Rock River Arms RBG-1S Bolt Rifle

Spotter up. Steel silhouette at 1075 yards. Half-value wind, hold a right edge. Send it. The shooter presses the trigger, and the shot rings out. About 1.9 seconds later, the round impacts the steel, and a faint sound echoes through the canyon back to the shooter. After a quick cycle of the bolt, the shooter is back on target and ready to send another one. This scenario was played out countless times recently during an introduction to precision rifle class I ran in Idaho. These were mostly new shooters interested in learning more about the art of long-range shooting. There was a variety of rifles ranging from simple to custom. I had recently received Rock Rivers’ new RBG-1S bolt rifle, and it was time to test it.

Rock River Arms RBG-1S Bolt Rifle

I have been waiting a while for this rifle to land on my doorstep. Rock River has been working on this rifle for several years to perfect it. I shot a prototype of this rifle in 2019 during a media event and made a mental note to keep an eye on its development. While Rock River is well known in the AR realm, they have made a serious move into the bolt gun market with the RBG-1S. The rifle is available in a few configurations. You can get it in .308 Win. / 7.62×51 and 6.5 Creedmoor, along with a 20-, 22- or 24-inch barrel. You also have stock color options, including black, green, or tan. Rock River Arms sent me a .308 rifle with a tan stock and 24-inch barrel for testing. A 10-round AICS-pattern detachable box magazine feeds this rifle.

Rock River took their time to build a gun that is more than an “and also” in the bolt gun world. The rifle is serious business and is composed of exceptional parts. The stainless-steel barrels come from Wilson Combat and are air-gauged for precision. The Wilson barrels are cryo-treated, a process that brings the temperature of the steel to minus 300 degrees via liquid nitrogen, and is kept there for 24 hours. This process reduces inherent stresses in the barrel steel, and testing shows it increases its accuracy. Rock River is passionate about the fit of this gun and does the final chambering and finish work in-house. The barrel has a 1:8 twist and is threaded at the muzzle 5/8×24. The thread protector extends beyond the barrel to help protect the Rock River Arms RBG-1S bolt rifle crown.

TL3 Action

The action is a butter-smooth TL3 from Bighorn Arms. It is a 416 stainless steel design with a spiral fluted bolt body, floating bolt head, and hearty fixed ejector. It has a threaded bolt handle, allowing you to add a custom handle should you choose. I found the one on the rifle fit me well and worked perfectly. The action, as I said, is very smooth. It is also free of bolt chatter because it fits nicely in the action. The rifle’s receiver includes a 20 MOA aluminum Picatinny rail.

The rifle also has standard scope base holes drilled into the receiver should you choose to run conventional ring mounts. The rifle is mounted in a Kinetic Research Group Whiskey-3 chassis. The W3C combines precise aluminum bedding with tool-less adjustments, durability, and excellent ergonomics. It is a solid choice for this rifle and has an adjustable length of pull, cheek riser, as well an adjusted height butt pad. The pistol grip is composed of polymer halves screwed onto the aluminum chassis. Supplied with the rifle is a second pistol grip that is thicker and longer front to back than the factory-installed grip, allowing you to customize this part of the rifle.

.230″ Group

The Rock River Arms RBG-1S bolt rifle is built to accept Accuracy International patterned magazines. Lastly is the trigger. Rock River chose to use the popular TriggerTech adjustable trigger for this gun. On my rifle, it broke just under three pounds and had almost no take-up at all. Even with all these quality components, the gun is more than a sum of its parts.. When I received my rifle, it included a test target, as many high-end guns do. This one was a three-shot group that measured an incredible .230 inches. That only served to make me wonder what I would be able to do with this rifle. With that, I packed it up and headed to Idaho.

I was quick to share, and soon, there were several shooters in line to test the RBG-1S. It was a popular rifle and became the center of several serious discussions about how much accuracy we can expect from a rifle. This also provided a teachable moment for the class. In short, I listed several tips to keep in mind for precision shooting. The first is to invest in a serious rifle. The RBG-1S fits the bill on this pretty easily. What you save by buying a cheap rifle will return and haunt you later as your skills exceed the rifle’s capabilities.

Set it Up

The second is to take the time to fit the gun around you. This includes everything from the length of pull to where you set your scope. I always lay people down behind their guns and begin the fitting process. The biggest mistake most people make is in scope placement. If it is not set at the right spot, you will fight the “black donut” forever. Number three is always using quality ammunition and finding the ammo your gun shoots best. Cheap ammo will break your heart simply because it is not designed for precision work. Your high-end rifle will shoot a two-inch group if you feed it junk. Lastly is to buy good glass. I believe in the adage, “Buy once, cry once.” Like a cheap rifle, you will quickly out-skill your cheap glass.

Great Trigger

Performance-wise, the gun did not disappoint. The trigger proved to be fantastic and broke very cleanly. The gun comes in at just over 10 pounds before glass and ammo. This has enough mass to make recoil management a breeze. While we focused on steel during the class, I took the rifle to my range here in Arizona once I returned. I set up to see if I could replicate the target Rock River had sent with the rifle. I would set up with a bipod, and my trusty homemade rear bag. Glass for the test would be the Tract Optics Toric 4.5-30X56MM MRAD ELR scope. Ammo-wise, I brought three flavors for the day: Federal 168 Gr Gold Medal Match, Hornady 168 Gr ELD Match, and the last of my Black Hills 168 Gr Match HPBT.

Rock River Arms RBG-1S Bolt Rifle – Tested

I took my time to keep the barrel from getting too hot and ensure the best groups possible. Ultimately, we broke out calipers to see what I could do. While I could not replicate Rock River’s target, I got three very nice targets. All three brands performed well, but the Hornady ELD seemed to fit the gun the best. It gave me a very nice .35″ group, which is impressive. I am uncomfortable listing these rounds in order of group size because they all performed very well. I was not remotely happy about packing the rifle and heading off the range. When you get a gun like that, you want to shoot it all day.

The Rock River RBG-1S is a high-performance blaster that will undoubtedly show up in the hands of serious shooters nationwide. If you are looking for a turnkey, out-of-the-box rifle that will give you sub-½ MOA performance, you must take a long, hard look at Rock River Arms.

Rock River RBG-1S Performance

Load	Velocity	Average Group	Best Group
Hornady 168 gr ELD Match	2,840	0.4”	0.35”
Federal 168 Gr Gold Medal Match	2,650	0.45”	0.4”
Black Hills 168 gr Match HPBT	2,650	0.55”	0.5”