The “South Fork” is a new offering from BadRock Rifles. BadRock is a division of Defiance Machine, who is no stranger to the precision rifle world. The $1995 South Fork rifle is designed from the action up to compete in the “Production” division of the Precision Rifle Series matches.

The South Fork rifle starts with custom receiver that loosely follows the M700 pattern. The receiver will fit a M700 inlet stock or chassis and accepts M700 pattern triggers. The bolt is a two-lug design, but the similarities end there. The South Fork uses a controlled round feed design that work with Accuracy International AW ten round magazines.

Controlled round feed rifles are designed so that the bolt face solidly grips the case head as soon as the cartridge feeds from the magazine. This is incredibly useful if you are shooting the rifle while laying on your side or if you encounter a cartridge that will not chamber and you need to eject it. This is in contrast to a “push feed” type action where the extractor only grips the cartridge after the shoulder of the chamber has pushed it back into the bolt face. Controlled round feed is a highly beneficial feature, but is usually reserved for the more expensive custom actions.

The feeding system of the South Fork was not without issue. I found that with the AW magazines, a cartridge would often pop up from the feed lips before the case head was secured by the extractor. This resulted in the bolt pushing the case froward and into battery just like a push feed action. This did not cause any malfunctions, but it eliminated the benefit of a CRF action.

We found a second issue while using the AW magazines. Often when few cartridges remained in the magazine, the bolt would skip over and not pickup the top round. When combined with the smooth movement of the bolt, you would not notice the issue until you received the dreaded “click” when you wanted a “bang.”

The feeding issues seemed to resolve themselves when using AICS pattern magazines. We shot the South Fork with Accuracy International, MDT and Magpul branded AICS magazines. They all functioned without issue. All caused more drag on the bolt when chambering a cartridge, but this also made it much more apparent when you closed the bolt on an empty chamber. The magazine issue is not really a problem when viewing this as a competition rifle. AW magazines are expensive and limited to 10 rounds. The MDT magazines are available in 12 round capacity and are the better competition choice for most stages.

The South Fork action also features other standard items like a side bolt release, pinned recoil lug and pinned scope base. Opting for a pinned on scope base reduces machining cost, but also allows BadRock to offer the 20MOA scope base as an additional $75 purchase, removing that cost from the base price of the rifle. A similar situation exists with the recoil lug. While I would have likes to see the recoil lug integrated into the body of the action, this would have increased material and machining costs.

BadRock chose to use the Modular Driven Technologies LSS-XL Gen 2 chassis for the South Fork rifle. While the MDT ACC (Adjustable Core Competition) Chassis is a better choice for an open class competition rifle, the LSS-XL offers many of the features of the ACC at a much lower cost.

The LSS-XL comes with the MDT pistol grip and the MDT Skeleton Rifle Stock. Both the grip and the stock could be replaced with AR pattern components at a later point if the shooter wanted to move to open class. I don’t really see this as necessary though. The MDT Skeleton Stock offers a very wide range of adjustments to the comb and the buttpad. This should allow most shooters to get it dialed in perfectly to their body and shooting style.

Chassis used for competition have to be able to adapt to the shooter’s preference and shooting style. The MLok forend of the LSS-XL Gen 2 allows for a very wide range of accessories to tailor the rifle to your needs. The South Fork rifle comes standard with a single sling stud that is perfectly situated to mount a Harris style bipod. During our testing, we added a Magpul MLok rail and used the B&T Industries Atlas CAL Bipod. It is also possible to remove the stud and mount an MDT ARCA spec rail if you use ARCA tripods and accessories.

The South Fork Rifle weighs in at 10.5 lbs without accessories or glass. While I prefer a rifle on the lighter side of things, the trend has been towards heavier rifles. If the South Fork is a little too light for you after mounting your scope and bipod, you can opt for a MLok weight kit from MDT that will increase that significantly.

One of the most important links from shooter to rifle is the trigger. BadRock did not skimp in this regard. TriggerTech triggers are highly regarded and consistently winning in precision rifle competitions. The South Fork rifle comes standard with the TriggerTech “Standard” Curved Trigger. The Standard has an excellent trigger pull that can be adjusted from 1.0-3.5 lbs. Our T&E rifle came with the pull set at 1 lb. 6 oz. and did not exhibit any excess take-up or over-travel.

Our review rifle came chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor and equipped with a 26″ barrel. The South Fork can also be ordered in .223 Remington with a 23″ barrel.

BadRock does not specify the source of the barrel blanks that they use for the South Fork Rifle. We have seen over the years that hammer forged, button rifled and single point cut can all produce extremely consistent performance. I am more concerned with how the barrel performs than how it was made. PRS Production Class Rules require that when the barrel wears out, the original manufacturer replace it, so you do not have the option to just throw on your favorite replacement.

During our review period we shot both Hornady Match 147gr ELD-M ammunition as well as Federal Gold Medal Match 140gr. Both performed well and produced five shot groups in the 0.50-0.75″ range at 100 yards. It is likely that you can reduce these groups significantly by hand loading your ammunition. Due to the nature of this rifle (Production Class) and our schedule, we did not attempt to work up a hand load for it.

The barrels are threaded 5/8″-24 to accept most standard muzzle devices. Our sample came with the Area 419 Hellfire brake. This is an additional $165 option. The Hellfire brake has quickly become one of my favorite brakes due to the tool-less indexing and the options for suppressor mounting. We will be publishing a full review on this brake and suppressor mount soon.

After several shooting sessions and several hundred rounds through the rifle, I am definitely pleased with the South Fork rifle. If you are interested in competing in Production Division, this rifle is an excellent choice. It offers a lot of value for the price.

If you shoot a season of Production and decide to move to Open Division, the South Fork isn’t likely to hold you back. You could very easily spin on barrel chambered in whatever the “wildcat du jour” is and be compeditive. The rifle will support the skill level you are capable of.

If you are looking for an open class rifle, this probably isn’t the best choice. Some considerations were made to keep the rifle under the $2000 price cap. Each one of the components could be moved up one step of the ladder and result in a better overall Open Division rifle. That is just the fact of producing a product to a price point and leaving an acceptable margin for profit.