The Mossberg ATR NIGHT TRAIN .308 Bolt Action Review
This is the Mossberg ATR Night Train model number 27204
Specs
Caliber: .308 WIN
Capacity: 5
Barrel: 22” Fluted
Rail: 6” Picatinny Rail
Scope: UTG 6-24x50MM w/ Illuminated Reticle, Sun Shade, and Lens Protectors
Twist: 1:10
Length Of Pull: 13.25″
Finish: Matte Blue
Stock: Synthetic (Multi-Cam Camo)
Weight: 9.5 lb
Overall Length: 42″
MSRP: $891
Features:
LBA Lightning Bolt Action Adjustable Trigger
Free-Floating Button-Rifled Fluted Barrel
Scope and Bipod Included
4+1 Capacity, Top Load Magazine
Free Gun Lock/2-Year Limited Warranty
First Impressions
Growing up in the Boy Scouts, I knew Mossberg for two reasons. They made the Mossberg .22 bolt action rifles my troop owned for shooting sports and we had a Mossberg 500 12 Gauge shotgun we would use.
When I was in the market for a new 12 Gauge I contacted Mossberg because they make the Mossberg 500 Flex which lets you customize your shotgun for your shooting needs.
You can pick up a wide range of different parts to make your gun more tactical or more home defense. If you want to keep it a normal bird gun, you can change the length of pull with different recoil/length of pull pads that snap in and out of the buttstock. After a year of shooting the Mossberg 500 Flex 12 gauge, I wanted to do more work with Mossberg.
I requested the Mossberg ATR™ NIGHT TRAIN™ 27204 .308 Bolt Action Rifle for review. The gun, out of the box, makes you feel like you were just handed a sniper rifle and you are going to be able to take down all the bad guys from 4 miles* away. The scope is over a foot and a half long (w/ sun shade) and it has a multi-cam stock fluted barrel and bipod.
Man, this Mossberg ATR looks like it can hit a dime from miles away*. (* The GEARs Crew understands that the max effective range of a .308 Win is 800-1000 meters. The distances named are for this writer’s dramatic impact only and should not be the expected results.)
Shooting and Feel
After getting the Mossberg ATR Night Train sighted and realigned I started out shooting 20 rounds at the 100-yard range getting the rounds to go through the same hole. When I felt comfortable, I moved on to the 300-yard range and noticed that the optic was fuzzy in the beginning. I had expected this since it is not a very high-end scope.
I had the steel gong as my target which I figured I would hand load each round and do a rapid engagement of 10 (3-5 seconds per shot to reload) back to the 300-yard target, even with my speed the rifle maintained about a 6-inch grouping. After about 80 rounds my shoulder was not fatigued. The rifle had the right length of pull for my size, making this rifle rather enjoyable to shoot with all day.
The barrel is threaded into the action and not one solid piece. This is normal, however, the chamber is not as forgiving to someone who is hand loading each round vs. using the magazine to load the rounds. I would have liked to have seen a feed ramp on this, but for the price of the Mossberg ATR Night Train, it still feeds as it should.
The bolt does have good play and good flow when manipulating the bolt to load rounds.
The recoil is not overwhelming so if you shoot more than 100 rounds you shouldn’t be running for the ice pack.
Scope
The UTG scope is good if you are not planning to shoot past 100 yards. The scope that Mossberg mounted on this rifle was fuzzy until we shot about 20+ rounds. The scope prisms must have moved to the correct spot and cleared up enough to shoot the 200-yard range. It was still fuzzy and hazy at 300 to the point you could not see your hits on high-visible targets.
When we first took the rifle to the range the scope had not been zeroed and it took about 20 rounds to zero in. I never used the Illuminated Reticle since it was a bright sunny day every day we went to shoot.
With this being said, if I am able to continue reviewing this rifle, I would look at a relatively inexpensive scope upgrade to a Redfield Revenge 6-18x44mm scope with an MSRP of $314. This upgrade keeps the look of the rifle and scope package with a better optic.
Bipod and Rail
The Caldwell bipod is “adjustable” however when I tried adjusting the height, the legs never matched up enough to give a stable shooting platform. Thankfully, I did most of my shooting off the bench and not from prone, so the short legs were at the correct height. I personally feel that Mossberg would have been better suited to have the bipod attached by Picatinny rail versus the “permanently” mounted Caldwell. In keeping with how I would upgrade this rifle, I would unmount the bipod and have a gunsmith mount a 3” Picatinny rail on the flat bottom of the stock allowing for a bipod and other types of sling mounts.
The scope rail is a 5” Picatinny rail. This is nice, but in terms of upgrading this rifle I would change to Leupold dovetail scope rings and so I would have to change the rail. Mossberg does make this possible as the rail is not wielded to the action.
Modularity
Mossberg introduced the Mossberg flex line of shotguns and MVP rifles. Although this rifle doesn’t need to be changed into a pistol grip rifle, I would have liked to have seen the buttstock length of pull modularity added into the design of the ATR™ NIGHT TRAIN line of centerfire rifles.
I think Mossberg is really onto the next gen of designs by adding features like the modularity they have already introduced. It would be great if companies like MAGPUL who already make stocks for Mossberg shotguns started adding new stocks and parts to the Mossberg Flex line of modular rifles and shotguns.
Trigger
For those of us who are trigger snobs, you should like the Mossberg’s no gunsmith needed an adjustable trigger. I didn’t mess with this trigger adjustment as I was having issues with the scope and my review focus changed.
Final Thoughts on the Mossberg ATR Night Train
The Mossberg ATR Night Train was designed for someone getting into the art of distance shooting. This gun is for someone who doesn’t want to spend $800 on a bolt action rifle that won’t have a long life and then drop another $400 or $500 on scopes and rings and bipods just to get your first shot downrange. This gun has it all for $891 MSRP.
Out of the box, this rifle is ready to be sighted in and taken on a hunting trip or just to the distance range. The upgrades I have talked about are not something you will have to get if you are starting out and learning how to shoot. As a shooter gets more proficient at shooting longer and longer ranges that is the time to start thinking about upgrading.
I have loved shooting the Mossberg ATR. As a proficient distance shooter, I would love to be able to report back with my findings after some simple upgrades to an already extremely well-built bolt action.
I have been provided with the materials needed for this review. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.
