Innholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2023 i RifleShooter

Ready, Set, Collect! Imagine my surprise when I checked out Jeff John’s “So You’re Ready to Collect” article. After looking at the picture on page eight, I immediately ran to my gun safe to make sure no one visited it in my absence. Sure enough, my 1916 vintage Remington Model 14 in .30 Rem. and my 1939-vintage Winchester Model 70 in .30 Holland & Holland were still there! Both rifles were purchased from a good friend’s father’s estate. The Remington 14 is a pure pleasure to hunt deer with, and the Winchester 70 took an Idaho 46-inch bull moose in 2021. The Remington 14 is all original while the Winchester 70 came with a G&H side scope mount and an Alaskan 2.5X scope. A new one-inch set of G&H rings…

During the decade after World War II, gunsmith P.O. Ackley pioneered the “improved” cartridge case. Steepening the shoulder angle and fire-forming most of the taper out of a cartridge case’s body increases internal capacity. With more room for gunpowder, hand-loaders achieve significantly greater velocities. Plus, since the datum point at the shoulder/neck juncture is maintained, parent versions of the cartridge in question may safely be fired in the improved chamber. Best known of the myriad cartridges Ackley modified—from the .22 Ackley Hornet to the .475 Ackley Mag.—is the .280 Ackley Improved, so we’ll use it for discussion in this article and to spotlight the characteristics of improved cases, as applied to handloading. The .280 Ackley was submitted to SAAMI by Nosler in 2008, so it’s a legitimate factory cartridge now.…

Veteran British Columbia outfitter Ron Fleming has an interesting perspective on black bears. Ron has hunted grizzlies and black bears most of his life, and he has lots of experience and a healthy respect for all bears. He figures problems with grizzlies are mostly defensive or territorial. Get between a sow and her cub, or disturb a bear on a kill, and you’re in trouble. Nothing new about either situation. “Now, if a black bear comes for you, his plan is to eat you.” I don’t consider black bears dangerous, but they are unpredictable. Especially in wilderness areas, where they have no familiarity with humans, a predatory response is possible. Across the black bear’s huge range, it happens now and then. I’ve never had a problem with a black bear,…

Last year I attended a U.S. debut event for French gunmaker Chapuis at the Beretta gallery in Dallas. The company’s Iphisi double rifle was probably the star of the show, but the gun that caught my eye was the ROLS, an innovative straight-pull bolt action. Chapuis is more than a century old, and in 2021 it became part of Benelli USA’s portfolio of guns, which includes brands Benelli, Franchi, Stoeger and Uberti. Chapuis rifles command premium prices, from the Elan double at more than $20K and the Iphisi at $10,000 to the relatively pedestrian $6,000 to $9,000 price range of the ROLS. The ROLS—which is an acronym for Rifle Opening and Locking Straight—is available in three versions: Classic (around $6,000), Deluxe (around $7,000) and Carbon ($9,000). I received the latter…

Gunwerks has a solid reputation among serious big game hunters and long-range shooters, and its rifle systems offer a one-stop option for those who want a gun that’s capable of shooting 1,000 yards right out of the box. But recently Gunwerks unveiled its Nexus rifle, a sophisticated gun built almost entirely in-house that offers many of the benefits of their rifle systems at a lower price. The Nexus is a bolt-action centerfire rifle composed of parts that are almost exclusively machined or manufactured in the company’s Cody, Wyoming, facility. This control over components—known as vertical integration in the world of manufacturing—gives Gunwerks the ability to ensure every part is built to its high standards. At the same time, it ensures the company has control over the supply chain so it…

LANDS & GROOVES I love long-range precision shooting. Call me old-fashioned but it’s so much more fun when you’re running a .22 LR rifle. No recoil, it’s quieter, and I’m still refining the same skill set needed to run a larger caliber rifle. If you like pushing the envelope like I do, you probably enjoy challenging yourself by shooting from various positions. Prone, half kneeling, seated, standing, using a barricade, ladder or even shooting off a tractor tire can put you in an uncomfortable position that makes it harder for you to run the gun and perform at your best. Unfortunately, sometimes these awkward positions don’t work well for our aging bodies. For example, I know a lot of guys struggle with shooting prone simply because their head, neck and…

Amid the whirl of inventing and introducing straight-pull actions and such, Savage Arms continues to support and innovate its classic rifle line, which is based on the Model 110 action. The latest to join the 110 family is the Carbon Predator. It’s a hard-working rifle with Savage bones, a configurable stock, an AICS-type detachable box magazine and a carbon-fiber-wrapped barrel made by Proof Research. A couple years back, Savage introduced what I consider the best traditional turnbolt rifle the company has made in the past half-century: the 110 Ultralight. It, too, has a configurable stock and Proof barrel, and additionally the action is aggressively skeletonized to reduce weight. Made for serious mountain hunting, that model is impressively light, weighing less than six pounds. In many ways, the 110 Carbon Predator…

If you own a Nexus rifle you’ll probably want a bipod, too, and Gunwerks has you covered. Its new Elevate bipod ($375) is made from carbon fiber and billet aluminum, and it attaches securely to the rifle in seconds thanks to the NeoLok system. Simply press the button on the top of the bipod, rotate the head 90 degrees, attach to the front Picatinny rail of the rifle, and rotate it back into position. Adjustable cant, leg splay adjustment and quick-deploy legs get you on target in a hurry. This is the most stable bipod in its weight class. The Elevate weighs just 12 ounces, and the legs extend from 5.5 to 19 inches, perfect for a variety of field shooting positions. There are also options for Arca mounts, and…

RIFLE REPORT Savage’s A17 and A22 blowback rimfire rifles have been big hits, and this year the company is introducing a new version of the A22 in .22 LR that’s easy to disassemble. Dubbed the A22 Takedown, the blowback-operated semiauto weighs in at six pounds, four ounces and comes with a durable polymer stock. Most impressive of this rifle’s features is the ability to disassemble it with one simple motion. Takedown .22s have been available in many configurations for years, but the Savage trumps the others because it is the simplest of all the rimfire survival-style rifles to disassemble. Within the tubular receiver are two lugs. The top lug is square while the bottom lug has a rounded profile, and they fit into corresponding cutout channels in the barrel/fore-end…

While the handy little Marlin Model 1894 Classic in .44 Mag. is new, Marlin actually introduced its design close to 130 years ago. At that time the .44-40 Win., first offered by Winchester in the Model 1873 and later in the Model 1892, had become the most popular deer cartridge in America. The action of Marlin’s Model 1893—which eventually evolved into the Model 336 that was also brought back to life this year—was too long for the .44-40 cartridge, so it was shortened and renamed the Model 1894. The .25-20, .32-20 and .38-40 Win. were also available. Marlin discontinued the 1894 in 1935, and if not for the 1955 introduction of the .44 Mag., the little deer thumper would likely have remained in its grave. Ruger introduced the gas-operated Deerstalker…

Despite their being among the most useful tools in a gun owner’s arsenal, new bolt-action .22s have been more or less absent from the market in recent years. Semiautos are seemingly everywhere, but look around for a mid-price premium rimfire bolt gun, particularly one with a wood stock, and you won’t have much luck. Thankfully, there is a new player in that market: Springfield Armory. Hot on the heels of its entry into the centerfire bolt-action rifle market three years ago, the Geneseo, Illinois-based company just released an entire lineup of high-quality .22 rifles known as the 2020 Rimfire series. Since I usually hunt with a bolt-action sporter, I often head to the range before the fall season with a .22 bolt gun and a few hundred practice rounds. There…

Modern hunting rifles, especially those that sit at the higher end of the market, have evolved into a few select categories. Walnut stocks and polished blued steel have all but disappeared, and modern design elements reign. One of the most popular classes of the current big game crop are the lightweight mountain rifles with carbon-fiber-wrapped barrels, synthetic stocks and other advanced features that endear them to hunters. One might call them lightweight precision hunting rifles. The appeal of these guns is how well they blend useful accuracy with relatively light weight. Bergara’s answer to this category is the Ridge Carbon, a capable yet reasonably priced bolt-action rifle that is part of the company’s B-14 Wilderness series. A few words about the maker. Bergara is a Spanish firm. The town of…

There was a time when break-action rifles were a lot more common, and with the disappearance of brands like Harrington & Richardson and Thompson/Center, it seemed as if this design was dying out. But thanks to Connecticut Valley Arms and a few other firms, these time-proven rifles are still readily available. I cop to being asleep at the wheel, not realizing Connecticut Valley Arms made cartridge rifles. I’d always known the firm as a maker of muzzleloaders. Shame on me, because in addition to a line of bolt-action rifles, the company produces the Scout break-action centerfire—a well-built, affordable hunting rifle. There are three flavors of the Scout: the TD (takedown), TD Compact and base Scout. Depending on which you choose, you can opt for chamberings ranging from .243 Win. to…