Innholdsfortegnelse for September/October 2022 i RifleShooter

Trapdoors and Krags Grievous historical error in the July/August issue. In the article on the CMP, the author states that United States forces were equipped with Trapdoor Springfield .45-70 rifles in the Spanish-American War. While there may have been some Trapdoor Springfields at San Juan Hill, most U.S. troops and volunteers would have carried the .30-40 Krag-Jorgensen (pictured above). The basic fact that the U.S. was ill equipped against the Spanish 7mm Mauser rifles is still quite true! Hugh Scott Yes, they carried Krags, but those ran out and the National Guard troops carried Trapdoor Springfields, so there were soldiers facing 7mm Mausers with .45-70s.—Brad Fitzpatrick Kinda Light, Don’t You Think? Jeff John’s excellent “The Nifty Ballard” article (July/August) says the cast iron and steel model Ballard weighed “a hefty…

Back before outfits like Browning, Wickliffe, Thompson/Center and Ruger added a bit of upscale 20th-century panache to the single-shot rifle concept, there were other, less pricey alternatives. At first glance you could be forgiven for mistaking the Savage Model 219 for any number of break-open “utility” .410 shotguns from Harrington & Richardson, Iver Johnson and Stevens. That is, if you could ignore the lack of an external hammer, the elevation-adjustable rear sight and the barrel configuration. But the original Model 219 (1938-47) and the “resurrected” Model 219B (1960-65) are rifles—and centerfire ones at that. During its run, this little hammerless gem—described by Savage itself as a “utility gun”— was offered in .22 Hornet, .25-20, .32-20 and .30-30. And two-barreled sets could be had in rifle/shotgun combos like .30-30/.410. What I…

Wherever rifle shooters gather, choice of bullets is a favorite for a campfire discussion. We all have our favorites. If you are 40 something, you grew up shooting lead-core jacketed bullets. This is because homogeneous-alloy expanding bullets didn’t exist until the mid-1980s. Today we have choices. Or at least some of us do. There are places like California where “unleaded” projectiles are mandated for all hunting. Many hunters love copper-alloy bullets Others damn them. We love our favorites, and we hate being told what we must shoot. Some prefer good old cup-and-core bullets. Others prefer bonded-core. Then there are polymer tipped bullets, and let’s not leave out the dual-core bullets: Nosler Partition, Swift A-Frame, Federal Terminal Ascent. Many bullets combine several of these designs, and let’s not forget the fairly…

The “06” in .30-06 tells you how long it’s been around, as in 1906. It was adopted as a military cartridge for the 1903 Springfield, adapted to a British rifle design for the 1917 Enfield and then, perhaps most famously, was the cartridge chambered for what Gen. George Patton called “the greatest battle implement ever devised”: the M1 Garand. And, man, did it catch on with the sporting public. Rifle makers jumped on it quickly. Winchester adopted it for the Model 1895 lever action as early as 1908, and bolt actions followed from Remington (1921), Winchester (1925) and Savage (1928). In fact, the introduction of the Winchester Model 54 bolt gun in 1925 included not only the .30-06 but also the then-new .270 Win.—which was based on the ’06 case.…

Bullpup carbines are a bit like the metric system. They’re popular in Europe and elsewhere, and they make lots of sense, but they’ve never really caught on here in the United States. These compact and capable carbines are the staple of many of the world’s armies, particularly our allies in Great Britain, France, Australia, Austria and Israel. Despite their widespread adoption worldwide, though, bullpups have never been more than a niche player in the U.S. firearms industry. With the introduction of the Croatian-made Hellion, Springfield Armory is hoping to reverse that lack of popularity. A bullpup is a carbine where the action sits to the rear of the firing grip, reducing the overall length while maintaining a cartridge-appropriate barrel length. Popular examples include the French FAMAS, the Austrian Steyr AUG,…

Bullet pulling takes many forms. All remove projectiles from cartridges that weren’t correctly loaded. Some damage bullets, rendering them impractical to hand-load and shoot. Others inflict little to no scars, leaving them still suitable for duty. Why would one want to pull bullets from perfectly good ammo? Powder charges go over or go under. Overworked, brittle case necks crack when bullets are seated. Handloads optimistically created sometimes don’t shoot nearly as well as we’d hoped. Usually, however, a propellant charge that went wrong is the culprit. I used to pull all bullets with an inertia or hammer-type puller that captures bullets in its hollow head. It’s a lot of work, and it often damages the bullet’s tip. I finally broke that tool. I replaced the broken “unloading sledgehammer” with a…

Browning recently announced a new variation of its excellent X-Bolt Max line. Dubbed the Target Max, it’s a well-thought-out, heavyweight, precision long-range tool—without the cost usually associated with such rifles. The standard X-Bolt Max is arguably the best long-range hunting rifle available for the price. So what does the Target Max offer beyond the standard version? Aside from the heavy target-profile barrel and the 20-m.o.a. optic rail attached to the action, the most obvious feature is a high magazine capacity. Skeletonized aluminum bottom metal accepts AICS-type magazines, enabling the Target Max to qualify for serious PRS-type competitions. There are some other nuanced differences, such as a beefed-up receiver for greater stiffness and Browning’s new, light Target DLX Trigger. Calibers currently coming off the assembly line are 6mm Creedmoor, which I…

The Winchester Model 94 had long been a burr beneath the saddle of Remington officials In some ways, the company s Model 141 and Model 760 slide actions and Model 81 and Model 742 autoload ers were better deer rifles, but they were always quite a bit more expensive At the time, the Winchester sold for $85, and the price difference between it and a Remington 760 was enough to buy a dozen boxes of 30 30 cartridges or a good pair of boots So during the early 1960s, Remington engineers were tasked with coming up with a rifle that was more accurate and more powerful than the Model 94—at a competitive price The rifle was the bolt action Model 600 Carbine It and the Remington XP 100 handgun were…