Article in Johnstown Newspaper

[Mtbkski]

Article in my local paper.

http://www.tribune-democrat.com/spor...yword=topstory

Long-range rifle makes local debut

BY JOE GORDEN
The Tribune-Democrat

On Sunday afternoon, Lydia Farabaugh laid down at the edge of a sunny field of goldenrod, put her cheek against the stock of a futuristic-looking rifle, and squeezed the trigger.

Nearly four-fifths of a mile away, the Carrolltown teen’s bullet punched through paper and plywood inches from the bull’s eye. She slid another 4-inch round into the chamber and fired again, poking a second hole near the first.

“I was impressed before I saw it, and I’m definitely impressed after I shot it,” said Farabaugh, who is both an experienced hunter and long-range bench-rest shooter.

The gun she used is the .338 Xtreme, a new cartridge-firearms combination developed as a military and law-enforcement weapon by Xtreme Machining of Grassflat, Clearfield County.

“It is a rifle that’s built in central Pennsylvania by a small manufacturer hoping to make a big splash in the firearms industry,” said Xtreme Machining President Bob Zelenky, who has decided to offer his creation to the civilian market as well.

Farabaugh was among a mixture of police, outdoor writers, big-game hunters, long-range target shooters and firearms aficionados invited to try the gun during a demonstration on a Somerset County farm at the foot of Laurel Mountain.

Zelenky said he developed the .338 Xtreme as an improvement on the round that has set the standard for long-distance accuracy.

“Everyone is looking for an alternative to the .50 BMG which, in its own right, it is very, very powerful cartridge,” he said. “But to be able to knock it down by 33 percent as far as the size of the cartridge, cut the gun weight in half and keep the same or better ballistics, I think you’re doing something.”

Zelenky boasts that his gun is not only lighter – weighing between 15 and 20 pounds, depending on accessories – than the .50 BMG, but has comparable accuracy with much-reduced recoil. He is confident it has a dependable range of 3,000 yards with the “kick” of a small-caliber center-fire.

Farabaugh agreed.

“I love it,” she said. “The trigger on it has no slack at all. There’s no recoil to it. It’s less than a .243, like he said. I was expecting there to be a little bit more, but there’s nothing to it at all. The trajectory and the way your vapor trail is is flat. It just shoots really nice. I’m really impressed with it.”

Farabaugh said she thinks the gun would make a good bench-rest rifle at 1,000 yards, but not at shorter distances because the trajectory doesn’t stabilize until about 500 yards. She also said she didn’t think it would make a practical deer rifle, but would be applicable to long-range hunting for species such as groundhogs.

At a cost of about $5,000 per rifle and $6 per loaded cartridge, Zelenky conceded the gun is unlikely to become popular with the masses. He expects it to be used by extreme-range target shooters and in long-distance hunting applications.

“The normal Pennsylvania deer hunter at 100 yards will not see the benefit of this gun,” he said. “A mountain man who shoots from side-hill to side-hill will see great advantages.”

Zelenky said the barrel of the .338 Xtreme will handle any .338 bullet, but the chamber will not take standard .338 brass, accepting only the casings his company derives from the .505 Gibbs.

He plans to market reloading components and dies in a month. In addition to selling complete guns with several stock options, he said, the company also markets actions.

Zelenky said the .338 Xtreme derives its performance from a combination of innovations in both bullet and rifle design.

“This bullet will improve other .338s, but they will never get to where this is,” he said. “The way this is engineered and the way it is produced, it is far superior to other rifles in the sense that it’s able to capture this kind of horsepower to do what it is doing right now.”

[P-11 shooter]

Cool...........

[arrrrgh15]

NO SHIT! I'm from Grassflat originally. I've driven by his shop and always wondered what in the hell he's building in there. Now I'm going to have to stop by.

The 338 Xtreme sounds like a great idea.

[WhiteFeather]

Another article

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08237/906641-454.stm

Somerset firm touts new rifle's accuracy

Tucked away in Clearfield County, Grassflat may be a tiny town (pop. 750), but if Xtreme Machining has its way, it will become the center of the universe for precision tactical rifles used by military and law enforcement snipers, civilian target shooters and big-game hunters.

To that end, the company today will roll out its latest product, the .338 Xtreme Tactical rifle. It is touted as being accurate for up to 1.6 miles, with low recoil and light weight. About two dozen representatives of the military, federal agencies, southwestern Pennsylvania police SWAT teams and gun dealers are expected to attend the company's shooting event at a range in Somerset County.

"We want them to get their hands on it, to see the accuracy, to feel the recoil and say, 'Wow!'" said Xtreme marketing director Paul Leonard. "So far, everybody has said, 'Wow.'

"We can make any gun out there already, but our objective was to make the best. The serious shooter is always looking for something better."

And, he said, the .338 Xtreme tactical rifle is that "something better." Using an automobile analogy, he said the .338 Xtreme is to other weapons what a Mustang GT is to the family sedan.

"It's a custom-built rifle but it's not an assembly-line rifle. Everything is machined and tested. We make one at a time, but quite a few a day."

The company won't list all of its targeted customers, but two likely are the Army and the Marine Corps.

According to an article in May in the Army Times newspaper, both branches of the service are looking for a long-range "anti-personnel'' sniper weapon to complement the standard sniper rifle, which is effective out to 800 meters.

The Xtreme could fit the bill. The selling points of the rifle are fourfold, beginning with accuracy at a target 2,500 yards away and beyond, said Mr. Leonard, who acknowledged that company representatives have taken a prototoype to the Marine base in Quantico, Va.

"There are two other firearms out there that they say can shoot that far, but they weigh more and are less accurate," Mr. Leonard said, noting the Xtreme rifle weighs 16 pounds as compared to the 30 or so pounds a .50-caliber rifle used by snipers can weigh.

According to the Army Times, both the Army and the Marines use versions of the .50-caliber sniper weapon, which has a range out to 2,000 meters. But it is mainly intended to destroy targets larger than a man, such as light-skinned vehicles, the newspaper said.

The Xtreme is a light-kicking anti-personnel or game-killing weapon.

The recoil is like that of a much less powerful .22-250 rifle.

"It's almost unreal,'' Mr. Leonard said. "With other [rifles] in this class, after a couple of shots, your shoulder is done, but not with this. You can shoot all day long."

Additionally, the rifle can be fired 10 times consecutively without overheating. All parts are 100 percent machined; there are no forgings or castings.

Mr. Leonard said the rifle's high performance is enhanced by the .338 Xtreme cartridge. The Army and Marines haven't given details on the caliber they would want in a new sniper gun, according to the Army Times.

"This bullet was made for this gun,'' Mr. Leonard said. "A lot of guns are made for bullets, but we did it the right way."

Depending upon the model, the rifle will retail between $4,700 and $6,200. American Tactical Imports in Rochester, N.Y., is the distributor for the rifle, which has been in research and development since Xtreme Machining began business in April 2005.

The company, whose president, Robert A. Zelenky, has been in the machining business for 25 years, employs about a dozen people. But Mr. Leonard said more hiring will be necessary to keep up with expected demand.

While the rifle is initially being shown locally, it will have a wide-ranging impact, he predicted.

"We want to get it started from the grass roots. We'll start in our own area and spread out further and further," he said.

"This firearm not going to stay in Western Pennsylvania. It's going to go everywhere, trust me. This is a major breakthrough, one of best things to happen in the shooting industry in about five years."