New Seekins Element M3 6.5 PRC Weight and Initial Thoughts

[coachmks]

Bought a new 6.5 PRC Element M3 today. I’ve seen advertised weights all over the spectrum. Seekins claims 6.0 pounds for the 6.5 PRC. Well, they are wrong. Mine, with empty mag and the muzzle brake installed, came in at 6 pounds and 13 ounces. I verified that using two different scales. The Brake and empty mag are 3 ounces combined. So 6 pounds and 10 ounces for the bare rifle. On a side note, it’s a $2850 gun that doesn’t come with a thread protector. I thought that was strange. The bolt was sticky. I cleaned the grease off and lubed it up. The more I work the bolt, the smoother it is getting. My PH2 was the same way when I bought it. It will be a couple of weeks before I can shoot it.

 

[handwerk]

It's funny how a production rifle can be off in weight by that much.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Should be a shooter. I’m a big Seekins fan but think the new elements are a huge miss. I have an original element and it came in at exactly 5.5lbs, that was my entire draw to the gun. 5.5lbs with a full feature stock. They’ve now added a pound (almost 1.5lbs in your case) for an adjustable comb and carbon barrel, two things most don’t want or need. I don’t get the value of it at that price point.

 

[bojangles808]

shady. shows 6 lbs on the website

 

[coachmks]

I cannot find anything on their site for weights on any of their new guns. I emailed them a couple of months ago. They emailed me back and said 6.0 pounds. They must be weighing them without the brake, magazine, trigger guard, bolt and recoil pad. The weight is not a big deal to me. It’s going to be less than 8.5 pounds ready to hunt. I hunt mostly flat ground and I don’t walk very far. As long as it shoots as well as my PH2 300 WinMag, I’ll be happy.

 

[Remington1]

I purchased a Havak Element a couple years ago and it weighed the advertised weight 5#5oz. Out of the box it shot factory ammo 3 shot groups as one ragged hole. I just purchased a PH3 in .277 fury. It showed weight 6#. Weighs 6#14oz. Shot three shot groups with Sigs 150gn accubond factory ammo. FPS deviation was 6. Better than expected. Group was 1.5”. Checked barrel with bore scope and had a lot of copper. Spent 45 min getting copper out and shot a 5 shot group. 1.5” and copper fouled again. Have shot total of 14 rounds through it and groups has gotten to 1”. Not impressed so far compared to the element I purchased a few years ago. Any replacement barrels I do to different calibers will be by my gunsmith and Shilen match grade hand lapped barrels.

 

[Samson7x]

Should be a shooter. I’m a big Seekins fan but think the new elements are a huge miss. I have an original element and it came in at exactly 5.5lbs, that was my entire draw to the gun. 5.5lbs with a full feature stock. They’ve now added a pound (almost 1.5lbs in your case) for an adjustable comb and carbon barrel, two things most don’t want or need. I don’t get the value of it at that price point.

I feel the same way. The appeal of the element to me is it’s light weight and they went the wrong direction. I’m glad I bought the OG version years ago.