Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2020 i RifleShooter

Ruger’s American Rifle caught the attention of many shooters. Here was a nicely built rifle capable of excellent out-of-the-box accuracy at an economical price. There is a lot to like about the action, but the factory plastic stock left a bit to be desired as a precision rig as opposed to a hunting rifle . And then there was the magazine. Many shooters wished it took a readily available popular model already in common use. Having the option of buying a magazine with a higher capacity would be a plus as well. Well, Ruger listened to the feedback and responded with the American Rifle Hunter. While still being economical, it features a Magpul stock and feeds from popular AC-pattern magazines—definite improvements, in my opinion. Available in two popular calibers, .308…

There are currently at least 10 different popular 6.5mm cartridges. Five of them, including the now-ubiquitous 6.5 Creedmoor, were introduced in just the last decade or so. These cartridges span the spectrum from modest, efficient little rounds to barrel-burning dragons that spew 6.5mm bullets at shocking speeds. Do we need them all? Of course not. But clearly, shooters want them. So which to choose? Which offers the best all-around capabilities? Inherent accuracy? Long-range reach? Which are best for hunting? Here’s a look at 10 of the top 6.5 rifles available. We’ll go more or less chronologically, starting with the Scandinavian favorite introduced 110 years ago. 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser Undoubtedly the best of a flurry of 6.5mm military cartridges engineered over a century ago, the 6.5x55 provided excellent ballistic performance coupled…

Bill Ruger was my kind of person. It seemed every time I wanted something, he made it. In the early 1980s I was looking for an adult-size rimfire rifle. And, by golly, here comes Bill and his Model 77/22 rifle built to look and operate like his centerfire rifles. The 77/22 was originally chambered to .22 Long Rifle, and according to R.L. Wilson’s book Ruger and His Guns, Ruger and his engineers had more than once considered chambering it in .22 Hornet. But the added expense of lengthening the investment-cast receiver kept the project on the back burner. However, once the company had experience with the .22 Magnum version, they felt confident to move forward with the Hornet, and by 1995 half of the 77/22 rifles produced were in this…

“A Christmas Story” is one of my favorite movies because it does a wonderful job of depicting small-town America as it was during my innocent youth. And just like Ralphie in the movie, at a very young age I began subtly pestering my parents for a special Christmas present. Mom never budged but Dad, possibly seeing an eventual hunting buddy in me, placed a Daisy Red Ryder carbine with my name on it beneath our tree. And what a terrific gift it proved to be. During summers, the Red Ryder chalked up long strings of one-shot kills on huge grasshoppers that invaded our farm. Mockingbirds, robins and cardinals were off-limits, but chipmunks digging up the flower garden and pesky English sparrows were fair game. The biggest and most fun quarry…

The genesis of the .26 Macho came during a benchrest match in May 2014. Fellow competitor Steve Grosvenor brought up the idea to build a custom cartridge. I thought the idea was interesting, so together we started planning. The goal was simply to develop an accurate hunting cartridge that would be devastating on deer-size game. We decided to explore the .264/6.5mm caliber, which is known for its inherent accuracy and healthy bullet selection. Steve did a lot of research and decided on the .260 Rem. as the parent case. The .260 has shown it will digest a lot of different powders has decent velocity and low recoil. Most .26 caliber bullets are long, slender, boattails, but I wanted a shorter, flat-base bullet that would not have to be seated deeply…

An evolution of the legendary Trophy Bonded Bear Claw, Federal’s new Terminal Ascent bullet is a cutting-edge projectile possessing excellent aerodynamics and outstanding accuracy. It offers arguably the most versatile on-impact performance characteristics of all big game hunting bullets. Along with factory-loaded ammo for myriad popular cartridges, Federal introduced the Terminal Ascent in component-bullet form. Initial calibers and weights include a 130-grain 6.5mm version with a G1 ballistic coefficient of .532, 136-grain .277 (BC.493), 155-grain 7mm (.586), 175-grain .308 (.520) and a 200-grain .308 (.608). The Terminal Ascent is basically the fourth generation of Bear Claw-type bullets. Following the original Bear Claw was the composite-tipped, boat-tailed Trophy Bonded Tip big game bullet optimized for all-around use on deer- to moose-size game. Third came the Edge TLR, which provided excellent aerodynamics…

It seems like everyone and their brother is making an AR. There are so many manufacturers/assemblers out there that it can get fairly confusing. It’s important to understand that while they all might look alike, some are indeed built better, using higher-quality components, than others. One name that stands out is Bravo Company Manufacturing or BCM. Based out of Hartland, Wisconsin, Bravo Company has evolved from offering AR accessories, parts, barrels and upper receiver assemblies to now offering complete rifles. Bravo Company Manufacturing was founded in 2005 to meet the demands of the private Protective Services Detail (PSD) market. While PSDs performed missions that were similar to the military, they were not in the military supply chain and needed a commercial alternative they could depend on. The BCM product line…

Thompson/Center Performance Center T/CR22 Featuring a new carbon-fiber barrel and cool thumbhole stock, the Performance Center T/CR22s have style to spare. The barrels are 18.375 inches long and are threaded 1/2x28. They’re fitted to a 6061 machined aluminum receiver with Picatinny rail. A brown laminated thumbhole stock is shown here, and this stock style is also offered in blue and red laminates. T/CR22s have oversize bolt handles and easy-to-operate magazine release levers. The rifle feeds from a 10-round rotary magazine, and it accepts Ruger 10/22 mags and some other 10/22 components. >> $642, TCarms.Com MTM Case-Gard Screw-It Deluxe Bore Guide Kit Bore guides are an integral part of any serious cleaning regimen. The Screw-It kit is designed to work with both bolt actions and ARs, and an AR link and…

Christensen Arms is quickly becoming one of the premier manufacturers of bolt-action hunting rifles. The company’s excellent components and attention to detail make its guns attractive to serious shooters and hunters, but despite the cutting-edge design and excellent accuracy potential, these rifles aren’t so pricey that they’re out of reach for the average person. This year, the Gunnison, Utah, company is offering two new titanium-action models to its bolt-action rifle lineup. The Mesa Titanium Edition comes with a sporter-profile stainless steel barrel, and the Ridgeline Titanium Edition features a carbon-fiber-wrapped barrel. I had the opportunity to test the Mesa Titanium, which with its 22-inch barrel and a starting weight of just 6.1 pounds is a mountain rifle in the purest sense. Excessive mass has been shaved, the stock is trim…

Military cartridges tend to remain in service for extended periods because it takes much treasure for nations to gear up for a new cartridge. Some warhorses stay in harness purely on merit. The .50 BMG, for example, has been a world-standard heavy machine gun cartridge for a century, and these days it has been repurposed into military and civilian long-range shooting. Other military cartridges remain in the harness on somewhat less merit. In 1886 the French 8x50 Lebel was the first smokeless-powder military cartridge, and a few years later it was loaded with the world’s first spitzer boattail. Its ballistics were anemic even at the turn of the century, though, so it stayed in service for 50 years but not on merit—although it was widely used throughout Central and West…

There was a time when the .222 Rem. was America’s favorite varmint cartridge. Beginning soon after its introduction in 1950, it also became the most popular cartridge in benchrest competition. The “triple deuce” was pushed from that game by the 6mm PPC during the 1970s, but for 40 years the .222 Rem. held the world record for the smallest five-shot group fired at 100 yards: a 0.009-inch cluster from Mac McMillan’s Light Varmint-class rifle. Mike Walker of Remington designed the .222, and it was introduced in the Remington Model 722 rifle, which he also designed. He was one of the founders of the International Benchrest Shooters Association and first shot the cartridge in competition at the Johnstown, New York, gun club during the summer of 1950. Walker also started Remington’s…