Some guns are just cool. They aren’t the gun you’ll turn to for any specific task, but you just love them. The Mossberg MVP Patrol in 5.56 is that gun for me.
When I say bolt-action rifle, you likely picture a fairly plain rifle with a standard stock, a scope base, and not much more. It’s simple, it’s often effective, but it’s boring. The Mossberg MVP Patrol isn’t boring, and that’s why it’s so dang cool.
How does the MVP Patrol break away from the boring nature of the standard bolt-action rifle? It starts with the caliber. It’s not that 5.56 or .223 bolt guns are rare; they just aren’t all that common.
The 5.56 rifle market is dominated by semi-auto rifles, specifically AR-15s, but there are a few others on the list, a few dozen in fact. Bolt-action rifles in 5.56 have fallen a bit out of favor due to the AR-15’s affordable, semi-auto design.
That semi-auto design introduced one of the most important and common magazine platforms on the market, the STANAG. Also known as the AR-15 magazine. That’s the second feature that makes the MVP Patrol so cool: it uses AR magazines.
That means cheap magazines in nearly every capacity, from five-rounders to 100-round drum magazines. Toss a Magpul D60 in this thing, and you can load on Monday and shoot all dang week.
Next, we get iron sights, which seem to be a rare addition to bolt-action rifles. The rear sight is adjustable for windage and elevation, and the front sight is a high-visibility design. The MVP Patrol uses safari-style sights, meaning the rear sight is positioned on the barrel, which shortens the sight radius but allows for quick shots.
At the end of the barrel, we have a 1/2x28mm thread pitch for all the accessories you could ever want. It comes with an AR-style flash suppressor, but it’s absolutely begging for a suppressor.
To top it all off, we have a Picatinny rail and a standard polymer stock. The bolt is fluted for a smooth action. The MVP Patrol takes the boring bolt action and reinvigorates it.
What’s the Point of the MVP Patrol?
In the age of the AR-15 and semi-auto actions, the MVP Patrol and most .223 bolt-action rifles feel a little lost. ARs are cheap, easy to find, and available in a ton of configurations. You could say it’s a good alternative for states that restrict ARs, but that’s a stretch.
It could be a decent, lightweight, low-recoiling hunting rifle for medium game and predators. Some states are semi-automatic restrictive, or hunters may not want to take their AR hunting.
The MVP Patrol would make for an excellent suppressor host. The lack of a bolt clacking back and forth keeps things quiet, and you don’t have to worry about gas blowback, which can be an issue with ARs and other semi-auto rifles.
The MVP Patrol is also just a cool gun. They added modern touches to a classic rifle design. It’s lightweight at about seven pounds, it’s handy, short, and light-recoiling. The MVP Patrol provides a fantastic option for a simple working gun that’s also fun to shoot.
Talking Numbers
Since I mentioned the weight at a svelte seven pounds, let’s talk about the numbers. The barrel is a standard 16.25 inches long, and the gun’s overall length measures out to 36 inches total. The barrel has a 1:9 twist rate, so you can stabilize everything from light to heavy projectiles. It works well for the standard 55 and 62-grain stuff; most of us will feed this hungry pig.
The gun comes with a polymer 10-round magazine, but you can toss pretty much any AR mag in the slot and get shooting. Mossberg used their 4×4 design with the MVP Patrol, but made a slight change to the bolt head to allow the use of AR magazines. The mod is a tab that hinges and allows the bolt to work with PMAGs, Lancers, metal mags, and more.
Putting the P in Patrol
I have a closet full of various semi-auto platforms, but I was itching to take the MVP Patrol to the range and light things up. I grabbed a handful of different magazines and a few bags of ammo with weights varying from 55 to 77 grains.
The gun’s ergonomics are based around right-handers, just like most bolt-action platforms. The safety is a simple toggle that is pressed forward and pulled rearward. The bolt is quite large and delivers a smooth action most of the time.
I found that different magazines affected bolt throw and smoothness. P-Mags and aluminum mags performed well; however, magazines from ETS felt like they moved around a bit too much, which created some tension. If I forced it to work, it would, but not always well. Sometimes the bolt would get stuck; I’d have to retract it ever so slightly and then slowly push it forward.
The faster I cycled the action, the worse the feeding issues became. I’d stick to Magpul, Lancer Gen 2s, and aluminum mags. I didn’t test any other options, but that covers the majority of popular magazines. Those were the only reliability issues I ran into with the MVP Patrol.
The Distance
The gun’s begging for an optic, but throwing a traditional optic on the MVP Patrol would be boring. I wanted to run my MVP Patrol with the iron sights for a bit of fun and a challenge. I did use an optic to measure groups, but after a zero and some groups, that was it.
Speaking of, this is not a 1 MOA gun. I’m not a 1 MOA shooter, but even from a rest, I was seeing 2.5 MOA groups on average with Federal 55-grain ammunition. I did see some groups tighter than that, with groups hovering right around 2 inches.
The heavier 77-grain ammo did the worst with a 4-inch group. The 62-grain did okay at 3 to 3.5 MOA groups. This is a sub-$500 rifle, so that accuracy is fine for me. It could get better with better ammo and a better shooter, but you get what you get.
The MVP Patrol iron sights were a ton of fun. Hitting steel at 100 yards with irons is always a blast. I did some safari-style ready-up drills at 100 yards, and it was a ton of fun to aim, shoot, rock the action, and shoot again as fast as you can.
The short sight radius and open nature make them great for quick snapshots. This is a great gun to ride on the ATV, tractor, or work truck to kill hogs and coyotes you might run into.
Riding The Patrol
The Patrol has fairly standard recoil. It’s more than an AR-15, but it’s still just a 5.56 rifle. It doesn’t beat you up, and you can shoot through that entire D60 drum and not have a sore shoulder.
The MVP Patrol delivers on the cool factor and appeal of a bolt gun that’s affordable and easy to shoot. The weapon isn’t the most accurate, and you need to test which AR magazines are going to work, but for a ~$400 bolt gun, it performs pretty well.
I’m eager to get a suppressor and possibly a prism sight for this rifle, making it a capable ranch rifle for shots between 100 and 300 yards.
