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January 2010 No. 248
$5.99 U.S./CanadaPrinted in USA
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The Evolution of Accuracy!
MarlinXL7WA Classy,
AffordableSporter!
Gradle7mm
Express
Rigby’sReturn!VolquartsenEvolution
January 2010Volume 42, Number 1
ISSN 0162-3593Issue No. 248
4
28 .22 Long RifleClassic Cartridges -John Haviland
30 Marlin XL7WClassy Bolt-ActionSporterStan Trzoniec
38 25-Year QuestThe Evolutionof Accuracy Mike Venturino
48 LevergunHuntingNorth Americato Africa Brian Pearce
Page 38 . . .
Background Photo: © 2010 S. Jordan Palmer
20 Gun ControlMostly Long Guns -Brian Pearce
22 They’re Alive!They’re Alive!Straight Talk -Ron Spomer
24 Trigger Shoes Light Gunsmithing -Gil Sengel
Rifle 248www.riflemagazine.com
8 From ZimbabweSpotting Scope -Dave Scovill
14 BorescopeViewsOptics -Ron Spomer
16 .22 Rimfires Down Range -Mike Venturino
Page 48 . . .
Page 30 . . .
On the cover . . .The Marlin XL7W features a walnutstock, a Burris 6x 40mm scope in Le-upold rings and an adjustabletrigger. Photo by Stan Trzoniec.
Background Photo: © 2010 S. Jordan Palmer
Page 38Page 78Page 68
58 Rigby RedoubledUp from the AshesTerry Wieland
68 Gradle7mm ExpressThe OriginalShort Magnum John Haviland
78 VolquartsenEvolutionProduct Tests -Clair Rees
86 What’s New inthe MarketplaceInside Product News -Clair Rees
94 Rifle Index -Volume 41
98 A Man of IronWalnut Hill -Terry Wieland
Rifle 248www.riflemagazine.com6
Issue No. 248 January 2010
Sportiting FiFirearearms Joururnal al
Publisher/President – Don Polacek
Associate Publisher – Mark Harris
Editor in Chief – Dave Scovill
Managing Editor – Roberta Scovill
Art Director – Gerald Hudson
Production Director – Becky Pinkley
Contributing Editors
Associate Editor – Al Miller
Advertising
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Advertising Representative - Tom [email protected]
Advertising Information: 1-800-899-7810
CirculationCirculation Manager – Michele Elfenbein
Subscription Information: 1-800-899-7810www.riflemagazine.com
Rifle® (ISSN 0162-3583) is published bimonthly withone annual special edition by Polacek Publishing Corpo-ration, dba Wolfe Publishing Company (Don Polacek,President), 2625 Stearman Rd., Ste. A, Prescott, Arizona86301. (Also publisher of Handloader® magazine.) Tele-phone (928) 445-7810. Periodical Postage paid atPrescott, Arizona, and additional mailing offices. Sub-scription prices: U.S. possessions – single issue, $5.99; 7issues, $19.97; 14 issues, $36. Foreign and Canada – sin-gle issue, $5.99; 7 issues $26; 14 issues, $48. Please allow8-10 weeks for first issue. Advertising rates furnished onrequest. All rights reserved.
Change of address: Please give six weeks notice. Send both the old and new address, plus mailing label ifpossible, to Circulation Department, Rifle® Magazine,2625 Stearman Road, Suite A, Prescott, Arizona 86301. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rifle®, 2625Stearman Road, Suite A, Prescott, Arizona 86301.
Canadian returns: PM #40612608. Bleuchip Interna-tional, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.
Wolfe Publishing Co.2625 Stearman Rd., Ste. APrescott, AZ 86301Tel: (928) 445-7810 Fax: (928) 778-5124© Polacek Publishing Corporation
John Haviland Ron Spomer Brian Pearce Stan TrzoniecClair Rees Mike VenturinoGil Sengel Ken Waters
Terry Wieland
Publisher of Rifle® is not responsible for mishaps of any nature that might occur from use of published loadingdata or from recommendations by any member of The Staff. No part of this publication may be reproduced withoutwritten permission from the publisher. All authors are contracted under work for hire. Publisher retains all copy-rights upon payment for all manuscripts. Although all possible care is exercised, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for lost or mutilated manuscripts.
Page 68 . . .
Page 58 . . .
Wolfe Publishing Company2625 Stearman Road, Suite A • Prescott, Arizona 86301
TOLL FREE: 1-800-899-7810 ONLINE: www.riflemagazine.com
2010“Reflections”North American Wildlife
CalendarFeaturing 13 months of stunning
wildlife photography by Stan Trzoniec.13 months of exquisite, classic firearms
from Doug Turnbull Restoration.
$12.95 Plus shipping& handling. $12.95 Plus shipping
& handling.
SHIPPING & HANDLING: $3.25 U.S. - $6.50 Canada - $8.00 Foreign. AZ Residents add 8.35% tax.
SPECIALPRICE!
CLASSICFIREARMSCALENDAR
2010
Two Great Ways To KeepUp To Date In 2010!
John Haviland
hile deer hunting lastfall, I noticed my partnercarried an unusual rifle.He explained his grand-
father had been a hobby gunsmithand had made the rifle decades ago.“It’s chambered in Gradle 7mm Ex-press. Want to help me work upsome loads and shoot the rifle nextspring?” he asked.
ing oil and inserting the cases into a chamber madewith a chamber reamer. An air cylinder with a piston is attached to the chamber and air driveninto the chamber to expand the brass to fit thechamber. The cases are necked down to 7mm in asizing die, the rims turned off and a new extractorgroove is cut.
Before spring arrived we got all our ducks in arow, acquiring reloading components, dies and loaddata. When we finally shot the rifle, it took me wayback to the glory days of magnum cartridge wild-catting after World War II and carried me forwardto today’s cartridge development.
The Gradle 7mm Express is the original shortmagnum that is so popular today. According to P.O.Ackley’s Volume 1 Handbook for Shooters & Re-
loaders about the Gradle: “Higher velocities areclaimed with the relatively short fat case, as com-pared with the longer, and slimmer cases of equalcapacity.” That sounds similar to the claims madefor today’s various short magnum cartridges. Ack-ley’s book lists loads for 140- to 175-grain bul letswith some rather optimistic velocities. As we shallsee, though, while the Gradle 7mm Express pro-duced some good bullet speeds, it and other of today’s short magnums contain no mysteriousproperties that pull additional velocities out of a hat.
Roy Gradle of Santa Barbara, California, createdthe cartridge bearing his name by extensively alter-ing the .348 Winchester case. As near as I can deter-mine, Gradle developed his cartridge during the1950s. The August 1949 American Rifleman con-tains an advertisement by Gradle marketing his gunwork. The December 1949 Rifleman contains ablurb about custom gun work by Gradle, notablyhis left-hand action and .30-348 Winchester wildcatcartridge he made for the Winchester Model 71lever action, but not his 7mm Express.
According to P.O. Ackley’s book, 7mm Expresscases are formed by filling a .348 case with lubricat-
68 Rifle 248www.riflemagazine.com
WThe OriginalShort Magnum
Gradle
Fortunately, my hunting partner Carl Mendenhall’slate grandfather Charlie Miritz had left behindabout 100 fired Gradle 7mm cases, a few loadedcartridges and 50 new cases in the boxes of belong-ings remaining from his South Side Gun Shop inCut Bank, Montana. On firing, the new cases actu-ally shortened from .001 to .003 inch. I suspect this
was due to the cases fully expanding to fill thechamber, thus shortening the cases a smidgen.(Smidgen being a scientific term.)
The Gradle 7mm Express rifle Charlie Miritz madewas based on a Model 1917 Enfield action. The En-field action is a good .5 inch longer than necessaryto hold the 3-inch Gradle cartridges. But back then
January-February 2010 69www.riflemagazine.com
Below, the Gradle case (right)requires a lathe to turn down
the .348’s (left) rim and cutan extractor groove. Right, the
.348 Winchester (left) is thebasis for the Gradle 7mm
Express (right). The Gradle casewas formed with a hydraulicdie and air pressure to form
its rounded shoulder.
7mm Express
Rifle 248
Reattaching the Adjusto mounton the rifle would require shoot-ing at least a box of cartridges toagain sight-in the Lyman 7⁄8-inchFixed Alaskan 2.5x scope. TheAdjusto mount was populardecades ago when most scopes
had no internal adjustments forthe reticle. The Adjusto requiresloosening the left windage screw,making windage adjustments onthe right windage screw (clock-wise for right) or the disk underthe rear ring (counterclockwisefor up) with each click movingthe reticle .5 inch at 100 yards.The left windage screw is retight-ened and the rifle shot in hopesthe adjustments were correct.
Miritz ordered a semi-inletted
stock for his rifle from E.C.Bishop of Warsaw, Missouri. Hecompleted the stock with a hardfinish that has stood up wellagainst the knocks of time. Thestock wears the Weatherby influ-ence of a large cheekpiece,raised comb and angled grip cap.
Miritz used the rifle for biggame hunting for years. Miritz’swife, Helen, thought the cartridgewas on the small size for biggame. She hunted with a .300H&H Magnum.
OF THE TIMES
Gradle developed his 7mm Ex-press at a time when cartridgeexperimenters like Powell, Millerand Weatherby were testing vari-ous shoulder shapes in hopes offinding a design that allowed thepropellant gases to flow easierfrom the case and reduce backpressure. Powell and Miller cameup with the Powell Miller VenturiFreebore (PMVF) that had arounded junction at the shoulderand case body. Weatherby took
most gunsmiths made do withthe actions that were availableand economical.
The Enfield’s aperture rear sight had been milled off the rear bridge and the crooked boltreplaced with a straight andslightly swept back bolt handle.The original trigger had been re-placed with a Paul Jaeger ad-justable trigger.
The Enfield’s deep magazineheld three of the fat Gradle car-tridges. The magazine well, be -low the cartridge support rails,had been widened at the rear and the cartridge support railswidened to accept the wide Gra-dle cartridges. The bolt face rimwas widened to accept the .533-inch rim diameter of the Gradlecase.
On the left rear of the 24-inchbarrel is printed “Roy Gradle7mm Express.” The Enfield ac-tion has no visible markings toindicate which company pro-duced it. It is probably a Win-chester or Eddystone version,because those models had aweight-saving cavity cut in therear bridge. I was not going to re-move the Leupold Adjusto scopemount on the rifle to determine if it covered identifying marks.
70 www.riflemagazine.com
Gradle 7mmExpress
Left, the bolt handle on the Enfield action had been replaced with astraight and slightly swept back handle. Above, the Enfield action isplenty long for the short Gradle cartridge.
The fixed Lyman scope on the7mm Express rifle was adjustedwith a Leupold Adjusto mount.The mount requires looseningthe mount, making adjustmentsand then retightening.
Enfields’s triggerwas replacedwith a PaulJaeger adjustabledesign.
January-February 2010
the PMVF cartridge case andadded a second radius at thejunction of the shoulder andneck. With smoother corners atthe junction of the shoulder andneck, gases supposedly flowfrom the case without creating asmuch back pressure.
To this day fantastic claims are
still made for various shoulderand case designs. Shoulders withdifferent angles can supposedlydirect propellant gases to spe-cific points with the result of amore even pressure and more en-ergy directed at pushing the bul-let down the bore at a highervelocity. The problem with these
theories is propellant gases exertpressure equally in all directions.
It’s also said shorter and fattercases yield more velocity for the same amount of powder inrelation to longer cases. ChubEastman wrote an article inHandloader where he investi-gated such claims. He chambered
71www.riflemagazine.com
Left, the Bishop stock on the 7mm Express rifleshows the “California” style of a raised comb popu-lar during the 1950s. Above, Charlie Miritz built hisGradle 7mm Express rifle in his South Side Gun Shopin Cut Bank, Montana.
Rifle 248
shoulder and a few thousands ofan inch differences here andthere. The Gradle and 7mm WSMcases are also close in case ca-pacity, as the Gradle holds 95percent of the water that the7mm WSM case can contain. The
7mm Express and 7mm WSMcases cut in half lengthwise showthe two cartridge cases have thesame thickness through the web,head and body. The extractiongroove on both cases is so closeto identical they use the sameshellholder.
It would appear someone learnedthe basics of the current shortmagnums from Mr. Gradle.
LOADING AND SHOOTING
THE GRADLE
Somewhere in the passage oftime, Grandfather Miritz’s Gradle7mm Express dies had been lost.But buying new reloading diesfor the 7mm Express was as easyas contacting CH/4D (CH4D.com),a company that specializes indies for wildcat and obsolete car-tridges. Dave Davison of CH/4Dhas dies in stock for over 1,200different cartridges. Not onlywere dies on the shelf for theGradle 7mm Express, but Davi-son also had dies for the Gradle7mm Express Rimmed. To makecertain the dies were the correctdimensions, Carl Mendenhall
a barrel in the long and sloping.300 H&H Magnum cartridge andrecorded the velocities of someloads. Then he rechambered thesame barrel to the squat .300Winchester Short Magnum andshot the same loads in the .300WSM. The long and short of itwas there was next to no differ-ence in the velocities of the vari-ous loads.
The Gradle case has a radius atthe junction of the case body andshoulder and a convex shoulder.The Gradle case, though, is about.5 inch shorter than magnumcases like the .300 Weatherbyand .3 inch shorter than caseslike the 7mm Remington andWeatherby Magnums. In fact, theGradle case is a dead ringer forthe 7mm Winchester Short Mag-num, except for the Gradle’sslightly longer neck, rounded
The Gradle 7mmExpress is the
original short magnum.
72 www.riflemagazine.com
Shooting Resultsfor the Gradle 7mm Express
overallloaded
bullet powder charge velocity group length(grains) (grains) (fps) (inches) (inches)
140 Sierra spitzer H-4350 60.0 2,948 1.45 3.0061.5 3,130 1.46
IMR-7828 64.0 2,841 .28*66.0 3,109 3.27
Magpro 70.0 2,946 1.96RL-19 63.5 2,912 1.26
64.5 3,145 –150 Nosler Ballistic Tip H-4350 57.0 2,840 1.80 3.06
IMR-4831 58.0 2,735 3.20IMR-7828 61.0 2,750 1.82RL-22 59.0 2,665 1.03
150 Sierra spitzer boat-tail H-4350 60.0 3,023 –IMR-4831 62.0 2,978 2.45IMR-7828 63.0 2,838 2.10RL-22 63.0 2,886 2.10
160 Grandfather Miritz IMR-4350 61.0 2,970 –162 Hornady A-MAX H-1000 67.0 2,800 1.96
Magnum 69.0 2,893 2.45
* three in one holeNotes: Loads shot through an Enfield action with a 24-inch barrel. WLRM primers and re-formed.348 Winchester cases used. Scope was a 2.5x Lyman Alaskan.
Be Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data.
Table IGradle 7mmExpress
Rifle 24874 www.riflemagazine.com
mailed a few fired 7mm Expresscases to Davison. The correctdies promptly arrived in the mail.
While first sizing fired 7mm Ex-press cases with the CH/4D die, adent was often made on theshoulder of the cases. The dentsshowed up even when I wasextra careful to make sure no lu-bricant touched the shoulderarea. I speculated air trapped in the die caused the dents and Davison concurred. A holedrilled in the shoulder area of thedie would bleed off that air, butDavison said he would not drill a
hole into the side of a die. “Inloading well over a million car-tridges, I never found one thatwould not work if the properlube was used, but the Gradleshoulder is going to be one of themore difficult (to keep fromdenting the shoulder).” Thatproper lube was Imperial SizingWax, which CH/4D sells. Using iteliminated the pressure dents inthe cases.
Carl and I came up with a trim-to case length of 2.30 inches frommeasuring the length of the newand fired 7mm Express cases.
For starting loads I took 95 per-cent of the maximum weights ofseveral propellants listed for the7mm WSM cartridge in varioushandloading manuals and re-
Except for a few minor differences, the 7mm Express (left) and 7mmWSM (right) of today are the same cartridge. Both designs have nearlythe same case capacity and the head and web of both cartridges arevery thick.
Miritz’s rifle has a chamber thataccepts 7mm Express cartridgeswith a length of slightly over 3inches. The magazine of theEnfield action will hold cartridgesnearly .5 inch longer. In contrast,the 7mm WSM (right) has amaximum cartridge length of 2.86 inches to fit in a short action.
Left, CH/4D had Gradle 7mm Express dies in stock.Forwarding a few fired cases to CH/4D helps ensurethe dies are the correct dimensions for a wildcatcartridge. Below, these powders were used to loadthe Gradle 7mm Express.
Gradle 7mm Express
January-February 2010 75www.riflemagazine.com
duced those weights another fewgrains. Those propellants’ weightsresulted in up to 2,948 fps with
Sierra 140-grain bullets and 2,840fps with Nosler 150-grain Ballis-tic Tips.
7mm Magnum Comparisonsbullet powder charge velocity
(grains) (grains) (fps)
140-GRAIN BULLETS
7mm Gradle Express:
140 Sierra spitzer H-4350 61.5 3,130RL-19 63.5 2,912
64.5 3,1457mm WSM:
140 Nosler Ballistic Tip H-4350 61.5 3,104
7mm Remington SAUM:
140 Sierra boat-tail RL-19 62.0 2,871RL-22 64.0 2,948
7mm Remington Magnum:
140 Sierra spitzer RL-22 70.0 3,164
150-GRAIN BULLETS
7mm Gradle Express:
150 Sierra spitzer boat-tail H-4350 60.0 3,023IMR-4831 58.0 2,735
62.0 2,9787mm WSM:
150 Sierra HPBT Match H-4350 62.5 3,036RL-22 63.0 2,886
7mm Remington SAUM:
150 Sierra HPBT Match H-4831 61.5 2,890H-1000 68.0 3,006IMR-4350 57.0 2,858RL-22 63.0 2,938
7mm Remington Magnum:
150 Sierra HPBT MatchKing H-1000 68.0 2,870Magnum 74.0 3,154RL-25 68.0 2,946
160-GRAIN BULLETS
7mm Gradle Express:
162 Hornady A-MAX H-1000 67.0 2,800Magnum 69.0 2,893
7mm WSM:
162 Hornady SST H-1000 69.0 2,807H-4350 58.0 2,828H-4831 62.0 2,803Magnum 75.0 3,097
7mm Remington SAUM:
160 Nosler AccuBond H-4831 60.5 2,823H-1000 67.0 2,887IMR-4350 56.0 2,820H-4831 60.5 2,857
7mm Remington Magnum:
160 Speer boat-tail IMR-7828 66.0 2,838IMR-4831 63.0 2,923IMR-4350 61.0 2,816H-1000 71.0 2,977
Be Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data.
Table II
Rifle 248
Carl Mendenhall is going to re-place the fixed-power scope onhis grandfather’s Gradle 7mm Express with a new scope withinternal adjustments. Then he isgoing hunting with his original7mm short magnum and continuethe fine tradition of what hisgrandfather Charlie Miritz andRoy Gradle started nearly 60years ago.
76 www.riflemagazine.com
Gradle 7mm Express
R
The Gradle 7mm Expressrifle Charlie Miritz madewas based on a Model1917 Enfield action.
Above, these bullets and theNosler 150-grain Ballistic Tipwere fired in the Gradle 7mmExpress. Right, this 1.26-inch
group was produced by Sierra140-grain bullets and Reloder.
I bumped up those powdercharges to a couple of grains forthe second go-around. There wasa tremendous amount of velocityincrease between the starting andtop amounts of propellants withthe Sierra 140-grain spitzer. Forexample, an additional 1.5 grainsof H-4350 increased the velocityof the 140-grain Sierra by 182 fps,and 2.0 grains more IMR-7828stepped up velocity by 268 fps.
The 150-grain bullets showed amore realistic and evenhandedvelocity increase. I ran out ofNosler 150-grain Ballistic Tips, soI shot the increased propellantcharges with Sierra 150-grainspitzer boat-tails. Three addi-tional grains of H-4350 increasedvelocity of the 150-grain bulletsby 183 fps, and 4.0 extra grains of Reloder 22 increased velocityby 221 fps. Those velocity in-creases are only slightly abovethe increases per grain of pro -pellant for the 7mm WinchesterShort Magnum listed in the Nos -ler, Sierra and Speer reloadingmanuals.
The Hornady 162-grain A-MAXbullets reached nearly 2,900 fpswith 69.0 grains of Ramshot Mag-num. That was right in line withthe results of the 7mm WSMlisted in the Hornady Handbook
of Cartridge Reloading, Sixth
Edition.
A few cartridges loaded by
Grandfather Miritz were in theboxes of his Gradle cases. A labelstated the load was 61.0 grains of IMR-4350 with 160-grain bullets. The bullets looked likeSierras. They clocked 2,970 fps,about what can be expected from today’s 7mm RemingtonMagnum.
The 7mm Magnum Comparison(Table II) matches the Gradle7mm Express with today’s 7mmRemington Short Action UltraMag, 7mm Winchester Short Magnum and 7mm RemingtonMagnum. There is a slenderdime’s difference between thefour cartridges.
Carl Mendenhall proudlyholds his grandfather Miritz’sGradle 7mm Express.
78 Rifle 248www.riflemagazine.com
Tim Janzen, Ty Herring, his
wife, Angel, and I had per-mission to hunt prairie dogs on a Vernal, Utah, ranch owned by Eric Manwaring. Come fall,the ranch would magically trans-form into the Thunder Stickhunting preserve, with Eric guid-ing hunters to trophy deer, elk,geese and other denizens of the ranch. While I was there, Ibooked an early fall honker hunt.
When it comes to prairie dogs,“hunting” is a misnomer. Youhave to hunt to find the critter –but you’re not searching for alone animal or even a small herd.If you’re in the right area, prairie
hit these pint-sized targets, andyou should have little troublescoring when deer season rollsaround.
dog towns aren’t hard to find.Visible from considerable dis-tance, most of these rodent en-claves are home to hundreds ofthe plague-ridden pests, eachwith its own elevated mound ofdirt. Once you locate a populoustown, the hunting ends and theshooting begins.
Shot-by-shot accounts of anyprairie dog shoot can becomeboringly repetitious, so I’ll spareyou the details. Suffice to say theVolquartsen gave yeoman serv-ice, even providing a few rare400-yard kills. My aging eyes pre-vented longer-range attempts inspite of the excellent 2.5-10x42mm Holland’s Tactical Huntermounted on the rifle.
Shooting prairie dogs 300 or 400yards away is a serious test ofboth rifles and riflemen. Learn to
PRODUCT TESTS by Clair Rees • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ••
VOLQUARTSEN EVOLUTIONPRAIRIE DOG RIFLE
Bolt and carrier removed from the receiver for cleaning.
The Evolution trigger was one ofthe best Rees has used.
Volquartsen Evolution – with 30-round AR-15 magazine, Holland’s Tac-tical Hunter scope and Harris bipod.
Serious prairie dog shootersprefer specialized rifles designedspecifically for the sport. I remem-ber when bull-barreled varmint
Whispers® are developments of SSK Industries.Custom barrels for Contenders, Encores,bolt guns and semi-autos as well as com-plete guns and the cans to keep themquiet are available. SSK chambers over400 calibers. Wild wildcat ideas welcomed.
SSK Industries590 Woodvue Lane
Wintersville, OH 43953Tel: 740-264-0176
www.sskindustries.com
.302 .338 .375 .416
January-February 2010 79www.riflemagazine.com
rifles were relatively rare. Sports-men used any small-caliber cen-terfire they had on hand. My firstvarmint rifle was the single-shotWinchester .22 my grandfatherloaned me whenever I visited hisranch. I cut short the career ofmany rockchucks and groundsquirrels foolish enough to let mesneak within rimfire range.
My safe harbors an embar -rassing number of heavy, high-combed rifles with barrels thesize of truck axles. Intended tobe toted to a sandbagged benchonly a few yards away, thesebulky firearms weigh 9 pounds ormore. That extra heft promoteslong-range accuracy. Nearly allmy varmint rifles feature manualbolt-action operation.
Today, AR-15-style rifles are be-coming increasingly common onprairie dog, ground squirrel andmarmot shoots. Some of theseautoloaders are highly accurate –and are dear to their owner’shearts.
Best known for its high-quality.17- and .22-caliber rimfire auto -loaders, Volquartsen has enteredthe centerfire market with itsnew Evolution rifle. Specificallydesigned for shooting prairiedogs and other varmints at ex-tended range, the Evolution auto -loader is chambered for the .223Remington and .204 Ruger.
The new rifle features a CNC-machined stainless steel receiverthat’s just short of massive. Nocastings are used. Most compo-nents, including a custom-rifledVolquartsen barrel, bolt, triggerguard, and other parts, are preci-sion-machined from stainlesssteel bar stock.
The rotating bolt has sevenlocking lugs and rides in a sturdy,stainless carrier with twin returnsprings. The bolt face is fully re-cessed and contains a plungerejector. A substantial spring-loaded claw extracts fired casesfrom the chamber.
The bolt is activated by a uniqueoperating system that taps gas
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GARY L. STILES- Gunmaker -
- Specializing in Classic Bolt Action Rifles- Complete Rifles - Prices Upon Request- Quarter Ribs, Checkered Bolt Handles- Safety conversions for Mausers & Springfields76 Cherry Run Road, Homer City, PA 15748
Phone: (724) 479-9945 or 479-8666E-Mail: [email protected] • www.glstiles.com
'93-'96 MAUSERCock-on Opening Conversion
Cocking piece; Striker spring;Fully adjustable trigger included.
Cast steel; Blued; Safety notch cut.Dayton Traister Trigger Co.
4778 N. Monkey Hill Rd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277
My Evolution has a 221⁄2-inchbarrel. This includes an optional,removable compensator with 32ports that virtually eliminatemuzzle jump. Muzzle-to-buttmeasurement is 421⁄2 inches. A 9-inch long Picatinny rail machinedinto the top of the receivermakes scope mounting fast andeasy.
A number of stock options areavailable. The test rifle has a satin-finished walnut stock with a high Monte Carlo comb.The forend is 17⁄8 inches wide andis obviously designed to fit asandbagged rest. Some very at-tractive figuring appears in thepistol grip and butt section. Aribbed rubber pad caps the butt.
The trigger is a pure delight,
Rifle 248
plied, but the rifleaccepts any AR-15-style magazine.While longer mag-azines could inter-fere with shootingfrom a sandbagged
rest, I had no problem using onewith the relatively high X-Restforend rest I’d brought along forthe prairie dog shoot.
from ports in the barrel. Theseports are located immediately be-hind the rifle’s forend. If anystray gases escape, ventilationcuts in the forend dissipate themharmlessly into the atmosphere.The slots also promote barrelcooling.
The magazine well and triggerguard assembly projects 5⁄8 inchbelow the stock. A crossboltsafety rides 21⁄2 inches in front ofthe trigger, far enough to requireshifting your hand from the pis -tol grip to reach it. Pressing thesafety from “on” to “off” is bestdone left-handed. The magazinerelease is on the right side of thetrigger guard assembly, an inchahead of the safety.
A 10-round magazine is sup-
80 www.riflemagazine.com
The removablecompensator has32 ports, whichreduces barreljump.
Crossbolt safety is too far forwardto reach with your trigger fingerwithout moving your hand fromthe grip. Magazine release is aninch ahead of the safety.
MAUSER 98SAFETY
- Classic Design -
• Three Position Safety• Stainless Steel or Blue• Right or Left Hand• Installation available
Gentry Custom, L.L.C.- Custom Gunmaker -
314 N. HoffmanBelgrade, MT 59714
(406) 388-GUNSwww.gentrycustom.com
Classic Checkeringby Tim Smith-Lyon
“Professional Checkering since 1972”1225 Adams Lake Rd. - Utica, MS 39175
Shop Phone: 601-885-9223E-Mail: [email protected]: www.classiccheckering.com
Target and Vintage Scope Repair
Parsons Scope ServiceP.O. Box 192, Ross, OH 45061
513-867-0820Cleaning, reticles, complete restoration
Please call for informationSpecialists in vintage scope repair since 1989
40-grain V-MAX ammuni-tion from a sandbaggedbench at 100 yards, theVolquartsen Evolutiondelivered 0.531-inch, five-shot groups. Lone fliersinvariably spoiled whatwould have otherwisebeen ragged one-holeclusters. The best ac -curacy – a 0.281-inchfive-shot group – wasproduced with BlackHills factory ammuni-tion loaded with 55-grainsoftpoints.
Reliability was equallyimpressive. During theVernal prairie dog shoot,I experienced only onefeeding failure. With that lone exception, theEvolution auto loaderfunctioned flawlessly, chewingthrough hundreds of roundswithout a bobble. After earlier ex-periences shooting prairie dogs
with AR-15 autoloaders, it wasnice not having to bother with aforward assist plunger. Also, thewarm walnut under my cheek felt
breaking cleanly and consistentlyat 23⁄4 pounds with no discernibletake-up. This is by far the besttrigger I’ve experienced on an au-toloading rifle. It would givemost of the bolt rifles in my safea real run for the money.
Weighing in at a full 10 pounds(before adding a scope), the Evo-lution is obviously intended forshooting prairie dogs and groundsquirrels from a stationary rest.It’s ideal for such use, as its heftaids precise shooting at extendedrange. Prairie dog shooters typi-cally set up their benches only afew yards from the truck, so theweight of bull-barreled rifles isn’ta problem. However, this isn’t afirearm you’d tote over hill anddale in search of more elusiveprey. Vol quartsen also offers thisrifle with I-Dash barrel fluting,producing a 12-ounce reductionin weight.
Accuracy? Shooting Hornady
January-February 2010 81www.riflemagazine.com
This 0.281-inch, five-shot group was madewith Black Hills factory ammunition loadedwith 55-grain softpoints.
stocks,” he pointed out. “We usea four-axis CNC router and makestocks one at a time. They’re in-letted and turned in the same operation without ever leavingthe jig.”
Two possible drawbacks are theEvolution’s 10-pound heft and anequally hefty $2,340 price tag.When I asked Scott about this, hesaid, “The entire stainless steelrifle is produced by precision ma-chining, making it costly to man-ufacture. The Evolution will beprimarily used for prairie doghunting. This means that insteadof being a problem, extra weightis actually an advantage. A heavygun is easier to steady on sand-bags and boosts potential accu-racy. If you order an Evolutionwith a compensator installed,muzzle jump is reduced to virtu-ally zero. The combination ofweight and compensator meansyou can stay focused on the target after the shot.
“We plan to have a considerablylighter version incorporating a high-strength aluminum re-
ceiver available in early2010,” he noted. “Thisgun should weigh threepounds or so less, mak-ing it easier to carry long distances. We’realso looking at a .308platform later on. Thiswould have a wide rangeof hunting applications.
“We began shipping the Evolution rifles in 2007, and they’ve soldvery well,” Scott said.“We’re excited about the future.”
The Evolution’sEvolution
Volquartsen has long been
known for producing high-quality rimfires, so the Evolutionis a real departure. I asked ScottVolquartsen why the companydecided to create an all-newsporter to digest centerfire am-munition.
“We wanted to branch out andtry something new,” Scott said.“I’ve always thought it would befun to design an autoloading .223centerfire as a pure sporter, notjust another ‘black rifle.’ TheEvolution would also appeal toCalifornia sportsmen, who areprevented from using AR-15-stylerifles.
“The Evolution is currentlychambered for either .223 Rem-ington or .204 Ruger ammuni-tion,” he said. “The same basicplatform is used for both. Oneday we’ll probably offer an Evo-lution rifle that will accept bothcartridges simply by switchingbarrels.”
Asked what problems Volquart-sen had to solve in building thenew rifle, Scott replied, “Ourbiggest challenge was designingan operating system that couldbe entirely contained within thestock. We didn’t want to add anextended barrel shroud.
“The gas system features aspring-loaded piston that trans-fers energy to the bolt carrier.Gas enters the operatingsystem through ports inthe barrel. As the carrieris driven rearward, thebolt lugs unlock, allow-ing the bolt to rotate inthe carrier 221⁄2 degrees.
“Our rotating bolt isnothing new, but wespent a lot of time figur-ing how tight we couldmake the toleranceswhile keeping operation100 percent reliable.Tight tolerances meangreater accuracy.”
Rifle 24882 www.riflemagazine.com
The rifle was designed to func-tion reliably with a wide varietyof ammunition and bullet weights.A one-in-9-inch twist was chosento provide accuracy with themost popular loads, but this twistworks best with 45- to 60-grainbullets. According to Volquart-sen, one-in-71⁄2 and one-in-12 twistrates will also be offered forthose who want to use lighter orheavier bullets.
One unique thing about the Evo-lution is that the entire rifle –bolt, gas action, barrel and re-ceiver – is completely machinedfrom the ground up.
“No castings are used,” Scottsaid. “We machine 95 percent ofthe Evolution in-house. A fewprecision parts like the hammer,sear and disconnector are madeby EDM wire cutting. The cross-bolt safety and firing pin are produced elsewhere on screwmachines. Most components areheat-treated from 56 to 58CRockwell, providing exceptionaldurability.
“We also produce our own
The stainless Evolution receiver is just short ofmassive. It is machined from 416 stainless bar stock.
The operating system taps gas from the barrel just under the forend.
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more familiar than the AR-15stocks I’d used.
In two days of shooting, sev-eral hundred rounds were firedthrough the rifle. I decided itwas time for cleaning. If youdon’t read the instructions care-fully (I didn’t), it’s possible to in-advertently remove the crosspins securing the lower to theupper part of the receiver. Iknow from experience that youreally don’t want to do this.
After correcting the problemI’d created, I drifted out the cor-rect trio of pins, allowing thetrigger guard/magazine well as-sembly to be separated from theaction. Next I used the operatinghandle to start the bolt movingto the rear. Before the bolt wasfully retracted, I removed thebolt handle (necessary to thetake-down process), then placedmy fingers in front of the boltand pulled it all the way to therear. I took care not to put rear-ward pressure on the forwardpart of the bolt, otherwise Icouldn’t have removed the boltand its carrier from the receiver.Finally I lifted the bolt and car-rier free, exposing the bore forcleaning.
Disassembling the rifle, I wassurprised at the lack of dirt ordebris. The action looked spot-lessly clean in spite of all theammunition I’d put through it.
The Evolution is costly, but itreally performed. Tolerances areextremely tight, resulting in stel-lar accuracy. The rifle is heavy,even by varminting standards,but this isn’t a detriment whenyou shoot from a stationarybench. The bottom line? This isone of the most accurate riflesI’ve ever used on a prairie dogshoot. That’s saying a lot, partic-ularly for a self-loading rifle.
For more information, contactVolquartsen Custom, PO Box 397,Carroll IA 51401; or visit on lineat: www.volquartsen.com.
January-February 2010 83www.riflemagazine.com
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January-February 2010
iron sights are much greatertoday than they were then. Idon’t agree. Corbett said a scopeafforded an extra half-hour. That
is about what you wouldget today. Maybe a fewminutes more, but not aquantum increase.
Any serious advantagewith a scope lies in rangesbeyond 200 yards. Insidethat range, and especiallyfor hunting in thick brush
and rugged terrain, iron sightscan change the whole game. Ironsights restore to a rifle the in-stinctive handling of a shotgun.
In the end, Corbett dispatchedthe man-eating leopard ofRudraprayag – the most famousrenegade carnivore in history,aside from the man-eaters ofTsavo – with one shot, fired from20 feet – that’s right, feet – inpitch-darkness, as it attacked atethered goat. The rifle was his.275 Rigby, and it had a flashlighttaped to the side. He had the riflealready trained where he knewthe goat to be, and the dying bat-tery gave him one brief flash inwhich to glimpse the leopard andpull the trigger.
Would the shot have even beenpossible had the rifle been fittedwith a scope? I doubt it.
But I have no doubt at all, in the same situation or in any situ-ation involving a dangerous ani-mal at close quarters, I wouldtake iron sights, and the ability toshoot quickly and instinctively,every time.
97www.riflemagazine.com
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Col. Richard Meinertzhagenshot this tiger with aHolland & Holland .375double. In the thick under-growth, iron sights werenot only suitable, they gavea real advantage. The dateon the photo is April 28,1926. Just three days later,Jim Corbett killed theman-eating leopardof Rudraprayag.
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AD INDEX
Rifle 24898 www.riflemagazine.com
Jim Corbett is the most
famous tiger hunter of alltime, known to several genera-tions of hunters and readers fromhis books about hunting man-eaters in the Himalayas.
Corbett’s career began with thekilling of the Champawat man-eater in 1907 and continued untilthe outbreak of war in 1939. Al-though he collected his accounts
ing about any details of rifles unless they had a direct bearingon events – but it is safe to as-sume Ibbotson’s scope was eitherGerman or British, probably astraight 7⁄8-inch tube with magnifi-cation of 2x or 2.5x at the most.Such a scope would not givemuch advantage by today’s stan-dards, but according to Corbett,it afforded them a full half-hour
side the point: The scope gave aserious advantage, and Corbettrecognized it.
So the question is, why did Cor-bett not have a scope on any ofhis own rifles?
Throughout his hunting career,Corbett used at least five differ-ent rifles. He began with a Mar-tini-Henry .450 as a child, and
in two anthologies, an entirethird book – The Man-Eating
Leopard of Rudraprayag – wasdevoted to the hunting, and even-tual slaying, of one leopard thatterrorized the district of Garhwalfor eight years and killed morethan 125 human beings.
Corbett killed the Rudraprayagleopard in 1926. For most of thetime that he hunted it, Corbettused one of two rifles – a .275Rigby (7x57) and a .450/400 – andeventually killed the leopard withthe .275.
At one point, hunting with hisfriend Sir William Ibbotson, bothwere armed with .275s. Corbett’srifle had iron sights with foldingleaves set for ranges out to 300yards, while Ibbotson’s rifle hada scope. In 1926 scopes wererudimentary by today’s stan-dards. Corbett gives no details –he was infuriatingly unforthcom-
more shooting time than he hadwith iron sights.
One time, lying in wait for theleopard, Corbett guarded againstan attack while Ibbotson lay fac-ing the bait 100 yards away withhis scoped rifle aimed wherethey expected the leopard to ap-pear. Several times in the book,Corbett mentions the capabilitiesof the scope, and just as oftenthey tried to put them to use. Thefact that it never bore fruit is be-
later acquired a .500 BP doublerifle, in which he shot both blackpowder and “modified cordite”ammunition – a transitionalsmokeless load for use in black-powder proofed rifles. Althoughseveral tigers fell to the .500, Corbett moved on to a .450/400(whether the 31⁄4- or 3-inch ver-sion, I don’t know) shortly afterthey became available in theearly 1900s.
WALNUT HILL by Terry Wieland • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
A MAN OF IRON
An interesting sight arrangementon a W.J. Jeffery .404, built on amilitary Mauser action in the early1920s: The aperture on the striker isthe main sight; the standing leaf ofthe express sight has been hollowedout to allow a clear view throughthe aperture. When a longerdistance is needed, the appropriatefolding leaf is raised.
(Continued on page 95)
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