GunsAmerica Product Reviews – Rifles

The amazing new rimfire we have all been gushing about since January’s SHOT Show has finally come to fruition. Winchester Ammunition, teamed up with Savage Arms, has introduced a new .17 caliber cartridge called the .17 Winchester Super Magnum that is capable of firing a 20 grain bullet at just better than 3,000 feet per second. That makes it the fastest rimfire ever created, and puts it in a class pretty much by itself for long range rimfire competition and varmint hunting. The problem until now has been that the only reviews out there were from print writers who all shot the exact same prototype rifle that was made for a print writers roundup, so it had very little relationship to the actual gun that you would later find in a store. Add to that the fact that the ammo was simply not available, period. Savage sent us this test rifle over two months ago, but we had no ammo, so like everyone else, we waited. Finally, as you can see from these tests, the ammo has started to trickle out. Several of our dealers have reported that they have gotten 40 box orders in (and quickly out) the door, and this ammo you see here was purchased retail at Bass Pro in Hollywood, Florida. We were only able to get the 2600fps. 25 grain load, but it is still a rip roaring monster for a rimfire, and the accuracy is acceptable, (though not fabulous for a Savage). The Savage “B-Mag” rifle is currently the only gun for the cartridge, and it carries an MSRP of $349. As a first effort on a new and revolutionary rimfire, the B-Mag performed well, and the cartridge looks to have great potential.

Convertible guns have never been that popular in the US. Putting the top up and down is such a pain, and… just kidding. This type of convertible gun allows you to change calibers, shooting two or more types of ammo through the same gun. Europeans, and especially European hunters have always loved convertible guns, but they never really caught on here for some reason. It could be our obsession with rifle accuracy. Even though the average hunter can’t shoot within two minutes of basketball (according to famed hunter writer Ross Seyfried), Americans really love the idea of an accurate firearm, one that can, if shot by the right person with the right rest, shoot into the width of a quarter or less at 100 yards, or 1 MOA, for “Minute of Angle.” That was the challenge when CZ-USA decided to introduce a rimfire combo gun to the US market. It is called the Model 455 American Combo, and the retail prices start just north of $400. In the box, the gun comes with both .22LR and .17HMR barrels, and changing them out takes only two Allen wrenches, included with the gun. We shot our pictures of the test gun in the field, so you can see how easy it swaps, and the accuracy on both barrels is closer to 1/2MOA than 1MOA. The CZ 455 comes in a polymer stock configuration, a competition stock, even a Mannlicher style stock with hi-lux wood, in addition to the basic Walnut you see here. If you have longed for an old world style bolt rimfire, this CZ 455 offers you both the classic look and feel of the 50s and 60s, with the ability to convert from a .22LR plinker to a .17HMR hunting rifle, and you can get a .22WMR barrel as well.

Not all gun enthusiasts are gun nuts, so when the firearms industry comes out with a new “official” caliber, a lot of us just shake our heads and ask “why?” The .17 Hornet is the latest caliber to come into primetime. It was designed by Hornady after more than five decades of the cartridge living in the “wildcat” world of those who design their own calibers. The Hornady version of the .17 Hornet is slightly different than the original .17 Hornet designed by P.O. Ackley which was a necked down .22 Hornet. This .17 Hornet pushes a 20 grain bullet at over 3600 feet per second, and early tests showed great potential for the round not only in downrange performance, but also in extreme accuracy. Savage Arms, the company known more than anything for affordable out of the box accuracy, has teamed up with Hornady to introduce the round with 4 models in their Model 25 line. We were able to test the $635 MSRP camo version of the Savage “Walking Varminter” Model 25 in .17 Hornet and it is an insanely accurate tack driver, as well as being deadly on game. The interesting thing about the .17 Hornet is that it has nearly the same trajectory as the 55 grain .223 Remington, so you can use caliber specific reticle scopes meant for the .223, for the .17 Hornet. This isn’t a rimfire like the .17HMR. You can reload the .17 Hornet and handload it to tune the round to your rifle. Good luck trying to find the rounds or brass right now, but by mid-summer we’ll probably be able to get it, and the rifles are out and available.

It used to be that a hunting rifle was something you took out of the gun cabinet once a year, usually around the first week in November. Whitetail used to be synonymous with hunting, but that is no longer the case. Nuisance animals, with no natural predators who hunt them, have reached an epic proportion in America, and a lot of people hunt them for sport, while serving a useful cause for weary landowners. Hogs, coyotes, prairie dogs and even alligators have turned “hunting season” into a year round experience, one that is entirely different than whitetail hunting. Ambush Rifles is a project of Daniel Defense, makers of high end customizable AR-15 platform rifles. The Ambush rifle is an AR-15, and all of the parts are interchangeable with a normal AR, but that is where the similarity ends. Anyone can dip an AR-15 in camo and cal it a hunting rifle, but Daniel Defense has taken the Ambush a step higher, by fitting it with not only premium components and a hammer forged barrel, but also a shotgun like fore-grip and monolithic upper for sturdy performance from your optics. Most importantly, the Ambush isn’t only available in in 5.56 NATO. We have used a version in the devastating 6.8 SPC, and the hottest caliber out these days is the .300 Blackout. All three calibers carry an MSRP of $1749. Our experience with the first version of the Ambush for over a year now has been incredible. Take a look at the pictures. This is only a fraction of the game that has fallen to our 6.8 Ambush. The second version of these guns is now shipping, and they are even better than the originals.

Not a lot of people would argue that the .223/5.56 is an extremely versatile and useful cartridge. The problem is that not everyone wants to shoot an AR-15 platform for every task, and let’s face it, AR-15s aren’t cheap. Mossberg came up with an idea to make a .223 bolt gun that uses AR-15 mags and for SHOT Show of this year, they released the MVP series. A lot of us are jumping up and down yelling YES YES YES. The MVPs come in several different configurations, from a 24″ barrel and target stock, down to a 16″ stubby patrol rifle that takes a suppressor. All of the guns have a 1:9 twist rate, so they will handle the same range of bullets as most AR-15s, and from what we found with our test gun, an 18″ laminate stock Predator model, these new Mossberg bolt guns are tack drivers. Our primary concern testing the gun was whether the reverse engineering for AR-15 mags worked as hoped, because nobody has really done this before and you have to wonder why. But our little MVP had zero problems digesting from its own 10 round mag and even the long 30 round P-Mags, never failing to pick up the next round, and you could jiggle the magazine back and forth with no hitching of the bolt whatsoever. It works because Mossberg put a little tab sticking out of the bottom of the bolt to pick up the shells. The MSRP for our MVP Predator is $729, and the series tops out at the Flex Patrol version at $928. The street prices will be well under that when the market comes back to normal, and your local stocking dealer most likely has them well below MSRP right now, but call before you go. The MVP seems like an idea whose time has come, and these guns are 100% Made in USA.

At first blush you might think you have to shell out big bucks for a long-range rifle, but the Remington Model 700 SPS Tactical AAC-SD with a suggested retail of only $833 will hold its own against rifles costing much more. Features like a 1-in-10-inch twist, 20-inch heavy barrel with a threaded muzzle, a Hogue OverMolded Ghillie Green Pillar Bedded Stock and Remington’s externally adjustable X-Mark Pro trigger make this .308 Win. a bargain when it comes to precision rifles.

For those of you who have been following our Garands from the Government series, you probably remember back in the first article that we ordered two M1 Garand snipers rifles. They are called the M1C and the M1D, and as guns go, they are very different from each other. Both models are much more expensive than the other rifles available from the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP), and for the collector and military enthusiast they are far more exciting than run of the mill Garands. Sniper Garands were not a big factor in World War II, but they were the dominant sniper rifle in the Korean conflict, and many soldiered well on into the 1970s, serving in Vietnam and around the world. These CMP guns were mostly made during Korea, where both the M1C and M1D were used extensively. The condition on the guns is excellent and though both of the famous Garand Snipers have been extremely rare through the years, a recent re-importation of rifles from Greece that had been on loan has provided a entirely new wave of extremely collectible and shootable guns that will be the stars of any Garand collection. This article outlines what makes the two models different and what you can expect if you decide to buy one from CMP, as well as how to make your own versions of the M1C and M1D from an M1 Garand that you already own. We also cover the optics that were used on the guns back in the day, as well as some new replicas from Gun Parts Corp.

You may remember from our SHOT Show 2012 coverage that a new copy of the famous World War II “assault rifle” the Stg-44 was supposed to come out this summer. It is out, and it is called the GSG Schmeisser STG-44, available in .22LR. Made in modern day Germany, the gun is imported into the US exclusively by American Tactical Imports (ATI) with an MSRP of $599.95. Like the other German Sports Guns (GSG) replicas we have seen, the similarity to the original is uncanny, and the gun is nice and solid and feels “right.” Even though this rimfire version of the Stg-44 carries a collector premium price tag, this is the one gun that most World War II buffs assume they can never own. Original Stg-44s are prohibitively expensive, and this gun looks great, feels right, and shoots well enough for plinking. What do you get the old fart for Christmas who has everything and loves World War II junk? I’ll give you a hint. It is about the same weight as a big coffee table book, but it would look a lot better on your coffee table when guests come over than any tired old coffee table book I have ever seen. You guessed it. It’s a .22LR version of the infamous Stg-44!

All other things being equal, the AK-47 nearly always wins on price. Therefore most of us end up with at least one AK in our gun accumulation. The problem is, all things are not equal with the AK. They are known for reliability that exceeds ridiculous, but they are also known to be horribly inaccurate. If you follow our exploits here at GunsAmerica, you probably read our recent underwater, in the mud test of a high end AK from Century Arms called the PAP, but most of us out here have the inexpensive, garden variety Romanian AK-47 that generally retails for well under $500. These guns are the poster children for no matter what reliability, but they also are known as “spray and pray” guns, though the parameters of spray and pray would vary depending upon who you ask. We have tried to scope the AK-47 with one of many not ready for primetime scope mounting systems over the years, and they are always a disaster. But times have changed. You aren’t going to get anything like good accuracy out of an AK-4, but with the right mount and the right scope you can get accuracy good enough for just about any self defense situation, and even 3-Gun and other tactical rifle competitions, provided the targets aren’t too far away. For this article we review the highly rated rail/scope mounting system from Texas Weapons Systems, $139.99, and the Hi-Lux CMR scope with a new AK762 reticle, $436, which is special made for the ballistics of the 7.62×39 AK-47 cartridge. This combination delivered acceptable accuracy for an AK-47, and is a platform that is as hardcore as the AK-47 itself.