By Eric Conn, Gun Digest
Yankee Hill Machine’s new Hunt-Ready Carbine is a scoped and zeroed rifle, ready to shoot straight out of the box.
How this Yankee is ready for the hunt:
- The Hunt-Ready Carbine is field-ready, with a 3-9x40mm Bushnell Trophy scope.
- The scope comes already zeroed at 100 yards.
- The rifle is available in three chamberings: 5.56 NATO, .300 BLK and 6.8 SPC II.
- The carbine is accurate, with the average overall group at the range at 1.02 inches.
If there’s one thing I hate in life, it’s all the purchased items that I’ve got to assemble, configure, or, worst of all, consult the instructions about. IKEA be damned, I’m a fan of anything that requires little-to-no assembly, saves me time and allows me to enjoy the activity for which I obtained the item in the first place. It’s really no different when it comes to hunting — although I’m as big a fan as anyone of tinkering with my gear, I’d rather spend time actually hunting than trying to assemble, sight in and adjust the finely tuned components on a firearm.
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That’s where Yankee Hill Machine’s (YHM) new Hunt-Ready Carbine comes in handy. Chambered in several popular and effective hunting calibers — including 5.56 NATO, .300 BLK and 6.8 SPC II — the rifle comes topped with scope, sighted in at 100 yards, sling already attached and ready to rock. The rifle, which carries an MSRP of $1,579, comes topped with a 3-9×40 Bushnell Trophy scope featuring a mil-dot crosshair reticle.
Features
One of the most obvious features on the new Hunt-Ready Carbine is a Kryptek Highlander coating, which covers buttstock, receivers and handguard, and is well suited for coyote country. The rifle also comes with a Grovtech adjustable sling, which features a wide shoulder strap with plenty of padding for extended walks afield. The rifle is fairly light, however, coming in at right around 8½ pounds with scope (unloaded).
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While the particular rifle I tested came with a 1:9-inch twist rate, YHM also offers the Hunt-Ready Carbine with a 16-inch barrel with a 1:7-inch twist, perfect if you’re trying to stabilize heavier hunting bullets. For coyotes and anything I’d use the .223 Remington for, however, the mid-sized bullets — say around 40-55-grains — are more than adequate, as is the 1:9-inch twist rate.
The heat-treated steel barrel is diamond-cut to help cut down on weight, and it also features a low-profile gas block. A rifle-length handguard with M-LOK compatibility is ergonomically well suited for hunting, having no jagged or rough edges, and offering plenty of different setups afield.
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YHM conveniently provides a forward assist with standard right-handed controls and a six-position M4 buttstock. The barrel is topped with a Phantom 5C2 flash hider/compensator that allows for rapid follow-up shots on game, something that’s particularly helpful if you’re trying to grab more than one coyote in a set or polish off an entire prairie dog town.
The Hunt-Ready Carbine comes with a Bushnell scope, as stated above, which is more than adequate for the range of the .223 cartridge. The scope comes with a YHM-246 one-piece scope mount, made from aircraft-grade aluminum and hardcoat anodized. Offset, the scope mount allows users to mount farther forward on the rail, optimizing eye relief for a wider variety of shooters.
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For the sake of testing multiple optics on the rifle, I also included a Burris XTR II 1-8x24mm scope in the review. For mounting, I used a Burris P.E.P.R. mount with 30mm rings. With 11 different illuminated reticle settings (adjustable on the lefthand turret) and a milrad elevation turret, the XTR II is easily and quickly adjustable (all dials, including magnification, feature aggressive texturing for a no-slip grip) and makes an extremely useful long- or short-range optic for the AR.
At the Range
To see just how well the rifle lived up to the Hunt-Ready claim, I took it straight from my FFL to the range, loaded some mags and went to work with the Bushnell scope. I accuracy tested the rifle with three different loads and bullet types, including Hornady’s 40-grain V-Max, American Eagle’s 50-grain JHP and Nosler’s 55-grain, tipped Varmageddon load.
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Hornady’s V-Max load is one I turn to frequently for predator applications, as it’s always a top performer. It lived up to its reputation with this rifle, producing a best group of .599 inches from a Caldwell B.R. Pivot shooting bench and Lead Sled. The average group, taken from three, three-shot groups, was an impressive .885 inches — more than enough to slay ‘yotes or other predators out to 300-400 yards. Nosler’s 55-grain Varmageddon produced a best group of .647 inches, with an average group of .877 inches — quite respectable, and better than MOA at 100 yards. Finally, for a budget-friendly load, I tested Federal’s American Eagle 50-grain JHP. I’ve killed numerous predators with the load in .223 and .22-250, and have never been disappointed with accuracy, especially for a bulk load. Testing proved that anecdotal evidence true, with AE loads producing a best group of .487 inches, the best among the day’s accuracy data, and an overall group size of 1.02 inches.
With a good trigger and a respectable scope, the Hunt-Ready rifle from YHM is clearly more than capable of producing game-stopping accuracy, and more. I’d certainly have no hesitation about taking it afield and stretching the distance on predators.
Parting Shots
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YHM claims its new rifle is ready out of the box, and I have to say I concur. It has a good trigger, produces repeatable accuracy and aptly handled a number of different loads, all without fail. Per YHM’s claim, the rifle really was zeroed at 100 yards, and the Bushnell Trophy 3-9x40mm scope was more than adequate for the job at hand. With a fairly reasonable price tag given the package ($1,579), this is a rifle every hunter should seriously consider.
In Gunsmithing the AR-15: The Bench Manual, author Patrick Sweeney covers every component that makes up the versatile firearm — from buttstock to muzzle brake. This is essential information, given that the sea of potential upgrades available today can swamp even veteran AR users. Click here to get your copy.
