Ri 275 Full

Editors Choice: Remington 700 CDL Semicustom
7mm Magnum
MOSSBERG
4x4 Rifle
Series
FIELD
TESTED:
Colts M-2012
Bolt-Action Rifle
Ballistic Coefficients
Fuzzy Math?
July 2014
No. 275
$5.99
Marlins Revived
Leverguns!
07
25274 01240
$5.99 U.S./Canada
Display until 8/9/14
Printed in USA
July 2014
Volume 46, Number 4
ISSN 0162-3593
Issue No. 275
Sporting Firearms Journal

tin Firearm urn
Semicustom Rifles
Spotting Scope -
26
Dave Scovill
12
Mossbergs 4x4
Rifle Series
44
Why Those
Magic Numbers
Dont Always
Add Up
Shooting a New
.270 Winchester
Photo Props
Stan Trzoniec
Down Range Mike Venturino
32
Page 8 . . .
Ballistic
Coefficient
New Era
for Marlin
John Barsness
Production is
underway in
Ilion, New York.
Brian Pearce
Page 32 . . .
16
Stock Wood
Light
Gunsmithing Gil Sengel
Page 38 . . .
20
The .17
HMR
50
Colt M-2012
Steyrs
Foundation
Stone
Classic Cartridges -
Iconic brand taps

Cooper for a new
bolt-action repeater.
Austrias Werndl
was short-lived
but influential.
John Haviland
John Haviland
Terry Wieland
Mostly Long Guns Brian Pearce
22
7.62x39mm
Russian
www.riflemagazine.com
38
Background Photo: 2014 Vic Schendel
Rifle 275
On the cover . . .
Mossbergs 4x4 rifle is a blend of high-tech looks
and traditional craftsmanship and can be had
with or without a scope. Photo by Stan Trzoniec.
Remington inset photo by Chris Downs.
58
The 03 in
World War II
Issue No. 275
Putting Some of the

Puzzling Pieces
Together
July 2014
Sporting Firearms Journal

tin Firearm urn
Mike Venturino
Publisher/President Don Polacek

Publishing Consultant Mark Harris
Editor in Chief Dave Scovill
Associate Editor Lee J. Hoots
Managing Editor Roberta Scovill
Senior Art Director Gerald Hudson
Production Director Becky Pinkley
Page 50 . . .
66
Contributing Editors
Whats New in
the Marketplace
Ron Spomer
John Haviland
Brian Pearce
Stan Trzoniec
Clair Rees
Mike Venturino
Ken Waters
Gil Sengel
Terry Wieland
Inside Product News Clair Rees
78
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Enemy
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Background Photo: 2014 Vic Schendel
Rifle 275
SEMICUSTOM RIFLES
SPOTTING SCOPE
by Dave Scovill
m not exactly sure what the

definition of a custom rifle is,
but in general terms, it means a
rifle that, for whatever reason, is
not a standard item from the
manufacturer. That
is, we cant
buy it off
the shelf.
This brings
us to a
Remington
Model 700
CDL that was
purchased from
Remington about 312 years ago.
The motive for choosing a CDL
started 21 years ago on a safari in
Zimbabwe, where the Model 700
APR (African Plains Rifle) was unveiled.
The most striking feature about
the APR was the laminated wood
stock with cut checkering that, owing the amount of glue required
for most laminated stocks, was a
bit heavy but extremely well done
in typical Remington tradition.
Overall, with the matte black metal
finish and reasonably generous
buttpad, the APR was, in my opinion, quite close to being one of the
finest sporting rifles Remington
ever made.
The APR rifles on that

hunt were chambered for
the 7mm Remington Magnum and .300 and .338
Winchester Magnums. I
opted to use the 7mm and
.300 for plains game, including kudu. There was
also a Model 700 6.5x55
on hand, which was a delight to work with. Currently, the APR is a custom
shop item, and the 6.5x55
is long gone from the commercial Model 700 lineup.
Jumping forward several years from the Zimbabwe hunt, Remington
was chambering the stain8
The Remington Model 700

barreled action is chambered for the
7mm Remington Magnum. Features include a
26-inch Remington barrel, Timney trigger, Swarovski
3-9x scope and Bell & Carlson synthetic stock.
less Model 700 Mountain Rifle

with a synthetic (plastic?) stock
for the .280 Remington. The bill of
fare for the hunt on the Kennedy
Ranch in Texas included feral
hogs, javelina, nilgai and whitetail.
than adequate for the rest. All in

all, the Mountain Rifle was well
balanced with a good trigger pull,
and the not-so-ugly synthetic stock
made the whole package user
friendly, although the forend was
a bit bouncy when shooting from
a benchrest.
The Bell & Carlson stock includes an aluminum bedding block for the Model 700
action. Bedding extends from the rear receiver screw to about 5 inches past the
recoil lug.
While the .280 Remington is probably not the ideal choice for nilgai about the size of a cow elk
but a bit tougher it was more
Nowadays, the Remington 2014

catalog lists a bewildering collection of Model 700s for the usual
calibers, but nearly four years
ago, the CDL had a wood
stock, and the Mountain
Rifle featured a stainless
Handloads for the 7mm Remington
barreled action bedded in
Magnum include Berger 168-grain
VLD Hunting bullets seated over
a synthetic handle. Oddly
62.5 grains of Reloder 22 in
enough, the 7mm RemWinchester brass.
ington Magnum and .300
Winchester Magnum are
apparently the only belted
cartridges available with
a 26-inch barrel, which if
I remember correctly, was
the barrel length on the
7mm and .300 APRs we
used in Zimbabwe, and
the .338 Winchester Magnum is still relegated to
24-inch barrels.
The next chapter in this
story is a Winchester Model
70 stainless/synthetic 7mm
Rifle 275
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CUSTOM GUNS
(406) 442-4533
4508 North Montana Ave.

Helena, Montana 59602
Specializing in
Modern Classic
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Custom Rifles & Shotguns.
Remington Magnum that was outfitted with a BOSS (Ballistic Optimizing Shooting System), and
while the rifle was a pleasure to
hunt with, it was the devils own
work to find the most accurate setting on the BOSS. It drove me nuts,
to say nothing of wasting ammunition while working through the
myriad of possible settings. Eventually, after a few snits, the rifle
was tuned to produce excellent
accuracy, but I couldnt conceive
of the average owner going through
all the frustrating hoops with that
BOSS.
While working with the Model
70, the barreled action was removed from the synthetic stock to
find an aluminum bedding block
which later proved to be made by
Bell & Carlson. So while the BOSS
was difficult to deal with, both in
terms of time and ammunition, it
was reasonable to believe the exceptional accuracy was also due,
in part at least, to the B&C stock.
I vowed to have nothing else to do
with the BOSS, but the B&C stock
certainly figured in future plans
for a custom rifle.
All the above explains how the
Remington CDL 7mm Remington
Magnum with a 26-inch barrel
ended up in our safe, and remembering the bouncy stock on the
Model 700 Mountain Rifle, a B&C
synthetic stock with a Pachmayr
Decelerator buttpad from Brownells was added to the inventory
when, as luck would have it, I was
preoccupied with another project.
When my friend Dave May happened to show up in Prescott, and
knowing he was a fan of Model
700 rifles, I asked if he might like
to play around with the CDL.
Whether or not he wanted to fool
with the B&C stock was his choice,
depending on how the rifle performed out of the box. To sweeten
the deal, I threw in a supply of
bullets for his .300 Weatherby Magnum. Back in the day, Dave was
(and still is) a skilled long-range
shooter, courtesy of the U.S. Navy
Seals, and some of the motivation
for dumping the CDL on him was
in knowing he would not rest until
10
Rifle 275
he made it shoot as well as possible.

Since Dave has a business near
the Arizona/New Mexico border
and is also a big game guide,
mostly for bighorn sheep, bears
and Sonoran Coues deer, and my
time was also tied up in little
knots, the rifle remained in eastern Arizona for the better part of
two and a half years, until Dave
had the opportunity to drive to
Prescott to score a Shiras moose
for Boone & Crockett and brought
the Model 700 with him.
As it turned out, when Dave returned home and saw the bedding
block in the B&C stock, the CDL
walnut was set aside, and the scope
I provided was replaced with a
12x. The rifles trigger proved to
be a bit stiff but suitable for a
hunting rifle.
After firing 175 rounds or so of
various handloads, the barrel was
effectively broken in, the non-adjustable trigger loosened up a bit,
July-August 2014
and 62.5 grains of Reloder 22 in

Winchester brass capped with Federal 215 primers printed three
Berger 168-grain VLD Hunting bullets in .4 inch at 100 yards.
According to the 2014 catalog,
the Remington Custom Shop can
build a Model 700 with a B&C stock
in whatever caliber that might be
of interest. Currently, the Model
700 trigger is adjustable, which may
help accuracy. For folks who may
not feel qualified to fit a stock to
a barreled action, the Model 700
was a drop-in snug fit for the B&C
stock.
When Dave handed over 50 rounds
of the loads mentioned above, I
asked if he went through any special preparation: weighing cases
and bullets, trimming or whatever.
He acknowledged that he went
through all the usual match-prep
minutia while serving with the
Seals, but over the years, some of
the steps were eliminated, one at
a time, in an effort to determine if
a variation in case weight, for example, had a measurable effect on

accuracy at 600 yards. In time, deburring flash holes on the inside
appeared to be the only step that
had a noticeable effect on accuracy, adding that it is not unusual
to find burrs that are quite irregular on whatever brands of brass.
Shooting competitively as a civilian, Dave used Sierra MatchKings
and found bullets sold in bulk were
more consistent than those sold
in 100-count boxes. He also noted
that an overall loaded length of
3.30 inches prevented seating the
168-grain Bergers near the lands,
but considering how well they
shot, he didnt think that fussing
with the seating depth would be
worth the expense associated
with shooting more bullets, powder and primers on what may be a
fruitless mission to get three shots
into the .2s or .3s, when the rifle
might do that with an after-market
Timney trigger that was recently
R
installed anyway.
11
PHOTO PROPS
DOWN RANGE
by Mike Venturino
Which makes a better
photograph: the 1903
(left) all alone on
a rock or the K98k
(below) shown with
many of the accessories a German
soldier would have
carried? All but the
sniper scopes leather
case are modern
reproductions.
ll too often when handing

a rifle or handgun over to
Yvonne for photography to appear
with my articles, she says, What
goes with it? If I say, Thats all
there is, her face puckers like she
sucked a lemon and she comes
back with, You know I dont like
to photograph a gun alone. They
look so much better with some
props to go with them.
I never argue the point. It would
be stupid to argue with someone
who has taken over an obnoxious
chore, and then does it very well.
Besides, it gives me license to buy
some neat stuff for her. Neat
stuff can be defined as accouterments and accessories that pertain to those firearms or their
historical era.
In the beginning, what I looked
for, mostly on the Internet, were
original items. Since my primary
focus beginning about the turn of
the century has been on building
a shooting collection of World War
II military firearms, such original items would include helmets,
bayonets, cartridge belts, holsters,
rifle slings, etc. The problem with
that path is so many original items
are in sad disrepair, especially
leather items. Therefore, they are
less than photogenic.

Even more, they can
be amazingly expensive. For instance, I
paid $200 for an original German M1942
helmet that appears
to have sat outdoors
during a winter. It
has none of the colorful markings the
Germans liked to
put on helmets, and
overall it looks dingy.
Move up to a good
condition vintage Fallschirmjager
(paratrooper) helmet, and the price
gets into the thousands. Remember, Im not buying this stuff for
collecting purposes but solely for
photo props.
Luckily, Ive discovered a small
but significant cottage industry
marketing high-quality reproduction accouterments and accessories for virtually every firearm
of the World War II period. Not only
are the prices very reasonable, but
also these new items sure dress up
a photo spread better than cracked
leather and rusted or corroded
original items.
Michigan-based World War Supply
(www.worldwarsupply.com) has
become my main resource. Its basic German M1942 helmet costs
about $53. Gussy it up with selected
camouflage patterns from the battle fronts of Stalingrad or Normandy,
and the price still only climbs to
about $140. Its Fallschirmjager
helmets are priced accordingly. I
have one with the Normandy camouflage complete with chicken-wire
cover for sticking in vegetation.
Original German helmets abound,
even if high priced. Authentic Jap-
12
Rifle 275
Which makes a
better photograph:
the dull brown
original holster for
Model 1917 .45
revolvers (left)
or the new
reproduction
from World War
Supply (right)?
anese helmets are nearly impossible to find, because they were

used on such distant battle sites
and in horrid climatic conditions.
Besides, there never seemed to be
an American fascination with other
nations helmets as there has been
with German ones. So I acquired a
couple of Japanese reproductions
from World War Supply, including
a standard Japanese Imperial
Army helmet and another with the
anchor emblem of the Imperial
Japanese Navys Special Landing
Forces.
World War Supply also has a
great many leather accouterments
of good quality and modest prices.
Holsters for Luger, Nambu and
Model 1911 pistols are listed on its
website, along with revolver holsters for Model 1917s and canvas
designs for British revolvers. There
are slings, sight covers, scope covers and more. An accessory that
many German K98k rifles lack is a
cleaning rod. Ive gotten them in
10- and 12-inch lengths from World
War Supply.
Reproduction accouterments and
accessories, however, need not
come from established businesses.
Last year a friend loaned me his
familys heirloom World War I vintage Artillery P08 Luger. These
8-inch barreled pistols were issued to German sturmtruppen
(storm troops) and came with a
leather holster onto the back of
which was strapped a detachable
wood shoulder stock. At first they
were issued with several standard
nine-round, 9mm magazines, but
later they came with a 32-round
snail drum magazine. By all ac14
counts, they were very effective in

trench fighting. After shooting my
friends, I was smitten.
So, being snow-bound much of
last winter, I decided that if I
couldnt be shooting, I would spend
money instead. First came a 1917vintage Artillery Luger from an Internet firearms auction site. After
pricing the cost of original holsters, shoulder stocks and snail
drum magazines, I despaired of
ever having such accessories for
my new P08. The collective cost of
those items would have totaled
about twice what was paid for the
pistol. As I searched, though, it became evident that those items
were available in reproduction
form. I bought a quality replica of
the leather holster for a mere $65.
From a small Texas gun store, I
got a replica shoulder stock complete with metal fixtures for $155.
It attaches to the 9mm perfectly.
Numrich Arms lists a reproduction snail drum magazine for a
bit over $400. I havent ordered
one yet but will eventually.
At a local gun show, I found an
original German M1916 helmet
without its liner. Impetuously, I
bought it. I should have waited. It
should have been no surprise that
World War Supply has reproduction liners, or that I could have
saved $100 by buying one of its
M1916 reproductions.
Yvonne says the photo setups
she can do with all that stuff will
look great, but for some reason
she refuses to watch TV with me
in the evening if I insist on wearR
ing one of those helmets.
Rifle 275
STOCK WOOD
LIGHT GUNSMITHING
by Gil Sengel
here is much to separate

old western civilization from
todays new western descendant.
The dividing line is generally considered as the late eighteenth century, when introduction of powerdriven machinery, first in England
then in the U.S., created what we
have come to know as the industrial revolution. Where old western
man had crafted beautiful objects
for everyday use, machines made
plain items that were all the same.
Style and beauty were sacrificed
for efficiency.
By the mid-twentieth century,
old western civilization was but a
memory, and so was its citizens.
Those who had made beautiful objects were gone. Nowhere is this
more obvious than in architecture.
Today we nail sticks together, tack
on Styrofoam, wrap with chicken
wire, spray on stucco and call it
done. Windows have become merely
glass-filled holes in walls. Good
heavens! There is more beauty in
the footings of ancient cathedrals
Raw African Padauk

is orange with darker
stripes, but it darkens
with age. A bit heavier than walnut, it
finishes and checkers
beautifully.
totally upon numbers printed on a

price tag.
than most anything built above

ground today and few seem to
notice.
The point is the new western civilization has lost not only the
appreciation of beautiful things,
but also the ability to even recognize them. The modern concept
of beauty and desirability rests
Perhaps all is not

lost, however, as
people interested
in firearms seem
to be far more sensitive to ugly than
the rest of the population. Manufacturers produce ugly bolt guns,
semiauto shotguns and especially
inline muzzleloaders, then only sell
a few and wonder why.
The same applies to custom guns.
There is a lot of godawful work
sold under the title of custom.
Good work, however, always at-
Below, the Winchester Model 60 stock (top) is birch from an old table
top found at a yard sale. The Ruger 10/22 factory birch stock (below) is
stained dark and is plain with no grain. Right, Claro walnut can show
straight grain, as seen on the Ruger above, or darkly striped with fiddleback as in the blank below. In high-dollar blanks, anything is possible!
16
Rifle 275
tracts gun people. At gun shows

folks notice the style, then quickly
look over details like flawless metal
work or engraving, then go directly
to the wood. Natures handiwork
is also admired.
Given gun folks natural affinity
for wood, it should come as no
surprise that many search out custom rifles having unusually figured stocks. Others do the same
for stock blanks to be used in restocking or gun building projects.
Its part of the fun. This does not
automatically mean finding $500
wood for custom rifles that will cost
well up in four figures. It applies
just as well to $40 wood for a Ruger
10/22 or Remington Model 700.
Unfortunately, many people think
only American or English walnut
are acceptable for stock wood.
Such is just not the case. There
are many readily available woods
that add interest and beauty to
rifles at very reasonable cost. There
is even a real sleeper stock wood
July-August 2014
available in the U.S.

that, with careful selection, can produce
outstanding stocks.
English Walnut
The botanical name is
Juglans regia. Everyone interested in rifles
knows the wood by
this or one of its dozen
other common names.
Only the best wood is
imported, but the tree
also grows in California, where its edible
nuts are used in the
candy industry.
The fancy grades of either imported or California wood are too
expensive for any but the best
guns. Blanks of lower grade (very
faint or no striping) having pronounced growth rings make attractive stocks. If color is too light,
the wood is easily stained a bit.
Cost is about twice that of American walnut, but strength and hard-
Purpleheart (top) adds weight to an

H&R .45-70. A myrtlewood blank
(bottom) was given to Gil by a nonshooting family member.
ness superiority more than compensate.

American Walnut This is everybodys favorite in the U.S., but gunstock grade wood is getting harder
to find. Fortunately, its sold just
17
American walnut can run from

straight grain quarter-sawed (top)
to feather figure (bottom).
Both the top-grade Es 350 single-shot target rifle (top) and

the low-grade Es 340B rifle (below) have European walnut
stocks from Mauser Werke.
English walnut can run from nearly straight grain, as on this

.450 Ackley Magnum (top), to swirling black stripes, as on
the Winchester Model 21 (bottom).
These blanks are good-grade, American black cherry. The
rifle blank (top) is darker and redder than the two-piece
(bottom). This is usually desired. Completed stocks also
darken with age.
Bastogne walnut (top) is usually dark and can look like English or Claro walnut, but it is often heavier. The American
walnut stock (bottom) has the seldom-seen, irregular fiddleback graining.
18
Other possibilities include (clockwise from top): figured

birch, osage-orange, scrap from a Turkish walnut blank and
fiddleback mahogany.
Rifle 275
under two inches thick in 8-foot

long boards of varying widths by
hobby woodworking shops all
across the country. Most places
will cut enough for a rifle stock off
a board for $1.00 or so over the
cost of the wood. Light figure, especially fiddleback, is rather common if you look at enough boards.
All the medium-grade American I
have used in the past 20 years has
been found this way.
One big question now arises: Is
any such wood dry? The answer
is: No! Commercial stock blanks
usually arent dry either. Paint
the ends of the board to prevent
cracking, weigh it on a kitchen
scale to the nearest half-ounce,
write the weight and date on the
blank and lay it flat in the back of
a closet. Weigh it again every three
months. When weight remains unchanged for two cycles, the blank
is dry.
Hard Maple I hate hard maple!
My first two stocks were disliked
by their owners because the wood
was too light colored and they
had provided the blanks! It takes
stain poorly or not at all. Maple
belongs on flintlock rifles and
fowlers.
Black Cherry A real sleeper
gunstock wood, its sold as lumber (like walnut) in most wood
shops. Characteristics are basically the same as American walnut, but pores are microscopic
and require no filling. Cherry is
generally a cream color with red
tint. Select pieces, however, run
much darker with very pronounced
growth rings. Ten-foot boards can
be found that are quarter-sawed
on one end and slab-sawed on the
other. Every stick I have ever used
checkered cleanly too. The wood
darkens with age and just keeps
looking better. I regret having no
old stocks for photos. The rifle
blank shown is for my rimfire silhouette rifle. I will keep this one
and may even be able to shoot it
if the preppers and others quit
hoarding .22s.
Claro and Bastogne Two California walnuts, both of which
July-August 2014
have been used for gunstocks for

years. Both are becoming harder
to find, more expensive, and I have
never seen plain grades of the
woods for sale.
Yellow Birch Available in most
wood shops, birch is harder and
stronger than black walnut. It is
also a dirty white to dark yellow
color when finished without stain.
Only rarely does the wood have
figure, usually fiddleback. The Winchester Model 60 shown in the
photos has its stock made from
the top of a broken table my dad
bought at a yard sale for $1.00. It
took 22 lpi checkering perfectly
but was yellow before staining.
Birch can make an excellent stock
if carefully selected.
Mahogany There are dozens
of woods sold as mahogany that
really arent. All are just dark to
reddish brown in color. Any that
are hard enough and have proper
grain flow can be gunstocks after
the wood is dry.
Exotics These are all wood
hobby shop offerings in boards of
random widths and lengths. My
favorite is African Padauk. Raw
wood is almost light orange, but
when finished it gradually darkens
to a pleasing, deep red-orange. It
checkers and finishes easily. There
are dozens of other woods as well.
With millions of .22 rimfires and
break-open single-shot rifles and
shotguns available with broken
or oil-soaked stocks, as well as
limitless revolvers that need new
stocks to better fit their owners,
there is no end of projects for
the shooter interested in woodwork. Some have the skills to make
stocks from blanks. Others can
take advantage of stock duplicator
services offered on the Internet
for those who supply their own
wood.
Searching for the right wood for
a project is great fun, but there
is more. In the next column I will
discuss the rest of the story, minimum wood hardness and grain
flow then show what happens if
R
these arent correct.
19
THE .17 HMR

MOSTLY LONG GUNS
by Brian Pearce
n 2001 I was invited to field

test a new rimfire cartridge
known as the .17 Hornady Magnum
Rimfire (.17 HMR), today affectionately known as the .17 Hummer. Prototype Marlin and Ruger
rifles, along with 3,000 rounds of
rels as far out as 200 yards were in

real trouble. The cartridge was especially fun to shoot, as guns produced a mild report, very slight
recoil and accuracy was outstanding. Demand for such a round continues to grow steadily.
it could not produce enough velocity. When Hodgdon introduced

LilGun powder, the .17 HMRs outlook changed significantly, as Hornadys Dave Emary discovered it
could reach 2,550 fps without exceeding 26,000 psi. This was im-
Left, a recently manufactured

Marlin Model XT-17 with a
Weaver 3-9x scope was used
to evaluate .17 HMR loads. A
Hoppes BoreSnake is a favorite
method to quickly clean bore
fouling in the field. Right,
Hornady developed the .17
HMR cartridge. Other manufacturers offer factory loads
with a variety of bullet styles.
preproduction ammunition, were

put to work on California ground
squirrels and other pests. Conditions ranged from calm to breezy.
During calm periods, ground squir-
The .17 HMR originally dated back

to the early 1990s and was based
on the .22 WMR case necked down
to accept .172-inch bullets, but with
powders available at that time
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20
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portant for its success for several

reasons, mostly that it could be
housed in any action (including revolvers) suitable for the .22 WMR
cartridge. Using a 100-yard zero,
the bullet drops around 8.5 inches
at 200 yards, and a 10-mph crosswind will drift the bullet around
3.3 inches at 100 yards both very
similar numbers as the .22 Hornet.
Most major rifle manufacturers
now offer guns, while various loads
ranging from 15.5 to 20.0 grains
are available from CCI, Federal,
Remington and Winchester. CCI
and Hornady also offer lead-free
ammunition for those who live or
shoot in affected zones. CCI also
offers a 20-grain FMJ load that
has gained acceptance among fur
hunters and trappers who desire
minimal pelt damage.
One of the above sample Marlin
prototype rifles, which was fitted
with a Bill Wiseman custom barrel, was eventually obtained. Additional testing at home proved
the rifle was capable of .5- to .75Rifle 275
inch, five-shot groups at 100 yards

or around 1.25-inch groups at 200
yards. That rifle was ultimately returned, but in the years since, I
have used additional production
rifles from Marlin, Ruger, Savage,
Browning, Henry and others that
have generally shot well.
Recently my son purchased a
new Marlin Model XT-17, the companys latest upgraded bolt-action
rimfire rifle with adjustable ProFire trigger that broke cleanly out
of the box at 2.75 pounds. It also
features improved function and
smoother cycling, a black synthetic
stock, standard weight 22-inch barrel (.625 inch at the muzzle) and is
fitted with iron sights.
can be seen in the accompanying

table, all available loads obtained
were checked for accuracy and
velocity, with other loads listed for
comparison purposes. Practically
every load more or less duplicated
or exceeded advertised velocities.
While extreme spreads occasionally jumped to over 100 fps, they
usually hovered around 20 to 50
fps, which certainly aided in producing tight groups.
(Continued on page 74)
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After zeroing it with factory sights,

a Weaver 3-9x40 Kaspa Hunting
series scope with a Ballistic-X
reticle was mounted. No barrel
break-in was performed. Nonetheless, several four-shot, 100-yard
groups were fired that hovered
around .5 to .75 inch using CCI 17grain Polymer Tip V-MAX ammunition. Next he took a short
walk and dispatched about a dozen
pests, including muskrats, rockchucks, etc. He soon drove back
to the gun store to purchase $100
worth of ammunition.
I was somewhat amazed; he paid
the local dealer $229 for the Marlin, $60 for the Weaver scope,
found the Weaver rings and bases
in my parts room and paid less
than $11 for 50 rounds of ammunition. For around $300, he had a
rimfire rifle that was shooting subMOA right out of the box and
could dispatch pests at 200 yards.
That is a lot of fun for $300.
Thumbing through shooting and
chronograph notes revealed the
velocity of the original 2001 loads,
as well as their recorded group
sizes. The accuracy difference between the custom barreled rifle
and the new production XT-17 was
hardly measurable in fact, they
were effectively identical.
Next, sample ammunition from
CCI, Federal, Remington and Winchester was purchased, as well as
current loads from Hornady. As
July-August 2014
21
7.62X39MM RUSSIAN
CLASSIC CARTRIDGES
merican pride is responsible for new cartridges that

hope to capitalize on the militarys
supposed dissatisfaction with its
5.56 NATO small arms cartridge.
The recent 6.8 Remington SPC
and .300 AAC Blackout cartridges
are an effort to increase bullet
weight and lethality over the 5.56
NATO yet still fit in AR-type rifles
and carbines. For 70 years, however, there has already been a
battle-proven cartridge that does
just that. The cartridge is the
7.62x39mm, but its Russian origin
is held in disdain, hence the quest
for a cartridge of American origination.
Over the decades the 7.62x39 be-
by John Haviland
came the most popular military
cartridge on the planet. The Russians used the cartridge toward
the end of World War II in their
SKS carbines. During the Cold
War that followed, the Soviets expanded their political and military
influence across the globe, along
with their SKSs and later AK-47s
by the millions. An estimated 15
million SKSs were manufactured
by the Soviets, Eastern Bloc nations and China. Perhaps as many
as 100 million AK-47s have been
produced, if illicit manufacturing
could be calculated. The AK-47 is
synonymous with Soviet imperialism, third-world revolts and, among
others, the terrorist Hezbollah.
American whole-hearted approval
is unlikely for a cartridge with ties
to such a vile organization.
Some shooters think the .223/5.56 NATO

cartridge (left) lacks bullet energy as a
battle cartridge. The 7.62x39mm Russian
(right) carries additional bullet weight
and will fit in an AR action.
But are Americans gaining anything by ignoring the 7.62x39 in

favor of cartridges like the 6.8
SPC and .300 Blackout? All three
cartridges fit in a standard AR, the
current rifle of choice for AmeriTable I
cans. All three cartridges also shoot

significantly heavier bullets than
the 5.56/.223. The common range
of bullets is 100 to 150 grains from
the 7.62. The 6.8 Remington SPC
is limited to bullet weights of 120
7.62x39mm Russian Factory Loads

load
(grains)
muzzle
100
yards
200
300
2,350
1,508
2,055
1,153
0
1,783
868
-6.7
1,539
646
-24.6
2,350
1,508
2,040
1,136
0
1,755
841
-6.87
1,502
616
-24.31
2,355
1,515
2,026
1,121
0
1,726
814
-7.0
1,463
584
-25.9
2,365
1,552
2,062
1,180
0
1,783
882
-6.99
1,533
652
-25.03
123 Federal Power-Shok SP:

velocity (fps):
energy (ft-lbs):
trajectory (inches):
123 Hornady SST steel case:
velocity (fps):
energy (ft-lbs):
123 Winchester USA FMJ:
velocity (fps):
energy (ft-lbs):
The 7.62x39mm Russian is loaded by
major American ammunition companies,
usually with a 123- or 125-grain bullet.
This Federal cartridge is loaded with a
123-grain bullet.
22
125 Remington Pointed Soft Point:

velocity (fps):
energy (ft-lbs):
Rifle 275
grains for cartridges to remain at

or under the maximum cartridge
length of 2.250 inches and cycle
through an AR, while the .300 Blackout meets that cartridge length
loaded with the entire range of .30caliber bullet weights.
Data in the Hornady Handbook
of Cartridge Reloading 9th Edition can be used to compare the
6.8 SPC and the 7.62x39mm Russian. The 6.8 fires Hornady 120grain SSTs at 2,400 fps, the same
velocity the 7.62x39 shoots 123grain SST bullets. Both cartridges
burn 25 to 29 grains of powder to
achieve that velocity. At 100 yards,
the two bullets are tied for energy,
while way out at 300 yards, the
6.8 bullet carries about 100 footpounds (ft-lbs) more energy. With
both bullets hitting on at 100 yards,
the 6.8 bullet drops .5 inch less at
200 yards. At 300 yards both bullets are in steep decline, with the
6.8 dropping 21 inches and the
7.62 falling 24 inches. If some relevant difference exists between
the two cartridges, it is pure speculation.
three-shot groups inside an inch,

and once in awhile .5 inch, at 100
yards with .308-, .310- and .311inch bullets. Thats more than adequate accuracy and negates the
belief a bullet-to-groove difference
of .003 inch severely degrades accuracy for this cartridge. As an
aside, Federal marks its cartridge
boxes 7.62x39 Soviet.
The Soviet cartridge has become
fairly popular in America because
Custom, odd, obsolete and specialty

cartridge cases
Wildcat cartridge development
Manufacturing OVER 450 calibers
Correct headstamped wildcat brass
www.qual-cart.com
P.O. Box 445, Hollywood, MD 20636
(301) 373-3719
The .300 Blackout is a bit less

powerful than the 7.62 Russian.
The Blackouts claim to fame is it
shoots heavy 180- to 200-grain bullets while keeping cartridge lengths
to fit in ARs. Well, so does the Russian cartridge.
The 7.62x39mm has been labeled
an inaccurate cartridge by some.
The finger should instead be
pointed at some surplus ammunition and autoloading guns, not the
cartridge itself. My CZ 527 Carbine
bolt-action 7.62x39 Russian has a
groove-to-groove diameter of .311
inch. The first loads shot in the little rifle were two brands of Russian-manufactured cartridges with
steel cases and full-metal-jacket
and hollowpoint bullets. Three-shot
groups averaged about 2.0 inches
at 100 yards. I finally got my hands
on Federal Power-Shok loads with
123-grain softpoint bullets, and
they shot under an inch at 100
yards and right at 2.0 inches at 200
yards. Using the Federal cases with
handloads, the rifle commonly shot
July-August 2014
23
Table II
This group was shot

at 100 yards with
Hornady 123-grain
Spire Point, .310-inch
bullets and Reloder
7 powder from a
CZ 527 Carbine.
7.62x39mm Russian
Select Handloads
powder
bullet
(grains)
110 Sierra hollowpoint (.308 inch)

123 Hornady Spire Point (.310 inch)
RL-7
RL-7
H-322
125 Speer spitzer softpoint (.311 inch) H-4198
150 Sierra SPT (.308 inch)
VV-N130
H-322
charge
(grains)
velocity
(fps)
29.0
26.5
28.5
26.0
26.5
28.0
2,511
2,313
2,283
2,309
2,170
2,193
Be Alert Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data.
not heard of any issues with it. To

play it safe, Federals Power-Shok
123-grain softpoint bullets measure .308 inch in diameter.
of the importation of surplus semiautomatic SKSs and AKs and boxcars full of 7.62x39 Russian ammunition. Ten years ago a well-used
SKS sold for about $90, and foreign surplus ammunition sold for
about 10 per shot. Due to the current political climate, an SKS in
any shape now goes for at least
five times that amount, and its
source of surplus ammunition has
all but dried up. When shopping
for 7.62x39 ammunition this past
spring, Russian commercial ammunition was all I found. The
steel-cased TulAmmo and WOLF
cartridges cost 46 per round.
All the major American ammunition companies load the 7.62x39mm
Russian. Bullet weights are usually
123 or 125 grains, but brass cases
can be reloaded. Hornady Manufacturings Neal Emery said most
shooters dont reload the 7.62x39,
but as the surplus ammo dries up,
there will likely be an increase in
reloading.
Several American rifles are chambered for the cartridge but with
.308-inch groove-to-groove diameter instead of the .311-inch standard. Emery said .310-inch diameter
bullets are commonly fired in the
Ruger Mini-30, which has a .308inch bore. Pressure limits can be
reached faster, of course, but Ive
24
The 7.62x39mm Russian case

body taper is relatively steep at
0.047 inch. Thats more than twice
as much taper as the 6.8 Remington SPC cartridge. Internet chatter
states this is a detriment to chambering and extraction in an autoloading rifle, but nobody has ever
accused an SKS or AK-47 of failing
to cycle. For the handloader, 7.62
brass cases do not stretch on firing and sizing any more than other
cartridges, like the .30-06 or .243
Winchester.
Ive been wondering what use the
7.62x39mm Russian has on the
home front since purchasing the
CZ 527. It has been an inexpensive
plinking cartridge. Ive also shot
a couple of marmots with the rifle
at distances out to 150 yards. The
rifles light weight and 18.5-inch
barrel could also make it an easy
carry for a mountain lion rifle,
and with handloads the cartridge
carries enough bullet weight and
velocity for big game at modest
distances. At the muzzle of the
18.5-inch barrel, 150-grain bullets
are a bit short on energy compared to the same weight bullets
fired from a .30 WCF (aka .30-30
Winchester) with a 20-inch barrel,
but the 7.62s spitzer bullet quickly
catches up to the .30-30s flatpoint
bullet, and both arrive at 200 yards
with roughly the same trajectory
and velocity.
I take some pride in a compact
cartridge that does it all, despite the
7.62x39mm Russians origins. R
Rifle 275
MOSSBERGS
4x4 Rifle Series
Stan Trzoniec
n 1886, Oscar Mossberg came to

this country from Sweden to
work for another Nordic son
named Iver Johnson. Johnson
was from Norway and had a bicycle
plant. While Mossberg was interested
in the workings of the plant, his main
interest lay with the development of
a revolver that later turned into the
Iver Johnson hammer the hammer
action and design.
26
Not content to stay in one place, Mossberg moved to

the Shattuck Arms Company and later to the Stevens
Arms Company, which apparently he enjoyed because
he stayed on for the next 14 years. In 1914, he was
hired by Marlin-Rockwell to develop a light machine
gun for the military. When the company went under,
he decided to partner with his two sons Iver and
Harold, and the newly founded O.F. Mossberg was
born.
His motto was to put out a quality product at an affordable price for all to enjoy. Apparently, this was a
good idea, because the company prospered. It seems
no matter where I go hunting around New England,
there is a Mossberg shotgun or rifle hanging in a barn.
Still to this day, Mossberg is known for its affordable
firearms, was the first to market an affordable spotting
Rifle 275
Looking at the 4x4 series of rifles, there is a choice

of wood, synthetic or laminated stocks in a wide variety of calibers. Originally interested in a laminated
model, the waiting list was long for the popular calibers, but regular walnut-stocked models in .270 Winchester were being assembled, so one was used for a
review.
For under $700 with the scope, this is an interesting
rifle, especially since cartridge choice runs the gamut
from the .22-250 Remington up to .338 Winchester
Magnum with many options in between. The rifle can
be had with or without a scope, and fluted barrel
lengths run between 22 and 24 inches, depending on
caliber choice, and include either adjustable sights or
Weaver-style bases.
Being based on the companys ATR rifle series, there
is a long line of tried-and-true features. For one, the
Shooting a
New .270
Winchester
action is machined from bar stock nothing really

new in the field of rifles but the cost savings it offers
can be passed on to the consumer. The receiver is 6.5
inches long and like the rest of the rifle is finished in
matte blue. On the left side of the front bridge is a
gas escape hole to protect the shooter in the event of
a faulty cartridge. The receiver is drilled and tapped
for commercial scope bases and comes equipped with
Weaver-styled bases. Since my sample was a package deal, a 3-9x 40mm scope of unknown origin was
included along with rings. Initial bore sighting showed
it was near enough to get the shots on paper, at least
at a closer distance, and could be fine-tuned later.
A streamlined recoil lug is installed between receiver
and barrel and mated into the rigid bottom metal and,
forward of that, into partial glass bedding. Up front,
scope with a stand, and of all things,

it was one of the first companies to
offer a rifle package complete with
a scope.
This concept of a packaged product is still with the company today.
Rifle packages offer a choice of
three distinct versions. One is the
MVP, a rugged rifle that proved to
be a real tack-driver complete with
an AR-type magazine. Another is
the ATR bolt-action rifle in 34 variations with wood, synthetic or camo
stocks. The 4x4 is a great rifle priced
complete with a scope and is available in 49 different models.
July-August 2014
Above, a barrel nut is used to secure the barrel and recoil lug to the receiver.
Right, the safety is a standard two-position design.
27
MOSSBERGS
4x4 Rifle Series
the barrel is free-floated but rests
on a slight rise at the end of the
barrel channel.
A polymer magazine is furnished
that is easily accessed from under
the stock. Pulling the release to
the rear allows the magazine to
drop, and with the .270 Winchester, it holds five standard rounds
(four for the magnum models).
Cartridges can be loaded into the
magazine with little or no effort,
and I think if I could redesign the
rifle myself, I would have the bolt
clear the plastic follower in the
magazine for a smoother, quieter
operation.
Spiral fluting on bolt shanks
seems to be the rage these days,
and Mossberg has followed the
trend. Instead of being highly polished, however, the bolt is blued in
good taste like the rest of the action and finely finished for smooth
operation. The bolt body is one diameter from the locking lugs to
the bolt handle and shroud. While
the action is not a fat bolt design
(i.e., Weatherby), looking at the
bolt after many cycles shows that
it does contact the receiver as it
moves back and forth, keeping
any bolt wobble to a minimum.
Twin locking lugs secure the action when a cartridge is inserted,
with the right lug harboring a notch
to guide it in and out of the receiver
A molded polymer magazine is released

from a catch at the top and drops out
without resistance.
while at the same time incorporating a case extractor. Within the

bolt face is the ejector, a plunger
affair that is now typical on many
bolt-action rifles. The bolt handle
has a moderate rake to the rear
with the knob checkered. The
shroud ends this assembly with
a wing that seems to protect the
bolt release from falling under
your thumb, and when the rifle is
cocked, an indicator is flush with
the rear of the shroud. It also acts
as a protective shield to prevent
gases from finding their way back
and past the bolt in the off chance
that a case ruptures.
Premium rifles used to be the
The pistol grip features both checkering and stippling.
only ones to offer adjustable triggers, but today shooters want it

no matter the cost, and manufacturers oblige with solidly made,
fully adjustable triggers. Mossberg
calls its the Lightning Bolt Action
(LBA) trigger, and it is easy to adjust within sensible limits. My rifle
came from North Haven with a
trigger pull of just over 312 pounds;
with the instructions provided, I
adjusted it down to 3 pounds with
minimal creep. The instruction
sheet is fully illustrated with informative text and line drawings.
The rifles safety lever is on the
right side of the action in front of
the bolt handle and is a two-posi-
Below, vents are cut into the forearm, which also includes
cut checkering. Right, due to the higher comb and cheekpiece, Mossberg engineered the stock so it does not interfere
with the rearward bolt movement.
28
Rifle 275
Mossberg calls its adjustable trigger the

Lightning Bolt Action trigger, and Stan
set the test rifle to three pounds.
tion design. Keeping it to the rear

allows the bolt to be moved to
load or unload ammunition while
locking the sear. Moving it forward allows the rifle to fire.
In looking at the specifications
for the 4x4 rifle, it is presently
available in a classic-styled wal-
July-August 2014
The bolt on 4x4 series rifles is spiral fluted in design, has twin locking lugs up front
and is smooth in operation.
nut, laminate or black synthetic

stock. For the most part, they all
share the same profile, one that is
easy on the shooter and pleasing
to look at. The sample in walnut
was straight-grained with a slight
upward tick in the grain as it ran
toward the muzzle, as it should be.
The finish was ultrasmooth, looked

like a polyurethane coating and
with care should last a lifetime.
From the tip of the stock at the
muzzle, it has a gradual taper back
to the magazine well. While it is
comfortable to hold and shoot, I
would prefer some additional wood
29
MOSSBERGS
4x4 Rifle Series
Specifications:
Mossberg 44 Rifle
Action: bolt action
Stock: walnut, laminate and synthetic
available
Cartridge tested: .270 Winchester
Barrel length: 24 inches
Overall length: 4612 inches
Sights: none; supplied with Weaver-type
bases
Weight: 7 pounds (with scope, bases,
no ammunition)
Finish: matte blue/satin finish on stock
Magazine: detachable; 5 standard,
4 magnum rounds
Options: various stocks, with or without
a scope
Price: $693.00
$643.00 without a scope
Manufacturer: O.F. Mossberg & Sons
7 Grasso Avenue
North Haven CT 06473
www.mossberg.com
at this part of the rifle. There are

Buick slots up front for barrel
venting during extended shooting
sessions and an ample supply of
cut checkering complete with an
outline. From the end of the checkering, the stock widens out to the
Hornady Spire Point factory loads shot
well at 100 yards.
magazine and trigger guard then

tapers back inward to the pistol
grip.
While the pistol grip is on the
normal side for size, the checkering pattern turns into half-checkering and half-stippling similar to
that seen on some German rifles.
The pattern is rather modern and
bends around the curves and angles of the pistol grip. There is a
protective grip cap nicely attached
to this part of the stock.
From there back, there are welldefined flares on each side of
the stock. Instead of a full comb
from this point to the end of the
buttstock, Mossberg starts with
a graduated area just behind the
checkering pattern that rises upward to accommodate a higher
comb and full cheekpiece. While
some may find this a bit awkward looking, it actually is fine for
shooting, as most of your face
does rest on the rear of the stock
nearest the rubber recoil pad. To
finish off the rifle, a full .75-inch
rubber pad accompanies a customary black spacer, but the pad
could be softer.
The Mossberg 4x4, with its wideranging cartridge choices, is capable of taking just about any game.
Testing this rifle off the bench was
never a disappointment, especially
with its ability to punch small
groups. Most of this goes to the
fine trigger and let-off, a prerequisite for accuracy at any distance,
and premium factory ammunition.
Hornady 130-grain Spire Points
punched one-inch holes, followed
by the 150-grain Spire Point with
decent velocity of just over 2,800
The pointer shows a pressure ridge on

the forend of the stock. Mossberg uses
a three-point bedding system.
fps. Remingtons 130-grain CoreLokt softpoint hit almost 2,900 fps,

but the groups averaged out to 1.5
inches.
For those who might have a tender shoulder due to injuries or
medical problems, reduced loads
are just the ticket for sighting in
the rifle, hunting smaller game
with a larger cartridge, like the
.270 Winchester, or just plinking. I
combined a Speer 130-grain spitzer
with 22.0 grains of IMR-4759 and
a CCI 200 primer in Winchester
cases. Since the powder charge
seems to leave a good deal of room
in the case, a small bit of cotton
was placed in the case and gently
tamped over the propellant. At 50
yards, groups were about what
you would see at 100 yards with
full-house loads, but what the
heck, they are made for fun . . .
and fun they are.
With or without a scope, the
Mossberg 4x4 is still a good, ole
R
American bargain.
Mossberg 4x4 Rifle Range Results

bullet/load
(grains)
powder
130 Hornady Spire Point

130 Remington Core-Lokt Pointed Soft Point
150 Hornady Spire Point
130 Speer spitzer*
IMR-4759
charge
(grains)
velocity
(fps)
group
(inches)
22.0
2,922
2,899
2,806
2,032
1.00
1.50
1.25
1.50
* reduced load, used CCI 200 primers

Notes: All three-shot groups fired from a benchrest at 100 yards, except for the reduced load, which
was fired at 50 yards. Velocities recorded by an Oehler Model 35P chronograph. Ambient temperature
was 52 degrees Fahrenheit with no wind.
30
Rifle 275
New Era
Brian Pearce
uring the fall of 2010, Marlin

Firearms was moved from
New Haven, Connecticut, to
Ilion, New York, with only
a handful of employees making that
move. Production resumed, mostly
from existing inventory, but as it became depleted, many models were
temporarily discontinued. Without experienced employees to oversee fit
and function, quality fell off sharply
with a high percentage of guns failing
to work reliably.
Production
is underway in
Ilion, New York.
With a new engineering staff, along with heavy investments in new CNC tooling and blueprints, Marlin
leverguns are on their way back, with the first fully
New York-produced Model 336s rolling out in 2014.
The Model 1894 .44 Magnum will begin shipping
as early as April 2014, with additional calibers
(.357 Magnum, .45 Colt and others) being
added throughout the year

as production is ramped up.
The Model 1895, variations of the
Cowboy and stainless steel guns, are
scheduled in the not-too-distant future.
32
Rifle 275
for Marlin
The Marlin Model 336C Limited is manufactured in
Ilion, New York, and features an engraved receiver
and B-grade walnut stock.
With the above events, Marlins future has been a

concern. In 2011 I met with Marlin executives, who
posed the question, Would it be okay to discontinue
forging receivers and major parts? A portion of my
response was, Absolutely not! No way, unless major
forged parts are replaced with a better and stronger
material. If forgings were dropped as a cost-cutting
measure only and replaced with an inferior material,
it would certainly violate the trust of loyal Marlin customers and would be extremely damaging to the companys reputation and future. Before leaving the plant,
I was told production and quality would return.
When the announcement came that new production
was underway in New York, a sample Model 336C Limited .30-30 Winchester and a Model 1894 .44 Magnum
were requested.
The Limited has a fancy B-grade walnut stock with a
classic nineteenth-century, cut-checkering pattern.
The receiver is tastefully (machine) scroll engraved,
while the left side features the Marlin horse and rider
logo in 24-karat gold. All this is nicely executed and
results in an attractive rifle. When I traveled to my
local dealer to pick it up, the employees had already
unpacked it and logged it into the companys FFL
books, and I darn near had to pry it out of their hands
and sprint for the door to get it home. The 336C Limited will only be produced during 2014, and there are
no caps on production quantities. A different levergun
(such as the Model 1894, 1895, etc.) will be chosen as
the Limited version in subsequent years, which will receive similar embellishments but will likely have caps
on production quantities.
The Model 1894 is a standard version fitted with a
plain-grain, checkered American black walnut stock.
In an effort to include this rifle here, I was sent a
transitional rifle. In essence, all metal parts are machined with new CNC tooling in New York, but the
stock is still of older manufacture. By April or May
2014, the new CNC Model 1894 stocks should be
ready, which will feature a notably improved wood-tometal fit and will be of similar quality as the Model
336C test sample.
Both rifles were completely disassembled and examined, with the metalwork appearing very good. The receivers are machined flatly, uniformly and of quality
workmanship throughout, as are major working parts,
33
New Era
for Marlin
including lever, bolt, trigger, hammer, etc., all of which were comparatively smooth. The receiver,
trigger plate, hammer, locking bolt
and lever are still (thankfully) made
from forgings, but the carrier is
now machined from bar stock. This
Above, wood quality was outstanding
on the 336C Limited. Left, the latest
version of the Model 1894 (bottom)
features a wide forearm compared
to Brians older example (top).
10-inch twist found on previous

rifles. Even though there was time
and effort made to perform the
above barrel break-in, the bore surface was carefully studied (with
magnification), and it was unusually smooth.
change helps eliminate variables
associated with forgings, and tolerances can be held to a much
tighter specification. (Marlin leverguns manufactured prior to 1978
also featured a machined carrier.)
The new tolerances are kept to a
minimum and are notably tighter
than any previous production.
Furthermore, the company claims
dimensional variances from gun
to gun are largely eliminated.
Wood-to-metal fit on the Model
336C Limited is fair to good and
Specifications:
Marlin Model
336C Limited
Caliber: .30-30 Winchester
Receiver: forged, side ejection, engraved
with 24-karat gold horse and rider
Safety: hammer block
Sights: folding semi-buckhorn rear,
bead front
Magazine capacity: 6 rounds
Weight: 7 pounds
Rifling: Micro-Groove 12 lands/grooves
Twist rate: one turn in 10 inches
Stock: B-grade walnut, pistol grip
Length of pull: 1338 inches
Trigger pull: 72 ounces
MSRP: $849.00
34
much better than found on guns

for the previous four years, but
there is an area or two that could
use improvement, such as where
the forearm butts up to the front
of the receiver. Speaking of forearms, both rifles have more wood
than necessary, and in my humble
opinion, trimming them down
would improve both feel and appearance.
In firing more than 350 rounds,

there were no malfunctions. The
Marlin action is essentially a control-feed system that cycled cartridges and fired and ejected cases
without a hitch.
Rather than using the factory-
The actions on both guns were a

bit stiff to operate, while trigger
pulls were heavy at 72 and 76
ounces, respectively. As expected,
once the shooting sessions were
underway, the actions began to
break in, loosen and smooth out
but are still good candidates for a
custom action job for that buttery
smooth feel Marlin leverguns are
recognized for.
To help with barrel break-in, for
the first 45 shots, it was completely cleaned, with all copper
fouling removed every three shots,
followed with a light coat of oil in
the bore. The new 336C retains the
same Micro-Groove rifling with 12
lands and grooves with a one-inThese four Model 1894 .44 Magnums
include (left to right): a 1975 era,
2001-era Cowboy Limited, 2011 SS
and 2014-era manufacture.
Rifle 275
Open sights are standard with a hooded bead front (left) and semi-buckhorn rear
(above). Right, a Skinner Sights Express rear aperture also worked well.
installed, folding semi-buckhorn

rear and bead front sights for accuracy testing, a Skinner Sights
(www.skinnersights.com) Express
aperture rear sight was installed
on both rifles. These sights are
well machined, handsome, fully
adjustable and are a great choice
for Marlin leverguns. When used
in conjunction with a correct target, accuracy can be astounding.
All accuracy work was checked at
75 yards. In testing many leverguns for accuracy at this distance,
groups are often similar in size to
those fired at 100 yards.
More than a half-dozen factory
loads were tried, as well as hand-
loads, with bullet weights from

125 to 170 grains, with most loads
producing groups measuring between .75 to 1.5 inches. The .30-30
did show a preference for 150grain Federal Fusion, Remington
Core-Lokt and Winchester Silvertip bullets with select four-shot
groups measuring under one inch.
With that level of accuracy, deer
can be taken reliably at 200 yards
and beyond. Recorded velocities
were also rather high for the
.30-30 Winchester, which were
cross-referenced across another
chronograph that recorded similar
velocities. It appears this barrel is
simply a fast barrel.
rest that ranged in bullet weight

from 225 to 320 grains. The best
75-yard, four-shot groups obtained
with factory loads hovered just
under 2.5 inches using CCI Blazer
240-grain JHP loads and Winchesters 250-grain PTHPs. A handload containing Hornady 240-grain
XTP-HPs, Starline brass, CCI 300
primers and 22.0 grains of Alliant
2400 (for 1,844 fps) grouped into 2
inches.
Handloads with the 250-grain
Keith, Speer 270-grain Gold Dot,
With the Model 1894 .44 Magnum,

a similar barrel break-in procedure was performed. This helped
remove tooling burrs and smoothed
the barrels surface, which generally helped reduce fouling of both
cast and jacketed bullets.
More than 500 rounds were fired
through this rifle, and function was
generally good. However, five times
cartridges hung up as the bolt was
closing when they were around
one-fourth of the way into the
chamber. This hang-up was minor
enough that the bolt could still be
closed with modest effort and the
rifle fired. This is easy to correct,
and Marlin is aware of the problem. This was one of the first rifles
built on the new CNC tooling, and
this minor hitch is expected to be
resolved on future production.
A variety of factory and handloads were fired from a sandbag
These Marlins include (left to right):
Model 1893, Model 336RC, 336CB
and the new 336C.
July-August 2014
35
New Era
for Marlin
Specifications:
Marlin Model 1894
Caliber: .44 Magnum
Receiver: forged, side ejection
Safety: hammer block
Sights: folding semi-buckhorn rear,
bead front
Magazine capacity: 10 rounds
Weight: 6 pounds
Rifling: deep-cut Ballard, 6 lands/grooves
Twist rate: one turn in 38 inches
Stock: American black walnut,
straight grip
Length of pull: 1338 inches
Trigger pull: 76 ounces
MSRP: $729.00
NEI 290-grain cast Keith style, Speer

300-grain PSP, Hornady XTP-HP
and SSK 320-grain cast truncated
bullets were tried, but accuracy
was generally dismal, ranging from
2.5 to 4 inches. Additional testing
at 200 and 300 yards with 300- and
320-grain bullets indicated that
greater stabilization, via a faster
twist, would probably be beneficial.
Beginning in 1965 with the introduction of the Model 336-44 .44
Magnum (aka 336T), Marlin chose
a rifling twist rate of one in 38
inches, the same as was employed
in 1964 with the introduction of
the .444 Marlin. In 1969 Marlin
reintroduced the Model 1894 but
chambered for the modern .44
Magnum cartridge, which retained
the same 38-inch twist as the 33644. Micro-Groove rifling was standard, but with the introduction of
By removing the finger lever screw,

the lever and bolt are easily removed,
and the barrel can be cleaned
from the breech.
the 1894CB (Cowboy) in 1997, Marlin began offering a six land and
groove, Ballard-style rifling that was
intended to perform better with
cast bullets, but the twist rate remained the same.
Over the years I have had considerable experience with a variety of
.44 Magnum rifles, including more
than a dozen Marlin Models 336-44s
Table I
Marlin Model
336C Limited
Factory Loads
velocity
(fps)
load
(grains)
125 Federal Classic Hi-Shok HP

150 Federal Classic Hi-Shok
150 Federal Fusion
150 Hornady InterLock RN
150 Remington Core-Lokt
150 Winchester Silvertip
170 Federal Nosler Partition
170 Remington Core-Lokt HP
group
(inches)
2,520
2,198
2,265
2,251
2,415
2,244
2,001
2,026
2.00
1.70
1.00
1.30
.75
.90
1.60
2.15
Notes: All loads were fired at 75 yards from the .30-30

Winchesters 20-inch barrel.
and 1894s. Some have shot okay,

but most were rather mediocre.
Some barrels have slugged large at
.433 to .434 inch groove diameter
(with .430/.431 being more normal),
which may have been a reason for
the dismal accuracy, but testing
and experience suggest it was primarily the slow 38-inch twist.
Marlin is not the only rifle company hobbling the .44 Magnum
cartridge with this slow twist rate;
it is an industry standard for .44
Magnum rifles. For example, Ruger
used it on its .44 Magnum auto-
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This four-shot group was fired

at 75 yards with the Skinner
Sights Express rear sight atop
the new Marlin Model 336C
Limited .30-30 Winchester.
loading carbine, Remington on the

Model 788 and Winchester the
Model 94, none of which produced
outstanding accuracy. By contrast,
the industry standard twist rate
for .44 Magnum revolvers is one
turn in 20 inches, which has proven
accurate with bullets ranging in
weight from 180 to 340 grains, and
many sixguns have given sub-oneinch groups at 100 yards, a feat
that few of the above rifles can
boast.
Many years ago I tested a custom
.44 Magnum rifle with a one-in20-inch twist that proved accurate
with all bullet weights. More than
a decade ago, I had Dave Clay of
DRC Guns build a special Marlin
Model 1894 Stainless into a takedown with an MPI stock and an
1814-inch octagonal Shilen barrel
with a one-in-16-inch twist. This
gun has proven capable of MOA
accuracy with a variety of bullets,
Rifle 275
Table II
Marlin Model
1894 Factory Loads
load
(grains)
225 Barnes VOR-TX XPB-HP

240 CCI Blazer JHP
240 Remington SJHP
240 Winchester HSP
250 Winchester PTHP
270 Buffalo Bore JFN
velocity
(fps)
group
(inches)
1,510
1,362
1,744
1,731
1,813
1,656
2.95
2.30
2.65
3.10
2.45
3.00
Notes: All loads were fired at 75 yards from the .44

Magnums 20-inch barrel.
The Model 1894 .44 Magnum with

its one-in-38-inch rifling produced
mediocre accuracy, with this group
at 75 yards obtained with CCI/Speer
Blazer 240-grain JHPs.
both cast and jacketed, in weights

ranging from 210 to 340 grains.
Long-range accuracy is likewise
outstanding, and bullets fired into
test mediums and game proved
that penetration is arrow-straight,
all of which indicates correct bullet stabilization.
The 16- and 20-inch twist rates
July-August 2014
will bump pressures, but it is so

very slight that it is not important.
Incidentally, Ruger now uses a 20inch twist on its Model 77/44 boltaction rifles, which after proper
barrel break-in has proven accurate using a variety of loads, velocities and bullet weights.
The reason all the above is mentioned is that I have been trying
to get Marlin to change its twist
rate for more than 20 years. Plans
were made to change it to a 20inch twist around 1998 or so, but
that never got off the ground, and

I have continued to provide hard
data and accuracy results with
my experiments. The above Model
1894 was supposed to be fitted
with this new twist rate, but company representatives claim that
more testing is needed and that
a change may occur by year end.
Perhaps your e-mails and phone
calls will be more influential than
mine. While you are at it, encourage them to tighten the groove diameter to .430 inch maximum.
(Marlin can be contacted at 1-800544-8892; e-mail: info@marlin.com
or visit www.marlinfirearms.com.)
Although suggestions for improvement have been made, my
overall impressions are favorable.
Marlin has retained its traditional
forgings, quality and accuracy, and
tolerances have tightened in the
process. Thankfully there are no
additional safety items, such as a
rebounding hammer, that jeopardR
ize function and reliability.
37
Colt L
John Haviland
M-2012
Iconic brand
taps Cooper for
a new bolt-action
repeater.
ong-range rifle competitions

continue to grow in popularity, and Colts Manufacturing has jumped on the bandwagon with a bolt-action rifle the
first to bear its name in over a decade.
Colt initially partnered with Cooper
Firearms of Montana to build the
Model 2012 rifle on a modified Cooper
Model 22 action but eventually turned
the whole project over to Cooper. Now
all three M-2012 designs are made by
Cooper in its Stevensville, Montana,
factory.
Eden Clark is shooting one

of the first Colt Model
2012s with the aluminum
stock. Weighing about 15
pounds with a scope, it
needs the support of a
bench to hold it steady.
38
Rifle 275
Of the three M-2012s, the first was designated the

M2012SA308 with an aluminum stock and a tubular
forearm that weighs about as much as a truck bumper,
resulting in a rifle weight of 13.2 pounds. A second
model weighs 10.25 pounds due to a Manners composite stock with an outer shell made with multiple layers
of carbon fiber and fiberglass. Both rifles are mated
with a heavy-contour stainless steel, 22-inch barrel
with spiral flutes and chambered in .308 Winchester.
The third model is quite a bit lighter at 8.5 pounds and
is chambered in .308 and .260 Remington. It has a
medium-heavy, tapered 22-inch chrome-moly barrel
with straight flutes and a laminated hardwood stock
with a comparatively slender profile. All three rifles
have a removable Cooper muzzle brake threaded onto
the muzzle.
Mike Hudgins of Coopers custom shop originally designed the laminated stock for a rifle to raise money
for an organization that helps military veterans. Hugo
Vivero, who owns Cooper Firearms, saw the stock and
showed it to Colt in hopes of drumming up additional
business. Colt liked it, and the laminated stock version
is now the most popular of the three M-2012 rifles. The
laminated stock version is intended as a rifle for tactical and target competitions with a crossover to big
game hunting. It is a bit heavy to pack up an elk mountain, but it would be fine on the antelope flats or when
sitting in a stand waiting for a deer to wander past.
Hudgins said one distinct feature of Cooper rifles
is they have always been hand-fitted by one person
throughout the manufacturing process. But we wanted
the M-2012s easier to build, Hudgins said, so the action for the rifles is derived from a Cooper Model
22 short action with a three-lug bolt and short bolt
lift with some design changes to accomplish that. Its
recoil lug is a plate between the front of the receiver
and barrel and extends into a mortise in the stock. The
aluminum and the Manners composite stocks require
no handwork by Cooper to bed the lug. However, the
lug is hand-bedded in the laminated stock and bedding
compound extends 1.5 inches forward in the bottom
of the barrel channel. The barrel channel is relieved a
noticeable amount on the sides and bottom
to fully free-float the barrel and provide
some extra room, because even the
stiffest stock bends some when a rifle is
fired with the stock on a hard surface or with a bipod
attached to the forearm.
A Timney trigger is pinned into place on the bottom
rear of the receiver, and the safety is a two-position
lever that allows the bolt to open in either position.
The trigger is adjustable, but it was set at 3 pounds on
the rifle I shot so was never adjusted. The M-22s bolt
release extends into a long slot in the bolt body. Together with the left locking lug running in a raceway,
the bolt is kept from binding and slides smoothly.
July-August 2014
Three Model 2012 Colt rifles are made for Colt by Cooper
Firearms (left to right): the M2012SA308, M2012MT308T
and M2012LT308G.
The M-2012 has a much smaller bolt release and only

its left locking lug runs in a raceway to keep the bolt
from binding. The extractor is a spring-loaded leaf located along the upper right side of the bolt face that
hooks over a cartridge rim. A plunger on the bolt face
throws fired cases and cartridges clear of the receiver
ejection port. The bottom of the M-2012s receiver has
also been milled out to accept an Accurate-Mag trigger
guard/floorplate with a long lever release for a 5-round
detachable magazine. The floorplate frame has a slight
gap between it and the bottom of the receiver, so the
frame and magazine float and do not bind against the
receiver bottom. A 10-round magazine is optional. Of
course, the rifles feature barrels from Wilson Arms,
Coopers sister company.
I shot an original M-2012 with the aluminum chassis
when the rifle was introduced in 2012, but even from
a bench, its weight made it wearisome to shoot. The
laminated stock M-2012 is much more pleasant to
those of us of average strength. A long rail is screwed
to the top of the receiver to mount a scope. Its the
best of what the tactical trend has transferred to regular rifles, because it provides plenty of leeway to
mount any length scope the correct distance from the
eye. With a Meopta MeoPro 3.5-10x44RD scope clamped
on the rail, the rifle weighed right at 10 pounds.
Ive shot the laminated M-2012 .308 Winchester quite
a bit over several months. While hastily sighting in the
39
Colt
Both the Colt and

Cooper Firearms
logos appear on
Model 2012 rifles.
M-2012
MeoPro scope at 100 yards, the first five Sierra 125grain Pro-Hunter bullets grouped well inside an inch.
A sign of good things to come is always welcome.
To develop a handload to take a measure of the rifle,
five different bullets and 10 different powders were
loaded initially in Winchester .308 cases. I did not
mess with seating bullets an exact distance from the
beginning of the rifling; cartridge lengths listed in various reloading manuals were used.
Berger 168-grain and Hornady 178-grain bullets may

have gotten the short end of the stick due to a hot barrel. To give the Hornady 168-grain A-MAX bullets an
even opportunity, I loaded them with TAC and Accurate 4064 and shot them another day. A group with
TAC measured 1.06 inches, and Accurate 4064 loads
produced a group of 1.44 inches.
As the load table shows, Berger and Sierra 150-grain
bullets shot best. I settled on the Berger 150-grain FB
Above, the rail on top of the M2012LT308G rifle allows plenty

of leeway to mount a scope, such as the Meopta MeoPro
3.5-10x44RD. Right, the rifle has a five-round detachable
magazine; a 10-round magazine is optional.
The 2012 is a competition rifle that will be shot for

long strings at a time, so the loads listed in the table
were shot one after another at 100 yards, starting with
the lightest bullets. Colt guarantees one-inch groups
for the 2012, but Cooper promises .5-inch groups for
its rifles. Colts promise was easily met with at least
one load with most of the bullets shot. A few loads
came close to Coopers pledge. The Hornady and
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Target bullets with TAC powder, mainly because I had

a lot of them.
Additional magnification above the 10x of the MeoPro scope would have provided a more precise aim
for target shooting at 300 yards, but the dot in the 4C
reticle of the MeoPro covers 1.5 inches at 300 yards
and fit inside a 4.5-inch circle at that distance with a
halo of white remaining around the dot and seemed
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Rifle 275
precise enough. With the rifle supported on a benchrest and shooting Berger 150-grain FB Target
bullets with TAC powder, threeshot groups measured 2.27 and
3.30 inches at 300 yards.
Shooting from prone at 300 yards,
groups were increased from three
to five shots. The rifle was steady
with the forearm cradled in a Harris bipod and the toe of the stock
A Cooper muzzle
brake is standard on
Model 2012 rifles. Muzzle
blast is sharp, but the brake
significantly reduced recoil.
propped up with my hunting pack.

The comb was thick and plenty
high enough to align my eye with
the scope, and the angle of the
grip was nearly vertical, which
kept my wrist straight. My hand fit
completely around the slender
grip, even with a swell on the right
side of the grip that fills the palm.
The flute on the right side of the
The M2012LT308G
bolt (top) is slightly different
than the Cooper Model
22 bolt (bottom). One
difference is the Model
22s bolt has a slot for the
bolt release to ride in and keep
the bolt from binding.
nose of the comb was dished out

well down the side of the stock
and cradled the whole of the base
of my thumb. All in all, the stock
provided a very relaxed hold and
stable aim.
The first group measured 3.51
inches, with four Berger bullets in
2.74 inches. A second group measured 3.99 inches, with four bullets
clustered in 1.95 inches. Those
groups were only slightly larger
than others shot from the support
on a bench.
I brought targets back to 100
yards to shoot offhand and sitting.
The dot reticle wandered back
and forth across the target while
standing and aiming the rifle. I
pulled the trigger the last bit as the
dot passed the target. Five bullets
in 3.90 inches was less than skillful, but not all that bad. The rifle
was stable from the

sitting position. Four bullets
landed in .82 inch. I flipped out one
bullet for a group size of 1.41 inches.
There was that nervous twitch of
mine raising its ugly head again.
After shooting the M-2012 several hundred times over several
months, I have a few observations
on the rifle and the Meopta scope:
The stock has a fairly slender
forearm bottom, and with it on
a rest the rifle wobbled a slight
amount. As an alternative, Cooper
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Colt/Cooper Model 2012 .308 Winchester

Shooting Results
bullet
(grains)
150 Berger FB Target
150 Sierra GameKing SBT
168 Berger VLD Target
168 Hornady A-MAX
178 Hornady A-MAX
powder
IMR-4064
RL-15
TAC
A-4064
AR-Comp
IMR-3031
Varget
A-4064
IMR-4895
RL-15
TAC
A-2460
A-4064
IMR-4007 SSC
Power Pro 2000 MR
TAC
Power Pro 2000-MR
charge
(grains)
velocity
(fps)
group
(inches)
43.5
46.0
45.0
46.0
43.2
43.5
45.0
45.0
42.5
43.5
42.5
42.0
45.0
47.0
49.0
43.5
44.0
2,729
2,781
2,843
2,735
2,761
2,816
2,811
2,670
2,507
2,625
2,628
2,521
2,511
2,721
2,535
.61
.70
.53
.47
1.00
.68
.77
.75
1.57
1.41
1.33
.88
1.44
1.06
1.80
1.06
1.31
Notes: All loads were assembled with Winchester cases and Winchester Large Rifle primers and were
fired at 100 yards. Velocities were recorded 10 feet in front of the Colt M-2012s 22-inch barrel. Temperatures varied between 20 and 35 degrees Fahrenheit.
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41
Colt
M-2012
Left, at 100 yards, the Colt M-2012 shot

this group with Sierra 150-grain bullets
and A-4064. Above, Berger 150-grain
FB Target bullets and TAC powder from
the Colt M-2012 grouped these five
shots at 300 yards from prone.
has a similar laminated stock with

a beavertail forearm in the works.
The sharp report from the Cooper
muzzle brake became bothersome
while shooting 50 or more rounds
during a session, even while wearing foam plugs and earmuffs. However, the brake did substantially
reduce the rifles recoil to about
the level of a .22-250 Remington,
muzzle lift was nil, and the scopes
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reticle barely jumped off the target paper. With the brake removed
from the muzzle, the scopes ocular bell kept hitting the bill of
my hat due to the additional recoil, plus the entire view through
the scope was lost. I screwed the
brake back on and left it on. Bullet
impact remained the same with
the brake on or off.
Visit your
dealer or
contact
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for more
information.
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A Timney trigger comes on all Model

2012 rifles.
three-locking lug action contributes to a very accurate rifle. The

60-degree lift of the three-lug bolt,
however, requires quite a bit of
force on the bolt handle over its
relatively shorter arc of movement
to extract a fired case, draw back
the firing pin and compress the
main spring. From prone, the
whole of my hand was required on
the bolt handle to gain enough
leverage to open the bolt.
The rifle never bobbled a single
cartridge. Cartridges easily stripped
from the magazine and slid into
the chamber. Single cartridges
dropped on top of the follower
also fed smoothly into the chamber when the bolt was shoved
closed.
While shooting the rifle one day,
I faced right into the low winter
sun. The direct light and light reflecting off a field of snow was
blinding. Adding to what should
have been a difficult view, the
targets were in a dark shade. However, there was no glare while looking through the Meopta scope, yet
there was a bright view of the dim
targets.
Id like to think the M-2012s good
shooting was all me, but Cooper
Firearms built the accuracy into
the rifle, and its engineering allowed me to take advantage of that
R
accuracy.
Rifle 275
John Barsness
hooters of a certain age can

remember when gun writers
first started mentioning ballistic coefficient (BC), explaining the number was a measure of how
well a bullet retained velocity. This
sudden appearance of BC occurred
during the postwar magnum era.
Roy Weatherby started the trend, but
by 1962 both Remington and Winchester jumped on board with several
belted super-zappers. According to
both riflemakers and gun writers,
high-BC bullets shot flatter, so it was
easier to hit distant game, and higher
remaining velocity resulted in more
kinetic energy (foot-pounds) when
the bullet struck a deer or elk.
As a result, an entire generation of hunters and

shooters came to believe in muzzle velocity as the
major factor in killing power, and many started comparing the ballistic coefficients of various bullets,
searching for flatter trajectories and a few more footpounds (ft-lbs) of energy. Half a century later, ballistic
coefficient remains a hot topic, but many shooters
have residual misconceptions about BC, primarily because most gun writers of the Weatherby era didnt understand the technical details.
The most common is that BC is definable by a precise, unchanging number. Believe it or not, my Speer
Handloaders Manual, Volume One (purchased for 50
at a garage sale in Lewistown, Montana) only lists BCs
to two decimal places, such as .49 for its .30-caliber,
180-grain spitzer. This was obviously too vague even
for the long-range shooters of 1954, and soon bullet
companies started publishing BCs to three decimal
places.
So many shooters became convinced a higher ballistic coefficient was the answer, they started choosing
bullets almost entirely due to their BC, even if theyd
never shot a deer beyond 200 yards. Manufacturers
found higher BCs sold more bullets, resulting in what
might be called coefficient competitions. In the 1980s
one bullet company introduced a boat-tailed, 140-grain
Ballistic
44
Why Those Magic Numbers

Dont Always Add Up
7mm with a listed BC of .485. Soon
one of its competitors brought out
a similar 7mm bullet with a listed
BC of .486.
In reality, BC isnt that precise,
because it changes due to environmental conditions. The ballistic tables in the back of loading manuals
are based on the International Civil
Aviation Organizations so-called
standard conditions, 59 degrees
Fahrenheit at sea level with a barometric pressure of 29.92 inches of
mercury, but air pressure varies
considerably.
The most influential and predict-
ever, is that higher elevations increase ballistic coefficient.

This is somewhat counterbalanced by the fact that most listed
BCs are optimistic. At first most
were calculated by comparing the
shape of a specific bullet to profiles from ballistic tables, and
since higher BCs helped sales, it
didnt hurt to estimate on the high
side.
Some companies, however, actually chronographed their bullets at
100 yards, comparing the results to
muzzle velocity to come up with a
real world BC. But velocity also
7mm GameKings BC is listed at

.416 above 2,400 fps, .418 between
1,800 and 2,400 fps and .433 below
1,800 fps.
This example suggests slower velocity increases BC, but its not
that simple. The 140-grain, 7mm
GameKings BC is middle of the
road, but the 175-grain, 7mm MatchKing has a much higher BC, and
higher velocity increases its BC
considerably. Above 2,100 fps,
Sierra lists the BC as .608, but from
1,530 to 2,100 fps it drops to .582.
From 1,530 to 1,300 fps, it drops
even further to .532, and below
Coefficient
Facing page, 6.5mm cartridges have
become popular for longer-range
shooting because of the high ballistic
coefficients of .264-inch bullets; here
John shoots a Savage 6.5 Creedmoor.
Right, out to about 300 yards, ballistic
coefficient doesnt really matter in
big-game bullets.
able variable is the thinner air of

higher elevations, with air temperature ranking second and humidity
third. Most people intuitively grasp
that warmer air is thinner, since
theyve felt like they cant breathe
enough when exercising in hot
weather, but humid air is also less
dense. It contains more H2O molecules, and hydrogen is lighter than
oxygen. The overall trend, howJuly-August 2014
affects BC, the reason Sierra no

longer lists a single BC for its
bullets. Instead, the company provides a range for different velocities. As an example, the 140-grain,
1,300 fps to .500. Then theres

Sierras discontinued 170-grain,
7mm roundnose. Above 2,400 fps
the listed BC was .280; at 1,800
to 2,400, .317; and below 1,800
45
Ballistic
Coefficient
fps, .360. Here higher velocity decreased BC.
Today the ballistic coefficients of
hunting bullets are all over the
place, ranging from the low BCs
of traditional roundnose woods
bullets to the very high BCs of
Berger Hunting VLDs and Nosler
ing, BC doesnt make any difference. Lets use the Sierra Infinity
computer program and start both
the defunct 7mm, 170-grain roundnose and the super-sleek 7mm,
175-grain MatchKing at 2,900 fps,
easily possible from a 7mm Remington Magnum. (Forget for the
inches high at 100 yards, the 170grain roundnose lands .3 inch high
at 200 yards, while the 175 MatchKing lands an inch high. Wow! A
whole .7 inch difference! Even at
300 yards the roundnose bullet
lands 8.1 inches low, and the 175
MatchKing 5.2 inches low, a dif-
Right, one reason the .22 Hornet has

the reputation of being, at most, a
200-yard varmint cartridge is the
light, blunt bullets often used.
Left, while Federals Trophy Bonded
Tip version (right) has a slightly
higher BC, for any hunting out to 500
yards, there isnt any meaningful
difference in performance between
it and the original verison (left).
Long Range AccuBonds. The general rule is the sleeker the bullet, the more extra velocity increases BC.
On the other hand, for most hunt-
moment that most of us wouldnt

choose either bullet for hunting
with a 7mm magnum.)
Under standard atmospheric conditions, with a rifle sighted in 2
ference of only 3.1 inches. This

wouldnt make any noticeable difference on a pronghorn, because
either bullet would land well inside the minute-of-volleyball of
a pronghorns lungs.
But what about kinetic energy?
Under standard atmospheric conditions, the 170 roundnose retains
2,028 ft-lbs at 300 yards, and the
175 MatchKing, 2,447. Even hunters
who still firmly believe in ft-lbs as
the measure of killing power generally concede a ton of kinetic
energy to be sufficient for elk and
far more than required for deer or
pronghorn.
Of course, 300 yards isnt all that
far. Dont we regularly shoot big
game at much longer ranges? Well,
maybe some people do, but my
hunting notes over the past 40some years include not just my
big-game animals but those of my
companions. Just about 90 percent of the shots were made at
under 200 yards, and 98 percent at
under 300.
If the difference in BC between a
170-grain roundnose and a 175grain match bullet doesnt make
any practical difference at 300
yards, why would the much smaller
46
Rifle 275
This Wyoming pronghorn was taken

with a .257 Weatherby at 401 yards
with a Barnes 100-grain TSX at 3,550
fps. John held just slightly over where
he wanted the bullet to hit. Elevation
was 6,000 feet above sea level.
On another Wyoming pronghorn hunt

at 7,000 feet, a 6.5-06 with a Berger
140-grain Hunting VLD at 2,950 fps
was used at 163 yards. A roundnosed
160-grain bullet would have worked
just as well.
This mule deer was taken at close to

400 yards with a .30-06 and a 180grain spitzer with an average ballistic
coefficient. It worked fine, but beyond
500 yards a higher BC can help, particularly since it minimizes wind drift.
differences between typical spitzer

hunting bullets result in any meaningful difference at 500? The obvious answer is they dont, which is
exactly why the approximate (and
sometimes excessive) BC numbers from many bullet companies
work fine for most big-game hunting with typical cartridges.
were most blatant in the smaller

rounds, especially the .22 Hornet,
but were there even in the .220
Swift.
much larger holes under their

polymer points. Softpoints opened
more violently than bullets with
tiny hollowpoints but slowed down
noticeably quicker. The worst performers beyond 150 to 200 yards
were very light, relatively bluntnosed bullets, whether they had
a wide hollowpoint, softnose or
plastic tip the reason the .22 Hornet has long had the reputation of
being a 150- to 200-yard varmint
Differences in BC, however, can

be easily seen when shooting varmints at typical ranges, whether
ground squirrels at 200 yards or
coyotes at 400. This is because
typical varmint bullets are relatively light for their caliber and
small enough in diameter that tip
shape can make a noticeable difference in performance.
While hollowpoints with tiny nose

holes shot almost as flat and resisted wind almost as well as
the plastic tips, they didnt expand
nearly as well on ground squirrels
and prairie dogs, because Hornady V-MAXes, Nosler Ballistic
Tips and Sierra BlitzKings have
A few years ago, another magazine assigned me the strenuous

job of shooting a bunch of different .17- to .22-caliber bullets on
small varmints to determine performance differences. Living in
Montana made this relatively easy,
as did my rifles chambered for
the .17 Fireball, .17 Remington,
.204 Ruger, .22 Hornet, .221 Fireball, .223 Remington and .220
Swift. After several months of
shooting, the differences in wind
drift, trajectory and terminal performance between hollowpoint,
softpoint and plastic-tipped varmint bullets became obvious. They
July-August 2014
47
Ballistic
Coefficient
Big-game bullets with very high ballistic coefficients are most useful beyond 500
yards, ranges that require considerable field practice. The target here, barely visible
as a white dot in the upper right corner of the photo, is 600 yards away.
cartridge. With 40-grain plastic tips,

the Hornet became a 250- to 300yard varmint cartridge.
Similarly, a higher BC can make
a significant difference beyond
500 yards with larger cartridges,
and some hunters now shoot big
game at 1,000+ yards. They talk
about relatively small differences
in BC like average hunters did 30
48
years ago but have more accurate

numbers for their arguments.
The only way to measure longrange BC accurately is to shoot
bullets at long range, where its
difficult to hit the measurement
window in a typical chronograph.
As a result, most shooters use
trajectory to get an idea of BC, but
Bryan Litz, chief ballistician at
Berger Bullets, does a lot of chronographing way out there. He reported

the results in the second edition of
his fine book Applied Ballistics
for Long-Range Shooting, including almost 250 pages of charts on
specific higher-BC bullets from
.22 to .33 caliber. One interesting
aspect of Litzs research is that the
G1 model used by most bullet
companies for BC calculation
doesnt work perfectly for high-BC
bullets. Instead, he used the G7
model, which some other bullet
companies now use as well.
While laser rangefinders have
minimized the advantages of flatter trajectory for modern longrange bullets, high-BC bullets also
drift less in the wind. In fact,
contrary to popular belief, bullet
weight isnt a factor in trajectory
or wind drift except to the degree
it affects BC.
Any bullet with a G7 BC of .250
started at 3,000 fps will have the
same trajectory and wind drift as
any other bullet with a G7 BC of
Rifle 275
.250 at 3,000, regardless of whether

the bullet is a Berger 90-grain
Match BT from a .22-250 Remington, a Hornady 154-grain SST from
a .280 Remington or a Nosler 180grain AccuBond from a .300 Winchester Short Magnum. Wind isnt
as precisely measureable or predictable as yardage, so using a
very high-BC bullet minimizes
windage errors at longer ranges.
Another common misconception
is that bullet weight is the major
factor in the rifling twist required
for stabilization. Instead, bullet
length is the major factor, the reason longer, high-BC bullets often
require tighter rifling twists.
because their standard twists wont

stabilize extremely long, high-BC
bullets.
Today, so many shooters have
once again become obsessed with
BC that pushing the rifling-twist
envelope can become a problem.
A barely stabilized boat-tailed
spitzer can still shoot small groups,
but its BC will be reduced due
to a tiny amount of bullet wobble,
especially at shorter ranges. At
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Some calibers have always featured relatively fast twists, notably

6.5mm, 7mm and .30, because in
the early decades of smokeless
powder, military cartridges in all
three calibers used heavy, roundnosed bullets. As a result, a decade
or two later when lighter, faster
spitzer bullets replaced roundnosed bullets for military use, it
was discovered that 6.5mm, 7mm
and .30-caliber cartridges shot flatter at long ranges, because longer
spitzer bullets could be stabilized
in their faster twists. The same
thing eventually happened with
.33-caliber hunting cartridges, due
to the 300-grain bullets of cartridges such as the .333 Jeffery
and even the .338 Winchester Magnum. (Many hunters dont know
that among the .338s original factory loads was a 300-grain roundnose.)
High-velocity hunting cartridges
developed after the advent of
spitzers often used slower twists,
because they were designed around
shorter, lighter spitzers at high velocity. Extreme examples are the
.22 Hornet with its original twist
of one turn in 16 inches, thanks
to using .22 rimfire barrels for
early development, and the .2503000 Savages one-in-14 twist built
around an 87-grain spitzer. But
even today cartridges such as the
.25-06 Remington and .270 Winchester arent considered as suitable for shooting beyond 500 yards,
July-August 2014
49
Steyrs
Foundation Stone
Austrias Werndl
was short-lived
but influential.
Pictured is an original
Werndl Model 1867
Jger rifle. Inset, Josef
Werndl founded the
company that was to
grow into Austrias
famous industrial
conglomerate,
Steyr-Daimler-Puch.
The Werndl singleshot rifle was the
foundation stone.
50
Rifle 275
Terry Wieland
he single-shot rifles three advantages over early repeaters

were power, accuracy and
reliability. One by one those
bastions fell until, by 1914, the singleshot had nothing to offer except fond
memories and appreciation of ingenuity and workmanship.
stone upon which the great arms-making firm of Steyr

was founded.
The catalyst for Austria-Hungarys switch from its
Lorenz muzzleloader to a breech-loading cartridge
rifle was the Battle of Kniggrtz in 1866. The North
German federation troops, led by Prussia, were armed
with the Dreyse needle-gun. The South Germans,
under Austria, had the Lorenz. Considered by many
the epitome of the muzzleloader, the Lorenz was fast
to load and accurate to great distances. As the Austrians discovered, however, one huge disadvantage in
modern warfare was that the shooter had to stand to
reload, and the age of infantry standing in opposing

lines, firing in unison, was over.
The era of the single-shot cartridge rifle was extraordinarily short from about 1860 to 1900, after which
repeaters shouldered them aside for virtually every
purpose. The military single-shot was the shortestlived, progressing from state-of-the-art technology in
1860 to obsolete, dead and gone for the major powers
by 1885.
The variety of single-shot designs was mind-boggling,
from break-actions to movable breechblocks that
tilted, fell or rolled, to trapdoors of varying descriptions. A few live on today, either in modern designs,
like the Ruger No. 1, or in reproductions. Others are
almost completely forgotten never reproduced and
not even mentioned in such bibles as Frank de Haass
Single-Shot Rifles and Actions (1969). The Austrian
Werndl is one of the latter, yet in some ways, it is one
of the most interesting. Its military career was short,
but its influence was long, for the Werndl was the
July-August 2014
After the disaster at Kniggrtz, the Austrian government appointed a commission to choose a new infantry rifle. The empire was surrounded by enemies
Russia to the east, Serbia to the south, the emerging
Italians, the perennial Turks. Kniggrtz inspired several designers to tackle the problem, including a young
engineer named Ferdinand von Mannlicher, who was
employed by the state railway; but Mannlichers time
had not yet come.
Other countries had attempted to convert muzzleloaders through various means. The British, with a
stockpile of Enfields, used Jacob Sniders conversion,
creating the stop-gap Snider-Enfield, before adopting
the Martini-Henry. The Austrians, in a desperate hurry
to rearm, tried something similar with the Lorenz,
without notable success.
The commission invited proposals from foreign companies, and Remington arrived in Vienna with its
rolling block. The Remington was an excellent, proven
rifle, and Vienna was on the verge of accepting it when
Josef Werndl submitted a rifle for consideration. His
51
Left, this Werndls action is closed. Note the deep groove for
guiding the ejector arm. The photo above shows the Werndl
with its action open.
Steyrs
Foundation Stone
completely original design incorporated a unique rotating block
with an ejector and external hammer. The Austrian commission
gave the rifle a trial. Pitted against
the Remington rolling block, the
Werndl not only matched the American rifle in performance, but it
also allowed a reported 20 percent
faster rate of fire.
Seeing the advantages of giving
such substantial government contracts to an Austrian company, the
commission chose the Werndl over
the Remington. For Josef Werndl,
it was a remarkable break and the
beginning of a long career as well
as a legacy that is still flourishing

today.
Werndl came from a gunmaking
family. His father, Leopold, was an
ironmonger in Steyr, in Upper
Austria, an industrial town situated on Austrias iron road since
the 1300s. Leopold Werndl formed
a company to manufacture parts
for firearms, and his son Josef
traveled to the United States at an
early age. Some accounts say he
completed an apprenticeship; regardless, he returned to Austria
with a knowledge of modern machinery and manufacturing methods. He also had a talent for gun
design.
He was just 24 in 1865 when his
father died, and he took over the
company. The disaster at Kniggrtz occurred the following year.
Werndl designed his single-shot
cartridge rifle and, after its acceptance by the government, formed

a new company, Josef und Franz
Werndl & Co. This later became,
successively, sterreichische Waffenfabriksgesellschaft (OEWG),
The 11.15x58R cartridge allowed fitting

a sight graduated to ranges that were
optimistic, but the purpose was to lay
down a field of fire by troops firing in
unison, not to pick off lone soldiers.
Steyr-Mannlicher and Steyr-Daimler-Puch. Branching out into other

areas notably motor vehicles,
guided by Ferdinand Porsche
Steyr-Daimler became an Austrian
industrial giant.
Although Josef Werndl undoubtedly had a talent for gun design,
his real strength lay in industrial
organization. He became known
less for his rifle than for the company that made it. Within a few
years of obtaining the government
contract, the factory at Steyr had
reached a production capacity of
4,000 guns a day.
The Werndl single-shot rifle went
52
Rifle 275
In its original form, the rifle was

chambered for an 11mm straight
cartridge and the carbine for a
shorter version of the same cartridge. In 1877, a new bottleneck
cartridge was adopted, and existing stocks of rifles were rechambered for it. The new cartridge
was called the 11.15x58R and reportedly fired a 370-grain, paperpatched bullet at 1,450 fps.
Left, a long leaf spring in the tang

provides sufficient tension to both
hold the breechblock closed and assist
in snapping it open. Above, by applying
pressure to the flat sides of a breechblock extension, a leaf spring inset
into the tang assists in opening and
closing the action.
through several variations during

its 20-year career as the military
rifle of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It began as a hammer gun
and was produced in two rifle versions and a carbine. The rifle vari-
July-August 2014
ations were the standard infantry and the jger. The latter had
some cosmetic differences from
the standard rifle, including an iron
extension to the trigger guard that
formed a pistol grip.
If the Werndl action has one noteworthy feature, its the cylindrical,
rotating breechblock. One of the
fundamental principles of industrial production is that anything
cylindrical produced on a lathe
or by using a drill is fast, efficient
and inexpensive, while at the same
time potentially very precise. This
principle lies behind modern boltaction rifles that are both inexpensive and extremely accurate,
including the Remington 700 and
the Savage 110 series. Modern
Mauser 98 actions, by contrast,
are expensive because they require more than 100 machining
53
The Werndl is well-balanced and quite comfortable to shoot.
Steyrs
Foundation Stone
operations, including very precise
milling.
By making his breechblock revolve within a cylindrical cavity,
Werndl employed this critical industrial principle, and the Werndl
action is simplicity itself. The
breechblock is opened by rotating
it 180 degrees clockwise, exposing
a deep groove that gives access to
the chamber. When the breech is
closed, the solid part of the block
both cams the cartridge into the
chamber and aligns the striker
with the primer.
The ejector is a solid piece with
two arms. One arm fits into a
groove in the rotating breechblock, which cams it in and out,
while the other forms part of the
chamber face.
The breechblock is snapped into
its closed position by a strong leaf

spring, set into the tang and bearing on a flat surface projecting
from the rear of the breechblock.
In its closed position, pressure
from the spring holds it firmly
shut. When the block is rotated,
the spring snaps it open. An ear attached to the breechblock provides a thumb piece for rotating
the bolt, otherwise the action has
no projections except the ham-
mer. It is compact, snag-free and

remarkably easy to manipulate.
A few years after the rifle was
accepted by the Austrian army, a
scaled-down version of the action
was used as the basis for a singleshot pistol. This was barely into
production, however, before it
was superseded by a revolver.
For an infantryman of the Hapsburg Dual Monarchy in 1867, the
transition from the Lorenz muzzleloader to the Werndl cartridge
rifle must have been a shock. Except for the hammer and the overall shape of the stock, everything
about it was unfamiliar. As rifle
technology progressed, the Werndl
design progressed with it. In a later
model, the hammer was moved inside the action, and the long leaf
spring on the tang was replaced by
a rod and coil spring to apply tension to the breechblock.
There were also changes to the cartridge, although nothing major by
modern standards. The 11.15x58Rs
370-grain, paper-patched bullet was
replaced by a lubricated lead bullet, and this cartridge was used in
the very early bolt rifles of Ferdinand von Mannlicher. With its fat
rimmed body, long neck and .44inch bullet, the 11.15x58R was similar to other bottlenecked blackpowder cartridges then in use by
the military, including the .43 Egyptian and the 577/450 Martini-Henry.
As a class, these cartridges were
made obsolete when the French
introduced the 8mm Lebel, loaded
with smokeless powder, in 1886.
54
Rifle 275
cammed by the rotating of the

breechblock, stuck cases can be
popped loose by applying a little
more pressure to the thumb-piece.
The trigger is nothing to write
home about, but then, few of them
were. As for the hammer and sideplate lock, it is representative of
the Austrian workmanship of the
day, which is very high quality.
Left, an original 11.15x58R cartridge
(left) with a modern rendition (center)
based on a .348 Winchester case.
When the new cartridge is fired, it
will fireform to its final shape (right).
Above, original cases had raised
heads (right).
The Werndls military career included no great wars or noteworthy battles. Between 1867 and 1886,
the Austro-Hungarian Empire was
occupied with facing down the
Russians in the east, while keeping order and defending its possessions in the Balkans. One painting
exists, however, showing the tak-
July-August 2014
ing of Sarajevo during the Austrian

conquest of Bosnia. The emperors
soldiers are armed with Werndls.
For those not accustomed to
shooting black-powder cartridge
rifles, the Werndl offers a pleasant
introduction. It is smooth and easy
to operate. Since its ejector does
not depend on a spring but is
It is unfortunate the action was

superseded technologically and fell
from sight so quickly. According
to European arms historians, it
was so readily manufactured that
it allowed civilians ready access to
good, long-range rifles for the first
time and became a favorite for
civilian hunting and target shooting. The action could be scaled up
or down easily, so the great Austrian gunmakers could have produced some elegant schtzen rifles.
Regardless, the Werndl made its
mark on history not by what it
accomplished so much as what it
led to: By providing the impetus
55
SHOOTING THE WERNDL
High Plains
Reboring & Barrels, L.L.C.
Offering Button and

Cut-Rifled Barrels.
Most calibers and twist rates
Some AR-15 barrels available
Contact: Norman Johnson
nrjonsn@westriv.com
Phone: 701-448-9188
243 14th Avenue NW
Turtle Lake, ND 58575
Steyrs
Foundation Stone
and revenue, it allowed Josef
Werndl to establish his company
and become Europes foremost
arms maker.
19 Badger / CZ 527 Rifle

My all time favorite varmint cartridge!
Quote from gunwriter Don Lewis, of Kittanning, PA after
over 40 years of shooting and writing about shooting.
Also offering:
19, 20 and 22 caliber Varmint Bullets
Custom CZ 527 Varmint Rifles
CZ 527 accessories including: Hunker scope
mounts, modified bolt handles, single-shot followers.
4343 U.S. Hwy 87

Havre, MT 59501
Ph: (406) 395-4079
www.james calhoon.com
The Werndl shooter is immediately faced with several problems.

Brass must be made to order and
bullets cast to the right diameter.
Loading dies are a special-order
proposition and a case-mouth expander to bell the brass is also
needed.
Re-formed .348 Winchester brass
works well but has reduced powder capacity, partly due to the
heavier walls and web and partly
to the slightly shorter (.105 inch)
case. This also presents difficulties in crimping, since dies are
made for the original length.
This all leads to the real problem
of duplicating original ballistics,
without which the Werndls iron
sights are less than useful. The
military load launched a 370-grain
bullet at 1,450 fps using 75 grains
of black powder, but with todays
standard black and cases fashioned from .348 Winchester brass,
this is difficult to achieve. The
usual muzzle velocity is closer to
1,200 fps, and my rifle printed
groups 18 inches high at 100 yards,
even with the sights at their lowest setting. Raising the velocity
solves this problem.
Three different types of black
powder GOEX Express Fg, Grafs
premium Schuetzen Fg and Hodgdons new Olde Eynsford 1 Fg
were tried in both straight black
loads and duplex loads with 5.0
grains of SR-4759.
The Schuetzen powder delivered
1,207 fps straight (74 grains) and
1,224 fps duplex (5.0 grains of
4759, 69 grains black). GOEX Express fared better, delivering 1,349
fps with a duplex load of 5.0 grains
of 4759 and 67 grains of black.
Olde Eynsford premium black 1
Fg also delivered 1,355 straight
and 1,429 with 5.0 grains of 4759
and 63 grains of black.
All these loads were assembled
without wads and required slight
powder compression. With the final
Olde Eynsford duplex load, original published ballistics were almost reached, and the sights were
R
dead-on at 100 yards.
56
Rifle 275
Mike Venturino
Photos by Yvonne Venturino
n the minds of most historically

inclined gun folk, the 03 Springfield will forever be The American Infantry Rifle of World War
I, and the M1 Garand will hold that
place for World War II. Yet both attitudes are only partly correct. More
Model 1917s were issued to American
combat troops in France in 1918. In
World War II, many U.S. Army and
U.S. Marine Corps infantry troops engaging in ground combat prior to
1943 had Model 1903 Springfields in
their hands, not the later developed
Model 1903A3s, none of which were
delivered to the U.S. government until
December 1942.
03 IN
WORLD
WAR II
THE
U.S Model 1903s were

used in the bulk of
Americas combat
early in World War II.
Putting
Some of
the Puzzling
Pieces Together
58
Although the M1 semiautomatic developed by John

C. Garands team at Springfield Armory had been
adopted as the U.S. Armys official infantry rifle in
1936, only about 50,000 had been manufactured by
1940. Furthermore, the U.S. Marine Corps did not decide upon adopting the new rifle until 1941. A minor
number of M1s were with American combat troops in
the Philippines when the Japanese invaded in December 1941. They reportedly performed very well in
the field, but the majority of Americans fighting there
until May 1942 carried bolt-action Springfields. The
United States first offensive in World War II was the
Rifle 275
U.S. Marine Corps invasion of Guadalcanal in August

1942. The leathernecks fought that battle with 03s
until relieved by M1 Garand-equipped U.S. Army
troops later in the year.
By mid-1943, all American frontline combat units
were supplied with M1s, but still the 03s did not
just disappear. In many infantry divisions fighting in
Europe, standard operating procedure was for every
platoon to have at least one bolt-action Springfield.
The reason for it was grenade launching. An apparatus
for that had not yet been perfected for Garands, but
such had been issued for 03s for decades. At least one
marine infantryman hit the beach on Iwo Jima in
February 1945 with an 03 Springfield, as evidenced
by a photograph on page 21 of the book Nightmare on
Iwo Jima by Patrick Caruso. A kneeling marine is

clearly shown holding one with Mt. Suribachi in the
background.
At this point, it must be admitted that some of the
Springfields referred to in reminisces of European
Theater of Operations veterans could have been Model
1903A3s. Their writings do not specify more than 03
or Springfield. When they talk of sniper rifles, however, it is certain they refer to Model 1903A4s. That is
except USMC infantry; they had an unofficially named
Model 1941 consisting of a pistol grip-stocked 03 with
an 8x Unertl scope. Even earlier, marine armorers put
These rifles could conceivably have been used in World War II (top to bottom):
standard 1921 Springfield Armory, Springfield Armory Mark I with a High
Standard barrel dated 1944, Rock Island Armory with Springfield Armory
barrel dated 1942 and Remington dated 1942.
July-August 2014
59
03 INWW II
THE
These rifles show different stock designs that a

U.S. Model 1903 might have if refurbished for World War II
(top to bottom): full pistol grip C-stock, scant-C stock and straight grip S-stock.
Lyman A5 scopes (formerly Winchester 5A) on at least 40 03s early

in 1942. Those were given 20 each
to the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions
for combat in the Solomon Islands.
Early in 1941, the men in charge
of the U.S. Army knew for a certainty that America would eventually become involved in World
War II. In fact, plans were already
on paper despite President Roosevelts 1940 campaign assurances
to the public that he had no intention to send American boys
to fight on foreign shores. Those
high-ranking military officers knew
what was going to happen, and
they also knew there was no pos-
sibility of enough M1 Garands being made in time to fully equip all

troops with them. Their rather intelligent recourse was to approach
American arms makers for help.
Winchester had already signed on
to help make Garands, so Remington was approached to produce
more Model 1903s.
According to the book The Springfield 1903 Rifles by Lt. Col. William
S. Brophy (retired), the initial contract was signed between the government and the company in March
1941. By December of that same
year, Remington had contracts for
over 400,000 03s to be made at the
rate of 1,000 per day.
An interesting fact is that prior to
Remingtons U.S. government con-
tract, the British asked the company to produce 500,000 rifles

similar to the Model 1903 but
chambered for their .303 military
round. With the coming of the
American contracts, Remington
declined Britains offer.
Remington did not have to completely tool up for making 03s. Its
contract called for the U.S. government-owned Rock Island Arsenal and Springfield Armory to
hand over their dormant, but wellworn, tooling and fixtures for Remingtons use. Initially the contract
called for Remington to duplicate
Model 1903s just as they had been
made by the government facilities
from 1905 until the late 1930s.
In essence, a Model 1903 built
Below, an ejection port on the left

side of the U.S. Model 1903 receiver
was only found on Mark I versions.
Right, stock stampings indicate this
1903 Mark I was worked on at no
less than three facilities.
60
Rifle 275
The primary maker of U.S. Model 1903s (left) was Springfield Armory. The
government-owned Rock Island Arsenal (center) also produced them. Remington
began making U.S. Model 1903s in 1941 (right) and produced approximately
350,000 before remodeling the design to the U.S. Model 1903A3.
during that time was as follows:

Operation was as a bolt action of
basic Mauser 98 style with a fiveround, staggered box magazine.
Barrel length was 24 inches with a
walnut, straight-grip stock and
handguard with finger grooves.
Nominal weight was 812 pounds.
All metal stock items such as
buttplates, magazine floorplates,
barrel bands and forend cap/bayonet lugs were machined from
steel. The rear sight was the Model
July-August 2014
1905 version, finely adjustable for

both windage and elevation, also
with a flip-up ladder with range increments to 2,700 yards.
Surprisingly, for a rifle that was
issued during the era when bayonet fighting was still a distinct
probability, there were no wings
guarding the front sight. It was a
simple blade set into a stud on a
collar press-fit over the barrel.
Sight inserts came in five different heights, so each rifle could be
combat zeroed for 500 meters, according to Brophys book. Perhaps

the easiest way for a layman to
discern an 03 Springfield from
this era is by the finger grooves in
the stock ahead of the action.
After 1906 all 03 Springfields
were chambered for the American
.30-caliber round so fondly called
today by its fans as .30-06. Barrels
were nominally .300 inch in their
bores, .308 inch in their grooves
and with one turn in 10 inches,
four-groove rifling.
Between 1905 and 1942, there
were two interesting variations of
61
A World War II U.S. Model 1903 Springfield could have a barrel by one of four
manufacturers (left to right): Springfield Armory, Rock Island Arsenal, Remington
Arms or High Standard.
03 INWW II
THE
the 03 Springfield. The most easily explained was a switch from

straight-grip stocks to a pistol-grip
design. The latter style was pre-
ferred by target shooters, so a

decision was made circa 1929
to henceforth make all wooden
American military rifle stocks with
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pistol grips. (M1 Garands, M1 Carbines and M14s all had pistol-grip
stocks.) This change was given
the designation Model 1903A1.
Nothing else about the model was
altered, and the stamping across
the front receiver ring remained
1903.
The other variation was far more
exotic. Engaged in brutal trench
warfare in 1918, the U.S. Army
started looking at ways to provide
soldiers with more firepower. In
fact, this search was the impetus
for Gen. John T. Thompsons development of his later Tommy gun,
which at first he called a trench
broom. An employee at Springfield Armory came up with the idea
of converting bolt-action Springfields chambered for the large
.30-06 cartridge to semiautomatic
function using a .30-caliber cartridge only slightly longer than a
.32 Auto. This conversion tool was
named the Pedersen Device after
its inventor. A 1903 Springfield
could be converted by removing
the bolt and inserting the Pedersen Device. It was fed by a 40round magazine angling in from
the right. Ejection of fired cases
was through a port in the left side
rail of the action. Model 1903s
built with the ejection port were
named Mark I and so stamped
on the receiver ring. Many thousand Pedersen Devices were
made, but World War I ended before any were deployed. In 1931
they were ordered destroyed, but
I have actually seen one that someRifle 275
how survived. It was on display at

a Las Vegas gun show and priced
at several tens of thousands of
dollars. (Interestingly, the .30 Pedersen became the basis for Frances
7.65mm Long, the chambering of
its Model 1935A pistol.)
Remington delivered its first shipment of 03s to the government
in November 1941. As said, these
were exact copies of the Model
1903 as finalized in 1905. Soon,
America formally entered the war,
and Remington was urged to speed
up rifle production. The company
asked for and got changes to
shorten production time. Outwardly, on the 03s this consisted
of eliminating the stocks finger
grooves and the milled lightening cuts alongside the rear sight.
Inwardly, some minor changes
were also made. These slightly
altered Remington 03s are unofficially called Model 1903 (modified). Between beginning of production and May 1942, when Remington was granted permission for
greater modifications, according
to Brophys book, a total of about
350,000 Model 1903 and Model
1903 (modified) Springfields were
delivered to the U.S. government.
He also advises that Remington
serial numbers start at 3,000,000
and some as high as 3,365,002
have been observed. The Remington 03 (modified) in my collection
is numbered in the 3,331,000 range
with a barrel date of 2-42 (February 1942).
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In May 1942, Remington was given

the go-ahead to alter Springfields
design to the Model 1903A3 version. Therefore, the 350,000 or
so Remington 03s were the only
newly made rifles used in World
War II. All others issued during
the conflict were made earlier by
Springfield Armory and Rock Island Arsenal.
So lets back up a bit. With the immense downsizing of American
military forces during the 1920s
and 1930s, most surviving Model
1903s (and Model 1917s) were put
into storage at various arsenals
around the nation. With the great
July-August 2014
63
03 INWW II
THE
Left, the Model 1905 sight installed on

1903s for at least 37 years was perhaps
the most intricate ever used on a battle
rifle. Right, the U.S. Model 1903 .30-06
used five-round stripper clips. With
the special Pedersen Device it could
accept 40-round magazines with
the .30 Pedersen cartridge. (The French
7.65mm Long at right is essentially
identical to the .30 Pedersen.)
need for rifles exploding at the

end of 1941, stored Springfields
were withdrawn, inspected and
reissued both to the U.S. Army
and U.S. Marine Corps. This is
where detailing World War II-era
03s gets complicated. Thats because military armorers and inspectors were not interested in
preserving original as-issued condition for future collectors. Parts
were mixed and matched as needed
and supplied.
A contributing factor to confusion is that the stocks being used

by Remington on its early 03s,
and later 03A3s and 03A4s, also
fit original Springfield and Rock
Island Arsenal barreled actions.
So did its barrels, along with those
made by High Standard. That company not only sold new barrels to
the U.S. government but also produced barrels installed on SmithCorona produced 03A3s. So, Model
1903 Springfields as remodeled
for World War II could have been
made by Remington, High Standard and, more rarely, by a custom
sporting rifle manufacturer named
R.F. Sedgley Company. These were
sold only to the U.S. Marine Corps.
Contrary to legend, the Sedgley
barrels were only for ordinary
issue; they were not special barrels meant for rifle teams or sniper
use. A bit more confusion is that
High Standard barrels installed
on Smith-Corona rifles bore the
barrel stamp of S-C. Those bought
separately by the government have
an HS stamp. With all this intermixing of barrels, 03s can have
two-, four- or six-groove rifling
that was made by cut-rifling or
broaching methods. Modern collectors have fits about such things,
but a World War II remodeled 03
Springfield can be correct with
any of those barrels.
grip stocks. Later the company

came into a quantity of stocks that
did not have enough meat to
carve into full-fledged C-stocks
but could be cut to have an abbreviated pistol grip. Collectors call
these scant-C stocks, and they
were initially intended for 03A3s.
When the government directed
Remington to make 03A4 sniper
rifles, instructions were to put
full pistol-grip stocks (C-stocks)
on them.
All these stocks are interchangeable with any 03 barreled action,
so to add to the confusion, any
03 Springfield involved in World
War II could have four different
stock designs. One was the original straight grip with finger grooves
as made by Rock Island Arsenal,
Springfield Armory or Remington
Arms Company. Second would be
This 100-yard group was fired with
Hornady factory loads from a Springfield Armory 1903 with its barrel
dated 1921.
The same is true of stocks. Until

1929 government-made 03 stocks
were all straight grip and given
the name S-stocks. Then pistolgrip designs, C-stocks, became the
norm. Yet when Remington started
03 production, it used straight64
Rifle 275
straight-grip stocks, sans finger

grooves, as made by Remington
or Smith-Corona. Third would be
scant-C stocks as made by Remington for 03A3s but which could
also fit 03s. Fourth would be full
pistol-grip C-stocks as made by
Remington for 03A4 sniper rifles.
In my collection are four 03s that
could have been used in World
War II. However, I will be the first
to admit that their remodeling,
i.e., refitting with stocks, barrels
and even stock furniture, could
be postwar. In other words, these
might not have been actual World
War II-issued 03s. At worst, they
represent such.
One is a standard Springfield Armory rifle in the 1,239,000 serial number range with the barrel
dated 11-21. I can see no alterations from as-issued with it.
Second is a Springfield Armory
Mark I with serial number in the
1,046,000 range. Its barrel is
marked HS with the date of 6-44.
No other changes in it are evident.
It has at least three sets of stamps
on the left side of the stock. Another is a Remington Model 1903
(modified). Its as it should be with
number and barrel date mentioned
previously. A fourth is a Rock Island Arsenal action in the 333,000
serial number range, fitted with
Springfield Armory barrel dated
11-42 and with a scant-C stock.
Also, its base for the Model 1905
sight does not have the lightening
cuts, so most probably it is of
Remington origin.
In the used condition of my rifles,
not all stock stamps are legible,
except on the third one, so it is
not possible to tell where work
was done. It could have even been
in the field or, as said, postwar.
One thing all 03s of my experience share considering good
condition barrels is a superior
accuracy potential. Someone buying his first 03 recently asked if
there was something he should
look for that would indicate it
being an accurate rifle. My answer
was, Oh, dont worry, all 03s are
R
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July-August 2014
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Rifle 275
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Rifle 275
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Caldwells new AR Magazine

Charger cuts down the time it
takes to load AR-15 magazines. It
is designed to accept 50 loaded
rounds directly from any 50-round
manufacturers box or from aftermarket 50-round plastic storage
boxes. Simply align the bullet tips
and dump ammunition into the
Magazine Charger. It is automatically aligned without touching a
single round.
Stroking the chargers plunger
back and forth loads five rounds
per stroke as the spring-loaded
carrier automatically aligns the
next five rounds until the magazine is fully loaded. Filling the
Magazine Charger and loading all
50 rounds into a pair of AR-15
magazines can be done in as little
as 15 seconds.
An Ammo Transfer Tray is included to invert ammunition that
is positioned in boxes with the bullet tips oriented down or to stage
bulk ammunition for dumping into
the Magazine Charger. Made of
70
Rifle 275
tough polycarbonate, the Magazine Charger works with either

mil-spec or molded plastic magazines. It accepts 50 rounds of .223
Remington, 5.56mm or .204 Ruger
loaded ammunition.
MSRP: $89.99. For more information about Caldwell and other
Battenfeld Technologies products,
visit online at: www.btibrands.com.
Remington
Express Air Rifle
Over the past few years, air guns
have become increasingly popular. Some of the new models are
powerful enough to hunt small
game, and the ability to plink safely
in your own backyard, as long as
theres a fence or other backstop,
is a real plus.
Inspired by the popular Remington Model 700, the Remington Express air rifle has an attractive
hardwood stock and checkered
grip. Powered by a spring and
piston, the new rifle has a breakbarrel action. It also has a twostage trigger and a safety that
automatically engages whenever
the action is cocked. It is available
in .22 and .177 calibers. With the
right pellets, the .177 version
reaches velocities of up to 1,000
fps, while the .22 version is rated
at 800 fps.
BROCKMANS
Marlin Lever-Action Accessories
Laminated Wood Stocks
Glove Loop Levers
Ghost Ring Sights w/wings
Extended Magazine Tubes
2165 South 1800 East
Gooding, ID 83330
Tel: 208-934-5050
Fax: 208-514-1098
Visit: www.brockmansrifles.com
WORLDS FINEST PRODUCTION

RIFLE BARRELS
DOUGLAS
ULTRARIFLED
BARRELS IN MOST SIZES,
SHAPES AND CALIBERS.
Stainless Steel or Chrome Moly
AFFORDABLE QUALITY
Write for free information to:
DOUGLAS BARRELS, INC.

5504 Big Tyler Rd., RM7
Charleston, WV 25313
304-776-1341 FAX 304-776-8560
The air rifle comes with a fully

adjustable rear sight and a detachable 4x32mm scope. Length is 45
inches, and the barrel is 19 inches
long. The rifle weighs 8 pounds.
MSRP: $209.98. For more information, visit: www.remington.com.
July-August 2014
71
Stack-On Buck
Commander
Safes
Rifle Tang Peep Sight

Adjustable for Windage and Elevation
Fits Most Lever-Action Rifles
Blued Steel Finish
Made in the U.S.A.
WWW.THEHAWKENSHOP.COM
NEW, the Best Safety Device

for Hunters in Years!
Provides MAJOR stability when
leaned against trees
Hooks securely on
barbed wire fences
Protects front sights
Fits all .30 caliber rifles
and .22s (not bull barrel)
HOCH CUSTOM BULLET MOULDS
www.GunLeaner.com
JON TRAMMELS GUNSMITHING

30 Years
Experience
Old World Craftsmanship

21st Century Technology
Action Blueprinting .0003 Factory Rifle Accurizing

Fluid Flushed Precision Chambering Pillar Bedding
Trigger Jobs Muzzle Brakes Carbon Fiber Barrels
Custom Rifles Built Tactical Bench Rest Hunting
Suppressor Sales & Installation
6.5 284 6.5x47 Lapua 6.5x55 GWI 7RSAUM
270 WSM 300 Jarrett 338 Lapua Rogue
280 Ackley 30 BR 6mm Dasher
Jon Trammel 120 W. Walker Breckenridge, TX 76424

Tel: (254) 559-3455 E-Mail: trammel@texasisp.com
Tool room quality, nose-pour,

most standard or custom designs
made to order. Cylindrical
(straight) or tapered. Rie &
pistol designs available.
COLORADO SHOOTERS SUPPLY
Shop 575-627-1933 Home 575-627-6156
910 N. Delaware Roswell, NM 88201
davefarmer@hochmoulds.com
www.hochmoulds.com
RADARCARVE
Gunstock Carving
Duplicators
THE ULTIMATE ONLINE

RELOADING MANUAL
The safe is verified by an independent testing lab to meet a fire

resistant rating for 30 minutes up
to 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit. MSRP:
$189.00 to $219.00. For more information, visit Stack-On online at:
www.stack-on.com.
with over 270,000 loads!

Access the online database
of over one quarter-million
loads with a powerful search
engine referenced by calibers,
bullets and powders.
LOADDATA.com also features
exclusive articles by noted
writers and online shopping
for your favorite products!
Go online or scan
this code for more
information.
Thousands of Uses!
Gunstocks Furniture
Decoys Musical Instruments
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Incredibly
Accurate!
Tel: 505-948-0571
www.radarcarve.net
www.RadarcarveR.com
72
Stack-Ons new line of Buck Commander safes include the Buck

Commander Bow and Gear Storage Cabinet. Approved by the California Department of Justice as
meeting its standards for firearm
safety, this all-steel storage cabinet offers a three-point locking
system with a double-bitted, keycoded lock to safely store up to
two standard sized compound
bows and up to eight rifles or shotguns. Exterior dimensions: 21.50
inches wide, 18.75 inches deep and
57.63 inches high.
Zippo
Rugged Lantern
Like many hunters and outdoor
sportsmen, Ive long relied on gaspowered lanterns that gave out
terrific light but had fragile mantles that broke and disintegrated
into ash at the slightest provocation. Bump or jar one of these
lanterns, and you were suddenly
without light. This meant removRifle 275
ing the glass surrounding the mantles and carefully tying another
mantle (or two) in place, then lighting them and waiting for the glow
to stabilize. If you left a lighted
lantern in the rain, the globe would
eventually crack.
Zippo, a name long associated
with dependable ignition systems,
now offers the Zippo Rugged Lantern. It features LED lights that
dont cause fires or give off unpleasant odors.
The new Rugged Lantern is designed to be one of the most durable lanterns on the market. Its
metal support cage has rubberized
corners to cushion blows that may
be encountered in everyday use.
Zippo says the new lantern will
survive drops of up to five feet.
The lantern floats if knocked into
water and meets IPX7 industry
standards for water immersion.
The lantern emits a bright light,
and the brightness can be controlled. The rechargeable lithium
ion battery offers a run time of
more than 40 hours on the low
setting or 10 hours at the highest
brightness setting.
RMS CUSTOM GUNSMITHING

Robert M. Szweda
Barrel &
Gun Works
Reboring Rerifling
Custom Barrels
Lengths to 36
Calibers .22 to .585
Chrome moly or
Stainless Steel
Dan Pedersen, Barrel Maker
Classic Style Stocks

and Custom Checkering.
Call: (928) 772-7626 or visit my web site:
www.customstockmaker.com
339 Grove Avenue Prescott, AZ 86301
dan@cutrifle.com 928-772-4060
OPTICAL
SERVICES
COMPANY
Custom power increase (+60%) for most

target scopes. B&L, Bushnell, Leupold,
Lyman AA & STS, Redfield 3200 & 6400,
Sightron, Unertl, Weaver T, Steel T Series.
Rebuild & Blueprint Benchrest

& Varmint Bullet Drop Reticles
Cheryl Ackerman
REBORING by
JES Rifle Reboring
We specialize in the reboring of
Lever-Action, Single-Shot, Pump,
Bolt-Action and selected SemiAuto rifles. 338-50 calibers.
www.35caliber.com
541-942-1342
P.O. Box 1174 Santa Teresa, NM 88008

Tel: 915-740-4290
E-mail: cheryl@targetshooteroptics.com
www.targetshooteroptics.com
The NEW
Gebhardt
Machine Co.
Rimfire
Cartridge
Gage
The Gage
That Works!
.302
.338
.375
.416
Whispers are developments of SSK Industries.
The Rugged Lantern also has a

flashing S.O.S. feature if you have
an emergency in camp or in the
field. A flexible, detachable popup handle makes it easy to hang
the lantern on a tree branch or to
carry it comfortably in the field.
MSRP: $89.95. For additional information, visit online at: www
R
.ZippoOutdoor.com.
July-August 2014
Custom barrels for Contenders, Encores,

bolt guns and semi-autos as well as complete guns and the cans to keep them
quiet are available. SSK chambers over
400 calibers. Wild wildcat ideas welcomed.
SSK Industries
590 Woodvue Lane
Wintersville, OH 43953
Tel: 740-264-0176
www.sskindustries.com
$15000
This is a gage to measure consistency of rim thickness on

.22 rimfire ammunition (a .22
rimfire rifles headspace is determined by case rim thickness).
The more consistent the rim
thickness, the more consistent
the ignition of the primer and the powder
charge in the case. In other words, the firing pin will fall the same distance every
time if the same rim thickness is used on
every case being fired for a particular
group. By sorting the shells into various
groups by rim thickness, a reduction in
group size of up to 25% can be realized
in some IF NOT MOST rimfire rifles. This
information about group reduction comes
from the .22 rimfire benchrest participants who compete in the extremely difficult BR-50 matches. All of the top
shooters sort their shells into groups by
checking rims and weighing the unfired
cartridges.
Gebhardt Machine Co.

101 Allison St.
Lock Haven, PA 17745
TEL (570) 748-6772
Bill Gebhardt, Owner
(NRA Benefactor Member - IBS Life Member)
73
Mostly Long Guns

(Continued from page 21)
Get A Grip Gunbooks

Now offering
reloading books
on Americas
314-inch BP
cartridges.
These books
cover many of
the issues that
are unique to
these long, straight cases and
offer reloading data for the hunter.
40-90 Sharps Straight
45-120-314 45-120-314 Volume II
50-140-314 50-90-212
Steve Carpenter
P.O. Box 157 - Seymour, WI 54165
Phone: (920) 833-2282
Visit our online store:
www.getagripgunbooks.com
Various loads containing 17-grain tipped

bullets from several
manufacturers consistently gave the best
accuracy, which has
also been observed
in other rifles. Additionally, due to its terminal performance,
this bullet remains the
overwhelming favorite
among varmint and
pest hunters. If you
have the need to dispatch small pests and
varmints, the .17 HMR
is a top choice.
.17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire

Shooting Results
load
(grains)
advertised
velocity
(fps)
15.5 Hornady NTX

16 CCI TNT Green HP
17 CCI V-MAX
17 CCI TNT
17 Federal V-MAX
17 Federal TNT JHP
17 Hornady V-MAX
17 Remington AccuTip-V
17 Winchester PolyTip V-MAX
20 CCI Gamepoint
20 CCI FMJ
20 Hornady XTP
20 Winchester JHP
2,525
2,500
2,550
2,550
2,530
2,530
2,550
2,550
2,550
2,375
2,375
2,375
2,375
WOOD & BONE CHARCOAL METHOD

WRITE OR CALL
FOR INFORMATION
P.O. BOX 8
(707) 544-4832
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To book the ESE or to get your products on board,
call Don at 702-528-6771 for more information.
74
n/a
n/a
2,669
2,566
2,562
n/a
2,602
2,560
2,585
n/a
2,366
2,384
2,385
.55
1.65
.70
.70
.85
.80
1.80
1.10
1.25
Notes: A 22-inch barreled Marlin XT-17 was used to test fire the
above loads.
COLOR CASEHARDENING
MICHAEL HAGSTROM
SANTA ROSA, CA 95402
actual
best
velocity 100-yard
(fps)
(inches)
***
HOPPES .17-CALIBER
BORESNAKE
Over the years I have had many
opportunities to shoot a variety of
.17 HMR rifles. The tiny caliber
tends to be more sensitive to fouling than larger calibers, and barrels generally need to be cleaned
every 50 to 100 rounds to maintain
top accuracy. When the shooting
is busy, there is precious little
time to clean a barrel, and even
then the tiny bore requires caution
to prevent damage when using
traditional rods, brushes, patches
and solvents.
For cleaning .17-caliber rifles, the
Hoppes BoreSnake (www.hoppes
.com) is invaluable. It features a
brass weight that is threaded (via
a string) through the barrel from
the breech end, and then the
snake is simply pulled through
the bore like a rope. Built into
the snake is the first floss area
around 8 inches long, then a one
inch long section woven over copper brush bristles and finally the
final flossing area that is around
21 inches long, all of which do
a superb job removing powder
residue and fouling. It usually only
takes 10 to 20 seconds to pull the
BoreSnake through the barrel a
couple of times then keep shootR
ing accurately.
Rifle 275
Ballistic
Coefficient
longer ranges, however, the wobble disappears and BC increases,

because contrary to popular belief,
stabilization improves as velocity
decreases, due to the bullets spin
remaining high while the amount
of air pressure on the nose drops
dramatically.
However, this only remains true
until velocity hits the transonic
range, around the speed of sound,
where stability becomes erratic
the reason .22 rimfire and blackpowder centerfire target loads usually start at around 1,100 fps, just
below the transonic range. Its
also the reason .22 Magnum rimfire bullets drift far more in the
wind than .22 Long Rifle match
bullets or higher-BC .17 HMR bullets, which remain well above the
transonic range.
Also, less rifling twist is required
at higher elevations because of
the thinner air. The average longrange shooter these days firmly
believes that a one-in-8-inch twist
is required for any 6.5mm cartridge in order to stabilize superlong 139- to 142-grain boat-tailed
spitzers. This is certainly a good
idea in target rifles that might be
shot at any elevation, but I live at
4,000 feet in Montana, and for
years shot a 6.5-06 with a one-in-9inch twist with never a trace of
trouble with any long-range bullet. The lowest elevation where
the rifle is used is over 3,000 feet
above sea level, but thats usually
during summer prairie dog shoots,
in warmer, thinner air. While biggame hunting at 4,000 to 7,000
feet in Montana and Wyoming, the
9-inch twist works fine, even at
colder temperatures.
DEM-BART
GUNSTOCK CHECKERING TOOLS
BY NORM B
ORK
RO
WN
KW
OC VICTOR, MONTANA
E
ST
USED BY MANUFACTURERS, PROFESSIONALS, AND

THE BEST GUNSMITH SCHOOLS. OUR TOOLS WILL CUT
CONTROLLABLE, CLEAN LINES.
TEL: 360-568-7356
WEB SITE: WWW.DEMBARTCO.COM
1825 Bickford Ave., Snohomish, WA 98290
SUNNY HILL ENTERPRISES

Drop-In Trigger Guard Assembly
for Remington 700 Rifles
Matte blue or matte stainless steel.
Little or no fitting required.
Long or short action.
$149.00
MSRP
Tel: 920-898-4707
Fax: 920-898-4749
Email: triggerguard@sunny-hill.com
www.sunny-hill.com (remember the dash)
So no, ballistic coefficient isnt a

definite, static number, and the
side effects of its variations have
effects on every kind of shooting
we do, whether rimfire and lightbullet varmint rounds at closer
ranges or big-game or target rounds
R
at very long ranges.
July-August 2014
75
Walnut Hill
At the time, Steyr was Europes

foremost arms supplier, manufacturing rifles for dozens of countries. Its warehouses held rifles
awaiting shipment to Greece, Bulgaria, Rumania, Italy, Holland and
Portugal some of whom were
fighting (or would be) on the side
of the enemy against the AustroHungarian Empire.
Building DOUBLE RIFLES on

Shotgun Actions, 2nd Edition - By W. Ellis Brown
This book will take the gunsmith or advanced hobbyist step by step
through the process of building a double rifle using the action of a
side-by-side shotgun. Chapters include: evaluating actions and cartridges; building monoblocks; building associated parts; regulating
the barrels to shoot to the same point of aim. Each step of the process
is detailed, to end with a functional, well regulated, double rifle. HB,
DJ, Large Format, 217 pages with over 300 b/w photos, color photos,
and diagrams. $54.95 + $5.00 S&H. Colo. Res. add 3% sales tax
($1.65) (For a signed copy, add $3.00). Also available: 2006 Double Rifle
Builders Symposium DVD and hollow ribs for double rifles (visit our web site).
Bunduki Publishing, 39384 WCR 19, Ft. Collins, CO 80524

www.BundukiPublishing.com
Dealer inquiries welcome.
Until Steyr and the Empires other

arms factories could catch up on
production of M95s, her soldiers
went to war against Russia armed
with all manner of rifles. Even
stockpiles of Werndl single-shot
rifles, Austrias first breechloader
dating back to 1867, were pulled
out of storage and issued to second-line troops. Photographs from
the 1914-15 bloodbath in the Carpathians show Austrian troops
armed with older Mannlichers.
Another, from the Italian front,
shows snipers shooting from an
ice cave in the Alps, armed with
the obsolescent Model 1888 Mannlicher, predecessor to the M95.
If 1914 was an ordnance officers
nightmare, it was an arms dealers
dream. Any merchant with a warehouse full of relics could find a
buyer, and factories capable of
new production could name their
price.
After war broke out, the United
States was a major source for
arms buyers from every belligerent country. The British were
caught in the midst of a switch
from the Lee-Enfield to the new
7mm Enfield Pattern 13. Without
adequate capacity to produce the
rifles needed, the War Office contracted with various American
gunmakers, including Winchester
Ed LaPour Gunsmithing
3-Position Safeties for:
M-98, CZ 550 & BRNO ZKK 600
Win. 70,54 - Spgfd. 1903, 1922, - Enf. 1917
Swedish Mauser 94, 96 - Rem. M30
Sako Pre Model 75
Sako Vixen
Send $2.00 for information:
908 Hayward Ave. - Bremerton, WA 98310

Tel: (360) 479-4966 Fax: (360) 479-3902
www.edlapourgunsmithing.com
76
Rifle 275
and Remington, to redesign it into

the P-14 in .303 British. It was then
used to augment, not replace, the
Lee-Enfield.
ans to equip two full Russian army

corps, about 80,000 men. Russia
built a factory just to manufacture
8x50R Austrian ammunition.
These companies were in the

midst of British war contracts
when, in 1917, the U.S. entered the
war. Like its allies in Europe, the
U.S. found itself short of production capacity for the Springfield.
As a stop-gap, the U.S. not only
converted the P-14 to .30-06 (creating the Enfield P-17), but it also
purchased 20,000 Canadian Ross
rifles.
Another move by the Austrians,

widely misinterpreted ever since,
was to try to obtain Mauser 98s in
1914 to supplement their Mannlichers. Being short of rifles themselves, the Germans refused. This
has led some to conclude the Austrians were attempting to convert
from Mannlichers to Mausers as
war broke out. More likely, it was
an attempt to augment supplies
while Steyrs factories accelerated
production of M95s.
Sir Charles Ross, meanwhile, was

busy looking for additional markets in spite of the fact that his
Quebec factory was falling behind
in production for the Canadian
Army. At one point, Ross offered
to manufacture rifles for the desperate Russians. Before the deal
could go through, Ross was reined
in by the Canadian government,
which was already concerned
about delivery shortfalls. In the
end, thousands of Ross rifles did
make it to Russia, shipped by the
British to the White Russians after
the 1917 revolution to help them
fight the Reds.
And speaking of Russia, it was
chronically short of munitions
throughout the war, and its ordnance buyers roamed the world.
In the early months of the war,
Russian troops captured enough
Mannlicher M95s from the Austri-
July-August 2014
The Turks were admirers of Germany and users of the Mauser in

various models, but many Turkish troops also found themselves
armed with the 1888 Commission
rifle. After Gallipoli, a few Turkish
units were outfitted with captured
Lee-Enfields.
Ebonex Corporation..................................................................63
Ed LaPour Gunsmithing ...........................................................76
Elite Sports Express .................................................................74
Gamaliel Shooting Supply ........................................................63
Gebhardt Machine Company ....................................................73
Get A Grip Gunbooks................................................................74
Grizzly Custom Guns, LLC........................................................20
Gun Leaner...............................................................................72
Gunutz, LLC .............................................................................71
Hagstrom Gunsmithing ............................................................74
Harry Lawson, LLC...................................................................63
High Plains Reboring & Barrels, LLC........................................56
Hill Country Rie, Inc. ..............................................................75
Hollands Shooters Supply, Inc.................................................47
Hornady Manufacturing Co. ...............................................21, 23
IMR Powder .............................................................................31
James Calhoon Mfg. ................................................................56
JES Rie Reboring ...................................................................73
Johnson Design Specialties .....................................................68
Jon Trammels Gunsmithing.....................................................72
K & M Precision Shooting Products.........................................66
Leadheads Bullets ....................................................................10
Leupold & Stevens, Inc. ...........................................................57
Levergun Leather Works ..........................................................69
Lilja Precision Rie Barrels, Inc................................................68
Little Crow Gunworks, LLC.......................................................65
Lyman Products Corporation ...................................................11
Meacham Tool & Hardware, Inc. ..............................................73
New England Custom Gun Service ...........................................46
New Ultra Light Arms, Inc. .......................................................56
Nightforce USA.........................................................................61
Nosler.......................................................................................80
Nu-Line Guns, Inc. ...................................................................70
Optical Services Company, Inc. ................................................73
Pacic Tool & Gauge, Inc. ........................................................54
From a different angle, the Russians may have used the MosinNagant, but that hardly made it a
purely Russian rifle. Its designers
were a Russian and a Belgian, and
the rifles themselves were manufactured by the hundreds of thousands in the United States, France
and several other countries as
well as Russia. In the great battles
of 1914 to 1916, many were captured by the Germans and Austrians and used to arm rear-echelon
troops.
In hindsight, the European countries might have been better off if
they had prevented their industries (Steyr, FN, Mauser) arming
others, but if so, its a logic that has
yet to take hold. The two greatest
arms makers in Europe today are
Steyr in Austria and FN in Belgium, still plying their trade around
R
the world.
PMA Tool..................................................................................41
Presliks Gunstocks ..................................................................69
Quality Cartridge ......................................................................23
Radarcarve ...............................................................................72
RB Outtters ............................................................................70
RCBS c/o Federal Cartridge Company ........................................5
Redding-Hunter, Inc. ................................................................10
Rigel Products..........................................................................72
Rim Rock Bullets......................................................................65
RMS Custom Gunsmithing.......................................................73
Schuetzen Gun Company, LLC .................................................69
Score High Gunsmithing ..........................................................36
Sheep River Hunting Camps ....................................................66
Shilen Ries, Inc. .....................................................................70
Shotgun Sports ........................................................................76
Sierra Bullets............................................................................55
Sinclair International, Inc. ........................................................14
Sisk Ries, Inc. ........................................................................68
Skinner Sights..........................................................................70
SouWester Outtting ...............................................................68
Spec-Tech Industries................................................................21
SSK Industries .........................................................................73
Stockys Stocks ........................................................................52
Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc.............................................................7
Sunny Hill Enterprises, Inc. ......................................................75
Swarovski Optik North America, Ltd...........................................2
Swift Bullet Company ...............................................................15
Tactical Ries ...........................................................................63
Talley Manufacturing, Inc. ........................................................78
Timney Triggers, LLC ...............................................................64
Umarex USA, Inc......................................................................49
Vais Arms, Inc..........................................................................76
Western Powders ...................................................17, 29, 48, 53
Wineland Walnut ......................................................................40
Wolfe Publishing Company ................................................72, 79
Yavapai College ........................................................................66
77
AD INDEX
300 Below, Inc. / Cryo-Barrel ...................................................71

4D Reamer Rentals, Ltd. ..........................................................70
Alliant Techsystems, Inc...........................................................13
Americase, Inc. ........................................................................42
Barnes Bullets ..........................................................................43
Battenfeld Technologies ...........................................................35
Berger Bullets...........................................................................24
Big Horn Armory, Inc. ..............................................................37
Billingsley & Brownell Rie Metalsmith....................................75
Blaser USA .............................................................................3, 9
Blues Brothers..........................................................................49
Boyds Gunstock Industries, Inc...............................................12
Brockmans Custom Gunsmithing ............................................71
Buffalo Arms Company ............................................................40
Buffalo Bore Ammunition Co....................................................62
Bunduki Publishing ..................................................................76
Cannon Safe, Inc. .....................................................................67
Classic Barrel & Gun Works .....................................................73
Classic Checkering ...................................................................68
Colorado Shooters Supply.......................................................72
Conetrol Scope Mounts......................................................23, 74
Cooper Firearms of Montana, Inc. ............................................25
Crossbreed Holsters.................................................................69
CTK Precision...........................................................................40
Custom Brass and Bullets ........................................................49
CZ-USA ....................................................................................19
D & B Supply............................................................................71
Dale Fricke Holsters .................................................................56
David Christman (gunmaker) ...................................................70
Dayton Traister Trigger Co........................................................72
Dem-Bart Checkering Tools, Inc. ..............................................75
Dennis Erhardt, Custom Guns ..................................................10
Dennis Olson, Gunsmithing......................................................70
Douglas Barrels, Inc. ................................................................71
Eagle View Arms ......................................................................21
The Balkans, where the war began, is such a mares nest its
hard to know where to begin. Of
the half-dozen countries involved,
some fought on the Allied side,
others with the Central Powers.
All were armed with either Mauser
rifles or Mannlichers, and of the
former, some might have come
from Germany, others from Belgium. When war broke out and
supplies were abruptly cut off,
they fought with whatever they
could obtain.
Arming your enemies could result from fortunes of war or from

prewar business dealings. The
Lebel, with which the French
fought the entire war, incorporated Mannlicher features, as did
the Italian Carcano. The Serbs
went to war with Austria armed
with Mausers, while the Serb assassin Gavrilo Princip killed the
archduke with a Browning pistol
made in Belgium in a plant (FN)
built by the German firm of Ludwig Loewe to manufacture Mauser
rifles for export.
ARMING THINE ENEMY

WALNUT HILL
by Terry Wieland
indsight allows historians,

long after events fade from
living memory, to analyze situations and actions from the vantage point of confirmed facts. It
allows armchair strategists to second-guess decisions taken in the
heat of battle, when confusion
reigned and information was incomplete and often contradictory.
And, sometimes, it gives rise to
misconceptions that shape public
ideas forevermore.
For example, we have this idea

today that the armies of 1914
fought their battles with clearly
defined armaments. The Germans
had the Mauser 98, the British
their Lee-Enfield; Russians fought
with Mosin-Nagants, the Austrians
had Mannlichers and so on. Taken
as a generality, this is more or less
true. Taken as gospel, it gives rise
to misinterpretations that, in turn,
can lead historians to completely
distorted conclusions. The popular view of Europe in 1914 is of
an armed camp, with huge armies
facing each other down across disputed frontiers. In fact, looking
behind the scenes in 1914, we find
an arms marketplace verging on
chaos.
It is one thing to scour the coun-
The Mannlicher M95 was the standard infantry rifle of the Austro-Hungarian Army
in 1914. Russia captured enough M95s in the early months of the war to equip two
entire army corps and build a new factory just to supply them with ammunition.
tryside for men of military age and

draft them into the army; it is quite
another to provide uniforms and
equipment. When the draftees number in the millions as they did in
Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary the problem of arming them
becomes overwhelming. A Russian peasant can go to war wearing
his civilian clothes, but if all he
carries is a pitchfork, he might as
well be left tending his crops.
European nations, with the notable exception of the British, had
conscription and short-term service. This rapid turnover of mili-
tary personnel resulted in a vast

pool of trained soldiers, returned
to civilian life but available to
be called up quickly. While all
countries had strategic stockpiles
of weapons, no one had nearly
enough to outfit millions of men
at a moments notice. When war
broke out, the ordnance departments scrambled desperately.
In Germany, there were not nearly
enough Mauser 98s to arm everyone, so some reserves were outfitted with the 1888 Commission
rifle. Many were carried into the
trenches or saw service on the
eastern front.
In Austria-Hungary, the situation
was even worse. Although the Austrian standing army was 10 times
the size of the British, its army
budget was barely equal, and the
Austro-Hungarians had been underequipped for years. In 1914,
faced with a shortage of Mannlicher M95 rifles, Vienna commandeered the warehouses of its major
armaments manufacturer at Steyr
and seized whatever rifles they
had.
78
Rifle 275
SHOOTING
WORLD WAR II
SMALL ARMS
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covers the small arms used by the
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The focus of this publication is
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Editors Choice: Remington 700 CDL Semicustom

Display until 8/9/14

Sporting Firearms Journal

Down Range Mike Venturino

Iconic brand taps

Mostly Long Guns Brian Pearce

Background Photo: 2014 Vic Schendel

Issue No. 275

Putting Some of the

Sporting Firearms Journal

Publisher/President Don Polacek

Inside Product News Clair Rees

Advertising Director - Tammy Rossi

Advertising Representative - Tom Bowman

Advertising Representative - James Dietsch

Wolfe Publishing Co.

Background Photo: 2014 Vic Schendel

m not exactly sure what the

The APR rifles on that

The Remington Model 700

less Model 700 Mountain Rifle

than adequate for the rest. All in

Nowadays, the Remington 2014

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he made it shoot as well as possible.

and 62.5 grains of Reloder 22 in

a variation in case weight, for example, had a measurable effect on

ll too often when handing

less than photogenic.

anese helmets are nearly impossible to find, because they were

counts, they were very effective in

here is much to separate

Raw African Padauk

totally upon numbers printed on a

than most anything built above

Perhaps all is not

tracts gun people. At gun shows

available in the U.S.

Purpleheart (top) adds weight to an

ness superiority more than compensate.

American walnut can run from

Both the top-grade Es 350 single-shot target rifle (top) and

English walnut can run from nearly straight grain, as on this

Other possibilities include (clockwise from top): figured

under two inches thick in 8-foot

have been used for gunstocks for

THE .17 HMR

n 2001 I was invited to field

rels as far out as 200 yards were in

it could not produce enough velocity. When Hodgdon introduced

Left, a recently manufactured

preproduction ammunition, were

The .17 HMR originally dated back

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portant for its success for several

inch, five-shot groups at 100 yards

can be seen in the accompanying

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