Winchester's XPR Hunter Compact

The first centerfire rifle I purchased for my eldest son weighed 8 1/2 lbs and had a 13 1/2″ pull. A little tough for an eight year old to haul around the woods, but he did. That was in the old days when I told my kids to tough it out, walk it off and/or stop being babies, even when they were actually not much more than babies.

Those were the good old days, before the age of enlightenment when dads loved their kids, worked hard at being good providers, but had only WW II era Marine Corp combat vet dads as parenting role models. Thank God for moms. Eventually, my son used the same rifle to dispatch a 200 pound boar and, no, I did not have him roll around in pig blood and feces to celebrate the kill. Fortunately, smaller statured shooters now have choices. Perhaps not in dads, but certainly in suitable firearms, as exemplified by the spiffy subject Winchester.

The Winchester XPR Compact Hunter – Mossy Oak Break-Up is a modest departure from the full size version of the same firearm. The Compact version’s barrel at 20″ is 2″ shorter than the full size and the Compact’s length of pull, at 13″, is 3/4″ shorter. The idea is to maintain good balance while better adapting to smaller and younger shooters. Browning, Winchester’s parent company,  has followed suit.

Longer in production, the X Bolt Micros Midas have a 12 1/2″ length of pull, where newer into production XB3 Micros have a 13″ length of pull. The 13″ LOP is, in my opinion, a better choice than the 12 1/2″ as it fits teen and near teen shooter who would make up much of the young shooter mass, while not making the buttstock so short it is awkward for an adult to manage.

The 7mm-08 Remington chamber was selected for the subject Hunter Compact, which places deer, black bear, hogs and similar size game hunting comfortably within its capabilities. Cartridge performance is good close in, as well as at a distance and recoil and report are moderate. For folks with an affinity for other cartridges, Winchester has been accommodating, offering alternative chambers in: 243 Winchester, 308 Winchester, 270 WSM, 300 WSM, 325 WSM, and 6.5 Creedmoor. That is quite a power and reach range.

Magnum chambers get a 22″ barrel, which will yield good external ballistics with the WSM selections. Based on the Creedmoor’s reputation as a long range hitter, I was a bit surprised that selection did not also get a 22″ barrel or perhaps Winchester should be commended for fielding a good deer cartridge in the XPR, a ballistic twin to the 260 Remington, without the suggestion of 1,000 yard shooting.

The non-magnum Hunter Compact weighs in at 6 lbs 12 oz, the WSM version at 7 lbs on the nose which is consistent with current sporters and not excessively light. The butt end of the rifle is fitted with a Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad, which does a good job of directing recoil down and away from the shooter’s cheek, forthwith and henceforth avoiding bobble head syndrome.

The PermaCote finish is indicated as gray in color, but I would suggest the finish is closer to gray/black. PermaCote, similar to Cerakote, is a ceramic based paint that is applied over a Parkerized finish. In use on Winchester’s SX3 since 2007, PermaCote has field proven to have exceptional wear characteristics, corrosion and erosion resistance. Where chipping might occur, the underlying Parkerized layer provides continued protection.

A little peek and poke around…

The Winchester XPR is a barrel nut firearm, consistent with the latest generation of bolt action rifles from mainstream manufacturers. Contrary to much of the discussion regarding barrel nut fitting versus thread cutting to arrive at proper headspace, I do not see use of a barrel nut inherently good or bad or more or less accurate. I see the barrel nut approach as a way to replace expensive machine and machinist time with assembly grade labor, a way to build more accommodating inventory and a way to ease demands on a service department and still have a rifle built with precision.

In the absence of a recoil lug sandwiched between barrel shank shoulder and receiver, the recoil lug is embedded into the composite stock and then interlocks with the a slot cut into the bottom of the Winchester’s receiver. Winchester receivers are machined from solid bar stock. The result of all of this… stuff, is a stable assembly that yields good accuracy.

The Winchester XPR’s bolt has a lug diameter body with just enough reduction to allow it to pass into the barrel extension and allow the bolt’s three lugs to rotate into a locking position ahead of the extension’s lug seats. A plunger type ejector is embedded in the bolt face, a sliding extractor is incorporated into the outboard lug. The accumulative results are is a very smooth bolt throw with a shallow 60° bolt lift with a very strong, solid lock up.

The Winchester M.O.A. trigger operates with increased mechanical advantage, an intermediate actuator to shorten stroke, polished hardened parts, and coil springs to preload the trigger assembly. The result is a light trigger with no take-up, no creep and no over travel. The assembly is adjustable, however, it is preset at the factory to 3.5 Lbs. The M.O.A. trigger is also a very safe trigger. The trigger piece is physically moved away from the actuator when the safety is engaged… Winchester nomenclature.

Contributing to safe firearm use, the XPR has a red dot cocked indicator and the familiar red dot fire position indicator for the thumb operated slide safety. The safety locks the bolt in battery when engaged, however, the small button ahead of the safety thumb slide allows operation of the bolt to empty or check the chamber with the safety engaged.

The Mossy Oak pattern is pretty nifty with a deep three dimensional look. I found myself occasionally trying to pick those little twigs off the stock… as an issue of pattern realism rather than advanced age and diminished mental acuity. I usually don’t care for camo stocks, but this one has good geometry and it is substantial in construction.

The detachable poly magazine is a self centering single stack type. Three in the magazine and one in the chamber when at the ready gives the Winchester XPR Hunter Compact a four round capacity. If you are an AR aficionado the capacity is miniscule. If you are an experienced, skilled hunter, you’re wondering what you would do with the three extra rounds. You say tomato and I say, “Why did you just say tomato?”

The Winchester XPR does not share a mount standard with the Model 70 or other Winchester or Browning products, but they are easy enough to come by. I used Warne mounts in a previous XPR review, two piece Picatinny set, that makes for flexible scope positioning Warnes # M916/954M $31.99. This time around Leupold dual dovetail mounts were utilized. Matte # 170358 $24.99. 

The Warnes are the most flexible, offering multiple slots to mount long and short tube scopes. The Leupold bases are excellent, however, they will only accommodate longer tube scopes. The plan was to install a Leupold compact, but a Burris full length was installed to accommodate ring spacing. The XPR utilizes 8-40 fasteners for a beefier grip of base to receiver.

Yes, I did hit the range. Thanks for asking…

The 7mm-08 Remington cartridge is highly underrated, something to pass off to a youngster or recoil sensitive shooter. In reality, it is a factory hotrod, the 308 Winchester necked down to accept 0.284″ bullets. It does not have the case capacity of the 7mm magnums or the 280 Remington to handle heavy 160 and higher grain bullets, but it does an excellent job with 120 grain through 140 grain bullet weights. There are factory loads up through 156 grains.

For the handloader, bullet weights ranging from 100 grains to 197 grains are readily available and the 7mm-08 Rem is an extremely flexible cartridge that can be put to use on targets and hunting from varmints through elk. Hey, if you’re going to teach a new hunter shooting skills, you may as well go ahead and get them started handloading.

Four types of factory ammunition were shot. While certainly not an exhaustive test of the rifle’s capabilities, it is a good enough cross section of popular ammunition types to get a feel for the XPR Hunter Compact’s output.

Accuracy was good shooting off of a front rest. Comparative velocity, factory 24″ barrel ratings to the Winchester’s 20″ actual wasn’t major, although I was surprised that the high velocity rated ammo didn’t really bring much more over the chronograph where most coalesced around the mid 2800s.