Customizing The Proof Research Switch Rifle

A look at a few upgrades and additions that will bring your Proof Research Switch to the next level.

Proof Research’s Switch rifle is a capable bolt gun. Out of the box, it’s a lightweight, mag-fed, short-action hunting rifle. But swap the barrel and stock with a few hand tools, a vise, and 20 minutes, and the Switch is a completely different rifle. It’s based on the Zermatt Arms TL3, Remington 700 footprint action. Zermatt produces bolt heads in a range of sizes to accommodate most popular cartridges, and there are a ton of barrel makers spinning Savage prefits for the TL3.

Starting Point

With that in mind, my rifle does double duty as a freezer filler in its off-the-shelf, carbon-fiber configuration and switches over to a PRS gun with a heavy 6mm barrel and gamer chassis in the warmer months.

From the factory, the Switch has a Stocky’s Carbon Fiber VG2 stock and Hawkins Precision bottom metal. Not too shabby to start. But it’s 2020, and there are a couple things I’d like to add. While adding capability adds weight, for me on the East Coast, this isn’t an ounce-counter’s sheep gun. Besides, with the carbon-fiber barrel and stock, there’s weight to spare on the gun.

Base Customization

That being said, the gun doesn’t need major changes. The only thing missing on the stock is a modern accessory rail. It comes with a sling stud mount, but that broad, flat bottom is the perfect spot for a melted-in M-LOK rail.

Henderson Precision’s Rapid Situation Rail (below) is the answer. It’s designed to be inlet into a stock, pretty much turning it into a hybrid M-LOK compatible hunting chassis. With it routed in, there’s room for a Spartan Precision QR bipod mount, sling stud, and 3-inch Henderson Precision ARCA rail to slap the rifle on a tripod. It’s mounted flush, so gun handling is unchanged from its stock configuration when run slick.

The Switch comes with a teardrop bolt knob. It’s great for smooth, unhurried bolt operation, but I like a more aggressive and positive handle for PRS shooting in the summer. With the TL3’s customizability, Zermatt’s Helical Diamond-shaped bolt knob screws right in, riding my knuckle better and offering a lot more purchase for my thumb.

The only other major change is the trigger. The gun came with a Triggertech Special, a very fine trigger. But I had a new Geissele Super 700 to test out, so I swapped it in and liked it enough to leave it in place. The Triggerscan graph shows how smoothly the Geissele ramps up to its clean break.

Additions

There’s no reason to shy away from a bipod, even on a hunting rifle. The Spartan Precision’s Pro-Hunt, with its carbon-fiber composite construction, complements the full-feature-on-a-diet ethos of the host rifle.

Mean Gene Leather’s hunting sling is wide, stiff, and comfortable. Its rubberized back secures the rifle on the shoulder, and it wears and softens in the right places without getting floppy as it ages.

Topside, the rifle wears a Leupold Mark 5HD 3.6-18×44 FFP scope. It’s a tough-as-nails optic with a zero lock and 12 mils of elevation after zeroing the rifle for 6.5 Creedmoor … which will reach out to 1,200 yards. For hunting, the uncomplicated duplex reticle with an open-dot center is plenty fast. The scope lives mostly at 3x power for wide area gun-glassing, and with a bump of the built-in mag lever, it cranks up to 10x for a shot.

Leupold’s tall scope rings are durable and precisely grip the scope’s 35mm body. Fun fact: Leupold makes these rings in-house to match their own standards. I’ve been to the factory and watched them being made. They aren’t rebranded, marked-up, third-party rings. One other nice-to-have is the aluminum scope covers; they’re magnetic and stay closed while moving, then pop open and lay flat in use. They screw into the optic’s threads for secure, low-profile glass protection.

Results

With the Geissele’s trigger pull weight set to 1.8 pounds in its competition, single-stage setting, the trigger is much lighter than most hunting rifles, but it’s fine if you’re used to a competition trigger. If not, probably best to crank that trigger up to the 3-pound range.

Five-shot groups with the Proof Research carbon-fiber barrel and 140-grain Hornady ELD-X are always around 0.35 MOA. And when checking zero before stepping out for some coydogging last week, the rifle produced a 0.22 MOA 3-shot group.

The complete rifle weighs 9 pounds, 13 ounces with optic, sling, and a P-Mag. As a modern hunting rig, this optimized Proof Switch is far more capable, more accurate, and more fun to shoot than any other bolt gun I’ve gotten behind.

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in Carnivore Magazine Issue 5.

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