Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2019 i Shooting Times

I REALLY ENJOYED LAYNE SIMPSON’S PIECE IN THE MARCH ISSUE ON Marlin’s Model 336 titled “Still Going Strong.” I appreciate articles on the firearms we take for granted, continue to get the job done, and can still afford. Here in the Northeast, my vintage 336C has added greatly to our freezer over the decades, and when it came time for my son to start hunting, he chose a 336 XLR in .308 Marlin Express. Both guns have given us outstanding service and reliability. Now that Remington is at the helm of Marlin, I would love to see them introduce some “classic chamberings” like Remington has done for its Model 700. How about a run of 336 XLRs in .25-35, 7-30 Waters, .38-55, .32 Special, .219 Zipper, .307 Winchester, and .356…

MY FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE .22 SAVAGE HI Power—as chambered in Savage’s Model 99—came in my early teens while butchering a beef with local old-timer Doyle Moosman. Doyle had shot a big male mountain lion and a big mule deer buck with that rifle, and he told me all about his adventures while we worked on the cow. Ever since, I wanted a Savage 99 chambered in .22 Savage Hi Power of my own. Recently, I found one at Gunnies, the local shop that does my FFL transfers. Mechanicals The Savage Model 99’s features include a rotary, spool-fed magazine and a lever-activated, rear-locking bolt. Savage manufactured the rifle from 1899 until 1998. Serialization stopped at almost 1.2 million. Unlike competing lever-action rifles of the era, the Savage 99 has a…

INTRODUCED BY BUSHMASTER AND HORNADY in late 2007, the .450 Bushmaster was an attempt to improve the ballistic performance of AR-15 rifles. Launching a .45-caliber, 250-grain bullet at 2,200 fps is, of course, a significant performance step up compared to the 5.56 NATO’s relatively tiny 55-grain bullet exiting the barrel at 3,200 fps. At the time the .450 Bushmaster was introduced, not many folks hunted with an AR-style rifle. Hornady was the only source for factory-loaded ammo at the time, but Remington and Federal later offered it. The round was slow to gain popularity and looked to be on a path to obsolescence, but a fortunate significant event occurred that saved the .450 Bushmaster from obscurity. A few years ago, several states in the upper Midwest changed their hunting regulations.…

Blaser has several new R8 products and versions. One is a .22 Long Rifle conversion that includes a barrel, a newly designed magazine insert, and a small-bore bolt head. The standard barrel length is 23 inches, and the magazine holds six rounds. Also new are the R8 Ultimate and R8 Ultimate Leather models that have special ergonomically designed thumbhole stocks. Features include an adjustable comb, an adjustable recoil pad, and a recoil-absorption system. The intuitively operated, multi-level adjustable comb ensures a consistent mount every time. Once the adjustable comb is tuned to a shooter’s body proportions and optics, the integrated memory function ensures return to the correct comb position for every shot. The adjustable recoil pad can be changed quickly for length, height, and pitch, meaning fast changes for different…

While this concept rifle shoots just about everything well, I’ve found a few favorite loads. For competition, my best handload pushes Hornady’s 147-grain ELD Match bullet at 2,798 fps—fast but safe in my rifle—and averages 0.30-inch groups. At my home elevation of 5,050 feet, it’s supersonic to 1,850 yards. For deer, I like Hornady’s 143-grain Precision Hunter factory load. It’s amazingly accurate, and the bullet has a very high ballistic coefficient. With careful shot placement, it’s adequate for elk, but for them I prefer Nosler’s 140-grain AccuBond or Barnes’s 127-grain LRX. For predators, nothing beats Hornady’s new 95-grain V-Max factory load. My rifle pushes it to 3,219 fps, and it’s a virtual death ray on tough coyotes.…

ONCE CONSIDERED A TOP CHOICE FOR SERIOUS OUT- doorsmen, the original Peters Cartridge Co. went out of business in 1944, 10 years after being acquired by Remington. Remington proudly brings back the storied brand with new Peters Premier Blue 12-gauge Field & Target and High Velocity shotshells and High Velocity centerfire rifle cartridges (10 chamberings, ranging from .243 Win. to .45-70). The new loadings come in retro-style packaging, but they feature modern components and manufacturing processes. MSRP: Not available at press time remington.com POF Constable Offered in 5.56 NATO, .300 BLK, and 7.62x39, the new direct-impingement Constable AR from POF features a 16-inch nitride, heat-treated barrel; POF’s own heat-sink barrel nut; a nitride, heat-treated bolt carrier group and roller cam pin; a six-position anti-tilt buffer tube; an ambidextrous selector; an…

*Reformed from .25-35 WCF cases NOTES: Accuracy is the average of three, five-shot groups fired from a sandbag benchrest. Velocity is the average of nine rounds measured 12 feet from the gun’s muzzle. All load data should be used with caution. Always start with reduced loads first and make sure they are safe in each of your guns before proceeding to the high test loads listed. Since Shooting Times has no control over your choice of components, guns, or actual loadings, neither Shooting Times nor the various firearms and components manufacturers assume any responsibility for the use of this data.…

WAY BACK IN 1953, GUN DIGEST ASKED COL. Townsend Whelen to reflect on his years with single-shot rifles. He summed up with these words: “The highly efficient bolt action is but a remodeled musket…the lever action a product of America’s unrivalled quantity-production industry…but the single shot, constructed on fine and beautiful lines by a master riflemaker, is a gentleman’s piece.” At that time, the single-shot rifle was all but dead. It was the coming age of high velocity and ever-increasing firepower, with many predicting that even the bolts and levers would soon be shouldered aside by semiautos. Like many predictions, those came to pass, sort of, but not right away, and never completely. Fourteen years later, Ruger unveiled its No. 1 single shot to quizzical looks (from some writers) and…

Q:I enjoyed the recent article about the Uberti Model 1873 chambered for .45 Colt. I have a different version of that gun also chambered for .45 Colt and want to handload for it. Does the author have any advice on that subject? Brandon Flynn Via email A: Some precautions should be taken when selecting or reloading ammo for rifles chambered for handgun cartridges. First, it should be recognized that the SAAMI MAP (maximum average pressure) for a cartridge is the same, whether it’s to be fired in a handgun or a rifle, so handloaders shouldn’t try to “soup up” rifle rounds. For the .45 Colt, MAP is a modest 14,000 psi. Also, it should be noted that the Model 1873 action is not particularly strong. By the same token, very…

PRIOR TO 1956, THE AVERAGE AMERICAN hunter considering a dangerous-game hunt was hard-pressed to find a “born in the USA” cartridge in a production rifle that checked all the boxes. The .375 H&H was popular, but British; the proprietary .378 Weatherby certainly had the energy (over 5,500 ft-lbs at the muzzle), but like the .375 H&H, it was shut out of some hunting areas because some governments banned the use of any rifle under .40 caliber for hunting dangerous game. Missing was a cartridge that reliably functioned in standard American bolt rifles available in the mid-1950s, that produced over 4,500 ft-lbs of muzzle energy with a 500-grain bullet, and that satisfied international game regulations. Winchester filled the gap in 1956 with the .458 Winchester Magnum. Starting with the H&H basic…

THE LEVER-ACTION RIFLES COMING OUT OF THE MARLIN FACTORY THESE days are of excellent quality and appearance. A good example of that is the new Marlin Model 336C with a curly maple stock. It has the classic sleek and ergonomic shape that makes it easy to carry, and it has the great safety features of the two-piece firing pin that allows the gun to fire only if the finger lever is held firmly closed and the trigger stop pin that keeps the trigger from being squeezed unless the lever is held completely closed. The mechanics of this latest version are the same, but the stock is made of beautiful curly maple. I have been a fan of Marlin lever actions for years, and I think this new version’s appearance is…

BORN ON FEBRUARY 2, 1846, IN WHAT LATER became Santa Clara County, California, Juan Bautista Soto came from equal parts pioneer stock and bandit stock. He grew up cowboying, and by 1860 he was working on Daniel Murphy’s cattle ranch south of San Jose. By his late teens, he was over six feet tall and weighed 200 pounds. With crossed eyes, a badly pockmarked face, and a heavy beard, he presented a menacing figure. He was ill-tempered and quick as a cat. He was easily angered and driven by a hatred of Anglos. Because of his ferocity, he was known as the “Human Wildcat.” He was an excellent horseman and a deadly shot with his brace of cap-and-ball Colt sixguns. By age 19, while still working the Murphy ranch, Soto…