Rifle May/June 2018

The first time I saw the now-infamous statement by Colonel Townsend Whelen sometime in the mid-1970s on the masthead page of Rifle magazine, it struck me as interesting, mostly because I had no idea what it meant. Accuracy for what – deer, varmints, targets or whatever? I had a vague idea of who Col. Whelen was, but the only photos I had seen were of an older man wearing glasses with lenses as thick as the bottom of a beverage bottle. I recall thinking, So this is the guy who framed the subject of accuracy for the rest of us? ...Read More >

If some intrepid, rifle-toting desert rat is so inclined to follow U.S. Route 395 through the Mojave Desert north from Hesperia, California, about a mile north of the small mining town of Randsburg lies an old and seemingly unused stretch of railway that goes mostly unnoticed by passers-by. If memory serves well enough, it was used to haul Borax – and likely other profitable minerals – to and/or from the town of Trona, the roots of which date back to the late 1800s. ...Read More >

In my early days of shooting and hunting with .30-caliber magnum cartridges, the choices were rather limited. For example, there was the fine old .300 H&H Magnum that was introduced in the 1920s, but sales were slow as it required an action 3.600 inches in length, and most manufacturers had stop building rifles so chambered. ...Read More >

A few years back, I heard of a Montana gun store selling an estate that included many vintage military bolt-action rifles. One Saturday afternoon I took a drive to see what might be available. I was a bit late in learning of this sale, so the assortment had been picked over by previous bargain hunters. ...Read More >

As one becomes more immersed in the fascinating hobby of rifle shooting, the subject of rebarreling will come up. Initally it sounds like a really neat idea, but whether it actually is a viable option depends upon several factors. ...Read More >

For some reason the open sights on my .22 rifle no longer “aim” quite as precisely as they did years ago. Some riflemen might say deteriorating eyesight is to blame, but I’ll never admit that. A red-dot sight mounted on a Ruger 10/22 rifle gets me back in the game, because such a sight removes the need to shift focus from a rear and front sight and out to the target. Instead, an illuminated red dot is projected to the eye in the same focal plane as the target, and I just have to place the dot on the target and gently pull the trigger. ...Read More >

Hard as it is to believe, January 20, 2018, was the fortieth anniversary of the death of Jack O’Connor, long-time shooting editor of Outdoor Life and the most respected gun writer of the twentieth century. Forty years! One would think that in that space of time, given the many technological developments in everything from cars to computers, to say nothing of the Internet, there would be little left in O’Connor’s work that bears much relevance to the world today. ...Read More >

Any list of the great British riflemakers of the nineteenth century must include Alexander Henry of Edinburgh. The list of Henry’s accomplishments just seems to go on and on, yet to all intents and purposes, his business died with him. Today, 125 years after his death, the name “Henry” lurks at the fringes of rifle history, with no single great accomplishment to lend immortality. ...Read More >

In 2010 Marlin Firearms, part of the Remington Outdoor Company, moved manufacturing from New Haven, Connecticut, to Ilion, New York. This was a most difficult move and resulted in practically all valuable employees staying behind. Over the next couple years, lever-action rifles were assembled from existing parts inventory by new employees, resulting in substandard overall quality and function. New CNC tooling was purchased and blueprints were reestablished and programmed to correspond with the new equipment. The first CNC-produced .30-30 WCF rifles began to roll out in 2013, but there were still quality and design features that had to be addressed. Additional cartridges have been added to production, including .45-70, .44 Magnum, .45 Colt and .35 Remington. ...Read More >

Savage introduced its Model 110 bolt action in 1958 as an “economy” rifle. The 110 remained a plain-Jane rifle for years and was Savage’s only remaining product after Ron Coburn brought the company out of bankruptcy in 1988. Coburn accomplished a remarkable job of improving the rifle’s accuracy in the ensuing years. Savage turned the shooting world on its ear with its AccuTrigger in 2002, which was easily adjustable to provide a light and clean pull, and also prevented the firearm from firing when jarred or dropped with the safety “off.” The polymer AccuStock followed in 2009, with an imbedded aluminum frame running from the action on down through the forearm. ...Read More >

Fifty years ago the standard cleaning technique for hunting rifles was to screw the correct brush on a cleaning rod, dip the brush in bore cleaner then stroke the bore 15 to 20 times. Brushing was followed by cotton patches until one came out clean, supposedly indicating the bore was clean. This procedure primarily removed powder fouling, since it sure didn’t remove much of the copper fouling considered so evil today. ...Read More >

My acreage is small by Montana standards, but it’s large enough, and I’m old enough, that I use an ATV or pickup truck to check it out periodically, and I am always armed. The wildlife using this area range from coyotes (common) to black bear (rare). Mostly we leave them in peace, but any predator I see near the house looking for an easy cat or dog meal is in mortal danger. ...Read More >

Ray Morgan was a big, raw-boned upholster and a part-time range master when I met him in the late 1960s. Ray became my shooting and reloading mentor when I got my first centerfire hunting rifle at age 16. One of the very first things he taught me was benchrest technique, and how to set up a stable shooting platform. ...Read More >