Mossberg Offers Its Patriot in 7mm PRC—It’s as Good as it Sounds

Bleecker St. Publications, the parent company of both GAT Daily and Athlon Outdoors, brought back the classic Athlon Rendezvous in 2025. The event, which was held at Brush Creek Ranch in southeastern Wyoming, concluded two nights ago [as I write this], and now most of the attendees are either home or getting ready for NRAAM 2025 in Atlanta.

Rendezvous was a huge hit, and a handful of writers and shooters, including myself, got the chance to go hands-on with new products—both guns and gear. Many of the items we saw at the event are still under embargo at the time of this writing. There was no shortage of cool products we saw and handled. 

Ironically, one of the cheapest rifles present (that wasn’t even a brand-new release) on the firing line at Rendezvous left a big impression on me: the inexpensive Mossberg Patriot bolt-action rifle.

Mossberg: The Rifle Company?

Typically, when one thinks of Mossberg, chances are they think of its shotguns. Models like the Mossberg 590 or Mossberg 500 come to mind. But the company has also been offering centerfire bolt-action rifles, too, and none too expensive for what they are.

Mossberg’s flagship rifle series is the Mossberg Patriot, a standard button-rifled Remington 700 pattern bolt-action rifle that can be picked up in numerous chamberings and a few different configurations. It’s evident that Mossberg manufactures the Patriot to be a working man’s utilitarian rifle.

Most of them ship with basic and functional furniture in the form of standard synthetic or walnut hardwood stocks—nothing overly elegant. Although it is worth mentioning that Mossberg does offer their Patriot LR variants with an entry-level MDT stock that accepts AICS pattern magazines. 

Mossberg formally launched the Patriot models a decade ago in 2015. So, while the Patriot is nothing new, I had never gotten behind the stock of one until earlier this week at Rendezvous. I don’t think I had even seen one in the wild either. But after my experience with the specific Mossberg Patriot rifle chambered in Hornady’s 7mm PRC that Mossberg brought for demo purposes to Rendezvous, I think it was one of the true underdogs and unsung heroes of the event.

According to Scott—the Mossberg rep who was shepherding the shooting position and handing us loaded rifle magazines—this particular rifle has a real-world price of approximately $450. That’s dirt cheap for a lightweight contour bolt-action rifle that’s chambered for one of the industry’s most sophisticated modern 7mm rifle cartridges. For perspective, one can hardly find a common Mosin-Nagant M91/30 for less than that these days. 

The Patriot Goes To Rendezvous 

Scott’s demo 7mm PRC Mossberg Patriot was a basic model with a black synthetic stock and a matte-blue finish. Its bolt-body was fluted, and its muzzle was cut for standard ⅝ x 24-inch threads. Mossberg includes an adjustable trigger that reminded me of the ones seen on Savage rifles (with a trigger blade). It was set up to break at a reasonable and inoffensive trigger pull weight.

A Harris-style bipod sat over the rifle’s forend, and this Mossberg Patriot wore a ZeroTech MRAD riflescope that sat over a single-piece Picatinny scope base. I didn’t catch the scope’s actual model or further details, but it definitely wasn’t anything expensive like a Nightforce or Kahles riflescope. If I had to guess, it was something that zoomed all the way to 25x power. The rings that held this riflescope in place looked quite pedestrian, too.

This Patriot wore a .30 caliber Dead Air silencer over its muzzle—a welcome accessory that not only reduced the muzzle blast but also served to make the rifle less jumpy in between shots. In fact, having this silencer onboard only sweetened my entire experience shooting the Mossberg Patriot.

After breaking each shot, the silencer dampened the rifle’s natural tendency to jump (as lightweight rifles with bipods tend to do). So, I had enough time to recover and watch the impact through the scope.  

Making 1,050 Yards Feel Like 150 Yards

The Rendezvous firing line included a few different berms set up with steel targets that were placed at 100, 300, and 400 yards. Further down the range area, there was a single square steel plate that sat at approximately 1,050 yards from the shooting position. Readers are probably aware that this distance isn’t much for a potent cartridge like Hornady’s modern 7mm PRC.

Admittedly, I haven’t had any meaningful time to shoot bolt-action rifles since last December when I covered the Tikka T3X Lite and the Nightforce Mil-XT reticle. So, when I found out that one of the event’s manufacturers had a rifle set-up to shoot at targets over 1,000 yards, I didn’t hesitate to take advantage. Fortunately, Scott from Mossberg had taken care of all the zeroing and DOPE, so we didn’t have to worry much about the nuts and bolts. 

Shooting the Patriot in 7mm PRC

I sat down behind the rifle, propped up the butt with a rear bag and closed the bolt home behind a 7mm PRC cartridge topped with a 180 grain Hornady ELD Match (.796 G1 / .401 G7). Once I was positioned behind the rifle, Scott told me to “favor left” and hold 7 mils towards the upper corner of the steel plate. I sent it. Nothing happened.

I jacked the bolt and cycled another fresh match cartridge. (Are all budget Remington 700-pattern actions this smooth—and fluted?) Then I sent that one. Missed it again. Third time’s the charm, right? Again, thanks to the .30 caliber Dear Air suppressor, I was able to recover and watch for the dirt splash of the previously missed cartridge.

Fortunately, the wind was cooperative that Tuesday morning, and all it took was to hold a ½ mill off the top edge of the upper left corner of the plate. 

Impacts Galore

Bang…

[wait about four seconds]

Impact.

Bang…

[wait another four seconds]

Impact.

Bang… 

[Another four seconds pass by]

You guessed it–impact. 

A Patriot Needs to Eat

Since this rifle is the basic Mossberg Patriot, it’s equipped with a basic flush-fitting, blind 3-round magazine. While I was shooting, Scott had been helpfully loading extra mags to hand to me, replenished with that 180-grain Hornady match load. The red ballistic tips on Hornady’s ELD Match projectiles are really eye-catching, especially in the dimly lit shoothouse where we were shooting from. 

I proceeded to do the same thing again with three subsequent magazines. By holding the scope’s reticle ½ mil off at the top left corner, every round impacted to the point where it was getting kind of boring, ironically. Except it wasn’t because this was one of the cheapest long guns present at the event. It’s a shame I didn’t get the chance to survey my actual impacts on the steel plate downrage.

The other thing to keep in mind is that Scott had been shepherding this Mossberg Patriot for the better part of three hours prior to my arrival at his station. When I sat down and adjusted the stool and fixed my rear bag, it was hard to miss the heat mirage rising and dancing off that can’s outer surface. And keep in mind, this wasn’t a gun with a thick bull barrel profile. It had a light contour barrel. That gun was nice and hot by the time I got to it. 

After seeing what this Mossberg was capable of with factory match ammo, I’m curious to see how it prints with a cool barrel at 100 yards.