Rifles

This was an attractive $685 rifle, with a blonde-colored laminated stock sporting an extremely nice and well-done matte finish. After our initial negative experiences with the electronic Remington, the entirely conventional Ruger, with no gizz-whizzes or batteries or insulators needed to make it go bang, was most welcome. Besides .243, the same rifle is available in .223, .22-250, .220 Swift, 25-06 and .308.All the metalwork except the sling swivel studs was finished in a semi-matte light color that Ruger calls Target Gray, which we found very attractive in contrast with the light-colored stock. The studs were blued. The 26-inch-long stainless-steel barrel was free-floated evenly all the way back to the action.

Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation announced that James Debney has been named as president of S&W’s Firearms Business unit, reporting to Michael Golden, president and CEO of Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. has been presented with the Firearms Manufacturer of the Year award by the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers for the third consecutive year.

The Grade II is one of five BL-22s offered by Browning for 2008. The Grade II is scroll engraved on the receiver and has a gold-colored trigger. The Grade I tested in December 2006 lacks the II's scroll engraving and checkering on the walnut, but the Grade I MSRPs for a lot less, $494. Browning's most expensive lever rimfire is the BL-22 FLD Grade II Octagon, $786, which a silver-nitride finish, octagonal barrel, and a front gold bead. Because the Grade II comes at a $150-ish premium to the Marlin and Henry, we wondered if those extra dollars would turn into enthusiasm in our evaluation.

In support of the fight against breast cancer, GunBroker.com is hosting a charity auction of an unusual pink rifle. The auction ends October 25.

One of the biggest problems facing gun owners today is lack of available ammunition. Recently, a member of our staff was shopping the hunting department of a big-box store and overheard a customer say he was going to buy a gun based on whatever ammunition was still on the shelf. Always pragmatic, our interest in one such round, 7mm Remington Magnum, actually began last March. This was when a SWAT recruit for a major metropolitan police force sought training for USPSA 3-Gun competition from a member of our staff. The officer mentioned that his family has been hunting with bolt-action rifles chambered for 7mm Remington Magnum since the cartridge was introduced in 1962. Often described as being housed in a 338 Winchester case necked down to 7mm, characteristics such as an abundance of power and a flat trajectory were at the center of the family's appreciation for the round.

But we learned of another application that really piqued our interest. According to acclaimed law-enforcement trainer Brian Hoffner (hoffners.com), we learned that the 7mm Remington Magnum bolt-action rifle was also a key weapon in tandem with dart gun and shotgun for ZDART, acronym for Zoological Dangerous Animal Response Teams. This means providing lethal force in an emergency to stop "medium"-size animals such as lions, tigers, and bears in an urban setting.

Enthusiasm for the test prompted our roster of bolt-action rifles chambered for 7mm Remington Magnum to include no fewer than four rifles. They were the $862 Ruger Hawkeye Sporter No. HKM77RBZ, the $1127 Remington 700 CDL SF No. 84016, the $1150 Steyr Mannlicher Pro Hunter No. 26.753.3G, and Browning's $1019 X-Bolt Medallion No. 035200227.None of our rifles arrived with sights, but all four receivers were drilled and tapped for scope mounts. The Browning and Ruger rifles arrived with proprietary mounts and rings. The Steyr rifle was constructed with a synthetic stock. The Ruger rifle was stocked with laminate wood, and both the Remington and Browning rifles were built with stained walnut. The Remington and Ruger rifles utilized an internal magazine with hinged floorplate. Our other rifles featured removable box magazines. Barrels lengths and barrel profiles were comparable, but the execution of the triggers and the bolts represented different ways to get the job done.

Our test ammunitions were Winchester's 150-grain Super X Power Point and two rounds from Federal. They were Federal Premium Vital Shoks featuring Nosler's 160-grain Accubond bullet, and Federal Classic ammunition topped with Sierra's 160-grain Pro Hunter soft point.

Our test procedure called for five-shot groups fired from a distance of 100 yards with the rifles supported upon a bench rest. We consider this plan to be standard procedure. But in speaking with even the most avid hunters, they expressed that firing more than two consecutive shots at prey was unlikely. One extra shot at an elk scurrying away may even prove to be the full extent of the day's shooting. But we weren't about to report on two-shot groups. Another comment we heard was that considering the recoil of magnum ammunition and the expense (about $1.75 to $2.50 per round on average), the average hunter wouldn't be spending a lot of time on the practice range, either.

Each rifle was treated to a brief but careful break-in regimen. Dedicating 20 rounds of ammunition for each rifle, we cleaned and lubricated the barrels after the second, fifth, ninth, fourteenth and twentieth round. We then proceeded with our shooting of groups, cleaning the barrel after every two groups. However, we were forced to work under extreme conditions. Houston, Texas was in the middle of a drought with record temperatures that simply would not go away. Using a Kestral 4000 weather station from Sinclair International (sinclairintl.com), we measured temperatures at our shaded bench that ranged from 90 degrees to in excess of 102 degrees. Occasional winds gusting to about 8 mph were easy to wait out. All four guns were shot in the same weather, during the same time of day, at the same shooting range and by the same shooter from the same shooting bench. The fact that conditions were harsh is what prolonged our tests for no less than eight days. First shots each day at American Shooting Centers (amshootcenters.com), began at approximately 9:30 a.m. Each firing session lasted 20 minutes. Working under these constraints we fired a shot about every 3 minutes. Overpowered by the heat, we ended each day's session by about 1:30 p.m. We used Caldwell's Tip Top Targets for their ability to cut a sharply defined bullet hole and fit neatly into a ring binder for later reference. Here is what we learned.

Many shooters want a lightweight, handy 223 carbine for self-defense—and that means reasonable accuracy, a good trigger, shooter friendliness, and ease of handling. In self-defense use, reliability is paramount, but the gun has to have enough accuracy to hit what it’s aimed at.There are several potential solutions to this firearms problem, one of which is the AK-based Arsenal SLR 106FR, $925. Mikhail T. Kalashnikov’s famous assault rifle is the basis for the Arsenal gun. Likely more than 75 million AKs have been produced by more than a dozen countries, including Albania, Bulgaria, China, East Germany, Egypt, Finland, Hungary, Iraq, Israel, North Korea, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Africa, and the former Yugoslavia.

The domestic rifle market is well populated with brands that consumers know well and trust, and as a result, they buy a lot of Weatherbys, Remingtons, Winchesters, Savages, Marlins, and Rugers. These companies make a number of grades of bolt-action guns, ranging from $300 to $350 entry-level guns to much more expensive custom-shop products, and everything in between.But across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, there are few pretty talented production gun makers whose products find favor overseas—and to a lesser extent on these shores—and we wondered how such bolt actions would rank when pitted against more familiar marques.

Lynch Hummer, a $7.5 million Hummer facility in an upscale St. Louis suburb, has announced the opening of the world's first combined Hummer and firearms dealership.

Every summer at Camp Perry, Ohio, prior to the National Rifle and Pistol Trophy Matches, soldiers from the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit pass their shooting knowledge on to the next generation of American shooters at the Small Arms Firing School.

The school was instituted in 1918 by the Department of Defense and is conducted by the USAMU, along with assistance by members of the Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Army Reserve and National Guard.

NC Federal Grand Jury Indicts 9 in Firearms Thefts Ring, Organized Firearms Home Theft Conspiracy Revealed

The travel writer Arthur Frommer has authored dozens of Frommer’s Travel Guides, and he writes a blog called Arthur Frommer Online. Now he’s trying to organize a boycott of Arizona’s travel industry because he disagrees with its gun laws.