Innholdsfortegnelse for March/April 2022 i RifleShooter

Cheers to the BLR Great article on a great-looking rifle! The original BLR is also a terrific rifle. However, I think you should have at least mentioned the two other rifles that predated the BLR. The Savage 99 was the first truly modern lever-action rifle and certainly predated the BLR by almost 75 years. The second rifle that predated it (I believe) was the elegant Winchester 88 lever action, a concealed-hammer rifle with a 60-degree lever throw, one-piece stock, detachable box magazine and a rotating bolt. I have hunted extensively with a .308 WCF Model 88, and it is a delight in the field. Unfortunately, Winchester was about 30 or 40 years ahead of the times with the rifle, and it never really caught on very well. Pity! Clete Davis,…

One of the easiest ways to dress up your old favorite hunting rifle or try to wring out the best accuracy you can is to swap out the stock. Woox, based in Hickory, North Carolina, offers an array of drop-in chassis stocks that combine sexy styling with cutting-edge technology. This comes into perspective when you consider that Woox is an offshoot—the company calls itself the “wild child”—of Italian wood product maker Minelli Group, which has been in business since 1937. I think this Italian heritage shows itself in the Wild Man’s lines, particularly the aluminum chassis but also the handsome wood and its stylish checkering. In short, it’s a great-looking stock, but the appeal goes beyond aesthetics. It is a true drop-in, as I learned when I installed a Remington…

Winchester's groundbreaking new temp-stable StaBall 6.5 powder is a game changer for high-volume long-range shooters. Not only is it engineered to shrug off extremes in heat and cold, it flows through high-volume measuring devices like magic. As a side benefit, a copper-fouling reducer is incorporated into StaBall’s chemical makeup, so barrels require less-frequent cleaning. Long-range shooters prefer extruded long-grain “stick” type propellants due to their temperature stability. However, these powders tend to clump up on the lip of the dispenser tube in electronic powder-charging scales during the trickle phase—then dump the entire clump into the pan, overcharging it. In volumetric measures, they require the handloader to crank up the horsepower to cut through the granules to finish the cycle. Either way, it slows things down, which is no small consideration…

A few seasons back, I came off a backpack sheep hunt in Alaska’s Brooks Range. It was 10 days of horrible weather. The mountaintops were never visible, and no shots were fired. When I landed at base camp, the outfitter asked, “How can you be so cheerful?” Inside, I was sick. The trip was a huge expense, and I wasn’t going to get any good stories out of it. But uncertainty is part of the charm of hunting. If the outcome was known, you might as well go to the grocery store. Despite our best-laid plans and dreams, when we set foot afield, we don’t know what’s gonna happen. That said, I still hate failure. I want to do everything possible to make sure any lack of success isn’t my…

Appropriate to its position as the Rifleman’s Rifle, Winchester’s new long-range version of the Model 70 features classic, traditional-but-capable precision-rifle styling. Chambered in short-action cartridges only, the Model 70 Long Range MB (muzzle brake) sports a semi-heavy fluted barrel that’s fitted with—you guessed it—a muzzle brake. The action, of course, is Winchester’s renowned controlled-feed Model 70 with Mauser-type extractor. As for the stock, it’s classic in long-range styling. Sleek, aesthetic lines set off the buttstock and pistol grip. The fore-end is broad, with a flat bottom and beavertail shape of the sort found on vintage Winchester Model 70 “bull guns” that once dominated Camp Perry long-range competition. While the appearance and feel of the Model 70 Long Range MB is comfortably familiar, the cartridge lineup it’s chambered in is cutting…

I’ve wanted a suppressor for many years, but I simply never seemed to find the time to determine what I had to do to own one. Based on my basic but not scholarly familiarity with the National Firearms Act, I understood that I would have to apply and pay for a tax stamp. And I was familiar with the concept of trusts, but the whole process seemed daunting. Sooner or later, I decided, I’d get around to finding out what Uncle Sam needed from me if I truly wanted to own a suppressor. When I interviewed Silencer Central CEO Brandon Maddox for an article, sooner became right now, and that’s because the team at Silencer Central has simplified the suppressor purchasing process so that anyone who is legally allowed to…

When I contacted my friend Matt Rice at Bushnell as I searched for a scope for the CZ 457 VPC MTR I was testing, he suggested the new Match Pro. At first I thought its 6-24x50mm configuration was overkill, but he assured me this is exactly the type of scope NRL22 and PRS rimfire competitors use, and how right he was—as I later learned when I shot my first NRL22 match. With a competition scope you have to trust the adjustments, and the Match Pro delivered repeatable, accurate 0.1 mil clicks. While I’m an m.o.a. guy at heart, I’ve learned to appreciate the milliradian system because of its base-10 numbering, and also the fact that most competitors use mils—so any wind tips you get from your fellow shooters will likely…

At first glance, the AK74 appears to be just an AK47 with transposed digits, but it’s just luck that the AK47 first saw light in 1947 and the AK74 in 1974. The ’74 is a completely different animal under that very similar ’47 skin. Creating the small(er)bore Avtomat Kalashnikova obrazets 1974g meant using a different bolt, bolt carrier, extractor, barrel, trigger group, magazine, gas block and the distinctive and effective flash hider/muzzle brake. The stock is the same, but it got a cosmetic change to pare weight in the guise of longitudinal cuts in the buttstock. Many in the Soviet Union thought the AK system obsolete, but it won out in the end over its competitors at the other arms design bureaus. The most compelling reason for the change was…

Ruger Left-Handed Competition 10/22 This Custom Shop model will certainly appeal to lefties interested in today’s popular rimfire sports, but with its left-handed charging handle and ejection, righties may find it right up their alley, too—especially from the bench. The textured laminated stock sports a fully adjustable cheek rest. The 16 1/8-inch barrel is fluted, and it’s threaded 1/2x28. It has a match-grade chamber and a second barrel locator for top accuracy. The custom receiver houses a CNC-machined bolt that is heat-treated, nitrided and includes an oversize handle. The trigger is Ruger’s BX model. >> $899, RUGER.COM Grey Man Tactical Hunting Gun Rack RMP Keep all your hunting gear secure and together with this rack, which mounts to your vehicle’s seat. It’s made from injection-molded, glass-filled nylon so it won’t…

Launched in early 2021, Savage’s straight-pull Impulse rifle is already winning awards and racking up accolades. Rightfully so. It’s debatably Savage’s most significant design since the legendary Model 99 lever action. First models out of the gate were the Impulse Big Game, Hog Hunter and Predator rifles. New for 2022 is the Elite Precision model pictured and reviewed here. Like the hunting-specific versions, this rifle features Savage’s innovative new straight-pull action. It has a bolt handle that’s reversible for left-handed shooters and a two-position tang safety that makes it more or less ambidextrous. Bolt lockup is achieved via ball bearings that, at the front of the bolt’s forward stroke, get cammed outward into the locking recess. Pulling the bolt handle rearward rotates it about 15 degrees, allowing the ball bearings…

Uberti began specializing in high-quality reproductions of famous firearms of yesteryear in 1959, and one of the more interesting is the 1860 Henry lever-action rifle. The original rifle’s story begins with the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company, which was founded in 1855. Among its stockholders was Oliver Fisher Winchester, a successful manufacturer of men’s shirts in New Haven, Connecticut. A talented engineer by the name of Benjamin Tyler Henry was a key employee in the company. Repeating rifles and pistols of lever-action design built by the company fired Rocket Ball ammunition, consisting of .31 and .38 caliber conical lead bullets with a cavity in the base filled with blackpowder. By 1857, Oliver Winchester owned most of Volcanic and eventually changed the name to the New Haven Arms Company. While production continued,…

Thanks to a variety of influential factors, the popularity of big game hunting in the West has soared in recent years. Colorado is one example. In 2020, 624,000 people applied for tags, which was an increase of 200,000 compared to the previous year. Those hunters need good gear, and the market is rapidly responding to those needs. We are seeing more and more rifles built for hunting in our nation’s wide-open spaces. Among them is Browning’s X-Bolt Hell’s Canyon Speed, a lightweight and capable rifle that is ideal for most North American hunting scenarios. One of the trends we’re seeing in open-country rifles is guns that look and feel more like sniper or target guns than the sporters that have dominated the hunting scene for more than a century. While…

It’s been almost a decade since Mossberg launched its revamped line of bolt-action hunting rifles, and since that time this family of guns has grown considerably. Mossberg now offers scout- and target-model bolt actions in addition to standard field configuration, but one of the most versatile bolt guns in the Mossberg lineup is the all-purpose MVP Patrol rifle. The Patrol line has been around for several years now, and as the name implies, these guns feature short barrels designed for ease of transport, whether on foot or in a vehicle. Patrol rifles were available in 5.56/.223 and 7.62x51/.308, and last year Mossberg released the all-new .300 BLK version. Like the 5.56 version, the .300 BLK MVP Patrol rifle takes standard AR-15 magazines, and that means it’s not difficult to locate…