Rifles

Clark's 10/17 and Volquartsen's Deluxe were tack-drivers, but Briley's Sporter had problems.

The U.S. fought two World Wars with the 1903 Springfield and 1917 Enfield. We test two samples to see if they're sound enough to shoot and add to your collection.

Planning a trip to Africa, and want to take only one rifle? You won't go wrong with a good .416 Rigby, but as it turns out, you don't have a lot of choices in available rifles. We did a cursory web search for rifles chambered in the old (1912) and versatile round, and found darned little There were a few used rifles, and some costly customs. We went to the source, only to find that a brand-new John Rigby & Co. bolt-action in .416 Rigby will set you back a cool $23,500. CZ offers its 550 Safari Magnum in two versions, the American and the European. Ruger chambers its No. 1 in that caliber in a variety of finishes. Some time back we examined a bolt-action Ruger in that caliber, and we found it to be a pretty good rifle with some limitations. Dakota builds a gorgeous .416 Rigby bolt rifle, clearly a nod to tradition, because there is also a .416 Dakota caliber. In times long past, Kimber offered a fine .416 Rigby, and with luck, it may not be too many years until the new iteration of that company offers a .416 Rigby.

Want something a bit different in your next AR-15? Robinson's modular M96 goes head to head with Bushmaster's Bullpup.

We put two of the newest small-bore centerfires — Ruger's .204 and the .223 WSSM — against one of the oldest cartridges, the .22-250 Remington, and found out the old dog can hunt.

We test two tactical-ready .308s in a continuing shoot-off of rifles whose design maximizes accuracy and precision. Winner: FN's awesome new Special Police Rifle.

There are many good arguments that can be made that .30-caliber rifles, no matter their intensity, are not as good for general hunting as a larger-bore rifle. The grand old master of firearms, Elmer Keith, thought that a rifle of .338 caliber would be far better than any .30 as an all-around rifle for most North American hunting. The grand old .318 Westley Richards, which threw a 250-grain bullet of .330-inch diameter at 2400 fps, won a reputation second only to the .375 H&H Magnum as one of the finest all-around cartridges for Africa's medium game. This cartridge was very similar to Keith's .333 OKH and to the .338-06. Clearly Keith was right on track.

The .338-caliber cartridges are one "notch" above the .30s (avoiding the 8mms). There are many fine bullets available in that caliber for reloaders, and in loaded ammunition as well. The generally available calibers are the .338 Winchester Magnum, the .340 Weatherby, and the new Remington .338 Ultra Mag. There are other .338 cartridges, one of the best being the .338-06, but no major factory has yet adopted that cartridge, despite many rumors. Wildcatters offer various other .338s, but none of them are on your dealer's shelves.

Guns like the FN Model 1949, the Ljungman AG 42B, and the Tokarev M1940 (SVT) led to today's outstanding military rifles,

The United States was one of very few countries which, at the start of WWII, had its troops carrying general-issue semiautomatic rifles. Of course other countries developed and issued some famous weapons before the end of the war, but much of the development and refinement of semiautomatic rifles took place following WWII. Here we take a close look at three vintage rifles that boldly illustrate some early attempts by designers to develop a viable mil-spec self-loading rifle. We acquired an FN Model 1949, also known as the SAFN 49 or FN49 (our sample as issued to the Argentine Navy) in .308, a Ljungman AG 42B in 6.5 x 55, and a Tokarev M1940 (SVT) in 7.62 x 54R. Not all of them made the cut, so to speak, but some of their experimental features are still with us today.

The FN49 was not only a good mil-type rifle, but it was also a proving ground for some design features that were later incorporated into the world-famous FN FAL. The intricate, odd, and beautifully made Swedish Ljungman rated only brief mention in our copy of "Small Arms of the World," yet it was a pure delight, once we figured it out. And the Tokarev M1940 saw service, but turned out to have been too lightly built for general military applications.

All of these three test rifles were wood-stocked weapons with blued or black-painted metal, and all came with slings. They all had bayonet lugs. Stock finishes varied from near-new with a suspicion of refinishing (the Swede) to fairly battered with many small nicks and dents (the FN). All seemed serviceable which, in light of their not-inexpensive price tags, was appropriate. We acquired our FN from Southern Ohio Gun (SOG), 800-944-4867. We arranged to test the Swedish gun through an FFL dealer, who had bought the gun at a show. The Tokarev was also acquired at a gun show, and was on loan to the magazine from the owner.

Let's take a more detailed look at each of these historically important semiauto rifles.

and owning one can represent a historical value for the shooter.

The Tommy gun first carved a name for itself on the streets of Chicago during the grand bad days of the "Roaring Twenties," and later played an important part in several world conflicts. The term "Chicago Typewriter" is only one of many applied to what was, for some, an excellent fighting tool. First placed on the market in 1921, Gen. John T. Thompson's remarkable invention quickly found its way into lawless hands, most likely led — or at least inspired — by Chicago's bootleggers. Only later, when police forces realized their lack of comparable firepower, did law enforcement adopt the weapon.

One of the earliest marketers of the Tommy gun was the Auto Ordnance Corp., same name as the makers of two of our test guns. The first price noted was $200, quite a handful of change in the early 1920s. However, if you wanted a submachinegun at that time, there were exactly no other options worldwide until about 1928, according to Smith's "Small Arms of the World." The Tommy gun thrived.

The first editions of the Thompson were marvels of careful machining. These were the guns with the slotted bolt knob on top (so you could see the sights), the double pistol grip, the 50- or 100-round drum magazines, and with cooling fins cut around the rear portion of the barrel. The early Tommy guns also incorporated a friction-type mechanism (Blish theory) that was supposed to delay the blowback operation, though later tests indicated little actual delay took place, and the system was eventually dropped. The early guns also had the Cutts compensator, designed to help control muzzle climb in full-auto mode. These guns had hand-detachable butt stocks and an adjustable leaf-type rear sight. These came to be known as the Model 1928A1. Caliber was, of course, .45 ACP, but some were also produced in 9mm and 38 Auto.

The fine M14 lives, and is undoubtedly in action somewhere in the world as this is written. Some admirers of the M14 feel no mil-type rifle in any caliber has ever surpassed the .308 M14, but no matter what its many fans may claim, there's an even more ardent group that states there's a better rifle than the M14, namely the M21. As you may know, the M21 is the designation (from about 1972) that was eventually given to the M14 National Match (NM) rifle. The "official" M21 rifle was thus a fully accurized M14 with the addition of a 3-9X Leatherwood-modified Redfield or similar scope in a thumb-screw-attached side mount. In the 1980s the truck-strong Brookfield mount became available, and it is still considered to be the best scope mount for M14 rifles. It is all-steel, all the way up. Brookfield Precision Tool developed that mount for its XM25 rifle, which was the accurized M14 bedded into a McMillan stock, a configuration that is the forerunner of one of our rifles tested below, by Fulton Armory.

Accurized M14s designated as M21s are being produced today by Springfield Armory in Illinois, Armscorp in Baltimore, and by Fulton Armory, in Savage, Maryland. (There are undoubtedly other firms making them, and we'll look at them when we get a chance.) We obtained one of each, put them through our wringer, and present the results here.

Despite its being the most prolific rifle in history, Mikhail Kalashnikov's AK-47 is still being manufactured in a vast variety of offerings at locations all over the world. One of those locations is Houston, Texas, where the Arsenal USA Co. assembles AKs using parts from Hungary and some made in Houston. We got one of that company's rifles for a recent test, pitting the hybrid U.S./foreign product against an imported wire-stocked Romanian-made rifle from Southern Ohio Gun. To complete the group of 7.62mm Russian rifles, we got a VZ 2000 from Ohio Ordnance Works. The VZ-2000 can be mistaken for an AK-47 look-alike, but is actually a close semiauto copy of the Czech Model 58.

All of these semiautomatic rifles fired the .30 Russian Short, which the 7.62x39 is sometimes called. We've recently noticed bargain-priced surplus rifles in odd calibers, but two boxes of ammunition can cost as much as the rifle. Not so the .30 Russian Short. We found 7.62x39 ammo to be plentiful and generally not very expensive. If you want to have fun with your AK, it's nice to know the fodder won't break the bank.

The .22-250 cartridge, which got its name from wildcatting the .250-3000 Savage (introduced in 1915) to accept .22-caliber bullets, has been around a long time. Early experimenters like Gebby put the finishing touches on it back in about 1937. In 1965 Remington adopted the cartridge as a standard offering, and it has been successful ever since. Although some think the round is about ideal for serious varminting, especially at longer ranges and in the West, the Swift will sling 55-grain bullets about 200 fps faster. Yet not many manufacturers chamber the Swift compared with the vast numbers who chamber the .22-250 Remington.

A common trick among serious users of this cartridge is to "improve" it by blowing out the case to eliminate much of the taper. This simple alteration results in performance essentially equal to that of the Swift.

Although many makers offer rifles, we selected just two this time for a serious look. In upcoming issues we'll look at several others. The two test rifles were both outstanding "lookers," though with vastly different looks. The lines of the Sako Model 75 Varmint (about $1,200) were strictly classic. The Sako had a Monte-Carlo stock, dark and figured walnut, and a wide forend that all spoke "business." The laminated thumbhole stock on the Howa Model 1500 Thumbhole Varminter Supreme (MSRP $692) screamed "modern," though its metal work was pretty classic. Would they shoot? Let's find out.