RifleShooter, the magazine dedicated to advanced rifle enthusiasts. All rifle sports are covered including hunting, target shooting and collecting, while focusing on fine custom rifles, great classics, and new high-tech designs.
Marlin Moose First I would like to say, I love your magazine. Of all the different outdoor and gun magazines I receive, this is the one I look for. On page 31 (“Memoriam for Mediums?” May/June), Craig Boddington stated he shot the moose in the lead photograph with a .338 Rem. Ultra Mag, but he has a lever action. I know they do not make a lever action in .338 Rem. Ultra Mag. Thomas Gresch Once again your old, befuddled editor has fallen down on the job. Craig submitted images of two different moose, and in looking at his caption list I got them mixed up when I added the caliber to the text of his article. He killed the moose in question with a .338 Marlin Express.—Scott Best Bet…
The improved access to suppressors is one of the best things to happen to shooters and hunters in a long time, but some big game hunters are understandably concerned about the added length and weight. Enter Silencer Central’s Banish Backcountry ($1,099, SILENCERCEN TRAL.COM). Able to handle chamberings up to and including .300 Rem. Ultra Mag, it is just 5.5 inches long and weighs only 7.8 ounces. By comparison, the Backcountry’s Banish 30 stablemate, which has a similar caliber range, is seven inches long and weighs 11.2 ounces without its extension. That may not sound like much, but it makes a huge difference. The Backcountry ships with a direct-mount hub with a 5/8x24 thread pitch. That is going to fit the vast majority of barrels in big game chamberings, but if…
Time was, the biggest campfire cartridge argument was “.270 or .30-06?” Introduced in 1925 by Winchester in its first centerfire bolt action, the Model 54, the .270 Win. was one of the speed kings of its day, with a 130-grain bullet exceeding 3,000 fps. It was faster and shot flatter than the already established .30-06, and for a lot of its history it was largely thought of as a Western cartridge—no doubt due in large part to the influence of outdoor writer Jack O’Connor. His exploits using the .270 Win. for sheep, elk, deer and more had a big impact on the sporting public. The cartridge is based on the .30-03, forerunner of the .30-06. The .270, though, used a .277-inch bullet. That diameter was an out-of-the-box choice at the…
The Remington 700 has been a mainstay of the American rifle shooter since 1962, and its action has been cloned more than any other in history. It is easily among the most customizable rifles you can own. Limitless upgrades exist for this platform, chief among which is the trigger group. I did some digging to round up and test the best of the best for your consideration. JARD ULTRA MATCH While Jard itself has been in business since 2000, this trigger has only been around since late 2024—spurred by a demand for a four-lever trigger when rival trigger maker Jewell ceased production. This system increases mechanical advantage, allowing for the lightest pull possible. I found a pull-weight adjustment range of four to six ounces, making it the lightest I would…
If there’s one Browning-designed Winchester lever action that can rival the Model 94 in terms of sheer popularity, it’d be the slightly earlier Model 92. As great as the Model 94 was—and, of course, is—the short throw and greased-glass action of the original Model 1892, which is a direct descendant of Browning’s larger 1886, kept it alive all the way to 1945. The original run of Model 92s numbered 1,007,608 rifles. While the 94 was chambered the .30-30 Win. and .32 Spl., Model 92 calibers included .218 Bee, .25-20, .32-20, 38-40 and, of course, the iconic .44-40. The Model 92 served as a wildly popular, yet chronologically incorrect, stand-in for other Winchesters in countless Western movies and TV shows. The most notable examples were the big-loop Model 92 of “The…
Historically, case trimming is tedious and slow to accomplish because it requires a lot of fiddling. Hornady’s new 3-in-1 powered case trimmer alleviates that. Rated to trim, chamfer and deburr up to 25 cases per minute—accomplishing these tasks all in one step—it enables you to process a few hundred cases in a half hour or less. That is a big deal. The High Speed 3-in-1 powered trimmer accepts cases from 1.450 inches up to 3.5 inches long, and up through .30 caliber. The unit is easy to install. Position the trimmer appropriately on the edge of your bench. Mark and drill two half-inch holes in your bench and secure the trimmer with machine bolts (not included). Plug it in, and you’re ready to go. The High Speed 3-in-1 trimmer has…
