RifleShooter, the magazine dedicated to advanced rifle enthusiasts. All rifle sports are covered including hunting, target shooting and collecting, while focusing on fine custom rifles, great classics, and new high-tech designs.
True Feedback I found Keith Wood’s article about True Velocity’s polymer-cased ammo in the March/April issue to be very informative. I am sure that this type of ammo has its applications and advantages for the military. But this type of ammo cannot be reloaded, which is a deal-breaker for me in using it. As an experienced handloader of over 30 years, controlling each of the components and parameters of my own custom-loaded ammo is what it’s all about. For me to become a user of True Velocity’s polymer-cased ammo, it would have to sell for a lot less than factory brass-cased ammo—and I mean a lot less! C.A. DiMatteo, California This was a very informative article on polymer case ammunition, particularly as to the benefits of consistency and performance of…
Monolithic bullets— constructed of solid copper or copper alloy instead of a lead core surrounded by a copper jacket—have been around for quite a while. Some hunters use them because they have to due to state regs, and some hunters simply like them because of their excellent penetration and weight-retention characteristics. Hornady has had the monolithic GMX bullet since 2009, and the GMX’s fans include serious hunters within the company itself. In developing the new CX (Copper eXpanding alloy), Hornady’s Seth Swerczek told me they initially set out to see if they could make the GMX better for their own hunting adventures. The GMX’s performance window—the velocity at which it will expand to the company’s goal of a caliber and a half—goes down to 2,000 fps. The Hornady guys wanted…
In 1955, Winchester necked down its .308 cartridge to hold 6mm bullets, and the .243 Win. was born. That same year, Winchester’s archrival Remington also introduced a 6mm load, the .244 Rem., that was capable of beating the .243 ballistically. However, Remington opted to build .244 rifles with 1:12 twist barrels that didn’t stabilize heavy 100-grain 6mm bullets. The Winchester, with its 1:10 twist barrel, could stabilize the full range of 6mm bullets then available and thus won the day. Several top writers were also fans of the round, including Warren Page and Grits Gresham. In a Petersen’s Hunting article that appeared decades ago, Gresham said he considered the .243 Win. his favorite round. More than a decade later, Remington came up with an idea to standardize A.O. Niedner’s .25…
This space-age new propellant has a burn rate between that of Reloder 15 and Reloder 16, and it was engineered to provide excellent consistency and stability across a broad range of temperatures. Temp stability—which the “TS” portion of the TS 15.5 denotes—is a characteristic that’s grown from valued to vital in the eyes of modern long-range competitive shooters. It’s a characteristic that enables a propellant to produce similar velocities whether shooting in 105 degrees in Arizona or Nevada or in freezing temps in Wyoming or Montana. Until recently, there were only a couple of players on the scene. First was Hodgdon, with its groundbreaking line of Extreme powders. Unfortunately, the plant in which it was produced suffered a catastrophic plant fire some years back, and it’s been in short supply…
Anyone developing a serious collecting fetish for vintage bolt-action .22 rifles is bound to acquire a mess of classic Winchesters along the way. I wouldn’t consider myself a true obsessive, but I’m a sucker for a few models—Winchester’s M52, M58, M67 and M69/69A, for starters. Winchester’s Model 52 was on the expensive side, but the company also offered bolt-action .22s capable of exceptional accuracy at a lower price. One of the finest was the Model 69A, an improvement on the previous Model 69. It was introduced in 1937 for $45 and maintained a stellar reputation until it was discontinued in 1963. A shooting buddy, John Wightman, lucked into a nice one at auction and was kind enough to let me use it. The differences between the Model 69 and Model…
In the pantheon of rifle brands, Marlin is one of the most cherished. John Mahlon Marlin actually got his start in 1863 building derringers and later single- and double-action revolvers, but with the development of the Model 1881, the company he founded began a long line of lever actions that have endeared themselves to generations of hunters and shooters. Like any enterprise with such a long history, Marlin has seen its ups and downs. The purchase of the company by Remington in 2007 soon brought the closure of Marlin’s historic New Haven, Connecticut, plant. The brand languished for years after that, and people began to wonder if this was the end of the line. However, Remington changed hands in the intervening years, too, and toward the tail end of its…
