First Impressions of the Sabatti Urban Sniper Out of The Box

This is the second post in the series about the .308 caliber Sabatti Urban Sniper.  In the first post, I provided a bit of history about Sabatti and the Italian Firearms Group (IFG) plus why I was intrigued by the rifle and its claim of sub-MOA accuracy with the Multi Radial Rifling (MRR).  In this post I am going to pick up with the rifle being delivered to my FFL, Scott Igert of Modern Antique Firearms.

The rifle was quite striking.  I immediately liked the heft, balance and features.  It’s 41-3/4″ including the removable brake.  Weight of the empty rifle is about 8-3/4 pounds.

It comes with the green hardcase with eggshell style foam interior that you see in the photos.  Note it is really just for shipping as there isn’t room for an optic.  Not a big deal but worth noting.  I think most guys will want to get a better case anyways – I always make a case for my precision rifles to protect them and their optics better plus carry whatever accessories I want securely.

Let’s start our review at the back

The glass reinforced nylon stock caught my eye right away.  I like polymer stocks and this is very well executed.  There is a nice recoil pad and then two half-inch spacers that you can remove if so desired.    The cheek piece allows for tall scopes.  I found that I did not need to adjust it.  I would recommend applying Vibra-Tite 213 VC-3  to these so they don’t shoot loose under recoil (Vibra-Tite stays flexible/gummy so it can be reused vs. many thread lockers being one time use).

Back to the stock, there is a comfortable hook for the supporting hand and the pistol grip is quite comfortable for me.  Note, I wear XL sized gloves.  Someone with small hands might find it too big.  My bet is that if you wear at least a medium glove you will be ok.

Now, let’s look at the middle

On top, the rifle comes with a Picatinny optics rail, which is great.  The bolt has an oversize screw on knob.  The trigger is crisp with very little travel.  I used a Lyman digital trigger gauge and 15 consecutive pulls and it averaged about 3-1/8 pounds.  The bolt release is on the other side and is a small lever you actuate to remove the bolt.

The magazine is an AICS pattern and a 10 round unit comes with the rifle.  The magazine release is on the front of the trigger guard.  I found it a bit awkward at first but got used to it.

You’ll note the lower Picatinny rail at the front ready for a bipod.

Let’s look at the front

As you can see, it has a short thick bull barrel — it is 20.47″ (510mm) long and  measures .86″ (22mm) at the muzzle.  It has 1:11.5 twist rate and you can just make out the “MRR” logo for Multi Radial Rifling on the barrel.

I immediately had high expectations of it!  The barrel is threaded 5/8″-24 and comes with a muzzle nut protector you can install if you would rather not have the brake.  Let me jump ahead a bit, the weight and the brake really do a great job of controlling the .308’s recoil.

Last comment, note the front swing swivel that is out of the way of the rail.  I thought that was a nice touch.

The Verdict?

I was very impressed to say the least.  This rifle can be found on Gun Broker and other websites for under $1,200 and has an impressive list of features for the price.

The rifle needed a scope and I had a brand new Vortex PST Gen II all lined up for it and a Plano hard case.   I’ll cover them in my next blog post.


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