Rifles

Several months ago we reviewed some flintlock rifles on these pages. Many shooters use the flinters much like time machines, to experience hunting and shooting as it was for this country's earliest explorers and founders. But not every muzzle-loading fan wants to travel down the old road, so to speak, when there are modern alternatives. In this report we test four state-of-the-art in-line muzzle-loading rifles. Ignition is generally provided by a modern shotshell primer held in place by short-throw bolts, and fired by strikers within the bolts. There are no external hammers here. The in-line name comes from the position of the primer, located directly behind the powder charge and in line with the bore, instead of resting on a side-mounted chamber like on a traditional hammer-fired black-powder rifle.

We obtained four models. They were the Knight DISC Extreme DE706B ($704), Winchester X-150 Magnum ($345), CVA Firebolt 209 UltraMag ($300), and the Remington 700 MLS Magnum ($569). All were .50-caliber rifles with twist rates designed for sabot loading of elongated, sub-caliber bullets. In keeping with the most modern concepts of black-powder technology, we tested our batch of rifles with combinations of 50- and 30-grain Pyrodex pellets, rather than messing with loose powder and any sort of measure. We used the iron sights as provided by the makers, and shot at 100 yards from a bench rest. We observed no ignition delay in any of these shotshell primer-fired rifles. Felt recoil was similar in all guns. We judged recoil to be stout with the full 150-grain charge. It felt similar to that of a .30-06. It was much more comfortable with 130-grain pellet charges, which we thought gave less recoil than the average .308. Recoil with 100-grain charges was comparable to that of a .243.

The flash and sparks from the ignition of the primer were substantial from all the rifles except the Knight. Bystanders, especially those standing to the right of someone shooting one of these rifles, should wear shooting glasses and hearing protection. The sound levels of these smokepoles were comparable to that of centerfire rifles, but the sparks were a different story altogether. The Knight's DISC system contained the primer, and thus limited the flash and sparks to about a quarter of that experienced with the other rifles. Here are other findings on a rifle-by-rifle basis.

When the .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire cartridge was announced early last year, few people in the industry anticipated that it would be as big a smash hit as it came to be. Ammunition has been difficult to find on dealers' shelves at times, and many .17 rimfire shooters took to buying supplies whenever they found it in stock.

The first guns chambered for the round— Rugers and Marlins — started showing up on dealers shelves in late spring or early summer last year, and by the end of the year, virtually every major maker of rimfire rifles was making guns for the new cartridge. Everything seems to be selling well, and supply has not really caught up with demand, yet.

We did our first preliminary testing of the new round with a Ruger 77/17 in February 2002, and have been shooting the cartridge more-or-less consistently ever since in a variety of rifles. We've burned up more than 1,500 rounds of .17 HMR ammo, most of it in the field on varmints. We can unequivocally say it was the most accurate and has the best ballistics of any hunting rimfire round on the market today. We have shot or seen shot a variety of game with the new round, from ground squirrels to coyotes to one wild boar. The tiny 17-grain Hornady V-Max bullet at 2,550 fps, while not as devastating on small varmints as some of the 30- to 34-grain loads in the .22 Winchester Magnum, was extremely accurate and does a splendid job on small game out to an honest 200-plus yards.

In 1959 a revolutionary rifle made its appearance. Designed by Armalite for the U.S. Air Force by Gene Stoner, the little rifle was designated the AR-7. It was chambered in .22 LR (high-velocity rounds only), and was unique in that it came apart without tools. Even better, all the parts could be stored within its hollow butt stock, and the rifle would float in either stowed or assembled form. When the rifle was made available to the general public, outdoorsmen of all sorts grabbed ‘em. At about the same time, the AR-7 made an appearance in the early James Bond film, "From Russia With Love," and its place in history was thus secured.

The SKS is a homely brute, and many of its simple mechanisms are largely outdated by today's weapons' standards. But it works. It, like so many rifles based on the tapered 7.62 x 39 round, catches the cartridges that its two-piece bolt strips out of that fixed, ten-shot magazine with great ease. It fires them reliably and slings out the empties like an outraged matron encountering last week's garbage. The accuracy isn't generally good enough to be called that, unless you've got a lucky specimen on your hands. On average, they seem to shoot M1-Carbine-size groups. They'll put most of their shots into a four- or five-inch circle at a hundred yards, and that's plenty good enough for their intended job. But you'd never write home to mama about how attractive a rifle an SKS is.

For less than $100, you can change out barrels in the .30 Tokarev pistol and shoot cheaper 9mm ammo. Also, Savage's Model 12VSS sets a new standard for .308 rifles.

In our February 2002 issue we tested two 9mm carbines, the Hi-Point 995 and Ruger's PC9. They turned out to be simple and effective, each earning a "Buy" rating. Looking forward to finding two more good carbines, we acquired the Leinad CM11 and Kel-Tec's Sub Rifle 2000.

Like the Ruger and the Hi-Point, these weapons are fed from pistol magazines. However, the CM11 and Sub Rifle 2000 are convertibles, whereas our earlier samples were long guns. The Sub Rifle 2000 breaks down along a hinge and lock that divides the gun in half for storage. The CM11 is in fact the PM11 model (PM for pistol model, we assume) with add-on stock, alternate top end, and barrel. In the case of the Kel-Tec, we had to wonder if the gun would keep its integrity after repeated openings and closings. Regarding the Leinad, we wanted to know if its function was as effective as its intimidating image. Would these guns prove to be handy, or just a handful of hard luck?

ArmaLite and Serbu's .50 Browning Machine Gun cartridge-chambered rifles get our nod, but what about Barrett and Ferret?

Cherished by many, despised by others, the M1 Carbine has been with us for more than 60 years now, and with new units being built, they will be with us a long time. Do you need one?

In previous tests on these pages we've been far more excited about lightweight AR-15 types than about the normal, full-size military configuration of that rifle. We looked long and hard at the Carbon 15, and one or two others. We think we're not alone in our attraction to the lighter .223 rifles, judging from our letters. But how about "entry" type carbines, with short barrels and stocks? Do they have any use in the field? Many a cop and shooter want the smallest, lightest yet most efficient .223 autoloader available, so here we present three more alternatives. Two of them are built around the AR-15 concept, but have short stocks and barrels to cut weight and bulk. The third is the often-overlooked Ruger Mini-14 semiauto, which is a lot less imposing in its wood-stocked configuration, but may be just what the doctor ordered if you need a .223 semiauto that is less intimidating but just as effective as the AR-15 types.

According to Gun Digest 2002, there are at least 42 semi-automatic rifles chambered for centerfire calibers available today. But how many of them are classified or readily identifiable as hunting rifles? By this we mean a non-military appearance, available with barrel length of approximately 20 inches or more, and a two-piece stock with receiver drilled and tapped for mounting a scope. The answer is seven. (Eight, if you are willing to include the Ruger Deerfield 99/44 carbine, based solely upon its name.) Among this short list are the Browning BAR, or Browning Automatic Rifle, and the HK SLB 2000, both of which are available chambered in .30-06 Springfield.

Cowboy Action shooters who win generally do so by making their job as easy as possible. A common course of fire for the rifle calls for knocking down ten steel plates as fast as you can. Misses are heavily penalized. The heaviest, lightest-recoiling rifle will generally do the job faster than a light rifle that kicks. In a nutshell, if you use a lever rifle chambered for a .38 Special or .357 Magnum, it'll knock down the plates as easily as one chambered in .45 Colt or .44/40, and will recoil so much less that you won't believe how fast you can make those hits. The .38/.357 offers a tremendous advantage to the serious competitor, never mind that John Wayne nor Tom Mix nor the Texas Rangers ever carried a lever rifle chambered for .38/.357. You're giving up authenticity for speed. However, if you're not shooting black powder in all your guns, we suspect this won't make much difference to you.

In our testing, we found Brazil's Imbel to be okay, and Century Arms' lower-cost R1A1 rifle was worth a look, but we would avoid Century's budget-priced carbine rifle.