist Rate: 1:7.5” – Austin is running a 1:7.5” twist rate in both the 6mm and 25 calibers. Austin explained his thinking behind that twist rate: “We used to think it was virtually impossible to ‘over-stabalize’ a bullet, so we would run really fast twist rates and thought it was okay as long as the bullet didn’t come apart. But they’ve done a bunch of testing over the past few years, and today, we know if you spin a bullet faster than you need to, it will magnify any imperfections in the bullet. That means if bullets have imperfections, you’ll see your groups open up some, and faster twist rates make that more dramatic. So, you really want to try to run the optimal twist rate for the bullet you’re using. You want enough to stabilize it, but no more. That’s how you get the best of both worlds: stable, high-BC bullets and small groups.”

Note: If you want to know what the “optimal twist rate” is for your rifle, I’d recommend using the Berger Twist Rate Stability Calculator.

Wade Stuteville

Who chambered your barrel? Austin: “Wade Stuteville of Stuteville Precision has been chambering all my barrels for quite a while. Wade runs the same CNC program to chamber my barrels as he does to make all of his Impact Precision pre-fit barrels that you can buy online (through his website or the Impact Precision website). The only difference is Wade uses Bartlein barrels for the pre-fit barrels he sells online, but I send him PROOF barrels to chamber for my rifles.”

Note: A “pre-fit barrel” means it has been chambered and is ready to install on your Impact action. You used to have to send off your action to have a barrel custom-made for it, but now you can buy one of these online and install it yourself. You just need a barrel vise and torque wrench.

What do you think the accurate barrel life typically is for the cartridges you’re running?

  • 6 Dasher – Austin: “It depends on the type of matches and time of year that you shoot the barrel. It can also vary by how fast you’re running bullets. With the Dasher, you can easily get 2,000+ rounds if you are mostly shooting 10-round strings in cooler weather, but I’ve had barrels go out as early as 1,000 rounds. That shorter life barrel was after shooting a match that had one 20-round stage and a couple of 15-round stages. From the start to the end of that match, I lost 120 fps!”
  • 25×47 or 25 GT – Austin: “I still am not sure what the accurate barrel life will be on the 25 caliber barrels yet.” Austin has already burned through one 25×47 barrel, but he had used it for a few hundred rounds years prior and had it sitting in the corner of his shop before he pulled it out to compete with this year. He said he doesn’t have a solid round count on that barrel because of that, and he also mentioned that when he used it years ago, he was really trying to push bullets fast, so its early life was pretty hard on it.

Scope: Tangent Theta 5-25×56 with JTAC Reticle

Tangent Theta 5-25x56

Austin uses the Tangent Theta Professional Marksman 5-25x56mm scope. Many people believe this scope is one of the very best in terms of optical clarity, and Austin agrees with that.

“There are multiple things I like about the Tangent Theta scope, like how the turrets feel. But, I do think the optical clarity of the Tangent gives me a competitive advantage. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be running it! I get the chance to look through a lot of different scopes, and I don’t think there is anything out there that comes close to the glass of the Tangent Theta scopes. Now I get that it is at a price point that isn’t for everybody ($5,500+). There are diminishing returns, and there are other brands of scopes that are perfectly capable of winning a rifle match. It really comes down to personal preference and what you like. For my eyes, I really like the glass of the Tangent Theta. I like the clarity of it. I do think in certain lighting conditions, like when a target is in the shade or halfway in the shade with some mirage, it can be hard to see exactly where the edges of the target are in other scopes. I feel like the glass clarity in my Tangent allows me to see target edges better than other scopes.”- Austin Orgain

Reticle: Austin has been running the JTAC reticle in his Tangent Theta scope for the past 2 years. That shouldn’t be surprising because it’s a reticle that he helped design. JTAC is an abbreviation for the first initial of 4 PRS shooters: JTAC = Justin, Tate, Austin, and Clay. They are each very accomplished shooters, and if anyone knows what it takes to win a national championship, it has to be these guys! They collectively represent the PRS Champions from 2019, 2020, and 2021. That is the group that designed the JTAC reticle, so it’s been optimized for precision rifle competitions. To be fair, Austin said that Clay Blackketter (another PRS champ) was the one who primarily worked with Tangent on the reticle design.

JTAC

The JTAC reticle is a very simple, clean mil/mrad reticle design with holds in 0.2 mil increments on both the windage and elevation axis.

Tangent Theta JTAC Reticle

Here is a list of the reticle features from the Tangent Theta website:

  • Fine center dot for more precise aiming point – especially on smaller targets
  • Easy to identify sub-tensions, eliminating the need to count lines
  • Very open above horizontal stadia to increase trace visibility
  • Eliminates clutter to allow the shooter to focus on bullet impact down-range
  • Reticle intentionally designed to reduce the amount of etching for optimal clarity/visibility (before, during, and after recoil)
  • Purpose-built to be the most effective competition reticle on the market

I noticed the JTAC reticle doesn’t have a “Christmas tree” or holdovers like many popular reticles in the PRS. So, I naturally had a follow-up question:

Do you not find that you need holdovers in your reticle at rifle matches? Austin: “I’ve been running the JTAC reticle for about 2 years, and so far, I’ve always been able to find a way to run any stage without a problem at all. Sometimes, it gets a little advanced, but so far, I’ve always found a way to run a stage without having to hold off into space. There really aren’t a lot of holdover stages at matches, and most of the time, you’re not even that far from the center of the reticle. So we don’t really find that we need holdovers, and not having those holdover marks really opens up the reticle a lot and makes it easier to see trace and spot things through that reticle.”

Austin told me about one of those advanced stage scenarios where he found a workaround to holdovers, but I noticed the PRS recently put out a PRS Pro Tip video (below) where Austin walks you through how he’d shoot a particular stage – and it was very similar to what he described.

Tangent Theta 5-25x56 Scope Professional

What magnification do you typically run during a match? Austin: “That depends, but I find myself a lot of times shooting a match on like 16x magnification. If there is a target that is washed out or in the shade and it’s hard to see the edges, I might bump up to 20x on that stage. But typically, I don’t run over 18x or under 12x. I’m almost always between 12-18x for an entire match.”

That was very interesting for me to hear because I have talked to other top shooters who run at 20-24x magnification for the majority of the match. It made me wonder if the increased clarity of that Tangent Theta scope allows you to see the same resolution and detail at lower magnification, which means you’d have a wider field of view and can potentially find targets faster or watch the wind effects on terrain near the target more easily. Of course, it could simply be differences in personal preference, but that did stick out to me.

Scope Mount: Hawkins Precision Heavy Tactical One-Piece Mount

Austin runs a Hawkins Precision Heavy Tactical One-Piece Scope Mount in the 1.500” height. That is a heavy-duty design that features 3 cross-bolts, a built-in bubble level, and it comes with a picantinny accessory rail that can be added or removed.

Austin: “I actually have to run the model with 0 MOA of cant, and then I flip it around because I’m a lefty, and that puts the bolts on the correct side of the rifle for me. I really like the Hawkins mount because they have that picatinny/RAPTAR rail on the front, and when I’m shooting positional, I like to go ‘hand over scope’ to steady the rifle. (Shown in photo below.) They also have a bubble on the front ring that sticks out. When shooting positional, I hook my thumb over that bubble level and put the rest of my hand over the picatinny rail, and I can press down on all that and get really steady without torquing the objective bell of my scope. If you put pressure directly onto the front of your scope, you can shift your point of aim. You end up shooting high over a target because you’re pressing down the front of your scope and actually torquing the scope body. So with the rail over the front of my scope mount, I can basically push down as hard as I want without it affecting the scope or my point of aim.

Rifle/Scope Level: MDT LRA Send It MV3 Electronic Level

MDT LRA Send it Electronic Level Bubble Level

Austin’s scope mount has a built-in bubble level, but he said he also runs the Send It level with the lights. Austin: “I like the Send It level with the lights because when you shoot with both eyes open, the light from the level is kind of transposed in your eyes so you can see it in your peripheral. You don’t have to work to pay attention to it, but you can see it.”

Do you shoot both eyes open all the time? Austin: “Yeah, I typically shoot both eyes open. I’m not going to say all the time, but the majority of the time, I shoot both eyes open.”

Austin: “One thing I did find with MDT’s Send It level is I catch myself trying to level the scope the wrong way. Whenever you mount the Send It level upright with one of those 90-degree mounts, the lights seem backward from what they should be intuitively. So, for me, I catch myself moving it the wrong way first, almost every time. So, I do look at the bubble level on my Hawkins scope mount at times because it’s more intuitive to me. If there was a way to switch the lights around, the Send It level would be more intuitive for me.”

Brandt Built Send It Electronic Level Fiber Optic Adapter for Scope Ocular Housing

Hearing Austin say that made me think of a fiber optic product made by Brandt Built that is basically an add-on to the Send It level so you can run the lights from the device and attach them to the edge of your scope’s ocular lens – and I thought you could swap which light went to which side so you could make it work however you wanted.

Have you tried the Brandt Built Fiber Optic product for the Send It Level? Austin: “No, I haven’t, but I was looking at those. I was talking to Morgun King about that, and he’d mentioned that idea. So I’ll probably try it because I’d like to switch those cables around so it works more like my bubble level.”

Muzzle Brake: ACE Brake

ACE Muzzle Brake

Austin uses the ACE Brake, which shouldn’t be surprising – because this is another product that he helped develop alongside veteran pro shooters Clay Blackketter and Tate Streater. I thought hearing about their design goals and approach was interesting, so I wanted to share that with you guys.

Austin: “We wanted to design a brake that was effective but that didn’t direct as much blast back on the shooter. This was around the time that the APA Fat Bastard Gen 3 Brakes and other brakes with ports angled back at the shooter had become very popular, and we tried those out like everyone else. I’d say I may be slightly more blast-sensitive than some guys, but I didn’t really like using those brakes. At the end of a two-day match, I’d have pounding headaches, and it felt like someone was squeezing my head. We thought that can’t be healthy or good for your hearing, so we wanted to come up with something that kept the muzzle really flat but didn’t direct as much blast back on the shooter.

“Now, if you want to strictly optimize for recoil reduction, the pure physics of ports that are angled back to the shooter are hard to beat, but that comes at a cost. And for me, that was that I would flinch. I started videoing myself, and I noticed that my eyes would close for a split second. Well, that recoil reduction was doing me no good. The recoil was reduced, but because my eyes closed for a split second, I still missed part of that bullet flight. With our brake, you don’t get near as much concussion back on the shooter, and I don’t have that finch and keep my eyes open through that first part of recoil. It’s a lot easier to pick up trace, and it’s a lot easier for your eyes to track that target in your scope through recoil and see where your bullet impacted on the target.

“We also had the idea pretty early on that we wanted the brake to be ‘tuneable’ – not as in a barrel tuner, but to be able to tune out any lateral movement from recoil. So, there are index marks on the brake that allow you to turn the brake to offset any lateral recoil movement. Let’s say that you are shooting positional, and you notice that recoil is constantly moving you up and left. On most muzzle brakes, you can’t really do anything about that, but on ours, we have index lines and a set collar, and you can turn that brake so it is angled or tilted into the direction of the recoil. So if your rifle is recoiling left, you turn the brake to the left until it’s completely offset. Now, you don’t have two components of recoil happening. You’ll have a little bit of vertical movement but no horizontal movement to have to deal with. We figured the fewer planes you have of recoil, the easier it will be to spot your shot and track the target through recoil.

“We tried a whole bunch of iterations and designs. We not only sat behind them and shot them, but we shot rifles with TriggerCams on them and did a lot of testing before we landed on what design was the best. We really like the end product and feel like it’s a great solution for what we wanted in a brake. So far, it seems to be a pretty popular product, and we’ve got a lot of positive feedback on it from shooters.”

Thunder Beast Dominus Suppressor

Austin said he uses a muzzle brake 100% of the time in competitions unless a particular match is a “suppressor only” match. So I went ahead and asked: What suppressor do you put on your rifle for a “suppressor only” match? Austin: “Before the ACE brake, I used an Area 419 Maverick some. But I would say I’d probably run either the Thunder Beast Ultra-7 or the Thunder Beast Dominus-CB in the next suppressor-only match. I use both of them, but any time I go hunting, I put the Dominus suppressor on my rifle because it’s slightly shorter than the Ultra-7 and a little larger in diameter. That makes it a little easier to get in and out of the truck and maneuver. I think the sound reduction in decibels on the Dominus is between the Ultra-7 and Ultra-9, but it’s shorter than the Ultra-7. I’ve been really impressed with the Dominus.”

Bipod: Harris S-BRM 6-9” Bipod with RRS Harris Bipod Adapter & RRS Arca Mount

Austin: “I’m just an old fogey and run the ol’ Harris bipod with the Really Right Stuff arca adapter on it. There are certain matches where you have a lot of terrain that you have to deal with, and at that point, I run an MDT Ckyepod bipod. Specifically, I like to carry a Ckypod Double-Pull bipod because it’s super versatile. Any time you can figure out a way to get the rifle on a bipod and a rear bag is good, and often, that Ckyepod Double-Pull will help you do that. Any time you are shooting down a lot of slopping grade, or you have to shoot up a steep hill or something like that, you just have a lot of adjustability with that Double-Pull. It’s just a good tool to have in your bag.”

Austin Orgain's Rifle at Hornady PRC

What feet do you normally run on your bipod? Austin: “Whatever comes on it. On the Harris, it’s just the standard rubber feet that come on it, and on the Ckyepod, it’s the standard spike feet that come on them.”

What makes you run the Harris bipod most of the time? Austin: “To me, a Harris locks up tighter than any other bipod. The Ckyepods are great, but they have a lot of play in them – both forward and backward play in them, so you have to load pretty hard into the rifle to load the play out of the bipod. It’s the same with a Thunder Beast bipod. I like the Thunder Beast bipod, but they have some forward and backward movement in them, and you have to load them up pretty hard to take the play out of them. But with the Harris, you don’t have to load them at all. You can either free recoil them or load into it or whatever, and it just stays solid. Then, with the Really Right Stuff Harris bipod adapter and RRS arca mount on there, you have a TON of canting ability, so you can shoot off a lot of steep angles and still get your rifle level. I also like how quickly you can deploy a Harris bipod. I think that is where a lot of other bipods are slow to deploy. So let’s say you have a stage where you shoot some prone, then some positional, then back to prone. With the Harris, it is super fast to flip the legs of the bipod up to shoot off whatever you need to and also to get the legs of the bipod down and drop down to shoot prone. So the Harris is just simple, it’s solid, and it’s quick to deploy.”

Harris Bipod Adapter

Austin mentioned that the RRS Harris bipod adapter allows you to have a ton of cant, which means you can still get your rifle level even if you are on a very uneven surface like rocks, tires, etc. I actually went back and looked at my Harris bipods, which had a different adapter and I replaced one with a RRS adaptor and I was surprised at how much difference it made. The RRS Harris adapter is slightly taller than other brands, which gives it a little more clearance to pivot side to side and get level on uneven terrain. Thanks for the tip, Austin!

Magazine: MDT for 6 Dasher, AI for 25 GT or 25×47

MDT Magazine vs AI

Austin said what magazine he runs depends on the cartridge that he’s using. When he’s shooting a 6 Dasher, he uses the MDT 6BR 12-round magazines with the MDT factory spacer kit. But he said with the 25 GT and the 25×47, the MDT magazines don’t run very well. Austin: “I think it has to do with how the MDT magazine tapers and the transition they make from double-stack up to single-feed, which is a little different than an AI. So for the 25 GT and 25×47, I just ran standard AI AICS 10-round magazines with an extender on them so I could load up to 12 rounds.”

Do you always run a 12-round magazine? Austin: “Not always. If I feel like a particular stage requires a shorter magazine because of clearance issues, like you might be shooting off rocks or rooftops and just don’t have the space for an extended magazine, then I’ll run my 10-round mag. For the most part, anything else I’ll run a 12-round mag mainly because it’s easier to strip the first round out of it. I’ve got my magazines tuned pretty well, and they feed very reliably, so I trust those 12-round mags. A 10-round mag is just a little harder to strip that first round out of, but I will run them if I need to have a shorter mag for clearance.”

What magazine extension do you run on your AI mags? Austin: “I run mag extensions that Freedom Gunworks made, and Tate (owner of Impact Precision) sold them – so I don’t know if you’d call it an Impact mag extension or not. They are labeled ‘Impact Precision’.” I couldn’t find the exact product Austin described, but here is a link to the mag extensions Impact Precision is selling today, which look similar to what Austin is running: https://impactprecisionshooting.com/products/2rd-extension-for-accuracy-international-aics-mags-with-spacer-kits

Austin Orgain Shooting Off Prop at Rifle Match

Other Articles From Austin Orgain’s Shooter Spotlight

This is part of a series that is taking a deep dive with 6 of the most dominant precision rifle competitors in the world over the past several years. I’m calling it “What The Pros Use: Top Shooter Spotlights.” We’ll learn what gear they run and why they feel those things give them the best chance of winning. They also share lots of shooting tips and strategies along the way! (View which 6 shooters and what all will be covered.)

You also might be interested in checking out the shooter spotlight I recently published on Austin Buschman.

Be the first to know! Join the PRB mailing list to be the first to know when the next article is published!

About Cal

Cal Zant is the shooter/author behind PrecisionRifleBlog.com. Cal is a life-long learner, and loves to help others get into this sport he's so passionate about. Cal has an engineering background, unique data-driven approach, and the ability to present technical information in an unbiased and straight-forward fashion. For more info, check out PrecisionRifleBlog.com/About.

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6 comments

  1. Dear Cal:
    Thank you for your in depth reporting on the current state of PRS competitions.
    I am disappointed that you did not post your up to date progress on your own 100 yard underground range.
    Was it a worthwhile endeavor?
    Thank you

    • Hey, Anthony. I promise I’ll publish a detailed follow-up on the underground range as soon as I finish this series on Austin Orgain. I’m still working out a few things, but I’m happy with how the project finished out.

      Thanks,
      Cal

  2. Hi Cal

    Lots of details in this article.

    I found these the most interesting.

    1/ weight kit made by Jon Wells .
    2/ trigger with a pull weight of 8 ounces.
    3/ Austin said he has run both 26” and 28” barrels and doesn’t get too picky about the length.
    4/ Tangent Theta Professional Marksman 5-25x56mm scope.
    5/ Rifle/Scope Level: MDT LRA Send It MV3 Electronic Level
    6/ Austin runs a Hawkins Precision Heavy Tactical One-Piece Scope Mount . So with the rail over the front of my scope mount, I can basically push down as hard as I want without it affecting the scope or my point of aim.”

    Of the 6 listed above I have had lots of discussion on the first three. But the last 3 is the first time I have read anything about these products. I also don’t believe I have ever read putting you hand on scope mount and pushing down.

    Thanks again for a very interesting article.

    Paul

    • You bet, Paul! I almost put in my intro that I guarantee everyone would learn something new in this article. I certainly did! Lots of nuggets in there!

      I appreciate you sharing your thoughts!

      Thanks,
      Cal

  3. Hi Cal,

    An excellent exposé of a phänomenal shooter. I am guessing that we will see that all of these guys adhere to the K.I.S.S principle……
    He’s got no bum-fluff or gimmicks, just the essentials to deliver results…

    Thank you very much,
    M

    • That is a keen observation! I think you’re right. The next article will share what all Austin Orgain carries at a match, and that same thing struck me when I saw his photo of that stuff. When you compare it to what I carry, it’s much simpler! Inspires me to see what I can cut!

      Thanks,
      Cal

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