EAA Balikli BLK Rifle Review: A Sub-$700 Remington 700 Lookalike

American Rifleman's Richard Mann tests the Balikli BLK, a Turkish-made, Remington 700-inspired bolt-action rifle that EAA imports.

Key points

• Basics: chambered in .308 Win. or .30-06 Sprg., with a threaded 20-inch barrel. The barreled action weighs 4.48 pounds and the complete rifle with rail and magazine weighs 6.65 pounds.
• Not a clone: the bolt release sits on the left side, the extractor is Sako/M16 style, and small geometry differences mean not every Remington 700 part fits. A Remington 700 Timney trigger will not work.
• Accuracy: nine five-shot groups averaged 1.39 inches. After Mann found loose action screws and tightened them to 45 inch-pounds, the average dropped to 1.17 inches.
• Trigger and reliability: the trigger broke between 3.5 and 3.75 pounds with some creep and over-travel. The rifle had no feeding, firing, extraction or ejection problems.

Quick take

Mann rates the trigger as average for the price and says the floor plate fit was his only cosmetic complaint. He writes that with a tuned trigger there would be little to complain about, and he treats the suggested price of under $700 as a strong point.

Read the full story at American Rifleman.