The author checks out a Harrington & Richardson XM177E2 clone, one of the excellent retro AR options in PSA’s H&R line.
Retro AR-style rifles are incredibly popular right now. The last time the industry saw this many carry handle uppers, the general wisdom when it came to buying one was still to “mind your ABCs.” That meant that of the already limited AR-15 options on the market, you were best off getting one from either Armalite, Bushmaster or Colt.
The AR market is obviously very different today, but some things never change. When it comes to clones and historical reproductions, collectors will still pay a pretty penny for the right rollmark, especially that damn rampant pony.
Yes, despite contemporary Colt being connected to the Colt of old by name only, that’s the brand that many retro AR enthusiasts still want. Slightly understandable, given that Colt manufactured the vast majority of M16 rifles for the American armed forces during the Vietnam War. But there was another—Harrington & Richardson.
Colt was unable to meet the government’s production demands on its own, so H&R was contracted alongside GM’s Hydra-Matic Division to tool up as well. Between 1968 and 1970, H&R would manufacture about a quarter-million M16 rifles. This was the lowest number of all three companies, making original Harrington & Richardson M16s some of the rarest and most desirable.
Originals, of course, remain hard to get, regardless of what company manufactured them. Reproductions and clones are therefore what most casual collectors rely on these days, as they’re close enough to scratch the itch without breaking the bank.
Thanks to Palmetto State Armory’s recent acquisition of the Harrington & Richardson brand as well as NoDak Spud, H&R-marked retro ARs are now one of the options on the market. I’d also argue that they’re currently the best available.
While Harrington & Richardson only ever made M16A1 rifles, the new H&R brand under PSA offers many reproduction models outside of that and more are promised to be on the way. Most of these are based on the excellent reproduction parts that NoDak Spud made when it was operating independently. To check out the new H&R line, I requested one of my favorite AR configurations to review—the XM177E2.
Harrington & Richardson XM177E2
For those who aren’t aware, the XM177 series was made by Colt as an answer to the U.S. military’s request for a shortened M16. In those days, these compact guns were considered submachine guns, but today we’d describe them as carbines and as the granddaddy to the M4. Called the Model 629 by Colt but designated as the XM177E2 once adopted by the military, it’s simply an improved version of the Colt Model 609 or XM177E1. The biggest difference between the two was the barrel being lengthened from 10 inches to 11.5 inches.
Now, if the H&R XM177E2 had the correct barrel length, it would need to be registered as an SBR. This is the first area where the reproduction departs from the original design, but it’s an understandable concession.
This was made easier of course due to the real XM177E2 featuring a massive 4.5-inch moderator. It allowed Harrington & Richardson to use a 12.7-inch barrel with a pin-and-weld job to bring the total length of its repro to the legally necessary 16 inches. This makes H&R’s clone only a bit more than 1 inch longer than the real deal.
The pencil barrel with its pin-and-weld faux moderator. Notice the bayonet lug has been appropriately removed as well. The carbon streaking of this BLEM model is especially visible here, but it's barely noticeable in person.
Unfortunately, the original moderator design slightly reduced the decibel level of a gunshot, making them legally suppressors by the ATF’s rules. Accordingly, the H&R XM177E2 moderator only looks the part and otherwise functions like a standard flash hider.
Besides those little details, to my eye, the H&R XM177E2 is a near-perfect clone. It features the correct rubber-coated aluminum telescopic buttstock, 2-hole buffer tube and even the correct profile lower receiver. The bayonet lug has been appropriately shaved off as well, and it ships with excellent reproduction furniture and a 20-round magazine. Of course, the rifle is also sporting the correct gray finish on its metal parts. Put together, when you pick one up, it feels like it’s fresh off the line from 1969. That said, there are a few other small inaccuracies that keep it from being a perfect clone, but H&R did an impressive job of getting so many little details correct while keeping the price affordable. It even has the right A1-style dust cover, something that few buyers would likely even notice.
The XM177E2's A1-style lower vs. a modern A2 style. Notice the different profile of the fronts near the pivot pin. You can also see the H&R's retro gray finish here compared to standard black.
I should also mention that I received a BLEM model. When people buy BLEM guns from PSA, more often than not, they can’t even find the imperfection that got it labeled as such. That’s not the case with the example I was sent, but the issues are still barely visible. In the right light, some minor carbon streaking can be seen in certain areas of finish, but it’s incredibly subtle. If you’re in the market for an H&R AR, I’d recommend going with a BLEM model to save some money unless you’re incredibly particular. It’s a military-style rifle after all, and if you shoot it the way it deserves, the scratches will overshadow any blemishes anyway.
Run Through The Flat Range
Frankly, I have nothing special to report from my range time with the H&R XM177E2. It performed exactly as it should—boringly reliable. I didn’t even clean or lube it out of the box, and the only malfunction it had in over 500 rounds was caused by a magazine.
It shot just as one would expect of a lightweight AR with a carbine gas system. That’s to say—not as smooth as a full-size M16 rifle but still an incredibly soft shooter. The iron sights were dead on out of the box as well, at least good enough to ring steel at 200 yards.
Given that this gun’s barrel features the correct 1:12 twist, one should stick with 55-grain ammo for the best results. Huge shoutout to AmmunitionToGo.com for supplying the Fiocchi Range Dynamics .223 Rem. 55-gr FMJBT that was used for this review. The XM177E2 ate through 500 rounds of it without a single issue, as well as 20 rounds each of Tulammo and Lake City M855 just for the sake of variety.
As for magazines, I tested the included reproduction 20-round GI mag, an original Vietnam-era Colt 20-round mag, aluminum STANAGs, P-Mags and an old Orlite mag. The Orlite was the only one that didn’t work and caused the singular malfunction of the review.
Parting Shot
For military history enthusiasts with an interest in the Vietnam War, it’s hard to not love this rifle. I couldn’t find a single thing to complain about. Besides the addition of a sling, the only change I plan on making is replacing the reproduction pistol grip with an original surplus one I already have lying around. I may also remove the front sling loop just to copy the cool guys that ran around with these back in the day.
The best part about the Harrington & Richardson XM177E2 (and the other guns in H&R’s catalog) is its price. BLEM models like mine have an MSRP of only $1,149.99, making them far more accessible than other clone guns and reproduction parts on the market.
For example, Colt offers its own XM177E2 reproduction that’s very similar to H&R’s, but it has a whopping price tag of $2,599. While I’ve only briefly handled one in person, there was nothing about it that suggested it’s worth over $1,000 more than H&R’s take on the concept.
While once a great American firearms company, Colt isn’t even owned by Americans anymore, and it’s pretty clear that the rampant pony has lost its steam. While the H&R lion rollmark may be a minor historical inaccuracy when it comes to XM177E2 clones, it’s close enough, and all the other correct details more than compensate for it.
Whether you want to LARP as MACV-SOG or you just want a classic, well-built and lightweight 5.56mm carbine, the H&R XM177E2 is more than worth checking out. As mentioned, there are plenty of other models to choose from as well.
More Retro AR Stuff:
Retro AR-15: The Old Rifles That Inspired The New Ones
The author takes a look at the Montana Rifle Company and its American-made Junction rifle.
Among the numerous rifle companies that made a definite impression in the 20th century, one squeezed in just under the wire; in fact, their flagship rifle action was named for the last year of the 1900s.
Montana Rifle Company was the brainchild of gunsmith Brian Sipe. Their Model 1999 action became a favorite among hunters, and their bolt-action rifles gained equal popularity. Using a controlled-round-feed (CRF) action, with definite influences from the proven original Winchester Model 70 CRF design, those Montana Rifles equipped with the Model 1999 action were a perfect fit for the hunter on the back forty or for those pursuing big game around the globe. The original rifle series came in common calibers as small as .22-250 Remington, all the way up to the behemoth .505 Gibbs, and each made many hunters happy during its time in the spotlight.
Between business issues, production problems and availability, Montana Rifle Company as we knew it ended up closing its doors, being purchased by a private investor group and ultimately shutting down in March of 2020.
But don’t count the old brand out just yet: Grace Engineering of Memphis, Michigan, has revived the brand with a pair of new—yet familiar—bolt-action rifles: the synthetic-stocked Highline, and the walnut-stocked Junction. It was the latter that I got to spend time with.
The Montana uses a familiar controlled-round-feed bolt design—very similar to that of the Mauser 98 or early Winchester Model 70—yet the shooter can single-feed a cartridge into the chamber without fear of breaking the extractor. Photo: Massaro Media Group.
A Brand Reborn
Upon opening the box, I was expecting to see the familiar lines of the Model 1999 action … but I was surprised to see something altogether different. Instead of the ol’ ’99, Montana revised the action to create the Model 2022 action. Between this and several other obvious features, I knew this was much more than a reboot of previous designs. The stock lines were familiar—the Montana Rifles always ran a bit thin in the wrist and heavy in the forend, and the Junction is no different—but they’ve incorporated some features that immediately set it apart from its older siblings.
The Montana Model 2022 action is CRF, with a non-rotating extractor. Photo: Massaro Media Group.
The first was what looked like a two-piece Picatinny rail atop the receiver, until I realized it was machined into the receiver itself. Instead of using a cast receiver, a la the Model 1999, Montana’s Model 2022 is milled from a solid billet of 416 stainless steel. The Mauser-style extractor band is still there, along with the Winchester 70-style three-position safety, as well as the hinged floorplate. Though the action is technically considered CRF, Montana has engineered the action to allow the single feeding of a cartridge without the risk of damaging the extractor, giving one additional round on top of the full magazine.
Unlike many of the older CRF designs, the M2022 bolt can cam over a cartridge’s rim without fear of harming the extractor, giving the shooter one additional round. Photo: Massaro Media Group.
The bolt handle has a distinct gold band in the middle section, terminating in an unadorned oblong bolt handle, which is comfortable in the hand. Because all the metalwork is covered in a weatherproof finish, working the Junction’s action right out of the box may seem a little stiff, but it soon smooths out from use.
A Winchester 70-style three-position safety (forward to fire and work bolt, middle blocks sear and allows bolt to open for safe unloading, and rearward locks bolt and blocks sear) is standard on the Montana rifles. Photo: Massaro Media Group.
The Junction uses an adjustable trigger—again inspired by the Winchester Model 70 design—finished in the same gold color that adorns the bolt handle, which Montana Rifles says is set to 3.5 pounds but adjustable down to 2 pounds. My handy little Lyman Digital Trigger Scale showed that the trigger broke consistently at 3 pounds, 5 ounces. I found the trigger had just the slightest bit of creep and almost no overtravel.
My test rifle—and the entire initial run of Junction rifles—came chambered in the now universal 6.5 Creedmoor, and the magazine will hold five rounds. Note: 11 cartridges are in the works from Montana, including the 6.5 PRC, 7mm PRC, .308 Winchester, .300 Winchester Magnum, .375 H&H Magnum and more coming throughout this year.
Equipped with a 24-inch button-rifled, hand-lapped barrel—made in Michigan at the Montana Rifles plant—with a 1:8 twist and threaded at the muzzle, the Junction comes with a removable muzzle brake that brings the low-recoiling Creedmoor down to nearly nothing. The Junction’s barrel is clean, with no iron sights, and one look at the receiver with the integral base tells the prospective purchaser this rifle is assuredly designed to be scoped.
The Junction’s muzzle is threaded for a muzzle brake or suppressor; the author’s test rifle was shipped with a brake onboard. Photo: Massaro Media Group.
Turning to the Junction’s stock, there’s a definite new look, even if the feel hasn’t changed much from the older Montana Rifles offerings. The Junction is stocked in a handsome piece of walnut in the Monte Carlo design, with a prominent cheekpiece, and is checkered at the pistol grip and forend. The length-of-pull on the test rifle measured 13½ inches, which is pretty well the same dimension as most American hunting rifles, though I personally wish that, collectively, rifle manufacturers would add a half-inch or so to that figure.
As I stated above, the Montana design has always had a thinner pistol grip and a fatter forend. But, in the new Junction rifle, Grace Engineering has provided not only the traditional sling studs fore and aft, but also a four-slot M-Lok rail along the bottom of the stock and in between the forward sling stud and the front action screw. While perhaps unconventional, at least in the visual department, it does make a whole bunch of sense. It allows the use of bipods, tripods and what-have-you, without the need for the end user to modify the rifle. Looking toward the rear of the rifle, Montana provides a ⅝-inch pliable recoil pad to absorb any recoil sting that the muzzle brake doesn’t handle.
Montana has installed a four-slot M-Lok rail on the underside of the walnut stock, between the forward sling stud and the action screw at the front of the hinged floorplate. Photo: Massaro Media Group.
In all, the Junction is a familiar-feeling rifle that’ll sit comfortably in the hands of traditionalists, yet it provides a good number of useful features that even the younger folks—who have accepted attaching all sorts of goodies to a rifle or handgun—will gravitate toward.
Testing The Montana Rifle Company Junction
My test rifle came with an optic already mounted and sighted by the folks at Montana—though the Junction isn’t sold with any sort of optic. The Vortex Viper 4-16x44mm in Vortex mounts (conveniently labeled with torque specs on the rings—nice touch) certainly will help take full advantage of the Creedmoor’s trajectory and accuracy performance, and it was more than enough to evaluate the 100-yard accuracy of this combination.
Did I mention that Montana Rifle Company gives a ½-MOA guarantee with their new rifles? Well, they do. According to the company: “All Model 2022 rifles are guaranteed to shoot a three-shot group inside ½ MOA from a cold barrel using premium ammunition.” Gauntlet dropped; let’s see if the Junction will hold up to that claim. I grabbed four different boxes of premium ammo and packed up the Junction to head to the range.
Hornady’s Match load—with the 140-grain ELD Match bullet at 2,710 fps—has certainly become the benchmark for assessing a rifle’s potential, so I included that in the mix. But as the Junction is first and foremost a hunting rifle, I grabbed three boxes of premium hunting ammunition that I thought would best serve in the test. The Federal Premium 130-grain Barnes TSX load would be a lead-free hunting choice, the Nosler Trophy Grade 129-grain AccuBond Long Range load certainly qualifies as a premium ammunition choice, and the Remington Premier Long Range 140-grain Speer Impact load would round out the group.
Love it or hate it, the 6.5 Creedmoor ranks among the most popular choices for centerfire rifles, so much so that Montana chose it for the initial release of the Junction rifle.
Firstly, I had no extraction or ejection issues with any of the ammunition. Secondly, because I had the accuracy claim from Montana Rifles in mind, and the fact that this is a hunting rifle, I limited groups to three shots, letting the barrel completely cool to ambient temperature before shooting the next group. Thirdly, I like the way the Junction shot from the bench; in spite of the fact that the stock was a bit too short for my liking, I felt like the stock design allowed me to shoot it well from the bench. And lastly, the Junction very nearly made the accuracy guarantee … but not quite.
The three hunting loads each averaged at or below 0.8 MOA, with the Hornady Match load printing the best of the lot at 0.62 inch. Perhaps I had too much coffee (or perhaps not enough) and my weebles and wobbles didn’t align by ⅜ inch, or someone somewhere played a Yoko Ono record and set the earth off its axis … I dunno. While I will confidently say that the Junction is definitely a sub-MOA rifle, at the very least my test rifle didn’t have a group at or below the ½-MOA mark. Nonetheless, this level of accuracy is absolutely sufficient for a hunting rifle, and each load shot consistently, holding the same general size over four three-shot groups.
Though Montana makes a ½-MOA guarantee for their rifles with premium ammunition, the author saw three-shot group sizes hanging around ¾ MOA, with the rifle showing a preference for the Federal 130-grain Barnes TSX load. Photo: Massaro Media Group.
Usually, with accuracy comes consistent velocities, and the Junction rifle was a great example of this. My Oehler 35P showed that the “worst” load gave an extreme spread of 75 fps, with all four loads coming within 35 fps of the advertised velocities. Across the board, the Junction impressed me at the bench, and I’m certain it would do the same in the field and woods.
Patriotic Pride
All of the Montana rifles—action, stock and barrel—are made right here in the good old United States, and that means something to many hunters. In generations past, gun store shelves were stacked with rifles made in America, yet today many of our biggest names have been bought by foreign companies and moved manufacturing off American soil. Montana offers a high-quality rifle made in America by Americans.
Though currently available only in right-handed configuration, Montana indicates that left-handed models will be available in the near future. The Junction measured 45½ inches with the muzzle brake attached and weighed in at just over 7½ pounds, unscoped. The Montana Rifle Company Junction has an MSRP of $2,495 and you can find it at MontanaRifleCo.com.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the April 2024 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
In the .22 WMR vs .22 LR debate, it’s difficult to claim the rimfire king has been dethroned. The .22LR remains the top choice for all but a few niche applications.
Certainly, side-by-siding the .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire (.22 WMR) and .22 Long Rifle (.22 LR) isn’t akin to, say, comparing the .45-70 Government and .38 Special. No, indeed the popular rimfires are much closer in performance and application than the straight-walled rifle and pistol cartridges. But there are stark enough differences and nuances to the .22 cartridges to warrant some discussion, especially if you aren’t familiar with one or both. Though, given the sheer profusion of the Long Rifle, both being foreign seems a stretch.
In essence, the .22 WMR vs .22 LR discussion boils down to application. While the .22 LR is a generalist extraordinary—capable hunter, unparalleled plinker, dead-nuts target cartridge—the .22 WMR excels in one category. It’s a hunter and even here the terms might too be broad. The magnum rimfire’s specialty, where it makes its bones and finds few its equal is varminter. Pest control, that is.
The .22 LR (left) is a jack-of-all-trades, while the .22 WMR (right) is a specialist, for all intents and purposes.
Yes, it’ll pop prairie dogs from sunrise to sunset. Mangle marmots with the best of them. And flay felonious foxes on the hoof from the hen house. True enough, at a much closer range and without as much authority, the .22 LR will do the same, just as the .22 WMR will murder tin can and spinner targets on a lazy summer afternoon. But there are some good reasons why it worth the effort to keep each rimfire cartridge in its wheelhouse.
Brief History Of The .22s
As always, it worth looking back at the history of a cartridge to get a better sense of its present use. For the .22 LR, it goes way back.
Designed in the early 1880s by Steven Arms, the Long Rifle was an amalgamation of a couple of other .22 rimfire cartridges. Stevens took the .750-inch case from the .22 Long and the 40-grain heeled bullet from the .22 Extra Long to create what we know today as the .22 Long Rifle. Union Metallic Cartridge Company produced the first factory .22 LR ammunition, a 40-grain round that clocked in at 1,082 fps from a rifle. Since, the .22 LR has gone on to become among the most-shot cartridges in the world, with somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.5 billion rounds produced annually.
The .22 Long Rifle came in 1887, after the Short and Long.
The advent of the .22 WMR came much later, the late 1950s, in the first serious attempt in the 20th Century to improve the range and killing capability of the .22 caliber. By all accounts, it succeeded marvelously. Utilizing the .22 Winchester Rimfire case and extending it to 1.055 inches, Winchester greatly increased case capacity, thus the velocity of the magnum rimfire. Furthermore, they topped it with a tougher jacketed bullet to ensure its projectile didn’t come apart at its top-end velocities. Today, the .22 WMR is still the hottest rimfire of that caliber, capable of pushing a 40-grain bullet from a rifle muzzle at 1,900 fps—in some cases even more.
As should be obvious from the above section, the magnum rimfire has a decided ballistic edge in the .22 WMR vs .22 LR discussion. At least in terms of its velocity and range. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's a more talented cartridge than the .22 LR. A quick example.
Take two similar CCI loads for the .22s, a 40-grain Maxi-Mag (.114 BC G1) for the Magnum and a 40-grain Mini-Mag (.118 BC) for the Long Rifle. The .22 WMR leaves the muzzle of most rifles at around 1,875 fps, while the .22 LR comes out at roughly 1,235 fps—a difference of 640 fps. This is quite glaring and very notable on the range. As is evident in the graph below, zeroed at 50 yards, the .22 LR takes a much more parabolic trajectory to the target, going a full ¼-inch above the point of aim. On the other hand, for the .22 WMR, the target is nearly a straight shot.
Extend the range, things become even blunter. Given the Long Rifle round goes sub-sonic around the 30-yard mark, its range is somewhat limited. It only suffers around 2.5 inches of drop at 80 yards, in turn—with the aid of a good riflescope—could pick off a prairie dog at that distance. Much further and it’s pushing things with its quickly degrading trajectory. The .22 WMR on the other hand remains supersonic out to roughly 150 yards and drops 11-inches less than the long rifle at this range. So, it reaches much further.
The magnum's hitting power is where things get tricky. At 50 yards, it delivers 110 ft/lbs of energy—more than twice as much as the smaller .22. Though, this isn't a case where more is better. While the .22 WMR will put a varmint on the ground for good, it potentially proves too much for game meant for the table. Tree squirrels for certain, but at closer ranges, it will bloodshot the likes of cottontails and jackrabbits. Not so the .22 LR, which at most normal hunting ranges delivers enough to put an animal down and not much more.
Terminally, the .22 WMR offers greater penetrating potential, which makes it more adept than the .22 LR at snuffing larger critters such as coyotes. Though, it’s a stretch to call it a dedicated predator cartridge—perhaps an occasional one. Additionally, this characteristic perhaps makes it better suited to self-defense than the Long Rifle and some ammunition companies have developed loads for just such work. This isn’t to say either .22 is ideally suited for dealing with two-legged predators by any stretch of the imagination. No arguments, they are both deadly. However, I don't think it would be wise to rely on either to neutralize a threat. But if one of the .22s is all that’s on hand, they’re better than nothing.
The Many Bullets Of The .22 Magnum
Advances in bullet design have touched all corners of the firearms world including rimfire cartridges. This is a boon for the dedicated .22 LR shooter, who now finds some interesting additions—monolithic copper hollow-points, for instance—in his arsenal. Nice as this is, by and large, solid lead and copper-plated lead bullets remain the staple and give a decided edge to the larger cartridge in the .22 WMR vs .22 LR conversation.
The same V-Max bullet design you'll find on Hornady's centerfire rifle cartridges.
Much like its centerfire cousins, the magnum rimfire mainly utilizes jacked lead-core bullets, which allows it to take advantage of some large technological leaps of recent decades. One that quickly jumps to mind, polymer-tipped hollow points, such as Hornady’s V-Max bullets. In addition to improving the bullet’s ballistic coefficient (how efficiently it cuts the air), it also improves terminal performance by initiating the bullet’s expansion. But the magnum rimfire also uses tried-and-true bullet construction to improve its hunting versatility. For meat hunters, soft-point, controlled-expansion options such as CCI Gamepoint, help to ensure less damage is done to the game.
Long Rifle Still The Most Affordable .22
Truth be told, this is one of the big dividing lines between the cartridges, the difference-maker for most shooters. It always comes down to money, right?
In short, you’ll always get more shooting done with a .22 LR, simply because it’s a more affordable cartridge. In saner times, when ammunition isn’t akin to Unobtainium, Long Rifle will run you around a dime or less per trigger pull. While .22 WMR, expect it to run $.20 or more per squeeze. Affordable when measured against centerfire cartridges, it still adds up and certainly makes the larger cartridge less attractive for pleasure shooting.
Gunning Up The WMR And LR
Here’s the good news, no matter where you fall in the .22 WMR vs .22 LR discussion, your cartridge is on equal footing when it comes to firearms. Rifle, revolver, pistol—you can find an iron chambered for either cartridge. Go something like the Ruger Single-Six Conversion you can shoot both with a simple swap of the cylinder. Hey, might as well take advantage of similar bullet diameters. (Note, the diameters aren't exactly the same the—.223 for .22 Long Rifle and .224 for the .22 WMR.)
The one difference, on average, you’ll find more affordable guns in .22 LR. No, there’s not a conspiracy against the magnum cartridge, it’s simply a matter of more manufacturers make .22 LR guns. These include very economical options typically angled at beginning shooters. As far as what sort of gun each gun excels from … all of them—you simply need to determine what type best fits your applications.
What Are They Good For?
As I pointed out at the beginning of the article, the .22 WMR excels in one particular niche—varmint hunting. Does this mean it can’t be used as a meat hunting cartridge or for target shooting? Perish the thought. With greater velocity, shooters utilize the cartridge for long-range rimfire shooting. A scaled-down firearm—say a 6-inch barreled revolver—tames it enough to work on edible game at closer ranges, if there’s a steady enough shot behind the trigger. But overall, most cherish the magnum rimfire as among the most economical options to ride an acreage of ground squirrels or exterminating vermin such as skunks. Well out of spraying range, mind you.
As for the .22 LR, what can’t it do is a better question. While its killing power isn’t as great as the .22 WMR, particularly at longer range, it’s still the go-to cartridge of bunny hunters and other small-game enthusiasts. And it's equally as potent on varmints, it just won't catch them as far out or product as dramatic results as the magnum.
Additionally, its resume as a target round is impeccable. Among the fastest-growing precision shooting competitions, NRL22, is tailored to the Long Rifle and it’s a staple of bullseye matches. Perhaps its only limit is its range, but that’s bothered few the past 100 some year.
And price? Even in lean years, the .22 LR remains the most abundant and affordable cartridges. Plain and simple, you'll get more shooting done with the old standby.
Parting Shot
Most shooters are well served having guns chambered in both the .22 LR and .22 WMR. Neither is going anywhere any time soon and each absolute joys to pitch downrange.
What if it's one or the other? In that case, if you happen to be a farmer or rancher that requires an economical option to keep ground squirrels out of the hay or prairie dogs from tearing up an alfalfa field, the .22 WMR is perhaps the best choice. The cartridge owns the pest-control wheelhouse and stands tall in this role.
For the rest of us, the .22 LR is the logical choice. It's simply the more versatile of the two cartridges. Be it drilling bullseye or putting small critters out of their misery, the Long Rifle is a proven asset. And one that won't break the bank. Honestly, no collection is complete without one.
This excerpt from The Ballistics Handbook discusses barrels, twist rates and how they influence bullet flight from muzzle to target.
The barrel is the rifle’s delivery system, the steel guidance mechanism that sends the projectile spinning toward the target. Barrel technology has come leaps and bounds in the last century, to the point where the accuracy has become both highly predictable, as well as repeatable. It’s important to know how barrels work in order to better understand how a bullet will perform within its confines.
This article is an excerpt from The Ballistics Handbook, an invaluable guide to understanding the various factors that affect bullet flight, from the muzzle to the target.
The Throat
Starting at the breech end, your barrel has three or four main parts, depending on the type of firearm. For rifles, as well as semi-automatic pistols, there is a chamber, throat or leade, and the rifling itself, all terminating at the crown. The chamber is a mirror image of the cartridge to be fired and is sealed by the breech bolt or block to ensure all the burning gas pushes things toward the muzzle end of the barrel. The throat, or leade, is the area between the chamber of the barrel and the point where the rifling begins. The length of the throat can vary greatly, from less than 1/16 inch, to as much as ½ inch, depending on the cartridge and manufacturer. The throat is exposed to burning powder and hot gas, and when shooting a high-velocity cartridge is often the first part of the firearm to show wear and erosion. Some of the fastest cartridges, like the .300 Remington Ultra Magnum and .264 Winchester Magnum, can show throat wear in as little as 1,500 rounds. I make a conscious effort not to heat my barrels excessively, to help keep wear and tear to a minimum. Some companies (Weatherby for example) purposely extend the throat of their barrels to give room for the bullet to jump. This is known as free-bore, and can help increase accuracy. You never want a modern cartridge to have the projectile touching the rifling; dangerous pressures can easily develop. At the end of the throat, the rifling begins.
Rifling
Rifling is the set of twisted ridges you’ll see when you look down the bore of the firearm. It imparts a spin on the bullet, keeping it stable in flight. Those ridges, properly called lands, engrave their imprint into your bullet, and are machined at a smaller diameter than the bullet itself. The corresponding valleys, or grooves, are designed to be at caliber dimension to properly seal the gas and build pressure. The number of lands and grooves can vary, from the two-groove U.S. Army Springfield rifles of the early 20th century, to the Marlin MicroGroove barrel that used 16 or more, and all sorts in between. (Note: some handgun companies today employ polygonal rifling, which is a bit of a different geometry, yet works fine for their purposes.)
Almost all common barrels use a static twist rate, meaning that the grooves are cut in a specific manner to maintain a consistent spin on the bullet. When researching rifles, note the barrel specs listed as 1:10 or 1:7 twist rate. This is simply a means of telling you how fast or slow the barrel will cause the bullet to spin. The example twist rates given above work like this: a barrel with a 1:10 twist rate will have a bore in which the lands make a complete revolution in 10 inches of barrel (“1 in 10”), while the 1:7 barrel will make that same complete revolution in just 7 inches of barrel, therefore imparting more spin on the bullet. The higher the sectional density figure of a particular bullet (read that as a longer bullet), the faster it must be spun in order to maintain gyroscopic stability throughout its flight. While the numbers may be deceiving, a 1:10 barrel is called a slower twist than is 1:7, and with many of today’s bullets becoming longer and heavier for caliber, the fast twist rate barrels are becoming more desirable to take advantage of these bullets.
Rifling in a .45 Colt barrel.
One of my favorite varmint rifles is a Ruger Model 77 MkII, chambered in .22-250 Remington. This big case is the old .250-3000 Savage necked down to hold .224-inch diameter bullets, and there is plenty of powder capacity to push the bullets to high velocity. However, because the .22-250 uses a relatively slow twist rate—either 1:12 or 1:14—the heaviest bullet I can use in this rifle is a 55-grain slug. While there are plenty of good, heavy bullets for hunting and/or target work available in this caliber right up to 80 grains and more, my rifle can’t stabilize them with that slower twist rate. My dad’s .223 Remington, with its 1:8 twist rate, can shoot most of the heavier designs without issue, even though it has much less case capacity. My .22-250 serves me well, and can really reach out and touch the coyotes and woodchucks, but I’d love to be able to utilize the longer bullets.
For years, I used a .308 Winchester exclusively as my big game rifle here in Upstate New York. I shot a .308 because Dad shot a .308, and we always discussed the reasons that we couldn’t use the heavy, 220-grain round-nosed slugs common in the .30-06 Springfield. He insisted it was a case capacity issue, but I found out that the .308 Winchester was originally released with a 1:12 twist, as opposed to the Springfield’s 1:10, so it couldn’t stabilize bullets heavier than 200 grains. (The .30-06 Springfield, normally supplying a 1:10 twist, can stabilize the heavy 220-grain bullets, but the .308 Winchester with a 1:12 cannot.) To prove my point, I borrowed a .308 Winchester with the faster twist rate, and loaded up some 220-grain pills. Much to my father’s chagrin, they worked just fine.
Here’s a chart of many common twist rates, from popular manufacturers. Of course, there may be some variations, but this should give you a good starting point.
Common Twist Rates for Rifle Calibers:
.17 Mach II……………………………… 1:9
.17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire…… 1:9
.17 Winchester Super Magnum…. 1:9
.17 Hornet ………………………………. 1:9
.17 Remington…………………………. 1.9
.204 Ruger …………………………….. 1:12
.22 Long Rifle………………………… 1:16
.22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire 1:16
.22 Hornet …………………………….. 1:14
.222 Remington…………………….. 1:14
.223 Remington…… 1:7, 1:8, 1:9, 1:12
.223 WSSM……………………………. 1:10
.22 ARC…………………………………… 1:7
.224 Valkyrie……………………………. 1:7
.22-250 Remington…………. 1:12, 1:14
.220 Swift……………………… 1:12, 1:14
6mm Remington/.244 Rem. 1:9, 1:12
.243 Winchester…………………….. 1:10
.243 WSSM……………………………. 1:10
.240 Weatherby Magnum ………. 1:9.5
6 Norma BR …………………………….. 1:8
6mm ARC………………………………… 1:7
6mm Creedmoor…………….. 1:7.7, 1:8
.25-’06 Remington………………….. 1:10
.257 Roberts…………………. 1:9.5, 1:10
.250/3000 Savage…………… 1:10, 1:14
.25 WSSM……………………………… 1:10
.257 Weatherby Magnum………. 1:9.5
.260 Remington…………………. 1:8, 1:9
6.5 Grendel……………………………… 1:8
6.5 Creedmoor…………………………. 1:8
6.5×55 Swedish Mauser………….. 1:7.5
6.5-284 Norma…………………… 1:8, 1:9
6.5 PRC……………………………………. 1:8
.264 Winchester Magnum…… 1:8, 1:9
.26 Nosler……………………………….. 1:8
6.5-300 Weatherby Magnum…….. 1:8
.270 Winchester…………………….. 1:10
.270 Winchester Short Magnum. 1:10
.270 Weatherby Magnum……….. 1:10
6.8 SPC…………………. 1:9.5, 1:11, 1:12
6.8 Western……………………. 1:7.5, 1:8
.27 Nosler…………………………….. 1:8.5
7×57 Mauser……………… 1:8, 1:9, 1:10
7-30 Waters…………………………….. 1:9
7mm-08 Remington……………… 1:9.25
.280 Remington…………………… 1:9.25
7×64 Brenneke…………………………. 1:9
.284 Winchester………………………. 1:9
7mm Winchester Short Magnum 1:9.5
7mm Weatherby Magnum 1:9.25, 1:10
.28 Nosler……………………………….. 1:9
7mm PRC………………………………… 1:8
7mm Remington Ultra Magnum 1:9.25
7mm STW…………………… 1:9.25, 1:10
.30 Carbine……………………………. 1:16
.30-30 WCF……………………………. 1:12
.30 T/C………………………………….. 1:10
.30/40 Krag……………………………. 1:10
.308 Winchester…………….. 1:10, 1:12
.300 Savage……………………………. 1:10
.30-’06 Springfield…………………… 1:10
.30 Nosler……………………………… 1:10
.300 Winchester Magnum……….. 1:10
.300 Winchester Short Magnum. 1:10
.300 Remington Ultra Magnum… 1:10
.300 Weatherby Magnum……….. 1:10
.30-378 Weatherby Magnum…… 1:10
.300 Holland & Holland Magnum 1:10
.308 Norma Magnum……………… 1:10
.300 Remington SAUM……………. 1:10
.300 PRC………………………………….. 1:8
.300 Norma……………………………… 1:8
.303 British…………………………….. 1:10
7.62x39mm……………………………. 1:10
.32 Winchester Special……………. 1:16
.325 Winchester Short Magnum. 1:10
8x57mm Mauser………………….. 1:9.25
8mm Remington Magnum……….. 1:10
8x68S……………………………………. 1:11
.338-06 A-Square……………………. 1:10
.338 Federal…………………………… 1:10
.338 Winchester Magnum……….. 1:10
.338 Remington Ultra Magnum… 1:10
.338/378 Weatherby Magnum…. 1:10
.340 Weatherby Magnum……….. 1:10
.33 Winchester ………………………. 1:12
.338 Lapua………………………………. 1:9
.35 Remington……………………….. 1:16
.358 Winchester…………….. 1:14, 1:16
.35 Whelen……………………. 1:14, 1:16
.358 Norma Magnum……………… 1:12
.350 Remington Magnum………… 1:16
.357 Magnum (rifle) ………………. 1:16
9.3x62mm……………………… 1:10, 1:14
9.3x64mm……………………………… 1:14
9.3x74mmR……………………. 1:10, 1:14
.375 Holland & Holland Mag 1:12, 1:14
.375 Ruger…………………………….. 1:12
.375 Remington Ultra Magnum… 1:12
.375 Weatherby Magnum……….. 1:12
.378 Weatherby Magnum.. 1:12, 1:14
.375 Dakota…………………………… 1:12
.375 Winchester…………………….. 1:12
.405 Winchester…………………….. 1:14
.450/400 3” NE………………………. 1:15
.404 Jeffery…………………. 1:14, 1:16.5
.416 Rigby……………………………… 1:14
.416 Ruger…………………………….. 1:14
.416 Weatherby Magnum……….. 1:14
.416 Remington Magnum 1:14, 1:16.5
.416 Barrett…………………………… 1:11
.500/416 NE…………………………… 1:14
.44 Magnum (rifle)………….. 1:20, 1:38
.444 Marlin……………………………. 1:20
.45-70 Gov’t…………………………… 1:20
.458 Winchester Magnum……….. 1:14
.458 Lott………………………… 1:14, 1:16
.450 3 ¼” NE………………………….. 1:16
.450 Rigby……………………………… 1:10
.458 SOCOM………………….. 1:14, 1:18
.450 Marlin……………………………. 1:20
.460 Weatherby Magnum……….. 1:16
.470 NE…………………………………. 1:21
.50 BMG………………………………… 1:15
.500 NE…………………………………. 1:15
.500 Jeffery……………………………. 1:17
.505 Gibbs……………………………….. 1:1
So, it’s important to know what the twist rate of your barrel so you can choose the proper ammunition for your gun. There’s an easy way to observe or verify the twist rate of your barrel. Using a cleaning rod, affix a tight patch and get it started down the bore. With a magic marker make a small mark at the base of the rod at the top, and another one where it meets the breech (or the muzzle in the case of a lever gun, slide, etc.). Push the rod down the bore until the mark makes one complete revolution, and make another mark at the same reference point (breech or muzzle). Measure the distance between the marks to determine how many inches it took to make one revolution, and voilà! you’ve got the twist rate.
If you look at some of the long-range bullets, like the Nosler AccuBond Long Range, or some of the Berger offerings, they will indicate the required twist rate needed to stabilize their particular bullet. If you want a bit more information, or should the bullet be marginal for your twist rate, you can consult the Berger website (BergerBullets.com/twist-rate-calculator/) and plug in all of your information. Based upon the Miller Twist Rule (more about that in the exterior ballistics section), the Berger calculator will provide you with the level of stability (or instability) of your particular barrel/cartridge/bullet combination. It’s a very useful tool, which can help you optimize your setup.
The Crown
The final point of the barrel, where the bullet exits, is referred to as the crown. A uniform, even crown is invaluable for good accuracy, as it is the very last thing that your bullet will touch before embarking on its journey through the atmosphere. You’ll need to know about the varying types of crowns and how they affect the flight of the bullet. Looking at the end of your barrel, you may see a simple, rounded end and be able to feel the lands and grooves with the pad of your finger. Or you may see a square-cut, recessed affair, known as a target crown. In any instance, you’ll definitely want to be careful with the crown of your firearm; it plays a very important role in its accuracy. I’ve seen my fair share of well-worn lever-action rifles, which need to be cleaned from the muzzle end, sporting worn or nearly eroded crowns from years of swabbing with a filthy aluminum rod. I’m sure if their owners, who were tough as nails and certainly knew how to shoot those guns, saw us today with our polymer bore guides and ball-bearing-handled, nylon-coated cleaning rods, they’d certainly have a chuckle. However, if they could see the difference in accuracy between a healthy crown and a worn one, they’d have no choice but to admit that our methods preserve rifle accuracy better.
The target crown of the author’s Savage Model 116.
An imperfect crown can be the demise of accuracy. I went mildly insane trying to figure out what was wrong with that .22-250 Remington of mine, as I simply couldn’t figure out why it wouldn’t shoot boat-tail bullets. I mean, I tried factory ammunition, handloads, you name it. Because it is a flat-shooting cartridge, I wanted the 53- and 55-grain boat-tail match bullets to work. My pal Donnie Thorne, better known as Col. Le Frogg, weighed in on the matter, and found the cure in one simple sentence: “Try some flat-base match bullets.”
Long story short, once I switched to flat-base bullets, the rifle was printing 1/3 MOA groups out to 200 yards, which makes up a huge portion of my shots with this rifle, unless the coyotes are posing across the hay lots. The crown of this Ruger rifle is less than perfect, and the escaping gas was being pushed on one side or the other of the exiting boat-tail. Switching to a flat-base bullet improved the accuracy immensely and was not a handicap as far as wind deflection and trajectory were concerned. To be honest, the combination of the imperfect crown and slow twist rate should warrant re-barreling the rifle. But I love the way it handles, so I’ll wait a while until I feel it’s time to do so.
Twist Direction
Most of today’s barrels use a right-hand twist; that is, the bullet is spun in a clockwise motion. However, you can come across a left-hand twist barrel, spinning bullets in a counterclockwise motion, and when the distances get out beyond 500 yards or so, the spin direction of the barrel comes into play. A right-hand twist barrel will cause the bullet to drift a measurable degree to the right when the time of flight increases. Conversely, the opposite is true for a left-hand twist barrel, and these considerations must be accounted for when trying to accurately place your bullets on a distant target. Many of the ballistic calculators incorporate twist direction as one of the parameters for long range dope, so it’s important to know. One glance down your barrel and you can easily verify the direction of twist.
Barrel Construction
Steel has long been the chosen material for barrels. It is rigid enough to withstand the intense pressures generated by modern cartridges, yet flexible enough to allow the bullet down the barrel without cracking or shattering. The two most popular types of steel barrels produced are chrome-moly (a chrome-molybdenum alloy steel) and stainless steel. I’ve had excellent results with both, and I honestly feel that either will make a suitable choice for a barrel. Both give long life and are equally accurate, at least in my experiences. Stainless is a bit less susceptible to rust (though not impervious), and chrome-moly can be a bit lighter, but I own and like both types. More important to me is the construction method used to create the barrel.
Cut Vs. Hammer-Forged Vs. Button-Rifled
Most factory barrels in production today are hammer-forged, cut or button-rifled. All three methods have positive and negative attributes. Personally, I’ve found good and bad in all three types along the way, and as long as a barrel does its job, I’m good with it. The cut barrels are probably the most labor intensive, as the rifling is cut one groove at a time in a reamed bore. Krieger, who made the barrel for my .318 Westley-Richards, makes cut barrels. The button-rifled barrels are made in a similar fashion, in that a drilled bore at less than caliber size is utilized to guide the cutting button down the bore. Button rifling is popular with many custom rifle companies like Shilen, as well as Savage rifles—both of which have an impeccable reputation for accuracy. So, with both cut and button rifling, a smaller-than-caliber hole is drilled through the centerline of the bore, and a tool is used to put the finishing touches on the barrel.
Hammer-forged barrels work in the opposite manner. They start with a barrel blank that gets reamed to a dimension larger than the desired caliber, and then a mandrel that is a perfect mirror of the desired bore dimension is inserted into the reamed hole. At that stage, a series of hammers are used to forcefully mold the steel around the mandrel, so that the resulting bore comes out perfect. Undoubtedly, hammer-forged barrels are both cost-effective and accurate, yet some folks feel that they are the least accurate type of barrel. I’ve had some of the best—and worst—accuracy with a hammer-forged barrel, yet I feel it’s due to the fact that they represent such a large portion of the barrels produced each year.
My Heym Express .404 Jeffery uses a hammer-forged Krupp barrel, and yet it gives sub-MOA accuracy consistently. Likewise, I’ve got a trio of Winchester Model 70s (.300 Win. Mag., .375 H&H and a .416 Remington Magnum) and all have exhibited excellent accuracy, accompanying me on hunts all over the world. Likewise, my favorite revolver, a Ruger Blackhawk in .45 Colt, uses a 7.5-inch hammer-forged barrel that allows me to hit targets as far as I can hold accurately. The hammer-forged method occasionally gets a bad rap because it is associated with mass production, but that’s not fair. Heym rifles, makers of some of the finest safari guns available, make approximately 6,000 hammer-forged barrels annually, but only consume about 2,000 for their own in-house use. The remainder are sold to other fine rifle companies, and I’ve yet to meet a Krupp barrel from Heym that didn’t perform very well.
Down The Rabbit Hole
When the cartridge is fired, the primer sends a shower of sparks into the powder charge, which is burned. The resulting expanding gas creates lots of pressure. This sends the bullet in the path of least resistance: down the barrel. It’s also when things get interesting, as the entire situation changes in an instant. Once the bullet passes the throat and engages the rifling, the torque creates a wave of distortion that causes the barrel to swell just in front of the bullet. The barrel will—although minutely—swell and return to original shape as the bullet passes down the bore. In addition, the barrel will “whip,” as if you were holding a fishing pole in your hand and quickly shook your wrist. Barrel flexure is minimized with a larger diameter barrel of shorter length, but those shapes come at the cost of velocity loss and increased weight. In addition, if your barrel is not free floating, meaning that it is touching the stock at some point, accuracy can be affected.
Like all things in life, there are no absolutes, and I’ve seen rifles with Mannlicher stocks where the stock extended to the muzzle and touched almost all the way exhibit excellent accuracy. Many military rifles such as the M1 Garand or M98 Mauser have stocks that extend much farther than do our common hunting and target rifles. Yet, these have shown some amazing capabilities in competition shooting … in no small part to the men behind the trigger. That aside, I prefer my rifles to have barrels free floated so they can swell and torque and whip without interference. That keeps things as accurate as possible. You can test your rifle’s barrel channel by placing a dollar bill under the barrel, and run it up along the stock toward the receiver as a feeler gauge to see if the stock is touching the barrel at any point. If it is, remove a small amount of material from the barrel channel in order to let the barrel move freely during the shot.
The “standard” crown of a Winchester Model 70.
The idea of reducing barrel whip by using a stiffer (larger diameter) barrel isn’t a new one, but it definitely works. It not only dissipates heat better, but reduces the amount of flexure to give a more repeatable result, promoting accuracy. The bull barrel is a staple of the target community, as well as being a popular choice among varmint hunters who must hit distant, tiny targets. However, they are heavy to carry, and can be very unwieldy to shoot offhand. Now, I don’t mind a barrel on the heavier side of things, particularly the semi-bull barrels that make a good blend of portability and stability, but I don’t want a bull barrel on the mountain hunts of the Adirondacks and Catskills, nor do I want one when in the African game fields, where the daily walks are measured in miles. There is a way to get the best of both worlds using a light, rigid, carbon fiber. Starting out with a featherweight steel barrel, carbon fiber is wrapped around it, until it achieves the diameter of a bull barrel approaching one inch or more in diameter. This combination is lightweight like a slim steel barrel, but has the rigidity of a bull barrel. The carbon also dissipates heat very well, and it keeps your barrel cooler, longer.
When a barrel gets too hot, it’ll tend to print a bit higher on the target. This occurs because the steel expands and the bore diameter is slightly reduced, creating a higher pressure and thereby more velocity. Heating your barrel to the point that it is impossible to touch without pulling your hand away is never a good idea, as it will lead to premature barrel wear and throat erosion. Allow things to cool, and a barrel should give nearly a lifetime worth of service.
Harmonics
The manner in which a barrel whips, torques and contorts is referred to as barrel harmonics. The idea of accuracy is simply a set of repeatable barrel harmonics. If you use the centerline of the bore as the baseline for your observations, you would see a wave in which the barrel would rise and fall, equally above and beyond the baseline. The thinner and longer a barrel is, the further from the baseline the barrel will whip. Again, a short, thick barrel will have a much smaller deviation from the baseline. Accuracy is optimized when harmonics are repeatable, and when the various pressure waves align in such a fashion that the muzzle diameter is kept at a uniform dimension. Um, what? How can the muzzle diameter change? Allow me to explain a complicated theory in simple terms.
I ran across a theory, presented by radio communications engineer Chris Long, which makes a whole lot of sense and explains some ideas I knew to be true, but had no idea how to nail down scientifically. It also changed the way I look at my own handloaded ammunition. Long purports that a series of crossing waves can, will and do have a great effect on the barrel and its ability to produce a repeatable point of impact (known to us as a tight group). While I am not a scientist (cue Star Trek music: “Dammit Jim, I’m a surveyor not an engineer!”), Long’s theory boils down to this: the ignition of the powder charge creates pressure that sends a shockwave down the barrel, to the muzzle and back again, in a repeating fashion much like the plucking of a guitar string. This ignition stress shockwave can and will move the steel enough to cause a distortion in the bore diameter.
Subsequently, when the bullet engages the rifling, a second force—the swelling of the barrel ahead of the bullet—starts to travel toward the muzzle. According to Long’s sound theory, if those two waves collide when the first wave is affecting the muzzle, the groups will open up as if the crown were out of round, much like my .22-250 Remington was behaving. If you can find the load with which the two waves are separated, the group size will indeed shrink.
Now, there are many variables in Long’s equation, including the amount of powder and the load density, as well as the seating depth of the bullet, and while this isn’t a book on reloading ammunition, this theory makes perfect sense to me as a handloader. It can easily explain how changing the powder charge a mere 0.1 or 0.2 grains would so dramatically affect group size, as I’ve seen for decades in my own handloaded ammo. In addition, the Chris Long theory also explains why some barrels like a particular brand of ammunition, yet others can’t get it to work at all. I think it also explains the drastic changes in group size that can occur when changing seating depth and cartridge overall length. (Which incidentally has been a little trick of mine for years, though I didn’t understand exactly why it worked, I just knew that it did.) The variations in seating depth will definitely affect the barrel harmonics and their timing.
Barrel Length And Its Effects
For years, it was a common assumption that longer barrels were more accurate than shorter ones. It’s an arguable point, but I’ve seen evidence that points to the fact that both can be equally accurate. I do believe that when discussing iron-sighted guns, a longer sighting radius will usually result in an ability to place the shot better, but in a scientific world—say using a machine rest—I’m not certain that the longer barrel will always come out on top.
There is a definite increase in velocity when using a longer barrel, as the longer pipe will build more pressure. The generally accepted velocity loss/gain when comparing barrel lengths is 25 fps per 1 inch of barrel length. While I’ve never had the opportunity to actually measure the velocity loss of one particular barrel by cutting off an inch at a time, I’ve seen studies where this test was performed and that rule was more or less proven. For example, my 6.5-284 Norma is a popular choice among F-Class shooters, and many of those rifles take advantage of the case capacity by using a barrel length of 28 or even 30 inches. My own Savage Model 116 with a 25-inch barrel doesn’t quite match some of the advertised velocities because of the shorter tube, and I’m OK with that. It’s a hunting rifle, and while I normally don’t mind longer barrels, toting a 28-inch barrel through the woods and fields seems a bit excessive to me. So, when I ordered the rifle, I figured the 25-inch length would make a good balance of velocity and portability. The choice is ultimately up to you, whether you want a compact rifle for ease of carry, or the long barrel for additional velocity, but it’s important to know that the measured velocity of Brand X ammunition in your gun may not equal advertised velocities due to the difference in the test gun’s barrel length and the length of your barrel.
When I first started to handload ammunition, I didn’t understand why a particular load prescribed by the reloading manual didn’t obtain the velocity shown in the data. I followed the recipe exactly. Used the test data’s primer, powder charge, case, and bullet and seating depth. But I was still 125 fps below the manual. Then I glanced at the test rifle information. This company had used a universal receiver and a 26-inch barrel to arrive at their data, and my rifle sported a 22-inch barrel. Barrel length was the factor.
Pistol barrels can and will have a similar effect on the performance of ammunition. Many of the micro-carry, or pocket pistols, give lower velocities than their full-sized counterparts due to the decreased barrel length. Ammunition companies have made an effort to optimize the cartridges for best performance in the shorter barrels. Federal Premium HST ammo has a “Micro” line that is designed to function properly in the shorter barrels of concealed carry pistols, and it works very well. My own carry gun—a Smith & Wesson Model 36 in .38 Special—has the 17/8-inch snubnose barrel and, while the velocities certainly aren’t what you’d get from a 4- or 6-inch target gun, I knew that when I purchased it.
These are things to keep in mind when purchasing a rifle or pistol. Does a .308 Winchester need a 26-inch barrel? Probably not, because the case capacity can be utilized in a 20- or 22-inch barrel, and if it’s made properly, should offer fine accuracy. Can you get the most from a 7mm Remington Magnum with a 22-inch pipe? Not likely. This is an example of a cartridge needing a bit more barrel length to achieve optimum results, due to the increased case capacity. Will a short-barreled handgun be as accurate as a longer barreled one? Maybe, but it has more to do with balance and the ability to aim the firearm than actual function of the barrel and its length. Will a 20-inch barreled Winchester 94 carbine, in .30-30 WCF, perform as well as the 26-inch octagon-barreled rifle of your grandfather’s era? For the distances at which a .30-30 is most commonly shot, I’d vote yes, but again, that longer sighting radius of the bigger rifle may cause it to appear more accurate than the carbine, so it would take a machine rest to verify the results. For a hunting application, either is more than acceptable if you practice diligently with an iron-sighted gun (which seems to be a lost art these days), so if you appreciate the compact design of the carbine, have at it.
A quick look at Double Action Reactive Targets, self-sealing polymer targets that change color at the point of impact.
Steel targets are all the rage these days, and it’s not hard to see why. They’re durable and long-lasting, but more importantly, every impact rewards you with a very satisfying “ding!” of success. As wonderful as that sound may be, steel targets have plenty of downsides, too—you can’t shoot them too close without potentially eating some spall, you need to remain mindful of the risk of ricochets and you need to repaint them. Besides that, they’re a costly initial investment and, depending on where you shoot, you may need to haul one or several of them between your setup and your truck. Steel is heavy, and that gets old real fast.
Know what’s not heavy? Polymer, and that’s what Double Action Reactive Targets uses to make its products. Not just any polymer, however, but a self-sealing, color-changing reactive polymer.
The company offers a 4-inch swinging gong, a 6-inch swinging gong, a 6-inch knockdown target kit and even a full-size silhouette. All of these behave like steel targets when shot, minus the ding and the risk of anything coming back at you. The gongs and knockdown targets are also available without the color-changing feature for a few dollars less, but both styles are self-sealing.
As for caliber ratings, the company says it’s tested them with pistol calibers up to .45 ACP and rifle calibers up to .308 Winchester without any issues, but only full metal jacket ammo should be used. Hollow points, wadcutters, flat nose bullets and any other projectile style that won’t make a clean hole should be avoided to prevent damaging the targets.
Double Action Reactive Target’s literature describes the targets as being capable of lasting “hundreds of rounds,” which isn’t very specific, but it likely varies a great deal depending on what you’re shooting them with and other factors.
That said, even if you shoot enough to need to replace one, it won’t hurt your wallet too bad as prices start at just $16 per target.
Steel targets still have their place, but just like what happened with pistol frames, it may be time to recognize the advantages of polymer targets too.
The author takes a closer look at the past, present and future of the CZ 75, the timeless Czech wonder nine.
If you show up at any pistol match today—whether it’s IDPA, USPSA, IPSC or Steel Challenge—I’d wager you’d find a CZ in many, many holsters. In fact, I’d hazard that the top shooters at your match, at least half of them, are running a CZ of some flavor. This includes my own holster—not that I’d shout from the rooftops that I’m a “top shooter.”
The data backs this up, too. Participant survey data of USPSA Production division handguns at the 2020 Nationals shows that 45 percent of shooters were running some kind of CZ, and plenty of others were using pistols based on the CZ 75 like the EAA Tanfoglio Witness Stock 2. It’s easy to see why they’re so popular when you consider that the CZ Team alone took 9 medals at the 2022 IPSC Handgun World Shoot XIX.
A member of the CZ Shooting Team competing with one of CZ's customized race guns. Photo credit: czub.cz.
So, this got me to thinking—how did this pistol rise to such prominence in competitive pistol shooting? Compared to action movie icons like the Beretta 92, the CZ 75 is relatively unknown, nor does it have the history or the zealous followers that John Moses Browning’s 1911 has. In fact, even my brother-in-law who is of Czech descent and in law enforcement had never heard of the CZ 75. This is a shame, as the pistol really deserves more respect and recognition.
To help remedy that, today we’ll be talking about the CZ 75’s origins, how it evolved into a world-class competition pistol and where it’s going.
Origins Of The CZ 75
Before we can begin any discussion on the present or future, we need to talk about the origins of “Česká Zbrojovka,” a name that roughly translates to “Czech armory” and is what CZ stands for.
The CZ saga dates all the way back to 1935 when an armament factory was established in the former Czechoslovakia in Uhersky Brod (CZUB), as far as possible from the western borders of Nazi Germany. Located in the southeast of Moravia, this factory was primarily tasked with making aircraft machine guns, weapons that obviously saw plenty of use in the impending world wars. In 1949, after WWII, the joint-stock company Česká zbrojovka was nationalized and gradually became the main Czechoslovak manufacturer of small arms such as Sa vz. 23 submachine guns and vz. 58 rifles. By 1962, the company was producing the iconic vz. 61 Škorpion machine pistol, a gun that’s almost certainly seen more action in movies and video games throughout the years than it ever has in real life.
Then, in the late 1960s, development of the CZ 75 began by brothers Josef and František Koucký, the two stars of post-war CZ small arms design. Legend has it that František Koucký was offered the job to develop a new 9mm handgun, but because he had recently officially retired from CZUB, this time he had carte blanche on the project. This gave him the freedom to both completely innovate with fresh ideas as well as borrow from whatever existing designs he wanted, and he took full advantage of both.
An original CZ 75.
Result? The Koucký brothers’ design was so innovative that it’s still relevant today almost 50 years later. Cleverly, the brothers only used their surname on the CZ 75 patents so they could both share the glory. This, also, may have contributed to the patent debacle, but we’ll discuss that more later.
The CZ 75 Is Born
When the Koucký brothers began work on the CZ 75, Czechoslovakia’s service pistol cartridges were the same as those of other Warsaw Pact countries (namely, 9x18mm Makarov and 7.62x25mm Tokarev), the CZ 75 (being a 9x19mm pistol) was initially intended as an export-only firearm.
“The choice of a 9mm Parabellum was clear from the start,” Lynn Twiss, Marketing Director of CZ-Dan Wesson said. “At first, there was talk of it being a small pistol for self-defense. An exclusive distributor abroad then demanded a large-capacity magazine like the one that came with the FN HP 35, and finally, a request for an SA/DA trigger and firing mechanism. More detailed development was left to the designer. The explanation for its design was simple: it was to be a product for export to the West, where the concept of the Wonder Nines was taking hold.”
Despite being designed in the early 70s, the pistol did not reach the Czech civilian market until 1985 and was only officially adopted by its home country’s armed forces in 1989.
Then in 1986, CZ introduced the CZ 85—an ambidextrous model with a safety and slide stop on either side. From there, the CZ 75 platform underwent minimal changes, for the most part, until the early 2000s when CZ began to turn its eye toward competition shooting.
Emulation, Innovation And Patents
They say that emulation is the greatest form of flattery, and in this way, the CZ 75 may be one of the most flattered guns in the industry since its design has been copied by over a half-dozen other pistol manufacturers. However, that’s not to say that the CZ 75 design itself wasn’t inspired by others.
Semi-autos in general date back to the early 1890s. By WWI, autoloading pistols like the German Luger and the Colt 1911 were in general use by armed forces. John Moses Browning, inventor of the famous and aforementioned 1911, died in 1926 while he was developing the Browning Hi-Power or P35. Anybody just looking at the Hi-Power can see the resemblance to the CZ 75, so it’s no wonder that they function similarly too. Both pistols use a short-recoil, locked-breech system with a linkless cam locking system.
Two Browning Hi-Power pistols. It's easy to see how this gun inspired the CZ 75's design, especially the profile of the front end and the grip angle.
“The [Hi-Power] 35 was just one of the many inspirations for František Koucký,” Twiss said, regarding the 75's design. “His way of thinking was perhaps best summed up in 1979 by the legendary Jeff Cooper: ‘The Czech 75 — called the Brünner Pistol in Germany — may be considered the ultimate development of the Browning/Colt system. It takes the best Browning features, combines them with a couple of better innovations found in the best French and Swiss designs, and adds a few original touches of its own to put the whole together in the neatest package in the world.'”
“We innovate and develop our guns in a variety of ways. Sometimes we build on previous models. Sometimes we try new design paths. But one thing always remains the same: the customer, his needs and wishes are essential for us. It may sound like a cliché, but that's exactly what makes great pistols, like the Shadow.”
Three years after the Browning Hi-Power’s release, the Walther P38 was invented. This pistol featured an open-breech design, much like what the Beretta 92 and some similar pistols adopted, but also a DA/SA trigger and a decocker—a standard feature on the CZ 75BD, SP-01 Tactical, CZ P-01 and many other models.
All of that to say, firearms borrow from other firearms. However, many other designs have cropped up that are exact clones of or copies heavily inspired by the famous CZ 75. There’s the IMI/IWI Jericho 941 (aka Magnum Research Baby Eagle), Tanfoglio TZ-75, SAR 2000, EAA Witness and even the Sphinx Systems Sphinx 2000 just to name a few. All of these are CZ 75 copies of varying degrees.
A Magnum Research Baby Desert Eagle, aka the Jericho 941, Israel's CZ 75 copy.
Why are there so many copies made outside of its birthplace? Much of it has to do with the complexity of Czech patent law, secret patents and the fact that the CZ 75 was designed for export.
František Koucký was very concerned about patent protection for his designs, and this gun was no exception as it was covered by four patents. Due to potential interest from the armed forces, they were first filed as secret patents. This is not unusual, as this practice is utilized for inventions all over the world, including in the U.S.
In 1979, it was decided to declassify all four patents for the CZ 75. Long story short, something went wrong, and CZ never managed to secure world patent protection, leading to a free-for-all of global manufacturers making use of the design for free.
Despite this, CZ is still going strong today, and it never stopped innovating on the CZ 75 design as it continued to release new models. Even with the market being flooded with clones since before the original manufacturer could break into the international market, the company’s pistols continue to sell extremely well around the world.
While originally designed as a military pistol, however, most of the new models based on the CZ 75 have trended towards competition shooting in recent years. Let’s dig into how this transition came to pass.
Two CZ 75 SP-01 Shadow pistols, one equipped with a red dot.
The CZ 75 And Its Rise In Competitive Shooting Sports
For years, CZ sensed the potential of the CZ 75 pistol, but a lot of credit for building CZ’s shooting team goes to Czech Canadian Milan Trkulja, an IPSC shooter, judge and expert in shooting disciplines. He was one of the driving forces that convinced and motivated CZ to found a shooting team, also marking the start of sport pistol development based on the CZ 75. This is where you can find the origins of CZ’s line of competition pistols.
The father, or rather grandfather, of these guns is the CZ SP-01. While it was also originally created with military and law enforcement use in mind, its features were quickly recognized as being beneficial to competition shooting as well. One was even used by Adam Tyc to take 1st place at the 2005 IPSC championship, World Shoot XIV around the time of its release.
To build the SP-01, CZ essentially took the P0-1 (an aluminum-framed, compact model already certified by NATO) and gave it a full-size steel frame and slide and an extended 18-round magazine while retaining the P0-1’s accessory rail. Following the gun’s positive reception in sports shooting circles, CZ clearly saw a new potential market and began cooking up designs to cater to them. In the two decades since, CZ has released a litany of excellent competition-focused pistols, but all are still based on the original CZ 75 at heart.
Lynn Twiss also shared this anecdote with me about how the original CZ SP-01 Shadow was born. “The result was a huge surprise, as well as a disappointment, since the pistol seemed too robust, heavy, and unsuitable for normal carry. It was supposed to be for special forces use, but we found it completely useless. This was perhaps the reason why no manufacturer had tried to make an all-steel pistol with slots for a flashlight. However, the real potential of the pistol did not go unnoticed by the aforementioned Milan Trkulja. He wanted to lend the gun he made to IPSC sport shooters for a few days, so they could test it. Instead of returning it after a couple of weeks, he kept it for three months and confirmed it would be a force to be reckoned with in the Production division. After a few minor modifications, the pistol called CZ 75 SP-01 SHADOW was fitted for our shooting team, who immediately started winning titles with it. The success of our shooters and their tools began to be noticed by other shooters and other manufacturers. There are similar concepts on the market today, but despite this fact, we consistently prove at each and every competition that our technology and know-how are far ahead of competing brands.”
Parting Shot
CZs have something of a cult following, but I say that with love because in many ways I’ve sipped the Kool-Aid, too. They are well-built, high-capacity, exceptionally accurate, wildly ergonomic pistols that have ample models and modifications to choose from.
My recommendation is if you haven’t had the chance to shoot a CZ yet, you should. Even just holding one, you can tell it’s an extension of your hand, and couple that with some custom, aftermarket grips and you no longer have a pistol—you have an appendage. Next time you’re at the gun shop, if you see one, pick it up.
A spread showing some various flavors of CZ pistols available today- ranging from compact carry models to race guns.
The original CZ 75 is not only a classic Cold War-era military pistol, but it remains an excellent shooter. That said, the design has only improved in terms of shootability since the company started focusing on the competition market. Whether you’re looking for a full-size target pistol, a compact carry gun or something in between, there’s a flavor of CZ 75 out there ready to do the job.
More Classic Military Guns:
Why The Mauser C96 “Broomhandle” Still Looms Large
The author takes a look at the cleaning kit offered by Liberty Lubricants, perfectly sized to throw in a range bag.
Liberty Lubricants has a slick cleaning kit (see what I did there?). The firm-sided zippered case holds the essentials for cleaning: solvent, oil and grease, patches, brushes and pull cables, as well as a handle and rod segments. Firm-sided? You know, formed textured nylon cases with a zipper around three sides that opens and lies flat. It’s firm enough to offer protection to its contents, but not so firm that it can’t be forced into a range bag. With it, you can do the cleaning you need at the range.
Using the Liberty cleaning kit, you can clean all of your various pistols and your AR-15, which covers pretty much any day at the range but that “special” one. Which one? There’s no knowing, but that’s one aspect of the Liberty cleaning kit that I like. The zippered case has enough extra room in it to fit in a few extra tools or supplies, depending on what you most-often shoot.
If you’re focused on AR-15s, a carbon-scraping tool would be a good addition, along with a few spares like some gas rings or a Viton O-ring taped to a business card.
If you shoot mostly a 9mm pistol, adding in a section or two for a larger-diameter cleaning rod to knock out a stuck bullet would be a once every few years lifesaver.
I can even see shotgunners adding in an extra bore brush to scrub the plastic from wads out of the bore to clean the muzzle if you get it jammed into the mud out hunting.
Why do this? Because while the zippered case is good, the solvent, lube and grease are excellent. The set makes the Liberty cleaning kit a package worth stuffing into your range bag to rest until it’s needed.
The Liberty Lubricants cleaning kit is a zippered, firm-sided case that holds a lot. And it has room for more.
I know some of you are thinking “Sweeney is OCD when it comes to cleaning; we’ve read columns like this before.” Actually, no. People who know me would laugh out loud if you said that. But what I do know is that things happen at the range.
I’m there a lot, and I’ve lost count of the “oops” and “oh nos” that happen. Like setting up a cool photograph of a pistol and the small-group target it just produced, on the shooting bench, only to have the pistol lemming-like dive off into the sandy mud. Just wiping it off for the photo is fine, but it has to have the bore swabbed out before the next round of shooting.
No cleaning kit? Then, you’re done for the day.
You only have to have that happen once to start packing cleaning supplies in the range bag. With the Liberty kit, you’re set up with a good basic cleaning kit and can customize it as you need or wish. Getting excellent cleaning solutions and tools to use them with is a bonus … a big bonus.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the March 2024 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Vortex has just announced the Defender-ST, an all-purpose micro red dot designed to work on everything from handguns to shotguns to carbines.
Following last year’s release of the Defender CCW, Vortex is now expanding the series with the release of the Defender-ST micro red dot sight. While the CCW was obviously intended for small, concealed carry pistols, the Defender-ST is larger and was designed for more general-purpose use on handguns, carbines, shotguns and offset riflescope mounts.
Mounted via a DeltaPoint Pro footprint, the Defender-ST has a slew of features that will make it an excellent choice for both duty and range use. That includes durability, as the Defender-ST is constructed from 7075 aluminum with a ShockShield polymer insert that’s designed to protect the optic from recoil impulses and the realities of daily use. It’s waterproof, fogproof and shockproof as well.
Other features include a large distortion-free aspherical lens, a textured front face to facilitate easier racking off objects and a choice between a 3- or 6-MOA red dot reticle. The Defender-ST also has 10 manually adjustable brightness settings, motion activation, a 10-minute auto-shutoff and an advertised ~25,000-hour battery life. Thanks to the location of the battery compartment, it can be replaced without removing the optic from the gun as well. I got to shoot with a Defender-ST while at Vortex’s headquarters this last winter, and it proved to be an excellent match for an offset mount on an AR-15 with an LPVO.
Each Defender-ST will ship with a Picatinny mount, a Glock MOS adaptor plate, a rubber cover, a lens cloth, one CR2032 battery, a tool and multiple sets of screws for mounting it on most common optics-ready handguns. MSRP is $469.99 and it’s available now.
Analyzing the growing demand for pistol red dot sights and handguns ready to accept them.
The rapid proliferation of pistol red dot sights has truly been something to watch. Not many years ago, the first attempts were made (usually by tinkerers) to integrate compact optical sights into pistol slides. The Trijicon RMR was probably the first of these “micro” dots that was added to pistol slides directly … not as part of a frame “race gun” mount. In doing my research, a few people can claim to be among the first to try it, but I couldn’t find any evidence that it was the unique idea of any one individual.
In fact, the RMR models at the time weren’t expressly designed to go on pistols, and some, including my own dual illuminated model, ended up back at the factory for repairs from being battered. What I can say now is that the trend in the industry is decidedly in favor of dots on handguns.
Closed Vs. Open Emitter Pistol Red Dots
Many types of dots exist on the market today. For the sake of simplicity, I’m not going to get too technical here and use all the marketing jargon to describe these products. Electronic sights, mini reflex, compact weapon aiming display, space laser, etc.—for our purposes, I’ll refer to them as “dots” from here on out. Basically, it’s what we’re dealing with: All of these sights accomplish the same goal at the end of the day.
At this point, we have two basic styles of dots.
Enclosing a red-dot sight is a sensible option to keep it clean. While blockier, it (middle) offers some advantages over open emitter sights. Note that the overall sizes of these dots are similar, but each offers something different for the end user.
The mainstay for a long time has been the “open” emitter style. This is a forward lens that has a dot projected onto it. The emitter projecting the dot, usually a small LED or the like, is literally open to the air. Examples of this type of dot include the RMR. Despite being common and more minimalist in approach, I don’t think they’re the “best” ones out there today, as more technology has become available in this smaller footprint.
The next type is closed emitter. As you can probably deduce, the emitter is enclosed within the body of the sight; front and rear lenses completely protect the internals. Now, this is a relatively new type of sight coming to handguns … and not everyone is excited about them. For starters, these sights tend to be blocky and large. The RMR is such a common sight on pistols that we have become collectively used to seeing it, and it can be a bit jarring to see something so large and industrial looking on the slide of a handgun. Trijicon recently released the RCR, and while I like it, it’s chunky and a little clunky … despite being the same footprint as the more svelte RMR.
I’m not really hung up on traditionalism here, if one could call the open emitter style “classic.” Somehow, my favorite 1911 looks and feels strange with a closed-emitter sight. The blocky appearance doesn’t flow with the lines and it seems out of place; however, we’re talking about an over 100-year-old design that’s also dressed up with a flashlight and suppressor. I leave the aesthetic quandary here to the better qualified, but I may just have to get used to it: Closed-emitter dots are, in general, superior to their open-emitter brethren.
Old meets … old? The 1911 platform can look a bit funky with a red-dot mounted, but flashlights and suppressors have been added to the classic warhorse for decades. The Military Arms Corporation pistol (below) is a nearly perfect replica of the Joint Special Operations Command Special Forces 1911s. At the time people were tinkering with them, dot sights just didn’t exist in this capacity, so these had custom adjustable sights put on as well as other accuracy modifications. Times do change, but a Black Hills 230-grain FMJ is always a good choice … no matter how modified your 1911 is.
A major and constant issue I have with open-emitter sights is cleanliness and reliability. Functionally, I’ve never had an issue with an RMR. In the field, well, that’s another story. You could argue that the RMR wasn’t designed as a pistol hunting sight—but it is to me and many other people. I find it to have changed my handgun hunting game at 50 yards and in, and the tiny 1 MOA dot I use is both fast and precise.
For concealed carry, I have also moved to an enclosed-emitter sight. In years past, Holosun had a bit of a “cheap” reputation and a somewhat iffy appearance as opposed to the clean, refined lines of the RMR. But that has changed, and there are some significant advances being made, such as cost for features. I like things that work at any price point, and yes, the new RCR is a staggering $849 suggested retail price.
The EPS line from Holosun is half the cost across the board, and for general-carry-gun use they are very solid and reliable. Closed emitters in carry guns are excellent choices in that they protect the emitter from sweat and lint, as well as have a better degree of protection against fogging. An added bonus is that the lens surfaces are easy to wipe clean—you don’t have to go digging around in the sight to wipe the interior lens or try to get crud out of the emitter so you can see the dot.
Dots And Lighting
Another real and distinct advantage of a closed emitter is that it’s much easier to use in low light. This is subjective, so don’t quote me here as gospel. I find that the “tube” style is easier to align and is significantly less prone to washout from external light sources than an open-emitter dot. I also find that, while it does somewhat obscure more of your visual area while aiming, I rarely have to “hunt” for the dot. This all depends on circumstances, but having done a lot of night shooting with artificial lighting I can say that dots can be very finicky.
The P365 is a very modular system that can accept a wide number of accessories. Superstition Concealment made the stylish camo holster and mag holder.
A main consideration for all dots is washout, and I fervently believe in complementary irons on a self-defense pistol. If you have a bright light on your pistol, in a closed space that light projecting on the wall is enough to wash out your vision, making the dot seemingly disappear. If you have a bright dot for daytime use, it may be so bright in the dark that it completely obscures your lens. Doing drills with various dots in various light conditions has shown me that they can be a liability when you don’t have the right brightness settings or various external lighting conditions.
50,000 Rounds Of Hard Lessons
I’ve shot the absolute heck out of my pistol dots, and I was an early adopter of this type of pistol sight mostly because I wanted an edge in pistol hunting. It turns out you can stretch these sights pretty far. I’ve landed hits (but not consistently … that’s a long shot) at 400 and 500 yards with dot pistols. That said, 200 yards on an IDPA silhouette is possible with a decent pistol with a 1-3 MOA dot. You don’t have to be a trick shot these days to take advantage of off-the-shelf equipment. In fact, it’s stunningly easy to do.
Confidence building is something that dot sights are, without a doubt, great at cultivating. The learning curve of iron sights can be steep, and having a very easily adjustable floating dot in place of irons cuts down the learning curve exponentially.
Suppressor use has doubtlessly increased red-dot acceptance on handguns. Taller sights became standard on many models that were deemed “suppressor ready” and when red dots became popular, people found that these tall irons worked in tandem with the dots. Sometimes things just work out for the best.
Younger people are now growing up with this type of sight as commonplace, which was the same with iron sights a couple generations ago. Virtually all of my friends now carry with dots on their pistols, and many have integrated them into their hunting pistols in place of traditional tube scopes. The 10mm Auto is still gaining popularity as an outdoor chambering, and dot sights are helping to turn people on to look in its direction. Something about a 6-inch 1911 in 10mm with a dot sight zeroed for 100 yards just makes me giddy … and that’s coming from an avowed .45 ACP man. Irons will always have their place, but I can’t deny how quickly people gain proficiency on any gun using a simpler aiming system.
Trijicon RMR
The full-size RMR is the author’s old buddy and has been used for countless rounds. The 1911 in .45 ACP, especially suppressed, is an easy gun on optics, and it’s truly a complement to the gun.
I began using the open-emitter style in the RMR years ago. I have the most rounds on the RMR, and I’ve owned four: one dual illuminated, two LED versions and one RMRcc. In that time, I’ve fired a combined total of about 35,000 rounds with them mounted on both pistols and as a piggyback on a rifle. I’ve carried the RMRcc daily on my P365.
The RMRcc is a great little sight. Just as rugged as the full-size model, the CC variant can survive some serious use. The optic cut on this wasn’t done at the factory. The RMRcc was unsupported by Sig, so the cut was done on a factory slide by Maple Leaf Firearms of Celina, Texas. They do fine work.
The main RMR use I have under my belt is on the 1911 in .45 ACP, both suppressed and with all sorts of ammo types. In years past, I shot this gun heavily, mostly with handloads. I’ve had to replace the recoil spring twice, but every other part has held up to the abuse. The RMR has held up to some severe abuse. I’ve bounced it against rocks and it’s worn some mud, got it rained and snowed on, shot it in classes spending 500 rounds a day nonstop—and I’ve come to completely trust its reliability. The RMR is the real deal, and while it’s an open-emitter sight, it’s just so damn good that I can’t bring myself to say it has any disadvantage, despite it wearing arguably outdated technology as compared to closed-emitter functionality.
All types of dot sights can be integrated onto full-size rifle mounts. There are many styles, such as piggybacked, 45-degree offset, integral ring cap mounts and other options. If you have a large rifle and are perhaps preparing for a close shot, these come in handy. Do be aware that weight adds up and the extra optics are another thing to maintain.
Sig Electro-Optics RomeoZero
Sig Sauer has been pushing the limits on many of their designs these days and have come out with some really nice stuff, but based on some of the features, beware that it’s not for everyone. I shot the RomeoZero on a P365 slide as shown in the accompanying photos, and I promptly put 2,000 rounds through. I’m not a fan of the “tap to program” feature, nor do I like the “shake awake” style of activation … but for some shooters, I realize it’s a major asset. I prefer buttons in my car; I’m not a man who enjoys touch screens, and I got the same feel with the RomeoZero. I want to choose the controls manually—I came to realize this really wasn’t the sight for me, but it might be for you. At this point I have about 5,000 rounds under it, and it has presented no problems outside of personal preference.
Sig’s dot sight came from the factory mounted on this slide. It’s the least costly at retail and is slightly harder to get used to than the others, offering no physical buttons. The integration of inexpensive dot sights will likely become standard on factory pistols soon.
Holosun EPS Carry
The Holosun EPS Carry is an enclosed emitter sight, and it has become my favorite carry pistol optic. I have it mounted on a True Precision slide, and it’s my daily carry sight. The only thing I did to it was replace the factory screws with some that were a bit beefier, but that was a personal choice. So far, I’ve ran about 5,000 rounds with this sight, and I practice with it at every range trip to keep my skills up. It is, hands-down, the most easy-to-use micro dot I’ve shot. On a small gun like the P365, it speeds up my shooting by providing a more tube-like image—my eye is drawn to the center like a big ghost-ring sight. I won’t say my groups have improved when shooting fast, but my time to get on target in most lighting situations is dramatically faster, as is my hit rate shooting one-handed or weak-handed.
Holosun offers a large and ever-expanding range of dots for pistols. They’re relatively inexpensive, rugged and often have cutting-edge features.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the March 2024 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
A quick look at .30 Remington AR, a cartridge designed for big-game hunting with an AR-15.
The .30 Remington AR was designed by Remington as a big-game cartridge specifically for the company’s R-15 rifle. It was introduced in 2009. Remington engineers started with the .450 Bushmaster case and went from there. A pointed .30-caliber bullet of reasonable weight is longer than a blunt-nosed .45-caliber bullet, so, to keep overall cartridge length compatible with the standard AR-15 magazine, the case was shortened to 1.525 inches from the original 1.7 inches of the Bushmaster design.
Back at its base, the .30 AR case starts with a diameter of 0.500 inch, and from there it tapers to 0.488 inch at the juncture of the body and shoulder. Neck diameter is 0.341 inch, and the case has a shoulder angle of 25 degrees.
The AR-15 rifle in .450 Bushmaster utilizes the standard .223 Remington bolt, modified by increasing its bolt face diameter to a nominal 0.473 inch (same as the .308 Winchester). When this is done, the counterbore wall, or shroud of the bolt, becomes rather thin. This is considered a safe modification because the cartridge operates at a maximum chamber pressure level of 38,000 psi (same as the .30-30 Winchester).
But, because the .30 AR is loaded to 55,000 psi, Remington opted for additional case rim support. This was accomplished by modifying the larger-diameter AR-10 bolt to fit the AR-15 upper. The face of that bolt is commonly sized for the 0.473-inch rim diameter of the .308 Winchester, but Remington went one step further by opening it up a bit and increasing the rim diameter of the .30 AR case to 0.492 inch.
By the time the job was done, the only thing the .30 AR case had in common with the .450 Bushmaster case was a base diameter of 0.500 inch. Remington went with a case rim diameter larger than that for the .450 Bushmaster to prevent a bolt built for that cartridge from being used in an R-15 upper with a .30 AR barrel.
General Comments
With a length of 0.305 inch, the neck of the .30 Remington AR is capable of exerting plenty of tension on the bullet, a good thing to have on a cartridge designed to survive the rather violent trip it must take from the magazine to the chamber of an auto-loading rifle. The short, fat case of rebated rim design has a gross capacity of 44 grains, about 10 grains less than in the .308 Winchester case, or approximately the same as in the .30-30 Winchester case.
But because the .30 AR is loaded to higher chamber pressures than the .30-30 Win., it exceeds the maximum velocity of that cartridge. When the 125-grain Core-Lokt factory load is zeroed 3 inches high at 100 yards, it will strike about 2 inches above point of aim at 200 yards and approximately 7 inches low at 300, where it’s still packing upward of 1,000 ft-lb of energy. The .30 AR comes close to duplicating the performance of the .300 Savage when both are loaded with a 125- or 150-grain bullet.
The allure of this cartridge is that it turns the AR-15 platform into a true big-game rifle capable of terminal performance identical to that of the .300 Savage with bullets weighing 150 grains or less. It’s suitable for deer, black bear and similarly sized game out to around 300 yards. Also, wildcatters have necked the .30 Remington AR case up and down, further increasing the versatility of the AR-15 platform.
Things are getting really complex around here. From precision rifles with micro-adjusting stocks, to a flood of black striker-fired pistol options, to ARs with enough handguard attachment room that it’s quite literally possible to make that gun too heavy to carry — there’s a lot going on in the world of new guns right now.
Don’t break your neck reading too hard between the lines: Each one of those categories has its place, and I enjoy tinkering with all new guns more than most. But with all that happening, the classic bolt-action sporting rifle platform has been all but overlooked. And that’s a shame, because there’s nothing more therapeutic than slow-rolling a buttery bolt and watching a round slide up into a hungry, long-action chamber.
Here’s a nod to those who are not only keeping the sporting bolt-gun heritage alive, but who are making impressive improvements on a platform that was never broken to begin with.
Franchi Momentum
Known exclusively for its waterfowl, sporting and upland shotguns, Franchi enters 2018 by not just dipping their toes into the sporting bolt-action world, but by going all in with their Italian influenced Momentum. Leading the momentum of the Momentum (sorry, couldn’t help it), is the stock, which combines raised curves and checkering in the hold areas of frequently used shooting positions.
Let me say it like this: Think about where you put your hands to support the rifle while shooting from prone, or kneeling, or sitting — or while shooting offhand. The Momentum features unique grips in each of these locations.
In addition, the tri-lug bolt is spiral fluted for a rock-solid lockup and features a short 60-degree throw. While I appreciate the convenience of a rotary box magazine, Franchi chose to go with the more classic hinged floorplate mag, which I like. During some shooting of the Momentum prototypes, I had suggested that Franchi etch an elegant “F” on the belly of the floorplate to further distinguish the fine Italian craftsmanship within, but I’ve yet to see that come to fruition. Maybe on a Gen 2 model?
I also appreciate that I could still operate the bolt with the two-position safety engaged, and the single-stage trigger is adjustable from 2-4 pounds and is built to impress — especially on a rifle of this price point.
Other features include a TSA recoil pad; and a cold-hammer-forged, chrome-molybdenum, free-floating threaded barrel. The 6.6-pound Momentum has an impressive offering of calibers and color options right out of the gate.
MSRP: Starts at $799
Mauser M18
More than 120 years ago, the introduction of the M98 action transformed everything that was known about bolt-action rifle design. While the M18 Mauser isn’t as monumental as the M98 was in its day, the level of quality Mauser has brought to the budget-friendly sporting rifle category is equally as jaw-dropping.
According to Mauser, the goal of the M18 is to return the art of rifle building to its original form — pure, no-frills workmanship — by offering a genuine tool for genuine hunters with a sensational price-to-performance ratio.
Features of the M18 include a three-position safety system that acts directly on the trigger lug, soft grip inlays on the grip and forend, a removable double-row five-shot magazine, cold-hammered barrel and an adjustable direct-action trigger.
Unique to the M18 is what Mauser is calling a “multi-purpose-cap,” which consists of a quickly removable butt pad that opens to allow access to an in-stock storage compartment. The rifle is currently offered with in different configurations and caliber options include .223 Rem., .243 Win., .270 Win., 6.5 PRC, 6.5 Creedmoor, .308 Win., .30-06 Spring., 7mm Rem. Mag. and .300 Win. Mag.
MSRP: Starts at $901
Bergara B-14 Ridge
If you’re seriously shopping for a bolt-action sporting rifle and have yet to look under the hood of a Bergara, your search simply is not complete. New for 2018, the B-14 Ridge features a molded synthetic, glass-fiber reinforced polymer stock, which adds as much strength to the rifle as is does beauty. A SoftTouch coating is then applied to create a soft yet tacky feel for exceptional grip. The Bergara 4140 CrMo steel barrel is finished in matte blue and available in a 22-inch (7.9 pounds) and 24-inch (8.1 pounds) configurations. B-14 Ridge stocks are bedded with integral pillars for stability and enhanced accuracy, and the barrel is threaded to accept muzzle brakes or suppressors.
And, of course, what would a Bergara rifle be without mentioning the Spanish Bergara barrel around which this rifle is built? The action is Bergara’s own B-14 Action, featuring a two-lug bolt with a sliding plate extractor and a “coned” bolt nose and breech to create ultra-smooth feeding and extraction. The Bergara curved trigger comes set at near 3 pounds, and the action is drilled and tapped to fit Remington 700 style rings and bases.
The B-14 Ridge is available in: .308 Win., 6.5 Creedmoor, .243 Win., .22-250 Rem., 450 Bushmaster, 7mm-08, 6.5 PRC, .30-06 Spring., .270 Win., .300 Win. Mag., 7mm Rem Mag, 300 PRC and 7mm PRC.
MSRP: Starts at $929
Mossberg Patriot LR Hunter
It’s been a handful of years since Mossberg first unveiled the Patriot, and the family of Patriot rifles has continued to grow each year since. To date, Patriot models include: Hunting, Vortex-scoped combos, Night Train, Youth, and Predator— with stocks available in either walnut or synthetic. For 2020, Mossberg added the Patriot LR Hunter to the lineup.
The entire Patriot line is best known for Mossberg’s LBA (Lightning Bolt Action) Adjustable Trigger, which is adjustable from 2 to 7 pounds and designed to eliminate creep. The Patriot’s button-rifled fluted barrels are free-floated and have a recessed crown, and the spiral-fluted bolt features an ergonomic bolt angle and knurled bolt handle for quick cycling of the action. They’re sweet-looking rifles.
New features on the LR Hunter include its Monte Carlo stock with machined aluminum bedding pillars, a fluted and threaded barrel and an ergonomically shaped stock with grips that are ideal for both benchrest and field shooting. The stock is also polymer-coated to provide a micro-texture surface for an improved grip.
The Patriot LR Hunter is available in either .308 Winchester, .300 Win. Mag., 6.5 Creedmoor or 6.5 PRC.
MSRP: $847
Savage Impulse
When most people hear “straight-pull bolt-action”, they think of European rifles. Understandable, as the system was pioneered by Mannlicher and is probably best known for its use in the Swiss K31. Savage was looking to change that perception in 2021 when they introduced the Savage Impulse. An American-designed and made straight-pull rifle, the Savage Impulse utilizes modern manufacturing methods to create a system that’s smoother, faster and at least as accurate existing straight-pull rifles.
The Impulse uses what Savage calls the Hexlock action, which features six ball bearings and corresponding detents as opposed to traditional locking lugs. Because of how this design cleverly takes advantage of leverage, it requires the shooter to use less force to unlock it. The resulting action is incredibly smooth and fast, enabling faster follow-up shots and target acquisition.
Like many Savage bolt-actions, the Impulse features the company’s AccuFit, AccuStock and AccuTrigger systems for enhancing ergonomics and practical accuracy. As a bonus, the bolt handle on the Impulse is easily reversible too, making it a great choice for lefties.
Savage now has seven Impulse models available in a variety of calibers, making them suitable for hunting a wide variety of game as well as for more tactical applications. Pictured is the Hog Hunter Impulse model, available in 6.5 Creedmoor, .30-06 Spring., .300 Win. Mag. and .308 Win.
MSRP: Starts at $1,509
Savage 110 Storm
For rifle shooters, the Savage 110 is as much a household name as Remington 870 is for shotgunners. The 110 has seen its share of innovation in its 60-year reign, but 2018 perhaps marks the biggest advancements that the 110 has ever experienced.
New for 2018 is the Savage 110 Storm, which features all the tried-and-true guts of the Model 110 action, but with a completely different body centering around the AccuStock. The Savage AccuStock consists of a rigid rail system embedded in the stock that extends through the fore-end of the rifle, engaging the action three-dimensionally along its entire length. But here’s the tangible part: The AccuStock also features five comb risers and four length-of-pull inserts that are included to provide the perfect fit — and it’s all easily interchangeable and locked down by the buttplate screws.
And, with 12 chamberings available, finding a Model 110 Storm to “fit” your needs should be quite simple.
MSRP: $989
Weatherby Mark V Backcountry 2.0
As the name implies, Weatherby designed the Mark V Backcountry 2.0 to be the ultimate backcountry hunting rifle. Built to be rucked long distances deep into rough country without becoming cumbersome, Weatherby utilized many modern materials and construction methods to bring the weight of the Mark V Backcountry 2.0 to be as low as possible.
Space-age materials like carbon fiber and titanium are expensive, however, so the Backcountry 2.0 is available at a few different price points depending on options. If purchasing the most expensive variant, the Backcountry 2.0 can weigh in at less than five pounds, making it ideal for hunting that requires a good amount of trekking. Regardless of the price, each Backcountry 2.0 comes bedded in a carbon fiber Peak 44 Blacktooth stock, still making the rifle much lighter than most similar models on the market.
Because large calibers fired from light rifles aren’t always the most fun to shoot, Weatherby has also included a 3DHEX recoil pad and Accubrake ST with each Backcountry to help ease the pain.
In terms of mechanical accuracy, Weatherby guarantees sub-MOA capabilities out of the Backcountry 2.0, and the included adjustable single-stage TriggerTech trigger should help with practical accuracy as well.
The Weatherby Mark V Backcountry 2.0 is available with an impressive 17 different chambering options, ranging from standards like .308 Winchester to powerful Weatherby Magnum cartridges. Some are available in left-hand configurations as well.
MSRP: Starting at $2,699
Kimber Open Range Pro Carbon
Launched in 2020, the Kimber Open Range Pro Carbon series was yet another rifle line to get caught up in the carbon fiber craze. It features an AG Composites carbon fiber stock, a 24-inch PROOF Research carbon fiber-wrapped barrel and a total weight of just over 6 pounds when unloaded.
The Kimber Open Range rifles utilize Mauser-style, controlled-feed actions and feature precision machining in their barrels and chambers. This results in an incredibly consistent lockup and is what enables Kimber to guarantee sub-MOA accuracy out of these guns. The adjustable match-grade trigger should help shooters squeeze every last bit of accuracy out of the design as well.
For hunters or shooters who tend to subject their rifle to the conditions of the great outdoors, the Open Range series features Kimber’s all-weather KimPro finish, and the stock is available in a camouflage pattern as well.
Kimber Open Range Pro Carbon rifles are available in either 6.5 Creedmoor or .308 Winchester.
MSRP: $3,301
Springfield Waypoint 2020
Springfield turned some heads in 2020 when they released the Waypoint, the company’s first bolt-action rifle in over 100 years. It uses a Remington 700 action, but a lot has been done to improve upon the design. The bolt has been spirally fluted, polished and then nitrided to reduce friction as much as possible, resulting in what feels like an action that’s much smoother than traditional Remington 700s.
The Waypoint’s barrel is advertised as being capable of .75-MOA accuracy and is threaded 5/8×24 for attaching suppressors, although they ship with an SA Radial muzzle brake attached. The barrel is also available with an optional carbon fiber sleeve.
The stock is made from carbon fiber and includes an adjustable cheek comb, and each rifle includes an adjustable TriggerTech trigger as well. The cherry on top of each Springfield Waypoint is the slick camouflage paint job each receives before shipping, with two different patterns to choose from.
The Springfield Waypoint is available chambered in .308 Winchester, 6mm Creedmoor, 6.5 Creedmoor and 6.5 PRC.
Sig shook things up in 2019 when they announced the CROSS. It was the company’s first bolt-action rifle to be released since the 1990s, but being made by Sig wasn’t the only thing unique about it. Sig claims that the CROSS was designed to “meet the demands of both precision long-range shooting and extreme backcountry hunting”, and one look at the gun will tell you that is true. With skeletonized parts throughout and the liberal use of lightweight materials, Sig markets the CROSS as being the “lightest and most portable rifle in its class” due to its sub-6.5-pound weight and folding buttstock.
Portability and a light weight do not a precision rifle make, however, but thankfully, the CROSS is plenty accurate as well. Available in either .308 Winchester or Sig’s .277 FURY with a 16-inch barrel, or in 6.5 Creedmoor with an 18-inch barrel, all CROSS rifles feature a solid, single-piece receiver that is more than capable of producing sub-MOA groups.
Other precision features on the Sig CROSS include its highly adjustable buttstock, 2-stage match trigger and three-lug bolt.
MSRP: $1,779
Editor's Note: Adam Borisenko contributed to this article.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the Shooter's Guide 2018 of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Build Your Rifle IQ:
5 Best Scout Rifles To Seriously Consider For Survival
Whether in an Excel spreadsheet or in a notebook, recording your reloading data is invaluable.
A friend recently purchased a used rifle—a cool, old Remington 700 in the classic .280 Remington—which proved to be particularly finicky. He got his hands on what factory ammunition he could find, and the gun just didn’t seem happy. It was struggling to print 1½ MOA, though the previous owner had insisted it was a “tack driver.” Scratching his head, my pal asked the previous owner exactly what ammunition it shot so well, and the older gentleman proudly told him, “My handloads.”
“Um, sir, do you by any chance have that data for the rifle you sold me?” The gentleman proudly nodded in the affirmative and ambled off to find “the book.” Thumbing through the pages, he stopped on a page that contained a rather detailed record of the old timer’s load development, culminating in the final choice: a 160-grain Nosler Partition over a load of IMR-4350, all sparked by a CCI-200 large rifle primer. Cartridge overall length was also noted, along with a velocity as suggested by whatever reloading manual the gent had used.
My friend brought that data to my shop. With all those components on-hand, in a matter of a half-hour we had some test loads cobbled together, and I sent him on his way to the range. When my phone rang about 90 minutes later, my friend’s elated voice told me all I needed to know—the rifle was shooting as he wanted it to. Three of those classic Noslers were printing groups measuring less than ⅝-inch at the 100-yard target board, and we had a happy camper on the butt end of the rifle … all because a reloader had the wisdom to keep diligent records.
When loading different projectiles for the same cartridge—such as the 180-grain Scirocco and 220-grain Hornady shown here in the .300 Winchester Magnum—it’s good to keep very specific notes regarding all aspects of each load. Photo: Massaro Media Group.
Be Diligent
Fast-forward to the digital age, where smartphones, voice notes and the evil Excel spreadsheet have all helped to displace handwritten notes, the keeping of records has been both enhanced and diminished equally.
I was raised working as a land surveyor. In that aspect, I have a deep and unwavering respect for keeping detailed and diligent notes, and that undoubtedly carried over to my time as a reloader. Now, with the technological era having firmly taken root—even in the reloading world—there are some wonderful benefits to having these digital tools and the ability to store our data within the machines. However, there are very strong points to be made for keeping a good, old-fashioned notebook for all of your reloading experiences and adventures.
I’ve often referred to reloading manuals as a simple snapshot in time, or a laboratory report of one particular rifle’s interactions with varying combinations of bullet, primer, case brand, and powder type and charge weight. As serious reloaders know, few—if any—loads are universal, as the subtleties involved with the components of the load and the construction of the rifle or handgun can play a huge role in the variations from the listed data in any manual.
So, it’s essentially up to the individual reloader to create their own manual for the firearms they own and load for. Keeping detailed records of both successes and failures will not only shed light on the trials and tribulations of load development, but it will save time in future endeavors.
What data should we be keeping records of? I’m glad you’ve asked.
With precision tools like the Redding Micrometer Adjustable Crimp die, even more parameters of your handloaded ammo can be recorded. Photo: Massaro Media Group.
Reloading Data: Which Numbers Matter?
Quite obviously, for each cartridge loaded for, you’d want to know the case brand; primer brand and type; powder brand and charge weight; bullet brand, make and weight; and seating depth. I also want to see the number of times these cases have been fired and/or trimmed (if at all), and the depth to which they were trimmed. I want to know whether the bullet has been crimped, whether it was a roll crimp or taper crimp.
For the long-range crowd, the double-rifle shooters or even for the more picayune reloaders, group size and velocity measurements taken at each range session could be recorded, along with the correlative weather conditions, including temperature and humidity, to derive the effects of environmental factors.
For those who make every effort to keep things as consistent as possible, the lot number of the powder used might even be recorded.
Those disciples of the long-range arts are heavily dependent on uniform velocity figures, much more than hunters who spend the vast majority of our time inside of 300 yards. To those “reach-out-and-touch-’em” folks, variations of 25 to 50 fps will make a definite difference out past 1,000 yards.
A proper roll crimp—as shown here on the hard-kicking .500 Jeffery—requires a balance of case length, bullet seating depth and seating die setup; detailed loading notes can help save time in setting up the needed components. Photo: Massaro Media Group.
For the double rifle crowd—who are aiming for a specific velocity to match the ammunition with which the rifle was regulated—you’ll often see a summer load and a winter load developed. The temperature difference can have a measurable effect on accuracy and how well the two barrels throw their shots.
All this information can be entered into a computer program—I do like Excel for its ease of layout—but I only use the electronic means of storing data as a backup. I still prefer to handwrite my notes, as it allows me to record my thoughts and observations without the confines of a box on a spreadsheet.
And, to me, that notebook is sacred: the one that has all the reports of finally finding the perfect combination, or has the red letters, “DON’T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!”
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the March 2024 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
The author reviews the classic Springfield M1903 Mark 1, a historic gem still capable of producing impressive results.
The M1903 Springfield is one of those guns that just about every shooter knows, and for the most part, it needs no introduction on these pages. It’s certainly not the last bolt action rifle issued to American forces, though to truly appreciate it you must understand just how advanced this rifle was at the time it was introduced.
What follows here is the story of not just the M1903, but the significant thinking that spawned concepts we now use today. The rifle was on the edge of technological advancement in its day, and it was called to do some incredible things … including transforming into a semi-automatic, pistol-caliber rifle.
The Pretender Takes The Throne
In the turmoil and uncertainty of the late Industrial Revolution, most of the world’s great powers were in an era of colonial expansion. The threats they encountered ranged from hostile natives to forces with similar or better technology. These were the days before tanks, drones, missiles and all sorts of modern horrors. The horse and saber were still in regular use, and forces were just as likely to meet a violent end at the tip of African spears as they were machine gun fire in some places in the world.
The British were dominating entire mounted armies with just a few Maxim guns that cut down thousands of men in mere minutes. America, like the rest, sought to expand its influence into the Philippines and the Gulf of Mexico in a war against Spain. While American military intervention was likely not the best course of action against a better-prepared foe, our country went anyway and found that boldness was a bandage, not a cure, for their obvious technological shortcomings.
The M1903 loads from five round stripper clips in the exact same way that Mauser rifles do … because it’s a Mauser.
American forces fought against the Spanish in Cuba with the Krag rifle, a gun that was inferior in design. The Germans, Russians and British all had stripper clip-fed magazine rifles, all of which were obviously better than the slow loading, underpowered Krag and its .30-40 cartridge. The American military mind at the time was regressive; many of the officers in charge of procurement had kept the single-shot Trapdoor Springfield in .45-70 until the last minute, while European powers were already fielding belt-fed machine guns.
The Spanish had the Mauser rifle in 7mm—a cartridge that’s still theoretically relevant judging by how the 6.8 and 7mm bores are being reevaluated today. The Spanish Mauser was a wake-up call to the American military, and an immediate response was issued that demanded the same performance … and a more powerful cartridge.
And this is where things get a bit muddy. Instead of designing a totally new rifle or looking at European cartridges, the American government essentially ripped off Mauser and copied the design with a hilariously small amount of alteration. Copying someone else’s homework is usually cool with the teacher as long as you don’t write it word for word, but the American government simply didn’t care and, sure enough, they lost an international lawsuit and had to pay the Mauser company what was a fortune at the time.
To make it worse, the original cartridge, the .30-03, was an immediately outdated round-nose design, making it inferior to all the European cartridges of the time, which were all “pointed” or spitzer versions. Few .30-03 rifles exist today, and they’re very valuable: The government converted all rifles in inventory to the new .30-06 cartridge.
Remington UMC 150-grain loads are great for general use in the M1903. Hornady’s M1 Garand 168-grain match load is excellent and very accurate. If you want some great, traditional hunting fun, load the 220-grain Hornady bullets with Hodgdon powder.
Now, with a suitably advanced bolt action, America was ready for what came next.
The prewar years were easy on the M1903. It was used in military actions, some of questionable legitimacy, in Mexico and in South America. The rifle performed very well, and the design was well known to be very accurate and lethal. This time period saw calvary troopers with bolt-action rifles, lever actions, automatic pistols, revolvers and all sorts of varied attempts to integrate these new systems.
George Patton cut his teeth in these conflicts, as did other famous names like Pancho Villa and Gen. Pershing—all deeply associated with the early history of the M1903. All this romanticism would soon end, and the era of colonial adventurism would take a sour turn as European brothers turned their new guns toward each other instead of joining forces to continue conquering the world and spreading industrial civilization.
The most “civilized” nations on Earth would rip each other to pieces and send an entire generation of young men to death in the mud. American forces entered this horror with the M1903 in hand, an already outdated rifle but with no good replacement on the horizon. Automatic rifles were the next thing, but that need wouldn’t be met until millions of lives had already been lost.
The Springfield rear sight is advanced yet simple, affording the shooter four aiming points either as U-notch or peep sight, and it even incorporated spin drift. Outside of an optical sight, this rear sight is about as good as it gets for the era.
A Legacy Of Attempted Innovation
What people often fail to realize was that the M1903 was probably the most accurate, reliable and advanced bolt gun of its day, but it struggled because it largely wasn’t meant for the terrain and style of fighting that occurred in the war. The armies were uniformly armed with what amounted to target rifles geared for long-range use in open spaces.
Most of the wars fought up until this point, from an American point of view, were dynamic with high levels of movement … such as in the running battles fought in Mexico. Slow-firing, highly accurate bolt action rifles were ideal for that version fighting, but in the trenches, the rifles were used largely in frontal attacks: large artillery shells and gas were the leading cause of casualties … next to machine guns. The individual soldier was literally outgunned and had to rely on the bayonet if things got close, and close combat was a norm inside the trenches.
Variations on the M1903 began to pop up, including versions with extended magazines, suppressors and optics. These designs had been tested, and it’s believed that there were suppressed M1903 sniper rifles in use as early as 1916 in Mexico. “Periscope” rifles were also developed to safely shoot from inside a trench.
The M1903 features a magazine cutoff switch—an interesting idea, but it was a holdover from the old school of thinking. A soldier would load five in the magazine, activate the cutoff, then single feed individual rounds on top of the magazine to save ammunition.
Yet, for all this, the M1903 was still a powerful bolt-action rifle, and the need to increase firepower was of utmost importance. Many designs were in the works, such as the Thompson submachine gun, but they would arrive too late to make a difference. To bridge the gap and provide the individual soldier with an appropriate weapon for all uses, the M1903 was looked at as the base for a wild concept: converting a powerful bolt-action rifle into a semi-auto, pistol-caliber rifle—with the ability to simply switch back and forth.
As strange as it sounds, this is exactly what happened.
The Pedersen Device
While it appears in video games and media occasionally, the Pedersen Device was very rare—even when it was introduced. The concept was supposedly going to be adapted to other rifles, such as the Mosin Nagant (interestingly enough, Mosin rifles were made in America as well as Russia), and it was intended to be included as a complete system for infantry rifles. This never happened, and it’s extremely unlikely that the devices ever saw combat.
The idea behind this device was that a group of soldiers could attack and defend with greater effectiveness at close distance, while at the same time being able to fight at longer ranges with full-power cartridges. Because the Springfield rifle is .30 caliber, the device used a special cartridge that originated in America, the 7.62x20mm. It’s better known by its metric designation because France actually adopted it after the war and used it well into the Vietnam era.
The idea that soldiers could hold ground better with these underpowered pistol rounds is dubious at best, but it demonstrated that there was a general need for something of an in-between cartridge that was able to be fired in rifles but had a weight savings and capacity advantage. Many attempts would be made over the next decades, until the first true intermediate rounds were developed by the Nazis with the 8x33mm for the STG44, making it the first true “assault rifle” that eventually antiquated many full-size rifles.
In the meantime, the concept of the Pedersen and its small .30-caliber cartridge led to the thinking behind the M1 Carbine and its own .30 Carbine cartridge, which proved to be a far more successful product that saw plenty of use … despite better options existing.
Since the concept was largely unviable, production ended about as soon as it began, and most Pedersen Devices were destroyed or lost to time. Surviving examples are very rare, commanding prices upward of $60,000. Rifles that were designed to use the Pedersen Device are a separate evolution of the M1903 and carry the designation “MARK 1.”
The number of Mark 1 rifles manufactured is up for some debate. Some estimates place them as high as 10 percent of total M1903 production, but in my own research and my two decades as a CMP shooter and collector, I’ve only come across one of these rifles in original, but re-arsenaled, condition … and it’s in this article.
There are definite discrepancies in the serial number ranges and apparent numbers that are on the market, and more than that, I estimate that 99 percent of these rifles had their altered parts swapped in for standard M1903 parts by the military. In other words, collecting these rifles is a crapshoot. The only real way to get close is to check for the Mark 1 stamping and, of course, the telltale ejection port cut in the left side of the receiver.
The number of these rifles available today is quite small, and their value is extremely subjective. My rifle retains most of the original parts, including the smooth Mark 1 trigger. That trigger alone is worth a good amount. I replaced it in my gun with a standard serrated M1903 trigger, knowing I was going to shoot it in CMP matches. My rifle was original and even had the original cosmoline, rust-inhibiting wax wrapper.
I bought the rifle for a song because it was encased in a hardened layer of said cosmoline, and the owner thought it was trash. I had to keep a straight face after examining it, because it was worth easily four times what I paid. The cosmo layer only took me an afternoon to remove, and I found that the rifle was in un-issued condition with a 1919-dated barrel that corresponded to the serial number, meaning it was likely this barrel was original to the receiver. Of note, the presence of a wrapper on the gun and the fact that mine has a standard “S” stock with correct acceptance stamps (no ejection port cut) proves that it was a re-arsenaled gun.
The ejection port for the small, .30-caliber cases is on the side of the main M1903 receiver. Note that the author’s example was re-arsenaled to standard M1903 configuration, and by this time the Pedersen Device was already in the trash.
In my experience, the Mark 1 variants are exceedingly difficult to find. The receiver markings are valuable on their own, even if the rest of the rifle is unoriginal, the special receiver can add as much as $1,000 on top of the base 1903 value. My rifle in this article would sell for around $3,000 given that it retains many of the original Mark 1 small parts but has a later Parkerized finish, as opposed to the glossy black common to truly original guns. A complete rifle with original finish would be valued at somewhere around $5,000.
Now, could an enterprising man simply buy the correct small parts and add them to his Mark 1 receiver? Sure, and few would know any different because most of these guns were re-arsenaled in the interwar years, much like mine. You should exercise caution at these prices. If you’re looking for an original, it should have the straight “S” stock with two crossbolts, correct Mark 1 stamping, ejection port cut and slightly swept bolt handle. Finding rifles with original triggers designed for alternating between bolt action and semi auto are rare, and, as I mentioned, I swapped mine out to prevent it from getting damaged.
The M1903 Mark 1 In Action
It’s extremely likely that I’m the first person outside of the arsenal to fire this rifle. As a result, I’m able to fully assess what a 105-year-old rifle was truly capable of. I found that, off the bench, the Mark 1 rifle was capable of easily holding 1.5-inch groups using modern Hornady 168-grain M1 Garand match loads. For comparison, my Fulton Armory M1 rifle, essentially a new gun in all respects that matter, is capable of the same accuracy with the same ammunition. I shot both the Fulton M1 and the Mark 1 rifle at the 2023 Camp Perry National Matches and took a silver and bronze, respectively.
The M1903 would serve alongside the M1 rifle in WWII, in both the M1903 configuration like the author’s rifle or, in the later, mass-produced M1903A3 model.
Ammunition in the 150-grain class is substantially more comfortable to fire in the Mark 1. My personal favorite is the Remington UMC load; it’s affordable and able to print groups around 2 inches for 10 shots at 100 yards. In fact, it’s my go-to load for this rifle, being that I really only shoot iron sights out to 300 yards.
I’m extremely impressed with the craftsmanship of the rifle overall, and the ammunition was the limiting factor in the day. A Camp Perry legend and record set in 1921 by Bob Farr was done with an off-the-rack M1903. He shot 71 consecutive bull’s-eyes at a staggering 1,000 yards until the coming darkness of night made him stop. This feat has never been bested, and his overall record still stands.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the March 2024 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
More Classic Military Guns:
Why The Mauser C96 “Broomhandle” Still Looms Large
Languishing in semi-obscurity for a good quarter century, the 10mm has earned new-won respect in recent years. There’s plenty of reasons for Col. Jeff Cooper's darling wandering the wilderness all those years. The first pistol chambered for the powerful cartridge – the notorious Bren Ten – didn’t exactly pirouette onto the stage. And similar to the .44 Magnum, average shooters liked the concept of the snappy cartridge on paper better than when the squeezed the trigger.
As to its rise, who’s to say exactly? From my perspective, the safe wager is that it’s the 10mm’s versatility that has captured ever-fickle shooters’ imaginations. It shoots longer, hits harder and has potentially more applications than any other semi-automatic pistol cartridge today. If you’re willing to spend the time to master the 10mm’s stout, yet manageable recoil you have an unparalleled self-defense cartridge and top-notch medium- to large-game option. Heck, once you get to know it, the big ten is also plenty of fun at the range.
Choosing 10mm Ammo
Multi-talented, the 10mm is generally preferred for two primary purposes: self-defense and hunting. There is a crossover between 10mm ammo and these applications. But outside revolvers, perhaps no other caliber has more specialized rounds for these purposes.
This means that not every self-defense round cuts muster on the hunt and not every hunting round is appropriate for personal protection. With that in mind, we've created a 10mm ammo list broken down to these purposes (plus a range fodder suggestion) and we set slightly different criteria in their selection. For self-defense ammo the benchmarks we considered were: met FBI penetration protocol, substantial bullet expansion, manageable recoil for bullet weight and reliable feeding. On the other hand, hunting ammunition was measured on maximum penetration, bullet robustness and potential maximum range. Not that you want to push a handgun shot in the field, but it’s peace of mind if the first shot fails to do the job and you need to follow up.
Delivering you the top pick in 10mm ammo was a team effort, involving not only myself, but other Gun Digest staff and some of our most trusted long-running freelancers. Our backgrounds include everything from master gunsmith to law enforcement and one absolute, dye-in-the-wool 10mm hunting fanatic. These ammo options were tested through multiple handguns by multiple shooters for accuracy and terminal performance. Other options were tested, but these were the ones that came to the top.
Defensive Ammunition
Hornady 175-grain Critical Duty
Specs
Bullet: 175 gr. FlexLock Muzzle Velocity (fps): 1,160 Muzzle Energy (ft-lbs): 523 Ballistic Coefficient: .160 Sectional Density: .156 MSRP: $37.99 box of 20
Pros
Designed for professional law enforcement use
Very reliable terminal performance
Consistent performance in all pistols tested
Cons
Middling velocity
Why We Picked It
In our testing, we found this a showstopper defensive round.
The 175-grain round is tailored for full-sized handguns and is loaded to provide excellent ballistics and penetration. To the latter, it fully meets not only the FBI’s penetration standards, but also the agency’s barriers tests, giving you a powerful upper hand in almost any self-defense situation.
Over-engineering, a hallmark of Hornady, is to thank for the top-performing 10mm ammo’s performance. Thick jacketed and aided by a Flex Tip core, the FlexLock bullet is designed to expand only when it's supposed to — which isn’t in plywood or heavy clothing.
Furthermore, a jacket-to-core band (Interlock band in Hornady terminology) ensures the bullet holds together and lead core retains mass as it expands. By the company’s statistics, the FlexLock bullet preserves 99-percent of its weight after expansion.
Here's the best part of this ammo, overall we found it extremely manageable out of most handguns we tested it from. Certainly, compact pistols prove jumpier — in our case a Springfield XD-M Elite Compact — but with practice and familiarity controlled followups were achievable.
Speer 200-grain Gold Dot
Specs
Bullet: 200-grain Gold Dot HP Muzzle Velocity (fps): 1,100 Muzzle Energy (ft-lbs): 537 Ballistic Coefficient: .151 Sectional Density: N/A MSRP: $48.99 box of 20
Pros
Managable for most shooters
Devastating terminal performance
Professional-grad ammunition
Cons
Tends to be more expensive
In terms of defensive 10mm ammo, 200-grain options are few and far between. Given this, the buzz Speer started at the 2018 SHOT Show with this behemoth addition to the iconic Gold Dot family is understandable.
It’s a lot of jacketed lead to pitch, but it's not just its size that matters.
The round's terminal performance makes it more than worthy of consideration. From our testing on bare ballistics gelatin, the hollow-point expanded nearly a full ¾ of an inch. No matter the situation that should prove more than enough persuasion to halt most attackers dead in their tracks.
Packing plenty of punch, this Gold Dot isn’t loaded to the hilt, thus we found the round very shootable — particularly out of duty-sized pistols (we liked it out of the good ol' Glock 20).
The other area where the ammo acquitted itself well was reliablity across all the pistols we tested it in. Even when the guns were running dirty, we didn't experience a single failure with the ammo.
Near blister hot and offering incredible expansion, SIG Sauer has produced one of the wickedest defensive 10mm ammo choices out there.
While the round kicking out of the muzzle around 1,250 fps is right around what most 10 mm aficionados like to see, it’s what the V-Crown bullet does when it hits the target that turns heads. That said, we found for our defensive rounds that SIG tended to produce the most recoil no matter the platform.
In ballistic gelitan the V-Crown projectile balloons like it's gone off its diet, expanding right around ¾ of an inch. But from our experience, all V-Crown options produce these results relative to caliber. It's just mean ammo.
Geeking out a bit, the expansion is thanks to SIG going the extra mile. While many ammo makers are content skiving just the jackets of a defense round, SIG takes these through the hollow point’s lead core ensuring consistent and dynamite expansion round in and out.
Nickel-plated cases are a nice addition to the round, not only for their deadly good looks, but also making chamber checks easier.
Designed to smash through tough hide and bone, Federal’s specialty 10mm hunting ammo is a proven game getter. Topped with a bullet from the renowned Trophy Bonded line, the jacketed soft point won’t go to pieces in medium- and large-sized game — an absolute must in a handgun hunting bullet.
However, in our testing, it's not the terminal performance potential that turned heads, but the light's out accuracy. At 25 from a rest and out of Glock 40 MOS, the ammo printed .44 inches in it's best group and average 1.5 inches at that range.
Furthermore, we found Trophy Bonded 10mm to be very managable as far as huning ammo is concerned. If required, a follow-up shot is more than feasiable.
From our standpoint, the ammunition is right on target as a deer round and other medium game. But it might not be our first choice as backwood protection against more dangerous game.
Buffalo Bore Heavy Outdoorsman 220 grain
Specs
Bullet: 220-grain Hard Cast plain based LFN Muzzle Velocity (fps): 1,200 Muzzle Energy (ft-lbs): 703 Ballistic Coefficient: .219 Sectional Density: N/A MSRP: $44 box of 20
Pros
Maximum penetration for caliber
Respectable accuracy
Cons
Expensive
Plenty of recoil
Near the heaviest bullet the 10mm can digest, Buffalo Bore has cooked up the answer if penetration is the question. Launching a hard-cast flat nosed bullet, the 220-grain round is designed to handle the largest and toughest critters you’d logically take with a 10mm. A good bet for hunting larger Cervidae or as an insurance policy when traversing bear country.
Engineered for minimal expansion, the bullet nonetheless punches a devastating hole in game and makes child’s play of hide and bone. And with 3 feet of potential penetration at hand from what we saw in ballistic gelatin tests, a well-placed shot will destroy all vitals in the bullet’s path.
The trade-off for these excellent terminal ballistics, Buffalo Bore isn't for the faint of heart. Pushing a 220-grain bullet at around 1,200 fps at the muzzle tends to get a handgun hopping and did so in our case.
Don’t let its lightweight fool you, Underwood’s 10mm hunting round is pure dynamite.
Solid copper, the 150-grain round offers incredible penetration potential. Plain and simple, it won’t break up even against bone and pushes well through most targets.But it perhaps has an advantage over some the hard cast options previously mentioned – wound channel. Milled fluting gives the Xtreme Hunter the unique property of creating a permanent wound cavity greater than many bullets designed to expand.
Even more impressive was Underwood’s 150-grain Xtreme Hunter produced light's out accuracy averaging 1.24 inches at 25 yards and printing a very impressive best group of .53 inches.
Being a lighter round, we also found the option much easier to shoot, despite leaving the barrel at a screaming clip — 1,425 fps. At this velocity, its energy at the muzzle is akin to a projectile 30-grains its weight. At first, it may not look it, but the Xtreme Hunter is more than capable medium to large game 10mm ammo.
If your only goal is to shoot as much 10mm ammo for the least amount of money possible, CCI Blazer may be the way to go. This stuff is as accurate as the dickens, producing 1.24-inch groups for us at 25 yards, which is pretty dandy for training ammo.
The author reviews the Finks GSP 1911, a hand-tuned 1911 known as the Gunsite Service Pistol.
How is it possible that a handgun design that’s more than a century old is still one of the most popular? The answer is simple: The 1911 is still with us because it still works. Of course, modern 1911s are a bit different from the original, and over the years a collection of custom modifications are now mostly standard. Some might wonder which of these modifications are important. Well, the oldest and largest civilian firearms training academy in the world has answered that question with the return of the Gunsite Service Pistol (GSP).
Origin And History
In 1976, Jeff Cooper, Marine, international firearms trainer and founding president of the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC), took a ranch in Arizona and turned it into a shooting school. The American Pistol Institute (API) is where Cooper taught upstanding Americans to defend themselves with a handgun. Now known as Gunsite Academy, which also trains military and law enforcement, it’s the world’s oldest and largest civilian firearms training school.
This ivory-stocked 1911 Government Model belonged to Jeff Cooper.
As participation there grew, students would often get their handguns tweaked to Cooper standards by the Gunsite Smithy, and it wasn’t long until Gunsite began offering custom pistols. Up until about 2002, you could order a custom 1911 from Gunsite, but over the years the particulars of these pistols varied. However, Gunsite smithy Robbie Barrkman of ROBAR fame did offer a hand-tuned 1911, which was referred to as the Gunsite Service Pistol (GSP).
When Buz Mills purchased Gunsite in 1999, he decided it shouldn’t be in the gun-building business but did offer Gunsite “approved” 1911s through their Pro Shop, which were manufactured exclusively—to Gunsite standards—by Colt. The idea was that these pistols—now known as the Colt Gunsite Service Pistol (GSP)—would be an embodiment of what Cooper felt 1911 perfection to be. Unfortunately, through the years, the Colt GSP has been only sporadically available.
This early staghorn-stocked 1911 Government Model belonged to Jeff Cooper.
When Mike Moore retired as the Gunsite Smithy a few years back, Finks Gunsmithing of Chino Valley, Arizona, and Tyler Gunworks of Friona, Texas, began filling in. They completely renovated the shop to best service Gunsite clientele, and since then the talented smiths at Finks have repaired the guns that break during training classes while also offering full custom work. With a master class smithy once again on-site, retired Sheriff Ken Campbell, Gunsite’s CEO, decided it was time for the GSP to ride again. The result is the latest version of the GSP, and it’s 100-percent hand-built by Fink’s Gunsmithing at Gunsite.
The allure of this pistol should be clear: It continues a legacy that’s integral to Gunsite’s history. More importantly, it should be looked at as what’s arguably the best example of a fighting 1911. Its origins date back to when the Gunsite Ranch and API were founded, when Cooper codified the Modern Technique of the Pistol, laid the foundation for defensive handgun training as we know it, and once wrote, “The great 1911 .45 was a very nearly perfect artifact from the day of its birth.” The new GSP from Finks is an expertly crafted amalgamation of nearly 50 years of lessons learned at Gunsite Academy. No other pistol on Earth can claim that.
A decade-old 1911 crafted for Gunsite by Springfield Armory.
The Details
Finks starts with a 70 series, forged steel frame and slide sourced through Tyler Gun Works. It’s fitted with a hammer-forged match barrel with a recessed target crown, duty weight springs, extended grip safety, Wilson Combat thumb safety, long skeletonized match trigger, scalloped EGW main spring housing, and the trigger guard is undercut. The entire pistol then receives a carry bevel/de-horning treatment to do away with its sharp edges, front strap serrations, wide-cut cocking serrations on the front and rear of the slide, reliability and trigger job, lowered and flared ejection port, and the magwell is beveled too. A U-notch Wilson Combat battlesight is installed to mate with a Novak yellow outlined tritium front sight that stands out like a ready-to-bust pimple on a fashion model’s nose. The pistol then receives a satin blue finish, and G10 Super Scoop grips are installed with chromed hex head screws.
The Finks GSP is a 1911, optimally configured for training and fighting.
Other features include a most unique Commander-style hammer with a cutout in the shape of the Gunsite raven. Also, on the right slide of the slide just behind the rear cocking serrations is an engraved Gunsite raven. Just under the ejection port, “GSP Government” is engraved and “Gunsite Service Pistol” is engraved on the left side of the slide. Additional customization is optional, but limited if you want the pistol to retain its GSP identity.
There’s a lot to look at in this picture, but notice the keen carry bevel on the bottom edge of the slide.
I consider myself somewhat of a 1911 snob: I’ve been carrying 1911s for protection, training and competition, for more than a quarter century. The only thing I would change on this pistol is for the slide stop to receive just a touch more de-horning along its forward edge to keep it from eating into the holster. And I’d also moderately smooth the texturing on the front edge of the left grip scale where your fingers rest. Yeah, as 1911s go, this pistol is that perfect.
The magazine well on the Finks GSP is expertly beveled to assist with magazine insertion.
Range Time With The Finks GSP 1911
This is a pretty pistol to look at; it checks all the boxes most often associated with a custom 1911, but there are a lot of modernized 1911s that are very similar. For a pistol like this to be worth the money or suitable for carry or training, the thing has to shoot where it’s pointed, and it needs to go bang every time the trigger is pulled. Time on the range is the only way to sort this out, and I put 300 rounds through the new GSP. After some familiarization fire, I ran an 8-inch plate rack at 25 yards, which quickly established that the pistol shot better than I’m capable of. The next thing I did was expose the pistol to the two shooting drills that I use with every pistol I test.
The first is the Forty-Five Drill, and the goal is to draw from concealment and put five rounds into a 5-inch circle, at 5 yards in 5 seconds. Using Black Hills 200-grain SWC load, I ran this drill five times and cleaned it on all but the first run, where I hammered the first shot and hit a bit low. My average time for this drill was 3.88 seconds, which is about a half-second slower than I can run the drill with my Wilson Combat, commander-sized EDC X9 in 9mm.
The second drill is the Step Back Drill, which I think is one of the best drills to establish shooter proficiency with a pistol. For this drill, you draw and engage an 8-inch steel plate with two shots at 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 yards, but each two-shot string is timed separately. To pass, you must get all 10 hits in less than 20 seconds. I ran this drill with standard velocity 230-grain ball five times. On the first run, I missed a shot at 20 yards and both shots at 25. On the second run, I missed one shot at 20 and one at 25. Realizing I needed to hold near the bottom of the plate at 20 and 25 yards, I cleaned the drill on the last three attempts with an average time of 18.68 seconds.
Of course, this isn’t intended as a pistol to just be used on the range; it’s a fighting handgun, and fighting handguns need to be reliable with hollow-point ammunition. Mostly playing with the plate rack and running a quasi-El Prez Drill on life-size steel silhouette targets, I put a good mix of hollow-point ammo through the pistol. Every time I pulled the trigger, with every load tried, the pistol went bang, ejected the empty, and loaded the next round until the magazine was empty and the slide locked back.
Clearly capable of delivering more precision than I can extract from a pistol, four loads were tested at 10 yards from a sandbag rest. The average for 12, five-shot groups—three each, with each load—was an impressive 1.03 inches. The pistol really liked the standard pressure 185-grain Buffalo Bore flat nose FMJ load. It averaged right at a half-inch for three five-shot groups. There are some other good-looking 1911s out there that are reliable and cost less, but they won’t shoot that good.
Deserving
In 2003, Cooper wrote, “People who write about the ‘comeback of the 1911’ do not seem to be aware that it has never been away.” Two decades later, those words are still true. Countless manufacturers are turning out all manner of 1911s, priced from less than $500 to more than 10 times that much. Kimber and Springfield Armory 1911s are a great example of what the modern 1911 has become, and both offer several versions approaching or near the price point of the Finks GSP. I’ve shot most of those pistols a good bit, and I can confidently tell you, they’re not in the same class as the GSP. Though I cannot speak to its longevity, the GSP does come with a warranty for the lifetime of the original owner, and I think it’s worth the asking price if not more.
Tested as a fighting handgun, the Finks GSP is accurate, reliable and trustworthy.
This pistol is deserving of the Gunsite and GSP name it carries. As a multi-course Gunsite Academy graduate, where the only diploma on my wall—of the many I’ve earned at many schools—is the one from my first Gunsite 250 Pistol Course, I can proudly say this pistol carries the Gunsite and GSP names. But you don’t have to be a Gunsite alumni to appreciate a 1911 this good, you just need to understand what a trusted and reliable 1911 designed to train and fight with should be. How can you get yours? Call the Gunsite Academy Pro Shop. They have them in stock just waiting for an American patriot like you.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the March 2024 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
The author debunks some dangerous assumptions that surround qualification drills and what they really mean.
The military and law enforcement have long used qualification courses to validate a soldier’s or cop’s shooting skill. Qualification is also a part of most defensive handgun training courses and, in some cases, it’s a requirement to obtain a concealed carry permit. The difficulty of these shooting evaluations varies; there’s no universal standard, and a passing score is subjectively set by the responsible administrating body.
So, what specifically does the successful completion of a qualification course really mean?
I’m not exactly sure. This is partly because of the varying requirements, but it’s also because of the tendency to rank performance—based on score—with identifiers such as marksman, sharpshooter, expert or master. It’s hard to divine any real meaning from these scores or ranks, which are mostly used to incentivize shooters to strive to perform at a higher level. If you’re qualified, you’re qualified, right?
Beyond that, what else matters?
I’m not exactly sure about that, either.
On my first day of work as a police officer 32 years ago, the range officer took me to qualify with my service revolver, and I shot expert on the department’s qualification course. But, in no one’s imagination should I have been considered an expert—or maybe even qualified—with a handgun in a law enforcement setting. I didn’t receive any law enforcement specific training; all I’d managed to do was hit the required area of the target 90 percent of the time.
This is one of the two things that troubles me the most about qualification courses.
Firearms qualification is partly a measure of skill, but more than anything it serves as an administrative protection from liability.
Troubling Parameters
The object of shooting is hitting, and a failure to hit what you’re shooting at is, by any measure, a failure. Had I only achieved 70 percent of my hits on that course of fire I would’ve still qualified. How could that be? How could a police officer fire 60 rounds, miss 18 times and still be considered “qualified” to carry, and, more importantly, shoot a handgun in a public setting where real, live, innocent human beings might be walking around Googling their smartphone?
When I went to work as a special agent for the railroad police, I was shocked to discover that, to qualify with my duty handgun, I had to shoot 100 percent—no misses were allowed. This made perfect sense because you’re responsible for every bullet you fire. The other surprise was what the qualification course amounted to. Though my memory is now a bit cloudy on the exact details, it went something like this:
You started walking toward the target with your pistol in the holster. At about 5 yards from the target—on the start signal from the instructor—you drew your pistol and had to place multiple shots inside an 8-inch circle in just a couple seconds. Simple, right?
In theory, maybe, but not so much in practice. As a law enforcement firearms instructor, what I ultimately learned was that the shooters who could pass this simple qualification course also had the ability to pass most any other qualification course in use by other law enforcement agencies.
Interestingly, a few years ago I asked retired Sergeant Major John “The Sheriff of Baghdad” McPhee of SOB Tactical if he could require a shooter to perform a single drill to establish proficiency, what it would be? McPhee said, “That’s one of the most common-sense questions I’ve had in a long time,” and he went on to say he’d use a drill he calls the Placement Test.
The Placement Test
In McPhee’s Placement Test, which is about as minimalist as it gets, you’re required to draw from the holster and put three shots inside a 3-inch circle, at 3 yards, in less than 3 seconds. According to McPhee, if you can do this, you can shoot—meaning, you have a solid grasp of the fundamentals. It’s also a very real-world, because as John’s research in self-defense shootings has shown, in a generic way this drill closely replicates real-life situations. Ironically, the drill is very similar to my often used Forty-Five Drill, which mandates drawing from a concealed holster and putting five shots, into a 5-inch circle, at 5 yards in less than 5 seconds.
Our tests are very similar to the qualification course the railroad police used. What’s most important is that they’re 100 percent pass or fail. Though you could classify performance based on the actual time to successfully complete the drill, it’s unnecessary. These are no-B.S. drills that plainly illustrate whether you can shoot a defensive pistol … or not.
I know some of you are screaming, “That’s not enough shooting and does nothing to document that you can hit at greater distances, shoot from behind cover or from other positions!” You’d be correct. But, if you can pass either of these drills, you’re very likely skilled enough with a handgun to do all of those things, especially with a bit of training. And let me repeat that last word with emphasis: training!
What Really Matters?
When we showed up for qualification day with the railroad police, qualifying was the first thing we did. It took about an hour for a bunch of us to do it—one at a time with an audience watching—and then we spent the rest of the day learning and practicing with our pistols to the point where we were challenged with scenarios and drills of ever-increasing difficulty. We did the single most important thing that too many police departments, military units and civilian gun owners fail to do. We trained!
And that’s the second thing that bothers me about qualification courses—especially those that turn out marksmen, experts and masters—which is also the main point of all this pontificating: You should not put too much credence on your ability to qualify on any course. Sure, you might need to shoot a passing score to go to war, work the street or carry a concealed handgun, but qualifications tend to bring with them the illusion that you’re actually qualified. And that tends to develop the notion or mindset that no other work, training or practice is necessary.
Being qualified by the government, a school, or some other organization is one thing, but it has no real bearing on the ultimate goal—which is actually being capable of winning a fight with a pistol. The only way to come even close to that is through frequent and continual efforts to learn, train and improve your skill set that challenge you to get better so that you can always hit what you shoot at and never miss. One hundred percent!
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the March 2024 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Looking to go armed, but are stuck in the weeds as to what to arm yourself with? Here are 20 excellent concealed carry gun options that will keep you on the defensive.
