dy65htdr t

BIG-BORE MADNESS—CREATING AN ÜBER CARTRIDGE (PAGE 60)

MARCH 2020

RUGER American Ranch Rifle .350 Legend

TOO GOOD TO FAIL THE .243 WINCHESTER AND REMINGTON’S MODEL 783 VARMINT

LEUPOLD VX-Freedom .350 Legend 3-9X 40mm Scope PETERS Premier Blue .444 Marlin Ammo

WORLD’S FINEST HUNTING BULLETS THE TROPHY BONDED BEAR CLAWS

AND PANACHE

MARLIN 444 DARK SERIES

•MARLIN RENEWS THE .444 •TAURUS ROLLS OUT THE RAGING HUNTER

WITH TRIJICON 1-6X 24MM

A CUT ABOVE THE REST MAUSER’S M18 6.5 PRC

444 X 2

MARCH 2020 VOLUME 61, ISSUE 2

22

Marlin is supporting its .444 cartridge and the lever guns chambered for it in a big way, and fans of the combo have never been happier.

By Steve Gash & Joel J. Hutchcroft

Cachet

30 36 42 56

50

58

Raging Revolvers

We like the name of Taurus’s new handgun-hunting revolver. It’s called the Raging Hunter. We like the way the revolver handles and shoots, too.

By Joel J. Hutchcroft

2

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

59

The Mauser M18 has all the features serious riflemen demand, plus it has a certain “something else” that makes it a cut above of the rest.

By Steve Gash

Handloading Trophy Bonded Bear Claw Bullets

Now available as reloading components, the Trophy Bonded Bear Claws are some of the finest hunting bullets in the world.

By Joseph von Benedikt

Too Good to Fail

The .243 Winchester cartridge in the new Remington Model 783 Varmint rifle is a dandy combination.

By Layne Simpson

Quick Shot Ruger American Ranch Rifle .350 Legend

Ruger is the latest gun company to get in on the .350 Legend action by offering the affordable American Ranch bolt-action rifle.

By Lane Pearce

Quick Shot Peters Premier Blue .444 Marlin Ammunition

Loaded with the 240-grain Remington Core-Lokt SP, the new Peters Premier Blue .444 Marlin ammo averaged 1.14-inch groups at 100 yards.

By Steve Gash

Quick Shot Leupold VX-Freedom .350 Legend 3-9X 40mm Riflescope

With its CDS calibrated to the .350 Legend’s ballistics, this new riflescope is perfect for all the new rifles chambered for the new round.

By Lane Pearce

Be

“The Beginner”

Jack and His 10/22 ® Carbine

If you’re reading this, we are willing to bet that your first firearm experience was with a Ruger® 10/22® rifle. And there is a good reason for that. Affordable, lightweight, compact and easy to shoot, the 10/22® is the perfect choice for taking first-time or beginner shooters to the range for a day of fun. When it comes to their first rifle, don’t go with a copy - make it an original.

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CONTENTS

MARCH 2020 VOLUME 61, ISSUE 2 An Outdoor Sportsman Group® Publication

PUBLISHER

SHOOTER’S UPDATE 8 Readers Speak Out

Can’t Beat the .300 H&H Winchester Model 70, Tokarev Clone…Almost, .45 Colt Caution, and Handloading the 7.62x25 Tokarev

10 New Guns & Gear

Pachmayr Shock Shield, Bear & Son 563 Small Stag Bone Hunter, Ruger Custom Shop Competition 10/22, and TRUGLO TRU-TEC Micro

12 Ask the Experts

Is a Revolver a Pistol? and What’s the Minié Principle?

Mike Schoby

EDITORIAL EDITOR IN CHIEF Joel J. Hutchcroft COPY EDITOR Michael Brecklin CONTRIBUTORS Jake Edmondson Steve Gash Allan Jones Lane Pearce Layne Simpson Bart Skelton Joseph von Benedikt Terry Wieland

ART ART DIRECTOR Stephan D. Ledeboer SENIOR CREATIVE DIRECTOR Tim Neher

SHOOTER’S GALLERY 14 The Shootist

Turnbull Winchester Model 1886 Joseph von Benedikt

16 The Ballistician

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Michael Anschuetz

PRODUCTION PRODUCTION MANAGER Terry Boyer PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Jenny Kaeb

.35 Remington Allan Jones

ENDEMIC AD SALES NATIONAL ENDEMIC SALES Jim McConville (440) 791-7017

18 The Reloader

Ackley Improved Cartridge Headspace Lane Pearce

SHOOTER’S SHOWCASE 60 Gunsmoke

Big-Bore Madness Terry Wieland

WESTERN REGION Hutch Looney — hutch@hlooney.com MIDWEST REGION Mark Thiffault (720) 630-9863 EAST REGION Pat Bentzel (717) 695-8095

NATIONAL AD SALES ACCOUNT DIRECTOR—DETROIT OFFICE Kevin Donley (248) 798-4458

64 Hipshots

NATIONAL ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE—CHICAGO OFFICE Carl Benson (312) 955-0496

The Reprobate Royal Joel J. Hutchcroft

DIRECT RESPONSE ADVERTISING/NON-ENDEMIC Anthony Smyth (914) 693-8700

THE FIRST .350 LEGEND AR

Shooting Times (ISSN 0038-8084) is published monthly with a bimonthly issue in Dec/Jan by Outdoor Sportsman Group®, 1040 6th Ave., 12th Floor, New York, NY 10018-3703. Periodicals Postage Paid at New York, NY and at additional mailing offices.

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REVISITING THE SENSATIONAL 6 5 SHOOTING TIMES WESTERNER

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4

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

A CLASSIC IS REBORN. Introducing the all-new 9mm Taurus 1911.™ All the features you want. All the power you need. The 9mm Taurus 1911™ returns.

9MM LUGER (9 + 1) • NOVAK DRIFT ADJUSTABLE SIGHTS • MATTE BLACK • 5” BARREL • 42 OZ.

PRESIDENT & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Jim Liberatore CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, PUBLISHING & BRANDED MEDIA Mike Carney EVP, GROUP PUBLISHER & OPERATIONS Derek Sevcik VP, CONSUMER MARKETING Peter Watt VP, MANUFACTURING Deb Daniels DIRECTOR, MARKETING Kim Shay SENIOR DIRECTOR, PRODUCTION Connie Mendoza DIRECTOR, PUBLISHING TECHNOLOGY Kyle Morgan SENIOR CREATIVE DIRECTOR Tim Neher OUTDOOR SPORTSMAN GROUP® DIGITAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, FISHING Jeff Simpson DIGITAL EDITOR, HUNTING Drew Pellman For questions regarding digital editions, please contact digitalsupport@outdoorsg.com HUNTING bowhunter.com MEDIA bowhuntingmag.com outdoorsg.com gundogmag.com petersenshunting.com TELEVISION northamericanwhitetail.com outdoorchannel.com wildfowlmag.com thesportsmanchannel.com worldfishingnetwork.com SHOOTING gunsandammo.com FISHING handguns.com bassfan.com rifleshootermag.com floridasportsman.com shootingtimes.com flyfisherman.com firearmsnews.com gameandfishmag.com in-fisherman.com Copyright 2020 by Outdoor Sportsman Group®

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PERFORMANCE TUNED.

SHOOTER’S UPDATE READERS SPEAK OUT

NEW GUNS & GEAR

ASK THE EXPERTS

Can’t Beat The .300 H&H Winchester Model 70 I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED JOSEPH VON BENEDIKT’S COLUMN IN THE

November 2019 issue on the Winchester Pre-’64 Model 70 .300 H&H. I was projecting my own experiences into the page as I read his words. Two years ago, when I learned I had an opportunity to hunt in South Africa, I knew I wanted a “traditional” safari caliber and quickly settled on the .300 H&H. The caliber choice left no doubt that the rifle had to be a Pre-’64 Model 70. After over a year of searching, I found one made in 1957 and in good condition. I mounted a Leupold VX-5HD 3-15X 56mm scope, worked up some handloads with the Swift 200-grain A-Frame bullet, and set off for the Kalahari in May 2019. On the seventh day I took a 57-inch free-range kudu bull. It was the largest bull my PH had ever taken out of the Northern Cape in 17 years. Over the 10-day hunt, rifle/optic/ammo performed flawlessly. Like Joseph’s .300 H&H Winchester Model 70, my rifle is part of my “never sell” battery.

Andrew Rockwell Niles, MI

Tokarev Clone….Almost

I would guess that the Tokarev T-33 has a bit of a cult following. It is a reliable version of a John M. Browning design, shoots a powerful and accurate round, and is quite portable. The Zastava M57 follows the design but is not an exact clone. The T-33, with no firing pin retaining spring, will allow the firing pin to rest very near or directly on a primer when the hammer is fully down. This feature was intended to make ignition more reliable in 8

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

very cold weather. Thus, it is not advisable to carry the T-33 with a loaded chamber and the hammer fully down.

When the T-33 hammer is retracted a few millimeters, we come to a notch. With the hammer resting on this notch, the slide cannot be retracted and the hammer and trigger are blocked. The Zastava M57 has no such notch, but it does have a firing pin retaining spring that would provide limited protection with the hammer fully down, similar to the old Model 1911’s “condition two.”

The Zastava M57 has a manual safety that, when applied, deactivates the trigger and prevents the hammer from going fully forward. The Zastava safety lever allows for several possible safe modes. Both the T-33 and the Zastava are really effective and a lot of fun.

Mike Kallip Via email

.45 Colt Caution

I hope no one follows the advice given in “Ask the Experts” in the November 2019 issue that “all factory ammo for the .45 Colt handgun is suitable for the Uberti Model 1873 lever action…..” Garrett Cartridges, Buffalo Bore, and Double Tap produce .45 Colt factory loads that could damage or even possibly take apart a Uberti Model 1873.

John Taffin Via email

Handloading the 7.62x25 Tokarev

I felt I had to comment on the “Handloading the 7.62x25 Tokarev” article in the November 2019 issue. It was an interesting article, but it failed to mention that 7.62x25 brass can be formed from 5.56x45 brass! The 5.56x45 brass is everywhere and would be a great savings as compared to new 7.62x25 brass. Keep in mind the inside diameter of the reformed brass neck needs to be reamed because the reformed brass neck is too thick and could cause excessive pressure when fired. Reamed diameter would vary depending on bullet diameter.

Mike Acri Harrisburg, PA

EMAIL LETTERS TO SHOOTINGTIMES@OUTDOORSG.COM

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SHOOTER’S UPDATE READERS SPEAK OUT

NEW GUNS & GEAR

ASK THE EXPERTS

Pachmayr Shock Shield Pachmayr says its new Shock Shield is “the simple solution to reducing recoil in a variety of rifles and shotguns.” The one-size design stretches and contours to a variety of buttstock shapes and dimensions. It goes on easily and is easy to remove. The Shock Shield provides excellent felt recoil reduction by virtue of its interior pocket of soft gel. It’s been extensively tested and will provide years of use. It won’t scratch or mar buttstocks.

And it features a no-slip face texture.

MSRP: $19.98 lymanproducts.com

Bear & Son 563 Small Stag Bone Hunter

The new Bear & Son Cutlery 563 Small Stag Bone Hunter is an American-made knife built for hunters and trailblazers.

The 2.88-inch, 440 stainless-steel blade resists rust, is easy to sharpen, and holds its edge. The knife features a clip-point blade, genuine India Stag Bone handles, a nickel silver finger guard, and a handmade leather sheath. The 563 Small Stag Bone Hunter knife is 6.25 inches long overall and weighs 1.7 ounces. It’s covered by Bear’s limited lifetime warranty.

MSRP: $59.99 bearandsoncutlery.com

Ruger Custom Shop Competition 10/22

The latest offering from Ruger’s Custom Shop is the 10/22 Competition with skeletonized Green Mountain laminate stock and stainless-steel bull barrel. The 16.125-inch-long fluted barrel features black Cerakote accents, a proprietary enhanced semiauto chamber, and a threaded muzzle with brake. Other features include the 6061-T6511 hard-anodized aluminum receiver, integral Picatinny top rail, dual bedding, BX-Trigger, rear receiver cleaning port, oversize bolt handle, match bolt release, extended ambidextrous magazine release, Ruger 10-round rotary magazine, and hard case.

MSRP: $899 ruger.com 10

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

TRUGLO TRU-TEC Micro

TRUGLO’s TRU-TEC Micro-electronic-dot optic is now offered in three new configurations. Model TG8100BM is the TRU-TEC Micro with a 45-degree offset Picatinny-style mount. The mount is made from machined aircraft-grade aluminum and has a black anodized finish. It can mount on either side of a rifle. Model TG8100G is the TRU-TEC Micro with a green dot for shooters who prefer a green reticle. Model TG8200B is the TRU-TEC Micro with RMR footprint, which is compatible with Trijicon RMR-style mounts and accessories, including optic-ready pistol slides. The original TG8100B uses a mounting system that is compatible with Docter, Burris, Vortex, and other brands that share a similar mounting system. All TRU-TEC Micro optics feature lightweight aircraft-grade aluminum construction, 3-MOA dots, 1 MOA of windage and elevation adjustment, and 10 brightness settings. Power is supplied by one 3V CR2032 lithium battery.

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SHOOTER’S UPDATE READERS SPEAK OUT

NEW GUNS & GEAR

Q:

Q:

A:

A:

Is a revolver a pistol? It seems that various gun magazines use the two terms interchangeably, but other magazines do not. What do the experts at Shooting Times have to say on the matter?

Mike Jarvis Via email

12

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

In the November 2019 issue, Terry Wieland refers to the Minié principle. What exactly is that?

Christopher Scott Via email Capt. E.C. Minié (1804–1879) was a French army officer who made a major contribution to the development of rifles.

In the early 1800s, it was well known that imparting spin to a projectile stabilized it and afforded greater accuracy. The problem with muzzleloading rifles was that if the bullet was tight enough to grip the rifling, it was too difficult to seat. A greased wad was used both to ease the bullet down the bore and provide a gas seal. Captain Minié developed a bullet smaller than bore diameter, with a hollow base and a steel plug. When expanding gas struck the plug, it expanded the base to grip the rifling. This became known as the “Minié ball” (although it was conical). The British adopted it in 1851 for the Enfield rifle, using plugs of wood or clay, but it was soon realized no plug was needed. The gas alone was sufficient to expand the skirts. This simplified loading significantly and made the rifle a practical infantry weapon.

Terry Wieland

EMAIL QUESTIONS TO SHOOTINGTIMES@OUTDOORSG.COM

PHOTO BY MICHAEL ANSCHUETZ

I’ve been editing Shooting Times for a little more than 27 years, and during my tenure with the magazine, we have never used the term “pistol” when referring to a revolver. We do not consider a revolver to be a pistol. However, other publications may use the terms interchangeably. Here are definitions for the word “pistol” from three separate sources.

From Firearms Encyclopedia by George C. Nonte Jr.: “Pistol: A term originally applied to all handguns, but now more or less limited to single-shot and autoloading designs. A firearm made or designed to be fired with one hand. Any small, concealable, short-barreled hand firearm. Reportedly derived from Pistoria, an early gunmaking center.”

(Major Nonte was a past Technical Editor of Shooting Times magazine.)

From Olson’s Encyclopedia of Small Arms by John Olson: “Pistol: A handgun having a short barrel, adapted to be aimed and fired with one hand. Pistols may be single shot, repeating, or self-loading (semiautomatic). They do not have cylinders, as do revolvers, but they may have a cluster of revolving barrels as a form of ‘pepperbox.’”

From Wikipedia: “Sometimes in usage, the term ‘pistol’ refers to a handgun having one chamber integral with the barrel, making pistols distinct from the other main type of handgun, the revolver, which has a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers. Most handgun experts and dictionaries make a technical distinction that views pistols as a subset of handguns; others use the terms interchangeably.”

Joel J. Hutchcroft

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SHOOTER’S GALLERY THE SHOOTIST

THE BALLISTICIAN

Turnbull Winchester Model 1886 Classy, powerful, and accurate, this is one of the finest lever actions ever built. BY JOSEPH VON BENEDIKT WINCHESTER’S MODEL 1886 WAS THE LAST OF THE

Restored and rechambered by restoration expert Doug Turnbull, this Winchester Model 1886 has proven its worth on game around the world.

14

company’s traditional-type lever-action big bores.

Chambered for massive blackpowder cartridges, including the .40-82 WCF, .45-70 and .45-90 WCF, .50-110, and several others, it featured a strong, smooth, fast action.

Thanks to the Model 1886’s action strength, it successfully made the transition from blackpowder to smokeless powder. Its only weakness was early on, in the mild steel barrels used for blackpowder loads which didn’t have adequate strength for smokelesspowder pressures. Around 1905, Winchester switched to using nickel-steel barrels, which were plenty strong for smokeless powder.

Special-order rifles were common back then and often featured custom barrel lengths, shotgun buttstocks, pistol grips, half-octagon/half-round barrel profiles, and shortened “button” magazines. Takedown versions were extremely popular with traveling sportsmen. Before being discontinued in 1935, about 160,000 Model 1886s were manufactured.

Mechanicals Designed by John Browning, with contributions

by William Mason, the Model 1886 features dual

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

vertical locking blocks that were a massive improvement over the toggle-link lockup of earlier models.

A robust 0.15-inch-wide extractor at 12 o’clock in the boltface reliably draws fired cases from the chamber, and a stout spring-powered ejector heaves them skyward.

Load the tubular magazine through a traditional gate in the right side of the action. Work the lever briskly to chamber a round—no lever action likes to be functioned halfheartedly. As the lever swings forward, it lowers the vertical locking blocks, runs the bolt rearward—causing it to cock the external hammer—and pops the lifter up, presenting a fresh cartridge to the chamber. Closing the lever causes the bolt to boost the new cartridge into the chamber and elevates the vertical locking blocks into battery.

Model 1886s typically featured a bead-type front sight and a buckhorn or semibuckhorn rear sight that was adjustable via a stepped elevator.

Frequently, those elevators lifted the rear sight notch about 20 thousandths per notch, which translates to three MOA—or about three inches at 100 yards—when paired with the sight radius of a 26-inch barrel.

Provenance

Rangetime

According to the serial number, the rifle was a solid-frame deluxe version built in 1887 and chambered in .40-82 WCF. Doug Turnbull, a world-renowned firearms restoration expert, rebuilt the battered original rifle with high-grade wood, engraved the receiver using a pattern inspired by a non-standard Winchester original design, and gold-inlaid the initials DTR (for Doug Turnbull Restorations) and the company’s logo. After converting the receiver to takedown version, Turnbull installed a 26-inch octagon barrel with a 0.474-inch-diameter bore and chambered it for a powerhouse cartridge he designed: the .475 Turnbull.

Because original-type buckhorn rear sights block light and tend to be difficult to get a clear sight picture with, Turnbull modified the rear blade, giving it a flat top, which he paired with an original-type reversible Marbles front bead—brass on one end, ivory on the other. Finished in 2007, the rifle became Turnbull’s go-to hunting tool. He’s hunted all over the world with it, taking species including deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, Dall sheep, moose, brown bear, black bear, red stag, bison, Cape buffalo, and many of the African plains-game species. His farthest shot was on his Dall sheep, right at 300 yards.

His closest was on a Cape buffalo at five yards.

Turnbull averages 100-yard groups of 1.5 inches or less with his favorite loads, which consist of Barnes 400-grain TSX bullets and matching solids designed specifically for the .475 Turnbull. Pushed with 56 grains of IMR 4198, muzzle velocity is 2,070 fps.

I had the pleasure of tagging along this year as Turnbull hunted buffalo with Kowas Hunting Safaris in Namibia, stalking a gnarly, old, post-prime bull with PH Jacques Strauss.

From 27 yards, boxed in by a blackthorn thicket, Turnbull fired a 400-grain TSX directly through the broadside bull’s heart and lungs.

As it exploded through the brush, running across in front of us, he fired a second shot, which deflected on a branch and impacted the flank area.

At the second shot the bull pinpointed us and charged like a demoniac locomotive. Standing fast, Turnbull ran that lever gun like John Wayne and drove another bullet through the vitals. As the bull rounded the dense thornbush directly in front of us, Turnbull and Strauss fired simultaneously from five yards. Turnbull’s 400-grain solid punched through the bull’s ear, drove into its neck, and traveled lengthwise through the buffalo, taking out a section of spine. Strauss’s Hornady 500-grain DGX Bonded from his .470 Nitro Express rifle brained the bull perfectly. It came crashing down in a cloud of dust four short paces in front of us.

Mr. Turnbull and his rebuilt Winchester Model 1886 held off that bull in grand fashion.

MARCH 2020 • SHOOTING TIMES

15

SHOOTER’S GALLERY THE SHOOTIST

THE BALLISTICIAN

THE RELOADER

.35 Remington When a .30-30 wasn’t enough, you could count on the durable .35 Remington. BY ALLAN JONES IN 1906 REMINGTON WAS ALREADY THE LEADER

Created by Remington in 1906 to compete with Winchester’s .38-55 cartridge, the .35 Remington pushes a 180-grain bullet at velocities upwards of 2,000 fps.

Several major ammomakers still offer it.

16

in semiautomatic and slide-action hunting rifles. The company designed a four-cartridge family of rimless rifle cartridges to compete head to head with those Winchester offered in its Model 1894 lever rifle. The .25, .30, and .32 Remingtons were direct challengers; they were essentially Winchester’s .25-35, .30-30, and .32 Winchester Special with the rims removed. Performance was almost identical to that of the Winchester rounds.

The fourth member of this family, the .35 Remington, is the only one to survive to the present, and it is physically different. The .35 Rem. was developed on a case with a larger head diameter. Its three smaller siblings shared head diameters of about 0.420 inch; the .35 Rem. has a 0.457-inch head diameter. I’ve seen suggestions that the .35 Rem. was conceived to challenge Winchester’s fourth popular Model 1894 cartridge: the .38-55.

That actually makes technical sense and also explains the case diameter difference. Had Remington used the 0.420-inch head diameter the other three shared, loading a .375-caliber bullet would leave practically no shoulder for headspacing. Remember, this cartridge is rimless, so it needs a support point. Tubular magazines

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

demand a crimped bullet, so headspacing on the case mouth was off the table.

Reducing bullet diameter to .35 caliber and choosing a larger case body diameter left room for a shoulder. Remington even used a slightly steeper shoulder angle—about 23.5 degrees—than many contemporary cartridges. They achieved headspacing, but it was not always perfect.

The .35 Rem. uses standard 0.358-inch rifle bullets.

For too long, big factories loaded a 150-grain Spirepoint bullet to a nominal 2,275 fps. I’m happy to report that as of this writing that load is no longer listed by the four big U.S. ammomakers who sell .35 Rem. ammo.

It was a dog.

The 150-grainer had both accuracy and terminal performance problems. From my teen years on, I’d heard from East Texas woods hunters and the gun press that the 150-grain bullet gave poor penetration, usually attributed to bullet breakup. By the time I was working at the crime lab, I’d learned that most campfire tales tasted better when lightly salted. Therefore, when the opportunity arose to apply the science of terminal bullet performance to apocryphal stories about old deer cartridges, I jumped at it.

We had looked at so many bullets expanded in tissue, gelatin, and water that we could “read” what fired bullets experienced. We used our water tank because deer-rifle cartridges fired into gelatin tended to festoon our indoor range with gelatin chunks. Even after we reduced velocities to simulate impact at longer ranges, the fired 150-grain .35 Rem. bullets were more shredded than expanded.

The gross asymmetry suggested they yawed severely shortly after entering the water; they looked smeared, not expanded. I don’t remember the exact retained weight percentages, but I do recall them encroaching into varmint bullet territory. This did not happen with 200-grain factory loads. It quickly became apparent that the oddly shaped .35 Rem. 150-grain bullet was too short, too light, and too pointy for its lack of length.

So this tale was true: Avoid that bullet because you can do better.

If you have some 150-grain .35 Rem. ammo on the shelf, please save it for practice or varmints and don’t risk wounding and losing a game animal. With one happy exception, today’s factory loads are topped with very good roundnose SP hunting bullets.

The exception is Hornady’s 200-grain FTX LEVERevolution load.

In addition to being a Spitzer for a higher ballistic coefficient, it has a flexible tip for safety in tubular magazines. Hornady didn’t stop there in modernizing the .35 Rem.; they’re launched at 2,225 fps, faster than other 200-grain .35 Rem. factory loads by almost 150 fps.

The headspace issue I mentioned earlier is more likely encountered in the platform that renewed interest in the .35 Rem. in the 1990s: the Thompson/Center Contender handgun. We struggled with some brands of cases having soft shoulders.

Even with the modern shoulder angle, some cases would suffer shoulder set-back from the firing pin blow and misfire. This is not a Contender problem but rather one of case manufacture.

If you aren’t a handloader and encounter this, simply try a different brand of ammo. This happened a long time ago, and I hope the issue has by now been corrected by the companies that load it.

Once-fired cases will not have this issue. A single firing adds just enough work-hardening to toughen the shoulder. Therefore, handloaders should not have to worry.

In a handgun, the .35 Rem. is a very powerful cartridge, with velocities only about 10 percent slower than the same loads in a 20-inch carbine. Chew on this: Handloads we developed with Speer’s 180-grain FNSP broke 2,000 fps from a Super 14 Contender and produced virtually the same muzzle energy (approximately 1,599

ft-lbs) as our top handloads in the .460 S&W Magnum with 300-grain bullets.

The pressure limit for the .35 Rem. is a very low 33,500 psi. (The .30-30 Winchester’s is 42,000 psi.)

This is to minimize possible gun failure under a very specific condition of abuse. According to SAAMI’s Unsafe Arms-Ammunition Combinations 2019, the stubby .35 Rem. can chamber in a number of rifles with longer chambers but smaller bores, most notably the .30-06 and the 8mm Mauser.

This modest pressure means case life is usually rather good for a lever-gun cartridge.

This old veteran is still kicking today. Marlin continues to catalog the Model 336C carbine in .35 Rem., and there are good factory loads available and excellent component bullets for handloaders.

Ballistically, the .35 Remington was supplanted by the .358 Winchester in 1955, but the older cartridge remained the go-to .35-caliber lever-gun cartridge for a long time. Today, you are more likely to snag a box of .35 Rem. ammo at a hardware store than the newer .358 Win.

MARCH 2020 • SHOOTING TIMES

17

SHOOTER’S GALLERY THE SHOOTIST

THE BALLISTICIAN

THE RELOADER

Ackley Improved Cartridge Headspace With the help of two longtime reloading mentors and one R&D manager, Lane clears up the murky situation of Ackley Improved cartridge headspacing. BY LANE PEARCE READER PATRICK RYAN POINTED OUT A PROBABLE

Lane learned something new while trying to correct his misstatement concerning .280 Ackley Improved cartridge headspace and felt compelled to share it. (.280 AI Cartridge drawing courtesy of Nosler)

18

error in my June 2019 column on the .257 Roberts Ackley Improved wildcat that I’d like to address here.

I had stated that when Ackley developed the improved version, he “maintained the shoulder headspace datum of the parent factory round.” I recognized Patrick’s name as someone who had worked for Redding, and I’d previously talked with him several times. He stated that the Ackley Improved cartridge “…shared the same dimension (as the parent round) from the boltface to the junction of the shoulder and neck. This is what allows the parent cartridge to be fired in the improved chamber.”

I had his email address, so we messaged back and forth about this and other shooting topics, and I could only conclude that my understanding of AI/parent cartridge headspace was flawed and that I had misspoken.

The editor was concerned because another “The Reloader” column on the .30-06 Ackley Improved was about to be published, and it contained a comment similar to the one described above. This time I’d

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

stated: “One key feature of the AI chamber is that it maintains the same headspace as the parent cartridge.

That means factory ammo can be safely and reliably fired in a rifle chambered for the AI cartridge.”

I promptly pulled out various reference materials, including cartridge illustrations from Wolfe Publishing (1993) and RCBS (circa 1986) and Ackley’s two-volume handloading manual (1962) to investigate the situation. Comparing illustrations of the .30-06 standard dimensions to the AI version seemed to refute Ryan’s observation.

Now What Could I Do? I decided to call upon the knowledge of two longtime reloading mentors (ST columnist Allan Jones and former ST Rifles/Reloading Editor Rick Jamison) and the Nosler R&D Manager Mike Lake (Nosler sells factory-loaded .280 AI ammunition and rifles chambered for .280 AI). Allan promptly pulled up SAAMI drawings of the .280 Remington and .280 Ackley Improved. The latter is the only Ackley wildcat

Ackley Improved Cartridge Headspace that has “official” status. He compared the shoulder-neck dimensions and promptly remarked, “They don’t match either.” Rather than help my situation, that puzzled me all the more.

I pulled up the .280/.280 AI SAAMI specs and noted they have the same Basic (i.e., theoretical) headspace datum (the place where a 0.375-inch-diameter ring gauge should touch the shoulder of either cartridge). On the .280 Rem. (with a 17.5-degree shoulder angle) that is 2.1042 inches from the cartridge base. The corresponding .280 AI dimension (with a 40-degree shoulder angle) is 2.1437 inches.

That’s nearly forty thousandths of an inch longer. And the neck-shoulder dimension of the .280 Rem. is 2.1993 inches compared to the .280 AI’s at 2.1795 inches.

That means the standard round coordinate can be nearly forty thousandths of an inch longer than the AI cartridge’s.

When I posed the same inquiry to Rick, his response was, “A standard round headspaces at the base of the neck in an Ackley chamber, at least enough to fireform the case. Just fire standard rounds in the Ackley chamber. If you have an Ackley chamber, all you need are loading dies and you’re in business. The setup is simple and virtually trouble-free. Ackley sold both chambering jobs and dies. As a customer, it’s an inexpensive way to get higher performance. You don’t need a new barrel, and rounds will feed and fire without further action adjustments or other gunsmithing required.”

I pointed out that the Wolfe Publishing drawings indicated the neck length of the .30-06 case was 0.388 inch and the .30-06 AI case neck length was 0.419 inch, meaning the parent round’s neck was thirty-one thousandths shorter than the AI version. We concluded that sounded reasonable. The standard round’s sloping shoulder could never touch the AI chamber shoulder before firing. So the neck-shoulder junction of the parent cartridge must reach the AI chamber neck-shoulder with at least a slight crush so it would reliably fire.

While discussing the matter with Mike, he reminded me there were many versions of the wildcat “improved” .280 Remington, including several labeled “Ackley Improved.” To add to the confused situation, even the tooling makers’ drawings differed! Nosler decided to follow Mr. Ackley’s intent as closely as possible—to design the chamber so a full-pressure .280 Rem. factory round could be safely fired in SAAMI-compliant .280 AI rifles.

Nosler compared the maximum and least material conditions, i.e., assessed the effect of the required tolerances that must be allowed for both the cartridge and chamber configurations. Accordingly, the company determined the amount of crush versus clearance at the neck-shoulder junction could range from 0.009 to 0.016 inch respectively. Statistically speaking, rarely does either extreme occur because the multiple manufacturing tolerances will average out. So that’s why a .280 Rem. factory round typically fits into the SAAMI-spec .280 AI chamber with just a slight amount of crush.

I recalled that when my gunsmith, John Gallagher, rechambered my Savage .30-06 rifle he told me he used a .30-06 go gauge as the Ackley chamber’s no-go gauge. He had learned that trick from Dave Manson, maker of chamber reamers and other precision gunsmithing tools. The .30-06 AI go gauge is precisely machined to measure 0.004 to 0.006 inch shorter than the parent case go gauge. He recommends setting the barrel back one turn when rechambering to ensure proper headspace. John did so, and my rifle reliably feeds and fires standard .30-06 and .30-06 AI rounds interchangeably.

In either case, as Patrick pointed out, my first statement was wrong. The headspace datum location on the case body of a standard round compared to an AI version can’t be the same because the shoulder angles are so different. However, my similar statement in the subsequent .30-06 AI column is less specific, so it more correctly describes the relative headspace between the parent and the AI versions.

I don’t know if I’ve completely cleared up the misunderstanding, but I have a better handle on the topic. I guess you’re never too old to learn something new.

20

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

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SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

PHOTO BY MICHAEL ANSCHUETZ

X2

MARLIN IS SUPPORTING ITS .444 CARTRIDGE AND THE LEVER GUNS CHAMBERED FOR IT IN A BIG WAY, AND FANS OF THE COMBO HAVE NEVER BEEN HAPPIER.

BY STEVE GASH & JOEL J. HUTCHCROFT

MARCH 2020 • SHOOTING TIMES

23

444 X 2

The Model 444 has the solid-top receiver Marlin lever guns are famous for. It provides for side-ejection of spent cartridge cases and allows easy use of a riflescope.

HE .444 MARLIN CARTRIDGE WAS

unveiled to the world in 1965. According to Marlin Firearms: A History of the Guns and the Company that Made Them, written by Lt. Col. William S. Brophy, at the time of its introduction, the .444 Marlin was promoted as having a higher knock-out factor than even the .338 Winchester Magnum at ranges beyond 100 yards. And at 150 yards, it dwarfed the .300 H&H and the .30-06. The initial factory ammunition propelled a 240-grain flatnose bullet at a velocity close to 2,400 fps.

Marlin sporadically produced lever-action rifles chambered for the round, and the company has two new .444 guns. One is the traditional Model 444; the other is the exciting new Model 1895 Dark Series. The samples we fired for this report were excellent in every way.

Early Developments The Marlin lever-action rifle is one of America’s iconic firearms, and it has been in almost continuous production since 1893.

Current models are all derivatives of the Model 1893, which was based on the design of L.L. Hepburn. Significant among the unique features of the Model 1893 was the forged, solidtop receiver. It allowed for ejection of cartridges to the side, as opposed to the Winchester Model 94, which ejected cases straight up out of the receiver.

The Model 1893 also had a two-piece firing pin that prevented the rifle from firing unless the lever was completely closed and a revised locking system that was quite strong. As the lever was closed, a steel locking bolt in the receiver was elevated into a cutout in the underside of the bolt. The Model 1893 was made until 1936 when, with a few changes, it was renamed the Model 36. These rifles had a pistol-grip stock, as opposed to the Winchester 94’s straight grip. The Model 36 was 24

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

somewhat heavier than the 94 and had fewer internal parts. Evolution of the rifle continued in 1948, when additional design changes from the patents of T.R. Robinson Jr. were incorporated, and the Model 36 was renamed the Model 336.

Variations of the Model 336 have had different model numbers and have been chambered for numerous cartridges over the years. A litany of them all would require an article of its own, but probably the most popular are the .30-30 Winchester and .35 Remington. In recent times, Hornady developed the .308 Marlin Express in 2007 and the .338 Marlin Express in 2009, and they deliver astounding downrange ballistics.

However, MODEL 444 it’s no secret Marlin that Marlin MANUFACTURER marlinfirearms.com fell on hard TYPE Lever-action repeater times after it CALIBER .444 Marlin was purchased MAGAZINE CAPACITY 4 rounds

by Remington BARREL 22 in. in 2007. ProOVERALL LENGTH 40 in. duction was WEIGHT, EMPTY 8 lbs. moved from STOCK American walnut North Haven, LENGTH OF PULL 13.5 in.

Connecticut, Blued barrel and to Ilion, New FINISH receiver; semi-gloss York, in 2010, stock and the qualSemi-buckhorn rear, SIGHTS ity of the guns brass-bead front produced there 4.32-lb. pull (as TRIGGER tested) deteriorated.

SAFETY Crossbolt The move was MSRP $815.14 a disaster, and

there was fear that the brand would not survive. However, after several years of work and much investment in high-tech CNC machinery, the Marlin lever actions being produced today are again worthy of the name, and exciting new variations are now in production.

A current of thin yet persistent demand for a big-bore rimmed cartridge for lever-action rifles seems to flow through American shooters. Witness the enduring popularity of the .45-70 after over 150 years. Marlin’s answer to this exigency produced one of the more unique and interesting rounds to bear the company’s name, the .444 Marlin.

Hornady, Remington, Peters, Buffalo Bore, and HSM make factory-loaded .444 Marlin ammunition. Typical bullet weights are 240, 265, 270, and 300 grains.

The nomenclature of Marlin .444 models is somewhat convoluted, but here goes. All Marlin .444s initially had the company’s proprietary Micro-Groove 12-groove rifling with a 38-inch twist. The Model 444 was introduced in 1965 and produced through 1971. It had a straight grip, a Monte Carlo stock, and a 24-inch barrel. The Model 444 was replaced by the Model 444S in 1972; it was made until 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1983, and it had a much more attractive pistolWhile there is a wealth of .44-caliber component bullets, not all are suitable for the .444 grip stock and the same 22-inch, 38-inch-twist Marlin. Steve fired these seven bullets in factory loads and handloads. barrel. I purchased one in October 1971, and 1 Hornady 240-Gr. XTP 5 Remington 240-Gr. Core-Lokt SP it was—and still is—a great shooter.

2 Hornady 265-Gr. FTX 6 Nosler 250-Gr. Partition In 1984 two significant changes were made to 3 Hornady 265-Gr. InterLock FP 7 Speer 270-Gr. Gold Dot SP the rifle. For one, Marlin switched to Ballard4 Hornady 300-Gr. XTP style six-groove rifling with a 20-inch twist in all 444s. The previous shallow Micro-Groove rifling and the slow 38-inch twist produced poor performance rear with an elevator, and a brass bead front with a hood on with cast bullets, but the Ballard-style rifling gave excellent accua serrated ramp. In 1956 Marlin began drilling and tapping racy with both jacketed and cast bullets. Also that year, the Model receivers for scope mounts, so the new Model 444’s receiver 444 Sporter (also known as the Model 444SS) debuted. This is drilled and tapped. model lasted until 2011 and was again produced in 2014 and 2015.

The hammer on my test rifle came with a spur extension The Model 444P Outfitter came along in 1999, and it had an already installed. Keep track of the tiny hex wrench that comes 18.5-inch ported barrel. The last iteration of the 444, until 2019, with the gun, as the screw that retains the hammerspur works was the Model 444XLR. It was of stainless-steel construction loose with annoying frequency. The hammer has a halfcock and featured a 24-inch barrel and a black-gray laminate stock. notch, and the receiver has the crossbolt safety that was added in 1984. If you want to use the safety, it’s there. If not, just move The New Model 444 it to the “Off ” position and forget it.

When I learned that Marlin was bringing back the Model The buttstock and forearm are of straight-grained Ameri444 in 2019, I immediately set about obtaining one. It’s faithful can walnut. There is not much figure on the wood of my test to the original and is quite attractive. Except for the naturalrifle, but the dark grain looks really businesslike and seems finished bolt, the metal is nicely blued and polished. perfectly appropriate for this brush-bruiser. There is plenty of The barrel inscription reads “Model 444,” just as it did back point-pattern cut checkering on the pistol grip and forearm, in 1965. The barrel is 22 inches in length and sports the Ballardand the grip has an uncheckered diamond on each side that style six-groove rifling. I took a peek down the barrel with my surrounds a small patch of checkering. It looks plum classy. A Hawkeye borescope, and the lands and grooves look smooth as stiff brown rubber buttpad finishes out the stock. It’s about 0.5 silk, with no extraneous tool marks that can snag jacket foulinch at the toe and heel and 0.25 inch in the middle. (I cannot, ing and degrade accuracy. in good conscience, call it a “recoil pad.”)

The two-thirds magazine holds four rounds, and sling-swivel For testing, I mounted a Bresser 1-4X 28mm scope in Burris studs are provided fore and aft. The sights are a semi-buckhorn 30mm rings. A Weaver No. 63B scope base is the one for the MARCH 2020 • SHOOTING TIMES

25

444 X 2 Model 444. With the scope installed, the rig weighs exactly 9 pounds, which helps attenuate recoil. Without the scope and mount, the rifle weighs 8 pounds. The balance point is right where it should be, and the gun handles like, well, a leveraction rifle.

We all know the ghastly triggers on many out-of-the-box guns.

Well, the trigger on this new Model 444 is just delightful. The average of five pulls on my Wheeler Engineering digital trigger gauge was 4 pounds, 5.1 ounces. While that may sound a mite heavy, it was very crisp and smooth, and it didn’t have any grit or grinding. Sure, this wouldn’t do on your PD rifle, but for big-game hunting, it feels just right to me.

The .444 Marlin Cartridge The .444 Marlin cartridge itself is unique. It was developed by a joint effort between Remington and Marlin, and it was introduced in 1965. It looks like the .44 Magnum on steroids.

The large, semi-rimmed case has a slight taper and is not based on any previously

existing case. The rim diameter is 0.514 inch, and the body at the base mikes 0.470, the same as the .30-06. But the .444 case is almost an inch longer than the .44 Mag., and all of that extra powder capacity gives it impressive performance. The bullet diameter is 0.429 to 0.430 inch, just like the .44 Mag. The .444 was initially loaded with the same 240-grain jacketed bullets used in the .44 Mag. at velocities about 300 fps faster, with the muzzle energy about 30 percent greater. The performance of these thin-jacketed bullets on big game was poor, so in 1967 Hornady developed a 265-grain InterLock FP with a thicker jacket that made the .444 deadly effective on game, and it is very accurate in rifles with either a 38- or 20-inch twist. It is no secret that at one time Hornady made the 265-grain bullets that Remington loaded in its factory ammo. In addition, this great bullet is available as a handloading component.

Given the sporadic production of .444 Marlin rifles, it is understandable that factory ammo is not found in every corner

THE MODEL 1895 I once wrote that the .444 Marlin surely is a “Rodney Dangerfield” rifle cartridge. You know, it gets no respect.

That’s a shame because it’s a fine woods cartridge. When loaded with 300-grain bullets, it packs as much or more energy as the .45-70 loaded for modern, strong actions

with the same bullet weight. With the traditional load, generally a 240-grain bullet traveling at around 2,300 fps and producing about 2,800 ft-lbs of muzzle energy, the .444 Marlin is good for hunting any North American game, with the exception of the large bears, if shots are kept to 200 yards or less. Recoil for such a load in the typical 7.5-pound

MARLIN MODEL 1895 DARK SERIES ACCURACY & VELOCITY VEL. (FPS)

AMMUNITION

E.S. (FPS)

S.D. (FPS)

100-YD. ACC. (IN.)

.444 Marlin, 16.25-in. Barrel Peters Premier Blue 240-gr. C-L SP

Factory Load

2112

70

39

1.22

Remington 240-gr. C-L SP

Factory Load

1940

71

35

1.49

Hornady Superformance 265-gr. IL-FP

Factory Load

2204

43

18

1.34

NOTES: Accuracy is the average of five, five-shot groups fired from a sandbag benchrest. Velocity is the average of five rounds measured 12 feet from the gun’s muzzle.

26

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

gas station. Remington currently offers a 240-grain Core-Lokt loading and a 240-grain Core-Lokt SP (C-L SP) load in the recently revived Peters brand (you can read aout this new loading in my Quick Shot on page 58 in this issue). The 265-grain load is not listed as of this writing, but an official at Remington informed me the 265-grain loads will again become available in 2020 in “Marlin 150th Ammunition” and likely in the Peters line as well.

The current Peters and Remington 240-grain C-L SPs both shot very well in my new Marlin Model 444. They averaged 1.14 and 1.34 inches respectively. The average velocities were 2,291 and 2,250 fps; however, the extreme spreads at 154 and 159 fps were huge.

Hornady offers two excellent .444 Marlin loads, both with 265-grain bullets. One load has the 265-grain InterLock FP with a factory-rated muzzle velocity of 2,400 fps, and the other features the FTX bullet with a factory-rated velocity of 2,325 fps.

lever action is about 27 ft-lbs, which is just 5 pounds more than a standard 165-grain .30-06 load and is quite manageable for most hunters. Recent developments in projectile design and propellant technology have stretched the effective range of the .444 out to 300 yards. The cartridge has power and panache, which are qualities just about every rifleman can appreciate.

The new Model 1895 Dark Series lever actions from Marlin (like the one shown in the introductory photograph for this article) have a lot of panache, too. The .45-70 Dark Series rifle was introduced in 2019, and the .444 Dark Series is brand new for 2020. It has a bunch of cool features.

It has a 16.25-inch barrel with a threaded muzzle. Overall length is 34.5 inches. The gun comes with an XS Lever Rail with Picatinny cross-slots and a built-in ghost-ring rear sight. The front sight is an XS post with a vertical white line.

The gun has a full-length tubular magazine that holds four rounds of .444 Marlin ammo and a Big Loop lever that’s wrapped with a paracord.

The stock is wood, but it’s painted black with a web pattern. The buttstock has a 0.88-inch-thick recoil pad and a pistol grip. The forearm is not checkered.

The trigger pull on my sample was crisp and clean. It averaged 6 pounds, 8 ounces for 10 measurements with my RCBS trigger pull scale.

The gun was accurate with the three factory loads I fired in it, averaging 1.35 inches for five, five-shot groups fired

The heavy-bullet loads available from Buffalo Bore Ammunition are called “Supercharged,” and they offer a significant step up in power. Buffalo Bore ammo features a 335-grain Hard Cast Lead FN with a velocity of 2,025 fps and 3,469 ft-lbs of energy. Also offered are 270- and 300-grain JFN bullets at 2,250 and 2,150 fps for 3,034 and 3,078 ft-lbs of energy. And HSM has four loadings: 265-grain FP, 270-grain USP (UniCore SP), 300-grain HP/XTP, and 300 grain SP. Loading your own .444 ammo is economical and rewarding, and specialized loads for various big-game hunting are easy to prepare. Only a couple of points need discussion. Since bullets used in tubular magazines should be crimped into their cannelures, trimming to a uniform case length is a big step toward ballistic uniformity and accuracy. Also, check overall cartridge length, as cartridges out of spec may not feed properly in lever guns. Last, the Hornady 265-grain FTX bullet has a longer ogive, and for proper COL, cases must be trimmed to 2.065 inches for this bullet. Crimping can be accomplished with the Hornady seating die.

Hornady and Starline sell excellent new brass for the .444 Marlin. The weights of these two brands and cases from Remington factory loads are almost identical. The moderate case

with each load from a benchrest at 100 yards. For the accuracy testing, I used a Trijicon 1-6X AccuPoint riflescope.

When it comes to big-bore lever actions, most everybody around my office seems to be enamored with the .45-70.

Not so with me. I’ll take the .444 Marlin for woods hunting any day, and the new Dark Series .444 Marlin lever gun was well balanced, easy to handle, and great fun to shoot.

—Joel J. Hutchcroft

MODEL 1895 DARK SERIES MANUFACTURER TYPE CALIBER

Marlin marlinfirearms.com Lever-action repeater .444 Marlin

MAGAZINE CAPACITY

4 rounds

BARREL

16.25 in.

OVERALL LENGTH WEIGHT, EMPTY STOCK LENGTH OF PULL

34.5 in.

7.65 lbs.

Hardwood 13.5 in.

FINISH

Parkerized barrel and receiver; black painted stock; paracord-wrapped Big Loop lever

SIGHTS

XS Lever Rail with ghost ring rear, post front

TRIGGER SAFETY MSRP

6.5-lb. pull (as tested) Crossbolt $968

MARCH 2020 • SHOOTING TIMES

27

444 X 2

volume of the .444 dictates the use of standard Large Rifle primers.

I have had an original Model 444S for almost 50 years and have tried dozens of handloads in it. I tried several in the new Model 444, and the results are shown in the chart.

These days, there are so many great new powders and bullets available that experimentation can be almost endless, but good old H4198 still is a winner. In addition, VihtaVuori N130, Alliant Reloder 7, and Hodgdon Benchmark are also excellent propellants for this cartridge.

Steve found the new Model 444 to be worthy of its name in quality, craftsmanship, and For years, I used nothing but 46.0 grains of accuracy. It averaged 1.22 inches for five-shot groups at 100 yards with 13 different loads.

H4198 and 265-grain Hornady bullets in my .444 handloads. The velocity of 2,193 fps in my older rifle was the average, but the load registered 2,205 The trajectory of the .444 Marlin cartridge is adequate for fps in the new Model 444. It was deadly accurate, too. I have game within its range. With a 140-yard zero, 265- and 270come to favor VihtaVuori N130 with this bullet. A charge of grain bullets are pretty much dead-on out to 150 yards. Drop 49.5 grains gave a velocity of 2,291 fps in the new Marlin, and is about 6 inches at 200 yards, and at that distance the bullet the load averaged 1.30 inches from the benchrest. At 3,089 still packs about 1,300 ft-lbs of downrange energy. ft-lbs, it had the highest muzzle energy of any load I tested.

I think Marlin’s new Model 444 lever gun is a worthy succesWhile there are scads of .44-caliber bullets available, only a sor to the original. It is well made. It is accurate. It is 100-percent few are tough enough for use in the .444 Marlin. The two Horreliable. It and its unique cartridge are a welcome return to the nadys noted earlier qualify, as does the Speer 270-grain Deep hunter’s world. Let’s hope after another 50 years, hunters are Curl SP, which reached a velocity of 2,085 fps over a charge of still roaming the woods, enjoying this fine combo.

45.5 grains of H4198. In addition, there are lots of hard-cast, flatpoint bullets especially BUY IT NOW designed for the .444, so the handloader has Log on to GalleryofGuns.com, select this firearm, pay a deposit, and it will be at your local gun store in two days. When purchased from galleryofguns.com, Davidson’s guarplenty of bullets with which to develop speantees to repair or replace this firearm for LIFE! cialized hunting loads.

MARLIN MODEL 444 ACCURACY & VELOCITY POWDER (GRS.) (TYPE)

BULLET

CASE

PRIMER

COL (IN.)

VEL. (FPS)

E.S. (FPS)

S.D. (FPS)

RECOIL (FT-LBS)

M.E. (FT-LBS)

100-YD. ACC. (IN.)

.444 Marlin, 22-in. Barrel Hornady 240-gr. XTP

H4198

48.0

Rem.

Fed. 210

2.550

2223

32

11

20.6

2634

1.14

Nosler 250-gr. Partition

H4198

46.0

Rem.

Fed. 210

2.549

2130

28

10

19.7

2519

1.20

Hornady 265-gr. IL-FP

H4198

46.0

Rem.

Fed. 210

2.560

2205

17

6

23.0

2862

1.32

Hornady 265-gr. IL- FP

VV N130

49.5

Rem.

Fed. 210

2.560

2291

43

18

25.7

3089

1.30

Hornady 265-gr. IL-FP

VV N133

53.0

Rem.

Fed. 210

2.560

2114

37

17

22.7

2630

1.16

Hornady 265-gr. IL-FP

Reloder 7

46.0

Rem.

Fed. 210

2.560

2136

48

16

21.6

2685

1.34

Hornady 265-gr. IL-FP

Reloder 10

49.0

Rem.

Fed. 210

2.560

2175

43

17

23.1

2784

1.01

Speer 270-gr. Gold Dot SP

H4198

45.5

Rem.

Fed. 210

2.549

2085

40

14

21.1

2607

1.59

Hornady 300-gr. XTP

H4198

41.5

Rem.

Fed. 210

2.550

1934

39

13

20.6

2492

1.00

Peters Premier Blue 240-gr. C-L SP

Factory Load

2.517

2291

154

60

----

2798

1.14

Remington 240-gr. C-L SP

Factory Load

2.530

2250

159

63

----

2699

1.34

Hornady LEVERevolution 265-gr. FTX

Factory Load

2.583

2175

41

20

----

2784

1.30

Hornady Superformance 265-gr. IL-FP

Factory Load

2.558

2254

34

13

----

2990

1.06

NOTES: Accuracy is the average of three, five-shot groups fired from a benchrest. Velocity is the average of five rounds measured 12 feet from the gun’s muzzle. Range temperature was 41 to 52 degrees Fahrenheit.

All load data should be used with caution. Always start with reduced loads first and make sure they are safe in each of your guns before proceeding to the high test loads listed. Since Shooting Times has no control over your choice of components, guns, or actual loadings, neither Shooting Times nor the various firearms and components manufacturers assume any responsibility for the use of this data.

28

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

E N G I N E E R E D

F O R

T H E

M O M E N T

www.TCARMS.com # T C Ve n t u r e I I facebook/tcarmsco

twitter/tcarmsco

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CACHET The Mauser M18 has all the features serious riflemen demand, plus it has a certain “something else” that makes it a cut above of the rest.

F

BY STEVE GASH

OR DECADES, THE NAME

are highly figured walnut stocks, high-polish Mauser has been well known blued metal, and sky high prices. in shooting circles around The M18 was introduced late in 2018, and the world for both rifles I got my first look at one at the 2019 SHOT and cartridges. Wars have Show. At first glance it looked vaguely familbeen fought with them, and iar, like a lot of today’s rifles, but there was famous hunters have carried something different about it, a certain cachet them on safari across classic if you will, that subtly conveyed a presence that velds. Mauser rifles are high-quality instruseemed a cut above. It looked and felt, well, nice. ments, and their prices usually reflect that.

The first thing I noticed was the bolt lift.

However, the new Mauser M18 departs from Three-lug bolts are somewhat harder to open that somewhat, but only in price, not quality. than two-lug designs; it’s just simple mechanics.

The M18 is a thoroughly modern rendition However, the bolt lift on the M18 was comof the bolt-action hunting rifle. It incorporates paratively light; in fact, it seemed more like a a host of features that rifleshooters demand, two-lug bolt. The second thing I noticed was i.e., a fat, three-lug bolt, a sturdy and well-bedthat the synthetic stock didn’t look like it was ded synthetic stock, a hammer-forged barrel, made of recycled ketchup bottles. Instead, it a good trigger pull, and a matte finish. Gone was stiff and sturdy, and it had soft, textured gripping surfaces molded in at the handholds; sling-swivel studs fore and aft; and a generously free-floated “burnished black” barrel.

The rifle is available chambered for the usual suspects, such as .243 Winchester, 6.5 Creedmoor, .270 Winchester, 7mm Remington Magnum, .308 Winchester, .30-06, and .300 Winchester Magnum.

But the one that caught my eye was the 6.5 PRC. The modern Mauser M18 rifle is offered chambered for many currently The nice young man at the popular hunting cartridges, including the 6.5 PRC. Mauser booth really had my 30

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

PHOTO COURTESY OF MAUSER

MARCH 2020 • SHOOTING TIMES

31

CACHET

M18 Mauser Jagdwaffen GmBH mauser.com TYPE CALIBER MAGAZINE CAPACITY

attention now, as this was the first 6.5 PRC I’d seen in the flesh, and he proceeded to fill my eager ears with facts, figures, and rifle specs. “PRC” doesn’t stand for “People’s Republic of China.”

The M18’s DNA is full-blooded German. PRC in this instance stands for “Precision Rifle Cartridge,” and it’s aptly named. The 6.5 PRC was first introduced in 2012 and is the mainstay of a shooting competition known as the “Precision Rifle Series,” where its accuracy and flat trajectory are legendary. Gallons of ink have been spilled on it, so I’ll not belabor the point except to say that it is very, very accurate, and it shoots the same long-forcaliber, high-ballistic-coefficient bullets as the 6.5 Creedmoor.

The PRC, however, is much more potent, making it a superb medium-game hunting cartridge.

As soon as I got home after the SHOT Show, I ordered an M18 in 6.5 PRC for testing. It was everything I expected.

After giving the rifle a good cleaning, I checked out the barrel with my Hawkeye borescope and made some photos of the bore with a Lyman Bore Cam. The lands and grooves were slick and smooth, with nary an extraneous tool mark to be seen. The trigger was just delightful, and it’s adjustable via a small hex screw that’s accessible from within the trigger guard without taking the rifle apart. The average of five pulls on a Lyman trigger gauge

Bolt-action repeater 6.5 PRC 4 rounds

BARREL

24 in.

OVERALL LENGTH

44 in.

WEIGHT, EMPTY STOCK LENGTH OF PULL

7.0 lbs.

Synthetic 14 in.

FINISH

Matte blued barrel and receiver, black stock

SIGHTS

None. Receiver is drilled and tapped for scope-mount bases

TRIGGER SAFETY MSRP

3.51-lb. pull (as tested) Three-position $699

registered 3 pounds, 8.1 ounces. And it was crisp, with no overtravel. The bolt handle is about 2.63 inches long, and it has a large ball knob that aids bolt lift.

The M18’s barrel is 24 inches long, measures 0.65 inch at the muzzle, and has a nice target crown. The three-position safety allows the rifle to be carried with the bolt locked but unloaded with the safety engaged. The bolt is 0.8 inch in diameter, and it is precisely fitted into the receiver (it moves back and forth without any play or wobble). The boltface has a sliding-plate-type extractor and twin plunger ejectors. The bolt release is positioned at the left rear of the receiver.

The M18 has a removable box magazine that’s made of a tough synthetic material that is as slick as glass, and cartridges glide into and out of it with ease. The magazine for “standard” cartridges holds five rounds, and magazines for magnum rounds and the 6.5 PRC hold four. The internal length of the magazine for my 6.5 PRC rifle was about 3 inches, allowing plenty of room for those long, skinny 6.5mm bullets to be seated out.

Mauser calls the metal finish “black burnished,” and the barrel looks to me like it has had a subtle bit of polishing for a nice effect.

The rifle does not come with open sights, but the receiver is drilled and tapped for readily The three-position safety locks the bolt available Remington Model 700-pattern scopebut allows unloading the chamber with mounting bases. The M18 weighed exactly 7 the safety engaged. pounds, without scope and mounts.

32

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

Steve says the Mauser M18 has all the features modern riflemen demand plus a certain cachet that makes it a cut above the rest.

An important feature of the stock of any rifle with a free-floated barrel is the stiffness of the fore-end, and Mauser obviously did its homework on this point. If you can squeeze a rifle’s foreend tip—either wood or synthetic—enough to make the stock touch the barrel, it is probable that upon firing, the barrel will touch the stock. In other words, it isn’t “free-floating” then, and accuracy will suffer. Try as I might, I couldn’t make the stiff

synthetic fore-end of the M18’s riflestock touch the barrel, and that’s a good sign.

The M18’s stock has a rather unique feature in the form of a small storage compartment under the recoil pad. Pushing in on two tabs on either side of the buttstock releases the “Multi Purpose Cap” that reveals the small compartment where accessories or an extra cartridge or two can be stored.

MAUSER M18 ACCURACY & VELOCITY BULLET

POWDER (TYPE) (GRS.)

COL (IN.)

VEL. (FPS)

E.S. (FPS)

S.D. (FPS)

RECOIL (FT-LBS)

M.E. (FT-LBS)

100-YD. ACC. (IN.)

6.5 PRC, 24-in. Barrel Barnes 120-gr. TSX Flat Base

H1000

58.0

2.852

2903

20

7

13.6

2246

0.71

Hornady 120-gr. GMX

IMR 8133

60.5

2.958

3008

10

4

13.9

2412

1.00

Sierra 120-gr. Spitzer Flat Base

IMR 7977

49.0

2.840

2456

61

12

7.7

1608

0.55

Sierra 120-gr. Spitzer Flat Base

IMR 7977

54.0

2.840

2805

45

16

10.9

2097

1.04

Swift 120-gr. A-Frame

H1000

56.0

2.815

2889

40

13

11.9

2224

0.89

Nosler 125-gr. Partition

IMR 8133

60.0

2.881

2970

35

12

14.0

2449

0.74

Nosler 129-gr. AccuBond LR

H1000

57.0

2.910

2869

33

11

12.9

2358

1.06

Nosler 129-gr. AccuBond LR

IMR 7977

54.3

2.910

2728

34

14

11.2

2132

0.51

Nosler 129-gr. AccuBond LR

IMR 8133

57.3

2.910

2709

43

17

11.6

2103

0.71

Nosler 129-gr. AccuBond LR

IMR 8133

59.0

2.910

2860

50

19

13.2

2344

0.31

Nosler 129-gr. AccuBond LR

Retumbo

56.9

2.910

2771

71

29

12.0

2200

0.63

Nosler 129-gr. AccuBond LR

Retumbo

58.5

2.910

2900

31

11

13.5

2410

0.73

Berger 130-gr. Hybrid Target

IMR 8133

60.0

2.980

2921

47

16

14.1

2464

0.75

Sierra 130-gr. GameKing

Reloder 25

55.5

2.778

2844

13

5

12.5

2335

0.91

Swift 130-gr. Scirocco II

Reloder 25

57.5

2.940

2949

13

4

13.9

2511

1.00

Berger 135-gr. Classic Hunter

VV N165

53.5

2.910

2760

8

4

11.9

2284

0.58

Berger 135-gr. Classic Hunter

IMR 8133

60.0

2.910

2884

18

6

14.4

2494

0.88

Berger 140-gr. Hybrid Target

IMR 8133

59.0

2.985

2840

13

4

14.3

2508

0.57

Berger 140-gr. Hybrid Target

VV N165

53.0

2.985

2705

65

22

11.9

2275

0.54

Hornady 140-gr. SST

Retumbo

58.0

2.943

2873

11

4

14.4

2567

1.14

Reloder 25

57.5

2.856

2907

11

4

14.7

2628

0.87

US 869

66.0

2.990

2815

44

15

15.8

2499

1.04

Hornady 143-gr. ELD-X

IMR 8133

56.1

2.990

2722

38

14

12.9

2353

0.78

Hornady 143-gr. ELD-X

IMR 8133

58.0

2.990

2842

44

18

14.5

2565

0.67

Hornady 143-gr. ELD-X

IMR 8133

60.0

2.990

2874

17

8

15.2

2623

0.70

Hornady 143-gr. ELD-X

Reloder 25

56.0

2.990

2810

43

17

13.8

2508

0.75

Hornady 143-gr. ELD-X

Retumbo

53.3

2.990

2724

18

7

12.4

2357

0.34

Hornady 143-gr. ELD-X

Retumbo

57.0

2.990

2834

37

14

14.2

2551

0.75

Hornady 143-gr. ELD-X

US 869

62.3

2.990

2583

54

20

12.7

2119

0.43

Hornady 143-gr. ELD-X

US 869

66.0

2.990

2823

34

16

16.0

2531

0.59

Speer 140-gr. Hot-Cor Nosler 142-gr. AccuBond LR

Hornady Precision Hunter 143-gr. ELD-X

Factory Load

2.955

2916

31

12

16.1

2701

0.69

Hornady Match 147-gr. ELD Match

Factory Load

2.950

2858

20

7

17.3

2667

0.59

NOTES: Accuracy is the average of three, five-shot groups fired from a benchrest. Velocity is the average of 10 rounds measured 10 feet from the gun’s muzzle. All handloads used Hornady brass and CCI 250 primers. Range temperature was 34 to 54 degrees Fahrenheit.

All load data should be used with caution. Always start with reduced loads first and make sure they are safe in each of your guns before proceeding to the high test loads listed. Since Shooting Times has no control over your choice of components, guns, or actual loadings, neither Shooting Times nor the various firearms and components manufacturers assume any responsibility for the use of this data.

MARCH 2020 • SHOOTING TIMES

33

CACHET

Shooting the M18

Photographed with the Lyman Bore Cam, the lands and grooves were slick and smooth, with nary an extraneous tool mark to be seen.

The buttstock has a small storage compartment under the recoil pad that can hold small accessories or a couple extra rounds of ammo.

The M18 proved to be quite accurate with factory ammo and handloads.

It’s one of the most accurate rifles the author has worked with recently.

34

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

As far as I know, only Hornady makes factory ammo for the 6.5 PRC, and it introduced two 6.5 PRC factory loads in 2018. Both feature the company’s ELD (Extremely Low Drag) bullets with the Heat Shield Tip that’s designed to resist deformation from frictional heat over long distances. A 143-grain ELD-X (X is for for expanding) in the Precision Hunter line is for hunting, and ammo with a 147-grain ELD Match bullet is the target load. The listed velocities of those loads are 2,960 fps and 2,910 fps respectively.

I fired the two Hornady factory loads in the M18, and their velocities were quite close to the listed speeds. The ELD-X registered 2,916 fps for five rounds (only 1.5 percent lower than listed), and the ELD Match bullet clocked 2,856 fps (only 1.7 percent) slower than advertised. Both loads were very accurate, averaging 0.69 and 0.59 inch respectively.

The PRC is so popular that new cases are just about non-existent, but I finally located some from G.A. Precision in Kansas City, Missouri. Fortunately, Hornady had dies, and I had all manner of 6.5mm bullets and suitable powders, so I was able to test a very good variety of handloads.

While the 6.5 PRC’s primary emphasis is the target world, its impressive ballistics and accuracy and the lightweight and handy M18 seemed to describe a fine hunting combination to me, so I concentrated on hunting-type bullets. All of the range results are shown in the chart on the previous page.

An engineer at Hornady told me that as long as everything is “lined up straight in the first place,” bullet jump doesn’t seem to matter much. I know that accuracy dogma states that bullets need to be seated about 0.010 inch off the lands, and I did that for most bullets used in the handloads, if the bullet was long enough for full neck contact. For shorter bullets, I made sure the base of the bullet was even with the end of the neck for full contact, and that seemed to suit the M18 just fine.

To make a long story short, none of the loads tested were bad, some were just better than others. In fact, the M18 is one of the more accurate rifles I’ve tested, especially considering its modest price.

The average of all handloads was 0.74 inch. Working down from the top of the chart, the Barnes TSX Flat Base zipped along at 2,903 fps and grouped into 0.71 inch. The Nosler 129grain AccuBond Long Range averaged 0.66 inch. The three Berger bullets averaged 0.66 inch. And the Hornady 143-grain ELD-X averaged 0.68. With a scoped weight of 8 pounds, 11.5 ounces, the recoil of all loads was very modest, running from about 8 to 17 ft-lbs. A relatively modest load with the Sierra 120-grain Spitzer Flat Base and 49.0 grains of IMR 7977 would make a fine deer load, and it registered a velocity of 2,456 fps with only 7.7 ft-lbs of recoil.

Mauser says its rifles are “Das Original,” and that pretty much describes the M18. Overall, it performed admirably and seemed like a perfect match for the 6.5 PRC round. The rifle is aesthetically pleasing, is a delight to shoot and handload, and is right at home in the field as well as on target ranges.

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HANDLOADING

TROPHY BONDED BULLETS

NOW AVAILABLE AS RELOADING COMPONENTS, THE TROPHY BONDED BEAR CLAWS ARE SOME OF THE FINEST HUNTING BULLETS IN THE WORLD.

S

OMETIME IN THE MID-1980S,

after a ruckus with a buffalo that refused to acknowledge that conventional bullets were an adequate reason to concede death, a hunter named Jack Carter created a bullet that became legend. Dubbed the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw (Bear Claw for short), Carter’s design comprises a solid copper rear half and a soft lead core bonded into the front half. Because of the solid rear shank, Bear Claws never lose so much weight on impact that penetration is compromised. And because the nose offers a soft lead front, expansion is impressive and reliable at any reasonable impact velocity.

Because that soft nose is bonded in place, it can’t separate from the hard, monolithic rest of the bullet. The result is a big-expanding, deep-penetrating bullet that never fails. Strong words, but ones to live by, as countless African professional hunters have proven in the decades since.

36

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

BY JOSEPH VON BENEDIKT Carter also designed a non-expanding version he called the Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer Solid. Built with a stout, heavy copper nose and a lead core inserted from the rear, it’s the Bear Claw’s angry twin. Profile and balance of the bullet is such that same-weight, same-caliber versions provide the same point of impact as the Bear Claw.

Use the Bear Claw to shoot a Cape buffalo or a grizzly bear through the vitals. Follow it up with the Sledgehammer Solid that will rake from stem to stern, massive bone, heavy muscle, and dense vitals notwithstanding. A Sledgehammer is a great tool to have in hand when something big and grumpy exhibits uncivilized intentions.

In 1992 Federal began loading Trophy Bonded bullets in premium safari ammunition. Shortly thereafter, production was moved to Federal’s plant in Anoka, Minnesota, to better supply demand. Eventually, after a few field-tested and Carter-approved changes that made Trophy Bonded bullets friendlier to mass-production operations, they became available under the Speer brand.

Among the subtle and not-so-subtle changes made to the original Bear Claw are the switch from a crimping cannelure to a series of groovetype cannelures, a transition from pure copper jacket material to gilding metal, and the nickelplated exterior seen on modern iterations.

Performance remained unchanged. In other words: outstanding.

Because bullet supply never really outpaced loaded-ammo demand, Trophy Bonded projectiles became extinct on the component bullet market. But the Trophy Bonded brand’s legend grew, prompting the development of a polymertipped, boattailed version—the Trophy Bonded Tip (TBT), engineered for use on North American big game and African plains game—and later Federal’s cutting-edge long-range hunting bullet: the Edge TLR. Both feature the Bear Joseph says the Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer Solid is great for backup shots or shooting Claw’s solid rear shank and bonded-core front, through the length of a charging Cape buffalo or brown bear. and while vastly different in purpose from the original Bear Claw, both have proven their sterling worth in their respective spheres.

One unfortunate downside followed the Trophy Bonded line’s rise to fame: handloaders wanting to load it in oddball cartridges were unable to obtain component bullets. It got to the point where Bear Claw component bullets were sought after like the mythical Golden Fleece. Serious believers sometimes went so far as to pull bullets from extremely expensive factory ammo in order to handload them in uncommon cartridges.

Starting a couple years ago, Federal announced TBT component bullets and then Edge TLRs. Finally, to the sound of rejoicing among dangerous-game hunters around the globe, this year the classic Trophy Bonded Bear Claw and Sledgehammer Solids hit the market in component-bullet form.

This is a wonderful development! Not The Trophy Bonded family was modernized and made applicable to North American big only does it enable aficionados of oddball cargame when the Trophy Bonded Tip bullet was introduced. It has the same solid shank and tridges to handload and hunt with Trophy bonded-core front, with the addition of a boattail and a composite tip.

Bonded bullets, but also it allows handloaders to accuracy-tune them for any cartridge.

It’s also cheap compared to the suggested retail price of some Plus, handloaders can download the more-aggressive-recoiling, high-velocity big bores to still-effective-but-lighter-kicking loaded ammo, which sells for a low of $91 per box of 20 (for levels if desired. .375 H&H) up to a high of $237 (for .416 Rigby).

Bear Claws and Sledgehammer Solids are not inexpensive bulBut the best thing of all is that handloaders now can shoot lets. They run about $3.40 per projectile, selling in boxes of 25 Bear Claws and Sledgehammer Solids in oddball cartridges. for about $85 per box. But, hey, that’s peanuts compared to the Case in point: I handloaded 500-grain, 0.474-inch-diameter cost of an Alaskan brown bear hunt or a Cape buffalo hunt in bullets for a recent hippo hunt with my good friend Jacques Africa. More pertinently, even if you’re a blue-collar guy scrimpStrauss of Kowas Hunting Safaris in Namibia. My cartridge of ing and saving for one hunt of a lifetime, that’s still cheap when choice was the .475 Turnbull. It’s a magnificent lever-action you’re putting your life on the line—especially when “the line” cartridge that provides best-in-class performance on dangerous is the bullet in your rifle. game, and it accounted for Cape buffalo (a perfect one-shot kill MARCH 2020 • SHOOTING TIMES

37

HANDLOADING BEAR CLAW BULLETS

in the hands of friend Nathan Roberts) and an absolute behemoth of a bull hippo. My handloads used Reloder 7 to push the Bear Claw and Sledgehammer Solid to 1,850 fps. (You can read about the rifle I used on that hunt in my “The Shootist” column starting on page 14 in this issue of the magazine.)

Bulls in the Dust Roberts stalked his dagga boy (a native term that means “muddy” but generally indicates a past-prime, worn-horned, grumpy, hermit-like Cape buffalo bull) through the veld bordering the Okavango River. When the head-high grasses thinned, four old, semi-solitary bulls were bedded 65 yards away. An ancient, massive termite mound bridged between two trees and offered a rest. When the dagga boy stood and offered a shot, Roberts planted a 500grain Bear Claw squarely through his heart and the bottom lobe of both lungs. It came to rest in the offside shoulder.

Staggered, the bull rallied and bounded after The most cutting-edge Trophy Bonded bullet is the Edge TLR (Terminal Long Range). It his three mates. Roberts racked the lever fast maximizes aerodynamics and has an extremely wide expansion velocity window. and tried to get on the bull for a follow-up shot, but billowing clouds of red desert dust obscured the buffaloes. A hundred yards farther on they paused, meat was a much-coveted addition to the feast, so we were and a light evening breeze drifted the dust clear just as the bull attempting to collect a bull that day. Conditions, however, were faltered and dropped. unfavorable. For days we’d seen upwards of 100 hippos hauled Two days later, we drifted the Okavango in search of a big up onto the sandy banks to soak in the sun, but the weather had bull hippo. The local tribe was holding a festival, and hippo turned cold and windy—both of which kept hippos in the water.

Because we were close to the Botswana border, and because it simply makes for a better hunt, we wanted to shoot a hippo on land rather than in the river. Otherwise, it could potentially drift with the current while submerged and be lost into the bordering country.

We finally found a lone bull, but we had to avoid another hippo that charged us in the river, pole the skiff to the head of an island, and stalk down the island past a herd of Cape buffalo in a thicket of reeds. Closing the distance, we almost stepped on a big crocodile. It slid into a water run with a massive Nathan Roberts took this old Cape buffalo bull from about 65 yards with one perfectly placed 500-grain splash, and I was sure the big 0.474-inch-diameter Bear Claw using Joseph’s .475 Turnbull Winchester Model 1886. bull hippo would be spooked.

38

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

Luckily, he wasn’t. Sliding my Turnbull-customized Winchester Model 1886 onto the shooting sticks, I settled the sights on his skull and squeezed the trigger. The 500-grain Bear Claw zipped across 27 yards and hit him squarely in the brain.

A hippo’s brain is relatively small and lies buried inside its head. If it’s facing you with its nose lowered to feed or rest, imagine an “X” drawn between the ears and eyes and plant the bullet in the center.

This gigantic hippo bull fell to a Bear Claw and two Sledgehammer Solids. It provided the local tribe with almost If perfectly broadside, draw a 6,000 pounds of fresh meat for its annual festival. line from the eye to the base of the ear, and shoot the halfway point. whisk past and not quite scratch the brain with a non-expanding You might think you need a non-expanding solid bullet to penbullet will—because the expanding bullet creates a more massive etrate a hippo’s skull. Not so. A hippo’s skull bone is not as thick as wound channel—still catch the brain and kill the hippo cleanly. an elephant’s, and since the brain is a small target, a tough expandPast the whip-like recoil of the .475 Turnbull, I saw the moning bullet is preferred. That way, a questionable hit that might ster bull fold. As fast as I could work the lever, I followed the

HANDLOADING BEAR CLAW BULLETS

softnose Bear Claw with a Sledgehammer Solid angled up through the now-quartering bull’s vitals. He rolled toward me, and I angled a third shot through the vitals from the other side and all went quiet.

My hippo bull was dead, cleanly killed in just a few seconds. An hour later, back at the main riverbank, at least a dozen villagers met me and wrung my hand in a surprisingly touching fashion, joyfully expressing thanks for providing three tons of meat for their festival.

All three Trophy Bonded bullets had come to rest inside the hippo. No wonder; Thomas Provstgaard used a 400-grain Bear Claw and a Kimber Caprivi chambered to .416 Remington to take this it’s a huge animal, weighing heavy-bodied Cape buffalo. A frontal shot from 82 yards destroyed the heart and resulted in a fast, clean kill. literally as much as a fullsize pickup truck. The Bear Claw proved difficult to extract from the skull, but as I sat beside the campfire that night, one of the skinners showed up with the two Sledgehammer Solids in his palm. Both looked picture perfect: no distortion, no weight loss, just the rifling tracks spiraling down the shanks.

“Did they go deep?” I asked.

A nod.

“Like this deep?” I spread my hands wide, spanning four or five feet.

“Oh, no, sir! Much more!

On the last evening of the safari, this big old kudu bull fell to a 155-grain Edge TLR bullet from the author’s At least three meters, sir!”

Kimber Mountain Ascent rifle in .280 Ackley Improved. The bullet penetrated 20 inches and expanded to 1.9 I was tired. Doing the contimes the original diameter. version took a moment. Then it clicked. That was close to 10 feet of penetration! Absolutely outstanding and exactly the facing straight at you. It’s often the only shot you’re offered reason you shoot a high-quality solid when seriously deep penand tends to jack the adrenaline input off the charts as the bull etration is called for. stares you down and you attempt to steady the sights low on Earlier that same safari, my neighbor and very good friend the front of his chest.

Thomas Provstgaard put a 400-grain, 0.416-inch version of the The bull was grumpy when we stood him up from his bed.

Bear Claw to work, firing it at about 2,450 fps from a Kimber Although Provstgaard later confessed to noodle legs, you’d not Caprivi chambered for the .416 Remington at a Cape buffalo. have known it as he calmly glued the crosshairs of the Bushnell When hunting Cape buffalo, you may have to shoot one 1-6.5X 24mm Elite Tactical scope to the bull’s heart.

40

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

At the crash of the shot, the bull crumpled, almost dropping before rallying, swapping ends, and making a dash for the thornbrush. Provstgaard worked the bolt and put a second Trophy Bonded bullet squarely through the running bull’s hip.

Moments later, the bull was dead.

Skinners recovered the first bullet back near one of the Cape buffalo’s hip. It had expanded so perfectly it could be used in an advertisement. It penetrated at least four feet of Cape buffalo hide, bone, muscle, and vitals. Retained weight was 383.2 grains. That’s almost 96 percent retained weight. Expansion was 0.79 inch, about 1.89 times original diameter.

And One More Bull As excited as I am about the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw and Sledgehammer Solid now being available in component-bullet form, I would be remiss if I didn’t address the Trophy Bonded’s Edge TLR descendant, also now available as a handloading component. It’s a super-aerodynamic bullet particularly applicable to hunters in the United States.

Federal offered the Edge TLR in factory ammo beginning in 2018 and in component form beginning in 2019. I loaded the 155-grain version for my favorite Kimber 84L Mountain Ascent chambered in .280 Ackley Improved. Accuracy is outstanding, muzzle velocity is an admirable 2,960 fps, and with

the ballistic turret on my Swarovski 3.5-18X 44mm Z5 scope calibrated to match the Edge TLR’s drops, I’ve made solid 600yard hits on targets, even when shooting from field positions.

I don’t intend to shoot that far on game, but the rifle/scope/ bullet combination will do it ethically, and with the Edge TLR’s excellent ballistic coefficient of .610, I know it retains adequate velocity to expand and plenty of on-impact energy.

I put the Edge TLR bullet to work my last evening in Africa, stalking through camelthorn thickets to within 220 yards of a magnificent, heavy-horned old kudu bull. As he paused his stride, quartering slightly away, I put an Edge TLR into the crease behind his shoulder. It angled forward, centering his vitals and coming to rest against the hide at the point of his offside shoulder. The bull bounded high, then dropped.

Penetration of the 155-grain, 0.284-inch-diameter Edge TLR was about 20 inches and retained weight was 133.5 grains (about 86 percent of original weight). Expanded diameter was 0.56 inch (about 1.9 times original diameter).

There are those who might argue, and my British-born wife would roll her eyes at the comparison, but I believe the Trophy Bonded family of bullets is one of the—if not the—premier royal families in the hunting-bullet realm. Its availability as a component bullet for handloaders has just made it even more capable of ruling across the continents.

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41

THE .243 WINCHESTER CARTRIDGE IN THE NEW REMINGTON MODEL 783 VARMINT RIFLE IS A DANDY COMBINATION.

W

HETHER OR NOT A LOT OF

hunters regularly use the .243 Winchester on varmints today I cannot say, but I can recall a time when many of us did.

After all, Winchester engineers described it as the ideal deer cartridge that also hit harder and bucked wind better than smaller calibers on varmints, and who were we to question their wisdom?

I bought a Model 70 in .243 Win. around 1963, and while it accounted for an occasional deer, the rifle saw far more use on crows, which were the primary varmints in my 42

SHOOTING TIMES â&#x20AC;˘ MARCH 2020

TO FAIL

BY LAYNE SIMPSON

area at the time. That was before I started handloading ammunition, and my rifle was considerably more accurate with Norma factory ammo than with Winchesterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 80-grain varmint load.

It also shot flat. When zeroed 2.0 inches high at 100 yards, the 75-grain hollowpoint struck about 2.5 inches above point of aim at 200 yards and only a couple of inches low at 300. A steady dead-center hold on a crow standing three football fields away resulted in a dramatic explosion of feathers. That first .243 was the standard model with a 24-inch barrel, and shortly after buying

The availability of accurate bullets as light as the Nosler 55-grain Ballistic Tip (left) and the Berger 115-grain VLD Hunter (right) make the .243 Win. an extremely versatile cartridge.

it, I added a Model 70 Varmint with a 26-inch heavy barrel to my small battery.

I eventually switched to a Model 70 in .220 Swift for most of my long-distance varmint shooting, but to this day the .243 has remained one of my all-time favorite cartridges for use on deer-size game. Soon after marriage, I bought my wife, Phyllis, a Model 70 Featherweight chambered for .243, and shortly thereafter she took a Wyoming pronghorn so good I figured I would be a long The brown laminate stock of the Model 783 Varmint is durable and remains quite stable during fluctuations in time catching up. ambient humidity. The oversize bolt handle knob is comfortable in the hand during sustained fire, and a scope is easily attached to the Picatinny rail on the rifle’s receiver.

My favorite .243 Win. rifle has long been a Model 15 Ti built by Prairie Gun Works of Canada. Due to its titanium rifle, but it was quite smooth with no detectable creep or overreceiver, it weighs only a bit over 6 pounds with a 2.5-8X scope, travel, so no adjustments were made. yet it consistently shoots inside 0.5 MOA. One of my more The oversize bolt handle knob is easy on the hand during prolonged shooting, and in the event of a pierced primer or memorable hunts with it was for chamois and Himalayan tahr in the snowclad Southern Alps of New Zealand. blown case, the shape of the bolt shroud should do a good job of protecting the shooter from propellant gas traveling back The Model 783 Varmint through the receiver. A floating head on the bolt goes a long I fondly remember bumping off crows with the .243 Win., way toward seating a cartridge concentrically in the chamber. and while I no longer have an interest in shooting them, when A small extractor sliding in the right-side locking lug reliably Remington included that chambering option for the compapulls fired cases from the chamber, and a spring-loaded rod prony’s new Model 783 Varmint, I could not resist giving one a truding from the face of the bolt flings them out through the try. It had been a very long time since I had shot a .243 Win. ejection port. Minimizing ejection port dimensions increases rifle with a heavy barrel. Measuring 26 inches long, the blued receiver rigidity. carbon-steel barrel free-floats in the stock. It measures 1.080 Made by combining a steel body with a synthetic floorplate, inches at the receiver and tapers to 0.85 inch at the muzzle. the detachable magazine holds four .243 Win. cartridges. SinkMy Lyman Digital Bore Cam revealed ing the magazine release lever deeply extremely smooth lands and grooves. into the bottom of the stock reduces MODEL 783 VARMINT The bore is button-rifled, and its twist the odds of it being bumped in the rate is 1:9.125 inches. field. The rifle is also offered chamRemington Arms MANUFACTURER remington.com Most Shooting Times readers are bered for .223 Remington, .22-250, TYPE Bolt-action repeater probably familiar with the Model 6.5 Creedmoor, and .308 Winchester.

CALIBER .243 Winchester 783, but for those who are not, I will My test rifle weighed 9 pounds, 9.3 MAGAZINE CAPACITY 4 rounds touch on its major design features. In ounces. Utilizing the factory-installed BARREL 26 in. addition to reducing production cost, Picatinny rail to attach an old faithOVERALL LENGTH 45.75 in. a barrel retention nut much like the ful Bushnell Elite 4200 6-24X scope WEIGHT, EMPTY 9.6 lbs. one introduced by Savage on the Model increased heft to just over 11 pounds.

STOCK Brown laminate 340 rifle back in 1947 is a more preThe wide, flat-bottom fore-end of the LENGTH OF PULL 13.38 in. cise way of adjusting headspace during brown laminate stock is nicely shaped Matte blued barreled barrel installation at the factory than for shooting over a sandbag, but since FINISH receiver; high-gloss stock the old trial-and-error hand method. many of the rifles I have used to drop None; Picatinny rail Breaking at just under 4 pounds on varmints through the decades have SIGHTS installed the test rifle, the Crossfire trigger is a worn a Harris folding bipod, I used TRIGGER 3.9-lb. pull (as tested) slightly modified version of the Proone of them when punching five-shot SAFETY Two position Fire trigger of the Marlin X7 rifle. It’s groups in paper targets from a conMSRP $625 a bit heavier than I prefer on a varmint crete bench. A bunny ear sandbag MARCH 2020 • SHOOTING TIMES

43

TOO GOOD TO FAIL supported the toe of the stock. The stock has three attachment posts, two for quick-detach sling swivels and a third for the attachment of a bipod. The rifle was noticeably more accurate with the Harris Type S bipod attached to the rear post on its fore-end rather than the one in front of it. While the SuperCell recoil pad is not actually needed on a 11-pound rifle in .243 Win., it ranks among the best available.

The .243 Winchester Returning to the .243 Win. cartridge, the fairly recent introduction of extremely light bullets, such as the Nosler 55-grain Ballistic Tip and Hornady 58-grain V-Max, has made the .243 Win. and other cartridges of its caliber more suitable for varmint shooting than ever before. When seated one caliber deep

The magazine is plenty long for seating bullets to overall cartridge lengths longer than the SAAMI maximum, and that allows chasing the rifling to compensate for chamber throat erosion.

REMINGTON MODEL 783 VARMINT ACCURACY & VELOCITY POWDER (TYPE) (GRS.)

BULLET

CASE

PRIMER

COL (IN.)

JUMP (IN.)

VEL. (FPS)

E.S. (FPS)

100-YD. ACC. (IN.)

.243 Winchester, 26-in. Barrel Nosler 55-gr. Ballistic Tip

Varget

45.0

Rem.

Fed. GM210M

2.604

0.065

3902

31

0.79

Hornady 58-gr. V-Max

VV N550

44.3

Rem.

Fed. GM210M

2.616

0.060

3887

28

0.71

Sierra 60-gr. HP

VV N140

43.0

Rem.

Fed. GM210M

2.605

0.050

3719

22

0.84

Reloder 15

41.5

Rem.

Fed. GM210M

2.579

0.035

3605

49

0.72

H414

46.0

Rem.

Fed. GM210M

2.716

0.010

3633

25

0.58

Superformance

49.0

Rem.

Fed. GM210M

2.642

0.015

3606

32

1.05

Reloder 17

44.0

Rem.

Fed. GM210M

2.728

0.005

3514

28

0.51

Barnes 85-gr. XBT

IMR 4451

43.8

Rem.

Fed. GM210M

2.647

0.035

3331

26

0.63

Barnes 87-gr. VLD Hunting

IMR 4831

43.5

Rem.

Fed. GM210M

2.670

0.020

3310

38

0.70

Lapua 90-gr. Naturalis

VV N550

42.0

Rem.

Fed. GM210M

2.620

0.040

3216

29

0.88

Lapua 90-gr. Scenar

VV N160

43.5

Rem.

Fed. GM210M

2.728

0.005

3187

19

0.49

Swift 90-gr. Scirocco II

H4831SC

48.0

Rem.

Fed. GM210M

2.711

0.025

3325

34

1.18

Nosler 95-gr. Partition

IMR 4451

41.8

Rem.

Fed. GM210M

2.643

0.020

3184

42

1.34

Speer 100-gr. Spitzer BT

Reloder 22

45.3

Rem.

Fed. GM210M

2.628

0.030

3302

38

1.45

Hornady 103-gr. ELD-X

IMR 7977

47.0

Rem.

Fed. GM210M

2.749

0.025

3034

30

----*

Nosler 105-gr. Custom Competition

Magnum

48.0

Rem.

Fed. GM210M

2.741

0.015

3049

47

----*

Berger 115-gr. VLD Hunting

Retumbo

46.3

Rem.

Fed. GM210M

2.814

0.020

2822

26

----*

Hornady 65-gr. V-Max Nosler 70-gr. Ballistic Tip Sierra 75-gr. HP Berger 80-gr. FB Varmint

Nosler Varmageddon 55-gr. FBHP

Factory Load

2.540

----

3836

40

0.81

Federal 70-gr. Ballistic Tip

Factory Load

2.580

----

3528

22

0.70

Remington Premier 75-gr. AccuTip

Factory Load

2.550

----

3332

45

0.72

Barnes VOR-TX 80-gr. TTSX BT

Factory Load

2.610

----

3426

33

1.35

HSM Lead Free 85-gr. TSX

Factory Load

2.620

----

3410

37

1.44

Swift High Grade 90-gr. Scirocco II

Factory Load

2.645

----

3136

28

1.12

Black Hills Gold 95-gr. SST

Factory Load

2.625

----

3042

34

0.68

Remington 100-gr. PSP C-L

Factory Load

2.635

----

2983

47

1.20

*Bullet too long to be stabilized by 1:9.125 rifling twist.

NOTES: Accuracy is the average of three, five-shot groups fired from a benchrest. Velocity is the average of five rounds measured 12 feet from the gun’s muzzle. All powder charges should be reduced by 5.0 grains for starting loads.

All load data should be used with caution. Always start with reduced loads first and make sure they are safe in each of your guns before proceeding to the high test loads listed. Since Shooting Times has no control over your choice of components, guns, or actual loadings, neither Shooting Times nor the various firearms and components manufacturers assume any responsibility for the use of this data.

44

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

For 25 years, Kahr Firearms has produced the iconic K9 ® , the compact 9mm pistol that started the revolution of single-stack 9mm handguns to follow. The K9 remains unrivaled as the pinnacle of precision engineered, all steel, single-stacked, 9mm, compact auto-loaders. Many others have imitated the design and concept, but none have matched the K9’s reputation for quality, reliability, and accuracy.

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The barrel and trigger are brightly polished. The finish is highly durable Sniper Grey Cerakote ® . Hogue ® aluminum grips are custom engraved with aggressive stippling and the new Kahr logo. TruGlo ® tritium sights add a functional touch, angled to allow one-handed slide retraction. Each pistol ships in a plastic case, with three magazines, and a matching custom 1791 leather holster.

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TOO GOOD TO FAIL in the neck of a case, they free-travel a bit prior to engaging the rifling, but they can still be accurate enough to hit small targets at great distances. According to Nosler, the ballistic coefficient of the 0.243-inch 55-grain Ballistic Tip is the same as for the 0.224inch 60-grain Ballistic Tip, so it does a good job of bucking wind and retaining velocity. It also shoots a bit flatter than ballistics charts indicate. When exiting the muzzle at 3,900 fps and zeroed 2 inches high at 100 yards, the Ballistic Tip strikes 2.5 inches above point of aim at 200 yards, dead-on at 300 yards, and about 7 inches low at 400 yards.

During its 63 years of existence, the .243 Win. has been quite successful at keeping its competition at bay. As good as it was, the .244 Remington introduced during the same year was never a threat to the .243’s supremacy among hunters, and eventually changing the name to 6mm Remington did little to help its cause. The .243 WSSM and the .240 Weatherby Magnum have never been close. Some believe the 6mm Creedmoor will eventually put the old cartridge out to pasture, and while that might be true among competitive shooters, I doubt if it will

The .243 Winchester (left) and .244 Remington were both introduced in 1955. Whereas the .243 went on to great success among hunters and varmint shooters, the .244 lagged far behind in popularity even after its name was changed to 6mm Remington in 1963.

ever catch up with the .243 Win. in the hunting fields. Too many of the thousands of rifles in .243 built through the decades are still in use for that to happen.

How do the two cartridges compare?

Taking a look at gross case capacities first, I filled .243 Win. and 6mm Creedmoor cases from Hornady with water and came up with 55.7 grains for the former and 52.6 grains for the latter. All things, including barrel length and chamber pressure to which the two are loaded, being equal, the .243 can be faster, but everything is not equal. SAAMI maximum chamber pressure is a bit higher for the Creedmoor, and there is also the matter of useable net capacities of the two cases in factory rifles. Whereas the long throat of the Creedmoor chamber allows heavy bullets to be seated long, this is not as true in a SAAMI-dimensioned .243 Win. chamber While developing the .308 Win. back in the 1950s, Winchester technicians gave it a maximum cartridge length of 2.810 inches. But when necking down the .308 case for 0.243-inch bullets, they shortened overall length to 2.710 inches. That was done in order to achieve acceptable accuracy with short, varmint-weight bullets, but when longer deer bullets were seated to that length, they displaced powder capacity and combustion area by extending deeply into the case. Factoryloaded .243 ammo is kept within the established maximum overall length, and the same holds true for those who develop load data for various reloading manuals. But since the longer chamber throat and magazine lengths of some rifles will accept longer cartridge lengths, handloaders have never been restricted by the SAAMI maximum length. That allows the use of heavier powder charges, but keep in mind that shooters who exceed pressure-tested maximum charge weights published by various reliable sources are on their own.

The interior magazine length of many rifles is plenty roomy for seating bullets longer. With a length of 2.870 inches, the magazine of the Remington Model 783 will handle cartridge lengths of 2.850 inches. Even so, a SAAMIdimensioned .243 Win. chamber throat won’t With the Hornady 103-grain ELD-X seated in the 6mm Creedmoor (left) and the .243 Winchester (right) to an overall cartridge length of 2.820 inches for short-action rifles, net water always allow bullets to be seated that long. capacity of the .243 is close to 3 grains greater. When both cartridges are loaded to the Those who wish to load the heavier bullets farsame chamber pressure and fired in barrels of the same length, the .243 will be a bit faster. ther out of the powder cavity have the option 46

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

of lengthening chamber throat with a reamer from Pacific Tool & Die. Another benefit to the long magazine of the Model 783 is it allows chasing the rifling for best accuracy as the chamber throat erodes from many firings.

Chamber throat and magazine lengths in .243 rifles do vary, and some can be long enough to seat bullets far beyond the SAAMI maximum. The magazine of one of my target rifles measures 3.125 inches, and its chamber throat exceeds the SAAMI maximum. With the extremely long Hornady 103-grain ELD-X seated to an overall length of 2.824 inches in the .243 case, the bullet free-travels 0.020 inch prior to engaging the rifling in that rifle. When the .243 Win. is loaded to maximum but safe chamber pressures with bullets weighing 100 to 115 grains, that rifle consistently exceeds 6mm Creedmoor maximum velocity by 100 fps and more.

I have taken a lot of game with the .243 Win. through the years, and though I have no field experience with the 6mm Creedmoor, it is logical that it will perform about the same on deer-size game simply because there is not a lot of difference in maximum velocities possible with the two cartridges. Some say chamber throat erosion is slower with the Creedmoor due to its sharper 35-degree shoulder angle. Assuming this is true, it matters to target shooters, but few hunters will shoot a rifle in .243 enough to wear out its barrel during a lifetime of bagging

deer and other game. In the .243’s favor, the ammunition can be found easily in gunshops across the United States as well as other countries. (I have seen .243 ammo left behind by hunters in hunting camps around the world.)

Most factory barrels in .243 Win. have a rifling twist rate of 1:10 inches, and that’s too slow for completely stabilizing today’s extremely long bullets. Nosler recommends 1:8 or quicker for its 105-grain Custom Competition bullet, Hornady says the same for its 103-grain ELD-X and 108-grain ELD Match bullets. Berger recommends 1:7 or quicker for the 115-grain VLD Hunting. Respective lengths of those bullets are 1.230, 1.261, 1.275, and 1.345 inches. While they all are too long to be stabilized by the 1:9.125 twist of the Model 783 Varmint, I was impressed by how fast they could be driven from a 26-inch barrel with a SAAMI-length chamber throat.

Based on the sales of ammo and reloading dies, the .243 Win. has long ranked in the top five most-popular big-game cartridges, and I don’t see it slowing down anytime soon. Even so, I believe the time has come for a quick-twist option in standard-production factory rifles chambered for the cartridge.

While the latest heavyweights won’t kill deer any deader than good bullets weighing less, having the option of shooting them is all it would take to bring a grand old 1950’s cartridge up to date. The .243 Win. is just too darned good to ever die.

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50

SHOOTING TIMES â&#x20AC;¢ MARCH 2020

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL ANSCHUETZ

REVOLVERS WE LIKE THE NAME OF TAURUS’S NEW HANDGUN-HUNTING REVOLVER. IT’S CALLED THE RAGING HUNTER. WE LIKE THE WAY THE REVOLVER HANDLES AND SHOOTS, TOO.

T

AURUS HAS PRODUCED

BY JOEL J. HUTCHCROFT

Specifications

its line of “Raging” revolvers The Raging Hunter I’ve been shooting is since 1999. Over the years, 12.25 inches long, 6.5 inches high, and 1.8 we’ve seen the Raging Bee, inches wide. It weighs 53 ounces unloaded. the Raging Bull, the Raging It’s a big handgun and weighs enough to make Hornet, the Raging Judge, shooting it very comfortable. The weight helps the Raging Judge Magnum, mitigate the felt recoil and muzzle jump of the and the Raging Thirty .357 Mag. ammunition.

Hunter. All have been well received by handgunners.

The company’s newest addition is the Raging Hunter, and it has several fine features. These new models are offered with various barrel lengths and finishes (more about that later), and they are chambered for .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, and .454 Casull. I chose the .357 Mag. Raging Hunter with a matte black finish and a 6.75Taurus’s signature grip insert cushions the felt recoil of powerful handinch barrel to highlight in gun cartridges like the .454 Casull, .44 Magnum, and .357 Magnum. this report.

MARCH 2020 • SHOOTING TIMES

51

RAGING REVOLVERS

The two-piece barrel tube/barrel shroud setup has proven to enhance a revolver’s accuracy. The barrel porting helps reduce muzzle jump.

The rubber grips, which are attached to the grip frame by a screw that goes up through the bottom, feature Taurus’s signature recoilabsorbing grip insert, which also helps to cushion felt recoil. And the barrel ports up front at the muzzle help to control muzzle jump. My revolver has four ports on each side.

The barrel is a two-piece affair, in that there is an internal stainless-steel barrel tube and an outer aluminum barrel shroud. The inner barrel tube attaches to the frame at the rear, and the barrel shroud is held in place by a washer and a threaded nut at the front. This type of setup has proven to enhance a revolver’s accuracy. I don’t know for sure if Dan Wesson was the first to use this type of barrel attachment, but it began doing so in the 1970s. More recently, Smith & Wesson began using this type of setup on some of its revolvers, too.

Clearly, it’s a design that works well.

The Raging Hunter’s barrel shroud has an integral Picatinny rail on top, and it makes mounting an optic really easy. The rail on my 6.75-inch-barreled Raging Hunter has nine cross-slots. The gun’s serial number is etched into the bottom of the barrel shroud; it’s also stamped into the frame on the right-hand side.

The gun comes with a fully adjustable rear sight and a Patridge-type front sight post. Both sights are all black, and the rear sight’s face is as smooth as a baby’s bottom. The square

RAGING HUNTER All Raging Hunter revolvers feature integral Picatinny top rails for easy installation of an optic. The rail on the 6.75-inch-barreled revolver has nine cross-slots.

MANUFACTURER TYPE CALIBER CYLINDER CAPACITY BARREL OVERALL LENGTH

7 rounds 6.75 in.

12.25 in.

HEIGHT

6.50 in.

53 oz.

Synthetic with recoilabsorbing insert

FINISH

Matte black oxide

SIGHTS

Adjustable rear; Patridge front

TRIGGER SAFETY

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

.357 Magnum

1.80 in.

GRIPS

52

Double-action/singleaction revolver

WIDTH WEIGHT, EMPTY

The .357 Mag. Raging Hunter has a cylinder capacity of seven rounds. Joel says that’s a bonus.

Taurus taurususa.com

MSRP

16.5-lb. DA pull; 8.0-lb.

SA pull; as tested Transfer-bar firing mechanism $910.27

notch in the rear sight measures 0.126 inch wide. The front sight blade is 0.118 inch thick and 0.15 inch tall.

The cylinder’s capacity is seven rounds, and it rotates counterclockwise. The cylinder has a double lockup, with latches at the rear and at the front. Opening the cylinder requires the thumbpiece at the rear to be pushed to the left with the thumb of one hand while the latch at the front of the cylinder is pulled down with the thumb of the other hand. The cylinder swings out to the left.

The hammerspur is 0.43 inch wide, and it’s checkered. The trigger is smooth and measures 0.43 inch wide. The revolver employs a transfer-bar firing mechanism.

The Raging Hunter’s cylinder locks up at the front and at the rear. Both latches need to be activated in order to swing out the cylinder.

9000SC

MARCH 2020 • SHOOTING TIMES

53

RAGING REVOLVERS

The rear sight is fully adjustable, and the face of the smooth blade is all black. The notch is 0.126 inch wide.

The Raging Hunter features a black 0.118-inch-thick Patridge-type front post that pairs well with the square notch in the rear sight.

As I mentioned earlier, my gun is matte black, but Taurus also offers it with a natural stainless finish on the frame and matte black on the barrel shroud for a two-tone effect. Other barrel lengths offered are 5.13 inches and 8.38 inches.

pull scale. The single-action pull averaged exactly 8 pounds.

Again, that was for seven measurements with the scale. As is my usual routine, I did the shooting for accuracy in single-action mode, and the trigger broke crisply every time, so I don’t believe the heavy pull affected my accuracy results. I like this gun a lot, and if I were going to keep it, I believe I would find a way to have the pull lightened.

Something else I’d like is for Taurus to provide a sling attachment point to the bottom of the grip frame so a single-point sling could be used. I find such a sling to be very useful when hunting with a heavy handgun.

The Raging Hunter, with its 6.75-inch barrel, is well balanced. The recoil-absorbing grips really work and help lessen the felt recoil of heavy .357 Mag. loads, and the barrel ports undoubtedly make controlling muzzle jump easier. The seven-round cylinder capacity is a bonus, as is the integral top rail that makes mounting an optic very easy.

All in all, the Raging Hunter is a great handgun for hunters.

If you are a little shy about hunting deer with the .357 Mag., don’t let that stop you because as I said earlier, Taurus also offers the Raging Hunter in .44 Mag. and .454 Casull.

Accuracy

I was excited to shoot the Raging Hunter because the tightest single five-shot group at 25 yards with a handgun I have ever fired was with a tuned .44 Mag. Taurus Raging Bull revolver.

That group measured 0.72 inch, and incredibly, I didn’t even use a scope; I used the factory iron sights! I didn’t expect the Raging Hunter to be that accurate, but it sure didn’t disappoint in terms of accuracy.

The details of my shooting are shown in the accompanying chart, but briefly, the revolver averaged 2.75 inches at 25 yards with six different .357 Mag. factory loads loaded with heavy-for-caliber bullets. The loads included Barnes’s VOR-TX 140-grain XPB, Federal’s Power-Shok 180-grain JHP, and HSM’s Bear Load 180-grain HLFPGC (Hard Lead Flat Point Gas Check), which are designed for hunting deersize game. The two Winchester 158-grain loads as well as the Hornady 158-grain XTP are also well-suited to hunting. As you can see, with a figure of TAURUS RAGING HUNTER ACCURACY & VELOCITY 2.61 inches, the best averaging load was the Power-Shok. However, all six loads were VEL. E.S. S.D. under 3.00 inches.

AMMUNITION (FPS) (FPS) (FPS) I was a bit disappointed with the revolver’s .357 Magnum, 6.75-in. Barrel trigger pull. It was very heavy. The doubleBarnes VOR-TX 140-gr. XPB 1292 25 9 action pull averaged 16.5 pounds, according Hornady 158-gr. XTP 1224 41 14 to seven measurements with my RCBS trigger BUY IT NOW

Log on to GalleryofGuns.com, select this firearm, pay a deposit, and it will be at your local gun store in two days. When purchased from galleryofguns.com, Davidson’s guarantees to repair or replace this firearm for LIFE!

54

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

25-YD. ACC. (IN.)

2.52 2.73

Winchester 158-gr. JHP

1291

50

13

2.79

Winchester 158-gr. JSP

1288

56

20

2.83

Federal Power-Shok 180-gr. JHP

1148

44

17

2.61

HSM Bear Load 180-gr. HLFPGC

1195

32

12

2.99

NOTES: Accuracy is the average of five, five-shot groups fired from a sandbag benchrest. Velocity is the average of seven rounds measured 12 feet from the gun’s muzzle.

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SHOOT

HUNT

DEFEND

TRAIN

QUICKSHOT

Ruger American Ranch Rifle .350 Legend

BY LANE PEARCE SINCE THE RUGER AMERICAN CENTERFIRE RIFLE DEBUTED EIGHT YEARS

ago, the line has expanded to include 17 different chamberings in six configurations (Standard, Hunter, Predator, Compact, Magnum, and Ranch).

They’ve proven to be modestly priced rifles that typically perform better than many more expensive ones. The one I’m reviewing here is the Ranch model chambered for the newly introduced .350 Legend straight-wall cartridge.

The Ruger American rifle has an injection-molded synthetic stock with V-shaped, integral bedding blocks and sling-swivel studs. It also has a soft rubber buttpad to help reduce recoil, but the .350 Legend recoils so little (recoil ranges from about 9 ft-lbs to 13 ft-lbs) that the pad is really not needed.

The rifle features a full-diameter bolt body with three locking lugs. Bolt throw is 70 degrees. The Marksman trigger is adjustable for pull weight from 3.0 to 5.0 pounds (my rifle consistently measured 3.75 pounds), and the trigger has a safety blade. The rifle also has a two-position tang safety.

The Ranch version of the rifle does not have AMERICAN RANCH COMPACT iron sights, but the factory-installed Picatinny rail Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc. MANUFACTURER accommodates myriad redruger.com dot optics and traditional TYPE Bolt-action repeater riflescopes. (I used a new CALIBER .350 Legend Leupold VX-Freedom scope MAGAZINE CAPACITY 5 rounds specifically calibrated for BARREL 16.38 in. the .350 Legend’s ballistics, OVERALL LENGTH 34.75 in. and you can read my Quick WEIGHT, EMPTY 6.0 lbs.

Shot on it on page 59.)

STOCK Synthetic The rifle’s 16.38-inch, LENGTH OF PULL 12.5 in. cold-hammer-forged barrel Matte Black barreled FINISH receiver, Flat Dark Earth has a threaded muzzle so stock you can install a muzzle None; one-piece Picatinny brake or a suppressor. A SIGHTS rail installed thread protector is factoryTRIGGER 3.75-lb. pull (as tested) installed. The twist rate for SAFETY Two position the .350 Legend is one turn MSRP $549 in 16 inches.

Several states have revised their game regulations to allow deer hunting with straight-wall rifle cartridges (within specific caliber and case length restrictions) instead of shotgun only. Randy Brown, owner over 25.5 grains of of Randy’s Hunting Center in Bad Axe, Michigan, convinced Accurate 5744 powder Ruger to chamber the American rifle in .450 Bushmasaveraged 1.98 inches. It’s basiter. That move was so successful that when Winchester’s cally a 2-MOA rifle/cartridge combo. new .350 Legend was announced, he ordered 2,000 Ruger The .350 Legend is an excellent deer American Ranch rifles chambered for the new cartridge. I cartridge, given certain ballistic constraints. It’s received one of the first American rifles in .350 Legend from widely accepted that 1,000 ft-lbs of residual energy is Brown when it was announced at last year’s NRA Annual the minimum required to kill a deer with a well-placed Meetings and Exhibitions. He also sent along ammo samshot. Based on the terminal ballistics obtained from my ples from Winchester, Hornady, and Federal. shooting results, I’d say the .350 Legend’s maximum Most of the major ammunition companies offer at least effective range is approximately 175 yards. Sighted-in one .350 Legend load. But if you expected to see yet another 2.0 inches high at 100 yards, the Federal 180-grain JSP glowing review touting a new rifle/cartridge’s 1-MOA accuis dead-on at 150 yards. With that, I can just aim and racy, you’ll have to look elsewhere. The test rifle, fired with shoot any whitetail that comes within range. And to me, three factory loads and three handloads at a distance of 50 that’s still a lot better than shooting a “punkin’ ball” out yards, averaged 1.15 inches for two, five-shot groups with of a smoothbore shotgun. each load. I also fired two, five-shot strings with two loads at 100 yards. The Federal BUY IT NOW Log on to GalleryofGuns.com, select this firearm, pay a deposit, and it will be at your 180-grain JSP factory load averaged 2.06 local gun store in two days. When purchased from galleryofguns.com, Davidson’s guarinches, and the handload consisting of the antees to repair or replace this firearm for LIFE! Winchester 180-grain Power-Point bullet

RUGER AMERICAN RANCH COMPACT ACCURACY & VELOCITY BULLET

POWDER (TYPE) (GRS.)

CASE

PRIMER

VEL. (FPS)

E.S. (FPS)

S.D. (FPS)

M.E. (FT-LBS)

50-YD. ACC. (IN.)

100-YD. ACC. (IN.)

.350 Legend, 16.38-in. Barrel Barnes 140-gr. XPB Hornady 147-gr. XTP Winchester 180-gr. Power-Point

Lil’Gun

25.0

Starline

CCI #41

2474

181

55

1902

1.17

----

H110

27.6

Starline

CCI #41

2509

84

29

2054

0.88

----

Accurate 5744

25.5

Win.

CCI #41

2074

51

13

1719

0.96

1.98

Winchester Deer Season XP 150-gr. EXP

Factory Load

2230

39

13

1656

1.31

----

Hornady American Whitetail 170-gr. JSP

Factory Load

2185

62

19

1802

1.20

----

Federal Power-Shok 180-gr. JSP

Factory Load

2117

32

9

1791

0.89

2.06

NOTES: Accuracy is the average of two, five-shot groups fired from a sandbag benchrest. Velocity is the average of 10 rounds measured eight feet from the gun’s muzzle.

All load data should be used with caution. Always start with reduced loads first and make sure they are safe in each of your guns before proceeding to the high test loads listed. Since Shooting Times has no control over your choice of components, guns, or actual loadings, neither Shooting Times nor the various firearms and components manufacturers assume any responsibility for the use of this data.

MARCH 2020 • SHOOTING TIMES

57

SHOOT

HUNT

DEFEND

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QUICKSHOT

Peters Premier Blue .444 Marlin Ammunition

BY STEVE GASH MARLIN’S NEW MODEL 444 RIFLE, WHICH I REVIEWED ON PAGE 22 OF THIS

shot well in the new rifle, averaging 1.14 inches for three, five-shot groups at 100 yards. The average velocity for five rounds was 2,291 fps, measured 12 feet from the muzzle of the gun’s 22-inch barrel. That is 59 fps lower than the factory-rated velocity of 2,350 fps. At 154 fps, the extreme spread I obtained was uncharacteristically high. The standard deviation was 60 fps.

Muzzle energy, based on my measured velocity, was 2,798 ft-lbs.

MSRP: $48.53 per 20-round box remington.com

issue, coincides with the reintroduction of the Peters brand of ammunition.

Gershom M. Peters founded Peters Cartridge Co. in 1887 in Kings Mill, Ohio.

The company manufactured blackpowder as well as ammo and developed a reputation for high-performance rifle, pistol, and shotshell ammunition.

The distinctive blue boxes were a mainstay for shooters for decades.

Peters Cartridge Co. was purchased by Remington in 1934 and became known as Remington-Peters. Once considered a top choice for serious outdoorsmen, the original Peters Cartridge Co. went out of business 10 years after being acquired by Remington. Remington brought back the storied brand in 2019, and today, the brass cases of the new Peters rifle rounds, as well as many Remington loads, are head stamped “R-P.” The new ammo includes Peters Premier Blue 12-gauge Field & Target and High Velocity shotshells and High Velocity centerfire rifle cartridges in 10 chamberings, PETERS PREMIER BLUE .444 MARLIN ACCURACY & VELOCITY ranging from .243 Win. to .45-70. They come in retro-style packaging, but they feature 100-YD. modern components and manufacturing VEL. E.S. S.D. M.E. ACC. AMMUNITION (FPS) (FPS) (FPS) (FT-LBS) (IN.) processes.

Marlin Model 444, 22-in. Barrel As I wrote in my article on the Marlin Peters Premier Blue 240-gr. C-L SP 2291 154 60 2798 1.14 Model 444, the Peters Premier Blue .444 NOTES: Accuracy is the average of three, five-shot groups fired from a benchrest. Velocity is the Marlin ammunition is loaded with a 240average of five rounds measured 12 feet from the gun’s muzzle. grain Core-Lokt SP (C-L SP) bullet, and it 58

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

SHOOT

HUNT

DEFEND

TRAIN

QUICKSHOT

Leupold VX-Freedom .350 Legend 3-9X 40mm Riflescope

BY LANE PEARCE WHEN WINCHESTER RECENTLY ANNOUNCED THE STRAIGHT-

wall .350 Legend cartridge, Leupold already had a proven marketing plan for a new optic. Previously, the success of the .450 Bushmaster Ruger American bolt-action rifle had led to Leupold’s introduction of the first cartridge-dedicated VX-Freedom 3-9X 40mm riflescope.

LEUPOLD VX-FREEDOM 3-9X 40MM MAGNIFICATION

Leupold 3X to 9X

OBJECTIVE DIA.

1.83 in.

EYEPIECE DIA.

1.56 in.

MANUFACTURER

TUBE DIA. FIELD OF VIEW EYE RELIEF

1 in.

33.7 ft. (3X) to 13.6 ft. (9X) @ 100 yds.

3.7 in. (9X) to 4.2 in. (3X)

ELEVATION RANGE

60 MOA

WINDAGE RANGE

60 MOA

LENGTH

12.4 in.

WEIGHT

12.2 oz.

FINISH MSRP

Matte black $364.99

Leupold’s optics portfolio includes an extensive series of entry-level, VX-Freedom riflescopes for ARs, muzzleloaders, rimfire rifles, and centerfire rifles. Most feature 1-inch main tubes with MOA adjustments, but two models have 30mm tubes and FireDot illuminated reticles with MIL clicks.

All models are 3:1 zoom ratio with fast-focus eyepieces and scratch-resistant lenses. They feature Leupold’s Twilight light-management system, providing hunters with up to 30 minutes longer visibility at dawn and dusk.

They also are waterproof, fogproof, and subjected to the same recoil testing as the company’s military riflescopes.

The finger-click dial adjustments are consistent and repeatable. The power selector has easy-to-read markings.

The VX-Freedom .350 Legend model is a lightweight, compact scope with a Duplex reticle in the rear focal plane and 0.25-MOA finger-click custom dial adjustments. The CDS is pre-calibrated (100-yard zero) at the factory for a 150-grain bullet launched at 2,325 fps. It features Leupold’s signature “Gold Ring,” is made in the USA, and is covered by a lifetime warranty.

MSRP: $364.99 leupold.com MARCH 2020 • SHOOTING TIMES

59

SHOOTER’S SHOWCASE GUNSMOKE

HIPSHOTS

Big-Bore Madness

Most creators of über cartridges conjure them up in the comfort of their workshops, and their real goal is 15 minutes of fame as the originator of the “most powerful” cartridge.

BY TERRY WIELAND IN 1991 MICHAEL MCINTOSH DRAGGED ME OVER

The author firing a Holland & Holland 4-bore double rifle. The recoil was “huge” but tolerable.

60

to a booth at the Safari Club International convention to talk to a jewelry dealer who was letting on that he was going to top the recent .700 H&H (also known as the .700 Nitro Express) with—you guessed it—an .800 Nitro Express. Standing six-foot-six in his cowboy heels, and festooned with silver and turquoise, this gentleman expounded at length about the project.

Naturally, nothing ever came of it. Nor should it have. Alas, the same cannot be said of subsequent attempts by riflemakers, wildcatters, and assorted nutcases to create a cartridge more powerful than any that has gone before. Had they perused the literature, or had any real hunting experience, or had talked to someone who had, they would have realized that the practical limit of dangerous-game cartridges was

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

reached with the introduction in 1900 of the massive .600 Nitro Express—and even it was overkill.

Almost 20 years after my surreal experience with the turquoise-encrusted snake-oil salesman, I visited Holland & Holland and had an opportunity to shoot a new 4-bore double rifle under construction for an American client-collector who ordered it simply to have something different. It was different, all right. The 4-bore dates from the 1800s, and the guns were abandoned for a reason. At 24 pounds, it was all you could do to hold one to your shoulder. The recoil was huge but tolerable, and the target looked like a sparrow had flown through it.

Undoubtedly, it would have decked a mastodon. But as a practical hunting rifle? Absolutely not.

John “Pondoro” Taylor believed the .600 NE, which usually weighs 16 pounds, was too heavy for

an everyday rifle and should be carried by a gunbearer, reserved for the direst of emergencies. In the opinion of Tony Henley, a long-time PH who had used almost everything, the largest practical hunting rifle cartridge—and probably the best one ever created for elephants—was the .577 Nitro Express.

It combined maximum power with a rifle weight of 14 pounds that made the recoil tolerable.

In the days of blackpowder and muzzleloaders, there was some excuse for ultra-huge bores, but even some of those went overboard. Sir Samuel Baker had a 2-bore single-barrel made by George Gibbs that fired a ball weighing eight ounces. The recoil was unbelievable. In one account, Baker described firing it at an elephant, being spun around, and falling to the ground with a nosebleed. The elephant also fell, and the question was which would get to his feet first to finish off the other. Baker did, with a 10-bore double rifle.

With more actual hunting experience than any hundred serious hunters of today put together, Sir Samuel later conceived the .577 and regarded it the

practical limit. Personally, I’ll have to take his word for it.

Various people have tried to come up with comparably devastating rounds for bolt actions, and I have fired a few. One, the .585 GMA Express, was created by Granite Mountain. It was so big that it was plagued by ignition problems even using the oversize Federal 217 primer, and the rifle itself was heavy and cumbersome. With a charging Cape buffalo, you don’t want cumbersome, and you certainly don’t want hang-fires.

The question I always had was why bother? If you can’t drop something with a .505 Gibbs, I doubt you’ll do any better with a .585 GMA, and the Gibbs at least is chambered in a comfortable, usable rifle.

Holland & Holland only created the .700 in the 1980s at the behest of Bill Feldstein, an American collector who could not get a .600 because H&H had made its last one—and sold it for a fabulous sum on that basis—in the 1970s. The .700 H&H (its proper name) was a stunt and nothing more. As a practical hunting rifle, however, forget it.

MARCH 2020 • SHOOTING TIMES

61

The Reprobate Royal // Continued From Page 64

hunter and game farm manager (1922–1938). He was quite successful at these endeavors, counting many well-known persons among his clients, including the Prince of Wales, Ernst Udet, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Jr., George Washington Vanderbilt III, Ernest Hemingway, Freddie Guest, Winston Frederick Churchill Guest, and Lord Marmaduke Furness.

Blix was quite good as a professional hunter and earned a reputation of being “a meticulous organizer.”

He left nothing to chance, and his safaris often lasted from one month to three months. He took the time to reconnoiter an area thoroughly before beginning a safari, and he greatly respected the game that he hunted.

One client wrote in her memoirs that Blix was “…six feet of amiable Swede and the toughest, most durable white hunter ever to snicker at the fanfare of safari or to shoot a charging buffalo between the eyes while debating whether his sundown drink would be gin or whiskey.”

Speaking of Cape buffalo, according to Fadala, “once he [Blix] and his trusted gunbearer were charged by an entire herd of the deadly bovines. The two men

62

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

made a run for it. But you don’t outrun buffalo. So Bror stopped and shot the lead animal. The animal tottered and fell…. A gap was formed in the assault column, and next second, the avalanche of buffaloes rushed past, the thunder rolled on, and the cloud of dust wafted slowly away on the wind.”

Other clients said hunting with Blix was a “magnificent experience.” He was an excellent shot, had great stamina, and was a very good teacher. One went so far as to write, “With his quiet, almost lyrical narrative of what happened around us, he got nature to live like I have never experienced since.”

Blix was also an excellent writer. His best-known work was his autobiography titled, African Hunter.

Blix left Africa for good in 1938 and eventually returned to his native Sweden. He died on March 4, 1946, after sustaining terminal injuries in a car accident. During his lifetime, Baron Bror Fredrik von Blixen-Finecke married three times and divorced twice, presumably because of his legendary “indiscipline” with money and women. Even so, all of his wives went on the record to say he was the love of their lives.

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Limit 1 coupon per customer per day. Save 20% on any 1 item purchased. *Cannot be used with other discount, coupon or any of the following items or brands: Inside Track Club membership, Extended Service Plan, gift card, open box item, 3 day Parking Lot Sale item, compressors, floor jacks, safes, storage cabinets, chests or carts, trailers, welders, Admiral, Ames, Atlas, Bauer, Central Machinery, Cobra, CoverPro, Daytona, Diamondback, Earthquake, Fischer, Hercules, Icon, Jupiter, Lynxx, Poulan, Predator, Tailgator, Viking, Vulcan, Zurich. Not valid on prior purchases. Non transferable. Original coupon must be presented. Valid through 3/7/20.

• CA DOJ compliant

SAVE 20%

COMPARE TO

*39379276 * 39379276

.50 CAL METAL AMMO CAN

10 GUN ELECTRONIC SECURITY SAFE

Customer Rating

ANY SINGLE ITEM*

ITEM 63878/63991 PERFORMANCE $ 52 64005/69567/60566 MODEL: W2364 TOOL 63601/67227shown

HONDA EU2000i

*39381591 * 39381591

ITEM 62523

WITH ANY PURCHASE

SUPER BRIGHT LED /SMD WORK LIGHT/FLASHLIGHT

Customer Rating

20% O

FREE

OVER 5,000 5 STAR REVIEWS

+

SUPER COUPON

NOW

39999

ITEM 64045/64046/63770 shown

*39422219 * 39422219 LIMIT 1 - Coupon valid through 3/7/20*

*Original coupon only. No use on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase or without original receipt. Valid through 3/7/20.

6" DIA x 31" L

• 400 lb. working load

21499 SAVE $ 259

NOW

439

COMPARE TO $ 98 EARTHQUAKE MODEL: E43 AND EA6F

ITEM 56257/63022 shown

*39424298 * 39424298 LIMIT 1 - Coupon valid through 3/7/20*

$

SAVE 69%

1239

COMPARE TO

KEEPER $ 80

22

MODEL: 5505

ITEM 60405/63056/63057/63150/56668/63094 shown

*39424326 * 39424326 LIMIT 4 - Coupon valid through 3/7/20*

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SHOOTER’S SHOWCASE GUNSMOKE

HIPSHOTS

The Reprobate Royal

Baron Bror Fredrik von Blixen-Finecke (1886–1946) was a Swedish nobleman, professional hunter, and writer.

BY JOEL J. HUTCHCROFT CALLED THE “ROGUE HUNTER OF AFRICA” BY

He may have been a rogue, but Bror Fredrik von BlixenFinecke was a skilled professional hunter and wasn’t afraid to stand his ground against a herd of charging Cape buffalo.

64

author Sam Fadala, Baron Bror Fredrik von BlixenFinecke (a.k.a. “Blix”) was born on July 25, 1886, to Baron Fredrik von Blixen-Finecke (1847–1919) and Countess Clara Krag-Juel-Vind-Frijs (1855–1925).

His paternal grandfather had served as Denmark’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, and his paternal grandmother was a descendant of John III, King of Sweden.

His maternal grandfather had been Denmark’s Prime Minister and was a descendant of Frederick III, King of Denmark and Norway.

Blix grew up hunting and shooting. He attended agricultural college and then managed a farm on the family’s Nasbyholm estate in southern Sweden. But his interests were always in hunting, and an uncle’s tales

SHOOTING TIMES • MARCH 2020

of life in Africa inspired Blix to seek adventure on the Dark Continent. At the age of 27, he headed to Africa, where he planned to manage a farm. Before leaving, he was engaged to marry Karen “Tanne” Dinesen, who later followed him to Kenya in 1913 and went on to write her memoirs in the well-known tome Out of Africa. Blix was one of the main characters in that book.

In Africa, Blix and Tanne tried managing a 4,500acre coffee plantation. The venture failed miserably, and Blix wound up with nothing but the clothes on his back and a sporting rifle. He and Tanne separated and eventually divorced (he had earned a reputation as a philanderer, gambler, and bounder, but he didn’t seem to mind). He forged a new career as a professional CONTINUED ON PAGE 62