Shooting Rise Armament’s 1121XR in 6.5 Creedmoor

At the 2018 SHOT Show Range Day, I stopped by to fire a Rise Armament Model 1121XR rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor.

Rise Armament prides itself on precision, adhering to considerably stricter-than-normal standards of manufacture. From their “About us” page:

All RISE Armament-brand parts are manufactured according to strict AS9100- and ISO9001 2008-certified procedures, which are more stringent than typical gun manufacturing practices. AS9100 is the highest level of quality control certification; its standards were written for the high-risk aerospace industry.

We are also ITAR and CAGE Code registered, and we’re registered with the JCP. The certifications’ regulations provide assurance that what we build is safe, reliable, and of supreme quality.
The certifications mean we’re held to higher standards, but they don’t come close to our own standards.

All RISE parts must pass stringent inspection and QA processes before leaving our facility.
Our high-tech inspection equipment can measure up to five decimal places—two decimal places beyond the industry standard and far more precise than the human eye can detect.
Parts must meet strict tolerances at multiple stages of production. Complete firearms must pass additional inspections during subassembly and, of course, after final assembly.

That’s easy to say, but not that easy to prove. But when I can crawl up behind a semi-automatic rifle for the first time and make hit after hit at 960 yards, it’s pretty clear that I’m operating a fine machine, and that’s exactly what happened.

This model (1121XR) is currently only listed on their website in 308, but I can attest that a 6.5 version does exist, and it’s one of the most accurate rifles I have ever had the pleasure of firing. As I summed it up in my notes, it was easy to make the hits with this rifle.

MSRP for the 308 version is $2,449.00, and I wouldn’t expect that to vary for the 6.5 CM version. Not cheap, but considering what the rifle can do it doesn’t seem out of line.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.