Rifle breakdown: 2025 PRS Sportsman Build

I was privileged to come out of the 2025 Midwest PRS series with a Sportsman division win. This is not the same as an Open division win, where the field is far deeper. However, Sportsman did present several unique challenges. Chief among them is weight. The class has a 13-pound weight limit for the entire set-up: rifle, optic, bipod, magazine – anything attached to the gun during the course of a stage. That’s a tight limit for a match rifle, and several of the components I initially selected failed to hold up to the abuse of PRS matches. It took two full rebuilds to land on something that shot reliably well in multiple conditions.

Below, we’ll take a look at that final build component by component and assess what parts I plan on keeping or changing next year. Hopefully, my experiences can save you some time and money. For reference, the featured build is 12lbs 13.5oz with a polymer 10 round MDT mag and timer.

Action: Tikka CTR action

If I was starting from scratch to build a lightweight precision build, I’d probably go with something a little lighter, but I’ve had no issues with the Tikka action. It has lots of aftermarket support, is very affordable, and has not held me back in the slightest. The only major downside is that it’s tough to get the factory barrel off, but once that’s taken care of, installing a new barrel is fairly straightforward.

Verdict: I plan on running this Tikka and another next year. No complaints. I like it enough that I bought a second Tikka action to build out in a slightly different configuration for NRL Hunter Open Light division.

Barrel: Proof Research Tikka Prefit 6.5CM 22” barrel

Carbon fiber barrels have a… controversial reputation and a relatively high price tag. I’m not a materials engineer and I can’t speak to all manufacturers’ carbon offerings, but my experience with Proof Research has been very positive. This barrel outperformed two other barrels in head-to-head testing I ran this spring, holding under 1 MOA ten round groups for 6 different types of factory ammo during testing (some groups were as small as 0.55MOA with factory ammo). There was little to no heat shift during 10–12 round groups, even with a suppressor attached.

If I didn’t need maximum weight savings, I wouldn’t have gone with a carbon barrel, but this particular carbon barrel has performed exceptionally well. It’s currently at just over 2500 rounds, and it will be a sad day when it comes time to retire it.  

Factory Tikka barrels are also very accurate, and I only replaced the factory barrel because I burnt it out, but I have been very impressed with the performance of this Proof barrel.

Verdict: When this barrel finally gives up the ghost, it’s getting replaced with another Proof.  

Suppressor: Abel Company Theorem S with Abel brake endcap

This can is fantastic. Lightweight with a good sound profile on the standard endcap. The brake endcap is fairly loud, but it provides a substantial reduction in muzzle rise.

I am not a fan of brakes on precision rifles. Modern competition brakes dramatically reduce recoil but are uncomfortable to shoot, often leaving the shooter with a headache after a match worth of rounds (which I strongly doubt is good for one’s long-term health). A good brake on a suppressor gives you moderate recoil reduction, but without the headaches or the feeling you’re being slapped in the face with every shot.

Weight is at an absolute premium on this build, but I prefer the experience of shooting suppressed enough that I am willing to spend the 13.5oz on this can. If I’m hunting and want more sound reduction, it’s as simple as screwing off the brake endcap and putting the closed one back on.

Verdict: Not only do I like this can enough to run it next year, but I like it enough that I’ve bought two Abel Company Theorems.

Ammo: Norma 6.5CM 143gr Golden Target factory ammo

I’m a bit of an outlier in the competition world because I shoot factory ammo. I am aware that I am probably leaving some performance on the table, but with three young kids, I just don’t have the time and space to reload my own ammo right now.

At the beginning of the season in 2025, I ran a test of seven different types of factory ammo through this rifle where I logged group size, standard deviation of muzzle velocity, and calculated hit rate based on each rounds BC. Of the ammo I tested, the 143gr Norma performed near the top in each category in this rifle. Happily, it was also the cheapest ammo as well by a significant margin.

My group size with this ammo/rifle combo was about 0.6-0.7MOA for 10 round groups. Standard deviation was roughly 12. The 143gr Norma round has very good BC, making it quite forgiving for shifting wind conditions. The only issue I noticed is that the BC’s weren’t quite as good as printed on the box/website. This is common, and often part of the limitation of how G7 BCs model drag. I ran a waterline test at 600 yards and found that the custom bullet profiles in both the Applied Ballistic and Hornady 4DOF app lined up with what I was seeing, so I ran those profiles instead of the G7 that Norma lists. Simple fix. As usual, it’s best to use the custom profiles in your ballistics calculator when they’re available.

Verdict: No complaints with this ammo – it’s an amazing value for the price. Assuming the next Proof barrel also likes it, I plan on shooting this again next year in both NRL Hunter and PRS Sportsman. Other ammo that performed well this year was Sierra 140gr SMK’s (which had single digit SD’s), Federal Gold Medal Match140gr SMK (which shot a .55MOA 10 round group from this barrel), Sig 140gr match, and Berger 140gr factory ammo. The Berger ammo is almost double the cost of the Norma, and I ran a hit rate calculation through ABQuantum, the better wind performance of the Norma 143gr round edged out the slightly tighter groups and better SD of the Federal GMM SKM and Sierra SMK loads by a couple percentage points.

Chassis: KRG Bravo w/ pro-front end and arca spigot

A lot better shooters have talked about the benefits of KRG chassis. I’ve run a Bravo for a couple years with various front ends, and the durability and customizability are great. The pro front end isn’t cheap, but brings a lot of benefits to the table, including rigidity and a relatively light weight. Without the spigot, the Bravo/pro configuration weighs in at 3lbs 6.7oz. The spigot added some additional weight, but also moved the center of gravity further forward on the rail to where I wanted it for all the barricade work of PRS. The ergonomics and overall feel are excellent.

My only complaint with this set-up is that KRG doesn’t have a way to buy the Bravo already set-up with the Pro version of the front end to save money.  

Verdict: I plan on running this again in Sportsman for next year with no changes.

Scope: Leupold Mk5HD 5-25x PR2 reticle

Nowhere is the weight limit of Sportsman felt more than in scope selection. The Leupold MK5HD is a lightweight scope that has held up well to the abuse of competition, and frequently is seen in podium finishes by much better shooters than myself.

It’s lightweight, with decent image quality, good durability, excellent reticles, and a fairly reasonable price tag.  In the weight class (only 30oz for this magnification, the 3-18 is an even thinner 26oz), there are few options that are more proven.

But is not perfect. Most of the reticle options don’t have illumination so night matches are out of the picture. It has a goofy 35mm tube size that can be tough to find scope mounts for. The capped windage dial is limiting for matches and tough to read due to a badly designed indicator (which can be remedied by buying an aftermarket dial… but this is the sort of fix that should come from the factory).

It is also worth noting that this particular MK5HD came from the factory with an improperly mounted reticle which was canted 5 degrees off true. Leupold customer service repaired this in under a week, but it’s still the sort of thing that should have been caught in QC.

That said, the scope has tracked reliably, and one of my other MK5HD’s has taken repeated (unintentional) hard impacts including a drop onto concrete from shoulder height (don’t ask) without losing zero or exhibiting tracking errors.

Moreover, the PR-2 reticle, without question, my favorite reticle for matches. It provides me with all the data I need to perform accurate holdovers, while still being open enough to gather all the necessary data from impacts (or misses) during shot follow though. I’ve used several other reticles, including the H59 and Tremor and for NRL Hunter and PRS matches, nothing I’ve used comes close to the PR-2.

Verdict: I’m planning on running this MK5HD in NRL Hunter next year, while the Sportsman gun gets a MK5HD 3-18 to save a little weight. In this weight class, the MK5HD is tough to top, though I would like to try the Steiner H6Xi as a point of comparison (or, at least, to have something to shoot night matches with).

Rings: Seekins Precision 35MM Rings 1.26” height

Not much to say about these, other than that they didn’t come loose, and were lightweight (under 6oz).

Verdict: I have no complaints with these, but I’m going to try a 1.5ish” mount next year to slightly optimize for positional work.

Trigger: factory Tikka trigger

I ran the factory single stage trigger with no modifications this season. It breaks at 1lb 3oz. Factory Tikka triggers are significantly better than they have any right to be at their price, and if you want to make them even better, there are $10 aftermarket trigger springs that can be used for further tuning. I want to try a TriggerTech Diamond at some point, but I doubt it would affect my hit rate significantly one way or the other (TriggerTech, if you want to prove me wrong, please feel free to send me a unit for testing!)

Verdict: I’m not planning on changing this, unless I find a good deal on a TriggerTech Diamond (and that’s more for the coolness factor than performance increase).

Bipod: B&T Atlas CAL with a RRS universal clamp

The MDT Singlepull is considered the meta bipod for PRS, but both cost and weight are considerations in my choice. I run an Atlas CAL for PRS Sportsman and a CAL tall for NRL Hunter. I have no real complaints – it’s stable, easy to deploy, and lightweight.

Verdict: I plan on running this again next year.

Other components:

-          MDT Timer

I ran an MDT crush it timer in both NRL Hunter and PRS this year to let me know how much time I had left to work with on any given stage. I hate that this timer is so expensive, but it does bring a lot to the table. You can set-up to four different alert points, and being able to glance over and see the time remaining was a big advantage.

I will say that, at least on mine, the batteries don’t last long, and they tend to die before the timer gives any warning that they are running out, which is irritating. But I’ve yet to find another good way to solve for time management, so I just replace them a couple times a year.

-          Level

I run a Flatline Ops Halo-X level. Some sort of level device is essential for long range shooting. A lot of competitors really like the electronic level from MDT. I’m sure it’s really good, but for me, it isn’t worth the weight and cost. The flatline level brings the level into a visible plane and is quite bright in most lighting conditions (except night matches). No complaints.

Disclaimer: All of the above assessed, with the exception of the Sig ammo, were purchased at my own expense. I did receive an industry discount on some of the items, but I do not believe this impacted my verdicts.