TESTED: Leupold Mark 6 Tactical Scope! Winchester Trails End Levergun Takedowns! Browning BLR CZ 550 & 527 Bolt Actions.223 to.416 Rigby September 2014 No. 276 s Value-Packed Model 783 $5.99 7 25274 01240 4 09 Display until 10/11/14 Printed in USA $5.99 U.S./Canada
8 10 14 18 20 Alfred H. Miller (1924-2014) Spotting Scope - Dave Scovill.35 Classic Cartridges - John Haviland The Leupold Mark 6 Mostly Long Guns - Brian Pearce Sporting Firearms Journal Page 18... Everyone Needs a Carcano! Down Range - Mike Venturino Grain Flow and Hardness of Gunstocks Light Gunsmithing - Gil Sengel 26 Lever-Action Takedowns Winchester s Trails End and Browning s BLR Stan Trzoniec 34 CZ 550 and 527 Rifles Testing Four Bolt Actions from.223 to.416 Rigby Brian Pearce 42 Model 783 A Cost-Cutting Alternative John Haviland Page 34... September 2014 Volume 46, Number 5 ISSN 0162-3593 Issue No. 276 48 Adjusting Rifle Stocks From Sticks to Composites to Modulars John Barsness Page 48... 56 The Venerable Rotary Magazine Turn, Turn Terry Wieland 4 www.riflemagazine.com Background Photo: 2014 Vic Schendel
On the cover... Winchester s Model 94 Trails End.30 WCF and Browning s BLR.270 Winchester are the latest lever-action takedowns. Photo by Stan Trzoniec. s budgetpriced.243 Winchester Model 783 photo by John Haviland. 62 Competition More trigger time with good friends is the result! Mike Venturino Page 62... 70 Page 70... 78 What s New in the Marketplace Inside Product News - Clair Rees The Origin of Sniping Walnut Hill - Terry Wieland Issue No. 276 September 2014 Sporting Firearms Journal Publisher/President Don Polacek Publishing Consultant Mark Harris Editor in Chief Dave Scovill Associate Editor Lee J. Hoots Managing Editor Roberta Scovill Senior Art Director Gerald Hudson Production Director Becky Pinkley Contributing Editors John Haviland Ron Spomer Brian Pearce Stan Trzoniec Clair Rees Mike Venturino Gil Sengel Ken Waters Terry Wieland Advertising Advertising Director - Tammy Rossi tammy@riflemag.com Advertising Representative - Tom Bowman bowman.t@sbcglobal.net Advertising Representative - James Dietsch jamesdietsch@cox.net Advertising Information: 1-800-899-7810 Circulation Circulation Manager Kendra Newell circ@riflemagazine.com Subscription Information: 1-800-899-7810 www.riflemagazine.com Rifle (ISSN 0162-3583) is published bimonthly with one annual special edition by Polacek Publishing Corporation, dba Wolfe Publishing Company (Don Polacek, President), 2180 Gulfstream, Ste. A, Prescott, Arizona 86301. (Also publisher of Handloader magazine.) Telephone (928) 445-7810. Periodical Postage paid at Prescott, Arizona, and additional mailing offices. Subscription prices: U.S. possessions single issue, $5.99; 6 issues, $19.97; 12 issues, $36. Foreign and Canada single issue, $5.99; 6 issues $26; 12 issues, $48. Please allow 8-10 weeks for first issue. Advertising rates furnished on request. All rights reserved. Change of address: Please give six weeks notice. Send both the old and new address, plus mailing label if possible, to Circulation Department, Rifle Magazine, 2180 Gulfstream, Suite A, Prescott, Arizona 86301. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rifle, 2180 Gulfstream, Suite A, Prescott, Arizona 86301. Canadian returns: PM #40612608. Pitney Bowes, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. Wolfe Publishing Co. 2180 Gulfstream, Ste. A Prescott, AZ 86301 Tel: (928) 445-7810 Fax: (928) 778-5124 Polacek Publishing Corporation Publisher of Rifle is not responsible for mishaps of any nature that might occur from use of published loading data or from recommendations by any member of The Staff. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. All authors are contracted under work for hire. Publisher retains all copyrights upon payment for all manuscripts. Although all possible care is exercised, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for lost or mutilated manuscripts. 6 www.riflemagazine.com Background Photo: 2014 Vic Schendel
SPOTTING SCOPE It wouldn t be proper to suggest that we lost a good friend when Al Miller passed on to his great reward, mostly because I think of Al nearly every day. When in the process of publishing the magazines, it is not unusual to invoke at least one of his rules: No.1 When in doubt, take it out. No. 2 If you haven t done it, you can t write about it. No. 3, No. 4, etc. So Al remains in the hearts and minds of the entire Wolfe production crew and staff. Al was a Merchant Marine World War II veteran active in both theatres of the Pacific and the Atlantic until 1946. Commissioned in the Army Reserves, he taught general staff courses for 25 years and retired with commendations as a full colonel. During this time he also was a Defense Security Specialist with the government s U.S. Army Evaluation Center. He then became a staff writer for Wolfe Publishing s magazines, progressed to competition handgunning editor, then in 1984 was assistant editor and finally editor. Al was an avid hunter with a great sense of humor, who instilled in his children a deep love of the outdoors. 8 www.riflemagazine.com ALFRED H. MILLER (1924-2014) by Dave Scovill I met Al Miller during a telephone call when I lived in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and he offered a chance to write a handgun column for Handloader and a cast bullet column as well, assuming I had time to do both. Somewhat later, we met face to face at an industry convention in Reno, Nevada, and he ushered me around the floor, introducing me to folks in the industry. The following spring, Al called to ask if I might be interested in the editor s job at Wolfe Publishing. I think I said, That s the stupidest question I ve ever heard. One thing led to another, and I moved to Prescott in March 1989 and was named editor officially on December 31 of that same year. Al handed me the keys to the washroom (figuratively) and left the building to return intermittently as he saw fit, to offer words of encouragement or to just spin a yarn or two. His kind friendship as a mentor will not be forgotten. R
M o d e l 7 8 3 John Haviland More than one American company s business strategy to compete in the world economy is simply to ship product manufacturing overseas for cheap labor, believing it is a necessity for corporate survival in the face of demands for inexpensive products. That approach, however, forsakes America and the American workforce. Rifles are no exception to this call for reasonably priced goods. Thankfully, most American firearm companies have not taken the low road and have instead designed competitively priced rifles and chosen to manufacture them here. The Model 783 bolt action is s latest entry in affordably priced rifles. It is intended to fill the niche between s least expensive Model 770 and costlier Model 700 SPS rifles. The 783 has several features found on similarly priced rifles from Marlin, Mossberg, Savage and Ruger, such as a detachable magazine, barrel attached to the receiver by a locking collar, polymer stock, push-feed design with a sliding plate extractor in one locking lug, a plunger ejector in the bolt face and an adjustable trigger. 42 The 783 is currently chambered in.243 and.308 Winchesters with 22-inch barrels or the Compact with a 20-inch barrel. Of course, the.30-06 and.270 Winchester are included, with 22-inch barrels. Rifles chambered in 7mm Magnum and.300 Winchester Magnum wear 24-inch barrels. Strange, but the.243 Winchester standard rifle I ve been shooting weighs the same 7 pounds, 6 ounces as rifles chambered for the magnum cartridges. That must be because all the rifles have the same size receiver and barrel contour and more metal remains in the barrel with a.243 bore. The 783 weighs 8 pounds, 5 ounces with a Redfield Revolution 3-9x 40mm scope in aluminum rings. The 783 s receiver is basically a hollow cylinder with cuts for the magazine and ejection ports. The bolt cylinder fits tightly inside the rear of the receiver to lessen wobble
while opening and closing the bolt. The bolt is kept straight and free from binding by a guide rib in the raceway that fits in a slot in the right locking lug. The ejection port is an oval opening, and keeping it ever, all rifles jam, and it sure would be nice to have a port wide enough to reach in and clear a stuck cartridge. The bolt head has two locking lugs and a recessed face. The nose safety along the right side of the bolt shroud allows the bolt to open with the safety in the on and fire positions. When the firing pin is cocked, the rear of the pin sticks out slightly from the rear of A Cost-Cutting Alternative narrow increases the receiver s stiffness, which contributes to accuracy. Sooner than later, how- A 783 rifle with a Redfield Revolution 3-9x 40mm scope sells for about $700. Below, John s.243 Winchester test rifle shot 87-grain bullets accurately enough to hit varmints well past 200 yards. September-October 2014 of the bolt butts up against the barrel chamber. That s different than the three-rings-of-steel of the Model 700 with a counterbored bolt face that fits inside the barrel chamber. The 783 extractor is a flat steel hook that slides in a slot in the face of the right locking lug. A pin plunger protruding from the opposite side of the bolt face ejects cases or cartridges when the bolt is pulled rearward and they clear the receiver opening. Speaking from experience with a Winchester Model 670 with a similar extractor, a hot load can break such an extractor. The bolt head can be removed from the body by pushing out a cross pin. The bolt handle is steel, despite earlier reports that it was plastic. The two-position sliding the shroud and can be felt with the thumb. The round receiver bottom attaches to the stock inletting with a bolt into the tang and another into the receiver ring. Aluminum pillars in the bolt holes allow solidly tightening the receiver in the stock. They position the barrel high enough that its entire length does not touch the stock s barrel channel. A squared-off washer sandwiched between the front of the receiver and barrel acts as a recoil lug and fits in a mortise in the stock. The barrel nut is a straightforward method of setting the correct headspace in a chamber. A headspace gauge is used to seat the barrel breech exactly the correct distance from the bolt face, then the barrel nut is torqued tightly. It has been said this sleeve also adds rigidity to the joint of the receiver and barrel. The stock is molded plastic. The addition of nylon fibers, though, makes it very stiff. Twist all you like on the tip of the forearm, but the stock will not flex. A separate trigger guard is held in place with the tang bolt at the rear and a screw at the front. Sling swivel attachment holes are molded into the stock as well as panels of stippling on the grip and forearm. The stock s lines are pretty much straight, with the belly of the forearm fitting into the palm of the hand, and the flute alongside the nose of the comb positioning the trigger finger correctly. The butt is capped with a great SuperCell recoil pad. The detachable magazine is steel with a plastic frame bottom that www.riflemagazine.com 43
M o d e l 7 8 3 holds four standard-size cartridges or three magnum cartridges. It locks into place with a flat steel spring with a plastic clasp engaging a lip on the front of the magazine well. The magazine release tab required a hard push to detach the magazine, and young fingers While lenses for the Redfield Revolution scope are made overseas, the rest of the scope is made in America. the cartridges fed fine. However, a hunting rifle is not much good if it fails to feed all its cartridges. A steel lip on the back of the magazine rests on a ledge on the top rear of the magazine well to position the magazine at the correct height. With my best gunsmithing skills and manual dexter- pushing the bolt forward. Feeding was fairly slick, though, when giving the bolt a sharp shove ahead. The CrossFire trigger has a blade in the middle that pivots a block on the trigger out of the way as it is pulled. This safety blade is similar to other triggers, such as the Savage AccuTrigger, Marlin Pro- Left, the 783 s CrossFire trigger has a blade in the middle that pivots a block on the trigger out of the way as it is pulled; it s adjustable from 2.5 to 5 pounds. Right, the 783 bolt (left) is different than the 700 bolt (right); it has a blade extractor on one locking lug and does not fit inside the barrel chamber. may have a difficult time with it. The first time I shot the 783, the last two.243 cartridges in the magazine failed to strip from it. Pressing up on the bottom of the magazine raised it just a hair, and ity, I slightly bent down the lip with pliers. That raised the magazine the hair required, and the last two cartridges started feeding from the magazine. The rifle did feed cartridges haltingly while slowly A detachable magazine holds four.243 cartridges. Fire and Ruger Marksman. states the CrossFire Trigger is set at 3.5 pounds at the factory and is adjustable from 2.5 to 5.0 pounds by turning a screw at the front of the trigger housing. As the 783 came out of the box, its trigger pull varied a few ounces either A barrel nut is said to add stiffness to the barrel/receiver joint. 44 www.riflemagazine.com
side of 3 pounds. It had no creep or overtravel, so I left it alone. Accuracy is always the first measure of a rifle, followed closely by its design and arrangement that allow a shooter to take advantage of that accuracy. The 783 certainly showed it was accurate the first time it was shot. A mishmash of.243 Winchester cartridges were used to sight in the Redfield Revolution 3-9x 40mm scope. Once the scope and rifle were aligned, three Hornady 95-grain SST bullets landed in.62 inch at 100 yards. My last eight of the now-discontinued Barnes Burner 72-grain VLC bullets clustered in.92 inch. On another day, with a variety of handloaded cartridges and one factory load, shooting from the support of a bench, 5 of the 11 handloads shot groups under an inch at 100 yards. None of the groups measured over 1.24 inches. The Federal factory load shot the largest group at 1.38 inches, which is still acceptable for a hunting rifle. With the 783 clamped on a Harris bipod and a backpack under the toe of the stock, the rifle was as still as the ground. From prone, three Berger 87-grain VLD Hunting bullets grouped in 2.23 inches at 300 yards. Two additional bullets hit within an inch of each other. I flipped the third bullet low a few inches. On a sunny spring day, the 783 and I went shooting ground squirrels. Gophers were plainly visible with the Redfield scope turned up to 9x, but much past 250 yards, the reticle covered up the ones standing straight as a picket. I got a fairly precise aim somewhat farther on gophers crouched down on top of a mound. Shooting from prone, it s much easier to load a rifle by dropping a cartridge on top of the follower and closing the bolt. The 783 will not chamber a round that way, however, and it s difficult to insert a cartridge partially into the chamber because of its narrow ejection port. So I rolled over, removed the magazine and lay staring up at the sky while loading it. COLOR CASEHARDENING WOOD & BONE CHARCOAL METHOD WRITE OR CALL FOR INFORMATION MICHAEL HAGSTROM P.O. BOX 8 SANTA ROSA, CA 95402 (707) 544-4832 VICTOR, MONTANA STOCK WORK BY NORM BROWNE FINE CUSTOM RIFLES Custom Rifles Built to Order Highly Efficient Muzzle Brakes Barrel Lining for Accuracy Restoration Dennis E. Olson Gunsmithing P.O. Box 337 - Plains, MT 59859 - (406) 826-3790 DEM-BART GUNSTOCK CHECKERING TOOLS USED BY MANUFACTURERS, PROFESSIONALS, AND THE BEST GUNSMITH SCHOOLS. OUR TOOLS WILL CUT CONTROLLABLE, CLEAN LINES. TEL: 360-568-7356 WEB SITE: WWW.DEMBARTCO.COM 1825 Bickford Ave., Snohomish, WA 98290 September-October 2014 www.riflemagazine.com 45
M o d e l 7 8 3 puts its SuperCell recoil pad on the Model 783. The.243 Winchester shooting 87- grain bullets doesn t kick all that much, but it s enough the sight picture blacks out; and when nobody The NEW Gebhardt Machine Co. Rimfire Cartridge Gage The Gage That Works! $150 00 This is a gage to measure consistency of rim thickness on.22 rimfire ammunition (a.22 rimfire rifle s headspace is determined by case rim thickness). The more consistent the rim thickness, the more consistent the ignition of the primer and the powder charge in the case. In other words, the firing pin will fall the same distance every time if the same rim thickness is used on every case being fired for a particular group. By sorting the shells into various groups by rim thickness, a reduction in group size of up to 25% can be realized in some IF NOT MOST rimfire rifles. This information about group reduction comes from the.22 rimfire benchrest participants who compete in the extremely difficult BR-50 matches. All of the top shooters sort their shells into groups by checking rims and weighing the unfired cartridges. Gebhardt Machine Co. 101 Allison St. Lock Haven, PA 17745 TEL (570) 748-6772 Bill Gebhardt, Owner (NRA Benefactor Member - IBS Life Member) 46 www.riflemagazine.com Above left, the 783 shot this group at 100 yards with Hornady 95-grain SST bullets and H-4350. Right, this group, at 300 yards, was with Berger 87-grain VLD Hunting bullets and H-4831. 783.243 Winchester Loads overall loaded bullet powder charge length velocity group (grains) (grains) (inches) (fps) (inches) 70 Nosler Ballistic Tip Big Game 45.0 2.710 3,435 1.24 75 Hornady V-MAX Superformance 48.5 2.700 3,341 Varget 38.0 3,058 1.16 85 Federal Premium Vital-Shok 3,023 1.38 Trophy Copper 87 Berger VLD Hunting H-4831 45.0 2.700 2,911.63* IMR-4350 41.0 2,789 1.24 RL-19 44.0 2,881.58 95 Hornady SST H-4350 42.0 2.700 2,970.58 Power Pro 4000-MR 44.0 2,995.84 Varget 35.0 2,751 1.16 100 Sierra GameKing SPBT IMR-4064 36.0 2.650 2,822 1.05 IMR-4350 41.0 2,839.83 * 2.23-inch group at 300 yards Notes: All handloads were assembled with Winchester cases and CCI 200 Large Rifle primers. Velocities of the 100-yard, three-shot groups were recorded 10 feet in front of the 783 s 22-inch barrel. A Redfield Revolution 3-9x 40mm scope was used and set on 9x. Temperature was 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Be Alert Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data. is spotting for you, it s difficult to tell if you missed by an inch or a mile. Hits can be detected by hearing a bullet hit or looking up in time to see a gopher flying through the air as it wings its way to that clover patch in the sky. Maybe 30 rounds were shot before I d had enough fun. If nothing else, shooting at various ranges was good practice for fall antelope hunting. All this shooting, from spring gophers to fall deer and antelope, comes at more than a fair price. The 783 s retail price is $450. Add a Redfield Revolution 3-9x 40mm scope for $249.99, and you re shooting. Sure, the 783 is not as finely finished and polished as a Model 700 BDL. The 783 s black matte metal finish is plain, and its synthetic stock is pretty basic and shows a seam from the mould halves, but the Model 700 BDL s cosmetics come at twice the price of the 783. What the 783 s price furnishes is a rifle that shoots a variety of loads under an inch and some loads approaching.5 inch at 100 yards. Its stock is correctly proportioned for the average shooter, and its trigger is excellent. I ran the Redfield scope s wind - age and elevation adjustments several times all the way back and forth, and the scope went right back to placing bullets where it previously had. The scope has a lifetime warranty, so if anything does go haywire, it can be returned for repair at the Leupold plant in Oregon, where it was made. The rifle and Redfield scope were both made right, right here. R