March 2009

Bolt-Action Shootout: X-Bolt Beats Remington and Savage
As the 270 Winchester nears its 80th birthday, one fact demonstrates its widespread popularity: more than 50 factory loads are available for it—a long-standing record for a non-military cartridge. The Winchester 270 has long been standardized with 1:10 twist-rate barrels, and popular loadings usually utilize 130– to 150-grain projectiles. In this narrow and well-known load range, the 270 Winchester functions with excellence and utility. Of course, how well the cartridge performs depends on the quality of the gun shooting it, so we went in the search for the best 270 bolt actions, turning to three of the most recognized names in bolt-action rifles today: Browning, with its new X-Bolt centerfire, the revitalized Accu-trigger Savage long action, and Remington’s latest version of its long-running 700 series. Our specific test items were the Browning X-Bolt Medallion No. 035200224, $959; Remington 700 CDL No. 84080, $931; and Savage’s 114 Classic, $826. The weather in Illinois this winter has been 'changeable,' to put it mildly. Nevertheless, despite the wild swings, we managed to string together a couple of full days to get our range work in, setting up at 100 yards across a frozen pond after completing our initial sight-in work. For the Medallion, we acquired a set of the Browning X-Lock integral bases and rings, but opted not to use them. Though 7000 series aluminum rings can be adequate, we felt the Browning’s 16-screw set (eight receiver-tapped holes) was not as versatile in mounting, nor as strong, as the better steel options. Instead, on the Browning we mounted Warne Maxima series steel paired bases (Warne Part# M927/929G).

20-Gauge Semiautos: The 11-87 Beats the Silver and New SA-20
One of the major reasons hunters choose a 20 gauge over a 12 gauge is the former’s smaller frame, weight, and recoil. Though they may already own a 12, many field sportsmen wind up reaching for their 20s because the smaller gun is just easier to handle, and there are just a few hunting situations—layback goose hunting and spring turkey hunting, to name two—in which the bigger payload might make a difference. We recently tested a trio of autoloaders in 20 gauge that offer quite a savings in physical form over their bigger stablemates. Our 3-inch-chamber 20 gauges were the Browning Silver Mossy Oak Duck Blind No. 011366604, $1,064; Mossberg SA-20 No. 75771, $496; and the Remington 11-87 Sportsman No. 29825, $757. The Remington and Mossberg guns have black synthetic finishes, but the Silver 20 is only available in wood-and-blued and camo treatments. Since the stock underneath the Mossy Oak is composite, we opted for it rather than the wood finish. In two cases, our test guns are the sub-gauge siblings of well-known 12s. The Remington Sportsman line has two 12s and three 20s. The 12s come in 26- and 28-inch barrels and weigh 8.1 pounds and 8.25 pounds respectively, compared to the weight of our test 28-inch-barrel gun, about a full pound lighter. The 28-inch 12-gauge Browning Silver, which is chambered for 3.5-inch shells rather than 3-inch shells like the 20, weighs in at 7.6. Our test Silver 20 was likewise a full pound lighter. The Mossberg is a new-for-2008 line for that company, so the SA-20 designation names just a single chambering, as you might expect. However, comparable guns in the 930 autoloader line, which are chambered only for 12 gauge, weigh 7.75 pounds to the SA-20’s feathery 6.0 pounds.

First-Ever Airgun Shoot-Off: Gamo, Walther, and Norica
According to a search of our website, gun-tests.com, we have never tested air rifles. Then again, we’ve never seen the cost of ammunition rise the way it has in the past year. Air rifles are commonly used in competition and as a training device for young shooters, and also for killing small game and pest control where firearms would overpenetrate. So we thought it might be worthwhile to try some air rifles to see if they were an economical vehicle for sharpening our skills. In this test we evaluated four single-shot pump-action air rifles. They were the $319 Gamo Whisper Deluxe No. 611006754, the $325 Walther Falcon Hunter No. 225226, and two Spanish-made rifles by Norica, the $220 Dream Rider and the $290 Marvic Gold. These rifles are new imports available to retailers through Camfour, Incorporated (camfour.com). Both the Walther and the Norica Dream Rider were 22-caliber rifles. Our Norica Marvic Gold fired 25-caliber pellets, and our Gamo rifle shot the popular .177-inch-wide pellet. With little precedence for test procedure we went about making a list of what we would be looking for and how we would judge each product. Reliability is always our first concern. Even a weapon that fires five shots into one hole and then quits running is going to get a failing grade. Next to reliability was ease of operation. Specifically, would working the pump be so tiring that shooting wouldn’t be fun anymore? We also wanted to know if the sights on these rifles were reliable and easy to adjust. Would mounting a scope be worthwhile, and how secure was scope placement likely to be atop the smallish rails? Would the triggers prove to be precise or fatiguing? Could these guns actually supply us with valuable practice time? When it came to setting up accuracy tests we had to determine what distance we should shoot them at. Olympic air rifle distance is 10 meters or, about 33 feet. But given the fact that these rifles were shipped with scopes ranging in magnification from 3X to 9X, we concluded that none of our rifles were designed for that distance. We also considered that the lead text for the Whisper Series rifles on the gamousa.com website reads, 'This New Models, [sic] will change the way you think about hunting with airguns.' In preliminary tests we had fired standing from 36 feet and using only the open sights each of the rifles seemed capable of near perfect accuracy. To determine which rifle or rifles were superior, we would have to fire from a greater distance.

High-Capacity Full-Size 9mms: CZ-USA's Phantom Shows Up
If we were to list the reasons for the boom in popularity of the semiautomatic handgun, high capacity would be at the top. The highest-capacity pistols are typically chambered for 9mm because the cartridges are slender and you could pile a lot of them on top of each other. In this test we will shoot three 9mm pistols that subscribe heartily to the plan of carrying as many rounds as the frame will permit. With the rush on guns and ammo we actually had some difficulty putting this test together, but we found everything we needed at Jim Pruett’s Anti-Terrorist Headquarters (jimpruett.net). Each pistol represents the highest capacity available from the respective manufacturer. The $749 Springfield Armory XDM9211HCSP is the 9mm version of the largest-framed Croatian police pistol that was introduced chambered for 40 S&W just a few months ago. The $695 CZ SP-01 Phantom No. 91158 is a fresh variation of the venerable CZ75 pistol. It features a polymer frame with interchangeable panels at the rear of the grip. Our third pistol is a benchmark among high-capacity 9mm pistols. The $680 Glock 34 takes the large-receiver Model 17 and tops it with a longer barrel and adjustable sights. The design of each of these guns has been influenced by the demands of the Practical Shooting crowd and should make ideal weapons for home defense, duty carry, or open carry for the civilian. With the possible exception of the CZ pistol, the operation of each gun was a known quantity. So our evaluation will spend most of its time and ink on performance and describing a test drive. With maximum available sight radius available on each gun (another benefit of the full-size pistol), we chose to record accuracy data from a distance of 25 yards. For support we used a $49 Caldwell Rock Jr. shooting rest beneath the dust cover of each pistol and a $19 pre-filled Caldwell Elbow Bag to support our hands, both from battenfeldtechnologies.com. The Rock Jr. proved stable without being unnecessarily heavy. The pre-filled bag stayed tight and didn’t compress so much that we had to reset the guns after every shot. With these tools we were able to do our best despite the gusting winds racing across the Texas plains.