Rifles

A new agreement between NSSF's ranges division, the National Association of Shooting Ranges (NASR), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allows shooting ranges to submit Environmental Stewardship Plans anonymously.

Forty million Americans today are active in shooting sports and hunting. During their lifetimes, the total retail value of their recreational activities will top $4 trillion, projects the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), a nonprofit trade association for the firearm industry.

This Is A Basic No-nonsense Carbine At A Good Price. A Little Trigger work And The Scope Of Your Choice Backed By The Mangonel Rear Sight would Make It Hard To Beat.

The 'Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Reform and Firearms Modernization Act of 2007' (HR 4900) legislation represents a major advance in protecting the rights of firearms dealers.

Winchester Ammunition’s new Theodore Roosevelt commemorative ammunition line feature a nickel-plated shell casing bearing a special Roosevelt head-stamp in three popular calibers: .30-30 Win., .45 Colt and Roosevelt's favorite big bore lever-gun round, the .405 Winchester.

Ron Sieg, Flagstaff Regional Supervisor, will present issues associated with lead from spent ammunition.

Konus Optical & Sports Systems will unveil its KonusPro M-30 Series of riflescopes at SHOT Show 2008, February 2-5, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

This article is on Brownells new Beta 100-Round capacity for enhanced firepower. 100-round capacity is great for extended shooting sessions with inexpensive surplus ammunition.

The 9.3x74r Ruger Was A Handsome Package With Classic Lines. accuracy Was Excellent With Our Handloads. This Was A Handy Rifle with Everything Done Well.

Given adequate funds, which would you prefer for all your general medium-game hunting, a single shot, or a good double rifle? This question has been around a good many years, particularly in Africa in the days before one could get good yet inexpensive bolt-action rifles. Today the question might be a bit different. Which one would make the better investment? Or, which would give greater shooter satisfaction? Given the great disparity in prices of good examples of single and double loaders, would there be any real benefit to owning one type of rifle more than another?

Sturm, Ruger & Co. chambers a most unusual (to American shooters) mid-power cartridge in the Ruger No. 1, the 9.3x74R. It's a rimmed cartridge commonly loaded with bullets of 0.366-inch diameter in weights from 232 to 286 grains. This cartridge has power a shade under that of the .375 H&H Magnum. We procured a Ruger No.1 ($1030) in this caliber. Ammunition is not available everywhere, as we found to our chagrin.

We were fortunate to have the loan of a fine Manton double rifle (about $10,000) in this caliber, which not only used the same bullet size as the 9.3x74R, but put out its 320-grain bullets at essentially the same velocity as our handload for the Ruger—though at vastly reduced pressure. While a single shot like the Ruger has the immense advantage of being able to use a variety of bullet weights, the fine double is generally regulated for only one load, with either soft-nose or "solid" bullets. But one load per rifle is generally adequate, as many experienced hunters have found over the years.

Norma, RWS, Sellier & Bellot, and perhaps one or two others make ammo for the 9.3x74R. Hornady has promised to make some for several years, but none is yet forthcoming. We were unable to find ammo anywhere in time for this report, so we resorted to handloading. We used jacketed and cast bullets designed for the various .360-caliber British cartridges. Specifically, we loaded 320-grain bullets from Hawk, Inc., and from Woodleigh, and 275-grain cast gas-checked bullets from Mt. Baldy, into new RWS cases. Nosler also makes several bullets in this size for handloading. We don't claim we got the maximum results out of the 9.3x74R. We stopped when everything was working well. The Manton was easier to feed. Its owner provided all the ammunition, featuring Woodleigh's 320-grain bullets, same as we used in the Ruger, and both Bell and Bertram brass.

So how did these two compare? In several important ways there's no comparison. The Ruger has a list price of $1030, and almost any dealer can order you one. The Manton, or anything like it, will set you back today right around $10,000. And you probably won't find a decent one for sale, though you might find several clunkers. Let's see what we found out about each of them.

When a new cartridge comes along that might be useful as an all-around one, it gets our attention. The recent .338 Federal isnt really powerful enough to qualify as an all-rounder, but it looked to us like a great option for those who want a versatile round with more bullet weight than is offered in the .308, while still being able to fit into the .308-size rifle action. The .338 Federal is essentially the .308 opened to accept bullets of 0.338-inch diameter, sort of a .338 OKH Short, if you will. These .338-inch-diameter bullets offer greater sectional density than similar-weight bullets out of the .358 Winchester. While there are a lot of bullets available in 0.338-inch diameter, the short actions generally used to accommodate this new round will probably dictate that the lighter bullets will be the ones of choice.Still, we suspect many handloading short-range hunters will opt for 225- up to 250-grain bullets. An updated version of the old 250-grain Hornady round-nose bullet is still available and wont take up much powder room.As with most new cartridges, .338 Federal ammunition isnt readily available yet across every sporting-goods counter. We checked various gun shops in Idaho and Montana, but could not find .338-Fed ammunition for sale. In fact, most clerks in the stores we contacted had no idea of what the cartridge was. We finally obtained three of the four types currently available, all by Federal. These were loaded with 180-grain Nosler Accubond, 185-grain Barnes-X Triple-Shock, and the relatively low-cost 200-grain Fusion bullets. We could not obtain the 210-grain Nosler Partition load, though it would be our first choice for serious hunting.Several questions can be put to rest before we look at the three rifles. First, most of us here in Idaho dont consider this caliber adequate for serious elk hunting, much less big bear, though we suspect it would do better than most .30-caliber rifles, even .300 Mags. The bullets arent heavy enough nor velocity fast enough from this small cartridge to perform as well as some of us would like on really big elk. Velocities out of the Kimber were close to factory claims except for the 180-grain Nosler Accubond load, which fell about 90 fps short. Velocities with the Sako were all lower than the Kimbers, and the Rugers short barrel cut speed a whole lot.We believe the .338 Federal will be a mighty fine cartridge for deer, sheep, goat, and so on, performing way better than anything smaller-and assuming a real hunter is behind the rifle. Performance ought to be similar to that obtained from the .358 Winchester So why not get one of those? After all, the .358 owner can use cast-lead pistol bullets. Well, theres a better bullet selection for the reloader in .338, and sectional density is somewhat better too. This means slightly flatter trajectory for the .338 Fed, though probably not by a lot. Finally, the question of recoil is undoubtedly on most shooters minds. We can tell you that even with the heaviest bullets tested in the lightest rifle, recoil is simply not a factor here. Two of the test rifles were much too heavy, but the 6.5-pound Kimber (as tested) was a sweetheart on the shoulder. Forget recoil fears with this cartridge. Heres what we found.

Whether the handler is into hunting, plinking or target shooting-and the majority of .22 owners probably venture into all three areas-there is a rifle style to suit their fancy. The semi-serious will likely own a bull-barreled version at some time in their lives-a step above the standard model with an implied accuracy advantage that appeals to both hunter and target shooter.To see how bigger, heavier fancier .22s performed, we shot and [IMGCAP(1)]compared three heavy-barreled versions of longstanding .22 LR autoloaders. All featured bull barrels with recessed "target" crowns and blow-back bolt cycling designs, 10-shot detachable magazines, heavy laminate stocks with no checkering, sling swivel studs, and were packed with keyed locking devices.No such comparison would be complete without a Ruger 10-22, the most popular rimfire autoloader of all time, so we selected the 10-22 K10/2T, $495, to pit against the Remington 597 LS HB 26579, $337, and Thompson Centers R-55 Benchmark Classic No. 6873, $455.The barrels are the major departures from the base designs in each case. The Ruger 10-22 and Remington 597 feature 20-inch heavy (0.915- and 0.825-inch diameters, respectively) tubes, while the 18-inch Thompson Center barrel measures 0.880 inch. All were button-rifled at the classic .22 LR 1-in-16-inches twist rate.The heavy tubes featured on the three test guns rather offer stiffness to aid accuracy and consistency; bulk to offset minor fluctuations in trigger pressure; and out-front weight to better steady ones hold.Barrel length also means very little. In a rimfire configuration, with a peak of 21,000-psi chamber pressure, the same velocities can be derived from a 12-inch barrel as from a 24-incher. Despite the industrys insistence on longer barrels, .22 LR fanatics universally agree that peak accuracy comes from the civilian-minimum 16-inch barrels, which are stiffer and contain the bullet for a shorter period of time than their longer counterparts.