DAYTON, Ohio — A local man who was shot yesterday will likely face charges after he pinned his former landlord against an apartment building with his car.
The landlord shot the man twice and struck him at least once and will not face any charges. However the driver of the car will likely face multiple charges of felonious assault.
According to Dayton police, at4:43 p.m. Saturday, the landlord of an apartment complex at 317 N. Smithville Road called police to report that a former resident was trespassing on his property.
In response, the man drove around the interior of the apartment complex, running over grass, knocking over trash cans and a picnic table and nearly striking a few residents.
Afterthe driver ran into a parking post, the landlord tried to take his keys, but he backed his car into the landlord, pinning him against an apartment building.
The landlord, who has a carrier's permit, pulled out his .380-caliber pistol and shot the driver. Read more
BRUNSWICK — A Brunswick man shot an intruder who broke into his apartment late Thursday night, Glynn County police said.
Michael Brown, 22, of Darien, was arrested on armedrobbery and burglary charges after being treated and released for a gunshot wound to the arm at Southeast Georgia Health System’s Brunswick hospital, police Capt. Marissa Tindale said.
Also arrested on identical charges were Thomas Daniels and April McMillan, both 18 and also from Darien, she said.
The three are accused of breaking into a homeoccupied by Keylin Jones, 22, and his girlfriend, Keshuana Lassiter, 23, at Westminister Club Apartments on U.S. 17 North about 11 p.m. Thursday.
Tindale said the victims called police and said someone was breaking into the apartment, and that one intruder already was inside the home. Jones, who was armed with a handgun, shot one of the men who then fled with others. Read more
The 4×6 signs feature a red heart with the words ‘Guns Save Lives.’ Below it is this message: ‘Arizona says: Educate Your Kids. TrainMeAZ.com.’ It also has several paragraphs of smaller type with information about Arizona’s new law allowing anyone to carry a concealed weapon and directions to a website that contains information about where to enroll in firearms safety classes.”
The ads were the work of TrainMeAZ, a coalition of firearms businesses and Second Amendment supporters that joined forces to promote training, following a new state law mandating gun-safety training for those practicing concealed carry.
“The group paid $11,000 for the ads,” the Arizona Republic noted. The ads went up in October, only to be removed before the month was out. “Alan Korwin, a spokesman for the coalition and author of The Arizona Gun Owner’s Guide, says the city ordered the signs removed because a deputy city attorney didn’t like the message, Guns save lives.”
“The idea that they would censor free speech because they don’t agree with something is just an outrage beyond belief,” Korwin said. City officials claimed that state law did not allow public service announcements to be placed on city property.
A full-house gun takes time, planning, and patience. A Stan Chen custom is worth every minute and every penny. Pistol courtesy Stan Chen Custom, photograph courtesy Christopher Marona
Stan, like many of the new breed of top custom smiths, only does full-house customs. That is, you don’t send a gun to Stan, asking for a mag funnel and sights.
If you are on the list, when you make it to the top Stan builds you a full-house custom gun, all the bells and whistles, and your input (like so many custom gunsmiths) is limited to the details like the kind of slide-top matting pattern you’d like, and do you want it blue, stainless or hard-chrome?
Besides the now-standard exquisite workmanship found among the top ‘smiths, Stan is known for a few touches that you won’t find elsewhere. One is his frontstrap and mainspring housing treatment.
Here is a Chen gun, in all its glory: fitted case, nameplate, numbered magazines and a spare extractor, as well as tools. You either leave this to someone in your will, or donate it to a museum once you’re done shooting with it. Pistol courtesy Stan Chen Custom, photograph courtesy Christopher Marona
He does a diagonal skip-line checkering pattern that at first seems quite coarse compared to 20 or 30 lpi checkering. Called “Progressive Traction,” it provides a non-slip grip that works wonderfully. The mainspring housing pattern goes onto the frame, and it is perfectly symmetric at all edges. He also has his own mag well funnel, a low-profile addition that is welded onto the frame, fit and blended to the point where you couldn’t tell it wasn’t made that way originally. Since Stan has his own in-house welder to do the work, you know it gets done right and on schedule.
He does slide-top flattening and matting, in various patterns, that simply pop your eyes out. Cosmetic details like fluted barrel and chamber, a dead-perfect fit of slide to frame, and a surface finish that is flawless, are standard with Stan.
One detail you’ll notice in the photos are the frame rails. The rails have been relieved in the center, and bear on the slide just on the front and rear loading portions. Those are the areas actually at work when the gun locks up, and the rest of the time when the slide is running it is just sliding back and forth. So, to give grunge, gunk and powder residue a place to go, Stan dresses down the rails a smidge. And yes, people do shoot and carry his guns.
Now, if you ask, and insist, you can have some options your way. You could insist on a Novak rear instead of a Heinie. You might talk him into something besides a .45, but don’t go getting all weird and asking for something like 9X25 Dillon or 9mm Largo. You’ll get a strange look, and a suggestion of a .45.
When you get your gun back, you won’t regret the lack of detailed input.
All this in a fitted case, with tools, spare extractor, numbered magazines (tested in the gun) and an inset plaque with your name and the build date on it are Stan Chen touches.
This is an excerpt from 1911: The First 100 Years.
Dreyse Needle Gun sporting rifle cal. 61. Note the position of the bolt handle. It is located on top of the receiver and rotates less than 1 inch to open.
In my business of dealing in collectible firearms I have been fortunate enough to be able to handle some really interesting collector pieces. That was why I named this column Collector’s Corner when I started it in 2004. Recently I briefly owned another rifle that most who have interest in firearms development will have heard about. The Dreyse Needle Gun.
This rifle is considered to be the first breech loading system that utilized a completely self-contained cartridge. That is the bullet, powder and ignition (percussion cap) is one item. In this case it was in the form of a paper wrapped “cartridge”. The Dreyse cartridge propelled a .61 caliber bullet at a velocity of almost 1000 feet per second. Up to this point most firearms had been muzzle loading and they used separate percussion caps. There had been several breech loading designs but they still relied on separate ignition.
This view shows the Dreyse action with the bolt open. The needle can be seen in the front of the bolt.
The Dreyse needle-gun was a military breechloading rifle, famous as the main infantry weapon of the Prussians, who adopted it for service in 1841 as the Dreyse Zündnadelgewehr, or Prussian Model 1841. Its name comes from its 0.5-inch (13 mm) needle-like firing pin, which passed through the paper cartridge case to impact a percussion cap seated in the base of the bullet. The Dreyse rifle was also the first breech-loading rifle to use the bolt action to open and close the chamber, executed by turning and pulling a bolt handle.
The gun was the invention of the gunsmith Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse (1787-1867), who, beginning in 1824, had conducted multiple experiments, and in 1836 produced the complete needle-gun.
The first types of needle-gun made by Dreyse were muzzle-loading, the novelty lying in the long needle driven by a coiled spring which fired the internal percussion cap on the base of the bullet. It was his adoption of the bolt action breech loading principle combined with this igniter system which gave the gun its military potential, allowing the firer to reload in a prone position, and using a one-piece cartridge without a separate cap to be handled under stress.
From 1848 onward the new weapon was gradually introduced into the Prussian service, then later into the military forces of many other German states, save for Austria. The employment of the needle gun radically changed military tactics in the 19th Century. It saw battle in a few internal German conflicts throughout the 1850s and saw its heaviest use in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. Because the breech-loader made it possible for a Prussian soldier to fire five (or more) shots, even while lying on the ground, in the time that it took his Austrian muzzle-loading counterpart to reload while standing, it was seen as all giving the Prussians a significant advantage on the field.
In practice the needle-gun proved to have numerous defects; its effective range was very short compared to that of the muzzle-loading rifles of the day. A significant amount of gas escaped at the breech when the rifle was fired with a paper cartridge. After several shots, the breech area would become fouled with black powder residue and fail to close entirely.
This caused the gas escaping from the breech to burn the skin of the soldier. As a result, soldiers could not aim accurately without burning themselves and were forced to fire from the hip. The placement of the primer directly behind the bullet would force the firing pin, or needle, to be enclosed in gunpowder when the gun was fired, this causing serious stress to the firing pin which would often break after only a couple of hundred rounds had been fired, rendering the gun useless until the pin could be replaced. Soldiers were provided with two replacement needles for that purpose.
In the 1860s the French copied the needle-fire feature in the Model 1866 Chasspot rifle. This rifle had a better designed bolt and sealing system that cut down on the gas leakage. During the Franco-Prussian war 1870-71 the Chassepot proved superior to the Dreyse. By this time fixed metallic cartridges were being made from brass and the Germans turned their interest to the bolt action design by Paul Mauser and adopted the Model 1871 as the replacement for the Dreyse.
Original Dreyse Needle guns are rare. After years of use and the subsequent eras of German history most have been lost or destroyed. The rifle shown in this column is a sporterized military rifle. It was probably built by a German gunsmith guild in the 1880’s. There are no markings on it to indicate who made it. Just a couple old German military proof marks.
I usually like to fire unique old guns that pass through my hands but this was one I did not consider making cartridges for. I did find a web site that featured information on making cartridges for and shooting a Dreyse Needle Gun but I’m just not that ambitious.
This article appeared in the October 11, 2010 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Suspect was chased after robbery near Minneapolis grocery; police investigating.
An apparent good Samaritan told police that he interrupted a violent armed robbery near a south Minneapolis grocery store, chased down the suspect and fatally shot him Thursday night.
Although an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the shooting continues, the shooter, who police say has a legal permit to carry a firearm, was released Friday after being detained for questioning, Sgt. William Palmer said Friday.
On Friday night, authorities identified the dead man as Darren Evanovich, 23, of Minneapolis. The shooter's name has not yet been released.
Given that a death is involved, Palmer said he expects that a grand jury will review the circumstances and rule on whether a crime may have been committed. Read more
These Glock’s come with night sights, two 17-round factory magazines, owners manual and a Glock carrying case. These weapons are in very good to good condition. Only $320.
These 2nd Generation Glock 17’s show very minimal holster wear/slight overall wear. If you like Glocks then these are for you. Omni Products also has other Glock models available —19, 21, 22, 23, 27—as well as Sig Sauers, S & W’s, Berettas, and H & K’s. Calibers: 9mm, .40 and .45 ACP.
Inventory changes daily with more and different guns coming in constantly.
The author's Titanium Commander Ned built. This is a ten-shot, thirty-yard, Ransom rest group. Be envious.
Patrick Sweeney takes a look at custom 1911s that are both works of art and precision shooters. In this installment, Sweeney shows off his Ned Christiansen Titanium Commander in 9mm.
Ned is not one to stick to a single pattern. While he is known for his “Conamyds” he will undertake a task in a wide variety of styles, or even make one up if need-be. Conamyds are like checkering, but he made a special tool (and fixture, and process) to machine cones instead of pyramids.
The Conamyds Ned makes. This takes a special tool, planning, skill and patience.
The cones, left flat-topped (else they’d be far too sharp) provide a distinctive non-slip pattern. Nothing looks like Conamyds, and no one else does them.
Ned built a special gun for me, a 9mm Titanium Commander. Built on a Caspian Commander slide and titanium race-ready receiver, he went to town. On it, he put some of his hallmark touches.
He designed a new and improved grip safety, one that even those whose hands don’t like the grip safety can get along with. He put his “Shield-Driver” sight on it. That design allows you to use the edge of something stout, like a holster, tactical shield or doorway, to work the slide. And he put his Conamyds on it.
Since the slide already had cocking serrations (I hadn’t thought to have the slide done bare, and Conamyds for it too, silly me) he simply milled a flat on it and put lateral serrations as a non-glare touch.
Finally, he added a low-profile lanyard loop that is recessed in the mainspring housing. I’ve had a number of people look over and gush over the pistol, and some have not even noticed the lanyard loop.
Here I am, with the Ned 9mm. I’m two hits short of a passing score, shooting a rifle qualification course.
But Ned likes to stretch the boundaries. He did a real 1911 as a custom gun. The pistol originally left Colt in 1924. It arrived in 2009 with a finish mostly gone and some minor pitting. So Ned made it Real, not Retro. He tightened it up, put on hi-viz sights that would not have been considered outrageous in 1924, a low-profile lanyard loop, and polished it to the standard of 1924: perfect.
At the other extreme, he did a 9mm comp gun, a proof-of-concept project. The comp is the most effective he could devise. The tang was re-sculpted to get your hand higher than any other tang allowed. To accommodate the tang, he re-designed the thumb safety so it pivots at the front end, instead of the rear.
The result is a 9mm gun that cycles like lightning and has so little felt recoil it is like shooting a super-loud .22LR. And as the piece de resistance, he milled the top of the slide to accept an Optima 2000 red-dot sight. No iron sights at all.
And finally, he is the only one I’ve ever seen who could take an LAR Grizzly, in .45 Win Mag, and make it look good. Even made it look like a normal 1911, if you didn’t have it in your hands to check the actual size.
This is an excerpt from: 1911: The First 100 Years.
Democrats have taken a radical turn to the left under the leadership of liberal anti-gunners like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama, and the electorate is ready to make a correction.
There is no doubt that the country is at a crossroads, with America’s Constitutional Republic hanging in the balance.
For 20 years, GOA has been the only gun group publishing an open-source national rating for gun owners to use. Our rating has been so devastating in smoking out the anti-gun bias of phony politicians that the Brady Campaign even took us before an administrative court three years ago to try and silence us. They lost.
Dressed in camouflage from head-to-toe, an unidentified woman parked her car about a mile from her former co-worker's Cherokee County home, walked the rest of the way and slipped inside with a gun.
It was 6:30 this morning, and the homeowner's wife had just left for work.
A struggle ensued between the man and the woman.
A shot was fired.
A bullet hit the woman in the head, killing her.
That was the story that Cherokee County Sheriff Roger Garrison laid out during a press conference late this morning, just hours after deputies responded to a shooting at 113 Bethany Manor Way.
“It's an understatement to say that it's just a bizarre instance,” he told reporters outside the house. “The person that obviously knows the most about the situation is deceased so it's going to be very difficult to ever determine exactly what the motive may have been.” Read More
I just received a Flattop SIG M400 Direct Gas AR with MagPul adjustable stock, forend and grip. Look for an indepth article in the future but suffice it to say that, well, have you ever picked up a gun and said something like “Oh yeah baby”? The folks at SIG bullseyed this baby-it fits me like the proverbial glove. Can't wait to shoot it and get back to you.
Lately I have been working with a sample of this outstanding 750 lumen adjustable tactical light. When my book Own the Night-Selection and Use of Tactical Lights and Laser Sights was published in 2009, the top end LED lights on the market were at a very respectable 120 lumens. I predicted that the technology would continue to improve and boy did it ever!!
What I like about the TAC-OPS T4 in particular is its adjustment system. By simply turning a dial on the light head, one can switch from Low to High to OFF (which River Rock calls Safety-Lock – which it is). You don't want a light of this power to be left on in a confined space-the buildup of heat could be disastrous. Also the High Setting is way too much power for close in work that you would use a day to day flashlight for in police work-somewhere in the 100 lumen or less range. But that 750, oh my what an eyeball scorcher for tactical use, and it blankets a large area, giving you a large area of coverage and effect in dynamic entry or search situations. It would be excellent for attachment to an AR-15.
Other likes? Price!. Retail is $99.95. Batteries? Only needs two CR123 lithiums to power it and not 3. Size? Very compact for power output.
I highly recommend this light for your consideration.
Did the HS Precision Pro Series SA SPL achieve benchrest accuracy without the weight? L.P. Brezny puts one in .25 WSSM to the test.
With H.S. Precision sitting almost in my backyard out here in western South Dakota it is easy to get a look at their product line. And I really like the Pro Series 2000 SA SPL varmint rifle. The SA stands for short action and the SPL means Sporter Light.
H.S. apparently believes there is a real need for a very cool ultra lightweight centerfire rifle out there in the prairie dog towns, speed goat water holes, and over those calling rigs when taking on coyotes and other related critters. They are right. When first shouldering the rifle that was equipped with a Leupold 4X12 VX-II scope, I found that the total weight of the complete rig lacking rounds in the magazine was under six pounds.
With an ultra light pencil thin barrel that is fluted to again drop off excess heat and weight the slim sporter benefits from a lightweight stock in a composite material. It also has an all-steel magazine well but still retains the heft of a 22 rimfire rifle. With all that, the rifle can still be chambered with the power of a heavy centerfire cartridge locked inside its slim custom stocked wrapper.
The Pro Series I was introduced to for testing and review by H.S. Precision was chambered in 25 WSSM, a very versatile critter control cartridge, as well as a very effective whitetail, pronghorn, or mule deer round. I have tended to lean toward the 25 WSSM out in the open West quite often, as I do own several other rifles chambered in this cartridge. When it came to live fire testing the new rifle handloads came to the forefront. With a set of Redding dies in a three-unit set I can buy new Winchester brass, or resize and neck up both .223 WSSM, or 243 WSSM of which I have about a lifetime supply sitting around the storage room currently.
What was of real interest here was possibly obtaining an answer to the question regarding how well the new H.S. Precision rifle could take on the temperamental super short 25 caliber round as a handloaded affair? Many a riflemen has met his handloading match trying to get the most out of this cartridge, and I am no exception to the rule. The fact is simple, 25’s in super short cases can be a devil to work with at times.
I settled on of 51.5 grains of Ramshot Hunter, Federal LR primer, and an 87-grain Speer TNT bullet. With a muzzle velocity of 3,500 fps these would be hard-hitting missiles out on the open prairie.
First up was the need to create a load for sighting in the rifle. I settled on of 51.5 grains of Ramshot Hunter, Federal LR primer, and an 87-grain Speer TNT bullet. The once-fired factory nickel-plated brass needed some additional work beyond a simple resizing in the full-length Redding die. The cases were first run across a torch so as to anneal them a bit softer, and with luck increase case life a bit.
These Winchester plated cases can be tough to work with because they are also heavy, with very thin walls. At times they move through a reloading die quite stubbornly. I was in luck however, as my first series of loads ran smoothly without any problems. With a muzzle velocity of 3,500 fps these would be hard-hitting missiles out on the open prairie.
When chambering the Super Shorts as once-fired handloads in a rifle that is not dead-on perfect in terms of its chamber reaming, the WSSM can hang up, or simply not feed. In some rifles I had to rotate the chambered case by hand to find the original position at which the case had been previously fired. But as a testament to, well, the precision of H.S. Precision this rifle fed and functioned perfectly with handload or factory rolled ammo, including the 110-grain Accu-Point from Winchester.
Not a single element of chamber problems was found. Accuracy H.S. Precision rifles are 10 X cut-rifled. That’s old school my friends, and what it means is that using WWII-era methods of rifling a barrel to insure the lands and grooves are sharp edged and don’t tend to build up bullet jacket material. This helps maintain accuracy. These rifles shoot straight. I am basing that on this test rifle as well as the several others I have reviewed over the past several years. In terms of barrel length the buyer has a choice that ranges from 22, 24 or a 26-inches.
Action bedding is reinforced block style, but in the case of the H.S. rifle stock this is a full-length operation and not just pillar bedded at the magazine well. When ordering a rifle the buyer has a choice in opting for 16 different stock colors and patterns. From camo to bright blue the choice is yours. For those that desire it a muzzle break can be installed at the factory for a small fee.
The short action sporter light varmint rifle from H.S. Precision, also known as the Pro Series 2000 SA SPL, weighs in at under six pounds, but can still be chambered with the power of a heavy centerfire cartridge locked inside its slim custom stocked wrapper.
On the first day on the range I was able to shoot moa groups at 100 yards via my home-rolled Speer-capped fodder. This shooting was done off a very simple light plastic portable bench and rest by Case-Gard. With a move to a Big Shooter heavy prairie dog shooting bench that was truck mounted for mobile field use things improved to the point that this lightweight field rifle was shooting like a bench-rest rifle.
H.S. Precision indicates that all their rifles are test fired in house, and a paper group is sent with the finished rifle. These rifles are expected to shoot sub 1/ 2 moa or better. If it does not the rifle is rejected for commercial sale. The following are accuracy results as produced with handloads and factory ammunition.
Note the consistent accuracy produced by a pencil-pipe rifle barrel that measures just .554 inches at the muzzle, and 1.180, or at the receiver ring.
I should also mention that this barrel has deep flutes to dissipate heat buildup when shooting multiple rounds. Without question the light contour of the barrel would suggest a hunter’s tool, versus a “bang-and-reload” high-volume prairie dog shooter.
For the most part coyotes, big game, and even large rodents (woodchucks) are single-round targets anyway. The new H.S. Precision rifle fits the task at hand regarding both game and varmints. Trigger function as applied to the Pro Series 2000 is outstanding right out of the box. There is only a sharp crisp hand-made single-stage trigger with let off that is easy to master after only a few rounds sent down range.
Hunters should understand that these rifles are about as close to a hand-built custom at an over-the-counter price as you’re going to see. All the rifle parts are built at H.S. Precision from raw steel stock.
No foreign parts, and even the H.S stocks on these rifles, totally hand-made in-house, have become world renowned for their ability to deliver accuracy and years of dependability.
With a basic action design much like the Winchester Model 70 in terms of the safety function (three-position) which is never a bad thing, the turn bolt H.S. Precision tends to move cartridges as smoothly as a ball bearing that is rolling on glass.
With the safety engaged the bolt is locked. This makes the rifle saddle ready and safe when packing into rough country. However, with the half safe position engaged, the bolt is functional.
With the button-type extractor and a double forward lug locking system the bolt design tends to take on a Remington Model 700 appearance. When checking the lug contact points for any excess slop or misalignment I found none.
As a testament to, well, the precision of H.S. Precision this rifle fed and functioned perfectly with handload or factory rolled ammo, including the 110-grain Accu-Point from Winchester.
These rifles have been blue printed with care. All metal fit is very exact, and it shows when accuracy is taken into account. This flat-surface Teflon-coated action is available in both long and short versions. Action length, of course, would depend on the choice of cartridge.
Because the Sporter Lightweight model an ultra light carry rifle I would suggest that some thought be given over to the choice in cartridge. The short action is without question the preferred style in my opinion, and in some ways the Pro Series 2000 in the Sporter Lightweight owes this action length in terms of a very good fit for the overall rifle design.
To mash a long action on the Sporter Lightweight seems to me to be counter-productive in a way. Why not just shoot a larger rifle when long-action rounds are getting the call?
Field carry of this rifle was nothing short of a dream. I hunted the northern Black Hills for lion during my review period. This area offers very rugged slopes, and requires a light rifle with other well designed pack gear. I found the Series 2000 Sporter Lightweight to be a pure joy to haul around.
Balance is outstanding for fast offhand shooting, and because the action is dependable and smooth, the short fat 25 WSSM rounds fed with ease each and every time. This has not always been the case regarding the WSSM family of cartridges as applied to different bands of rifles being both custom built and factory offerings.
With the American hunting population getting older every day I know for a fact that many hunters are searching for that single rifle that can just about do it all and carry like a 22 rimfire when going afield. The H.S. Precision Pro Series 2000 Sporter Lightweight is the answer.
This article appeared in the August 2, 2010 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Author's Remington 40-XB, ready for testing. Hollywood tool, set up at the bench, allowed reloading at the range. The rifle delivered excellent groups, favorite loads beating the factory guarantee. Scope is a Bausch & Lomb 6x-24x.
Much of my shooting in recent times has been with the shotgun, more particularly the trap gun — one year I spent 50 Sundays shooting the clays and only lousy weather prevented my going out the other two days.
One day not long ago, though, I read with renewed interest an article in a recent Gun Digest by Field & Stream’s gunscribe, Warren Page, called “Half-Minute Rifles.” In it I learned that Remington had a centerfire rifle available, guaranteed as to accuracy. My ears perked up, my interest increased, and I knew I’d have to have one of ‘em! After much hard thought on caliber choice I ordered a 40-XB heavy barrel model in standard 6mm Remington caliber, with a twist of 1–10″.
I was, of course, impatient to have the rifle in my hands as soon as possible, but because the 40-XB is a special order rifle it takes time — in my case it was close to 8 weeks.
Specifications
The 40-XB can also be had with a light or “standard” barrel. The heavy barrel model weighs in at 111⁄4 lbs., less sights, the standard is 11⁄2 lbs. lighter. Both barrels are about 271⁄4″, and for some $20 extra, stainless steel barrels can be had. They’re recommended, by Remington, for such hotter cartridges as the 7mm Rem., 30–338, etc., and they will also give increased barrel life for the 6mm Rem. and 22–250. This is something for the varmint hunter to consider.
Most 40-XBs supplied are single shot; repeaters can be had, again for an extra $20, in cartridges up to the 7.62 NATO, better known as the 308 Winchester. The SS style has a slight edge in accuracy usually, the action being stiffer because there is no weakening cut-out through the bottom of the action and stock.
One other option is a $40-extra trigger with a 2-oz pull, for bench-rest and target shooting. It is generally considered too light for field use. However, the trigger on my 40-XB can be adjusted down to about 8 ounces, with safety, and it’s a joy to use.
Every Remington 40-XB, before it leaves the factory, must fire three 5-shot groups at 100 yards, these not to exceed a certain accuracy standard for the cartridge being fired:
Test groups and loading data are furnished with each rifle, the targets with my rifle averaging .47″, well under the .60″ maximum average allowed. Interestingly, these groups were fired with custom made bullets, not factory! Whether this will continue now that Remington offers match grade bullets in 22 and 6mm (the Power-Lokt stuff) is moot. Note that Remington doesn’t guarantee that the user of their 40-XB rifles will obtain the same accuracy shown by their test targets, and in watching some reloaders at work I can well see why.
All 40-XBs have scope blocks attached, but some short target type scopes, at least, are too short to reach the bases. My 10x Unertl Varmint scope wouldn’t fit. The base separation is 10.6″ instead of the older 6.8″ or 7.2″ dimension, with one base on the barrel and the other on the receiver bridge. The receiver ring, also tapped, comes sans base, and would allow a 7.2″ separation. The longer target scopes present no problem, of course. The 10.6″ separation has an advantage; it takes 6 clicks instead of 4 to equal 1 MOA (1″ at 100 yards), giving more precise impact adjustment.
The walnut stock is of target type, the wood plain and straight grained for strength. Barrel and action are hand-bedded, with the barrel free-floating. A barrel bedding device at the front end of the stock controls tension between barrel and fore-end, and can also be used with electrical bedding devices. The underside of the stock has a rail inletted flush with the wood, permitting adjustment of the attached front swivel and handstop, designed for target shooters. The handstop is easily removed for field or bench shooting.
The Cartridge
Some of the bullets and powders used by Horton in testing. Speer’s Loading Manual provided basic handload data.
The 6mm Rem. is nothing more than the 244 Rem., given a new name, different bullet weight and a change in barrel twist. To go a little farther back, the 244 came from the 257 Roberts, which first saw the light of day using the old tried-and-true 7×57mm Mauser case. The bullet diameter is hardly new either, as it dates back many years, both here and abroad. You never heard of the 6mm Lee Straight Pull rifle?
The 244 Rem. and the 243 Win. came out about the same time, but the 244 lost the race rather early when it was found that the twist used, 1–12″, wouldn’t stabilize bullets of 100 grains or heavier if spitzer pointed. The 244 was first loaded with 75- and 90-gr. bullets while the 243 was available with 80- and 100-grainers. With the 243’s 1–10″ twist no troubles were had with 100-gr. sharp pointed bullets. Remington had looked on the 244 as mainly a varmint cartridge, but the public found the 243 a pretty good deer cartridge, so much so that 250–3000 and 257 Roberts sales hit rock bottom as a result. Regrettable, too, for both loads make darned fine cart ridges when reloaded.
Remington finally saw the light and changed the twist of the 244 to 1–10″, but for some reason they never did say much when this was done. Probably too late to do much good anyway. With the introduction of the Remington 700 rifles a “new” cartridge, the 6mm Remington, also made its appearance. There are no specification differences between the 244 and the 6mm Rem., but reloaders should reduce the 244 charges a bit before using them in the 6mm Rem., if only because of the faster twist of the latter.
6mm cartridges were originally loaded only with 100-gr. bullets, but late in 1965 an 80-gr. loading was announced. Pleasing news to the non-reloading varmint hunters.
Sighting Equipment
Because my Unertl wouldn’t work. I snapped up a B&L 6–24x scope when it was offered at an attractive price. It does add to the weight and bulk of the rifle no little bit, but then this isn’t a rifle anyone would want to carry in the field for any great distance.
This B&L variable is a great work of art, and optically won’t take a backseat to anything, but there is room for improvement, mainly in the method of adjusting parallax. The Parallax Adjustment Selector Ring, as B&L calls it, moves the objective (front) lens elements back and forth. The higher the power setting the more precise this adjustment must be. If one makes an adjustment at low power and the scope is then zoomed to high power it will be out of focus, so always adjust for parallax at the maximum power setting you intend using.
The variable-power aspects of this B&L scope give it advantages over fixed power scopes. You can, for example, seemingly dial away mirage by lowering the power setting. The mirage is still there but it isn’t as noticeable. The glass can also be used as a spotting scope.
Reloading
Before the rifle arrived several different makes and weights of 6mm bullets were ordered, along with 100 unprimed cases, 40 factory loads with 100-gr. bullets, and a set of RCBS neck sizing dies. In a rifle mainly to be used for target work there isn’t much sense in getting a full length sizing die. Resizing is also easier, as only the neck is worked. As of now some cases have been reloaded 20 times and still slip easily into the chamber.
The unprimed cases were first trimmed lightly on a Forster trimmer to make the mouths smooth and even — most looked as if they had been factory trimmed with a dull hacksaw, one with several teeth missing! This seems to be a common situation with all makes of primed and unprimed brass, not an exception. All cases were chamfered, then primed with Remington large rifle primers. Alcan primers were also used later, but my shooting could detect no difference between the two, which speaks rather highly for a newcomer to the rifle and pistol primer field.
All loads were assembled on a Hollywood Senior Turret Tool, a product I can’t praise enough. Workmanship is top notch, as it is on all Hollywood tools, something that seems to be disappearing from the American scene. A Hollywood micrometer powder measure was also used throughout, and it performed without a hitch. No loads were weighed, though the measure was first set using the big Ohaus scales, a fine machine but rather too large and bulky to take afield.
The Remington 40-XB centerfire rifle as factory delivered. It is made in two barrel weights and twelve calibers, from 222 to 30–338, all with guaranteed accuracy levels. Trigger pull is easily adjusted on the 40-XB by means of an Allen wrench, making removal of barreled action from stock unnecessary. Standard trigger was set at 8 ozs. for test shooting. A 2-oz. trigger is available at extra cost.
Bullets
6mm bullets are available in a large array of types and weights. 60, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 100 and 105 grain sizes, and hollow point, spitzer, semi-pointed and round-nosed, in flat and boat-tail design, are offered. All point and base types aren’t available in every weight, of course.
Aside from the new Remington Power-Lokt bullets, there are no factory 6mm match grade bullets on sale. Gardiner of Rockford, Ill., now specializes in 6mm bullets, match and hunting types, and Col. Hollidge is well known for his match bullets, 6mm as well as 224, etc.
My 40-XB was factory tested with Crawford Hollidge (Marstons Mills, Mass.) bullets, so a supply of these was ordered. These are soft swaged, hollow pointed and run about 70 grains. Later on some heavier Hollidge bullets were also purchased.
Shooting
My first groups were fired, after sighting in, with factory 100-grain ammunition. It would be a gross understatement to say that accuracy left something to be desired, for the last three 5-shot groups averaged about 1½”.
However, as it was about 15 months since I had done any serious rifle shooting I laid part of the blame on being out of practice. Such didn’t prove to be the whole case though, because after I had become used to the rifle and shooting from a bench again, groups with the other box of factory loads didn’t improve much, going about 13⁄8″ average for four groups.
After all cases had been fire-formed I began loading and shooting in earnest.
Without a doubt the best shooting load was the one used at the factory for testing accuracy, i.e., 40.5 grains 4064 and the 70-gr. Hollidge soft swaged bullets. This load averaged .380″ for a series of groups.
It became apparent that the lighter weight bullets were the shooters, because for the most part anything over 75 grains didn’t perform well. Also that 4064, combined with light bullets, gave the best accuracy.
I like boat-tail bullets, but the Sierra 85-gr. BT just won’t shoot in this 40-XB, groups running around 1″-1¼”.
Remington has two new 6mm bullets on the market — on the market if you can find them, that is! One is a hunting type, the other target style, both 80 grains.
So far the only one that I have had a chance to shoot has been the hunting bullet. This is rather odd looking in that it could, in all truthfulness, be called a full metal-jacketed hollow point, with a dimpled bottom! How does that grab you?
The nose of the jacket is folded over and in and, looking closely, you’ll see 5 cuts in the nose for quick expansion. Do they shoot? You’re darned right they do. The first load, using 40 grains of 4320, gave a 1⁄2″ group. Going up and down (very little up, though) in ½-gr. jumps neither hurt nor helped group diameter. With its small diameter hollow point, this should be a flat-shooting bullet.
The Norma 75-gr. HP bullet shoots well too, though not quite as good as the Remington. 40 grains of Norma’s No. 203 gave an average of about 3⁄4″, and I finally settled on the Norma recommendation of 42.3 grains of 203, with groups wavering between 5⁄8″ and 11⁄16″.
Of interest to me was the velocity consistency of the various loads. Some were markedly better than others. Lowest variation came with the 80-gr. Remington bullet ahead of 40 grains of 4320 — a mere 11 fs. 35 grains of 3031 with the 80-gr. Speer was almost as good, 19 fs. Least consistent was the load using the lightweight 60-gr. Sierra — 89 fs. Remington’s factory load varied only 30 fs, good results with machine-loaded ammo.
Odds & Ends
I could have decreased the 40-XB groups, I imagine, by sorting cases for uniform capacity, checking bullets to see that they weren’t out of round, and other tricks of the trade that the serious benchrest shooter has up his sleeve. However, I was more concerned with doing things as the average reloader would — loading good ammunition without being a perfectionist about it. As far as the results are concerned I’m more than happy with the outcome.
One thing I did do that helped maintain bore condition was to clean the barrel with Jim Brobst’s J-B Compound after every shooting session. This is a paste-like very mild abrasive which rids the bore of any fouling. A little bit really makes the bore smooth and shiny, but it isn’t at all damaging to the bore. All traces of it, of course, must be re moved before shooting.
This article is an excerpt from The Greatest Guns of Gun Digest.
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The Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry
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