The Archangel allows you to use modern accessories and optics on your Ruger 10-22*. Manufactured entirely from Mil-Spec battle-proven polymers, the Archangel is no toy.
– Upper receiver housing with integral Picatinny rail – Lower receiver housing with pistol grip (includes a built in storage compartment) – Six position Archangel combat stock (with hidden storage in the receiver extension tube) – Free float handguard with Picatinny rails located at the twelve o'clock (top) and six o'clock (bottom) positions (additional rails may be added) – Archangel muzzle device with Picatinny rail and bayonet lug (lug accepts the Archangel polymer display bayonet, included) – Front and rear Archangel folding battle sights – Plus! Tactical magazine release a $25.00 Value For an MSRP of $299.99 for the Deluxe kit, your small-caliber rifle will undergo a very big change that will turn heads at the gun range.
Gun Digest is the source for firearms news, pricing and guns for sale. Readers benefit from in-depth editorial expert advice, show reviews and practical how-to instructions. Subscriptions are the First Amendment way to stand up for your Second Amendment rights. Click here to begin your subscription to Gun Digest.
Inside This Issue
• You might have missed it, but U.S. Olympic shooters hit the mark.
• News and notes from throughout the firearms world.
• Black gun fun requires proper care and feeding of these great rifles.
• French military weapons make interesting collectibles.
• The Savage Model 1912 was ahead of its time. Here’s how to keep it running.
• Animal-rights groups are trying to invade elementary school classrooms by calling their agenda a conservation “curriculum.”
• Now is the time to cook up some loads for deer season. Organization is the key.
• There’s plenty of great gear for hunters and shooting enthusiasts.
• Part of the fun of tinkering with a gun is seeing it shoot.
• Long-range shooting requires a good stock. McMillan offers a great one.
• Citizens demand that police officers shoot effectively on the street, but recent battles about noise and lead have left many police agencies without shooting ranges. The problem is not expected to go away soon.
Gun Digest is the source for firearms news, pricing and guns for sale. Readers benefit from in-depth editorial expert advice, show reviews and practical how-to instructions. Subscriptions are the First Amendment way to stand up for your Second Amendment rights. Click here to begin your subscription to Gun Digest.
Inside This Issue
• NRA is getting ready for the election. Are you?
• Guns West! gives visitors a look at the golden age of Wild West Firearms.
• A practical handgun is one that does what you want it to do. Magnum is not always better, but sometimes necessary.
• There’s plenty of great new gear for hunters and shooting enthusiasts.
• Add-ons for the M-4 platform require no gunsmithing to create a great carbine.
• Some great books are on the street just in time to annoy liberals and help educate voters who care.
• Wingshooters, turkey hunters and law enforcement officers have plenty to choose from in 2008.
When I was a wee slip of a lad back in the days of Herman’s Hermits and Mr. Ed, two publications comprised the bulk of my literary diet: Boris Karloff’s Tales of Mystery and Gun Digest. The Karloff magazine (well, comic book, actually) is long out of print, but Gun Digest just keeps chugging along.
And I hope it always will.
Saying Plenty
The author found a first annual edition of Gun Digest at an estate sale in rural Ontario. The find demonstrates the broad interest of the publication.
Gun Digest was — and is — the 900-pound gorilla of firearms annuals. It didn’t matter if you were a handgunner, trap-shooter, historian, hunter, collector or even a rotten little kid from Indiana — Gun Digest always had something for you.
This breadth of content no doubt accounted for the annual’s amazing distribution and enduring popularity. In what other annual could you find articles by Elmer Keith, Jack O’Connor, Maj. George Nonte, Warren Page, Lucian Cary and dozens of other towering figures in shooting literature? No wonder Gun Digest had a world-wide following. In fact, it’d be surprising if it didn’t.
True story: In Fall 2005, my wife and I were in Guelph, Ontario, visiting my daughter at college. After our visit, we meandered back along the Queen’s Expressway. Outside some tiny little burg in the middle of a vast expanse of wheat fields, we passed a hand-painted sign saying, “Estate Sale.” I have a helluva hard time passing up a sign like that, so we turned off the expressway and sped up a little dirt road.
After a few miles, we pulled up to an outdoor sale held in the backyard of a seedy little farmhouse, complete with peeling paint and a washline strung between two rusty poles.
And what a sale it was. As I passed up tables containing such things as an original glass-topped burial case (shoulda bought that) and a King four-valve sousaphone (shoulda bought that), I came upon a medium-sized stack of Gun Digests. The stack contained an original first edition, a 1964 issue autographed by editor John Amber and a brand-new 2005 issue edited by my friend and co-worker Ken Ramage.
I bought them all, of course. I was higher than a kite on the trip home, and as I floated along, I got to thinking: What does it say about Gun Digest that some old Canadian farmer living in a shack in the middle of Nowhere, Ontario, held onto a first edition, an autographed edition and a brand-spankin’-new 2005 edition until the day he died?
It says plenty.
Enduring Appeal
I suppose the firearms journal of record is American Rifleman magazine. It’s a great magazine, for sure. But in terms of annuals, Gun Digest is unique. It has consistently contained work by the biggest names in the business, and it’s invaluable as a year-by-year trend tracker.
Pull down almost any year, and you’ll be able to sit back with master writers, whose names run the gamut from A to Z; from John Amber to Don Zutz.
I have an enduring interest in guns of all types. Yet the days are rapidly ending when I feel comfortable shucking out a handful of hundreds for this revolver or that shotgun. Yet I have discovered a simple pleasure; one in which I can indulge at minimal cost: collecting Gun Digests. In fact, I must admit I’ve gotten more pure pleasure from collecting Gun Digest than from any gun I’ve ever bought.
Founded in 1944, Gun Digest had wide appeal in a time when many people couldn't afford to buy firearms. But they sure loved reading about them.
Gun Digest was founded in 1944 by Milton P. Klein, owner of a major Chicagoland sporting-goods store. Guns were in short supply in those World War II years, and Klein reasoned that if people couldn’t buy new guns, perhaps they’d like to read about them.
So Klein engaged Charles R. Jacobs to whip up some publication he could sell.
Ramage, the current editor of Gun Digest, picks up the story from there:
“That first edition, 164 pages including covers, included not only catalog-type listings for rifles, pistols and shotguns, but a number of firearms and shooting sports articles by some of the well-known writers of the time: Jack O’Connor, C.S. Landis, Maj. Charles Askins, Maurice H. Decker, E.B. Mann, etc. That edition’s format, published under the direction of GD’s first editor, Charles R. Jacobs, laid the keel for the book’s basic direction through the following decades. The next three editions were very similar in makeup and presentation.
“After the fourth edition, a new editor was named, and the book was further refined. The fifth edition appeared in 1951 with a whopping 224 pages between four-color covers (showing an engraved and gold-inlaid S&W .357 Magnum revolver). At the editorial helm was John T. Amber.
A study of the contents lineup shows there are more articles, and the contents are organized into major topic sections. Joining the contributors were Elmer Keith, Roy Weatherby, Charles Askins, Ray Riling, E. M. Ferris and Maj. Gen. J.S. Hatcher.
Amber would edit Gun Digest for many more years, through the 33rd edition.
“A new byline appeared on the cover of Gun Digest's 34th edition in 1980. Ken Warner became the third editor of the book and continued to build upon the solid foundation of the previous decades. The book had grown, and this 34th edition carried 464 pages plus covers –– double the size of the fifth edition (and nearly three times the page count of the first edition). Gracing the cover was Ruger’s new stainless steel .44 Magnum revolver, the Redhawk. The table of contents reveals not only new contributors, but a number of authors who are still with Gun Digest (or other books in the publisher’s family) in these early years of the 21st century: Larry Sterett, Tom Turpin and J.B. Wood.
“Change is a fundamental constant in our world, but in some ways, Gun Digest seems an unchanged constant. Still, 20 years later, a new editor’s byline appeared on the cover of Gun Digest 2001, 55th Edition — yours truly. Like the forgoing benchmark editions, the 2001 edition carried an even higher page count –– 544 pages. The cover gun was a half-size Farquharson rifle, engraved and gold-inlaid. The table of contents listed old friends Bob Bell, Larry Sterett, Hal Swiggett and Tom Turpin, as well as authors who had come into the book in more recent years.
“Something of a mission statement for Gun Digest has evolved over the years. Fundamentally, the book is about guns. When people, or activities (like hunting, competitive shooting,) are included, they appear in a secondary role to the firearm involved. Gun Digest is a blend of feature articles calculated to provide some interesting reading, and a wealth of current and relevant firearms reference material useful to virtually any firearms enthusiast. Now in its 61st edition, and totaling 568 pages, Gun Digest has seen tremendous changes in the shooting sports landscape and adjusted itself appropriately. The rather stringent editorial criteria remain the same, and the book now runs those works in full color on good coated paper.”
Collecting the Classic
This autographed edition of Gun Digest 1964 was gleefully scarfed up by the author at an estate sale and was prized as much as any gun catch.
I’m just the kind of guy Klein had in mind when he dreamed up the idea for Gun Digest 60-odd years ago. I can’t buy many new guns, but I sure like reading about them. I like reading about them so much, in fact, that I’ve assembled a collection of every edition of Gun Digest, from the first edition to the 62nd.
It’s been a rewarding hobby, if a never-ending one, and one that didn’t require a huge cash outlay.
In 1996, Skip Criner published a short piece in the 50th edition of Gun Digest titled, “Collecting Gun Digest.” Much of what he said 12 years ago remains true today. It took Criner four years and about $500 to complete his 50-volume collection, and I suppose that’s just about how much time and money I have in mine. At $500 for 62 issues, that’s less than $9 a pop.
It’s much simpler to collect Gun Digest today because of the internet. If you let your fingers do the walking over your keyboard, you can track down many editions for less than $10 apiece — with a few notable exceptions. I have seen the rare 1944 first edition priced as high as $300. The 1946 second edition seems even scarcer, perhaps because few people bother to keep a second edition of anything. And the 1963 reprint of the first edition makes a nice companion piece to the 1944 first edition.
But don’t forget to check used bookstores, antique malls, garage sales, flea markets, and any other place where you might find used sporting goods. Remember, my best one-day haul came from an estate sale in Ontario.
The best thing about collecting Gun Digest is that upgrading your collection is a never-ending challenge. My 1944 first edition is a bit worn, but I know that somewhere, maybe in an antique mall, there’s a first edition in mint condition. Someday, I hope to find it. I have several editions in almost mint condition (including a 1953 edition I found in an antique store in Allen, Mich., for $7), but I have perhaps 40 that could stand to be upgraded. That’s what keeps me looking.
If some day I have all 60-odd volumes in mint condition, I’ll turn to collecting autographed copies. So far, I have only four: three autographed by Ken Ramage and one by John T. Amber. I’ll keep looking for copies autographed by Ken Warner and Charlie Jacobs. The latter is gonna be a toughie.
After I have an autographed copy of every edition in mint condition, I’ll start collecting Gun Digest treasuries. These were anthologies of previously published Gun Digest articles and were printed mostly in the 1970s. And after I’ve got mint copies of all of those — I’ll start over again. Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade — that’s the mark of a true collector.
Keep Them Going
In 2010, Dan Shideler became the editor of that year's 64th edition of Gun Digest.
To my knowledge, Gun Digest was never printed on acid-free paper. That means that slowly and inevitably, they will crumble into powder. You can forestall that unhappy occurrence, however, for a few centuries by following some rules:
Keep your books out of direct sunlight or bright ultraviolet light. They’ll fade if you don’t, or they’ll fox (that is, turn brown around the edges). Those old-fashioned bookcases with the glass fronts are slow killers.
Store them in a cool, dry environment with low humidity. Books hate high humidity.
Don’t wedge them tightly together. Pulling them out and pushing them back in abrades and scuffs the covers.
Keep especially valuable editions sealed in mylar sleeves, such as those available from bcemylar.com. To visualize what you’re hunting for, first locate a copy of the 50th edition, published in 1996. It contains a 16-page color section by Gary M. Brown that illustrates the first 50 Gun Digest annual covers. After you’ve been collecting for a while, you’ll be able to identify some editions from 50 feet away. (For example, the 1970 edition is bright yellow and red, and has two Marlin lever-actions on the cover. I received the 1970 edition on my 10th birthday, and I think I could sketch the cover blindfolded.)
Editor's Note: At this point, Dan went on to tell how he was cataloging his collection of Gun Digest books for our readers and how eventually he would share it with all of you. Unfortunately, Dan’s untimely death on April 3, 2011, resulted in a change of plans. Dan had already shared his collection so that we could convert this massive, seven-decade collection of content into a digital file and preserve it electronically.
Gun Digest is the source for firearms news, pricing and guns for sale. Readers benefit from in-depth editorial expert advice, show reviews and practical how-to instructions. Subscriptions are the First Amendment way to stand up for your Second Amendment rights. Click here to begin your subscription to Gun Digest.
Inside This Issue
• Celebrating 100 issues of editorial.
• The NRA boosts the future of women’s hunting through its WWE program.
• Holsters fit into three categories: duty, tactical and off-duty/concealment. Finding the right one isn’t difficult.
• There’s plenty of great new gear for hunters and shooting enthusiasts.
• Kevin Muramatsu decided to make his own 60-grain-compatible 10/22 barrel from scratch. Here’s what he learned.
• There have been many “varmint” calibers introduced since the .22/250 came along, but it remains the standard.
• Here’s a handy guide to the best scopes, binoculars and tactical optics for 2008.
• An attorney explains why the recent Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller reaches beyond firearms rights.
Gun Digest is the source for firearms news, pricing and guns for sale. Readers benefit from in-depth editorial expert advice, show reviews and practical how-to instructions. Subscriptions are the First Amendment way to stand up for your Second Amendment rights. Click here to begin your subscription to Gun Digest.
Inside This Issue
• The Chicago Tribune provides some humor in the wake of Heller.
• Fine European shotguns reviewed.
• For casual shooting, Scott Freigh likes simple, lightweight rifle rests that don’t skimp on user friendliness.
• The NRA hosts wounded warriors at the shooting range.
• Two tools from The Robert Louis Co. really help folks who tinker with shotguns.
• Historic guns continue to bring incredible prices at auction.
• When it comes to gun stocks, there’s nothing like a good piece of walnut.
• Dave Workman says the Springfield Armory Champion Operator is a compact .45 that really delivers.
• With the historic Heller decision in place, expect lower courts to examine gun laws, and don’t be surprised if the case is a factor in the election.
• .50-caliber rifles continue to attract attention from shooters — and antigun extremists. Here’s an update on pending .50-caliber legislation. Click here to load up on a subscription.
Choosing a barrel should be the first step in making a custom Ruger 10/22.
In order to launch projectiles with a high degree of precision and accuracy, the lock, stock, and barrel of your Ruger 10/22 must work together in a complementary way.
A rifle is a platform for launching projectiles. In order to launch projectiles with a high degree of precision and accuracy, the lock, stock, and barrel must work together in a complementary way. Although these factors are being discussed separately in this book, they are in fact interrelated. A stock of mediocre design may work fairly well with a heavy target barrel, but may not work as well with a slender, mediocre barrel. In the first case, the target barrel is less sensitive to what is holding it, so the system is more forgiving of the inadequacies of the stock. In the second case, the slender barrel of mediocre quality needs to be supported exactly right for it to shoot with greatest accuracy. This is due to barrel vibrations, and the stock helps to control vibrations (which are more pronounced with lightweight barrels).
Also, as a slender barrel heats up during repeated firing, it needs to be held in the most advantageous way. Even when the effects of barrel and stock are controlled, there is still the advantage of having a good trigger. If it requires excessive force to cause the trigger to release, movement of the rifle may negate some of the quality of the barrel and stock. Therefore, while this chapter will deal with barrels for the Ruger 10/22, the other components have a symbiotic effect on accuracy.
Many of the technical characteristics of barrels were discussed in Chapter 2. Therefore, this chapter will describe additional features of barrels and provide a survey of the types of barrels that are available to the shooter who is customizing a Ruger 10/22.
Factory Barrels
This sleeved barrel from Magnum Research has a carbon fiber sleeve throughout most of its length.
Factory barrels for the Ruger 10/22 are produced in several variants. By far the most common is the standard weight 18.5-inch blue version that has open sights on the barrel. A stainless steel barrel is also produced in the same configuration. The Ruger 10/22 Target model is produced with a barrel that is 20 inches long and 0.920-inch in diameter. This heavy, hammer-forged barrel is available in both blue and stainless steel. No sights are mounted on the target barrels in accord with their intended use. The Ruger 10/22 Rifle has a 20-inch barrel while the Compact Rifle has a barrel that is 16.5 inches long. One variant of the Ruger 10/22 has become known as the “Wal-Mart” rifle because they are most often found in the stores of this enormous merchandiser. Ruger produces the rifles to the specifications of Lipsey’s, Inc. of Baton Rouge, LA who is one of the major suppliers of firearms to Wal-Mart. The stainless steel barrel of this rifle is 22 inches long, and it has a slender profile. Open sights are provided on this barrel.
The muzzle is about 7/8-inch behind the end of the aluminum sleeve of the Aero barrel.
Firearms manufacturers who produce millions of barrels for rimfire rifles selling at modest prices cannot afford to make a barrel that is of the highest quality. If they did, the price of the rifle would have to be twice as high, and sales would most certainly suffer. There must be a balance between quality and cost. Please do not misunderstand what this means. Factory barrels on rimfire rifles, including the Ruger 10/22, are perfectly adequate for most sporting uses of such firearms. However, they do not have the close tolerances and exquisite finish required to produce the highest possible accuracy. To underscore this, we have found that simply installing a good aftermarket barrel may cut the group size produced by a Ruger 10/22. However, for many shooters, the factory barrel is the only one they will ever use, and their 10/22s will perform all the tasks required of the rifles. An analogous situation exists in the area of photography. Many people who own cameras that will accept interchangeable lenses take all their photographs with the lens that came with the camera. Users of all sorts of equipment readily accept such limitations. However, many of the photographs in this book could not be taken without having more specialized equipment. Higher levels of performance and specialized applications require the use of special accessories in many fields of endeavor. Fortunately, the user of a Ruger 10/22 has an enormous range of products available to enhance the accuracy of the rifle.
Changing Barrels
If there is one user friendly aspect of the Ruger 10/22 compared to other rimfire semiautos it is the ease with which the barrel can be removed and another attached. On most rimfire rifles, the barrel is press-fitted in the receiver, and a retaining pin is placed laterally through the receiver and a notch in the barrel shank. Expensive rimfire rifles sometimes have the barrel threaded into the receiver, but this requires cutting the threads on the barrel tenon or shank and in the receiver, which is a slower, more expensive process. It is, however, the method that is generally acknowledged to be the best although some extremely accurate rimfire rifles do not have barrels attached in this way.
The barrel on a Ruger 10/22 is held in place by two large screws that require a 5/32- inch Allen wrench to turn. These screws pass through a V-shaped steel block that fits over an extension at the bottom of the receiver while a beveled surface on the block makes contact with the beveled surface of a notch that is cut transversely across the bottom of the barrel. When the screws are tightened, the block pulls the barrel back into the receiver holding it rigidly in place. The result is solid barrel attachment without having to cut threads on the barrel and inside the receiver.
Aftermarket barrels attach to the receiver of a Ruger 10/22 in the same way as the factory barrel does, but they differ in the shape of the locking notch.
There are several cautions that need to be made about changing barrels on Ruger 10/22 rifles. First, although the barrel, the block that engages it, and the locking bolts are made of steel, the receiver is not. Receivers on Ruger 10/22 rifles are made of an aluminum alloy. It would be possible to apply torque to the retaining bolts to the point that the threads in the receiver are damaged or stripped. Do NOT try to tighten the locking bolts too tightly! Second, since the receiver is made of aluminum, repeated removal and attaching the barrel causes some wear on the threads in the softer receiver. Aluminum is not a metal that is very resistant to abrasion so the threads on the steel locking bolts abrade the aluminum somewhat each time they are removed and attached. Having changed barrels on two of our Ruger 10/22s a large number of times during the testing program carried out to produce this book, it is easy to see that the locking bolts now fit much looser in the receiver as they are inserted. Do not change the barrel on a Ruger 10/22 unless it is necessary to do so! The threads in the receiver may be worn excessively as a result of repeated barrel changing.
Installing Aftermarket Barrels
With the receiver of the Ruger 10/22 being made of cast aluminum, there is a considerable amount of variation in dimensions. As a result, the receiver of one of our rifles will accept barrels that will not even begin to enter the receiver of another. Some aftermarket barrels are produced with tenons (or shanks) having a diameter that tends toward the maximum allowed while some receivers may have openings with minimum dimensions. It is also possible that either the barrel extension or the hole in the receiver (or both) may not be perfectly round. As a result, it is not uncommon to find that a particular barrel does not slide easily into the receiver. We have found that this is by no means uncommon and does not indicate a defect in the barrel. In fact, some manufacturers deliberately make barrel tenons with maximum dimensions so that they will need to be polished and individually fitted to receivers. However, do NOT attempt to pull an oversize barrel into the receiver by means of excessive tightening of the locking bolts! If you do so, there is a very real probability that the screws will damage the threads in the receiver or strip them altogether. The locking screws provide a secure hold of the barrel to the receiver when they are fully engaged, but they should not be used as the means to pull a tight barrel into the receiver when they are only partially engaged.
Some polishing of the barrel tenon may be required to make the barrel fit in the receiver.
If the barrel extension will not enter the receiver without undue force, you may have to polish it with emery cloth or sandpaper. If you do, make sure that you polish it uniformly around the barrel extension to keep it round. Be careful not to remove more metal around the extractor cut because there is less bearing surface there as the emery cloth is pressed against the barrel. Aftermarket barrels from some sources are accompanied by instructions on how to polish the barrel tenon.
As you polish the barrel tenon (see Chapter 6), try frequently to fit it into the receiver. Although the cut for the locking block is across the bottom of the barrel, try inserting the barrel with the cut on top then rotating it in the receiver. In this way you can determine whether the barrel is equally tight all the way around or whether it is tight only in one orientation. If either the hole in the receiver or the barrel extension is not round, this will be revealed as you try to rotate the barrel while it is inserted into the receiver.
After you have nearly completed the polishing of the tenon of a blue barrel (you will know this by how tightly the barrel fits), you will need to blue the area that has been polished. Remove any oil from the surface by rubbing it with a small amount of alcohol or other solvent. Apply the bluing solution with a small piece of cloth while observing the cautions and directions given on the bottle. Bluing will require several applications of the solution. However, after the polished surface area is lightly blued by only one or two applications, insert it in the receiver and rotate it. When you remove it, you will be able to see clearly where contact is excessive because the freshly applied blue will be rubbed off from those areas. You now know where to administer that final bit of polishing to achieve a perfect fit of the barrel to the receiver. When this is complete, finish the bluing process and rinse off any remaining solution and salts. Apply a light coat of oil or other protecting solvent and attach the barrel to the receiver.
Blue the polished areas of the barrel and try inserting the barrel in the receiver.
Hopefully, the process described above does not sound complicated because it isn’t. In fact, it may not be necessary at all. Of the many barrels that we have attached to our 10/22 receivers, only three or four have required any fitting. We have also noted that some barrels will slide easily into one receiver but not into a different one. The method of attaching the barrel to the receiver of a Ruger 10/22 allows the fit of the barrel in the receiver to be somewhat sloppy and the rifle to still function perfectly and give good accuracy. The beveled wedge and barrel recess still make for rigid attachment.
Accuracy
Several factors come into play in determining how accurately a rifle barrel shoots. Some of these factors will be reviewed briefly. One of the most important is the crown (the muzzle). The muzzle must be perpendicular to the axis of the bore for best accuracy. If it is not, the bullet will be in contact with the longer side of the barrel after it has cleared the shorter side. This results in tipping of the bullet, which has an adverse effect on accuracy.
Note the bright spots where blue has been removed. This indicates where additional polishing is needed.
Another factor that determines the accuracy produced by a rifle barrel is related to the chamber. In order to allow almost any cartridge to be chambered, factory barrels are produced with chambers that are somewhat larger in dimensions than those that would give best accuracy. When a cartridge is placed in a tight chamber, it is held more closely aligned with the bore than when it is in a chamber in which it fits loosely. A bullet that starts out tipped in the bore will be deformed (more than simply the engraving by the rifling) so accuracy suffers. Many custom rifles that are built specifically for benchrest competition have particularly tight chambers. However, a chamber that is tight enough to prevent entry of some cartridges would not be a good choice for a hunting rifle. As will be discussed in Chapter 11, we found that it was very difficult to chamber certain types of cartridges in some of the match grade barrels. As a result, barrels having match chambers may fail to feed some types of ammunition. If this occurs, try other types of ammunition.
Many of the fine aftermarket barrels have a statement on them to the effect that unfired cartridges may not eject from the barrel. The reason for this is that the rifling extends back to the mouth of the chamber and bullet engages the rifling. As a result, there may be enough traction on the bullet so that as the bolt moves back the extractor slides over the rim of the cartridge rather than pulling the cartridge out of the chamber.
Barrels with match chambers may grip the bullet tight enough to make unfired cartridges difficult to remove.
The breech face of a rifle barrel should be perpendicular to the bore. If the rim of a cartridge fits against the rear edge of the chamber, it will be tipped if that edge is not perpendicular to the bore. When the cartridge is fired, the bullet will leave the chamber somewhat tipped in comparison to the axis of the bore. Because crushing the priming mixture held in the rim fires a rimfire cartridge, the rim must fit against the rear edge of the chamber in a fixed, reproducible way. Therefore, the rear edge of the chamber must not only be perpendicular to the bore, but also it must be smooth.
Having addressed some of the issues related to crowns and chambers, it should also be remembered that the bore and rifling are also vitally important. Inexpensive rimfire barrels produced by factories are not noted for being mirror smooth. In some cases, they can be lapped (see Chapters 2 and 4) to smooth the interior surfaces, but many of the barrels produced by custom barrel makers are the result of slow, painstaking work. The bores and rifling are already very smooth and held to tighter tolerances than on factory barrels. Some are even hand lapped. That is why it is not uncommon to spend more for a high-grade replacement barrel than the original cost of a complete Ruger 10/22.
In later chapters, a great deal of data will be presented to show the accuracy that we obtained from a large number of custom rifles. Keep in mind that not all barrels function equally well with all types of ammunition. It is not uncommon to find that barrel A functions better than barrel B with one type of ammunition while the reverse is true with a different type of ammunition. This is natural, and it shows that the shooter should experiment with several types of ammunition to evaluate accuracy regardless of the barrel being used. However, as will be shown later, four or five types of ammunition gave outstanding accuracy with almost all of the aftermarket barrels.
Types of Aftermarket Barrels
Aftermarket barrels for the Ruger 10/22 come in all types, sizes, and colors.
The number of sellers of aftermarket barrels is large and as a result, the number of types of barrels offered is enormous. This is an area where it is possible for the shooter to swap the factory barrel for one of almost any configuration. Perhaps the most common type of barrel installed on Ruger 10/22s is the so-called target barrel, which usually has a 0.920-inch diameter. Such barrels are available in a range of prices that reaches from less than $100 to well over $300. Moreover, target barrels are available in both blue and stainless steel, with or without flutes. Almost all of the major suppliers of barrels for the Ruger 10/22 offer one or more models of this general type. Heavy barrels from Adams & Bennett, Butler Creek, and Green Mountain are among the more economical models, but if you refer to the test results presented in Chapter 11, you will see that they give excellent accuracy. Toward the upper end of the price range are the fine barrels produced by Jarvis, Kidd Innovative Design, Lilja, and Shilen. We have used several of these superbly accurate barrels with complete satisfaction.
Installing a target barrel on your 10/22 will require a stock with a barrel channel to accommodate the barrel of larger diameter. This means that you must either modify the factory stock or get one with the large barrel channel. If you choose to modify the factory stock, the barrel band will not fit over the target barrel. To modify the barrel channel, you will need to take a short section of a dowel rod of appropriate diameter and wrap it with sandpaper. With this sanding device, you can now (laboriously) work on the barrel channel by removing wood until it will accept the target barrel. The other alternative (which is probably more often exercised and more satisfactory) is to buy a new stock having a 0.920-inch barrel channel from one of the aftermarket sources. We have discussed stocks in detail in Chapter 7.
Typical of the elegant barrels for the Ruger 10/22 is this highly polished stainless steel model from Kidd Innovative Design.
Aftermarket barrels are also produced which have the same (or very nearly the same) profile as the factory barrel. These so-called standard weight barrels can be used with the factory stock or with another that has a barrel channel of the same width. As is the case with target barrels, standard weight barrels are available in both blue and stainless steel. Several versions are available with flutes that are either straight or that spiral around the barrel. It might be assumed that the heavy target barrels would be much more accurate than those of standard weight, but this is not always the case. You may achieve as much improvement in accuracy as you desire with a lighter weight barrel. We have worked with these lighter weight barrels from Green Mountain, Jarvis, and Lilja. Studying the data shown in the tables in Chapter 11 will show just how accurate these barrels are.
Although many aftermarket stocks are available with barrel channels that fit barrels of factory dimensions, some owners of a Ruger 10/22 may want to utilize the factory stock. That limits the choice of barrels to those that have the standard contour. However, another popular type of barrel that fits the factory stock is the muzzle weighted or running boar model. This barrel has a diameter that matches that of the factory barrel except for the last four or five inches where the diameter increases to 0.920 inch. The heavy section near the muzzle adds weight forward of the hands which aids in steady holding. It also makes it easier to have a smooth swing when aiming at a moving target. We have used three outstanding barrels of this type, a Green Mountain blue version in .22 WMR, a Ranch Products blue .22 LR barrel, and a stainless Volquartsen in .22 LR.
Another type of barrel that appeals to many shooters is what might be called a “compound” barrel. This type of barrel consists of an inner rifled tube made of steel having a small outside diameter that is surrounded by an outer sleeve made of some material of lighter weight. The most common outer sleeves are made of aluminum or a carbon fiber composite material. Barrels of this type generally have a 0.920-inch diameter and are used with a stock having a barrel channel of that width. An outstanding barrel of the aluminum sleeved type that is available in all four rimfire calibers is the Majestic Arms Aluma-Lite barrel which has an inner barrel made by Lothar Walther. Although light in weight, they perform like true heavyweights.
This Butler Creek barrel is a heavy model with straight flutes.
An example of a barrel having a carbon fiber sleeve is the MagnumLite® barrel from Magnum Research which weighs only 12.8 ounces. These barrels are available in .22 LR, .22 WMR, .17 Mach 2, and .17 HMR calibers. Another fine carbon-sleeved barrel is the Ultra-Lite® marketed by Butler Creek which is produced with open sights. The Featherweight version from Butler Creek is furnished without sights. Both have Bentz type match chambers.
An unusual barrel of the sleeved type is available in .22 LR from Whistle Pig. This barrel features a highly polished outer sleeve made of aluminum that is fluted. Barrels are available with the insides of the flutes finished with enamel in a choice of colors. This provides a barrel that is light in weight (about 18 ounces), has a striking appearance, and gives excellent accuracy. Another producer of unusual sleeved barrels is Tactical Solutions. These barrels weigh a pound or less and are available in red, purple, green, blue, black, gray, and camo colors. These barrels are also available with or without flutes in .22 LR and .22 WMR calibers.
A slender barrel with helical flutes is very attractive. This E. R. Shaw barrel not only looks good, it delivers excellent accuracy.
A tensioned barrel also consists of an inner sleeve that is held in an outer tube. In this case, the sleeve is constructed so that it is long enough to push forward on the muzzle end of the barrel while pushing backward on the breech end. This puts a tension on the barrel, which is supposed to help control the vibrations that occur during firing. Tensioned barrels are available from Volquartsen among others.
Recently, Green Mountain introduced a remarkable type of barrel in .22 LR and .22 WMR for the Ruger 10/22. Those barrels, known as the Aero Series, have a slender stainless steel barrel measuring just 16 inches in length, which is surrounded by a metal sleeve. The 0.920-inch diameter metal sleeve extends about 7/8-inch beyond the end of the barrel, and it has oval slots throughout its length. The overall length of the sleeved barrel is 17 inches, and sleeves are available in black, green, blue, yellow, red, and polished aluminum colors. A Competition model in .22 LR has a barrel weight that is contained within the shroud.
Muzzle weighted barrels like this one from Volquartsen have some advantages of both standard and heavy versions.
The stainless steel inner barrel of the Aero Series has shallow flutes, a Bentz-type chamber, and a rifling twist of one turn in 15 inches. It also has an 11-degree muzzle crown and is treated to relieve stress. Two O-rings around the chamber area are used to separate the shroud from the barrel. Additionally, the sleeves are intended to be free floating, and to give the proper clearance, they are supplied with a shim that can be placed under the lug where the barrel attaches. This lifts the barrel very slightly at the rear to make the assembly free floating. Weighing only 21.6 ounces, the Green Mountain Aero barrel is well suited for building ultra light rifles based on the Ruger 10/22 action.
The Aluma-Lite barrel from Majestic Arms has an aluminum sleeve over the steel barrel.
It is not unusual for a given manufacturer to produce barrels in blue and stainless steel in different weights and lengths as well as sleeved barrels. Given that a manufacturer may produce as many as eight or ten types of barrels, the number of available options must run in the hundreds. Although we did not approach this number of barrels used in the tests, the number was still substantial. The accompanying table shows data for the barrels that were used in experiments as part of the data collection for this book.
As can be seen from the table of specifications, barrels generally fall into two categories based on barrel dimensions depending on whether they have the contour of the factory barrel or a 0.920-inch diameter. Although several of the barrels have a diameter of 0.920 inches, they are ultra light models. When selecting a barrel, keep in mind that the barrels fall into three general categories that can be considered as ultra light (under 25 ounces), standard weight (25 to 35 ounces), and heavy weight (over 48 ounces). Depending on the intended use for your custom Ruger 10/22, you may be more concerned with the weight than with diameter. Be assured that highly accurate barrels are available in all of the classifications either by weight or by diameter. When it comes to barrels, there is something for everyone who customizes the Ruger 10/22.
This is an excerpt from Customize the Ruger 10/22.
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Inside This Issue
• The Heller decision is a huge victory.
• Classic Colts never go out of style.
• Everybody should know the basics of making black powder. But remember, safety first.
• Camp Perry is set to begin.
• There’s more from gun-guy heaven, but the airlines got in the way again.
• Great guns and gear for hunters and shooters.
• Protecting your shooting range is a full-time job. Plan now to save your gun club when anti-gunners attack.
• Seattle’s mayor is trying to ban all guns on public property in the city. In his attempt, he might be lighting the fuse for a big gun-rights battle. Click here to load up on a subscription.
Ruger 10/22 with bull barrel works well in the field and shoots 1/2-inch 50-yard groups with CCI standard ammo.
You can have an accurate .22 semi-auto even if you don't want a heavy rifle or don't want to spend a tub of money on a heavy custom barrel.
The concept of a .22 semi-auto rifle which is both handy and highly accurate is very attractive. How often have you lost the opportunity for a second shot at a squirrel or other small game because the action noise and movement of your hand spooked the animal? Semi-autos mask the action noise with the report of the rifle.
If you can, as well, use subsonic ammunition — it doesn't provide the supersonic “crack” which accompanies the “whiz-bang” stuff — game targets are often unaware of that first shot. The shooter who remains motionless after a near-miss often gets a follow-up shot.
The tough part of shooting the semi-auto on squirrels is that many autoloaders simply aren't accurate enough for clean kills, except at short range. Part of that is because light rifles are hard to hold steadily, but there is also an inherent limitation in the design compromises made to obtain safe and reliable functioning. The few semi-auto .22 rifles you see that are consistently accurate are greatly prized by their owners, most of whom know their rifles are aberrations.
Squirrels have tiny vital areas. The maximum effective range for a small game rifle is determined by the longest distance you can confidently fire a 1-inch, five-shot group from a field position. I have found that ten-shot benchrest groups under controlled conditions on the range approximate what I can expect for five-shot groups under field conditions shooting from an improvised rest. This realistically limits the average .22 autoloader to 30-40 yards.
If your rifle functions reliably with standard-velocity or match ammunition (an iffy thing with some autoloaders), you might reduce your benchrest ten-shot group sizes to 1/2 inches at 50 yards. A few autoloaders do better with a particular ammunition they like, if you can discover what that is and then hoard some. Most .22 bolt actions, when scoped, will easily beat an inch for ten-shot groups at 50 yards. A very few will approach half that with good match ammunition. The obvious way to make an accurate .22 autoloader is to do what Navy gunsmiths did for CISM competition.
The January, 1990, issue of American Rifleman shows a heavy target barrel from a Winchester 52 and custom McMillan target stock installed on a Ruger 10/22. The rig certainly looks interesting, but is hardly the type of thing I would want to carry up the ridges. It's also a little strange to put $500 worth of gunsmithing into a $150 rifle!
It’s almost all in the chamber, and Jim Coleman knows how to make the right one happen in a semi-auto.
Because there was no accuracy data, I could not determine from the Rifleman article how well the Navy-CISM rifle really shot.
Shortly afterward, several magazine articles described the Clark-Custom Ruger 10/22 autoloader built for the Chevy Truck Sportsman's Team Challenge. It has a 21 1/2-inch heavy Douglas barrel and supposed match-type chamber, but retained the Ruger's trim sporter stock. This makes a handsome 7-pound package which appears to have obvious field utility, but the developed accuracy reported in several write-ups I've seen was uninspiring. The March, 1991, issue of American Rifleman shows several series of five-shot, 50-yard groups with high-velocity ammunition averaging from 1.3-1.8 inches. That implies that ten-shot groups, which are the usual industry standard for .22 rimfire ammunition testing, would be in the “ordinary” 2-inch range. Shucks, a third of normal-production Ruger 10/22s will shoot 1/2-inch ten-shot groups from a rest with CCI Green Tag, straight from the box!
From 1984-86, I observed thousands of rounds fired through 10/22s every day at the Newport, New Hampshire, Ruger factory. Occasionally, range staff would conduct audit shoots of normal production. When I was with the company, it was not unusual to get a dozen rifles from a rack of thirty which would shoot 1/2-inch ten-shot groups at 50 yards with CCI Green Tag, and function reliably, too, with seldom a bobble.
The various test results I've seen on the Clark-Custom don't seem like much of an accuracy improvement from my memories of factory testing the 10/22, considering that the custom gunsmithing added about $300 to the cost of the basic rifle! The NRA tech staff tried Eley Tenex ammunition in the Clark rifle, but it malfunctioned and no accuracy data were reported. We don't know what the Clark-Custom would do with good ammo when tuned to function reliably with it.
If you watched the 1991 Chevy Truck Sportsman's Team Challenge last year on ESPN, you probably noticed the shooters lost time clearing jams. I have watched this tape several times, and it made the lasting impression that the gun modification wasn't completely worked out.
Scoped — it’s a 6x Unertl — Norinco proved to be so good as-is it was left alone — the exception that proves the rule.
The Ruger 10/22 is, generally, one of the most reliable .22 autoloaders ever made. Feeding malfunctions will occur in some autoloaders with standard-velocity ammunition, because it doesn't provide as sharp an impulse to work the mechanism. If the action spring is balanced for high-velocity rounds, the usual case with U.S.-made autoloaders, standard-velocity rounds don't provide full compression of the action spring, and the shorter bolt stroke reduces the bolt closing force imparted by the action spring. This condition gets worse when the gun gets dirty.
The traditional .22 Long Rifle SAAMI-dimentioned “match” chamber isn't suited for use in autoloaders. This is because additional force is required to seat a 22 Long Rifle round that last 1/10-inch or so into the origin of rifling in the match chamber. This increased resistance causes failures of the bolt to close fully, because semi-autos depend upon the inertia of the closing bolt to seat the round. It is necessary to adjust forcing cone depth to the particular ammunition when the tighter body diameter, match-type chamber is used.
It is no secret that the accuracy potential of a .22 rifle is determined by its chamber. The SAAMI-dimensioned .22 Long Rifle sporting chamber is seldom capable of much better than 1 1/2-inch groups at 50 yards, no matter how heavy the barrel is or what kind of ammunition you try. However, many .22 semi-auto target pistols group well under 2 inches at 50 yards with match ammunition when scoped or fired from a machine rest. If you cast the chamber of a .22 rimfire match pistol, you will find it doesn't have the usual sporting chamber. It doesn't have the same chamber that match rifles do either. It is something in between, which is exactly what we are looking for.
All these were shot through a Winchester 52D-chambered heavy barrel of 16 1/2-inch length fitted to a Browning .22 semi-auto rifle. Targets 1 and 2 show a best group of .424-inch — ten shots at 50 yards — and a more typical group at .67-inch made with excellent Eley Tenex target ammo. Targets 3 and 4 show a best of .483-inch and a typical .826-inch group, this time with CCI Standard Velocity cartridges. Targets 5 and 6 were made with Eley Subsonic hollowpoints — a typical .911-inch group and a best at .778-inch. This was an accurate .22 semi-auto, indeed.
The Ruger Mark II Government Model pistol uses a shallower 2-degree lead angle in the forcing cone of the chamber, rather than the standard 5 degrees. This permits the chamber body length (measured from the rim seat to the start of the forcing cone) to be shortened to .670-.700-inch length, which is a compromise compared to the .600-inch of the SAAMI-dimensioned .22 LR match chamber or .775-inch in the SAAMI sporting chamber.
While this chamber greatly reduces free bullet travel compared to the sporting chamber, engraving force on the round being chambered is far less than the SAAMI-dimensioned match chamber. A safe, reliable autoloader which functions with anything and isn't fussy about cleaning requires about 1/16-inch longer body length than the SAAMI match or Winchester 52D chamber. I recommend the gunsmith making rifles for the average user adopt a chamber as shown in the accompanying drawing. It includes a .228-inch base diameter, .670-inch minimum body length with up to +.030-inch if needed for reliable function, .225-inch mouth diameter, and 2-degree forcing cone. In my humble opinion, the chamber illustrated is the best way to go for all but the most serious accuracy requirements. It will also work well in manually operated repeaters and semi-auto pistols.
Serious shooters after pure accuracy, who are willing to select specific ammunition and clean carefully, can use the Winchester 52D or Freeland-type chamber in autoloaders like the Browning or Ruger and can expect accuracy which rivals a boltgun. The Winchester 52D chamber has a .580-inch body length, whereas the similar Freeland type is .600-inch. Both have a 2-degree forcing cone which engraves a round of Eley Tenex to about the second cannelure upon chambering.
This chamber generally works well as long as the guns are well tuned to function smoothly and are kept clean. The shorter Winchester 52D and Freeland-type chambers may sometimes experience malfunctions with foreign ammunition exceeding SAAMI maximum bullet diameter, or if the chamber is used in rifles with light breech bolts or weaker action springs. These rifles and manually operated slam-feeders with little chambering leverage, such as the old discontinued Winchester Models 1890, 1906, 61 and 62, require the chamber body be lengthened about 1/16-inch to obtain reliable functioning. Gunsmiths wanting to ensure reliable functioning in autoloaders, which will work with any ammunition and go 1000 rounds or more between cleanings, should try this lengthened chamber.
A viable expedient for gunsmiths not wanting to buy special tooling is to use a .22-caliber centerfire rifle throating reamer (usually .2245-to .2250-inch diameter with a 1- or 3-degree angle) to carefully lengthen the SAAMI-dimensioned match chamber approximately, but not appreciably more than, 1/16-inch. The exact body length is not critical as long as chamber diameter is maintained as close as possible to the SAAMI maximum cartridge diameter of .225-inch. A round of the chosen ammunition dropped by its own weight into the chamber should stop about 1/16-inch short of the rim seat. Lengthening the match chamber slightly reduces resistance to chambering while preserving a close fit of cartridge to chamber, which is essential to best accuracy.
Simply shortening the sporting chamber by stopping the reamer before it cuts to the full .775-inch depth from the rim seat does not work, because chamber diameter is more important than length. Running a 2-degree, .225-inch diameter rifle throater 1/16-inch into a SAAMI match chamber only enlarges the average of a series of ten-shot groups about 10 percent.
This is insignificant. Further deepening the chamber another 1/16-inch increases group size by 15-18 percent over the original match chamber, which is only marginally significant. But enlarging the body diameter of the same chamber only .005-inch by cleaning it up with a sporting reamer, just enough to get reliable semiautomatic functioning, doubles group size compared to the Winchester 52D-type chamber. You don't need to be a statistician to see that doesn't work.
The second-best and second-worst of ten-shot at 50 yards with a factory ATD demonstrate that some rifles should be left as-is.
We fired several factory .22 autoloaders to get a baseline for comparison. These included a Ruger 10/22, a Browning Grade I autoloader, a Norinco ATD copy of the Browning from Interarms, and a circa-1970 Remington Model 77 Apache. All of them shot remarkably alike. The Remington did not function reliably with all standard-velocity ammunition, but the Ruger 10/22, the Browning and the ATD did. The ATD shot fully as well as the Browning, a pleasant surprise. I had intended to reline the ATD as an experiment, and then shoot it again for comparison. But when I saw the targets with CCI Standard Velocity and Eley Subsonic Hollowpoints, my chosen squirrel ammunition, I took Jim Coleman's advice that “if it ain't broke, Mister, don't fix it!”
Our results suggest that over the long run most .22 autoloaders will average 2 inches or so for five ten-shot groups with high-velocity ammunition. Standard-velocity ammunition was more accurate, averaging about 1 1/2 inches. The Browning approached 1-inch with Eley Tenex ammo, as did the Norinco ATD with Eley Subsonic HP.
If you are unwilling to test a parade of .22 autoloaders until you find an accurate one, the least expensive way to get a tackdriver is to install a Brownells liner in a factory barrel, with a proper chamber. I recommend use of the SAAMI-dimensioned match or Winchester 52D-style reamer, adjusting the forcing cone not more than .060-inch deeper with a .22 centerfire rifle throater until rounds chamber and extract easily, but are engraved for about 1/16-inch when extracted without firing. Arlington, VA, gunsmith Jim Coleman has found that relined barrels with good chambers average under an inch, with the best ammunition being 1/2-inch or so. However, because the light factory barrel contours are whippy, they are very difficult to hold steadily. Getting consistent grouping remains a problem, so a heavier replacement barrel is the preferred option if you want the “all-out-accurate” autoloader.
Burst cases can happen to the regular SAAMI-spec match chamber in a 22 semi-auto.
At Coleman's suggestion, we decided to see how well we could get an all-out-autoloader to shoot — heavy barrel, target scope, the works. George Wilson of the Wilson Arms Co. provided several blanks of the same type he supplied to Ruger for producing the 10/22. These are 1137 steel and 15/16-inch diameter, providing a finished barrel 20 inches long. Fitting these cylindrical blanks on a Ruger 10/22 and a Browning autoloader, we reached our goal — an autoloader which would average under an inch for a long series often-shot groups at 50 yards. We also proved to our satisfaction that the Winchester 52D chamber or something similar with a gradual forcing cone, optionally up to 1/16-inch longer (depending on the intended ammunition and your cleaning habits), was necessary.
Our early trials with the SAAMI-dimensioned match chamber in the Browning produced malfunctions. Once the gun was dirty, we blew off a few case heads from slamfires. One of these is illustrated. I would caution people never to use the SAAMI-dimensioned match chamber in an autoloader.
Actually, two heavy Wilson Arms Co. barrels were fitted to the Browning .22 autoloader, chambered to Winchester 52D dimensions. One barrel had the normal 16-inch twist and the other was 14-inch twist, as used by Clark in his custom target pistols, which we tried just to see if it made any difference. It didn't. The average of fifty ten-shot groups in the Browning autoloader using an assortment of high-velocity, standard and match ammunitions at 50 yards was .99-inch with the 16-inch twist barrel and .95-inch with the 14-inch twist. Eley Tenex averaged under 1/2-inch in both barrels, CCI Green Tag, CCI Standard Velocity and Eley Subsonic HP averaged under an inch. None of the high-velocity ammo averaged over 1.2 inches.
Looking at the Clark-Custom Squirrel Rifle advertised recently in several shooting publications, we decided to shorten the barrel on the 14-inch twist Browning heavy barrel. The results were gratifying. Ten consecutive ten-shot groups with Eley Tenex averaged 0.67-inch, a significant improvement from the 0.74-inch average produced by the same barrel when shot at 20-inch length. Results obtained with CCI Standard Velocity and Eley Subsonic HP were essentially unchanged from the same barrel at 20 inches, being 0.71-and 0.89-inch, respectively.
The accuracy obtained with heavy 20-inch barrel and Winchester 52D chamber on the Ruger 10/22 was similar. Nineteen ten-shot groups with CCI Standard Velocity averaged 0.75-inch, with the largest just over an inch and the smallest under a half-inch. With Eley Practice 100, eleven ten-shot groups at 50 yards averaged 0.71-inch, with nothing over an inch. Federal Lightning high velocity averaged just under an inch for a smaller fifty-shot sample. We were very pleased with this, because the rifle is accurate, reliable and works with anything we have tried in it.
So, the moral is, you can have an accurate .22 autoloader. If you don't want a heavy rifle or don't want to spend a tub of money on a heavy custom barrel, reline it (and don't tell anybody). Let them think you have one of those “rare” factory autoloaders that happens to shoot well!
Gun Digest is the source for firearms news, pricing and guns for sale. Readers benefit from in-depth editorial expert advice, show reviews and practical how-to instructions. Subscriptions are the First Amendment way to stand up for your Second Amendment rights. Click here to begin your subscription to Gun Digest.
Inside This Issue
• A new survey says most Americans support the Second Amendment.
• A deep look at classic Savage
• Fine Fabarm models
• Test-firing a .22 using proven ammo will help you determine if it’s a gun you really want.
• EddieEagle dropped in on Louisville, Ky., school children during the NRA annual meetings.
• What’s gun-guy heaven like? Bryce Towsley thinks he went there recently.
• A gallant old warrior — the M-14 — soldiers on.
• Blasphemy alert! Handguns might not always be the best choice.
• The Frazier International History Museum holds numerous historic firearms, but these incredible guns really stand out.
You've heard this shocking “fact” before — on TV and radio, in newspapers, on the Internet and from the highest politicians in the land: 90 percent of the weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the United States.
— Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it to reporters on a flight to Mexico City.
— CBS newsman Bob Schieffer referred to it while interviewing President Obama.
— California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said at a Senate hearing: “It is unacceptable to have 90 percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico and used to shoot judges, police officers and mayors … come from the United States.”
— William Hoover, assistant director for field operations at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified in the House of Representatives that “there is more than enough evidence to indicate that over 90 percent of the firearms that have either been recovered in, or interdicted in transport to Mexico, originated from various sources within the United States.”
There's just one problem with the 90 percent “statistic” and it's a big one:
It's just not true.
In fact, it's not even close. The fact is, only 17 percent of guns found at Mexican crime scenes have been traced to the U.S. Read More
Gun Digest is the source for firearms news, pricing and guns for sale. Readers benefit from in-depth editorial expert advice, show reviews and practical how-to instructions. Subscriptions are the First Amendment way to stand up for your Second Amendment rights. Click here to begin your subscription to Gun Digest.
Inside This Issue
• Firearms safety is personal. No one can do it but you.
• Despite having no good candidates, there is only one choice for president.
• Savage’s earliest pump-action .22 has a few unique features shooters should learn about.
• NRA update: Hemphill named LEO of the Year.
• Exceptional glass and outstanding features make Zeiss optics a great choice for a tactical rifle.
• Great guns and gear for hunting and shooting.
• Extreme Makeover: Firearms Edition comes to an end as Norm the 1911 gets his finishing touch.
• When the more than 60,000 members of the NRA family gather, Bob Hausman writes, there’s bound to be plenty of talk about politics, guns and how the two go hand-in-hand.
• Why do top shooters reach for top-of-the-line shotshells? Because those shells break more birds. Fiocchi is a world leader in shotshell manufacturing and American shooters should know why. Kevin Michalowski dishes the lowdown.
Some of the new cartridges being loaded by Hornady, and for which handloading dies and components will be available: L/R: 30 T/C, 308 Marlin Express, 9.3 74mmR, 375 Ruger, 450/400 Nitro Express and 450 Bushmaster.
The big news for handloaders in 2007 was the introduction by Hornady Manufacturing of so many new cartridges, or loads for previously difficult-to-obtain cartridges, ultimately resulting in more reloading die sets and components – which Hornady is also producing. Among the new loads available now are the 30 T/C (Thompson/Center), 308 Marlin Express, 9.3 74R, 375 Ruger, 450/400 Nitro Express, and the 450 Bushmaster, with the 338 Lapua Magnum on the shelves by the time you read this. That's just for a start. There's a baker's dozen new bullets, plus the 7th edition of the Hornady Handbook of Cartridge Reloading , and a Joyce Hornady DVD on reloading and bullet accuracy. Loading dies and components are available for some of these new cartridges already, and the others are on the way.
One of the most unusual new products this shooter has seen for handloaders is Season Shot, a nontoxic, biodegradable, seasoned, dissolving shot. Initial offerings will be garlic and herb-flavored, with lemon pepper, Cajun, Terriyaki, mesquite and Mexican (hot?) flavors to be added. Invented by Brett Holm and his partner, Dave Feig, this new shot should on the market by the time you read this. The hardened pellets are said to be comparable in range and patterning to regular steel shot, with “knock-down” power out to 45 yards on upland birds, and 25 yards on turkeys. It will take ducks and geese if they are settling in to a decoy spread, but larger size shot is being developed for use on waterfowl.
Holm stated the shot was developed after he chipped a tooth while eating a bird bagged using steel shot. “I just knew there had to be a better way.” While hard enough to penetrate birds, the Season Shot pellets in the dressed birds melt from the oven heat, dissolving and providing flavor to the meat from the inside out. Bag your bird using Season Shot, clean and dress it, bake or roast, and enjoy eating garlic- and herb-flavored meat.
Lyman Products Corporation
Lyman has introduced four new loading die sets, a three-die set for the 5.7 28mm FN cartridge, plus similar sets for three ‘cowboy action' shooter cartridges, the 40-60, 45-60, and 45-75 Winchester rounds of yesteryear. (The new production '76 Winchester lever-action rifles are now available in these original chamberings.) Neck-sizing dies are also available for these cartridges. For those shooters wanting to take a step back further in time, the Lyman or Ideal 310 Tong Tool and dies are available for the 40-65 Winchester cartridge, in addition to some other old calibers, such as the 45-70 Government. (The 310 Tong may be slow, but having used one in his younger days, this shooter can vouch for the fact it does load shootable cartridges.)
For those handloaders who cast their own bullets, Lyman has brought back Ideal mould #403168. This mould will cast a 200-grain flat-nose bullet with two lube grooves and a plain base.
Shotshell reloaders will appreciate the new 5th edition of Lyman's Shotshell Reloading Handbook . This latest edition features more than 230 pages of data for reloading shotshells from the .410-bore to 10-gauge, using the most popular powders. Discussion of non-toxic shot, including the development and history, plus case identification featuring full color drawings, tips for producing better handloads and data for loading buckshot and slug are also included.
Forster Precision Products
Forster has added several calibers to their Bench Rest die sets. Some feature full-length sizing dies, some neck-sizing and seating dies, of course. New to the Forster line are dies for the 6mm Dasher (6mm BR Improved), 6mm XC, 6.8mm Remington SPC, and the 325 WSM. Also new are the Precision Plus Bushing Bump Sizing dies. The Bump dies are matched to the caliber of a specific rifle, and a set consists of three pre-selected or ‘you choose' smooth-as-silk bushings, which are available in thousandth of an inch (.001) increments. This permits the case neck to be sized for a specific chamber, and reduces the possibility of overworking the case neck.
Currently, the Bushing Bump Die, with three pre-selected bushings, is available for a baker's dozen cartridges, from the 204 Ruger to the 30-06 Springfield. By the time you read this, dies and bushings should be available for the 6.5mm/284, 7mm Remington Magnum, and 30 BR cartridges, with others possibly later. The bushings and the Bushing Bump Die can be purchased separately.
Handloaders who don't like to change a die setting once it's established, but have to in order to return the die to its box, will like the new Forster Deluxe Die Box. With an overall length of 8 inches, and a thickness of 2 inches, the new double-walled boxes will handle dies for the extra-long Ultra Mag calibers, in addition to the Ultra Micrometer Bench Rest dies.
Handloaders who salvage bullets from surplus ammunition, or replace full metal jacket bullets with a soft- or hollow-point design of equal or lesser weight, should appreciate Forster's new 8mm (.323″) Superfast Bullet Puller. The Puller will work in most presses taking x14-thread dies. While it will leave scratches on the pulled bullet jacket, it will pull even the tough, lacquered bullets from military rounds.
Not new – but a must for sizing cases – is a high-pressure lubricant which adheres to the case. Under the Bonanza label Forster has a lubricant that allows case resizing with a minimum of effort.
J & J Products
J&J has been in the thermoplastic injection-molding business for over three and one-half decades. Their various transparent ammunition boxes carry a lifetime guarantee against latch or hinge failure, and are designed to interlock to permit stacking of boxes for storage. Available in a variety of colors from smoke through red to camouflage, the boxes have capacities of 20, 50 or 100 rounds, depending on the model. The newest boxes in a 50-round hinge-top design will hold the 500 S&W and similar big-bore handgun cartridges – plus some of the shorter rifle cartridges of a similar size.
Redding Reloading Equipment
Redding has a host of new products available for handloaders; among which are ten new die sets. These include the 17 Remington Fireball, 6?47mm Lapua, 6.5?47mm Lapua, 6.5mm Grendel, 30 T/C, 308 Marlin Express, 9.3mmx74R, 375 Ruger, 45-60 Winchester and 470 Nitro Express. New also are the Universal Decapping Dies in two sizes, Small for calibers 22 through 50 and lengths up to 2.625 inches, and the Large, which will handle cases up to three inches in length, but with a neck diameter no smaller than 25-caliber. An optional 17-caliber decapping rod is available to fit the small die, and accommodate the small (0.060-inch) flash hole PPC and BR cases.
The Redding Big Boss II ‘O'-frame press features a one-inch diameter ram, with 3.8 inches of usable stroke. Another feature is the spent primer collection system, which funnels ejected spent primers through the ram and down a tube to a collection point below.
If ten new die sets aren't news, then the introduction of the Big Boss II Reloading Press definitely is ‘big news.' Featuring a one-inch diameter ram with 3.8 inches of usable stroke, this large ‘O'-frame press has the largest window opening of any press in its class, making it capable of reloading most of the larger cartridges. The Boss II features the “Spent Primer Collection System” in which spent primers automatically drop through the large-diameter ram into a flexible plastic tube that can be easily routed into a collection container for later emptying. The “Smart Primer Arm” on the Boss II automatically swings into position during the ram stroke and moves out of position when not in use. Priming is done at the end of the ram stroke to ensure maximum sensitivity while at the lowest possible leverage. (An optional bushing to handle 1″x14 threaded dies is available For the Boss II, as is an extra Slide Bar Primer Assembly for the T-7 Turret Reloading Press.)
Handloaders who are also competition shooters have found the uniformity of neck wall thickness to be a contributing factor to consistently accurate loads. Any large variation (over 0.0015-inch) in neck wall thickness can decrease accuracy. Redding has a new Case Neck Gauge that permits easy and rapid sorting of cases by neck wall thickness and uniformity. Two mandrel sizes are supplied with the Gauge to allow measurement of all cases from 17- to 338-caliber, including cases with small (0.060-inch) flash holes. The Gauge mounts directly to the reloading bench, and comes with a large dial indicator accurate to 0.001-inch. Pilot stops are required for each caliber, and two stops, 22-caliber (#06121) and 30-caliber (#06130) are provided with the Gauge. These stainless steel pilot stops, which also can be used with the flash hole deburring Tools, are currently available in fourteen sizes from 17-caliber to 338-caliber.
It may seem a small thing, but flash holes and primer pocket uniformity are more important than many handloaders realize. Redding has both primer pocket uniformers and flash hole deburring tools for small and large primer pockets and small (0.060-inch) and large (0.080-inch) flash holes. The primer pocket uniformers are designed for Large Rifle primers, but not for Large Pistol primers, while the tools for the Small Rifle primers are dimensionally correct for the Small Pistol primers. The tools come with handles and the deburrers are supplied with one pilot stop.
Redding has an easy to use SAECO Lead Hardness Tester that allows the user to check bullet metal up to approximately 22 Brinell. This is accomplished by the depth of penetration of a hardened steel indenter into a bullet. The relative hardness of the bullet is read off a Vernier scale calibrated in arbitrary units from 0 (pure lead) to 10 (approx. 22 Brinell). Magnum handgun and gas check rifle bullets work best if cast from an alloy with a SAECO hardness reading of 8 or over.
Cowboy Action Shooters use rather large quantities of cast lead bullets. Redding has a score of moulds to cast an assortment of classic design bullets from a 140-grain 30-caliber (#630) to a 525-grain 45-caliber (#745). All the designs feature rounded lube grooves, and a front band near bore diameter, tapering up to slightly larger than groove diameter. This type of bullet was preferred by the famed barrel-maker Harry Pope a century ago, and was frequently used by Schuetzen shooters.
RCBS/ATK
RCBS has a number of new products for handloaders, beginning with an economical new AmmoMaster Chronograph. The AmmoMaster is self-contained and has its own carrying case, operates on a 9V DC battery and features a detachable keyboard display with a 100-shot memory. Velocity range is 50 to 7,000 feet/second, and the chronograph mounts on any standard camera tripod. The detachable keypad has a twenty-footcord to permit editing a string right at the bench. (The edit function allows the deleting of a particular shot, and will display high, low, and average velocities – plus extreme spread and standard deviation.)
Case tumblers aren't new items, but RCBS does have a new large capacity vibratory Mega Tumbler. The Mega holds up to six pounds of corncob or walnut hull media, and can clean and polish up to 1,000 38 Special cases at a time. Both 120- and 240-volt units are available, with the latter ideal for handloaders in Europe.
Ever wish trickling power onto a scale pan for weighing was easier? RCBS has a new Powder Trickler System that allows you to dispense and trickle a powder charge directly onto a scale pan without having to remove the scale pan for the initial filling. The dispensing chute adjusts to allow you to drop the powder charge directly onto the scale pan, and the unit can be adjusted for left- or right-hand use. (The Trickler system attaches to any Uniflow, Quick Change or Little Dandy powder measure, and is used in conjunction with the Advanced Powder Measure Stand.)
The Advanced Powder Measure Stand, which can be purchased separately, will accept any power measure having a -14 thread. It can be easily bolted to a reloading bench or table, and leaves plenty of space for positioning a loading block filled with cases, or a powder scale pan. RCBS has a new Black Powder Measure having a charging capacity of 120 grains. The metering cylinder is constructed of brass, with the one-pound capacity powder hopper and cap being aluminum. (The cap features a non-sparking powder level indicator to show how much powder is left in the hopper.) A 24-inch aluminum drop tube is available as an option.
New powder baffles are available for the Quick Change and Quick Change High Capacity (two pounds of powder) Powder Measures. Extra metering assemblies can be purchased to have them preset for favorite smokeless powder charges, and Quick Change Accessories can be purchased to upgrade Uniflow Measures to the QC system.
RCBS has an extensive line of reloading dies (over 3,300, sizing and seating) available to take care of handloading almost any modern cartridge, in addition to many obsolete calibers. These range from 17-caliber, with possibly a few 10, 12- and 14-caliber reamers still back in the stacks, to the 50 BMG round, and include the Precisioneered, Gold Medal Match Series, Competition, Legacy Series, Cowboy, X-Dies and Custom die series. The newest RCBS dies are for the 325 Winchester Short Mag (WSM), plus the Cowboy Shotshell Die.
The Shotshell Die is designed to size, decap and crimp 12-gauge brass shotshells in any single-stage RCBS press with a removable bushing. In the single stage, size the shell hull and decap it. Repriming is done using the standard priming device on this press. The sized, decapped and reprimed shell is then transferred to a regular shotshell loading press for charging with powder, seating of wads and spacers and charging with shot. The charged but uncrimped shell is placed back on the single-stage press, the resizing ring removed from the shotshell die, an overshot wad placed on top the shot charge and the shell run up into the die to crimp the case mouth. Result: a newly-handloaded 12-gauge brass shotshell. It may sound like a lot of work, but if done in batches of fifty shells at a time in a loading block, it's not difficult. Size, decap and reprime fifty shells, move and charge fifty shells, move back to the single-stage press and crimp fifty shells. You now have fifty newly-reloaded brass shotshells.
Shellholders have a tendency to become misplaced – not lost – just misplaced. RCBS has a new Shell Holder Rack that will hold two dozen shellholders, two on each of a dozen posts, plus six Trim Pro shell holders as well. The top of the plastic rack is clear, allowing a view of the shell holder number. The rack can be used on the bench, or mounted on the wall and additional racks can be snapped together if more storage space is needed.
Handloaders of shotshells will appreciate the new RCBS Handbook of Shotshell Reloading. This 284-page manual contains new information, cut-a-way and mechanical drawings, color photographs and more than 2,000 shotshell loads for various gauge shotshells. It features the use of RCBS reloading presses, contains a wealth of essential data not available elsewhere, and is destined to be a definitive handbook on the reloading of shotshells.
New cartridges require loading dies, and Teppo Jutsu LLC, home of the 458 SOCOM cartridge, has a couple of new ones. The big boy is the 470 Rhino, the largest of a possible line of Rhino cartridges, and the 30 HRT. The 470 is based on a shortened and necked-down 500 Jeffery case, while the 30 HRT is based on a neck-expanded 6.8?43mm SPC case. The 470 can push a 500-grain A-Framebullet out the muzzle at about 2,150 fps and was designed to used in an compatible receiver fitted to the AR-10 lower unit, as was the 500 Phantom. The 30 HRT can do anything the rimmed 30 Herrett can do, and can be chambered and fitted to a regular AR-15 receiver. (Current Savage, Remington, etc., rifles could be rebarreled for these cartridges.)
C&H/Lee Precision
Loading dies for the Rhino and HRT cartridges are available from C&H Tool & Die 4-D and Lee Precision Inc. C&H was one of the early firms turning out top quality loading dies and H-presses for handloaders some fifty years ago. (The Swage-o-Matic was a beauty.) With the death of founder, Charles Heckman, in an automobile accident, the firm disappeared for awhile. However, like the phoenix, the firm returned. Now in Ohio, C&H has the ability to provide die sets for some 1,420 different cartridges, including at least one 12-caliber, ten 14-caliber and right on up to the 50 BMG – and larger. There are also dies for forming belts on your favorite wildcat, if needed.
The C&H loading presses include the non-progressive No. 444, 4station H-press, and the 444-X Pistol Champ. Both presses use standard ?x14 dies, and are capable of loading up to 200 rounds per hour.
For handloaders of the ‘Big Fifty,' C&H has regular dies, a bullet puller, and a micrometer straight-line seater. All require a press capable of handling die bodies with 1?x12 threading. The regular loading dies consist of a full-length sizer and a crimp seater. The Puller die uses R-8 collets of the type used in Bridgeport milling machines, and replacement collets are available in several size increments up to one-inch, or from 4mm to 25mm. If you need to pull bullets from surplus military 50 BMG ammunition the C&H die, which has a roller thrust washer and spring ejector to ensure easy operation without marring the bullet, will do the job.
If you shoot the Big Fifty at 1,000 yards, using Barnes or Hornady bullets, you need to take a bit more care than loading with surplus 50-caliber bullets. The C&H Micrometer Die incorporates a micrometer spindle graduated in 0.001-inch with a Vernier scale to 0.0001-inch. It takes good equipment to turn out accurate loads, and if you need a precise setting when seating the 750grain bullets, this is the die needed.
If you happen to have one of the old Herter ‘C' or Lachmiller presses that used a non-standard shellholder (The shellholder on some such presses was held in position with one or two set screws.), C&H's adapter can help you. This adapter allows the use of regular snap-in shellholders used by all modern loading press manufacturers. Herter's also produced a few presses using a threaded shell holder and C&H has an adapter for this as well.
Magma Engineering Company
Magma, home of the Bullet Master and Magma Bullet Moulds, has moulds for ten new gas-check bullets, a Digital Temperature Controller for the Master Caster, Cast Master and Master Pot machines, and is now the home for the Littleton Shotmaker. The Controller, which can be located off the machines for ease and convenience of the operator, will maintain pot temperature to plus or minus 2 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Littleton Shotmaker is available with a choice of 120 or 220 VAC power unit, and is capable of producing thirty-five to forty pounds of high antimony, perfectly round shot per hour, using seven drippers. The unit measures a foot square by six inches high, and drippers are available in shot sizes 5, 6, 7, 7-?, 8, 8? and 9.
The new Magma gas-check bullet moulds are all flat-tip designs, and include a 115-grain for the 3220 Winchester, three 38-caliber designs, including a 260-grain for the 38-55 Winchester, a 260-grain for the 40-65 Winchester, two designs – 300 and 340 grains – for the 45-70 Government, a 265grain for the 454 Casull and two 50-calibers: 300 and 440 grains.
Wolfe Publishing Company
Anyone in the handloading game for long should know the name of Ken Waters. Wolfe has a new book, Ken Waters' Notebook, available. Featuring previously unpublished personal correspondence, with many personal insights on various subjects, this new volume also contains considerable reloading information.
Corbin Mfg. & Supply
Every handloader who loads for more than one caliber has found, at one time or another, the cannelure groove on the bullet being loaded wasn't where the crimp was being made. No problem. The Oregon firm of Corbin Mfg. & Supply has a hand-operated tool, the HCT-1 Hand Cannelure Tool, which will place the cannelure where you need it, on any bullet from 17- to 72-caliber. Just set the exact depth you want the cannelure, position the bullet and turn the crank. It's handy, fast, easy to use and produces aperfect cannelure where you need it.
UniqueTek, Inc.
Users of the Fillon 550 and 650 reloading presses may have noticed a bit of looseness in the toolhead fit to the frame. UniqueTek, Inc. has a kit to tighten the fit. It eliminates looseness, reduces any overall case length variation and stabilizes the shellplate alignment. It does not require any modification to the press frame, so standard toolheads can still be used. It comes with instructions.
Ayers Arsenal
Some four or so decades back when most shotshells used paper hulls, the case mouths sometimes became frayed before the pinholes began to appear above the case head. Slipping the cases mouth over a heated ‘shell former' for a couple of seconds usually straightened the mouth, especially on Winchester-Western hulls which contained a bit of wax impregnation. The Minnesota firm of Herter's had an electrically-heated plug die which could be hand-held with an oven glove, or mounted on a single-stage press to re-form the case mouth in the step after decapping. (Leaving a plastic hull on the former for any length of time would usually ruin the case, as the plastic had a tendency to shrink.) Unfortunately, the original Herter firm is long gone.
Wisconsin's Ayers Arsenal has what they call a Thermagic Conditioner that will do the same job as the old Herter die. The Thermagic unit operates on a 110-115 VAC line and can be bench-mounted or clamped in a vise. It incorporates a thermostat for use with different plastic or paper cases. (A bit of trial and error use is necessary, as not all shotshell hulls are of the same formula plastic, plus there are paper hulls still available.) Slip the hull mouth down onto the forming mandrel with a rotating motion for a few seconds, and remove with a rotating motion in the opposite direction. Quickly slip the hot hull onto a separate cooling mandrel, rotate, remove and examine. If it's not near-perfect, try leaving the hull on the forming mandrel a second or two longer. (Roll crimps form best when using new, uncrimped hulls, but a Theermagic-treated previously crimped hull will also produced some good roll crimps.)
Caldwell Shooting Supplies
Loading ammunition is only part of the game. It has to be accurate ammunition to be worth the time and effort. Check it for accuracy is required, and the best way to accomplish that is with the aid of a mechanical rest of some type. For handgun users, Caldwell Shooting Supplies, by Battenfeld Technologies, Inc., has the H.A.M.M.R. (Handgun Accurizing Mechanical Machine Rest). If used properly, this device allows a shooter to test a handgun for accuracy free from outside interference. (It does require a sturdy, non-moving shooting bench to which the HAMMR can be securely clamped or mounted.) Firing is done remotely, using a cable-operated trigger actuator bar.
The Frankford Arsenal Micro Reloading Scale. The cartridge on the pan is a 5.7 28mm FNH, and a quarter is shown to the right, above a pair of tweezers, and a powder dipper. This scale comes with a soft case, and will fit into a shirt pocket. Accurate to 0.1 grain, it's ideal for taking to the range, along with a small press, if any reloading of handgun cartridges, etc., needs doing.
Currently, stock grip inserts for the HAMMR are available to fit various Smith & Wesson and Ruger revolvers, plus Beretta, SIG-Sauer, Glock, Para-Ordnance and HK pistols, as well as the M1911 Colt and clones. There is also a Universal Grip Casting Kit available, and inserts for other models are forthcoming. The original stocks on pistols and revolvers must be removed prior to installing the HAMMR inserts, and it's possible some Ransom grip inserts can be used. If handguns with polymer frames and non-removable stocks are to be used for test work, care must be taken not to over-tighten the clamping knobs during installation.
Hyskore Power Aisle, Inc.
There are a number of mechanical rests for rifle users, including the excellent Lead Sled from Caldwell Shooting Supplies. One of the best new rests for checking accuracy is the Model 30012 Dangerous Game Machine Rest from Hyskore Power Aisle, Inc. This rest, as with the HAMMR, employs remote firing, but via a hydraulic trigger release in place of a cable. The rest should be attached to a non-moving shooting bench; a concrete bench would be ideal. The Dangerous Game Rest will handle rifles in calibers from the 223 Remington to the 416 Weatherby Magnum, using one of three compression dampers provided with the Rest. (A table listing the approximate recoil in foot-pounds of energy is provided for each of the three dampers – mild (#1), medium (#2), and heavy (#3) – when used with rifles weighing seven, eight and nine pounds. The #1 damper should be used with rifles chambered for cartridges from the 223 Remington to the 308 Winchester. Damper #2 will handle rifles chambered for cartridges from the 7mm Remington Magnum to the 375 H&H Magnum, and including 12-gauge shotguns. Damper #3 will take care of the larger cartridges, from the 338 RUM to the 416 Weatherby Magnum, including the 416 Rigby and 458 Winchester Magnum. However, the 458 is not to be used in the Rest if the rifle weighs less than eight pounds, nor should the 416 Weatherby be used in the Rest if the rifle weighs less than nine pounds. Otherwise, damage may result to the rest and/or the rifle, according to Power Aisle.
Power Aisle stresses caution in all aspects when using the Rest, following the instructions, calculating the anticipated recoil prior to beginning so the correct damper is used, and checking everything, including the Velcro security straps, after every third shot. As the instructions state: “If you do something dumb, bad things can happen.”
Ballistic Technology
Handloads intended for defensive or hunting use can be checked for expansion properties using the Bullet Test Tube by Ballistic Technology. (This shooter has used a variety of mediums over the years, from actual beef – it was cheaper then – to saturated wetpack. None provided a reliable, semi-permanent wound cavity for later analysis, although the wetpack and moist clay did well after drying for a period of time.) The bullet expansion material in the Test Tube can be melted and reused, using moulds that are available. Currently, the Bullet Test Tube can be obtained in sizes to handle handgun and/or rifle calibers. There are also moulds, material solvents, etc. available. For handloaders wanting to check the effects of their load/bullet combination, the Bullet Test Tube provides the means.
There's always something new for handloaders. It may be components, loading data, new or improved presses, dies, scale, powder measure – or even an ammunition box. What's been presented in this update represents some of what's new.
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Inside This Issue
• What’s your favorite brand? How does it compare to those of shooters in the rest of the country?
• Eddie Eagle celebrates two decades of keeping children safe.
• To get an accurate view of how well your rifle shoots, you need a good bench.
• Good guys use holsters, and a good holster is part of every concealed-carry rig.
• Scott Freigh answers your most important questions.
• Great guns and gear for hunting and shooting.
• The .50 Beowulf is a massive round designed specifically for the AR-15 weapon system. And it lives up to its great name.
• There is nothing simple about the modern airgun. They get better each year, and 2008 is part of the new golden age of airguns.
The AR-15 specialists at Doublestar are moving into the 1911 market with a competition-quality 1911 without the custom price tag. Gun Digest reviews the Doublestar 1911.
Accuracy, reliability and American pride. They are qualities DoubleStar builds into each of its many AR-15 offerings. Now, the Kentucky-based manufacturer is bringing those same attributes down to size by building them into its first-ever handgun.
DoubleStar’s 1911 has been a four-year labor of love for Jack Starnes, president of J&T Distributing, a DoubleStar affiliate company. Starnes is a former 1911 competitive shooter with a longtime fascination with all things Colt. He started J&T Distributing more than 30 years ago with Colt products and reloaded ammo as a means of supporting his own shooting hobby.
“What we set out to do was produce a high-quality 1911 that delivers match gun performance at a production price,” Starnes said. “We accomplished that and more.”
The handgun uses only American-made components and retails for less than $1,200.
DoubleStar started with a forged — not cast — steel frame to ensure maximum strength and accuracy. Forging produces a stronger frame by aligning the grain structure of the steel, whereas the annealing and heat-treating of casting may strengthen steel, but it still leaves hard and soft spots in the metal.
DoubleStar’s 1911 offers a parkerized, mil-spec finish and 1913 rail for laser, light and scope attachments. At 8 inches in length and 38 ounces unloaded, the handgun features a 5” stainless steel barrel and a Novak white dot sight.
The 1911 is standard with National Match stainless barrel, Greider trigger and Ed Brown’s Memory Grip Safety. Grips are available in Ergo, Stryder, standard, fancy walnut and even exotic woods.
“We think it’s important to give buyers options that allow them to create a semi-custom handgun, yet the price doesn’t reflect that customization,” Starnes said.
The magazine capacity is 8 plus 1, and the magwell is beveled for an easier, quicker load. DoubleStar’s 1911 is also available with a round or square trigger guard. Specifications Manufacturer: DoubleStar Model: 1911 Caliber: .45 ACP Finish: Parkerized Weight (unloaded): 38 oz. Length: 8” Barrel Length: 5” Trigger: Greider Sights: Novak white Dot Capacity: 8 + 1 rounds Grips: Buyer’s choice (Ergo, Stryder, walnut, other woods)
DoubleStar Corp. is a Kentucky-based firearms manufacturer specializing in tactical weapons for the law enforcement, military and shooting sports markets. More information about DoubleStar’s product line is available on its website at www.star15.com. Orders can also be placed by calling 1-888-736-7725 toll-free from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. eastern time Monday through Friday.
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.
