Innholdsfortegnelse for May/June 2022 i RifleShooter

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…

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…

Bullet diameter .375 is a worldwide standard, acceptable for the largest game and as versatile as you wish it to be. Whether you class it as medium, large/medium or big-bore, the .375 H&H wins “most popular” in its class. The .375 H&H is British in origin, while almost all other .375 cartridges are American. What’s not as well known is that with its metric measurement of 9.5mm, the .375 bullet is European in origin, grandfathered to the 9.5x57 Mannlicher-Schoenauer. On our side of the pond, we don’t have another bullet diameter offering the versatility of the .375. Larger calibers make little sense on anything but the very largest game. Our several .33s and .35s are almost there, and we can argue their superiority for moose and big bears. With proper…

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…

As a young man, Gunwerks’ CEO Aaron Davidson had a dream, a dream fueled by rifles built by the great English gunmakers of yesteryear. These cased rifles included loading tools, sights cut to match a specific load at various ranges, cleaning implements and the like. A hunter could go afield in Africa or India and possess everything he needed arms-wise in a single case. Davidson wanted to do the same thing for modern hunters: produce a rifle system that was all-inclusive. Gunwerks was the result of Davidson’s dream, and he launched the company in 2006. Over the years, Gunwerks has invested heavily in machinery and infrastructure, bringing as much production in-house as possible to control quality and ensure timely delivery. When I toured the Gunwerks facility late in 2021, I…

Winchester advertisements in 1955 for the new Model 88 described it as the bolt-action rifle with a lever. It was a play on three rotating locking lugs at the front of the bolt that engaged shoulders machined into the steel receiver. The front-locking design virtually eliminated momentary bolt compression and receiver stretch during firing, as rear-locking actions made by Winchester, Marlin and Savage experienced. Upfront breech locking was a first in Winchester lever-action centerfire rifles, but the idea was not exactly new among modern sporting firearms, as it had appeared on the Model 760 slide action introduced by Remington in 1951. The Model 88 was priced at $136 versus $104 for the Model 760, $69 for the Winchester Model 94 and $112 for the Savage Model 99. At the time,…

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…

It’s not often RifleShooter revisits a gun, but I had a chance to spend some quality time with the relatively new Savage Timberline and thought it merited a deeper d dive than we were able to devote to it last summer. The model is emblematic of where Savage is headed now that the company controls its own destiny, as it is no longer part of a large conglomerate. The change has allowed the company to be more innovative. Not that there was anything wrong at Savage. Its riflfles have long been known to punch above their weight class when it comes to accuracy. But today, when lots of companies are producing good-shooting riflfles at reasonable prices, you need more. And the Timberline delivers more, starting with a blueprinted 110 action.…

SIG’s new Cross rifle lay folded on a table in front of me. “It’s like a Swiss Army knife,” I thought. “Or a Leatherman tool.” Introduced in 2020, it is SIG’s first bolt-action design. Skeletal and tactical at heart, it is relatively light and compact, and was conceived to fit the needs of modern hunters. There’s nothing traditional about the Cross. It’s built on an action of aluminum, with an AR-type interchangeable barrel; an AR-type free-floating aluminum handguard that fully encircles the barrel; and a skeletonized, folding aluminum stock that’s configurable for cheek rest height, length of pull and buttpad position. The barrel/handguard assembly are not the only AR-esque features. The action has an AR-type magazine well that uses AICS-type magazines. An ambidextrous safety both looks and functions like an…