Innholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2023 i RifleShooter

Not So Boring After All I just finished reading Jeff John’s excellent article on the “boring” Martini-Henry rifle (November/December). I have three Martini-Henrys, including an original in .577/450 and one in .303. The third one was in such horrible shape when acquired that the action/receiver was all that could be salvaged. The only discernible marking on the receiver was a faint crest indicating the rifle had been manufactured by Turner. One day I happened upon a Douglas/Supreme air-gauged barrel with .458 bore, and I had an epiphany. Why not put the Martini-Henry and the .458 barrel together? That’s exactly what I did, and I had the barrel chambered in .45-90. There were some bumps along the way, but I now have a very unique rifle. Scott Moody Complete Miss I…

Franchi already has a solid following in my home state of Ohio, due in large part to the popularity of its inertia-drive semiauto shotguns. But the newest addition to the Momentum family of rifles—the Momentum Elite in .350 Legend—will undoubtedly win favor among deer hunters who are clamoring for accurate bolt guns that are chambered in straight-wall centerfire hunting rounds that are now legal in the state. As with its shotguns, Franchi rifles have earned praise for their build quality, performance and relative value. The Franchi Momentum Elite carries a suggested retail price of $899, which is slightly more than competing .350 Legend bolt guns like the Ruger American Go Wild ($770) and the Winchester XPR Strata MB ($750), but the Italian-made Franchi offers a list of features that are…

Just a few years ago, SIG Sauer was known as a manufacturer of high-quality service pistols for military, law enforcement and civilian use. No longer. Today’s SIG produces and markets products across nearly every category of firearms and accessories, from concealed-carry handguns to semiauto rifles, optics and, yes, even bolt-action rifles. SIG’s bolt-action Cross was released in 2020 and quickly built a reputation for quality. Last year SIG expanded the Cross lineup to include the PRS model, a purpose-built rifle designed for use in precision long-range competitive shooting. By any measure, the popularity of precision rifle competitions has exploded in recent years. Events that used to be called “sniper matches” are being held nationwide under various banners. Although there are several sanctioning bodies, the Precision Rifle Series (PRS) is the…

OPTICS REPORT SIG has been in the optics game for a few years now, and it’s come out with a number of cutting-edge products in that time—the latest of which is the Kilo 10K-ABS HD rangefinding binoculars. Available in 10x42mm with a tan armor finish, it employs Applied Ballistics software and onboard atmospheric sensors to provide accurate holdover and wind hold information. And if you’re using one of the company’s BDX-capable riflescopes, this data can be transmitted to that optic, where the reticle will display the correct holdover automatically. Setup for the Kilo is easy. Download the BDX app to your phone, pair it with the binoculars and then pair the supplied WeatherMaster wind meter with the binoculars. Input your load info in the app. You can select from…

LANDS & GROOVES Taller than the 6.5 PRC and shorter than the .300 PRC, the new 7mm PRC is the Mama Bear of Hornady’s extremely successful Precision Rifle Cartridge family. Maximum cartridge lengths are 3.090 inches for the 7mm PRC, 2.955 inches for the 6.5 PRC and 3.700 inches for the .300 PRC. Respective maximum case lengths are 2.280 inches, 2.030 inches and 2.580 inches. All are descendents of the .375 Ruger case which, as you may recall, was a joint-venture design development between Hornady and Ruger. Going with the same rim diameter as the .300 Win. Mag. and other members of the Holland & Holland belted magnum family simplified rifle production. Hornady is loading 7mm PRC Precision Hunter ammunition with the 175-grain ELD-X at 3,000 fps and match ammo…

Monometal bullets, meaning all one piece and type of metal, require slightly different load tuning to get the best out of them. Colloquially known as “copper” bullets or sometimes as monolithic bullets, these are generally made of a copper alloy. Copper being much harder than lead, they are not nearly as compressible or malleable as traditional copper-jacketed, lead-core bullets. Also, being lighter than lead, same-weight projectiles are longer and have more bearing surface. As a result, when fired into the rifling leade, monometal bullets pose more resistance. When loaded without regard to this characteristic, pressure spikes can occur. Accuracy usually degrades, too. To get the most out of these bullets, handloaders need to know some of the specialized loading techniques that can help achieve the best possible accuracy. There are…

A frequent question goes like this: “I’m in the market for a new rifle, mostly for deer, maybe for elk. I’m not a long-range shooter, and I don’t like magnum recoil. I was thinking about a 6.5 Creedmoor. What do you think?” First, elk are not deer. The outsize bull we hope to encounter is four times the size of most bucks, but that doesn’t mean we need four times more power. Most of us today are overgunned for deer, which isn’t terrible, but elk are big and tough and require more, whether measured in foot-pounds, bullet weight, or both. Sorry, but you can’t get either without more recoil. Back to the question. Many of us, me included, already have a 6.5 Creedmoor. While it started out slow, the Creedmoor…

Whether you ever plan to hunt at thin-air altitudes, we can all appreciate a light, accurate hunting rifle that’s built to withstand the elements. Perhaps that’s why the popularity of mountain rifles is out of all proportion to the number of hunters who actually venture above tree line, where the views are magnificent and the accommodations are spartan. Regardless of whether you’re planning a mountain hunt this fall or simply aspire to hunt the high country, though, you have to appreciate the new Christensen Arms Ridgeline FFT. Built with the lightest materials and constructed with attention to every detail, the Ridgeline FFT is engineered to impress—even if your hunting adventures never take you higher than the seat of your tree stand. Mountain rifles must be light, and the Ridgeline FFT…

Arthur W. Savage is best known as the originator of one of our finest lever-action sporting rifles. Virtually forgotten today was his burning desire to become a supplier of rifles to the United States military. His efforts began in 1890 with the submission of two .30 caliber rifles of lever-action, rotary-magazine design for testing at the U.S. Army military base on Governors Island, New York. They were described as “revolving cylinder” weapons with a cartridge capacity of nine rounds and weighing 10.25 pounds. The musket-style stock was of two-piece design with the fore-end extending almost to the muzzle of a 28-inch barrel. Unfortunately for Savage, his rifle was rejected in favor of the Model 1892 Krag-Jorgensen. While it failed as a military rifle, the Savage design went on to great…

When it comes to the ubiquitous Ruger 10/22, there are essentially three routes you can take. One, you can buy a base-model 10/22, throw away everything but the action and build a Franken-gun from a wide universe of aftermarket 10/22 parts. Two, you can buy a stock 10/22 with at least some of the features you’re looking for right out of the box and then customize the rest. Three, you can buy a high-end, highly customized rifle like the new TacSol X-Ring VR Takedown. For Tactical Solutions, which is based in Boise, Idaho, the 10/22 is a key part of its business, and its X-Ring VR series of 10/22 rifles is available in several different stock configurations and with two different triggers. All are built with TacSol’s own receivers and…