R 247

November 2009 No. 247

$5.99 U.S./CanadaPrinted in USA

7 25274 01240 4

1 1

$5.99

CAPEBUFFALOGUNS!

Savage’s NEW AccuStock!

Long-RangeVarmintRifles

Springfield1903-A3

Controlled RoundVersus

Push Feed Actions

November 2009Volume 41, Number 6

ISSN 0162-3593Issue No. 247

4

34 .356 WinchesterClassic Cartridges -John Haviland

40 SavageAccuStock RifleThe quest foraccuracy continues!Stan Trzoniec

48 Springfield 1903-A3Remington’s Battle Rifle Mike Venturino

Page 40 . . .

Background Photo: © 2009 Ron Spomer

24 How to Almost Losea Championship Down Range -Mike Venturino

28 Speer TNTGREEN™ BulletsMostly Long Guns -Brian Pearce

32 Squeaky Clean LiarsStraight Talk -Ron Spomer

Rifle 247www.riflemagazine.com

8 Standard RiflesSpotting Scope -Dave Scovill

14 Stock CrossPins andCross Bolts Light Gunsmithing -Gil Sengel

22 Future ScopesOptics -Ron Spomer

Page 48 . . .

Page 68 . . .

On the cover . . .The 9.3x74R Beissel & Winiecki Posendouble rifle is proof-marked September1912 and features a trigger guard madefrom real horn. Photo by Chub Eastman.

Background Photo: © 2009 Ron Spomer

Page 40Page 58Page 48

58 Long-Range VarmintsHaviland tests performanceto 500 yards.John Haviland

68 Bolt ActionsControlled RoundVersus Push Feed Brian Pearce

76 Buffalo GunsThe Legendary Mbogo Ganyana

84 Benjamin MarauderDual-Fuel RifleProduct Tests -Jess Galan

90 What’s New inthe MarketplaceInside Product News -Clair Rees

Rifle 247www.riflemagazine.com6

Issue No. 247 November 2009

Sportiting FiFirearearms Joururnalal

Publisher/President – Don Polacek

Associate Publisher – Mark Harris

Editor in Chief – Dave Scovill

Managing Editor – Roberta Scovill

Art Director – Gerald Hudson

Production Director – Becky Pinkley

Contributing Editors

Associate Editor – Al Miller

Advertising

Advertising Director - Stefanie [email protected]

Advertising Representative - Tom [email protected]

Advertising Information: 1-800-899-7810

CirculationCirculation Manager – Michele Elfenbein

[email protected]

Subscription Information: 1-800-899-7810www.riflemagazine.com

Rifle® (ISSN 0162-3583) is published bimonthly withone annual special edition by Polacek Publishing Corpo-ration, dba Wolfe Publishing Company (Don Polacek,President), 2625 Stearman Rd., Ste. A, Prescott, Arizona86301. (Also publisher of Handloader® magazine.) Tele-phone (928) 445-7810. Periodical Postage paid atPrescott, Arizona, and additional mailing offices. Sub-scription prices: U.S. possessions – single issue, $5.99; 7issues, $19.97; 14 issues, $36. Foreign and Canada – sin-gle issue, $5.99; 7 issues $26; 14 issues, $48. Please allow8-10 weeks for first issue. Advertising rates furnished onrequest. All rights reserved.

Change of address: Please give six weeks notice. Send both the old and new address, plus mailing label ifpossible, to Circulation Deptpartment, Rifle® Magazine,2625 Stearman Road, Suite A, Prescott, Arizona 86301. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rifle®, 2625Stearman Road, Suite A, Prescott, Arizona 86301.

Canadian returns: PM #40612608. Bleuchip Interna-tional, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.

Wolfe Publishing Co.2625 Stearman Rd., Ste. APrescott, AZ 86301Tel: (928) 445-7810 Fax: (928) 778-5124© Polacek Publishing Corporation

John Haviland

Brian Pearce

Clair Rees

Gil Sengel

Ron Spomer

Stan Trzoniec

Mike Venturino

Ken Waters

Publisher of Rifle® is not responsible for mishaps of any nature which might occur from use of published loadingdata or from recommendations by any member of The Staff. No part of this publication may be reproduced withoutwritten permission from the publisher. All authors are contracted under work for hire. Publisher retains all copy-rights upon payment for all manuscripts. Although all possible care is exercised, the publisher cannot accept re-sponsibility for lost or mutilated manuscripts.

Page 76 . . .

8 Rifle 247www.riflemagazine.com

Hardly a week goes by that

we don’t hear from someonewho wants reduced loads forwhatever cartridge. The commondenominator is that folks are in-terested in reduced recoil fornew hunters, either children oradults. More often than not, theyhave a rifle but want to tame itdown a bit for practice.

The fallacy in the reduced recoilidea is that sooner or later, as-suming folks ultimately want touse the rifle for hunting, they willhave to deal with normal recoil,which for some may be a bit of ashock after they get used to re-duced loads.

The other problem is that forsome cartridges, like belted ornonbelted magnums from .270 to.30 caliber, it simply isn’t practi-cal or prudent to reduce loadsbelow the suggested startingloads listed in various reloadingmanuals for the bullet weight ofinterest. The same applies tononmagnums, such as the 7mm-08 and .25-06 Remingtons, oreven the .270 Winchester and .30-06. Reducing the powder chargebelow the suggested startingloads is not recommended.

There are a lot of reasons fornot reducing loads beyond rec-ommended minimums in manu-als, but it really boils down to thefact that gunpowder simply doesnot burn properly below minimalpressures and temperatures, es-pecially in cold weather. Folkscan nitpick the facts and fiddlearound in no-man’s land all they

want, but sooner or later, it willcome back to haunt them in termsof spurious pressures and ve -locities, blown primers and, inthe worse case, a ruptured rifle.That’s particularly true for slower-burning rifle powders that arecoated with deterrents to slowthe burning rate, such as H- orIMR-4831, 4350 and others gener-ally used to develop optimum ve-locities with mid- to heavyweightbullets in a variety of cartridges,from the .257 Roberts or .30-06 tothe big magnums.

In general, if the velocity rangeyou might be looking for in a givencartridge is below the suggestedminimums, use pressure-tested,factory-managed recoil ammuni-tion or switch to a different riflethat better meets recoil require-ments. Generally, the easiest wayto reduce recoil is to reduce thebullet weight, such as 110 grains inthe .270 or 120 in 7mm’s.

SPOTTING SCOPE by Dave Scovill • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

STANDARD RIFLES

Managing Editor Roberta Scovill took this 6x6 bull at 374 yards with aBarnes 150-grain TSX in a Remington Model 700 7x57mm Mauser.

Rifle 247

the 7mm Mauser. I worked up a couple of startingloads for both rifles, sat the kids down at the bench,taught them how to shoot properly, draped a foldedbath towel over their shoulders and turned themloose. Seventeen years later, they both still have the rifles.

The scenario repeated with my wife, Roberta,when she grew tired of staying home while I wasout hunting and agreed to a pronghorn hunt in Mon-tana. As the managing editor of Wolfe Publishing,she has a good background in rifles and cartridgesbut had never pulled the trigger on any rifle, letalone one suited for big game. We – both of us – de-cided on a Remington Model 700 .257 RobertsMountain Rifle with 87-grain Nosler Ballistic Tips atjust under 3,000 fps. After a bit of practice from abench, Roberta switched to shooting sticks, to emu-late field conditions, and one shot at less than 100yards did the trick nicely.

Roberta’s next challenge was caribou with ourfriend Barry Taylor (Arctic Safaris) 180 miles northof Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The rifle ofchoice was a Ruger Model 77 MKII 6.5x55 with a140-grain Nosler Partition. One shot at 75 yards orso worked fine.

More recently, Roberta bought a Remington Model700 7x57mm Mauser from Ken Waters, and Iworked up a load with the 150-grain Barnes Triple-

The problem is that readers’ questions are charac-teristically a little late, especially if someone hasjust acquired a 7mm Remington Magnum and wantsloads to duplicate the low end with the 7x57mmMauser or 7mm-08 Remington.

To get ahead of the curve, there are a fewrifles/cartridges that better suit intentions regardingreduced recoil. For deer, the .257 Roberts is at the top of the list. Next up is the 6.5x55 SwedishMauser, followed by the 7x57mm Mauser or, if youprefer, the 7mm-08. I would include the .243 Win-chester, but experience suggests, to me at least, the.257 is a better choice – and I’ve taken a great num-ber of deer with both.

I should also note that the problem of reduced re-coil is not new for me. Back when my children de-cided they might like to go hunting, my daughterAlicia wanted a Model 94 Winchester .30 WCF andson Jason leaned toward my own personal choice,

10 www.riflemagazine.com

This lineup of bolt rifles includes (left to right):a Remington Model 700 7x57mm Mauser (Leupold

scope), Ruger Model 77 MKII 6.5x55 (Nikonscope), Remington Model 700 Mountain Rifle

.257 Roberts (Kahles scope) and Ruger Model 77Ultralight MKII .270 Winchester (Leupold scope).

November-December 2009

ground. She used a Ruger Model77 MKII .270 Winchester UltraLight on two other elk as well.

Nowadays, Roberta rarely shootsoff the bench, but picks up whereshe left off with shooting sticks.If she has learned anything in 20+ years of editing Handloader,Rifle and now Successful Hunter,it is that you don’t shoot groupsin animals, and there are nobenchrests in elk or mule deercountry – or Africa.

Of course, anyone who has readthis magazine over the yearsknows I started out in 1955 withMom’s .257 Roberts, switched toa .243 Winchester after college,added a Model 94 .30 WCF and fi-nally settled on a Ruger Model 77

Shock at 2,700 fps for elk. Thefirst shot at something around370 yards put the 6x6 bull on the

11www.riflemagazine.com

Dave’s daughter Alicia is thecurrent “keeper” of the legendary12 gauge that has passed throughfour generations of the family.Inset, Dave broke the stock in1956 while finishing off a lamb-killing hawk. The makeshiftscrew/repair has held for overa half-century.

©20

09 J

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Rifle 247

rifle, while macho-type he-menmust have a .300 of some sort?The truth is, a .264-inch bulletthrough the elk’s lungs is thesame as a .308 bullet in the sameplace. Moreover, beyond a cer-tain point, impact velocity be-comes irrelevant. Yes, there isthe matter of “reach,” but itrarely matters except for rangesbeyond 300 yards or so, wheresome measure of experiencewith judging distance and trajec-tory might make a difference, as-suming the shooter is capable oftaking advantage of the some-what flatter trajectory.

For the most part, however,most folks could shoot a bit bet-ter if they weren’t shooting mag-nums in the first place; whichprobably explains why the .270Winchester is one of the mostpopular cartridges to ever comedown the pike, and the 7x57mm

7x57mm Mauser in 1973. Duringthat 19 year period, I used/bor-rowed every rifle/cartridge Icould lay my hands on, includingmost everything from a 6mmRemington to a .338 Winchester.It didn’t take long to learn that Ididn’t need a wonder magnum,although I used several before Iwoke up.

Looking back over the last half-century, I’m still of the opinionthat the .257 Roberts, 6.5x55Swede and 7x57mm Mauser arethe pick of the “litter” for anyonewho might be recoil shy, andthey’re more than sufficient forgame as big as our Arizona bullelk. (You can toss the .270 WCFinto the mix if you like, since it isa 7x57mm Mauser, or vice versa.)The school-age daughter of afriend up in Utah even droppedan elk with a 100-grain BarnesTSX from a .243 Winchester.

The dilemma most folks seemto have in choosing a rifle forchildren or wives is confusion in-spired by ballistic tables. Onecartridge might shoot a similarbullet weight 100 fps faster thanthe next, and for whatever rea-son, folks get hung up on .5- to.75-inch variations in trajectory,or ±100 foot-pounds of energy.Another hang-up is some magicvelocity – 3,000 fps, or whatever.I’ve done that too, until I camefull circle and wound up back atthe 7mm Mauser.

Some folks might like to chal-lenge the fact that I left out the.260 Remington, 7mm-08 Reming-ton, 6.5x57 or whatever. But bal-listically, the .260 is a 6.5x55 anda 7mm-08 is a 7x57. If you likethe Remington Model 700 CDL7mm-08, for example, it fills thebill nicely, as does the 6mm Rem-ington versus the .243 Winches-ter. You can debate the issueuntil the next blue moon, butthey are all “peas in a pod.”

Then there are the philosophi-cal issues. As John Havilandnoted not long ago, why is it thata 6.5x55 is fine for a “woman’s”


A Kimber Model 84 .257 Roberts(Kahles 6x) is shown for compari-son with a Remington Model700 .257 Roberts Mountain Rifle(Kahles 4x).

(Continued on page 88)

PENROD PRECISIONPrecision Rifle BuildingOver 160 Chamberings

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Most folks are surprised to

learn that Samuel Colt didnot invent the revolver. The con-cept and the guns were aroundbefore Colt (or his parents) were born. It was simply an idea

whose time had not yet come. Aflintlock revolver was about as practical as a horse-powered helicopter.

Much the same can be said ofPaul Mauser and the bolt-actionrifle. Yet Mauser was so good atperfecting the concept that everycut, every line on a Model 98 ac-tion is there for a functional pur-pose. Some riflemakers today saythey have “improved” the designby leaving off some of the origi-nal features. A closer look findsthese folks didn’t really under-stand why the features werethere in the first place.

There was one detail, however,that Mauser never quite per-fected. That was recoil damageto wooden stocks. We know thatMauser was aware of the situa-tion, yet there was just no substi-tute for trees and the propertiesof wood.

Today, that has all changed.Gunstocks are now made fromthe same materials used fortoothbrush handles and chemicalsprayers. Given the colors of someof these stocks and the designsof others, their creation mayhave been inspired by brush handles and lawn sprayers! Nev-ertheless, for those of us whoprefer bolt guns in traditional fittings, the problems of the treeremain. Let’s look at the type of recoil damage we will be re-pairing (or preventing) in thiscolumn.

Everyone knows that recoil in abolt-action rifle is transferredfrom the barreled action to thestock by the receivers’ recoil lug.On original Mauser military de-signs, the lug is adequate for itstask. Quite frequently, however,humans have come along andmessed things up. Like when ac-tions designed for the 7.9x57mmare rebarreled to large caliber,hard-kicking magnums.

Recoil from these more power-ful rounds can drive the recoillug into the stock, compressingit. In many cases a section ofwood will chip out behind thelug. A simple, yet seldom used,way to prevent this is providinganother recoil lug on the newbarrel. One problem solved, butthere is yet another – stock flex-ing at the magazine recess.

Simply put, when the recoilshock transferred to the stock bythe recoil lug (or lugs) gets to the

LIGHT GUNSMITHING by Gil Sengel • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

STOCK CROSS PINS AND

CROSS BOLTS

A pre-64 Model 70 stock show-ing where it will split (arrow) be-hind the recoil lug. Note the chipout behind the guard screw hole.

This area behind the magazinebox (arrow) is where a split willoccur due to flexing, as explainedin the text. The split has startedon this stock from an old ’06.

This Remington brass reinforcingcross pin is in a factory Model700 stock.

If the stock is to be refinished, aclay dam around the recessedbolt head allows filling withepoxy, which is finished flat withthe wood surface.

Rifle 247

thin strips of wood on either sideof the magazine box, they bowoutward slightly. This causes thesmall bridge of wood just for-ward of the trigger to eventuallysplit while the rear action tangmoves back, driving into thewood at the pistol grip. A smallcrack soon appears there, andglass bedding won’t prevent it.

One may think that just keepingthe rear guard screw tight willprevent these splits, but that isnot the case. The bedding surfaceunder the rear tangs is alwayssmall on flat-bottomed actions.Round-bodied receivers are nobetter, because tightening theguard screws just pulls them into

the wood like a wedge and splits the stock anyway. Mauser’s steelferrules around the guard screwshelp here (and you thought pil-lar bedding was a new idea). Sodo the oval panels on some com-mercial Mauser sporters. Theseleft the wood around the maga-zine box about twice as thick asnormal.

Fortunately there is a way toprevent (or repair and prevent re-currence) of stock splitting onmost any staggered-column boxmagazine bolt gun. Steel stockcross pins and cross bolts are theanswer. Wood can’t split whensteel is holding it together.

Installation of these devices iseasy, but like sling swivels, if notdone properly, the error is glar-ingly obvious from 30 feet away.All that is required is a simpledrilling fixture as shown in the illustrations. It is intended toclamp to a drill press table but is shown on my milling ma-chine, because the clutter aroundthe drill press was too much forphotos.

The fixture’s base is made fromtwo 10x34-inch pieces of 3⁄4-inchplywood glued together for ridig-ity. A pointed steel pin protrudesabout 3⁄8 inch above the surface,centered laterally on the base,and 15 inches from the right-handend. A foot long section of 4x4pine is held to the base by twocarriage bolts moving in slots


Easy to use isBrownells StockPin Repair Kit. It

doesn’t have tobe used after the

stock is brokenor split. A pinwill prevent a

split fromhappening in

the first place.

Location of the stock pin must beaccurately determined on bothsides of the stock and deeplymarked with a center punch.

BALD EAGLEPrecision Machine Company

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TEL (570) 748-6772FAX (570) 748-4443Bill Gebhardt, Owner

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The NEW

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Gage

“The GageThat Works!”This is a gage to measure con-sistency of rim thickness on .22rimfire ammunition (a .22 rim-fire rifle’s headspace is deter-mined by case rim thickness).The more consistent the rimthickness, the more consistentthe ignition of the primer and thepowder charge in the case. Inother words, the firing pin will fall thesame distance every time if the same rimthickness is used on every case beingfired for a particular group. By sorting theshells into various groups by rim thick-ness, a reduction in group size of up to25% can be realized in some IF NOTMOST rimfire rifles. This informationabout group reduction comes from the.22 rimfire benchrest participants whocompete in the extremely difficult BR-50matches. All of the top shooters sort theirshells into groups by checking rims andweighing the unfired cartridges.

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Slide the 4x4 up until it contactsthe stock flats on either side ofthe barrel channel. Move the 4x4and stock until the drill is per-

fectly aligned with the other cen-ter mark in the wood. Tighten thewing nuts on the 4x4 and clampthe stock to it using a bar clamphaving thick jaw pads as shown.This may take a bit of practice at first.

Drill a pin or bolt hole and re-cess for the bolt head if required.Remove the stock from the fix-ture, put a drill bit in an electricdrill and complete the final 1⁄8inch. Hold a piece of wood facedwith a couple of layers of card-

board against the stock to pre-vent chipping-out wood when thedrill comes through.

The photos show drilling for astock cross pin. These are soldby Brownells as stock repairpins. They are the handiest thinganyone who does stockwork re-pair can have on his bench. Rem-ington has used a similar itemahead of the trigger recess in itsModel 700 stocks for years.

This cross pin is a 21⁄2-inch pieceof threaded brass, available intwo diameters. To prevent splitsbehind a recoil lug or ahead of atrigger, a hole is drilled throughthe stock with a provided drill

about 2 inches long and lockedby wing nuts on top. It providesan adjustable, lockable supporton which to clamp the stockwhen drilling.

In use the fixture is C-clampedto a drill press table with thepointed steel pin exactly cen-tered on the drill chuck. Thestock to be drilled must first havethe centers of the required holeslocated precisely on both sides

of the stock. Spend whatever timeis needed to get this correct!These points are then deeplymarked by pushing a centerpunch into the wood.

Now, with the quill stop set sothe drill just misses the drill fix-ture pin, place the stock with onecenter mark on the pin point.


The drill chuck and pointed pinmust be perfectly aligned.

Close-up of the pointed fixturepin described in the text.

Set the drill to miss the fixture pinby about 1⁄8 inch to prevent split-ting on the far side of the stock.

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Rifle 247

bit. A few drops of ACRAGLAS®

are placed in the hole. The pin,locked in the chuck of a variablespeed electric drill, is run intothe hole until it comes out theopposite side. Dressing the endsflush with the wood finishes the job.

If the stock is already split, thecross pin cannot pull the woodtogether. It is necessary to makethe repair first, then run the pinthrough to prevent it from eversplitting again.

A cross pin is entirely adequatein front of the trigger and behindthe recoil lug in most rifles.When cartridges are big mag-nums of .40 caliber and above,more reinforcement might bewanted behind the recoil lug. Ifthe stock is to be refinished, anembedded cross bolt is the thingto use. Two are shown as num-bers 4 and 5 on the display boardphoto. Both, along with washers

and 10x24-tpi nuts were pur-chased at a hardware store for afew cents.

The only difference in drillingfor cross bolts as opposed tocross pins is forming a recess forthe bolt head on one side of thestock and for the nut on theother. After drilling the bolt bodyhole, the drill bit is replaced inthe chuck with a 7⁄16-inch, fourflute end mill (cost about $5).Use the end mill to cut a flat-bottomed recess deep enough tocover the cross-bolt ends. To re-cess the opposite side of thestock, it must be flipped over on


Mount the stock in the fixture, position as per text, clamp everythingtightly, then drill the hole.

Clamp the stock in the gun vise,put a couple of layers of card-board on a hardwood backer (toprevent chipping when the drillcomes through) and completethe hole.

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Offering Button andCut-Rifled Barrels.

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Rifle 24720 www.riflemagazine.com

like the head and having a blindtapped hole to be made on ametal lathe. If one prefers, a com-plete bolt is available fromBrownells (number 3 on the dis-play board) very inexpensively. Aproper diameter end mill is usedto set the bolt heads flush withthe wood surface. If the mill isturned fast and fed slowly, it willcut a clean hole, making no otherwork necessary.

Cross pins or cross bolts, to re-pair splits or prevent them, a lit-tle equipment and knowledgemake the job easy – and lookprofessional too!

the drilling fixture, along withthe 4x4. Then center, clamp anddrill as before.

After installing the bolt, a claydam is made around the hole andpoured full of black-dyed epoxy.When hard, sand flush with thewood. Many folks think theseblack dots look so neat they wantthe same in front of the trigger!

If stock refinishing is not de-sired, the only option is a crossbolt with exposed ends. Numbers1 and 2 on the display boardphoto are simple steel carriagebolts bought at a hardware store.They require a slotted nut shaped

Cut the recess for exposed-headcross bolts using a common millcutter. Obviously if this were astock, the drill fixture wouldbe used.

Display board showing cross bolts and cross pins. Nos. 1 and 2 are ex-posed-head fasteners from a hardware store. No. 3 uses a spanner wrenchand is available from Brownells. Nos. 4 and 5 are recessed deeper andcovered with black epoxy. Nos. 6 and 7 are Brownells’ stock repair pins.

Run the Brownells pin in with avariable speed electric drill.

R

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How would you like a scope

that communicates withyour rifle? Zeiss has one. It’s theVaripoint iC, recently released inEurope.

Why, you might wonder, woulda scope and rifle need to commu-nicate? One reason is to turn onthe illuminated reticle. Another is to take a picture or turn on arange-finding feature when therifle points at a target. The for-mer is what the Varipoint iCdoes. The latter is reportedly inexistence, but only for militaryapplications.

In Europe, where hunters arehighly trained and maintain re-spect from the general public fortheir roll in keeping deer, fox andparticularly wild boars from dam-aging fields, meadows, forestsand suburban shrubbery, nighthunting is an accepted practice.Boars are largely nocturnal, espe-cially where heavily hunted. Theyare also nearly black. Trying toalign a black crosshair on a blackanimal – even before dark – can bedifficult. American wild pig andblack bear hunters have thisproblem. Even moose and muledeer can be hard to target withtraditional cross wires in darkforests or evening woods. Euro-peans prize illuminated reticles.

is. Your options are to leave thereticle illumination turned offuntil the moment of truth, changebatteries frequently and well be-fore anticipated shooting oppor-tunities or suffer if the darnedthing goes dead at an inoppor-tune time.

Germans don’t like to waste op-portunities at inopportune times.So Zeiss and Blaser, the biggestriflemaker in Germany, teamedup to create what might be a smallwave of the future – the commu-nicating rifle and scope. For itspart, Blaser installs a magneticgenerator in the cocking slider(similar in location and operationto a tang safety) on its R93 iC rifles. Zeiss installs a sensor inthe bottom of its Varipoint iCeyepiece. Shove the R93 cockingslider forward (which cocks the


If too bright they ob-scure the dim target,but just a speck of red light where thecrosshairs meet issufficient for a pre-cise aim. This mini-mizes wounding lossand keeps the respectof the public.

Lighted reticles havebeen around for quitea few years now. Tri -jicon’s unique fiber -optic system concen -trates ambient light to illuminate its reti-cle. In full dark a tri -tium phosphor coat-ing makes the sightglow. Bushnell has asimilar phosphor reti-cle called the Fire Fly.The user charges it byshining a flashlightinto the scope for 10seconds. The reticlethen glows long enough for anevening hunt. Most illuminatedscopes (Burris, Swarovski, Leu -pold, Pentax, Nikon, Vortex,Schmidt & Bender, Nightforce,etc.) require a small battery. Bat-teries eventually run out of juice.If they do this just before a shot,your illuminated reticle no longer

OPTICS by Ron Spomer • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

FUTURE SCOPES

A magnet in the cocking device on the rifleactivates a switch in the eyepiece of the scopeto turn on the illuminated reticle. The three-shot group on the target was done at 300yards with a 6.5-284 Norma barrel onthe R93 Blaser.

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scope, with the reticle superim-posed over the animal at the in-stant of the shot. Not only wasthis a “cool” picture for thehunter, but a great educationaland informational tool. If youwondered, for instance, if you’dmissed, shot high or shot low,you just uploaded the SD cardand saw where the crosshair was when the shot broke. “Sorry,Ralph! You flinched and shotunder him!” I haven’t seen theSmart Scope advertised for sev-eral years now, and the most recent date on its website is2006, so I don’t know if its scopesare still being made, but the ideasurely won’t die. Watch for morelike it.

The wildest, most advanced andpotentially unethical scope/riflecommunication might be the ru-mored ability of an electronicscope to measure the distance to a target via standard laserrangefinder, then employ an on-

board computer to move thecrosshair to the precise positionfor a perfect hold. You would nolonger hold high, dial your tur-rets or choose one of several subreticles in your scope forlong-range shooting. Just trustthe scope/computer to shift thereticle as needed, concentrate onkeeping steady and launch thebullet.

Of course, this doesn’t take intoconsideration the wind speed ordirection, and I doubt it ever will,because wind, unlike gravity,isn’t constant. Beyond 400 yards,wind deflection can lead to grossinaccuracy and crippling loss.

Certainly humankind’s inno -vation and technology will createever more efficient ways to aim rifles, but once the bullet islaunched, it’s at the mercy ofMother Nature. And everyoneknows you can’t fool Mother Nature.

rifle for firing) and the magnetturns the scope’s illumination on.By the time you get your eye be-hind that scope, the center of itsreticle is aglow with the tiniestred dot in the business.

Black boars beware.

Once you uncock the R93, thescope illumination also goes off.Of course, you can override thisby manipulating the scope manu-ally, leaving it on for as long asyou wish.

Another form of gun/scopecommunication was the interest-ing photographic Smart Scopesold by Adirondack Optics in2004. When turned on, the scope’sinternal camera ran continuously,but none of its video images weresaved to its internal SD card untilthe recoil of the rifle triggeredthe unit to save a split secondshot. The rifle was essentially theshutter release. This resulted in aphoto being taken through the


R


Friend and Black Powder Cartridge Rifle Sil-

houette (BPCR) shooting partner DarrellSmithson of Helena, Montana, is one of the bestshooters I’ve ever seen. He is always a contender ata match and has a considerable number of trophiesproving his ability. One event that he had neverwon, however, was the Montana State Champi-onship held in Butte since 1998. That Butte range isone of the trickiest in existence. Winds and miragecan change instantly and/or constantly. Evidence ofthat can be seen in scores fired there. Master Classperformance is rare.

The Montana State Championship title is coveted,not the least reason why being that Shiloh RifleManufacturing donates one of its beautiful Model1874 Sharps reproductions to the winner. Shootersfrom all around the West attend the match – withseveral prior national champions always in atten-dance. Yet it has usually been that Darrell and my-self have, crudely put, fallen flat on our facesduring the three-day event. Most BPCR Silhouettechampionships nowadays consist of two distinctmatches. At Butte, day one is a separate scoped

championship consisting of a 60-shot course of fire

for which Montana Vintage Arms (61 Andrea Drive,Belgrade MT 59714) donates one of its fine 6x, long-tube scopes for the winner’s prize. Days two andthree are iron sight 40-shot courses of fire with the80-shot aggregate determining that year’s iron sightstate champion.

Let me give an example of “falling on our faces.”At day one of the 2008 iron sight match, Darrell andI shot the 500-meter rams as our second target ofthe day. He hit one of 10. I have spotted for him forseveral years and am quite familiar with how he, hisrifles and his handloads shoot. His primary rifle iscentered on an original Remington rolling block ac-tion built into a custom rifle with a .45-90 Kriegerbarrel by Montana gunsmith John King (PO Box700, Kila MT 59920). Quite often Darrell’s bulletstrikes (splatter) on rams will overlap.

That day they did not, landing from the top of theberm to the ground beneath the ram rail. Darrellwas understandably upset. That performance onthe morning of the first day put him out of the run-

DOWN RANGE by Mike Venturino • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

HOW TO ALMOST

LOSE A CHAMPIONSHIP

Mike shown shooting while Darrell Smithson spotsfor him. By shooting together for several years, thetwo have come to know each other’s rifle andhandload capabilities.

Darrell Smithson receiving his prize as iron sightmatch winner for the Montana State BPCR SilhouetteChampionship – a Shiloh Model 1874 .45-70. Fromleft to right: match director A.P. Ulsher, Kirk Bryanof Shiloh, Darrel Smithson and Mike.

Rifle 247

ning for the state champion title.I said to him, “Darrell, I knowthat rifle, and I know you. Some-thing is wrong. Start looking.”What was wrong was that thestop in the rotating wheel of hisHadley eyecup had become worn.That allowed it to move slightlywith recoil, in effect changing theelevation of the sight from shotto shot. A representative of Mon-tana Vintage Arms, the maker ofthe Hadley eyecup, was thereand replaced it. The next dayDarrell and I shot rams as thelast target of the day when windsand mirage are at their worst. Hehit all 10.

Now fast forward to the sameevent in 2009. Four weeks prior,Darrell had surgery completelyreplacing his right knee, dam-aged in a work-related accident.He was still on crutches. Anotherfriend and I got his gear to theline every relay and helped himup and down from his shootingmat. Twenty-five percent of everyBPCR Silhouette match is fired offhand – at chicken silhouettesplaced at 200 meters. WatchingDarrell shoot them balanced onhis good left leg with his rightfoot barely touching the groundwas almost comical, until yousaw the pained look on his face.

On the scoped championshipday, Darrell shot the 300-meterpigs last, toward the end of an 11-hour marathon. (Factors fromweather to not enough target set-ters delayed the match consider-ably.) Pigs are the easiest of themetallic silhouettes to hit, whichisn’t the same thing as sayingthey are easy. We were battlingconstantly changing winds, andon shot number six, Darrell’s bul-let went right over the pig’s back.That’s when he turned to me andsaid, “This pig load is accurate,

but I know this bullet is morewind sensitive than my turkeyand ram bullet.” Duh! Images ofwhacking his new knee with aset of cross-sticks flitted throughmy mind! Why shoot a knownwind-sensitive bullet in the worstwinds of the day? That was at-tempt number one of almost los-ing a championship. Darrell andtwo other shooters tied for firstplace with scores of 45X60, buthe managed to win the scopedchampion title in the shoot-off atthe 200-meter chickens.

Day one of the iron sight eventwent well. Darrell hit 31x40.(That’s the minimum for a MasterClass score and the only suchscore shot in the three days.) Thenext highest placing shooter hit29x40, giving Darrell a not toocomfortable lead.

Day two started out well enough.We shot chickens first and Dar-rell hit four of 10. That wasn’t toobad, especially considering hisknee. Things started downhill on the pigs. Again he shot that wind-sensitive bullet, and againone shot went over a pig’s back.Things were too tense to againthreaten him with bodily harm,but I felt like it. That was attemptnumber two of almost losing achampionship.

Next on the turkeys, he couldhave threatened me. Winds weregoing crazy, not only changingquickly in speed but also doingcomplete reversals from shot toshot. My spotting wasn’t the best,and Darrell only hit six of 10.That was attempt number threeof almost losing a champi-onship. I then took a peek at thescoreboard. It showed that wewere going into our last animaltargets of the day with a one-point lead over the next highestshooter. And the winds weren’tbehaving any better than onturkeys.

BPCR Silhouette allows sight -ing shots on each animal at anon-falling gong within the allot-ted time, but once the shootergoes for score he is committed.


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November-December 2009 27www.riflemagazine.com

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five shots to go the other fellowwas now tied with him. We wereboth unsettled – to put thingsmildly.

While the target setters wereputting up the silhouettes againfor the last five shots, I happenedto look at his sighting gong. Sureenough there was another bulletstrike dead center of it! He hadshot at it instead of ram numberone. Duh, and double duh! Thatshot was number four of almost

losing a championship, and hisfifth had been number five. Atthis point Darrell and I had a serious conference. If he hit allfive rams and his contender hitall five of his turkeys, the worst was that they were tied. But I

pointed out that the other fellowwas shooting at a smaller albeitcloser target in winds and mi -rage just as bad as ours. We hadto keep our heads in the game,which translated into stayingcalm and working together. Wedid! Darrell hit all five rams, andthe other fellow dropped a turkey.No one else of the 72 shooterswas in a position to challenge hislead. He ended up being both“scoped” and “iron sight” 2009Montana State Champion, some-thing no one else has ever done.That meant he was taking homeboth a brand new match gradescope and a new rifle to mount it on.

It surely was an almost thing.

Darrell planted several shotsdead center on that 500 meterdistant gong and then went forscore. At the sound of the shot, I saw nothing! The ram didn’t go down and there was no dustfrom a miss. That rattled us both.How did a bullet just disappear?But he pulled out of it and hit the next three rams dead center.On shot number five near-dis -aster struck. For a reason stillunknown, the hammer of hisrolling block followed the breech-block as it was closed. The rifledischarged into the mountain be-hind the targets, but the shot stillcounted in his score. We didn’tknow where shot one had gone,and the fifth was wasted. With R

a lead-free pill that would stabi-lize in most rifles that commonlyfeature one-in-12- or one-in-14-inch twists, while keeping costs incheck. The bullet jacket is tradi-tional gilded metal, while thecore is constructed of copperdust, mixed with matrix andtamped tightly.

The two Federal loads weretried in three rifles, a KimberModel 84M Varmint .22-250, aKimber Model 84M LPT and aSavage Model 10 Predator, thelatter two being chambered in.223 Remington. It was observedthat some rifles (belonging toother attendees) did not perform


Iwas recently invited to try

new Federal Premium loads in.223 and .22-250 Remingtons de-signed especially for varminting.It is not just another frangiblebullet delivering devastating re-sults on pests, but rather it isconstructed lead free, or what isreferred to as “green” (a politicalterm I am not fond of, but onethat most understand). The bulletis legal in zones or states that require the use of such whenhunting.

The Federal loads contain a 43-grain Speer TNT GREEN bul-let, which is about the heaviestweight that could be stuffed into

as well as hoped with the newloads, but the two Kimber rifles Ibrought along grouped around 11⁄4inches at 100 yards, while theSavage grouped under one inch(from a sandbag rest).

The .223 Remington load is ad-vertised at 3,600 fps muzzle ve-locity, while the .22-250 is ratedat 4,000 fps. From the 24-inchbarrel of the Kimber LPT, the.223 reached 3,571 fps with anextreme spread of 55 fps for fiveshots. From the 26-inch barrel,the .22-250 achieved 3,949 fpswith an extreme spread of 89 fps.

In shooting something close to1,000 rounds in the above rifleson Wyoming prairie dogs, the ter-minal performance of the TNTGREEN bullet proved worthy,with quick, devastating results. Inaddition to the new TNT GREENbullet, traditional lead-core soft-point, hollowpoint and tippedTNT versions will remain avail-able in the Speer lineup.

Trophy Bonded

Bear Claw Bullets

The late Jack Carter developedand designed the Trophy Bondedline of bullets, which became

MOSTLY LONG GUNS by Brian Pearce • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

SPEER

TNT GREEN™ BULLETS

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.302 .338 .375 .416

New Federal Premium varmintloads feature a lead-free 43-grainSpeer TNT GREEN bullet. The jacketis gilded metal while the core isconstructed of copper dust mixedwith matrix, then compressed.


I have only had the chance tofire a few rounds on paper withthe new Trophy Bonded BearClaw bullets in .416 Rigby, whichis certainly not enough to formmuch of an opinion as to termi-nal performance, accuracy, foul-ing, etc. Initially, however, thechanges certainly seem to be animprovement. As additional bul-lets become available and are putthrough the paces from thebench and in the field, it will bereported here.

Nitrex Optics TR

Two 3-15x42 Scope

There was a time when reli-able, clear riflescopes were fewand far between, but that haschanged, as several companieshave jumped into that marketwith both feet. One such example

popular with hunters, especiallythose who pursue large and dan-gerous game. His business grewrapidly, and eventually a deal wasstruck that allowed Federal tomanufacture bullets and loadthem in its Premium line of am-munition, which ultimately led to a buyout. Shortly thereafter,Trophy Bonded bullets were mar-keted under the Speer bulletheading, but somehow this strat-egy fell short of expectations.

New for 2009, Trophy BondedBear Claw bullets are getting afacelift in production process,quality and design. Slight changesin the jacket and core are in-tended to reduce runout and im-prove accuracy. The jacket isconstructed, as it has been formany years, of gilding metal(95/5, copper/zinc) and is nowbourrelet grooved, which re-duces fouling and pressures andgenerally improves accuracy.And finally there is a flash-platednickel applied (very thinly) thatis reported to reduce fouling andbore friction, while leaving a distinguished appearance. Thebullets will retain the uniquebonding process that marries thejacket to the core with a solidcopper shank, at least on ex-panding versions. The TrophyBonded line will include BearClaw, a lead softpoint; Tip, whichis plastic tipped; and Sledge -hammer, a solid.

New in 2010, the three lines of Trophy Bonded bullets will beoffered as components to hand-loaders under the Federal Pre-mium name and will be availablein .284 through .474 calibers.

Federal Premiumammunition willbe offered withnew TrophyBonded BearClaw bullets. Theentire productline will becomeavailable as acomponent tohandloadersin 2010.

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Rifle 247

back down to the locked posi-tion. In the locked position, thetop of the turret, known as ascrew, may be removed by un-screwing it, then the dial indica-tor, or turret body containingreference marks, is lifted up, rotated then reinstalled so thatthe 0 is at the reference marksand the screw reinstalled.

The above feature is practicalfor a varmint scope. For instance,let’s say a dominant side wind isdrifting bullets a few inches tothe side of a prairie dog 350yards away. If the resettable tur-rets are zeroed as describedabove, the windage can be turnedan appropriate amount until bul-lets are striking where desiredwith a dead-on hold. When thewind stops, the rifle’s originalzero may be retained by turningthe 0 on the dial indicator backto its original setting. I appliedthat example in the field, and itworks very well. Incidentally, the1⁄4-MOA click adjustments wereaccurate and positive, returningthe point of impact to its originalsetting.

Street pricing of the above Ni-trex TR two scope starts at$697.49, with the glass-etchedEBX ballistic reticle versionpriced at $756.49.


The Nitrex TR two features pull-upresettable turrets, which is a slickadjustment system, especially forvarmint hunters.

The new Nitrex TR two scope (shown in 3-15x42 matte) offers desirablefeatures combined with quality optics.

R

is ATK, when in the late fall of2007, it announced the NitrexOptics line of scopes, as well asbinoculars, intended primarilyfor big game hunters. Sales werestrong, stronger than expected,as they featured a one-inch, one-piece tube; quality lenses; andwere of traditional size with areasonable price.

In an effort to expand the prod-uct line, Nitrex Optics has comeout with the TR two line ofscopes that is geared for varminthunters and target shooters. Ihad the opportunity to try a 3-15x42 version on a recent prairiedog shoot, and the scope offers

several noteworthy features. Inaddition to items commonlyfound on quality scopes – such asa one-piece tube, fully coatedlenses, argon purged, shock-proof, fogproof and waterproof –it features side focus, pull-up re-settable turrets and an externalfocusing eyepiece.

If you have not had the opportu-nity to try pull-up resettable tur-rets, here is how they work. TheNitrex TR two line features 1⁄4MOA click adjustable turrets. Tosight in, pull up the windage andelevation turrets and turn themto move the point of impact asneeded, then push the turrets


Iknow why the .308 is Amer-

ica’s favorite caliber.

Barrel cleaning.

Yes, if you follow directions onbottles of today’s (or yesterday’s)miracle solvents – all of whichare guaranteed to render any bar-rel mirror shiny and squeakyclean in record time – you willabrade said barrel to the diame-ter of at least .308 before youever get it clean. At that pointmost folks say, “Well, I alwayswanted a .30-06.” and head to themedicine cabinet for a tube ofanalgesic ointment.

Take my former .22-250 for ex-ample (it’s now a .243 and ex-panding). It has always shotunder MOA, and I’ve always ba-bied its barrel, starting with the“essential” shoot-and-clean-for-10-shots regimen while breakingit in. This took three years.

Enlightenment is a painfulthing. Back in the dark ages(1970s), before we all learned the critical nature of barrel cleanliness, we wasted our timeworking up handloads that shot .417-inch groups. Then wepunched paper, popped prairie

dogs, collapsed coyotes anddumped deer.

Such ignorance.

Now that we’re in the informa-tion age, critical cleaning has be-come not just a wet blanket, buta smelly, heavy, wet blanketdampening my shooting fun. I’llthink, “Gee, it would be fun toshoot some groups with that newNoslerCustom Competition bul-let – but that would dirty the bar-

rel.” I’d just cleaned the filthytube six months earlier, anddoing so again could triggerflashbacks. The recurring night-mares had only recently stopped.I no longer awakened screaming,covered with sweat, right armthrobbing in remembered pain,my wife cowering in the closet.Life was good.

Then I heard about Ultra BoreCoat, which is supposed tonearly eliminate jacket foulingand “greatly reduce powder foul-ing.” I was like a moth to flame.And then I read the product di-rections: “The proper installationof Ultra Bore Coat involves firstcleaning the bore down to bare,dry steel.”

Noooooo!

And those Ultra Bore Coat guyswere serious, so serious theyadded an extra page – a page –detailing how no one ever cleansa barrel correctly, and here’s howto do it.

It was the same stuff I’d been

STRAIGHT TALK by Ron Spomer • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

SQUEAKY CLEAN LIARS

Ron has tried nearly everything for getting his barrels clean. Somecleaned his teeth and floor better than the bore.


reading for years. The same tech-nique I’d been using. There hadto be a better way.

I gathered the sample solventsI’d accumulated over the years,read their directions and rightaway learned something new andreally important: They are writ-ten by discredited TV evangelistsor speech writers for former con-gressmen.

New Miracle Barrel Elixir (“Fast,easy and thorough!”) promised(see congressmen referenceabove) to remove carbon, pow-der, copper, lead, plastic wadresidue and unsightly moles.

Billy Bob’s Best Bore Bombboasted similar powers (see tele-vangelist reference above) butadded a high-tech plea: “Preci-sion engineered formula uses thevery finest chemical technology”backed by the always reassuring“Lab tests prove . . .”

Bentley’s Sophisticated Solventappealed to the elitist. “Top-of-the-line gun cleaning productrecommended for the finestfirearms and perfectly safe for use with Purdeys, WestleyRichards side-by-side box locksand pre-64 Winchesters. Do notattempt to open if you can’t pro-nounce Thames.”

Easy-Quick Instant Crud Cutteraimed at professionals with notime to waste, emphasizing itsability to significantly cut clean-ing time and provide “optimalweapon performance” with nocompromises. Hoo-rah!

Then there was the classic Bar-rel Potion Number Ni-eee-I-eee-ine. Instructions: “You hold yournose, you soak a patch, you pushgunk out!” The second verse wasmerely implied: “I never knewthat I would clean all night . . .”

You can guess what Green Cleanemphasized: “Green Clean boresolvent not only removes (seeNew Miracle Barrel Elixir above)but is odorless, nontoxic, nonhaz-ardous, biodegradable and deli-cious on salads and broccoli.”

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The .356 Winchester is a sad

story of neglect that shouldbe heeded by every ammunitionand firearms company contem-plating the introduction of a car-tridge loosely defined as a brushcartridge or a rifle chambered forsuch a cartridge.

The .356 Winchester was intro-duced in 1982 and is basically arimmed .358 Winchester case foruse in Winchester’s Model 94 BigBore lever actions. Response was so poor the .356 was discon-tinued in 1986. It made a brief return in 1988, but then was drop-ped for good a few years later.Marlin chambered the .356 in itsModel 336 until 1987.

However, just try and find a riflechambered in .348, .358 or .356today. If you can find one, theprice has gone through the roof. Ihad been looking around for a.356 for a couple of years andwas lamenting the fact to a friend

The message was chiseled onthe wall long before the .356came into being: Americans donot like larger than .30-calibercartridges intended for close- tomedium-range big game hunting.Today, the .348 Winchester makesall manner of big game huntersteary-eyed. But in its day, the .348 was more or less a flop,being chambered only in the Win-chester Model 71 for 22 years.The .358 Winchester, .350 Rem-ington Magnum, .35 Whelen and.375 Winchester lasted an evenshorter time. From all reports,the new .338 Federal is not set-ting the world of sales on fire.Cartridges such as these can bewrapped in a pretty package ofbone-breaking bullet energy, butthe fact remains that Bubbawants speed when he shops for arifle and cartridge.

in Arizona. “I have two Model 94s in .356,” he replied, “I’ll sellyou one.”

The Big Bore Model 94 .356came in two versions. The BigBore XTR model had nice check-ering and a straight comb stock.The Big Bore my friend sold meis a standard carbine Angle-Ejectwith no checkering and a stockwith a Monte Carlo comb and astraight grip. Some people com-plain the Monte Carlo comb isugly and awkward to mount. Ithink it works fine and positionsmy eye right in line with the 2-7xscope on the carbine.

I bought the rifle just before biggame season opened last fall andhurried to load some .356 caseswith Speer 220-grain flatnose bullets. Opening morning I satbeneath a tree, hoping a whitetailbuck would wander past. Thatlasted half an hour. I walkedalong a swamp, stopping to lookand glass ahead, then movedahead 50 yards to look again. Adeer snorted from the other sideof a tall pile of logging slash. I slowly cocked the .356 andpeeked around the pile of slash.A buck peered around the other

CLASSIC CARTRIDGES by John Haviland • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

.356 WINCHESTER

This group was fired at 100 yardswith Winchester 200-grain Power-Point bullets.

Bullet choice is limited in the.356 due to its requirement forflatnosed bullets. Left to right:Hornady 158-grain XTP, Speer180-grain flatpoint and Speer220-grain flatpoint.

The .356 Winchester is essentiallya rimmed .358 Winchester. How-ever, the .356 must use flatnosedbullets in its tubular magazine.

Rifle 247

buck in the front of the brisketand went through the top of itsheart and into the paunch. Thewound looked no different thanif the buck had been shot with a100-grain bullet from a .243 Win-chester. Perhaps if the shot hadbeen at the hind end of the buck,the heavy bullet would haveshown its worth to penetratedeeply.

Lever-action rifles sell if theyare light and handy. According tomy fish scale, though, the .356weighs 8 pounds with a Nikon 2-7x scope in aluminum rings. Fewshooters will choose such a leveraction when bolt-action rifles ofabout the same weight are avail-able in magnum cartridges.

.356 AMMUNITION

Winchester initially offered 200-grain flatnose bullets with a muz-zle velocity of 2,460 fps and250-grain flatnose bullets at 2,160fps for the .356. The 200-grainbullet is still listed in the Win-chester catalog. That loadclocked an average of 2,255 fpsone day and 2,276 fps anotherday 9 feet in front of the muzzleof the 20-inch barrelled Model 94.

Conley Precision Cartridgeloads the .356 with Hornady 200-

side. It ran straightaway, but stopped at70 yards and turnedback to stare. Thecrosshairs wavered,then settled on thebuck’s chest. At theshot, he pivoted onhis hind legs in adash for cover alongthe swamp.

A wide blood trailled 40 yards to the buck piled upagainst a juniper. He had fivepoints on one antler and six onthe other, and I was pretty proudof it. The Speer bullet hit the


.356 Winchester Factory Loadsyards

load muzzle 100 200 300 400 500(grains)

200 Winchester Super-X Power-Point:

velocity (fps): 2,460 2,114 1,797 1,517 1,284 1,113energy (ft-lbs): 2,688 1,985 1,434 1,022 732 550trajectory (inches): +3.2 0 -14.1 -43.4 -93.9

Table I

.356 WinchesterSelect Handloads

bullet powder charge velocity(grains) (grains) (fps)

158 Hornady XTP FN H-322 45.0 2,565200 Hornady roundnose H-4895 45.0 2,235200 SAECO FPGC BL-C(2) 38.0 1,685220 Speer flatnose W-748 49.0 2,329245 SAECO FPGC IMR-4895 40.0 1,953

Be Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data.

Table II

A Winchester Model 94 .356Winchester was used to shootthis whitetail buck offhand fromabout 70 yards. The Speer 220-grain bullet hit the buck in thefront of the chest, but instead offalling to the ground, the buckran a short distance.


grain roundnose bullets at 2,460fps and the Hornady 250-grainroundnose at 2,160 fps. However,the Speer and Hodgdon reloadingmanuals state Olin engineerswho developed the .356 Winches-ter cautioned against loading thecartridge with roundnose bulletsbecause the bullet tip could firethe primer of the cartridge infront of it in the magazine, due tothe .356’s heavy recoil. So I amnot going to subject my rifle andunscarred face to the Conleyloads to determine whether ornot the Olin folks were correct intheir warning.

Winchester also still sells casesfor handloading, although theycost a bit more than cases formore popular cartridges. One fel-low on an Internet site wrote hemade brass for his .356 by firing7.62 NATO (.308 Winchester) mil-itary loads in his .356. The extrac-tor groove of the two cartridgesis completely different, and it’s awonder the .308 cases did not

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Rifle 247

split on firing. Extraction of rim-less .308 cases is also suspectfrom an extractor set up for therimmed .356 case.

I did load a few of the Hornady200-grain and 250-grain round-nose bullets and Speer 250-grainpointed bullets in the .356, in-tending to load one cartridge inthe chamber and one in the mag-azine. The Hornady 200-grain bul-lets cycled fine through theModel 94 and grouped in slightlyover 1.5 inches at 100 yards. But Icould not seat the two, 250-grainbullets deeply enough in the casefor a loaded length short enoughfor the cartridges to feed fromthe magazine.

That leaves .356 shooters withfew bullet choices. Flatnose bul-lets intended for handguns shootgreat, with the Hornady 158-grainXTP FNs grouping in slightlyover an inch at 100 yards. Butthose bullets are for targets andplinking. The Speer 180-grainflatpoint is an okay bullet in the.356, but such a lightweight bulletmakes the .356 little, if any, bet-ter than a .30-30. The new Hor-nady 200-grain FTX with the softplastic tip would be interesting inthe .356. But, again, the wholeidea of the .356 is additional bul-let weight over what is availablefor .30-caliber cartridges. TheSpeer 220-grain flatnose is mov-ing in that direction. With 49.0grains of W-748 the Speer bullet

has a muzzle velocity of 2,329 fpsfrom my Model 94. Three-shotgroups run right at 1.50 inches at100 yards.

Cast bullets are the only pathfor more bullet weight in the.356. Looking through the Red-ding Reloading Equipment cata-log, I saw a mould for the SAECO.35-caliber, 245-grain flatpoint gascheck (FPGC) bullet. PatrickRyan of Redding/SAECO, though,said the bullet was likely a bitlong in the nose to cycle throughthe Model 94. Still, I went aheadwith great hopes. With the casemouth crimped as far forward aspossible in the bullet’s crimpinggroove, cartridge length was 2.60inches. That length cartridge,alas, would not cycle through theModel 94’s action.

I started scratching my chin incontemplation. With the bulletsseated with the top of the frontdriving band even with the casemouth, cartridges had a length of2.535 inches. That length car-tridge cycled slickly through theModel 94’s action, but how tocrimp? Editor Dave Scovill sug-gested removing the sizing but-ton/primer punch stem from a.356 sizing die and running thecartridge necks into the neck siz-ing portion of the die to apply ataper crimp. That worked great.After firing four cartridges, thebullet in the last cartridge in mag-azine had not moved a bit.

With 40.0 grains of IMR-4895 theSAECO bullet clocks 1,953 fpsfrom the Model 94’s muzzle, andgroups are slightly smaller than1.50 inches at 100 yards.

The .356’s ballistics are slightlybelow the older .358 Winchester,because the .356 has less case ca-pacity due to its heavier case andits bullets being seated deeper tocycle through the Model 94 leveraction. But the .356 still providesmore than enough punch for anydeer, black bear or elk in the tim-ber. So I’m keeping my .356. Afterall, I’ve been searching for onefor years.


R

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Accuracy can mean differ-ent things to different peo-ple, depending upon theirshooting needs. When pre-

paring for a varmint hunt, I like tosee any commercial or handloadedammunition come to rest on my100-yard target in three-shot groupsof around .5 inch from my sporterrifles. On the other hand, I have afriend who is happy with resultsthat print minute-of-angle groups atthe same distance. His reason – hehas reached a point in his maturingyears where anything over 100yards in the field is too much forhim, so shorter distances are thenorm. Big game hunters are satis-fied with groups that print in theneighborhood of between 1.5 and2.0 inches. Simply because oftheir size, a bull elkdoes not needor warrant theextra time atthe bench fine-tuning handloadsto the nth degree.

While we’ve seen both commercial and handload-ing techniques and equipment progress over theyears to where it’s almost too easy to open a box ofover-the-counter ammunition or tweak handloadsto the point of near perfection, much has to do withthe duty of the rifle as much as the ammunition.One of the forerunners in the field is Savage Armsin Westfield, Massachusetts. First, it was theAccuTrigger, a mechanism that allowed the adjust-ing of the trigger by the end user to ensure the ac-curate placement of the bullet. Now it’s theAccuStock.

My request went in for the Model 16FCSS .243Winchester. To me the Weather Warrior line of riflesmakes complete sense for the all-year, all-weatherand all-terrain hunter. With a stainless action and asynthetic stock, this is the ultimate take-anywhererifle for those on the go. With a dozen and a halfcartridge choices, from the .204 Ruger up to the .338Winchester Magnum, with such notables to includethe 6mm Norma BR, .250 Savage, 6.5x284 Norma,


The new Savage Model 16FCSSis shown with a Bushnell 3200Elite scope in Warne rings.

A

SavageAccuStock

Rifle

The quest for accuracy continues!


Rifle 247

comb, nor is there a cheekpiece.I’m average in physical dimen-sions, and placing the BushnellElite 3200 scope in Warne med-ium rings positioned the reticle ateye level every time the rifle wasbrought to bear. For the record,Savage does supply the Weavertype two-piece bases as an added-value feature of the gun.

There is an ample amount ofcheckering in a conservativepoint pattern on both the pistolgrip and forearm, and if you did-n’t know the stock was synthetic,you’d swear the diamonds werecut instead of molded in. The pis-tol grip has a tasteful sweep to it,which I found accommodating.To prevent wear and tear on thepistol grip itself, there is a cap in-stalled with the Savage logo.

Inletting is nearly perfect aroundthe detachable magazine, barrel,tang and trigger guard. The de-tachable magazine feature is re-cent to Savage, but models arestill available that incorporate themore time-honored floorplate, ifdesired. Pulling back on the leverat the front of the “bottom metal”drops the magazine into theshooter’s hand. With a straight-line design and shooting these rifles over the past year or so, Inever had any problems withfeeding or extraction.

Called the P.A.D. (Personal Anti -Recoil Device), this newly de-signed recoil pad reduces recoilby as much as 45 percent oversolid or ventilated pads. TheP.A.D. feels like a big marshmal-low but, according to companyliterature, upon shooting the padactually expands against yourshoulder, softening the felt re-coil. So what does this have to dowith accuracy? Pretty simple –less flinching makes for betteraccuracy.

Savage has recently redesignedthe bolt release from its positionon the right side of the receiverto the front of the trigger guard.You still have to pull the triggerback and push the bolt release

.300 Savage and .300 WSM, thereis hardly a void in the line – andwith more than half in a left-handed action.

Regardless of action length, allthe rifles in the Weather Warriorseries are basic on a syntheticstock. Black in color, smooth tothe touch, the rifle is convenientto mount, thanks to a traditional131⁄2-inch length of pull. Overall,the design is one lifted from theclassic school, as there is no high


SavageAccuStock

Like most rifles in the Savagelineup, this one has the adjustableAccuTrigger.

The Savage bolt still has the reargas ring and the twin locking lugsystem.

Gone is the unsightly barrel nut,replaced by a streamlined versionthat is secured with a spannerwrench.

Weaver-type bases are furnished;Trzoniec added Warne mediumrings to cinch the Bushnell scopeto the rifle.

The Model 16FCSS features athree-position tang safety.

Savage has recentlyredesigned thebolt release.


big hassle or taking the rifle to agunsmith. According to Savage,“Even when adjusted to its low-est setting, the AccuTrigger iscompletely safe.” A special tool issupplied for adjustments, but theaction must be taken out of thestock to work on the trigger.

Usually I find the AccuTriggersatisfactory right out of the box,unless I’m going small game orvarmint hunting, then I adjust it.In this case, where I’m dealingwith the new AccuStock, the pullwas lowered to 21⁄2 pounds – withno discernible creep. It should

inward, but it makes a much easier way to remove the bolt for travel or maintenance. Thebolt handle is swept to the rearslightly and has checkering onthe upper side only.

The bolt body has been left inits polished form with jewellingadded as well as the laser-etchedSavage logo. Up front, twin lock-ing lugs are backed up with a setof gas-escape baffles that provideextra protection to the shooter in the unlikely event of a rup-tured cartridge. Inside the re-cessed bolt face, you will find theextractor and plunger-type ejec-tor (changed from a mechanicalejector in 1966).

The three-position safety istang-mounted. Pulling the safetylever to the rear locks the searand bolt. Midposition allows theuse of the bolt to unload the riflewhile the sear (trigger) is stilllocked. All the way forward al-lows the gun to be fired. Barrellengths are 22 or 24 inches de-pending upon caliber and comewithout open sights.

Now for the fun stuff! First onthe list is the AccuTrigger, a neat,adjustable trigger that Savage in-troduced just a few years back.One of the constant complaintsthat riflemakers have is the needfor a user-adjustable trigger thatcan be tuned to his or her per-sonal shooting needs without a

Above, the heart of the AccuStock is the aluminum-bedding block thatruns from the front swivel stud to the rear of the stock. Right, bracedon the sides, this bedding block is slightly smaller than the action, so it

springs out to hold the receiver tightly within the stock when tightened.

Rifle 247

stocked rifles. In addition, theyhave added a wedge to the spinethat when tightened pulls the ac-tion down and inside the beddingcradle. The way it works is thatboth the bedding cradle andwedge are angled just in front ofthe recoil lug. When this frontscrew is tightened, it pulls downon the cradle while adding pres-sure against the recoil lug. Ac-cording to Savage engineers, thebarreled action actually movesback during recoil, then forwardagain until it stops from lack ofinertia, which they discoveredthrough high-speed photography.With just a recoil lug in the bar-rel, the barrel is still free to moveup and down, but with this new

Savage engineers have come upwith a solution that combinedwith the right stock should en-hance the accuracy potential oftheir factory produced rifles.Called AccuStock, they first addan aluminum spine to the syn-thetic stock from the front slingswivel stud to the rear guardscrew.

They call it a three-dimensionalbedding system that, accordingto them, is not even found ontoday’s after-market or custom- system, it keeps the action from

moving back and forth.

Additionally, the bedding cradleworks on the sides of the re-ceiver to add to the three-dimen-sional effect, thus locking theaction in place very securely.When tightening the two guardscrews, the entire receiver ispulled down and into the cradle.To do this they made the cradlesmaller than the receiver, sowhen it is pulled down, the cra-dle will flex outward, embracingthe receiver to its final restingplace down and inside the bed-ding cradle. The end result is abedding system that holds the

also be noted that recently Sav-age introduced the Target Accu -Trigger on its Target Series,which allows the shooter to dropthe pull down to a mere 6 ounces.

Okay, we’ve got the weather-resistant stock, stainless-steel ac-tion, an adjustable trigger and agood recoil pad. So what’s left?The big news this year from thefolks at Savage is the introduc-tion of what they call the Accu -Stock. Taking pillar and glassbedding a step further, thisshould bring accuracy to a newlevel.


Savage calls it athree-dimensionalbedding system.

Savage AccuStockRifle Specifications

Type: bolt-action, centerfire rifleCaliber tested: .243 WinchesterCapacity: 4 roundsBarrel length: 22 inchesOverall length: 413⁄4 inchesWeight: 7 poundsFinish: stainless actionStock: synthetic AccuStockSights: none; bases furnished for scope

mountingTrigger: AccuTrigger, user adjustablePrice: $755Manufacturer: Savage Arms

Westfield MA 01085www.savagearms.com

Left, new this year is the SavageP.A.D. recoil pad. Above, Savageincludes a pistol-grip cap on thesynthetic stock, complete withits Indian logo.

SavageAccuStock

Rifle 247

the three main stock screws, asthis is an important part of own-ing this rifle.

Accuracy depends on theshooter, the benchrest and theammunition, of course, and un-less you can take a gun with andwithout the AccuStock and jam it into a rigid rifle rest, there re-ally is no way you can compareits effect. I know how Savage gunsshoot, so with this I can only esti-mate the difference based on myability and comparing notes ofprior testing periods over theyears.

Therefore, I guess the bottomline should read, “Is this gun really that accurate for a fieldrifle?” Depending on how youlook at it would be subjective to the shooter. Sure, I have riflesthat are more accurate, but in allfairness, the accuracy obtainedran side by side with the mixingand matching of selected hand-loads. With factory ammunition,again testing of a half-dozenbrands with the same bulletweight would surely prove this

action from moving in any direc-tion, either vertically or horizon-tally.

Is this going to be a problem ifthe rifle has to be disassembled/reassembled for cleaning or trig-ger adjustment? Not at all, but Ifound there is a little trick to thewhole exercise. First, you haveto remember that with the newerrifles with the bolt release on thetrigger guard, you must take thegun apart and put it back to-gether again with the bolt in thereceiver closed and in the un-cocked or fired position. There ismore on this in the manual, but ifyou forget, it’s not really a bigdeal, but it can get frustrating inreassembling the rifle.

To take the rifle apart, removethe front guard screw, then therear one, which is partially hid-den by the bolt release. Don’t for-get this screw or you will have aheck of a time parting the stockfrom the action! Now, remove thewedge screw and the action fallsout of the stock. The only trick tothe whole thing is trying to re-assemble the rifle with thewedge.

First, don’t try to put the rifletogether with the wedge at the


Trzoniec found the rifle comfort-able to shoot offhand thanks toits finely tuned proportions andthat excellent new recoil pad.

Below left, there’s no room to reassemble when the wedge is at thebottom. Right, unscrew the wedge to its limits. This makes it easier toreassemble the rifle.

Pressing the bolt release inwardwhile pulling back on the triggerallows the bolt to follow out ofthe receiver for cleaning ormaintenance.

bottom most part of the cradle.At this point the clearances be-tween the wedge and the re-coil lug are the tightest, and Itried (then had a friend try) to in-sert the action without success.The best way to do this is to makesure the wedge screw has beenbacked out enough to allowclearance between it and the re-coil lug without both comingapart and by putting it back to-gether again upside down, thusletting gravity help. This is easyto check, and if you can get the screw to allow the wedge toget to its highest point of its op-posite angled counterpart with-out falling out, you’re in. Onceyou have mated the stock withthe action, refer to the manualfor the proper amount of torqueand the alternate tightening of

SavageAccuStock

anymore, and in fact, somehunters I know don’t even hand-load today.

So how do you define accuracy?Deer hunters are happy with arifle that groups around 1.5inches at the century mark; oth-ers want more, which is againvery subjective. Well, for thoselooking for the cutting edge in arifle right off the line, order thisSavage with the AccuStock.While I did not do the usual hun-

dreds of rounds to prove a point,I did enough shooting to justifymy opinion that Savage has takenmodern ammunition technologywith the innovative ideas of itsengineers and delivered a prod-uct worthy of a rifle capable ofshooting one-inch groups rightout of the box. While some of thecommercial ammunition mayhave run over an inch, in the end, my average with shootingover 100 rounds of .243 ammuni-tion was 1.12 inches!

rifle as being accurate for a ma-jority of hunters.

It’s always a topic of amuse-ment around the campfire – thisthing about accuracy. Many willreflect about times past; youknow around a decade backwhen you could shoot and shoota rifle until you were blue in theface and still not get anywhere.Now, with the advent of “scien-tific” factory ammunition, accu-racy seems not to be the problem

Range Testingload velocity group

(grains) (fps) (inches)

80 Remington Pointed Soft Point 3,128 1.0085 Cor-Bon DPX 3,224 1.25100 Winchester Power-Point 2,849 1.00Notes: All groups are three shots. Velocity clocked on an Oehler

Chronotach at 100 yards.

For consistent accuracy regardless of theammunition, this new Savage is hard to beat.

R


Mike VenturinoPhotos by Yvonne Venturino

In discussing my burgeoningWorld War II rifle collection,many friends have asked, “Whatone was best?” That’s easy. The

United States’ M1 Garand was thebest overall battle rifle in that con-flict. The answer is different whenthe question is, “Which one do youlike best?” Without hesitation I say,“The U.S. Model 1903-A3.”

That response usually causes a puzzled look onthe faces of knowledgeable riflemen. The reason isthat ’03-A3s are usually considered poor cousins tothe standard U.S. Model 1903. Both are nicknamed“Springfield,” because the original design and initialmanufacture were by the government-ownedSpringfield Armory. The U.S. Model 1903 was an ex-quisitely made military rifle, being far superior in fitand finish to most sporting rifles currently in pro-duction today. All metal parts were forged and/ormachined from solid steel and initially given abeautiful blue finish. Likewise the walnut stock waswell cut and well inletted to the barreled action.After World War I, the American military adoptedParkerizing as its standard metal finish for mostweapons, but the manufacturing quality of “Spring-fields” remained very high.

Conversely, the ’03-A3s came about during awartime crisis. The American military was expand-ing immensely and needed rifles as quickly as possi-ble. There was no doubt in the military hierarchy’scollective minds that the standard battle rifle forU.S. troops was going to be the semiautomatic M1Garand. The catch was that Springfield Armory and Winchester were just not going to have enoughM1s for all soldiers and marines in time for the

Springfield


coming ground combat. Therefore the U.S. govern-ment signed a contract with Remington Arms Com-pany a short time before hostilities began inDecember 1941.

The plan was for Remington to use government-owned machinery to produce Model 1903 rifles. Andindeed that company did so to the tune of well over

300,000. But problems developed.The government machinery wasworn and sometimes in disrepair;additionally manufacturing proce-dures had changed somewhat inthe four decades since SpringfieldArmory’s engineers had developedthe ’03. Remington requested andreceived permission for shortcutsand alterations to the basic ’03 de-sign. These at first were minor,and the result was officially desig-nated the U.S. Model 1903 (Modi-fied) while remaining markedsimply Model 1903.

One manufacturing stumblingblock with the Model 1903 was itsModel 1905 rear sight. It was abeautiful piece of craftsmanship,capable of precise windage and el-evation adjustment. It just wasn’tsuch a great sight for a battle rifle.For instance, it was adjustable allthe way to 2,800 yards. Militarythinkers of 1905 envisioned entirebattalions of troops adjusting

their sights the same and then firing volleys at ex-treme range. Actual fighting didn’t work out thatway. Troops shot at what they could see. Thereforethe government gave Remington permission to de-velop a new sight. It was a peep type, which by thenAmerican military thinkers had realized was muchbetter for combat. Note that both M1 Carbines andM1 Garands had peep sights from the very begin-ning. The new Remington peep sight was elevationadjustable only to 800 yards, a much more realisticdistance. It was also adjustable for windage, but

Remington’sBattle Rifle1903-A3

Except for thenames Remingtonand Smith-Coronaon their receivers,

there are novisible differencesin Model ’03-A3s.

They can, how-ever, vary by thenumber of rifling

grooves intheir barrels.

Rifle 247

rather crudely in thateach click of the knobmoved windage by a fullfour minutes of angle(MOA). Naturally thepeep sight was movedback to the rear receiverbridge, whereas the orig-inal 1905 sight had beenbarrel mounted. Perhapsmost importantly of all,it was made of stampedmetal parts, requiringvery little machining.

In fact Remington prevailed onthe government to allow manymetal parts to be stamped fromsheet steel instead of being ma-chined from forged steel. Theseincluded the trigger guard, maga-zine floorplate, buttplate, barrelbands, etc. Remington estimatedthat these changes reduced labortime per rifle by 50 percent, in-creased rate of manufacture by afactor of three and reduced theamount of steel needed per rifleby an amazing 6.4 pounds. (Fig-ures taken from The Springfield

1903 Rifles by Lt. Col. William S.Brophy.) The government ap-proved of Remington’s revisionsto the Model 1903 in May 1942

and designated the new versionas U.S. Model 1903-A3, but rifleswere only stamped “03-A3.” So itcan be seen that the ’03-A3 didn’tarrive as a full-blown, new ideabut was actually a progression of changes. And even though wemodern shooters also commonlycall the Model 1903-A3 the “Spring-field,” none were ever made atthe Springfield Armory.

It would be natural to wonderwhat happened between the ’03and ’03-A3. Where were the ’03-A1s and ’03-A2s? The ’03-A1s areeasy. Circa 1929 the U.S. Armydecided the Model 1903 needed apistol-grip stock. The markings

of the rifle were never changed.They stayed “U.S. Model 1903,”but any such rifle fitted with apistol-grip stock instantly and of-ficially became a U.S. Model1903-A1. The Model 1903-A2swere stripped down barreled ac-tions that were then modifiedand used as subcaliber trainingdevices in artillery pieces. (Againthis information was derivedfrom Brophy’s above-mentionedbook.)

However, it should not be con-


Springfield1903A3

These four rifles represent theproduction of “Springfields”during World War II. From top:Model 1903 by Remington,Model 1903-A3 by Smith-Corona,Model 1903-A3 by Remingtonand Model 1903-A4 by Remington.

By going to stamped parts such as the floorplate,’03-A3 Springfields could be produced much fasterand at less expense.

U.S. Model 1903-A4 sniper rifles were still marked03-A3 but with the stamping moved so it was upsidedown on the left side of the receiver. This has madecounterfeiting the model very difficult.

Standard barrels were made bypulling a “broach” through thebore. Early High Standard barrelsmade for Smith-Corona had sixgrooves, but later ones were fourgroove. All had broached-type rifling. Cut rifled or broach rifled,two groove to six groove, allModel 1903-A3 barrels were

given a one-in-10-inch twistrate. And of course, all were.30-06 caliber.

Barrels were not the onlysource of variation in theModel 1903-A3. There were

no less than three shapes ofstocks. As said above, as early as 1929, the U.S. Army decided itpreferred the pistol-grip designof stock, and indeed as with peepsights, both M1 Carbines and M1Garands had such from the be-ginning. The government in-tended that for the ’03-A3 too,but Remington had a large quan-tity of straight-grip stocks on

awarded it a contract to also pro-duce Model 1903-A3 rifles late in 1942. (This was in addition tocontracts for parts for other mili-tary items ranging from pistols totorpedoes.) Smith-Corona had nomachinery for making rifle bar-rels, so the High Standard Manu-facturing Company furnished allits Model 1903-A3 barrels. Insteadof being cut rifled, these High

cuts were incorporated. Also inMarch 1942, the U.S. governmentdetermined that typewriters werenon-essential to the war effortand decreed that production ofsuch cease. Instead of letting amanufacturing entity such as theSmith-Corona Typewriter Com-pany languish, the government

strued that all U.S. Model 1903-A3 rifles are exactly the same.Again the variations were causedby the wartime emergency. Atthat time Remington used cut rifled barrels, wherein eachgroove was individually made bya hooked cutter being pulledthrough the bore. Multiple passeswere needed to complete asingle groove. Therefore,the U.S. Army’s OrdnanceDepartment began test-ing barrels with only twogrooves instead of four anddetermined that accuracy wascomparable with both types. InDecember 1942 they then gavepermission to barrel makersusing the “cut-rifling” method tomake either type of barrel. SoRemington Model 1903-A3 riflescan have two- or four-groove bar-rels, but both are cut rifled.

At this point let’s back up a bit.During 1942 the government was-n’t satisfied with Remington’sproduction of rifles in regards toquantity, even after all the short-


Above, one of the biggest stumbling blocks toModel 1903 production was making its Model 1905

sight. Right, this shows the Model 03-A3’sfully adjustable rear peep sight.

Left, a shooter at one of Thunder Ranch’s Old Rifle Classes demonstratesthe proper way to fire an ’03-A3. Note the thumb alongside the stock’s

wrist. Otherwise recoil may drive it into the shooter’s lip. Below,with the magazine cutoff engaged the ’03-A3’s bolt cannot

be pulled rearward far enough to pick up cartridges fromthe magazine. It can then be loaded as a single shot.

The plan was for Remington touse government-owned machinery

to produce Model 1903 rifles.

grip version.) Those were also allowed.

That wasn’t all. In January 1943the government decided (rather

had an abbreviated pistol gripthat has come to be known as theScant-C stock. (The C-stock wasthe military term for the pistol-

hand, so it was decided to allowtheir use on the revised Spring-fields. Then along the way a largebatch of stocks was acquired that


Springfield1903A3

U.S. Model 1903-A3 .30-06Remington Smith-Corona

bullet powder charge velocity variation group velocity variation group(grains) (grains) (fps) (fps) (inches) (fps) (fps) (inches)

150 Speer FB spitzer IMR-4895 46.5 2,584 29 2.38 2,568 51 3.00150 Speer BT spitzer* 45.0 2,696 49 2.63 2,679 54 3.38

Varget 48.0 2,768 49 2.13 2,831 49 1.88150 Sierra FB spitzer IMR-4064 50.0 2,864 28 2.38 2,820 61 2.13155 Hornady A-MAX Varget 48.0 2,739 25 3.13 2,735 49 3.251

H-4350 55.0 2,788 63 2.25 2,762 26 3.252

155 Sierra Palma HPBT RL-15 52.0 2,949 24 2.88 2,942 19 2.252

IMR-4064 50.0 2,862 23 2.13 2,849 42 2.42168 Nosler HPBT IMR-4895 46.5 2,566 24 2.38 2,560 45 2.25150 Winchester Silvertip factory 2,943 17 2.88 2,934 35 1.752

150 Nosler Black Hills factory 2,926 53 2.50 2,946 29 2.502

150 Federal FMJ factory 2,743 14 3.50 2,725 18 2.133

150 Lake City FMJ 69 2,632 30 3.50 2,584 95 2.504

168 Hornady HPBT factory 2,570 39 2.25 2,553 55 2.503

195 Lyman 311299 cast 5744 25.0 1,897 15 2.88 1,812 61 2.63average of 15 groups from Remington ’03-A3: 2.65average of 15 groups from Smith-Corona ’03-A3: 2.52* Denotes the use of Lake City 63 National Match brass.

Notes: All chronograph figures are for five shots over an Oehler Model 35P chronograph with start screen at approximately 6 feet. All group figures are forfive shots fired at 100 yards, fliers included. All loads used Winchester Large Rifle (standard) primers in full-length brass sized in a Redding die, and all bul-lets seated in a Redding Competition die. Cast bullets poured of Linotype alloy, sized .310 inch, lubed with SPG and fitted with Lyman gas checks. Exceptwhere noted, all cases were Winchester headstamp.

1 Four shots in this group went into only 2.25 inches.2 These loads should never be fired in M1 Garands.3 These loads are specifically produced for M1 Garands.4 This ammunition is U.S. military surplus purchased from the CMP.


Left, Mike has come to rely on Lyman mould 311299 for cast bulletshooting with his ’03-A3s. Above, usually but not always, Mikerelies on 150- to 155-grain bullets in factory loads and his handloads,because they duplicate the bullet weight of the M2 military loadof World War II.


late) that it needed a sniper rifle.Remington was instructed tobuild Model 1903-A3s in a sniperversion. The only change to themetalwork was a bolt handleslightly altered to clear thescope, no front sight and themodel marking rotated to the leftside of the receiver so it wouldstill show despite the scopemounts. However, the stock wasto be only the C-stock with pistolgrip. This was the Model 1903-A4,but here is a fascinating fact.Those rifles were still markedModel ’03-A3, and to collectors’continuing delight, because thatmarking was rotated to the side,a Model 1903-A4 is one of thehardest of all firearms to coun-terfeit. So as it turns out, U.S.Model 1903-A3 rifles (and 1903-A4s) can be encountered withthree types of stocks – straightgrip, Scant-C and C-type with fullpistol grip. They may not havebeen shipped from the factory insuch stocks, but considering bat-tlefield repairs and later arsenalrefurbishing, they could haveended up with any type.

As a sniper rifle, the ’03-A4smade almost no one happy. Thescopes were simply civilian de-signed Weaver 330C types of 2.2xmagnification, and they weremounted to the rifles in Reddingmounts. Not only were both scopeand mounting system consideredfrangible for military use, but therifles’ five-round magazines thenhad to be loaded one cartridge ata time. Worst yet the UnitedStates’ Model 1903-A4 was aboutthe only World War II sniper rifleon which there was no provisionfor iron sight shooting in case thescope became disabled. Reming-ton was the only maker of ’03-A4s to the tune of slightly lessthan 30,000.

By December 1943 the U.S. gov-ernment decided that its rifleshortage was over. Enough M1Garands were coming off themanufacturing lines that theywere plentiful, especially sincethey were added to the Model1903 Springfields with which the


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Rifle 247

sight on the rear receiver bridgeis prominent. In many U.S. Armyinfantry units, one man per pla-toon was issued a bolt-action“Springfield” to be used forgrenade launching. This wasprior to the needed accessoriesfor grenade launching being perfected for the M1 Garand. Undoubtedly some of those“Springfields” were the new ’03-A3 version. Also I have read thaton D-Day some American para-troopers were dropped into Nor-mandy armed with “Springfields.”Every one I have read aboutdropped theirs in favor of a fast-firing M1 Garand as soon as pos-sible. And of course, the sniperversion ’03-A4 was issued to se-lect men in both the U.S. Armyand U.S. Marine Corps.

To return to the subject of thefirst paragraph: Why do I preferthe U.S. Model 1903-A3 to allother World War II rifles? Shoota-bility is the reason. My rifle racks

There is a common misconcep-tion that the U.S. Model 1903-A3came too late in the war to haveseen much use in combat. Intruth when they were sold as surplus in later years, some ap-peared brand new. But be sure,they did make it into the hands offighting men. In one book I readof a soldier at the Anzio Beach-head (Italy) in early 1944 whowas instructed to police up the

battlefield after a fight with Ger-mans. From a fallen Wehrmachtsoldier, he picked up a “Spring-field” and was surprised to see itstamped “Smith-Corona.” In an-other book I encountered a pho-tograph dated January 1945 thatwas taken in Burma. One soldierin it was firing what was obvi-ously a U.S. Model 1903-A3. Theyare easy to spot because the peep

American military began the war,Model 1917s pulled from storageand the new Model 1903-A3s. SoRemington and Smith-Coronawere instructed to stop produc-tion of ’03-A3s in February 1944.On January 4, 1944, Remingtonpresented its one millionth Model1903-A3 to Col. Frank J. Atwood,an official of the U.S. OrdnanceDepartment. They made about50,000 more in total. (That’scounting ’03-A4s also.) Smith-Co-rona made about 236,000 Model’03-A3s, with its peak productionbeing 23,000 in a single month.For the sake of comparison, thegovernment Springfield Armory’speak month was January 1944.The employees built 122,001 M1Garands in that single month.


Springfield1903A3

What happened betweenthe ’03 and ’03-A3?


currently hold regular U.S. Model1903s, U.S. Model 1917s, M1Garands, German K98ks and asemiautomatic K43, British No. 4Mk1s, Russian Mosin-NagantModel 91/30s and a semiauto-matic SVT40, and Japanese Type38 and Type 99 “Arisakas.” Con-sidering only the iron-sight ver-sions and not optic mountedsniper rifles, when I actuallywant to hit a target with one ofthe military rifles, I pick eitherthe two-groove Remington ’03-A3or four-groove Smith-Corona ’03-A3. They are barrel dated 11-43and 6-43, respectively.

The primary reason is theirpeep sights. They are easily ad-justed for distance, and as saidabove, the rear sight is windageadjustable, albeit with rathercoarse four-MOA clicks. Alsothey are very easy rifles to getperfectly zeroed. In Brophy’sSpringfield book, he details thatfive different heights of frontsights were made for ’03-A3s.They ranged from .477 inch tallto .537 inch in .015-inch incre-ments. And then the peep sight is dovetailed to the rear receiverbridge so it can be drifted forperfect zeroing. Not having an as-sortment of sight blades whenacquiring my Smith-Corona backin 2001, I simply ground down itsfront sight to zero it at 100 yards.In 2006 upon buying the Reming-

ton, I was pleased to find thatsomeone else had already donean admirable job with the sight-ing-in chore.

None of the above should betaken to infer that ’03-A3s arebenchrest quality tack-drivers.However, they certainly delivermore than enough precision fortheir intended purpose. Despitebeing produced in a wartime

emergency, their barrels are obvi-ously of good quality as mustalso be the bedding of barreledaction to stock. Whereas British.303s and Russian 7.62x54mm’scan be all over the map in re-gards to their barrels’ groove diameters, in my experience ’03-A3s are uniformly .308 inch. Ifind it not especially difficult toget my two grouping around twoMOA with handloads using bothcast and jacketed bullets. Also


In Mike’s experience, his ’03-A3swill shoot cast bullets with equalprecision to jacketed bulletloads. This group was fired withthe Remington ’03-A3.

This group was one of the bestMike fired for this article. It waswith the Smith-Corona ’03-A3.

Mike considers groups like thisas fairly typical of an unaltered’03-A3. This one was shot withthe Remington.

Rifle 247

upward, the rifle feeds cartridgesfrom the magazine to the cham-ber. Flipped downward, roundscan be dropped on top of themagazine follower and fed intothe chamber. In its middle posi-tion, the bolt can be withdrawn.The purpose of the magazine cut-off device must have stemmedfrom the minds of older ord-nance officers. With the deviceengaged a full load of five roundscould be kept in the magazineand the rifle used as a singleshot. Then in an instant the riflecould be turned into a repeater.Again, I must say it is doubtful ifany World War II soldier used his’03-A3 as a single shot. Perhapssome ’03-A4-armed sniper did.

The reason I like the cutoff de-vice is not that I have a need forkeeping a fully loaded magazine.It’s that during load testing, I canjust drop rounds into the actionand chamber them. Try that withvirtually any military Mauser ’98and you better have a cleaningrod handy to tap them back outof the chamber. They must bemagazine-fed for the extractor toslip over the case head properly,and at least once in any rangesession with a Mauser ’98, I for-get to push the cartridge downinto the magazine before runningthe bolt.

Converse to my opinion about’03-A3s is my feeling about theU.S. Model 1903-A4. I have one ofthose (barrel dated 4-43) and mustagree that it is a poor excuse fora sniper rifle. In my collectionare original specimens of Ger-man, British, Japanese and Russ-ian World War II sniper rifles.The only one I consider less ef-fective than the ’03-A4 is theJapanese Type 97, and it at leastallows the option of using its ironsights. That’s the historical as-pect. My shooter’s reason for notfavoring the ’03-A4 is simply be-

the new genre of .30-06 loads intended specifically for M1Garands do well in my ’03-A3s.Speaking of all loads, sometimesa group will be a smidgen under2 inches at 100 yards, and moreoften a flyer may make one morelike 3 inches. Once in awhilegroups will be larger than that.From my two ’03-A3s, I can dis-cern no difference between thenumber of grooves in their bar-rels in regard to good shootingwith any type of bullet.

Of course, the .30-06 factor is acontributing reason for my pref-erence of ’03-A3s. Compared tothe .303 British, 7.62x54 Russian,6.5 and 7.7 Japanese, it is a hand-loading joy. The only World WarII rifle cartridge that I feel is itsrival in the handloading aspect

is the 8mm Mauser. But the .30-06’s available selection of bulletsputs the 8mm Mauser in distantsecond place. The accompanyingtable contains three types of .30-06 loads. Some are factory loads.Others containing Varget andHodgdon H-4350 are some previ-ously tested loads from these rifles. And third are some hand-loads assembled at random usingpowder charges drawn at ran-dom from various manuals. Notethat the group averages includ-

ing all fliers are close from bothrifles.

Another feature of ’03-A3s that Ilike is one that probably meantabsolutely nothing to the soldiersissued them (perhaps with theexception of snipers with ’03-A4s). That is the magazine cutoffdevice that also serves as the boltrelease. It is a lever at the rear ofthe receiver’s left side. Flipped


Barrels were not theonly source of variationin the Model 1903-A3.

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quickly after hostilities ceased,they put ’03-A3s up for sale asmilitary surplus. According toBrophy’s book, the Director ofCivilian Marksmanship (DCM)first offered them for sale to NRAmembers in 1947. The price was$50 plus $1.85 shipping. By 1957the price was reduced to $30 plus$2.85 shipping. Then in 1961 theymust have really wanted to dumpthem because the price was only $10 plus $4.50 shipping. Nowa-days, the DCM has evolved intothe CMP (Civilian MarksmanshipProgram), and they have re-im-ported thousands of ’03-A3s fromcountries we gave them to as military aid. Of course, twenty-first century prices are vastlyhigher than mid-twentieth cen-tury’s. My Smith-Corona was aDCM rifle and my Remington is a more recent CMP purchase. Despite their 65-year age, in myopinion they remain fine rifles,and that’s with the machine toolmarks, mediocre finish and all.

nothing more than a wartime sub-stitute – a fast and economicalway to put rifles in troops’ hands.Evidence that the government itself wasn’t enamoured of themodel is the fact that relatively


cause it is less accurate than my peep-sighted ’03-A3s. That little Weaver 2.2x scope adds virtually nothing to the rifle’sshootability.

The U.S. Model 1903-A3 was R

Shooting at his home range for enjoyment, Mike usually picks the ’03-A3s.

CARTRIDGES AND LOADS

A cartridge for prairie dogs, ground squirrels andmarmots requires enough velocity to produce a flattrajectory and reduce wind drift but with a mild re-coil, so we don’t start quivering like a bowl of Jell-Oafter firing 20 rounds or so.

Bullet drop is the least of our worries, becausegravity is fixed and bullet drop can easily be com-pensated for as range increases. But wind speedand direction always fluctuate, and about the onlytime the wind stops on the prairie is to change di-rection. A look at the Sierra Bullets Infinity ballis-tics program shows additional bullet weight is oneway to lessen bullet drift. For example, a 7mm mag-num shooting a Hornady 162-grain A-MAX at 3,000fps has a trajectory out to 500 yards similar to the.25-06 Remington shooting a 75-grain V-MAX at3,700 fps. However, the 7mm bullet’s drift in a 15mph wind is nearly half that of the .25-caliber bulletat 500 yards.

However, the effects of recoil are cumulative.About 10 shots with a 7mm magnum are about allthe fun most of us can endure. On a prairie dogshoot one summer, a fellow brought along a .338Lapua Magnum. The .338’s 300-grain bullets at 2,700fps certainly shot flat and resisted the wind, butafter five shots he put the rifle away. For me, shooting even a supposedly mild recoiling cartridgelike the .25-06 more than 30 times during a day is painful.

For my shooting experiment, I chose four car-tridges that are fun to shoot during a day on the

Long-

Var


Prairie dogs vary in size and provide only a smallarea to aim at, so rifles must be capable of shootingminute of angle.

John Haviland

When I knocked off aprairie dog across acouple of dry couleesand out on the far side

of a prairie flat, I used to think I wasthe unacknowledged offspring ofAnnie Oakley and Buffalo Bill Cody.But after conducting a shooting ex-periment with four different riflesand scopes from 300 to 500 yards,the fact is some good fortune withthe wind is involved to hit such asmall target at long distance. Thentoo, the right cartridge and scopeand their correct application helpcreate a lot of that luck.

W

prairie: the .223 Remington, .22-250 Remington, .220 Swift and.243 Winchester. These cartridgesshoot precisely, and their recoilis like a pat on the back.

I nearly dismissed the .223 as acartridge with an insufficientlyflat trajectory for shooting past300 yards. However, the Sierra69-grain hollowpoint boat-tail(HPBT) MatchKings changed mymind about the .223. My SavagePredator Hunter .223 has a one-in-9-inch twist that will stabilizethis sleek bullet, and with an av-erage velocity of 3,022 fps theSierra bullet dropped only 14inches at 400 yards and 31 inchesat 500 yards. The .223 load with26.5 grains of Vihtavuori N540powder also had an extreme ve-locity spread of only 37 fps. Thatlow velocity spread is importantbecause just 100 fps difference inthe velocity of the Sierra 69-grainslug causes 4 inches of verticaldispersion at 500 yards. I shouldhave kept that in mind whenchoosing loads for the .220 Swift.

The .22-250 Remington is theclassic long-range prairie dog

cartridge. My Cooper Model 22has a one-in-14-inch twist, so itwas limited to shooting sharplypointed bullets weighing up to 55 grains. The Sierra 55-grainBlitzKing with 39.0 grains of BigGame powder had a muzzlespeed of 3,566 fps. Extreme ve-locity spread was 20 fps.

The rifle printed bullets at whatlooked like 2 inches above aim at 100 yards. Then again, deter-mining exact bullet impact and

subsequent trajectory from acomputer program is difficult un-less all the bullets land in onehole. The Sierra BlitzKing bulletsshot nearly 3 inches flatter at 400yards and 9 inches flatter at 500yards than stated by the SierraBullets Infinity ballistics program.If the rifle was really sighted 2.5inches high at 100 yards, it wouldbe more in line with the trajec-tory stated by the computer pro-gram. Even then, the BlitzKingsshot 7 inches flatter at 500 yardsthan the program figures. This allgoes to prove a rifle must be shotat different ranges to determineits true trajectory.

Bullets hitting 2.5 inches high at100 yards is really a bit too highfor shooting at 100 to 200 yards.After I had the .22-250 sighted in, a ground squirrel poked itshead out of its burrow at 150yards. Though I aimed a coupleof inches low, I still shot over thetop of it.

The .220 Swift, chambered inthe Winchester Model 70 Varmint,is the original rocket of varmintcartridges. The Combined Tech-nology 55-grain Ballistic Silver-tips could be driven somewhatfaster than 3,706 fps in the Swift,but I’m nursing the barrel of thisrifle that was made in 1961.

-Range

mintsHaviland tests

performance to 500 yards.


Wind on the open prairie is a constant problem,and figuring drift can give a varmint shooter fits.

Today scopes with aiming pointson the bottom wire of the reticlefor different distances improvethe odds that first shot will be ahit. That is if a hunter takes thetime to shoot at different dis-

trying to look through boilingwater.

A variable power scope is muchmore user friendly. It can be seton the low end for its wider fieldof view to find the varmint, thenthe magnification turned up for acloser view. Magnification canalso be fine-tuned to cut throughthe mirage. I find myself setting avariable scope on about 12x to14x and leaving it there as a compromise between a closeview of the target and reductionin mirage distortion.

I’ve watched some expert rifle-men shoot at prairie dogs overthe years. However, not once didthey hit a prairie dog at over 400yards on the first shot. But theyoften made a hit with a second orthird shot by noting the dustkicked up by the impact of theirfirst bullet, then adjusting theiraim accordingly.

cided my shooting would bemore accurate if my scope waspowerful enough to paste thecrosshairs on individual fleas ona prairie dog or gopher at 500yards. So I mounted a 36x scopeon my .22-250.

What a mistake. I spent a lotmore time searching than shoot-ing. Finding a gopher through the scope’s narrow field of viewrequired peering over the scopeand aligning the barrel with thegopher. Keeping the rifle steady, Ilooked through thescope and slowlymoved it in an ever-widening circle tohopefully see thegopher. Once theday started to heatup, mirage raisedits ugly head, andthe view throughthe scope was like

The Swift had a rather wide ex-treme velocity spread of 121 fpswith 44.3 grains of Hunter pow-der and the 55-grain Ballistic Silvertips. That wide swing in velocities showed up in verticalspread of the bullets at longrange. At 400 yards a three-shotgroup measured 3.16 inches. Allthe dispersal was vertical. At 500yards three bullets had a verticalspread of 3.5 inches. If the .220load had a low extreme velocityspread, that vertical spread couldhave been about 1.5 inches lessat 400 yards and 3 inches less at500 yards.

The Cooper Model 22 .243 Win-chester shot a group of less than2 inches at 400 yards, but in thewrong places on the prairie dogtargets. This is a lesson that nomatter how accurate a rifle, itmatters little if the scope and op-erator are not in sync.

SCOPES

During the long winters I thinkabout shooting. One winter I de-


Long-Range

Varmints

A partner to spot bullet impact is an immense help in shooting at longrange. The shooter can then adjust aiming accordingly.

A bench, like thisShooter’s Ridge, is

necessary for asolid aim when

shooting at longrange. The weight

of the shooter sitting on the

bench adds stability.

Bullet drop can easilybe compensated foras range increases.


tances to determine the exacttrajectory of his bullets and doesa little ciphering to match thebullet drop to the reticles.

The Sightron 4.5-14x 42mmscope on the Savage .223 has theHunter Holdover Reticle (HHR).Aiming with the center crosshair

at 300 yards, bullets hit 3 inchesbelow aim. From the centercrosshair to the first hash markbelow covers 10 inches at 400yards. Bullet drop at that dis-tance is 14 inches. So to hit righton at 400 yards, aim must be justa smidgen high with that hashmark. At 500 yards the space is

27.5 inches between the centercrosshair and the second hashmark. Bullet drop is 31 inches atthat distance. Again, to hit righton at 500 yards, aim must be justa smidgen high with the secondhash mark of the HHR.

The Varmint Hunter’s reticle in


Prairie Dog Shooting Resultsprairie dog

bullet powder charge velocity yards trajectory target group hits(grains) (grains) (fps) (inches) (inches) (inches)

.223 Remington:

69 Sierra HPBT MatchKing VV-N54 26.5 3,022 100 +2.5300 -3 1.08 2.52 3400 -14 3.30 2.60 0500 -31 4.00 4.25 2

.22-250 Remington:

55 Sierra BlitzKing Big Game 39.0 3,566 100 +2.0300 -1.5 2.02 1.50 3400 -10 3.62 2.46 1500 -21 3.57 5.40 1

.220 Swift:

55 Ballistic Silvertip Hunter 44.3 3,706 100 +1.75300 -2 2.02 3.71 3400 -13 3.16 7.40 2500 -24 4.08 8.48 1

.243 Winchester:

70 Nosler Ballistic Tip Big Game 45.0 3,450 100 +2.0300 -3.5 2.15 3.42 3400 -13.5 3.33 1.49 0500 -29 8.50 10.00 0

Notes: The .223 Remington loads were fired in a 22-inch barreled Savage Predator Hunter with a Sightron 4.5-14x 42mm, HHR Reticle scope attached. The.22-250 Remington loads were fired in a Cooper Model 22 with a 24-inch barrel. It had a Sightron SII Big Sky 4-16x 42mm with a duplex reticle scope attached. The .220 Swift loads were fired in a 26-inch barreled Winchester Model 70 Varmint with a Bushnell Elite 6500 2.5-16x 42mm, DOA Reticle scopeattached. The .243 Winchester loads were fired in a Cooper Model 22 with a 24-inch barrel. It had a Leupold VX-III 4.5-14x 50mm, Varmint Hunter’s Reticlescope mounted.


Above left, a scope with a parallax adjustment provides a clearer viewat long range. Center, adjusting elevation to compensate for bullet drop

worked well on the Sightron scope that had only a duplex crosshair.Right, a rangefinder on the bench helps determine exact distance.

Rifle 247

the Leupold VX-III 4.5-14x 50mmscope has similar hash marksalong the bottom wire calibratedfor bullet drop at 300, 400 and500 yards. Those holding pointswould have come within a few

inches of the trajectory of theNosler 70-grain Ballistic Tips at3,450 fps from a .243 Winchesterif it had been sighted in one inchhigh at 100 yards. But I could notleave well enough alone andsighted in the .243 for 2 incheshigh at 100 yards. That sight set-ting meant I had to aim low andsplit the difference between thehash marks to compensate forbullet drop at 400 and 500 yards.The Varmint Hunter’s reticle alsocontains 10 and 20 mph windagehold points at the ends of the300-, 400- and 500-yard holdpoints.

Don’t forget if the scope is seton other than its intended magni-fication, for the reticle marks tospan the correct distance, thespace between the aiming pointsmust be recalculated.

The Sightron SII Big Sky 4-16x42mm scope on the .22-250 hasonly a plain duplex reticle. Hold-ing the crosshair high and intothe wind at no definite point hop-ing to offset bullet drop and driftis futile. Instead, I turned the ad-justment knob to offset bulletdrop. The Cooper Model 22 .22-250 hit 10 inches below aim at400 yards, and 20 clicks of the 1⁄8-


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These three hits were made at 300yards with a .243 Winchestershooting Nosler 70-grain BallisticTips.

These three hits were made at 300yards with a .220 Swift. The rifletended to string shots vertically.

Below, a .5 inch sight mis-alignment at 100 yards increases

to 2 inches at 400 yards. Thisgroup was fired with a .22-250Remington at 400 yards. Right,variations in velocity can cause

vertical stinging at long distance.This group was fired at 400

yards with a .220 Swift.

These three hits were made at300 yards with a .223 Remington.

The effects of recoilare cumulative.

Long-Range

Varmints

500 yards, and 33 clicks raisedbullet impact level with theprairie dog target.

However, constant vertical (andwindage) reticle adjustments willget hard to calculate when com-pensating for a shot at 300 yards,the next at over 500 yards, thenback to 250 yards and then intoouter space. I had a difficultenough time remembering atwhat distance the reticle was setwhen shooting at only 400 and500 yards. After not too many

shots, a time out is required to re-sight the rifle.

SHOOTING

The hunting gods were kind,caring and compassionate thedays I shot the four rifles, be-cause the air was mostly calm. Ifirst shot the rifles at targets todetermine bullet trajectories andhow well the rifles grouped at300, 400 and 500 yards. Then Ishot at prairie dog targets atthose distances and noted the

inch vertical adjustments broughtbullet impact right on. Bullet im-pact was 21 inches below aim at

Far left, Sierra 55-grain bulletsfrom the .22-250 Remingtondropped this much at 500 yards.The reticle in the Sightron scopewas clicked up to compensatefor the drop, which allowedaiming right on. Left, using thesecond holdover point on theHHR reticle in the Sightron scopehelped make two hits with theSavage .223 Remington at500 yards.


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Rifle 247

accommodating of the paintedprairie dog to sit unmoving whileI fiddled with cartridges, figuredwhich aiming point on the reticleto use and brought the rifle tobear.

Hitting the prairie dog targetswas easy at 300 yards. With the.223 and .22-250 Remingtons and.220 Swift I just put the centercrosshair on the top middle ofthe targets. That balanced out theslight bullet drop, and the .223and .220 plugged the targets rightin the bread basket. The .22-250grouped three bullets in 1.50inches, but hit a bit to the left ofcenter. The first hash mark of theVarmint Hunter’s reticle on the.243 was aimed at the bottom ofthe prairie dog. Three shots werea bit higher than intended butstill right in there.

At 400 yards inconsistenciesstarted to show up in the sightsettings, aiming point selectionand loads. A rain storm had justpassed when I started shooting at 400 yards. The air was calmwhere I sat, but blew slightly

number of hits and the size of thegroups. With no dust to signalwhere bullets hit, I had to hopemy hold on the prairie dog targetwas correct.

The prairie dog target was onthe large side at 9.5 inches tall

and 5.5 inches wide at the belly.Excluding the head, the target re-ally measured about 5x6 inches.That meant at 500 yards the rifles would have to shoot withinminute of angle, with no misjudg-ment of the range or wind. It was


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The Sierra 69-grain bulletwas used in the Savage

.223 Remington.

The Sierra 55-grain Blitz-King was used in the

Cooper Model 22 .22-250Remington.

The Nosler 70-grainBallistic Tip was used inthe Cooper Model 22

.243 Winchester.

The Combined Technology55-grain Ballistic Silvertip

was used in the WinchesterModel 70 .220 Swift.


across the flat below. It wasenough to drift the three .223 bul-lets 6 inches to the right.

By the time I was ready to shootthe .22-250, the wind had stoppedand fluffy seed balls from the cot-tonwood trees floated straight upin the air. I hurried up and shot.The slight left bullet impact ofthe .22-250 bullets at 300 yardsincreased at 400 yards, resultingin only one hit.

The .220 Swift wore aBushnell Elite 6500 2.5-16x42mm scope with the DeadOn Accurate (DOA) reticle. Thesecond aiming dot down fromthe center crosshair covered 13.6inches at 400 yards. That was theright amount for the 13 inches the.220 bullets dropped at that dis-tance. Two bullets hit the prairiedog, but the three-shot group hada 7-inch vertical string. Thatspread may well have been theresult of the high extreme spreadof velocity with the .220 load.

sated for 27.5 inches of drop at500 yards. That was pretty closeto the 31 inches of drop for the.223’s 69-grain bullets. With anaim a few inches high, two bul-lets hit the prairie dog target. Thethird bullet landed an inch to theleft of the head – close enough tomake a prairie dog duck backinto its burrow.

For the .22-250, I moved theSightron reticle up 33clicks to make up for the21 inches of bullet drop at500 yards. It was nice to

use that one crosshair for all theshooting, because of the unclut-tered view and no confusing dotsand protruding hash marks. Wayout there, one bullet hit the cen-ter of the prairie dog target, andthe two other bullets hit 4 inchesleft. All three bullets had a verti-cal spread of less than 2 inches.

The DOA reticle in the Bushnellscope is designed for big game

The .243 bullets dropped 13.5inches at 400 yards, but for somereason I used the second aimingpoint on the Varmint Hunter’s ret-icle. I knew that a 19-inch reticlerise was too much, but shot any-way. The three bullets landedright over the top of the prairiedog’s head, but in a tight 1.49inches. Subsequent shots, aimingwith the second aiming point

At 400 yards inconsistencies startedto show up in the sight settings.

somewhat below the prairie dogtarget, placed two bullets right inthe middle of it.

At 500 yards the prairie dog tar-get looked more like the size of a mouse through the scopes. Theprairie dog silhouette offered nodefinite aiming spot, like on a target.

The second hash mark on the.223’s Sightron’s HHR compen-


hunting, and its holdover dotscover one minute of angle. Thattranslates into a dot covering theentire width of the prairie dogtarget at 500 yards. Using the topof the dot meant a more preciseaim. The third dot down on theDOA reticle compensated for 31 inches of drop at 500 yards.The .220 Swift bullets dropped 24 inches at that distance, so Iplaced the top of the third dot onthe bottom of the prairie dog.The result was one hit, a secondbullet just under its nose and thethird bullet wide to the left 6inches.

The prairie dog target rippled inthick mirage by the time the .243was up to bat. The target wasmuch clearer with the Leupoldscope set on 10x, but that wouldmean reconfiguring the distancesbetween the aiming points, so thescope was left on 14x.

The .243’s 70-grain Ballistic Tipsdropped 29 inches at 500 yards,and the third holdover point onthe Varmint Hunter’s reticle cov-ered 31 inches at that distance. Ilet fly with that point on the bot-tom of the target. The three bul-lets hit within 2 inches of thetarget, but left, left and low.

When the shooting was fin-ished, another storm front builtup over the mountains to thewest. The wind started blowing,and gusts bent the grass nearlyflat. If I had still been shooting, 3to 4 feet of windage correctionwould have been required to hitthe prairie dog targets.

Luck certainly helped with thewind. The right loads mated withthe bullet drop compensating ret-icles in various scopes furtherhelped. Now I’m going to findsome real prairie dogs and see ifthis paper work translates intothe real thing.


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Brian Pearce

The modern centerfire bolt-action rifle is generallyknown for its simple, strongand rugged design, but vari-

ations are nearly countless withsome being less than reliable.Rather than discussing design fea-tures such as round action, bolt lift,lock time, gas ports, bolt stops, trig-gers, overall quality, etc., let’s focuson the hotly debated subject of con-trolled-round versus push-feed sys-tems. Is one better or more reliablethan the other in the field or at therange? I am not stuck in tradition,nor can I afford to be biased, socomments are based on observationand real life experiences shooting,repairing and hunting with boltguns. And for the record, I use bothtypes by choice.

While bolt-action rifles were around long beforethe Mauser Model 98, it was this rifle design thatimpacted, influenced and inspired many other de-signs. Many consider it timeless and the pinnacle ofbolt actions. It featured controlled-round feed witha nonrotating claw extractor and blade ejector. Itproved reliable, serving in many wars and on mili-tary target ranges, while hunters found strong favorwith it when pursuing dangerous game wherein anaction must be 100 percent reliable. The Model 98has been manufactured in many countries, resultingin various degrees of quality and reliability, but the“good” ones are truly marvelous.

As the U.S. sporting bolt-action rifle evolved in thetwentieth century, major arms manufacturers suchas Winchester, Remington, Savage, et al. departedfrom some features of the Model 98, discoveringthat it required considerably less machining to pro-duce an action with a push-feed design. Somechose to replace the large extractor with a smallerrotating version, while the blade ejector was re-placed with a plunger type, with most bolt faces be-coming countersunk. The debate was on andcontinues to this day.

Current U.S.-manufactured examples of the push-feed system include the Remington Model 700, se-lect Winchester Model 70s, Marlin Model X7,Savage Model 110 (and variations), WeatherbyMark V (Yes, it is currently manufactured in theU.S.A.), Nosler Model 48, Thompson/Center Arms

ControlledRound Versus

Push Feed Bolt


T

Icon and Smith & Wesson I-Bolt. It should be notedthat the Ruger Model 77R, manufactured from 1968through 1992, was also a push-feed action in spiteof having a Mauser 98-type claw extractor.

The Mauser Model 98 remains in production but isnot manufactured on a large scale in this country.Again, with U.S.-manufactured bolt rifles offeringcontrolled-round feed, this leaves us with selectWinchester Model 70s, Kimber Model 84Ms and8400s, Dakota Model 76s, Ruger Model 77 MKIIs(1985 to date) and Hawkeyes, along with a fewsmaller outfits.

Most readers are probably familiar with the me-chanical differences between controlled-round and

push-feed actions, but with many new subscribersto Rifle magazine, let’s take a brief look. On a typi-cal controlled-round action, as the bolt is pushedforward, the bolt face strips or pushes a cartridgefrom the magazine, slipping the rim under the ex-tractor, and the magazine follower pushes the car-tridge upward. At this point the shooter has“control” over the cartridge as the bolt holds it. Itmay be pushed forward into the chamber or ejectedby simply pulling the bolt back and letting the bladeejector kick the cartridge clear of the action.

After firing a round, the bolt keeps control of thecase as it is extracted from the chamber. If the bolt is pulled enthusiastically to the rear, the bladeejector will kick the case out of the action with

Actions


Note how this Winchester pre-64 Model 70 boltholds the cartridge for controlled-round feeding.

This Remington Model 700 bolt pushes the cartridgeinto the chamber with the extractor popping overthe cartridge rim only when the bolt closes.

Facing page, examples of push-feed boltsystems include (left to right): RemingtonModel 700, Savage Model 110 andRuger Model 77R. Right, acontrolled-round feed bolttypically features a bladeejector and nonrotatingclaw extractor, such asthe Winchester Model70 bolt on the left. TheRemington Model 700 bolt(right) features a push-feed system,which usually features a rotating extractor andplunger ejector.

Rifle 247

some velocity. Should the shooterchoose to not eject the case, thebolt travel can be stopped short(before the case hits the ejectorblade) and the case picked fromthe action by hand. Another con-trolled-round feature is the abil-ity to allow the bolt face to takecontrol of a round from the mag-azine but not chamber it, theneject it, and repeat the processuntil the gun is empty withoutever chambering a round.

It should be mentioned thatsome controlled-round actionswill not allow a cartridge to bedropped directly into the cham-ber and the bolt closed (due to anonbeveled extractor) but re-quire it be inserted into the mag -azine, picked up by the bolt facethen pushed into the chamber.This was a feature common withmany military Mauser Model 98actions (and others) that wereused as the basis for sporting rifles built by gun manufacturers.On the other hand, most com-mercial controlled-feed actions,including the Mauser Model 98,Winchester Model 70, Ruger

Model 77 MKII, Kimber 84M and8400 and others, permit the car-tridge to be dropped directly intothe chamber and the bolt closed– with the extractor popping overthe rim.

The bolt of a push-feed systemlikewise strips a cartridge from

the magazine but does not graspthe case, rather it pushes it intothe chamber. With a round in thechamber, as the bolt closes (bolthandle being pushed down), theextractor rotates and slips overthe cartridge rim. Until the ex-tractor is over the rim, the car-

70

BoltActions

Examples of popular U.S.-manufactured bolt-action rifles with thepush-feed system include Remington Model 700, Savage Model 110and Ruger Model 77R.

Below, the Weatherby Mark V (top) and Vanguardfeature push-feed systems. Right, examples of con-trolled-round feed actions include (top to bottom):FN Mauser 98, Winchester pre-64 Model 70 andKimber Model 8400.


tridge is loose, i.e., cannot becontrolled by the shooter or bolt.In pulling the fired case or livecartridge from the chamber, theextractor pulls it out, while theplunger ejector kicks it clearfrom the action as soonas the bullet or casemouth clears the re-ceiver ring.

Some claim that thecountersunk push-feedbolt face is stronger in the eventa cartridge ruptures, while con-trolled-round folks point out thattheir system places the cartridgein the chamber. Frankly, bothsystems are sufficiently strong to

house sporting cartridges; thereal issue is proper gas venting,and that subject cannot be dis-cussed generally but must be dis-cussed on individual actiontypes.

Proponents of the controlled-round action claim that the beefyclaw extractor pulls fired casesfrom the chamber with greaterstrength and reliability. This is aninteresting point and is partly

true. For instance, I recall firing afine British Mauser Model 98 .270Winchester. The rifle had beenrecently rebarreled, but when thechamber was cut, the reamer hada burr, leaving a deep ring inside

the chamber. After fir-ing the first round, thebolt handle could onlybe lifted with tremen-dous effort, and when itwas finally forced open,

it left the case in the chamber. A steel rod was used to drive thecase out from the muzzle end,and only then was it discoveredthat the chamber was damagedas witnessed by the bulge in the

Many consider the Mauser Model 98 a superbbolt-action design that features controlled-roundfeed. This one (manufactured by FN) is just takingcontrol of the cartridge as it is stripped forwardfrom the magazine.

Cases/cartridges may be ejected by swiftly bringingthe bolt to the rear and allowing the blade ejectorto kick it from the action.

Above, push-feed actions withrotating extractors and plunger

ejectors have proven reliable if theyare of proper design, as witnessed

on many military semiautomaticrifles. Right, the AR-15 and M1A riflesfeature push-feed systems that proved

reliable during military service.

Readers are probably familiar with themechanical differences between

controlled-round and push-feed actions.

Rifle 247

dirty chamber, defective case,oversized bullet or shooting witha too hot barrel after letting thecartridge “cook” in the chamber.Most rotating extractors will pullsuch cases with ease. To furthersupport this statement, I willpoint out that many semiauto-matic and fully automatic riflesin use by militaries around theworld feature rotating extractors.They are often shot until barrelsare nearly red hot, primers areblowing and in general the riflesare tortured and abused, but theyjust keep shucking cases at ahigh rate of speed. In sporting rifles a properly designed (andnot all are) rotating extractor isvery reliable, but so is the clawextractor.

Proponents of the controlled-round feed system often refer tothe fact that they can control thecartridge at all times, which re-sults in fewer jams and mishaps

and offers convenience. For ex-ample, it is extremely difficult todouble feed a controlled-roundaction, wherein two cartridgesare stripped from the magazine

and are in front of the bolt. (Ifthis does happen, there is proba-bly a problem with the followeror other specific issues.) It is cer-tainly convenient to extract aloaded cartridge or fired casefrom the chamber and have theoption of taking it from the ac-tion, rather than having it thrownby a spring-loaded ejector. Bycontrast an inexperienced opera-tor of a push-feed system cancause a double feed, which ishuman error and not a mechani-cal shortcoming. I have never hada push-feed rifle double feed, un-less there was a faulty follower ormagazine issue – or where I delib-erately made it occur.


center of the case. The claw ex-tractor had literally torn a largechunk of the rim off the case try-ing to extract it. I am unaware ofany conventional push-feed ro -tating extractor exhibiting thatkind of strength, as most will either slip over the rim, or somewill break, leaving the case in the chamber. It should be empha-sized that not all rotating-type extractors offer equal cammingpower or strength.

With that said, in the event of adifficult-to-extract case, I do notexpect an extractor to have theability to tear the rim off. Gener-ally hard extraction can be blamedon an overload, extreme heat, a

BoltActions

Left, the Remington Model 700 strips a cartridgefrom the magazine and pushes it into the chamber.Above, the plunger ejector automatically kicks thecase clear of the receiver when the case mouth orbullet nose clears the receiver.

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Not all actions feed flawlessly.Some Ruger Model 77Rs wouldallow the cartridge to pop uptoo high, binding it against thereceiver and the bolt face.


There is sometimes the beliefthat controlled-round actions aremore reliable right out of thebox, which is not necessarilytrue. A well-tuned control-type

action is a marvelous thing, as itfeeds cartridges and ejects casessmoothly – with a “feel” that anexperienced shooter knows pre-cisely where the cartridge is posi-

tioned as the action is worked.On the other hand, as some fac-tories drive production quantityrather than quality, issues sur-face. For instance a local friend

The push-feed Nosler Model 48 .300 WSM was usedto take this Alaskan Dall sheep.

A controlled-round feed Ruger Model 77 MKII .300Winchester Magnum dropped this Canadian whitetail.

Both push- and control-feedsystems have proven reliable, aslong as they are of proper designand quality. Mail will no doubtcome with questions to the effectof: “Would you recommend usingModel X to hunt dangerous game,or what is best for . . . ?” Choosea proven, reliable action and testthat individual gun to see if it will fail when the bolt is run orworked hard. Putting a cartridgein the gun and firing it from thebench is different than workingan action hard in the field while a wounded grizzly is popping its teeth a few yards away in the willows. Fire enough cartridgesto make certain there are nofeeding or extraction issues oreven slight hang-ups. If there are, have it looked at by a quali-fied gunsmith, or shop for a dif-ferent rifle.

The debate over control- versuspush-feed actions appears to beongoing. Certainly personal pref-erence will play a large role inwhat an individual chooses but, re-gardless of the choice, make cer-tain that the mechanical operationis understood and mastered.

Rifle 247

given select companies a chal-lenge, as they release cases fromthe magazine early or delayed, ei-ther of which can result in ahang-up. The Ruger Model 77R(1968-1992) occasionally allowedthe belted magnum case head tobounce up too high as the boltstripped it from the magazine, ef-fectively binding the cartridgebetween the bolt face and the top of the receiver. (This hap-pens only with push-feed Model77s and is not an issue with the current Model 77 MKII.) Thepush-feed Winchester Model 70extractor was comparativelyweak when compared to othersystems but nonetheless gener-ally worked well enough for theaverage deer hunter.


purchased a Winchester Model70 Laredo (controlled round) .300Winchester Magnum. He is a rela-tively green shooter with littlemechanical understanding, but inhis first 1,000-yard match, shoot-ing prone, he fought feeding is-sues throughout the entire match.He was the only shooter using acontrolled-round action and theonly one having feeding issues.Knowing Model 70s as I do, itsproblems were minor and a goodgunsmith could have had thatrifle working like a Swiss watchin about an hour, but in its out-of-box form, it was frustrating andunreliable. On the other hand, infiring dozens of the previouslymentioned U.S.-manufacturedcontrolled-round actions, theyhave generally proven reliable.

Most push-type actions feed, ex-tract and eject properly right outof the box, but they too certainlyhave exceptions. For instancesome cartridges have repeatedly

BoltActions

Some claim that thecountersunk push-feedbolt face is stronger.

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Ganyana

he Cape buffalo, Sincerus

caffir, Nyathi, Mbogo . . .whatever you call him, haslong been regarded as the

meanest of the mean when itcomes to African hunting – and notwithout reason. Stories of the buf-falo’s toughness are legendary, butnot imaginary, as any man who hasspent much time hunting them willtell you. But how much is myth,legend and how much is fact? Howmuch rifle do you really need tosuccessfully and safely hunt one?

I have always found it easier to start with thefacts that I have personally seen rather than sto-ries I have heard and need to be verified or hap-pened to great-grandfather and have been passedon by word of mouth. I have seen buffalo cowskilled with a .22 Hornet. On one of the buffaloeradication hunts in western Zimbabwe, we hadmany local lads come to “help” out. This one hadread that Karamoja Bell had used a .22 on buffalo,so he thought he would try a bit more powerfularm. Actually Bell used a .22 Savage High Power,which is a lot more rifle than a .22 Hornet, butback to the story.

The buffalo were driven toward the waiting lineof shooters by a helicopter, and our hero shot fivebuffs with his .22 Hornet. He killed two cows andleft the follow-up of the wounded to us govern-ment types. (He had a farm to run, and the dirtywork was our job.) I was charged and very nearlyrun over by the one bull he had put four bulletsinto. Yes, you can kill a buffalo with a .22 Hornet,but it is a stunt and requires that you are backed

by a PH of considerable experience. You are alsofar more likely to wound and lose the animal (likewe did with the other two buffalo wounded on thatcull) than you are to kill it.

On the other side of the equation, I was presenton a night problem animal control operation whena buffalo was shot through both lungs with a .375H&H. Standard government issue A-Square Solidswere used. Seeing that the buff was departing atspeed and before all interest changed to a differentanimal that was thinking of charging, I put two bul-lets from my Fabrique Nationale (F.N.) FAL 7.62NATO into the retreating buff, putting one bulletinto a lung and one into the liver. Since trackingand following up buffalo in the dark is neigh im-possible, we returned at first light to recover thebuff that had charged and follow-up the one thathad run off. At about 9 A.M., 12 hours after he hadbeen wounded, the buff caught up with us andcharged from behind.

Indeed, he had done the classic buffalo trick oflegend and circled around to watch over his ownspoor and then laid up in some thick bush by theSengwa River. Fortunately he was pretty badlyhurt and was slow getting up and starting hischarge, giving us a few moments warning. Another.375 to the chest didn’t phase him, but as he camein with his head hanging down, two bullets fromthe F.N. went in over his head, breaking his spine.When we dissected him, none of the others couldbelieve that he had kept going so long with bothlungs perforated (left one twice) and with a bulletlodged in his liver. Having learned somethingabout buff on those eradication culls, I had a fairidea of buffalo toughness.

Much has changed, though, in the 25 years since Iparticipated in my first buffalo cull. Back then,softpoint development was still at state-of-the-art1918 standard. I was given a choice of Kynoch

The Model 700 African Plains Rifle is chamberedfor a variety of cartridges suitable for plains game,including Cape buffalo.

76 Rifle 247www.riflemagazine.com © 2009 Ron Spomer photo

T

Buffalo


© 2009 G. Hudson photo

© 2009 Chub Eastman photo

Guns

TheLegendary

Mbogo

Rifle 247

Solids or Brenneke TUG soft-points – neither an ideal bullet!The other regular officers facedthe same quandary, and generallythey fell into two categories:those who favored the .404, espe-cially when used with the thencurrent RWS solids. These fea-tured a very thin jacket launchedat over 2,300 fps (compared withthe 2,150 fps of the Kynoch am-munition). These RWS solids

could be relied upon to tear openif bone was struck and func-tioned like a premium softpointof today! They were pretty hope-less for elephant but perfect forbuffalo.

The others generally favoredthe issue F.N. FAL rifles in 7.62and applied the bar-fighting ruleto shooting buff: “If he’s worthhitting once, he’s worth hittingtwice!” And they always fired a

double tap, almost never a singleshot. As there was a war on, andpeople armed with AK-47s are agreater hazard than buff, using anF.N. for all hunting as well asself-defense made sense. I wasinitially too junior to be able todraw an F.N. – which were inshort supply, and we were issuedunreliable G3s instead – andsoon settled on a 1940’s vintageBRNO (now part of CZ) in 9.3x62


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BuffaloGuns

This lineup of heavy hitters – including (left to right):the .500 Jeffery, .470 Nitro, .404 Jeffery and .416Rigby – is shown with the .375 H&H for comparison. A .577 double is a respected stopping rifle.

I have always found it easier to start with the facts.

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as a compromise rifle. Using thestripper clip loading feature, onecould maintain a reasonable rateof fire for self-defense, and itpacked just enough punch to reli-ably drop a buffalo bull withoutmaking use of a double tap.

My old friend and mentor BrianMarsh commented that the greatJohn ‘Pondoro’ Taylor had told

ity bullet might cause enough hydrostatic shock to tear it open?(Note the word might.) No, abuff’s heart is particularly tough,and the atria at the top is sup-ported by cartilage. (I don’t knowof any other animal that has a“heart bone.” If you ever shoot abuff, ask the PH for it, as it makesfor an interesting little memento.)Put a roundnosed solid throughit, blood will leak out as the heartfills, but as the muscles constrictto pump the blood out, it sealsthe wound. Taylor’s experiences

him to forget about a .375 whenhe started out on a buffalo cul-ling operation in Mozambique inthe early 1950s. Taylor said touse a .404, and that if he per-sisted with his .375, he would getcharged and wouldn’t necessarilybe able to stop it. For the agewhen this advice was given (andheeded by Brian) it was good.Brian was a young hunter start-ing out, and despite Taylor’soverly lavish praise in print forthe .375, he wasn’t going to let atyro get into a real fix with lessthan great advice if personallysought out. The softpoints of the1950s (same as were generallyavailable in the 1980s) were notup to reliably holding togetherfor use on buffalo. If restricted tosolids, the .375 isn’t enough gun.Kenya had worked this out thehard way as well, and sent hometoo many sons of the rich incoffins after hunting trips hadgone wrong. They introduced alaw making .40 caliber the mini-mum for buffalo and elephanthunting.

On the Zimbabwe PH profi-ciency exams, I have had severaloccasions to study exactly this.How long can a buff keep goingwith a bullet through the heart? Ifyou use a .375 solid, the answeris about half an hour – which isway, way too long if your life de-pends on it. How? Easy. A buf-falo’s heart is almost the exactopposite of an elephant’s. Nickan elephant’s heart with any bullet and it tears open. A buff’sheart doesn’t actually tear openunless it is full of blood and aboutto pump out (i.e., beginning sys-tolic phase). Then, a high-veloc-©

200

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Left, modern bullet designs have improved the effectiveness of buffalorifles. Above, some solids aren’t “solid.”

The 9.3x62 (left) and 9.3x74R(right) are shown with the .30-06for comparison.

Rifle 247

(and my more limited ones)showed that holes over .40 cal-iber were too big to seal, and thebuff would bleed out very quicklyif you hit the heart with a solid ofthis size.

However, that was back in the“dark ages” of ammunition manu-facture. State-of-the-art soft-points were Winchester Silvertipsand RWS TUGs. Most companiesloaded plain softpoints with un-

bonded cores and gilding metaljackets. They tried to control bul-let expansion by limiting theamount of lead exposed and put-ting in deep cannelures to “lockthe core in” and make them suit-able for large game . . . BS! Theywere great for elk, kudu and per-haps lion, but they were in noway, shape or form suitable forbuffalo. I used the TUGs as thebest of a bad option, and I gotaway with it. Art Alphin sent mesome of his very early DeadTough softpoints (circa 1987),and I was sold on bonded corepremium softs! And the softpointrevolution has continued.

Twenty years ago you had achoice of Swift A-Frame and

Norma Oryx in freely availablebonded core softpoints alongwith a few from custom makerslike A-Square (Dead Toughs) andBitterroot. Barnes then burst onthe scene with the X-Bullet,Nosler with the Partition Gold,Woodleigh started up, Winches-ter launched the Black Talon,

and competition did wonders for the hunter. The early Swift A-Frame showed fantastic termi-nal performance but exhibited“minute-of-elephant” accuracy tobe charitable. The X-Bullet wasfantastic out of the relativelyhigh velocity rifles like the .375 –pity you had to use an electronicbore cleaner every 10 rounds toget the copper out. Today, thenewer Swifts are more than ac -curate enough for any hunting application out to 200 meters(about 218 yards), the BarnesTSX has solved most of the foul-ing problems, but other, newerplayers have emerged to keepthem on their toes. The greatBear Claw bullets have gonefrom limited supply custom toavailable in factory ammunition.Speer launched its African GrandSlam, RWS its evolution bullet.Terminal performance is gettingever more reliable and accuracyever better.

Still the horror stories roll in.Every year, a friend or colleaguehas a close call from a buff. Some


BuffaloGuns

Left, this relatively new solid design failed to live up to expectations onbuff. Above, Ganyana mainly used RWS TUGs on culling operations.They were marginal on frontal shots.

How long can a buffkeep going with a bullet

through the heart?

Ganyana took this bull while testing new Norma 9.3 ammunition.

Rifle 247

‘flee zone’), so the buffalo simplybehaves like a buffalo – andcharges. Most of them, though,are the result of poor marksman-ship for the first shot. Hit a buffreasonably well with the firstshot using any reasonable car-tridge firing any good premiumsoftpoint, and the hunt is already

over – bar the photos and thescotch around the campfire thatevening. Place that first bulletbadly, however, and the day justgot tatty. When the adrenaline ispumping and his fighting blood is up, then a buff may well live up to all his old reputation fortoughness.

A buffalo hyped on adrenalineis the animal equivalent of a crackcocaine-stoked human opponent.He doesn’t care what happens,and he doesn’t know when he isdead. He has spent a life timefighting, and if he has lived longenough to be mature and tobreed, then he has fought andwon many a battle against otherequally determined buffalo thatthought they had the right tobreed and many a lion thatthought a young bull on thefringe of the herd would make aneasy dinner. Once he is in ‘fight-ing mode,’ he knows his very sur-vival depends on winning, and heis used to winning. That is wherehe is different from the other bigherbivores that are too big forlion to regularly attack as adults.Their fights are for breedingrights only and are seldom to thedeath. A buffalo is just smallenough to be regular lion fare,and to lose a fight for breedingrights means you get pushed tothe fringe of the herd again orworse, off on your own to be ‘firsttarget’ for the next lion attack.

How much “stopping” does anadrenaline-filled, angry buffalotake? Well, I have stopped fiveclose-range charges (less than 10paces): two with a 7.62 doubletap to the spine and three with a9.3 softpoint – two into the spineunder the chin and one throughthe nose into the brain. In all five cases the shot shut down thecentral nervous system. Bodyshots? I have no faith in them. Ihave seen a .505 Gibbs knock abuffalo back onto its haunches,the softpoint ripping a massivehole through the heart, only tohave him pick himself up andcome on. A friend had a similarthough slightly more dramatic

have been unprovoked attacks,invariably at very close range,and are simply cases of the PHgetting too close to a sleepingbuff in thick brush. When thenoise of the PH approaching finally awakens the buff, the PHis already inside the ‘attack zone’(as opposed to the much larger


BuffaloGuns


illustration of the same tough-ness. On a citizen hunt, one manshot a buffalo bull with a .500 Jef-fery. It dropped instantly to ahigh shoulder shot (spine bro-ken). His partner Clive was avery experienced hunter and no-ticed a bull beyond the one beingshot hunch up as well – a shoot-through perhaps?

Being the ethical hunter that heis, Clive left the others to do theback slapping and photo bit andwandered off to make sure aboutthe second buffalo. He was carry-ing his .577 Nitro Express double.Sure enough he found a bloodspoor near where he had seenthe second buff disappear. Hewas just starting to follow whenthe buff reappeared in a charge.Clive hit him with a left and rightto the chest, and the buff wentdown. Clive reloaded as the buffstaggered back to its feet andslammed another two .577s intoit. Again the buff went down andseemed to stay down, so Clivewalked closer to check. To hisamazement the buff bouncedback onto its feet giving Clivejust enough time to get his rifleacross his chest to ward off thehook from the horns before hewas sailing up through the air –his .577 double neatly snapped inhalf and the buff moving aroundto finish the business. Fortu-nately for Clive the cumulativeeffect of so much lead throughthe heart and arteries was toomuch for the buff, and he col-lapsed before he could presshome a final charge. Moral: If youhit the central nervous system,the buff will drop instantly. If youdo not, he will run, and being abuff, he is likely to run towardyou rather than away.

So what constitutes an “ideal”buffalo rifle? Well, shot place-ment beats muzzle energy everytime, and if you will use a mod-ern premium softpoint, then anyrifle from 9.3 up will do the jobnicely. To the average American,this means a .375 H&H, although


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In the current market for

adult-grade airguns, PCP (pre-charged pneumatic) rifles havebeen the priciest of the lot. Theirlofty price tags have generallyplaced them beyond the budgetof many sport shooters.

Fortunately, that situation wascorrected to a large extent withthe introduction of the Crosman-manufactured Benjamin Discov-ery PCP/CO2 dual-fuel rifle in2008. Following the success ofthe Discovery dual-fuel rifle, in2009 Crosman introduced the superb Benjamin Marauder dual-fuel rifle. Actually, comparing thenew Marauder to the older Dis-covery is like comparing a sleek,high-performance sports car to aVolkswagen beetle.

The new Benjamin Marauder’sdual-fuel power plant means thisrifle can be powered by com-pressed air at a maximum work-ing pressure of between 2,000and 3,000 psi or by CO2 at rela-tively lower working pressures.Like the older Discovery model,the Marauder’s dual-fuel systemallows shooters the better of two worlds in one rifle. Typically,sporting-class precharged pneu-matic rifles are extremely potentperformers, as their compara-tively high working air pressures

When used in the PCP mode,the Marauder can be pressurizedfrom a source of compressed air,such as a SCUBA tank or com-

pressor, or from a bicycle-typehand pump available from Cros-man. This air pump requires a bitof applied muscle in order toreach optimum working pres-sures, but the effort is not be-yond the physical capability ofmost grownups of average build.The pump itself retails for $164.20and is highly recommended. Thepump incorporates an easily legi-ble pressure gauge to keep trackof the air input. In addition, therifle itself also has a built-in pres-sure gauge in the bottom of the stock, directly ahead of thetrigger guard. Normally, some-where between 100 and 120pump strokes is sufficient toreach a working pressure of ap-proximately 2,100 psi. Excessive

translate into sizzling pellet ve-locities. The Marauder, inciden-tally, can be had in a choice of.177 inch (4.5mm) or .22 inch(5.5mm) caliber.

PRODUCT TESTS by Jess Galan • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

BENJAMIN MARAUDER

DUAL-FUEL RIFLE

The match-grade, two-stage trig-ger is fully adjustable. Tab aheadof the trigger is the manual safety.

The Marauder is a man-sized air rifle.

Left, a screw-on cap covers the fill nipple. Below,the top of the receiver has an 11mm dovetail forscope installation.

requires removing the actionfrom the stock in order to accessthe valve metering screw. Turn-ing this screw with a 5⁄64-inchAllen wrench will tune the rifle’spower output to suit a variety ofspecific uses, such as small-gamehunting, field target shooting andeven backyard plinking.

There is no doubt that the Ma-rauder is a real man-sized airrifle. At 43 inches overall and 7pounds, 8 ounces, it sports a 26-inch rifled steel choked barrelsporting a full-length shroud de-signed to keep the firing reportsurprisingly quiet.

The Marauder incorporates abeautifully done oil-finishedhardwood stock with ambidex-trous raised comb and customcheckering. There is also a thickrubber recoil buttpad. The stocktruly deserves top marks for itsundeniable elegance and practi-cality. The stock of the Marauderon test also came with studs forQD sling swivels attached.

As a bolt-action repeater, theMarauder employs a detachablerotary magazine with capacity for10 pellets. The cleverly designedmagazine is a cinch to load andallows a relatively rapid rate offire, since it indexes automati-cally when the bolt is retracted tocock the action and load a pelletfrom the magazine. The steel boltitself is quite beefy and easy tomanipulate.

Rifle 247

pumping could result in higherair pressures that could causethe rifle’s air valve to lock, aswell as a possible burst air reser-voir that could cause injuries tothe user and persons nearby.

Incidentally, the Marauder issupplied with a degassing tool toallow the shooter to reduce orcompletely vent out pressurefrom the rifle’s air/CO2 reservoir.The air pump sent by Crosmanwith the test rifle also came witha Universal CO2 Fill Adapter toenable pressurizing the rifle froma CO2 bottle. This component isquick and easy to use, greatlysimplifying the task of pressuriz-ing the rifle with CO2. Unscrew-ing the cap at the front of therifle’s reservoir tube reveals thefill nipple, ready to accept theFill Adapter’s quick disconnectsocket.

The Marauder’s power can alsobe regulated by the owner. This


A pressure gauge clearly lets theshooter know the air or CO2pressure level.

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The Marauder boasts a match-grade, two-stage trigger adjust -able for position of the blade,plus let-off weight and length ofboth stages. There is a manualtrigger block safety lever locateddirectly in front of the triggerblade. As received, the test riflehad a very smooth trigger, break-ing cleanly at about 21⁄2 pounds,and I saw no reason to changethat.

The vast majority of PCP riflescome without sights, and the Ma-rauder is no exception. These rifles are intended mostly forhunting and/or field target shoot-ing, activities that basically re-quire the use of telescopic sights.To that effect, the Marauder sportsa receiver top with an 11mmdovetail to allow mounting a suit-able scope base. I installed an old Tasco 4x 40mm glass with du-plex reticle and found it a greatcombination for all my tests. TheMarauder produced impressiveaccuracy at all distances, provingthis is indeed a high-performanceair rifle quite capable of takingsmall game at up to 50 yards orso with a well-placed pellet.

The test rifle was .17 caliber.With a working air pressure of2,100 psi, it was delivering a muzzle velocity hovering around930 fps with a variety of .177-inch sporting pellets averaging 8 grains apiece. Perhaps not surprisingly, Crosman Premierdomed pellets printed the bestgroups. The .17-caliber Marauderis rated at a top muzzle velocityof 1,100 fps fully pressurized,while the .22-caliber model’s top velocity is given at up to1,000 fps.

Priced well below most otherPCP rifles, the Benjamin Ma-rauder is an outstanding valuethat allows using either com-pressed air or CO2 gas to suitpractically any recreationalshooting activity.

For further information andavailability, visit Pyramyd Air on-line at: www.pyramydair.com.


That the S&K SKulptured™ mount is the world’s most attractive is testimony of your own eyes.

That it is the lightest, all steel, windage adjustable, projectionless mount is a matter easily deter-mined with available instrumentation.

But the most important feature of this remarkable mount is the fact it is the only mount in the worldthat properly addresses the problems inflicted upon scope and rifle alike by out of line receiver holesor bases and rings that do not perfectly align with each other.

The S&K SKulptured™ mount - alone in the world - cannot inflict torque upon a scope tube orreceiver.

Any other design can if it has improperly bored rings or bases that are out of parallel or if receiv-er holes are out of alignment.

Any gunsmith will tell you these conditions are not rare.

How well will your rifle/scope combination shoot?

You may never know without trying the beautiful, remarkable S&K SKulptured™ mount withSmooth Kontoured™ rings.

Remember - a scope mount that applies torque to your rifle or scope will never permit yourrifle to shoot its best, regardless of how well that mount may be otherwise constructed.

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Rifle 247

Mauser remains one of the mostrespected big game cartridgesever developed, albeit like anymilitary cartridge, it was actuallydesigned to shoot people.

RECOIL PADS

One of the best ways to intro-duce the novice to recoil is to in-stall a cushy recoil pad, and ifnecessary, cut the stock to fit. ThePachmayr Decelerator is alwaysa good choice, along with Limb-Saver and Remington Shooter’sFriend, the latter of which is ad-vertised as reducing felt recoil by70 percent.

Another option is a slip-on pad,but they also increase length ofpull, making it difficult to holdthe rifle properly. Shoulder pads,like those from PAST, also workwell, assuming they are adjustedproperly and don’t slide around.

In the long run, cutting the stockto fit and mounting a good, thickrecoil absorbing pad is the bestsolution, even if you have to buya new stock later when thehunter grows taller.

All of Roberta’s stocks havebeen shortened about 1.2 inches.Also, thicker layers of huntingclothes – jacket, shirt and longjohns – absorb recoil and in-crease the length of pull, so itpays to wear hunting clothes dur-ing practice or simulate the addi-tional thickness with a foldedbath towel over the shoulder.

In the end, reaction to recoil isfor the most part, subjective. Tosome it’s the 800-pound gorilla.To others it’s a non-issue, eitherbecause they have learned to ig-nore it, or they have taken stepsto control and/or absorb it.

Rifle weight is also an importantissue. The more a rifle weighs inany given caliber, the less it re-coils. A flyweight whacks youharder. Unfortunately, or fortu-nately, depending on how youlook at it, there has been a steadytrend toward lighter rifles in thelast few years, and these littlemunchkins chambered for abelted or beltless magnum, oreven a .30-06, can slap you prettyhard. It’s fairly difficult to con-vince the uninitiated they won’teven notice recoil with game inthe scope when they feel punch-drunk after a few rounds off thebench. So while a modern light-weight rifle may appear to be theideal solution for a first rifle, itmay not be, depending on theperson’s size and strength.

There are some lessons to learn.At the age of 7 and small, lessthan 60 pounds, my first expe -rience at shooting was with a single-shot, 12-gauge shotgun. My stepfather stood behind me; I assumed to be out of the line of fire. The shotgun went off and I went over backward, wherehe caught me just inches off the ground. I wouldn’t admit that it hurt, so when he asked if I


Spotting Scope(Continued from page 12)

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wanted to shoot again, I said,“Yes.” The second shot felt like itbroke a bone. Kids are like that.They may not admit they areafraid of recoil.

So take recoil seriously whenfolks have little or no experience.In time, the issue will likely takecare of itself, assuming they havesomeone around to help in theearly going.

* * *

FIRST SEASON

First Season is the premiere inThe Mopani Collection, a seriesof wildlife films centered aroundhunting in the Omay hunting areaof the Zambezi Valley during the2008 season in Zimbabwe.

The widescreen HD DVD fea-tures 1 hour and 35 minutes oforiginal footage, including 13 ele-phant hunts, 6 hippo, 7 Cape buf-falo and a remarkable leopardattack. Plains game includes asable adventure and water buck.

The First Season is producedby Martin Pieters (Martin PietersSafaris) and Roy Aylward. Whilemy hunt with a Winchester Model86 .475 Turnbull for elephant,hippo and plains game is in-cluded on this DVD, the entireproduction is unique in the factthat there are no reenactments;what you see is how it happened.You will be spellbound when abull elephant decides to turn thetables and a wounded leopardbecomes the hunter.

From a hunter’s perspective,one of the most fascinating as-pects of the First Season is thatthe hunter’s reactions are first-hand, on the scene. There are notalking heads with a tale of thehunt hours or days after the fact,a reminder of the good ol’ dayswhen Howard Hill hunted ele-phant with a bow and arrowwithout a teleprompter.

The First Season is for anyonewith a passion for hunting. World-wide distribution: www.safaripress.com.


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The latest thing in firearm

safes is a 10-gauge steelstrongbox hidden under the mat-tress of your bed. BedBunkermodular safes replace the boxsprings under twin-, queen- orking-size mattresses. They’re de-signed to be compatible withmost standard bed frames.

The twin-sized safe measures78x30x15 inches and weighs1,500 pounds. It features 1⁄4 inchthick hinged-steel doors weigh-ing 140 pounds. Custom sizes areavailable by special order.

BedBunker safes are equippedwith a Mul-T-Lock locking sys -tem and a hydraulic, gas-assistedpiston for easy opening. Theyalso feature a “maximum secu-rity” hinge system and one inchdiameter threaded legs that canbe adjusted for height so you

can level the safe.Optional adjust ablecasters are availablefor easy positioning.

A fire-resistant seal-ing system is certi-fied to provide 120minutes of protec-tion at temperaturesup to 1,533 degreesFahrenheit. Struc-tural componentsare TIG (tungsteninert gas) weldedand powder coatedfor protection fromthe elements.

Depending on safesize, as many as 32 rifles and 70handguns can be contained in theBedBunker safe. The fact that it’shidden from view adds an impor-tant element of security. If intrud-

ers can’t find the safe, they can’tforce it open.

There are some caveats: TheBedBunker replaces your boxsprings, so you may find yourselfsleeping on a firmer surface.Also, these safes are more costlythan many conventional, free-standing safes. The twin-sizedBedBunker lists at $2,700, thequeen version goes for $4,800,while the king-sized safe ispriced at $5,200.

If keeping your safe out of sightis important, the BedBunker maybe for you. The safes are guaran-teed for life. For more informa-tion, contact Heracles ResearchCorp., Dept. RI, PO Box 346,Spokane WA 99210; or visit thewebsite: www.bedgunsafe.com.


Namibia-ZimbabweSouth Africa-MauritiusHunt Specials for 2010

South African Plains Game: 7 species includingGreater Kudu and Gemsbok 1x1 $4,800.Zimbabwe Plains Game: 2x1 for $5,350, 1x1$6,100: Greater Kudu, Impala, Warthog, Zebra,Wildebeest, Steenbok, Duiker, Jackal & Baboon.Cape Buffalo: 10 days 1x1 $10,900 (Zimbabwe)

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Scissor Stix

I’m a longtime fan of StoneyPoint Steady Stix. I own a num-ber of these light, handy, collapsi-ble bipods and have used themcountless times for long-rangeshots at everything from deerand pronghorn to prairie dogs.The shock-corded legs fold intoan easy-carrying package that fitson your belt and instantly de-ploys by simply giving the bipoda shake.

The only problem with theSteady Stix bipod is that it offersno support as you walk or climb.I had knee replacement surgerysome time ago and still get kindof wobbly on uneven ground.Until I have full use of my recal-citrant knee joint, a walking staffis a necessary aid.

That’s where Stoney Point’snew Scissor Stix come in handy.The Scissor Stix is a lightweightmonopod with a molded grip thatcomfortably fits your hand. Inmonopod mode, the 39 inch longScissor Stix serves as a sturdyhiking staff. When you’re readyto shoot, the staff quickly con-verts into a bipod, providing asteady shooting rest.

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Opening the locking levers oneach leg allows the Scissor Stixstaff to extend a full 60 inches,providing steady support forshooting from sitting, kneeling orstanding positions. The ScissorStix hiking staff/bipod is made oflightweight aluminum alloy.Price: $83.95.

For more information, contactStoney Point Products, Inc.,Dept. R, 9200 Cody, OverlandPark KS 66214; for consumer inquiries call: 1-800-423-3537; or visit online at: www.stoneypoint.com.

Rifle 247

The Scissor Stix design featurestwo half-round poles that con-nect just below the handle. Toconvert the unit into a bipodshooting rest, you simply flipopen three locking levers locatedat the bottom of the bifurcatedshaft. The twin halves of the staffthen scissor apart, while the han-dle splits open to form a yoke foryour rifle’s forend.


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Anticipating a reaction againstthis namby-pamby wussy cleaner,Caustic Plutonium Chemical Soaktook a threatening tack: Caution:Wear latex gloves and a full HazMat suit before reading thesedirections. Caustic PlutoniumChemical Soak will eat its waythrough any substance known toman. Timing is critical to preventbarrel etching. Be sure to haveplenty of neutralizing agent onhand before beginning your 9.7-second barrel cleaning. Do notuse within 400 yards of a schoolor vegan restaurant. If acci -dentally ingested, bend over andkiss . . .”

Regardless the brand, each di-rected users to push a soakedpatch or two through the bore,followed by 5 to 10 strokes witha brass brush (natural cacti bris-tles for Green Clean), followedby a dry patch that is supposedto emerge squeaky clean. Theproblem is, it never does. Regard-less which solvent I used, nomatter how many soakings andscrubbings I gave that bore, nomatter how mirror bright thedeepest recesses of that barrelappeared through the Hawkeyeborescope, another soaking andbrushing would result in a filthy,black dry patch.

I must have been doing some-thing wrong. I must have misseda critical step. So I reread eachbottle’s directions carefully, thor-oughly, including the fine print.And there it was. On every bottle.The caveat, the out, the perfectescape clause: If the dry patchdoesn’t come out clean, repeat

as necessary.

Nooooo!

Straight Talk(Continued from page 33)

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Building DOUBLE RIFLES on ShotgunActions, 2nd Edition - By W. Ellis Brown

This book is written to take the gunsmith or advancedhobbyist step by step through the process of building adouble rifle, using the action of a side-by-side shotgun.Chapters include evaluating actions and cartridges; build-ing monoblocks; ribs; bushing firing pins; and proof test-ing. Of particular interest is the chapter on regulating thebarrels to shoot to the same point of aim. Brown detailseach step of the entire process, to end with a functional,well regulated double rifle. Double rifle ribs are nowavailable on the web site.HB, DJ, Large Format, 217 pages with over 300 b/w photos,color photos and diagrams . . . . . . . . . . $54.95 + $5.00 S&H*Colo. Res. add 3% sales tax ($1.65) *Orders outside the U.S.: S&H is $13.00Also available: 2006 Double Rifle Builders Symposium DVD (visit our website)

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CASE COLORINGSIGNAL MOUNTAIN GUN WORKS

PRECISION RIFLE SMITHJohn Witt, Gunsmith

Box 570 • 260 Big Clearing Rd. • Roundup, MT 59072C A L L : 4 0 6 - 3 2 3 - 2 4 3 1

R

take a siesta. I would send backto the truck for my double, notbecause I need the extra powerbut because two shots are alwaysbetter than one, and also I load asolid in the left barrel. If the buffruns and I only have a poor angleshot, a solid will reach the chestcavity. If the buff charges and Ifail to break the spine with myfirst shot (a soft), well, a solidwill do as well as anything elsefor a second attempt.

Bullet technology has taken usa whole leap forward in terms ofeffectiveness of our current riflesand cartridges, and one couldvery well make a case for reduc-ing the minimum bullet diameterlegal for use on buffalo, especiallyas those old colonial regulationswere all drawn up before any-body had ever heard of a bondedcore or an X-Bullet. Sadly, somehunters’ brains have been so rat-tled by recoil that they can nolonger comprehend the change.

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there are countless other optionsto suit every taste. Is bigger bet-ter? Yes, but only once you reach.505 Gibbs/.500 Jeffery power lev-els. These two rounds are buffalothumpers of note. With softpointbullets they are noticeably moreeffective than anything smalleron heart/lung shots, but they stillonly annoy a buffalo if you put abullet into the stomach; and no,they are not guaranteed to fold acharge if you miss the spine.They will almost certainly stopthe charge at least momentarily,but even a center chest shot witheither cannot be relied upon toend matters.

Much as I love the .500 Jeffery, Isimply cannot manage one, andas I can see little difference interminal performance betweenmy 9.3x62 and a .458 Lott on buf-falo, I prefer to stick to the 9.3and more accurate shot place-

What if you do wound a buffaloand it disappears into the thickstuff? Do you then need a can-non? The answer is still no. Tac-tics outweigh muzzle energy also.Wait. Wait for the adrenaline towear off and for the buff tostiffen up. Brew some coffee,


A buffalo hyped onadrenaline is the animal

equivalent of a crackcocaine-stoked human.

Buffalo Guns(Continued from page 83)

ment for everyday hunting. Ofcourse, if you insist on living inthe previous century and usingsolids, then the old advice stillstands: Nothing under .40 caliber,and I have a nice 8-gauge doublecartridge gun that might suit yourrequirements. (A 1,250-grain bul-let and 8.5 drams of black pow-der is the regulation load, whichserved my great-grandfather verywell for buff and lion hunting.)

Arctic Safaris.......................................................93B&T Industries LLC.............................................91Bald Eagle Precision Machine Co. .....................16Bandera Gunleather ...........................................12Barnes Bullets.....................................................19Battenfeld Technologies .....................................20Bellm TCʼs, Inc....................................................91Billingsley & Brownell Rifle Metalsmith ...............30Black Hills Shooters Supply, Inc. ........................43Blasier USA ........................................................35Blues Brothers ....................................................33BOG Gear, LLC/Hicks Production ......................95Brockmanʼs Custom Gunsmithing ......................20Brown Company, E. Arthur .................................92Bruno Shooters Supply.......................................65Bucks County Stocks..........................................74Bullet Metals / Bill Ferguson ...............................92Bunduki Publishing .............................................93Burris Company............................................54, 96Chiron, Inc. .........................................................38Christman, David (gunmaker).............................92CJ Weapons .......................................................33Classic Barrel & Gun Works ...............................74Classic Checkering.............................................86Clearwater Custom Bullets .................................86CNC Barrelworks ................................................37Colorado Shooterʼs Supply .................................26Conetrol Scope Mounts ................................33, 91Cooper Arms.......................................................81Corbin Mfg. & Supply....................................56, 92CTK Precision.....................................................16D&B Supply ........................................................10Dayton Traister Trigger Co. ................................92Dem-Bart Checkering Tools, Inc.........................83DNZ Products .....................................................56Douglas Barrels, Inc. ..........................................17Dressel, Paul and Sharon...................................91DSC Arms, Inc. ...................................................18Ebonex Corporation............................................92Erhardt Custom Guns, Dennis............................83Gentry Custom L.L.C. .........................................88Get A Grip Gunbooks .........................................89Gordan Harms ....................................................90Graf & Sons, Inc. ................................................11Green Mountrin Rifle Barrel Co. .........................67Grizzly Custom Guns LLC ..................................30

Hagstrom Gunsmithing.......................................37Harbor Freight Tools...........................................39Harris Engineering..............................................36Harry Lawson LLC..............................................33Haydonʼs Shootersʼ Supply, Russ ......................56High Plains Reboring & Barrels LLC...................18Hill Country Rifle, Inc. .........................................88Hollandʼs Shooters Supply, Inc.............................8Hornady Manufacturing Co.................................15Huber Concepts..................................................62James Calhoon Mfg............................................87Jard, Inc. .............................................................93Johnson Design Specialties................................18Jon Trammelʼs Gunsmithing...............................93Kellyʼs Africa Pvt. Ltd. ...................................26, 90Kimber of America ..............................................13Lapham Outfitters ...............................................16LaPour Gunsmithing, Ed.....................................18Leadheads Bullets ..............................................53Levergun Leather Works ....................................82Lilja Precision Rifle Barrels, Inc. .........................64Little Crow Gunworks, LLC.................................89Lone Wolf Rifle Stocks........................................38Luxus Walnut ......................................................44Lyman Products Corporation..............................67M & R Arms Specialties ......................................67Marlin Firearms Company ....................................3MBI Promotions, Inc. ..........................................36McMillan Fiberglass Stocks, Inc. ........................63Meacham Tool & Hardware, Inc. ........................38Midsouth Shooters Supply Co. ...........................25Mitchellʼs Mausers ..............................................75MLV Enterprises .................................................87MPI Stocks..........................................................86Mr. Star Guy, Inc. / Vixen Optics .........................9New England Custom Gun Service ....................29New Ultra Light Arms, Inc. ..................................32Nightforce USA...................................................73Northwest Custom Projectile ..............................22Nosler Bullets......................................................47Nu-Line Guns, Inc...............................................53Numrich Gun Parts .............................................80Olson Gunsmithing, Dennis E.............................20Pacific Tool & Gauge, Inc. ..................................55Parsonsʼ Scope Service......................................38

Penrod Precision ................................................12Pinaire Gunsmithing ...........................................89Pioneer Research (Steiner) ................................57Preslikʼs Gunstocks ............................................87Providence Tool, LLC .........................................74Pyramyd Air ........................................................85Quality Cartridge.................................................37RB Outfitters .......................................................26RBCS c/o Federal Cartridge Company.................2Redding-Hunter, Inc............................................83RMS Custom Gunsmithing .................................74Robinson Custom Guns, LLC.............................37S & K Scope Mounts...........................................87Savage Arms, Inc. ..............................................45Schillinger & Associates, Inc...............................87Schmidt & Bender...............................................37Sheep River Hunting Camps ..............................36Shilen Rifles, Inc. ................................................91Shooterʼs Choice ................................................17Shooterʼs Ridge ..................................................53Shotgun Sports ...................................................86Signal Mountain Gun Works...............................93Sinclair International, Inc. ...................................12Smith & Wesson .................................................21Sonoran Desert Institute .....................................28SouʼWester Outfitting..........................................88Spec-Tech Industries..........................................20SSK Industries ....................................................28Stiles Custom Guns............................................67Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc........................................5Sunny Hill Enterprises, Inc..................................89Swarovski Optik North America, Ltd. ..................31Swift Bullet Company............................................7Talley Manufacturing, Inc....................................92Terrco, Inc...........................................................90Thompson Cigar Co............................................23Timney Mfg., Inc. ................................................74Trophy Tools, Inc. ...............................................79Vais Arms, Inc.....................................................89Western Powders ...............................................66Williams Firearms Co..........................................91Williams Gun Sight Company.............................72Wineland Walnut.................................................26Wolfe Publishing Company...........................27, 29Yavapai College..................................................17

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