First Look: Sauer 404 Synchro XTC

Lightweight and built for precision, the Sauer 404 Synchro XTC is engineered to seamlessly combined accuracy and flexibility.

What Sets The Synchro XTC Apart From Other Rifles:

• Switch barrel and bolt-head design allows rifle to jump between numerous calibers.
• Hand-laid carbon-fiber stock and fluted barrel combine for a featherweight package.
• Fully adjustable buttstock improves fit and accuracy potential of the gun.
• Graduated trigger setting lets the shooter know the exact break weight.

Outside the AR world, jumping calibers on the same rifle is a somewhat foreign concept to American shooters. Not so in Germany. Partly as a skirt around somewhat onerous laws and partly a bit of engineering showboating, Teutonic gunmakers have embraced and perfected the switch-barrel concept. Perhaps non more than J.P. Sauer & Sons.

Released around a half-decade ago, the Sauer 404 redefined flexibility with a bolt-action able to climb up and down the spectrum of calibers with the greatest of ease. Thank the ingenious swappable bolt head, along with the interchangeable barrels, for the world’s most protean long-gun. Subsequently, the line has only improved over the years, culminating recently in one of the company’s sharpest shooters —the Sauer 404 Synchro XTC. A hybrid hunter-precision option, the rifle incorporates the best of both for a rifle that’s accurate and versatile in the same breath.

Where it’s at on the 404 Synchro XTC is its stock. Sure enough, a thumbhole stock is enough to get many to turn their noses up at the rifle. For those who get past this—or just plain love them—there is quite a foundation to the rifle. Rigid and stable, the hand-laid carbon-fiber stock is the ideal platform for consistent accuracy, further aided by a fully adjustable buttstock. Both length of pull and comb height are modifiable, ensuring shooters address the rifle the same every time they’re behind the trigger.

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And it’s light. The 404 Synchro XTC’s stock and fluted barrel, combine for a 5.9- to 6.2-pound package (depending on caliber), which almost flirts with mountain-rifle heft. Of course, if the rifle is bored up through its modular design it has the potential to thump a bit. But ample recoil pad and the thumbhole’s pistol grip should make it more bearable than a traditional featherweight rifle.

Take Aim At Rifles:

It being a Sauer creation, the 404 Synchro XTC has a load of nifty extras most hunters or target shooters should appreciate. Its manual cocking system, a button at the rear of the bolt that cocks and uncocks the rifle silently, makes it among the safest long guns on the market. And the gun’s adjustable trigger is graduated—marked with Roman numerals—making it simple to discern if the rifle is set for a 1.2-, 1.6-, 2.2- or 2.7-pound break.

At present, Sauer offers the 404 Synchro XTC in 14 different calibers, from .243 Winchester up to .404 Jeffery. Though, there is a little question of price. Hate to burst bubbles, the rifle isn’t cheap, starting at $8,199. On the other hand, the money might be worth it given the Synchro is the closest thing to a do-all rifle there is.

For more information on the 404 Synchro XTC, please visit jpsauer-usa.com.

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