Innholdsfortegnelse for September/October 2023 i RifleShooter

The Numbers Add Up I was disappointed in Craig Boddington article, “A Numbers Game” (March/April), since in the end, he gave great statistics, but no opinion. As the current dean of firearm and hunting writers, it is his job to share his opinions. Jack O’Connor, Warren Page and others before him were well known for their sometimes controversial opinions. In my long-held opinion, the 7mm/.284 is the most versatile caliber, and I believe Craig’s data clearly confirmed it. W.D.M. Bell used 7mm solids to harvest over 800 elephants. The queen of the 7mm/.284 caliber, the 7mm Rem. Mag., is available everywhere and will cleanly take down the largest North American animals and African plains game. Craig has long been a fan of the 7x57 Mauser and has opined that the…

This new scale from Hornady is intended to provide best-in-class, ultra-fine weighing capability. Company spokesman Seth Swerczek said,“The Precision Lab Scale was designed to compete with other lab-grade scales, like the FX120i, which has become so popular in the reloading world.” Since it’s specifically designed for handloaders, I’ll wager Hornady’s scale will not just compete, it’ll dominate. Why is a $500-plus scale that weighs obsessively tiny increments important? Candidly, for everyday hunters and shooters who reload—and even to serious PRS competitors and long-range hunters—it’s not a necessary tool. However, for accuracy-obsessive hand-loaders and particularly for benchrest and extreme-range competitors, the ability to weight-sort components to a highly refined level can make all the difference. Lab-quality scales are more sensitive and provide more detail than common reloading scales. They also cost…

When the word came that Ruger had purchased Marlin a few years back, I fully expected the Model 336 to be the first Ruger-made Marlin. I was wrong, as usual. That honor went to the Model 1895 SBL, a .45-70 with a laminate stock, large loop and shiny stainless metal. But now the Model 336’s time has come. Chambered in .30-30 Win., it’s rendered in classic walnut and blue steel, fitting for its Model 336 Classic moniker. It’s a real looker. The American black walnut buttstock and fore-end feature laser-cut point checkering, and it’s exquisitely done. The butt’s pistol grip has checkered panels on both sides with a diamond in the center. The grip cap is black plastic with a metal medallion featuring the Marlin horse-and-rider logo, a classy touch.…

If you’ve been reading gun magazines over the last three decades, the message about straight-pull rifles has remained largely the same. Even though straight pulls have been popular in Europe for generations, the American market simply has no interest in these guns. That opinion has softened over time, and straight pulls from Blaser, Strasser, Heym and others have slowly crept into gun stores and hunters’ hands over years. But the odds of an American manufacturer offering a dedicated straight-pull centerfire hunting rifle seemed slim until Savage released its Impulse straight-pull a couple of years ago. This all-American gun manufacturer has rolled out several new firearm designs in recent years, but the Impulse is by far the most radical of the bunch. The Impulse is a good gun, and it offers…

LANDS & GROOVES Big is in. With the rise in popularity of straight-wall cartridges in formerly shotgun-only deer states, we’ve seen the introduction of “over .30” cartridges like the .350 and .400 Legends, and the .360 Buckhammer. Not to mention the change has provided a boost to older numbers like the .45-70 and .450 Bushmaster. Recognizing this, Silencer Central has introduced the Banish 46, which will handle cartridges up to .45-70. It will work with the .338 Lapua as well, which has a bullet diameter of .339 and is too big for the company’s Banish 338. Like all Silencer Central suppressors, the Banish 46 can also be used for smaller calibers down to 5.56, although you start to lose some effectiveness the smaller you go. I ordered the Banish 46…

It would be belaboring the obvious to refer to Winchester’s Model 70 as a tough act to follow. But it must have been even a tougher act to precede, although this admittedly bass-ackwards observation may be a touch unfair. What came immediately prior to the Model 70, the Model 54, was—and still is—a good rifle in its own right. Although certainly overshadowed and outproduced by the iconic Model 70, the Model 54 had a lot more going for it than its also-ran status might indicate. “The Model 54 is a key bolt action, since it was the firm’s first big-bore firing high-velocity cartridges capable of taking big game and for use in so-called big bore matches,” wrote R.L. Wilson in Winchester: An American Legend. The Model 54’s run lasted from…

American shooters’ long and passionate affair with .30 caliber cartridges probably started with our adoption of the .30-40 Krag in 1892, our first smokeless-powder military cartridge and rifle. Things got steamy when the .30 Winchester Center Fire, aka .30-30 Win., was introduced in 1895. This was a time when the lever action was America’s dominant repeater. The .30-30 was the first smokeless centerfire sporting cartridge, initially chambered in the slick, handy Winchester Model 1894—designed for Winchester by John Browning. The .30-40 and .30-30 alone probably would have been enough to ensure lasting affection for the .308-inch bullet. Love everlasting was secured in 1903 with a new Mauser-clone service rifle and faster rimless .30 caliber cartridge. The first version, the .30-03, was short-lived. The 1906 version, with slightly shorter neck and…

The Remington Model 30 story begins at Great Britain’s Enfield Arsenal, where the design of a rifle to replace the Lee-Enfield in .303 British was completed in 1913. About 1,000 of the new Pattern 13 rifles chambered for the .276 Enfield cartridge were built for military trials. World War I began in July 1914, and Great Britain declared war on Germany during August of that year, so out of necessity many thousands of Lee-Enfield rifles continued to be built. And since production capabilities ruled out taking on the new rifle, its chambering was changed to .303 British, its model designation changed to Pattern 14 or P14, and huge contracts were awarded to Remington and Winchester. In addition to producing rifles at its Ilion, New York, plant, Remington leased more than…

To say that long-range shooting and hunting are popular is about as prophetic as proclaiming that the internet is here to stay. Each year more and more shooters are purchasing a long-range shooting setup, and it’s rare to travel to any range in America without seeing at least one rifle that looks like it belongs on the PRS circuit. With the surge in popularity of long-range shooting there has come a bevy of rifles designed specifically for this purpose, but perhaps none offers as many premium features for under $1,500 as Howa’s new Hera H7. As the name suggests, the Howa Hera H7 mates a Howa 1500 barrel action to Hera’s outstanding H7 chassis, and in doing so the company has developed a rifle that offers many premium features yet…

OPTICS REPORT For military applications, versatility is crucial. The need for a weapon system that could work at a broad spectrum of distances was what led to the development of the now-legendary Mk 12 SPR (Special Purpose Rifle) carbine. These 16- and 18-inch barreled guns were chambered in 5.56 and intended as designated marksman rifles—capable of taking shots at extended ranges as well as being suitable for close-in situations. These firearms were popular with special operations troops and saw extensive combat. That real-world use drove innovative improvements. As the weapons evolved, so did the optics. Leupold’s efforts to develop the “perfect” all-around carbine optic for the Mk12 project eventually resulted in the creation of the Mark 5HD 2-10x30mm scope. The Mark 5HD series of scopes have rapidly built a reputation…