Innholdsfortegnelse for March/April 2024 i RifleShooter

What’s in a Name? I was going to take the author and editor to task for making such a grievous blunder in the “French Connection” article (November/December 2022), but lo and behold, they’re the same person! I guess your “fair bit of experience” with the “Springfield” Impulse didn’t include the fact it’s offered by Savage! Isn’t it the duty of the editor to proof the entire publication from cover to cover? Patrick Ryan Well, they both begin with ‘S’ and have two syllables, so… But seriously, I apologize for the error.—Scott Bring Back Wood It appears everything you and other mags are promoting these days, with rifles at least, has carbon-fiber, plastic or anything but traditional walnut or excellent laminated hardwood. Most of the stocks I see are plain Jane…

When choosing a component bullet to handload, it’s crucial to pick one that’s compatible with your rifle’s rate of twist. Traditional, common bullets in any given caliber will be fine with nearly all factory rifles. However, there’s a common issue in this era of today’s long projectiles optimized for extended-range aerodynamics: Traditional rifling twist rates are often too slow to adequately stabilize such bullets in flight. If you’re a bit vague on the concept of rotational velocity stabilizing a bullet, imagine a spinning top. If the top is short and fat, it can spin very slowly and still stay upright. If the top is tall and skinny, it must spin quite fast to stay upright and spin cleanly. As it slows down, the tall, skinny top will begin to wobble,…

These days, America’s sportsmen and women are clamoring for more “content,” as we call it in the media: more articles, more television shows, more website info. Outdoor Sportsman Group—which publishes this magazine as well as bringing you the Sportsman Channel and Outdoor Channel—has answered that call with the My Outdoor TV (MOTV) app. It’s a resource like no other, a curated treasure trove of outdoor-oriented television shows and videos. Think of it like your own personal Neftlix, with episodes of “Gun Stories” with Joe Montegna, the gun restoration show “The Gunfather,” “Guns & Ammo,” “Shooting USA” and more. The universe of content is even bigger when it somes to hunting, and I know a lot if not most of you enjoy your time in the field. Check out “Petersen’s Hunting…

There are lots of lightweight mountain rifles available today, but in the early 1980s ultralight hunting guns were relatively rare. That’s about the time a machinist in West Virginia named Melvin Forbes tried to design his own lightweight 7mm Rem. Mag. for a friend, who bet Forbes he couldn’t build a light gun that shot accurately. Melvin’s first attempt at creating a lightweight bolt-action hunting rifle turned out very well, and the customer was pleased. Forbes believed if he built guns that were exceptionally light yet accurate they’d sell well—perhaps well enough to turn his rifle-making hobby into a profession. Forbes made it his goal to build a .308 Win. bolt-action rifle that weighed less than six pounds scoped and still shot great. He accomplished that, and in doing so…

Working with a .22 reminds me of all the carefree times I’ve spent woodchuckin’ with my field-worn single-shot Winchester Model 67A. Time marches on, and now I can look to future possibilities with yet another Winchester rifle, the new Wildcat. The Wildcat seems to be an offshoot of the previous bolt-action Expert, incorporating some of those same features into a fine autoloader equipped with a wood stock for the more traditional hunter. The gun is made in Turkey to American standards and design. The stock has a pleasing classic look—no high comb or cheekpiece, no fancy fore-end tip or pistol grip cap. The pistol grip has palm swells on both sides for right- and left-handed shooters, and it flares at the bottom for comfortable field shooting. The buttplate is plastic,…

LANDS & GROOVES Rifle shooters and car guys have a lot in common. While casual observers might note a Corvette’s sleek lines or the burly, broad-shouldered look of the new Ram 2500, gear heads want to talk motor design and displacement, and that’s not unlike the way in which rifle cranks focus their attention on a gun’s action. The action is, after all, the building block upon which a gun is built, and a good one can last for years and produce exceptional accuracy. It’s no surprise, then, that custom actions are the cornerstone of high-quality rifle builds. We’re going to look at some of today’s best custom rifle actions and discuss the machining, materials and design elements that make each of these actions outstanding choices for a build. AERO…

On a recent deer hunt in Oklahoma, I had the chance to ride with a young guide who was also an avid waterfowler. It was a Benelli-sponsored trip, and he mentioned with pride that he’d recently acquired a new Super Black Eagle 3, but in the same breath he said he hadn’t realized Benelli made rifles until now. I guess I need to buy him a subscription to RifleShooter, because we’ve been hot on the trail of Benelli’s excellent Lupo since 2020. To me it’s one of the best production bolt actions on the market today. The latest iteration is the HPR or High Precision Rifle. One of the big changes with this version is the stock, which is a Benelli design built by the company. It features an eight-position…

For several years, Savage has led the pack in introducing new variations of existing firearms models, as well as new models, with the Stevens Model 334 bolt-action center-fire rifle the most recent example of the latter. Stevens, you ask? Yes, Savage bought Stevens near the turn of the previous century, and you can find the background on this legendary name in the accompanying sidebar. Like the Stevens Model 555 over-under shotgun, which is also sold by Savage, the Stevens Model 334 rifle was designed by and is built by ATA Arms, the largest manufacturer of sporting firearms in Turkey. It is actually the same rifle as the Turqua, which is sold in Turkey and other countries as well. The stock on the Model 334 I shot is walnut, but black…

There are lots of copycats in the firearms world. When a new idea emerges, other makers are quick to jump on the bandwagon. But what about when a company is the bandwagon, the one driving innovative new product development? I’m not talking about one of the giants, either, I am talking about a relatively small company that is not necessarily a household name. Texas-based Horizon Firearms is a growing force in the rifle and cartridge world—one that is pushing the bounds of performance in both rifles and ammunition. This company not only pioneered the development the new .22 Creedmoor cartridge, but it also built a heck of a rifle around it in the bolt-action Vandal. Derrick Ratliff, Horizon’s founder, grew up on a working farm and ranch in North Texas,…

When I was seven, my dad bought me a Swiss army knife, and he explained to me that with all those various tools at my disposal—even a toothpick!—I would be prepared for any situation I might encounter. I was ready to take on the world. The new Leupold BX-4 Range HD rangefinding binoculars are the shooter’s equivalent of a Swiss Army knife. They combine superb optical clarity with the convenience of an onboard laser rangefinder and ballistic data, which means when you’re hunting or heading to the range there’s no need to bring along separate binoculars and rangefinders. There's also no need to plug the range data into your phone or reference a ballistic table on your rifle stock or wrist. The BX-4 Pro Guide line of binoculars have been…

The last decade hasn’t seen a flood of new cartridges, certainly nothing like we saw at the turn of the millennium. That’s probably a good thing, since some from that first class of short/fat, long/fat, mostly unbelted magnums are already long gone. Cartridges introduced in the last 10 years span a wide variety of purposes and performance, and they run up and down the caliber spectrum. We have new AR cartridges and cartridges specifically designed to meet new straight-wall cartridge legislation for deer hunting. Both categories are limited in performance—AR cartridges by action size, and straight-wall cartridges because, well, that’s the intent: limited range in lieu of shotgun slugs. We have new .22 centerfires, and a smattering of larger calibers. Smaller diameters have plenty of uses, from varmints up to…

Named the FPC for Folding Pistol Carbine, Smith & Wesson’s cutting-edge new firearm is a blowback-operated semiauto 9mm that uses M&P magazines, has on-board magazine storage, folds at the midriff and features an M-Lokcompatible handguard and threaded muzzle. Handgun-caliber carbines that hold a lot of ammo have been popular since the first lever-action hit the scene during the mid 1800s. Those early Henry and Winchester carbines became known as “a rifle you can load on Sunday and shoot all week” and quickly became favored among settlers protecting their homesteads and cowboys guarding the herds. Smith & Wesson’s innovative folding 9mm carries on the grand tradition of being an excellent personal-defense tool for defending hearth and home. To fold the carbine, press the large latch lever just forward of the ejection…

Mossberg calls one segment of its Patriot line the Predator, but don’t let the name fool you: It’s a fully capable big game rifle, available in chamberings from 6.5 Creedmoor to 7mm PRC, as well as .22-250. We profiled the 7mm PRC in a previous issue, but I thought it would be worthwhile to review a somewhat older model. The .450 Bushmaster version is unique among the line in that it sports a short 16.5-inch barrel with factory iron sights. With a bare weight of just 6.5 pounds, this is a handy but powerful rifle suitable for deer, hogs and even black bears. The barrel is 0.75 inch in diameter after it tapers forward of the receiver, and there’s a shoulder at the muzzle that permits the muzzle to be…