New Rifles, Old Rifles
Are the Good Old Days now?
Top is a stainless steel Remington 700 from the mid-1960s
re-barreled in .243 Win. Scope is a Redfield 6-18 variable.
Beneath it is a 50th anniversary model in 7mm Rem Mag.
with Redfield 3-9x40 scope.
If someone from 1950 were magically transported to the present day, he would find many things profoundly changed or simply gone forever. Grocery stores, cameras, music systems, automobiles, air travel, and telephones all changed almost beyond recognition.
The Remington 722 was the short action version of the 721. This .244 Rem
(later renamed the 6mm Rem) bears a Leupold scope from the 1950s with
a 7/8" diameter main tube in Leupold base/rings.
It’s About Time
But once our time traveler got hold of a hunting rifle, he’d feel right at home. One such time traveler, Mike from Wisconsin, showed up at my farm recently, dazed and confused about suddenly being transported 75 years into the future. Coffee got him functioning again and as hunters will, we began discussing guns and hunting. Mike had recently purchased a new .30-’06 Remington 721 and used it on a successful deer hunt. The 721/722 series evolved into the tremendously successful and popular model 700, which remains a best seller to this day.
When I showed Mike my model 700 stainless SPS, handling it was second nature for him, no surprise as it was basically the same as his 721. Bolt operation, safety location, loading and unloading; even the trigger pull was much the same. He was puzzled a bit by the cartridge designation — “.243, never heard of it. I suppose the .30-’06 is long since obsolete?” Well no, actually not. “You’re still using cartridges with powder and primers? I thought you’d be using ray guns by now.”
“No, ray guns never really caught on, too expensive. Except with the military.”
Mike was surprised. “You do have flying cars though, right?”
“Of course. I’d give you a ride in mine but it’s in the shop right now getting the flux capacitor repaired.”
Mike said, “Let’s get back to the rifle. Are you saying this current hunting rifle is mechanically identical to my rifle of 75 years ago?”
“Not quite. They added a groove in one of the locking lugs to ride a lip in the receiver for smoother bolt operation. And they changed the trigger about half a dozen times. Go ahead and dry fire it if you want, I don’t mind.”
Mike aimed the rifle at a nearby hill and tried the trigger. “Not bad, almost as good as the trigger on my 721. But seriously, you’re still using the same basic rifle design from 75 years ago? I know hunters and shooters are traditionalists by nature but this is ridiculous.”
I started to talk about laser rangefinders, CAD/CAM manufacturing, scopes with dependable and repeatable adjustments. But Mike said nope, those don’t count, only changes in the rifle itself.
Bolt face of the Remington 700 rifle showing twin locking lugs
and spring-loaded ejector. The extractor is a spring clip in the bolt
face so there are no cuts in the ring of steel surrounding the case head.
Steel Reserve
The most obvious changes in rifles have been stainless steel replacing blued carbon steel for barrels and receivers, and synthetics replacing wood for stocks. I admit to being a bit slow to adapt. I like the look of blue steel and nice wood, and living in the relatively dry prairie west I haven’t had to worry much about rust. But not everyone lives in arid climates. For those who live where humidity is high, especially in ocean salt air, rust-resistance is a blessing.
Wood was the traditional material for rifle stocks for decades. Wood can be readily shaped and checkered, it looks good and in the fanciest grains it is stunningly beautiful. The problem with wood is it never really stops moving. Synthetics first caught on for their strength and stability. True, some inexpensive synthetics are flexible and don’t inspire much confidence, but the cheaper wood stocks were not so great either.
I won’t claim today’s barrels are more accurate, but I will say they are more consistently accurate. Just about any new rifle off the rack will provide at least acceptable accuracy. Makers have learned a lot about steel properties, heat treatment, stress relieving and quality control. Buy a rifle today, even a value-priced model, and you may not get the ultimate in accuracy but it’s very unlikely you’ll get a bad one.
Bullet makers have developed (often with computer assistance) long, sleek, highly efficient bullets, which retain velocity and resist wind drift better than older designs. These long bullets need a faster twist to stabilize. The Remington 722 of the 1950s had a 1:12 twist in .244 Rem. while its .243 Win. rival customarily had a 1:10 twist. The current Remington 700 SPS stainless has a 1:8 twist in .223 Rem. and .243 Win., better suited for long, high ballistic coefficient bullets.
Weight Loss
In the 1950s and ’60s, it seemed the only way for manufacturers to reduce rifle weight was by slimming or shortening the barrel. Current production uses lighter materials such as carbon fiber, Kevlar and titanium. Makers use methods such as barrel and bolt fluting to reduce weight or they start with a clean sheet and design actions to eliminate excess weight. Rifles in the 6-lb. range are commonplace these days, and under 5 lbs. are available if you want to spend a bit more.
I left Mike in the kitchen studying my computer (no doubt in awe) while I went to get my Kimber Adirondack. When I returned, Mike was gone, back to his time zone. The computer was open to a page listing World Series winners from 1950 on. Apparently he had been memorizing the page. Now why on earth would he want such information?
