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Shooting Times September, 1996 by Dick Metcalf |
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Magnum Research's Lone Eagle has been upgraded, and its performance is improved. |
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I love it when good things get even better. That's what's happened to the Magnum Research Inc. (MRI) Lone Eagle single-shot hunting pistol in the past couple of years, and it just keeps on getting better. The pistol was originally developed in 1991 by Ordnance Technologies of Orano, Maine, as the SSP-91 (Single Shot Pistol). It was first marketed, then owned and produced by MRI, and its name was changed to the Lone Eagle in 1993 to complement the other birds of prey in the MRI catalog-like the Desert Eagle, Baby Eagle, and Mountain Eagle semiauto pistols. I reviewed the initial SSP-91 version back in 1991 and found it to be a useful tool with an innovative design, but I will acknowledge that at the time my preference was for Remington's XP-100 as the lead gun in my single-shot handgun battery. But then in 1994, Remington discontinued the XP-100, and the Lone Eagle began to move upward on my list of hunting pistols. The folks at MRI have taken advantage of the void left by the demise of the XP-100 by introducing a series of Lone Eagle improvements-new stock designs, additional chamberings, integrated muzzle brakes for high-recoil loads, improved bore tolerances that have turned the Lone Eagle into a better machine than the first versions. I decided to find out what, if any, effect these improvements have on the Lone Eagle's performance compared to the results I obtained in my initial review. Current chamberings include .22 Hornet, .223 Remington, .22-250, .243 Winchester, 7mm-BR Remington, 7mm-08, .30-30 Winchester, .308 Winchester, .30-06, .357 Maximum, .35 Remington, .358 Winchester, .44 Magnum, and .444 Marlin. A Baby Artillery Piece As many ST readers know, the Lone Eagle is the only handheld firearm on the market that employs a rotary breech like an artillery cannon. The rearmost part of the gun is the breech cap, which extends backward only a mere inch behind the rear of the chamber. To load, you dial the breech cap just over a quarter-turn (105 degrees) counter- clockwise from its closed position to expose the chamber, slide in the cartridge directly from the rear, and turn the breech cap back to lock it closed. After you have fired your load and again turn the breech cap open, the fired case will eject clear of the chamber. No plucking is necessary. Loading and cocking are two separate, unrelated actions. You cock a Lone Eagle by pulling out and backward on a cocking lever that sits in a slot in the left side of forend portion of the stock assembly. Because cocking requires a physical action totally separate from chambering and locking a round, it's very safe and can't occur by accident. Plus, there is also a large and heavy steel manual cross-bolt safety running completely through the upper receiver portion of the stock assembly which physically blocks the trigger and the action rod. The Lone Eagle firing mechanism involves a spring-loaded action bar that runs the full length of the polymer grip assembly. When you pull out and back on the cocking lever, it engages a flat, steel cocking plate on the front end of this action bar, pushing it forward until the engagement surface of the spring- loaded trigger can snap upward into a notch in the bar, holding the bar cocked in place. There is noticeable creep in the trigger pull as the trigger slides across the face of the cocking notch in the action bar, but it has not been a problem for trigger control for me (and I'm very finicky about crisp trigger pull); however, I have always found the Lone Eagle's substantial trigger overtravel very distracting. The gun has about the same locktime as a long-hammer, single-action revolver (say, a Ruger Super Blackhawk), and overtravel hurts. So back when I was sighting-in my first sample SSP-91, I super-glued a small piece of firm rubber onto the plastic surface of the stock behind the trigger and razor-trimmed it until it would stop the trigger's rearward movement at the instant it broke free of the action rod. My groups improved noticeably thereafter, and I've given the same treatment to every Lone Eagle I've handled since. Barrel-Breech Interchangeability The Lone Eagle's barrel and rotary breech assembly are manufactured as a single unit which can be taken from the molded-polymer stock assembly by removing a single crossbolt. This bolt, which is the only thing holding the two main parts of the gun together, passes from the right side of the receiver portion of the stock through a heavy rectangular lug welded to the bottom of the barrel into an embedded nut on the opposite side of the stock. So it is probably not technically correct to say that the Lone Eagle has interchangeable barrels. Instead, it offers interchangeable barreled actions. If you want to switch from one chambering to another, you just unscrew and withdraw the crossbolt, pull the entire barreled action up out of the molded stock, switch, and replace the bolt. The Lone Eagle's barreled actions are more costly by far than the molded-polymer lower action unit, but there is still a considerable savings. A complete gun costs $408 to $518, depending on finish and chambering. Barreled actions run from $289 to $399. So the interchangeability savings are about $110. ![[Image of the MRI Lone Eagle]](MR_files/mrilone.jpg) The standard Lone Eagle comes without sights (as do barreled actions). The barrel is drilled and tapped to accept metallic sights, and a Weaver-type crosscut scope mount base is available as an accessory from MRI. MRI also sells Williams standard-catalog open rifle sights to put on the pistol-as well as a line of other accessories including an ambidextrous universal stock assembly (the standard-issue stock has a right-hand thumbrest). Newer Is Better I recently received a shooting sample of MRI's newest Lone Eagle, and after putting it through a substantial amount of shooting, I can tell you there is definitely an improvement compared to the performance I have received from earlier Lone Eagles. The improved sample was chambered for my favorite long-range handgun cartridge, the 7mm-08 Remington. Sporting MRI's matte satin Ecoloy II finish (similar to stainless steel in appearance), it was also fitted with MRI's proprietary muzzle brake. Included with the pistol was a new .223 Remington barreled action. I mounted a Bushnell 2.5-6X scope on the 7mm-08 and a Burris 10X-IER on the .223 barrel and went out to my 100-meter range to see how the handgun performed. (The results are shown in the accompanying chart.) Previously, I had evaluated the Lone Eagle as being about midway in mechanical accuracy between the Remington XP-100 and the T/C Contender based on my working with .223, .30- 30, and .308 barrels. But my first sight- in shots with the new 7mm-08 handgun at 50 meters cut one ragged hole. At 100 meters all the loads I fired grouped one MOA or better. Plus, with the MRI muzzle brake system, this Lone Eagle 7mm-08 had virtually no significant felt recoil. With my 7mm-08 XP-100, which weighs about the same as the Lone Eagle, muzzle flip is abrupt, and the wooden stock is punishing to the hand after just a few shots. I was anticipating essentially the same result when I first fired the 7mm08 Lone Eagle, but the push against my hand was about the same as a .223 XP100, and muzzle flip was virtually nonexistent. Turning to the new .223 Remington barrel, I was curious to see if there would be any difference compared to the first-generation SSP-91 I had reviewed three years ago. My best .223 handload for the 14inch Contender is a Hornady 50-grain SX spirepoint over 20.0 grains of IMR4198, which yields 2652 fps and 1.75inch, 100-meter groups. My .223 XP100 prefers the same bullet over 27.0 grains of H335, which provides 2975 fps velocity and 0.87-inch three-shot averages at 100 meters. With Remington's 53-grain HP .223 factory load at 2834 fps, I can get three-shot groups at 100 meters from the XP-100 that average about 1.8 inches. The best factory load in my 14-inch .223 Contender is Winchester's 55-grain HPPL at 2716 fps, which yields 2.5- inch average groups at 100 meters. Compared to these baselines, my older Lone Eagle/SSP-91 .223 barrel provided averages better than my Contender, but not quite as good as my XP100-yielding two-inch groups with the two factory loads and a one-inch average with the H335 handload. The new .223 barrel upped the ante a bit. As the chart shows, the average of the two factory loads fired was 1.82 inches, and the combined average for the four handloads was 1.05 inches, with the favored Hornady SXSP/H335 load averaging 0.83 inch. Overall, that's as good as any .223 XP-100, or any other .223 custom pistol, I've ever fired. I didn't start out as one, but I am now a Lone Eagle fan. It's grown into a very impressive performer from a user's point of view. With the XP-100 off the market, it's my first choice of hunting handgun for high-performance rifle-type cartridges. And should the XP- 100 come back, well, the Remington isn't going to find the field quite so fallow as it was when it left. |
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