Innholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2022 i RifleShooter

Strasser Method On the Strasser straight pull, did you test the accuracy after taking it down in the same caliber configuration and then reassembling a couple of times to see how it travels? M.C. McClintock, North Carolina I shot a round, disassembled the rifle, reassembled it and fired another round to test its return to point of impact but did not take the gun apart in-between or in the middle of shooting three-shot groups. That said, I had the barrel off and on a half-dozen times and never detected a shift in point of impact.—Keith Wood Turning Left Really loved reading Craig’s “Feeling Left Out” article (November/December). As a southpaw myself, I can relate to much of what he says on the subject. I am to the point now that…

Binoculars with a built-in laser rangefinder are super-handy tools whether you’re a hunter or unknown-distance target shooter, enabling you to find, identify and range the target with a single unit. New on the scene is the Meopta Optika LR, a reasonably priced pair at $1,500 for the 10x42mm model and $1,875 for the 8x50mm. They promise accurate ranging out to 2,600 and 2,950 yards respectively. I borrowed the 10x42mm to test. Some ranging binoculars can be complex to set up, but the Meoptas are easy to program. Make your selections for units (English versus metric), type of ranging (auto, near, far), incline data (angle in degrees, shooting distance, height difference, off) and display brightness via the button on the left. The button on the right does the ranging. A single…

If I told you that my go-to hunting rifle was impervious to foul weather, was light and compact, comes chambered for modern high-ballistic-coefficient hunting cartridges and could be broken down for ease of transportation, you’d probably think I was describing a modern bolt gun or an AR. In truth, the gun I’ve just described is Browning’s BLR Lightweight ’81 Stainless Takedown, a lever-action rifle. While you might not immediately assume a lever gun could qualify as one of the modern era’s most versatile hunting rifles, the BLR could change your mind. Sure, the BLR will appeal to lever-action fans. What’s not to like about a modernized version of your favorite action? The unique attraction of the BLR rifle is that it also appeals to die-hard bolt-action and semiauto shooters. Unlike…

Federal ammunition celebrates 100 years in business in 2022, but if it weren’t for a forward-thinking Minneapolis businessman named Charles Horn, Federal Ammo might be nothing more than a footnote in Anoka, Minnesota’s history. Founded in 1916 by brothers Lewis and Harry Sherman, the original Federal factory—known then as the Federal Cartridge and Machine Company—opened with a goal of producing 175,000 shotshells a week and capturing lucrative government contracts. None of those contracts materialized, and only a handful of shotgun shells were produced by the time the factory was shuttered in 1920. Two years later, Charles Horn of the American Ball Company in nearby Minneapolis was looking for a company to manufacture paper tubes to hold air rifle ammo when he came upon the remains of the defunct Federal Cartridge…

Straight-wall cartridges are trendy. Whether you’re a purist with a lever-action .45-70 or a modern hunter armed with Winchester’s new .350 Legend, you can open a world of possibility by handloading for your shooting tool. However, loading straight-wall cartridge cases is a bit more complex than loading typical bottleneck rifle cartridges. Seems counterintuitive, but it’s a fact. Most of the special techniques involve installing bullets, but there are some unique aspects to resizing, too. Here’s a step-by-step guide to several techniques that will help you make the most of your straight-wall handloads. SIZING CASES Unlike straight-wall handgun cartridges, straight-wall rifle cases cannot be resized without lube. Carbide dies—which do not require lube—are not available. Why? So-called “straight-wall” rifle cartridges actually have a bit of taper. The .45-70 is a prime…

A self-contained cartridge has four components: primer, propellant, projectile and case. All are important, but case design and dimensions dictate performance—and which firearms might house a cartridge. There are many dozens of rifle cartridges currently manufactured. Add in obsolete, proprietary and wildcat cartridges and the number swells into the thousands. Few of these have original case dimensions. Most cartridges are based on a preexisting or “parent” case that has been lengthened or shortened, necked up or down, or with shoulder angle or neck length modified. There are a couple of principles involved here. First, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” A sound case design will probably perform well—sometimes better, though differently—when necked to different bullet diameters and with modified length and dimensions. In the early years of smokeless powder…

There have been dozens of new centerfire hunting rounds released during the last two decades, and it’s been fascinating to see which cartridges succeeded and which ones did not. Very good cartridges that perform well in the field simply don’t always catch the attention of hunters. Outside influences also impact cartridge popularity. In Ohio where I live, legislation that allows for the use of straight-wall rifle cartridges for deer hunting has created enormous demand for .45-70, .444 Marlin, .450 Bushmaster and .350 Legend rifles. The growing popularity of NRL Hunter and other shooting competitions has generated tremendous interest in dual-purpose hunting/competition cartridges like the new 6.5 PRC. Several cartridges—as good as they are—run the risk of being forgotten. Some, like the .25s, are positioned between popular bullet diameters. Others, like…

Mossberg MVP Patrol .300 BLK A new chambering comes to the MVP Patrol lineup, innovative bolt-action rifles that feed reliably from AR-15, AR-10 and M1A/M14 magazines. In the case of the new .300 BLK version, it feeds from AR-15 mags. The rifle has a 16.25-inch medium bull barrel with an A2-style muzzle brake, and the barreled action is pillar-bedded into a black synthetic stock. Mossberg’s LBA trigger, one of the best out there, comes standard, and the rifle has an adjustable rear sight and fiber-optic front in addition to a Picatinny rail. Overall length is 36.5 inches, and weight is seven pounds. >> $613, MOSSBERG.COM Remington Core-Lokt Tipped The Core-Lokt doesn’t need any introduction, as it’s been a popular, tried-and-true big game bullet for decades. Now it’s available with a…

They say no one builds a chassis like the Italians. They’re talking about cars, of course, but it applies to guns as well, and Benelli is well known as the maker of sporty, performance-oriented shotguns—and more recently rifles, too. The company’s good-looking R1 autoloader is well regarded, and more recently Benelli introduced its first bolt-action centerfire: the Lupo, which means wolf in Italian. Also well regarded—and well liked by our reviewer Brad Fitzpatrick in his May/ June 2020 RifleShooter article—the Lupo was initially offered in .270 Win., .30-06 and .300 Win. Mag. Now the rifle is available in three terrific short-action calibers: .243 Win., 6.5 Creedmoor and .308 Win. I chose to review the .308 version, and I’ll tell you right up front it was love at first sight. I’d…

A good .22 rifle is the workhorse in the arsenal of every shooter, hunter, rancher and general outdoorsman. Rimfires are inexpensive to shoot, have virtually no recoil and are polite to neighbors’ ears. Most of us likely shoot a .22 LR more often than any other rifle in our safe. What makes little sense is that though many of us hunt larger game with premium centerfire custom rifles our rimfires are often utilitarian guns built to meet a tight budget. With the introduction of the Christensen Arms Ranger 22, that’s no longer necessary. You might say that Christensen Arms was founded on innovation. The company’s history began in 1995 when the Christensen family of Fayette, Utah, put its aerospace engineering talents to work in the firearms world. Most of us…

Smith & Wesson’s M&P15 5.56/.223 rifles are solid, reliable ARs, but the new M&P15T II offers features not found on the base-model Sport II rifle. For starters, the M&P15T II comes with a 16-inch barrel made from chrome-moly vanadium steel, 1:8 twist, 5R rifling and topped with an M4E flash suppressor and a 15-inch M-Lok handguard. On the other end of this rifle you’ll find a Magpul CTR six-position adjustable carbine stock that offers length of pull adjustments of 3.3 inches. Magpul MBUS flip-up iron dual aperture sights come mounted on the rifle’s full-length top rail. The M&P15T II utilizes a mid-length gas system, and the receivers are made from 7075 aluminum. The receiver has a matte black finish while the barrel comes with a durable Armornite finish. Four rubber…