Rifles

Smith & Wesson has added a new extension to its Military & Police (M&P) Rifle Series with the introduction of the M&P15 chambered in 300 Whisper.

Despite the long-standing availability of the AR-10, 30-caliber semi-automatic rifles continue to be less popular than the 5.56mm/223 Rem. AR-15 little brother. But just like the high-capacity 9mm pistol led to the popularity of more powerful high-capacity handguns, we're still interested in finding a good 30-cal carbine.

Our latest acquisitions in this quest began with Ruger's newest 7.62x39mm Mini-Thirty carbine, the $921 No. 5854. We wanted to see if shortening the barrel to a hair over 16 inches would make it a better choice. For the AK-47 adherents, we added a $1270 Colorado Shooting Sports Custom Combat Gen 2 AK-47 that featured the addition of a Lightning Bolt and Lightning Lever for improved combat readiness. Our third gun chambered the 300 Whisper, a round designed to be fired through a suppressor. Built by SSK Industries, this was a $1300 AR-15 platform capable of shooting both high-velocity and subsonic velocity rounds with the twist of a screw in the handguard.

Since our primary interest was close quarters battle, our accuracy tests were limited to benchrest shooting from the 50-yard line. But we also challenged the SSK Industries 300 Whisper to longer distances to learn more about this cartridge.

In addition, we had some very specific questions to answer that had more to do with the general "shootability" of these carbines, including rapid fire. We got some help practicing for shots of record from a couple of new products from Battenfeld Technologies.

They were Caldwell's $130 Dead Shot Field Pod and the $170 Magnum Rifle Gong. The Field Pod is an ultra lightweight collapsible shooting rest with a carry sling. We especially liked the gong because its frame broke down to 5 easy-to-carry pieces plus the durable AR550 steel plate. Ringing the gong gave our test evaluators immediate feedback and we didn't have to paste up targets. It was a lot of fun for our testers, too.

For optics we mounted the same Springfield Armory 3-9X40mm A.R.T. IV variable power scope on both the Ruger and SSK Industries carbines. The Colorado Shooting Sports AK-47 utilized a forward mount with an Aimpoint CompML2 with 4-MOA red dot mounted and sighted in by CSS. It seemed ideally suited to the weapon and was a better choice than any long-relief scope we could supply. In view of our relatively short test distance, we chose to leave it in place.

For ammunition we utilized four different rounds of 7.62x39mm ammunition. They were 124-grain soft point Wolf Military Classic, 124-grain FMJ American Eagle, Remington UMC 123-grain Metal Case, and Winchester 123-grain full-metal-jacket rounds. Our 300 Whisper ammunition consisted of three Cor-Bon rounds and three Hornady rounds. The Hornady rounds were the 110-grain VMax, 208-grain AMax, plus a handload topped with a Hornady 169-grain hollowpoint boattail bullet. The Cor-Bon rounds were 125-grain jacketed hollowpoint rounds, 220-grain Subsonic rounds and a 150-grain jacketed soft point. Unfortunately, we had difficulty chambering the 150-grain JSP rounds and returned them to Cor-Bon for analysis.

(GunReports.com) -- PARA USA announced today that it was exiting the rifle market to concentrate on its core competency in handguns. CEO Thanos Polyzos said, “PARA has some exciting new projects in development that will continue the innovation that we started with the high capacity P14-45 pistol. We want to bring these exciting new major caliber handguns to the firearms market and we need to focus our attention on them.”

The 22 autoloading rifle is an American icon. Many a youngster had one for his first rifle, and while they may not be ideal for that service, they are unquestionably handy rifles for any serious outdoorsman. They can also be excellent training pieces for just about anyone interested in serious shooting. So Gun Tests Magazine found a Remington 597 SS with stainless barrel and synthetic stock ($283) at a local gun shop.

(GunReports.com) -- Chiappa Firearms is introducing two new .45-70 lever action carbines for 2011. These new carbines can safely fire full-power modern era ammunition or traditional era correct .45-70 loads.

In the May 2009 issue we tested four semi-automatic rifles chambered for 308 Winchester. Our test rifles were the DSA FAL SA58 No. SA58B21CM, $2095; the FNH USA FNAR Light Barreled Rifle No. 3108929250, $1821; the Springfield Armory Loaded M1A No. MA9226, $2363; and the Fulton Armory Universal Precision Rifle, $1969; an AR-style gun based on Fultons Titan II lineup. The winner of the test was the Springfield, which earned a B+ grade from our testers, followed closely by the FNH with a B grade. Trailing those rifles were the C- rated DSA, which didnt show enough accuracy for our tastes, and the Fulton Armory Universal Precision Rifle, which we rated as a D. The summary for the UPR said, "Too many malfunctions caused us to downgrade this rifle. If it were only a matter of a bad magazine, then this is a good example of why all guns, especially expensive ones, should be shipped with an extra magazine. But when it ran properly we think this was the best AR-10 weve handled. If youre willing to fix the problem under warranty, then adjust the grading yourself."Because the article was negative regarding Fultons UPR, we offered W. Clint McKee, the companys president, the chance to respond at length to the May article. He did so in "Firing Line" in the July 2009 issue, writing, "Regarding your test and D grade of the Fulton Armory UPR in the May issue, we received the rifle back and test-fired it without doing anything to it. That is, we simply took it out of the shipping box, ran a patch down the bore to clear any potential obstruction and then just shot it. Shot it with the mag Roger Eckstine received, and with some mags off the shelf, with round counts of 4, 9, and 19. We even shot it with one additional round forced into the mag (10 in the 9-round mag, 20 in the 19-round mag), and we even held it loosely (not against a hard backstop like a shoulder) which can cause short-stroking in semiautos), and still it fired every round, every way, flawlessly. Not a single malfunction. Not one."The rifle has not been disassembled, cleaned, lubed, nothing. I have instructed that it remain this way, untouched, so we can test it again, and again. For a rifle that reportedly functioned so poorly it could not even be used to complete your testing, a rifle that performed so horribly that you failed it in a public venue (by dropping it from the test) without any communication/question/elucidation as to possible causes from the manufacturer is simply incomprehensible to me."Though we didnt find anything wrong to repair, were shipping it back to Houston for the customer, the Gun Tests team, to reshoot. If it functions correctly, as I expect it will, I hope youll revise the guns grade because youll find the UPR works properly, and Fulton Armory gave its customer the prompt attention that every purchaser of our products gets."This Special Report recaps our follow-up testing of the UPR. The results from our retest were conducted by Benjamin A. Brooks, one of the magazines FFL gun coordinators and a longtime shooter with a Master ranking for across-the-course High Power.

In the May 2009 issue we tested four semi-automatic rifles chambered for 308 Winchester. Our test rifles were the DSA FAL SA58 No. SA58B21CM, $2095; the FNH USA FNAR Light Barreled Rifle No. 3108929250, $1821; the Springfield Armory Loaded M1A No. MA9226, $2363; and the Fulton Armory Universal Precision Rifle, $1969; an AR-style gun based on Fultons Titan II lineup. The winner of the test was the Springfield, which earned a B+ grade from our testers, followed closely by the FNH with a B grade. Trailing those rifles were the C- rated DSA, which didnt show enough accuracy for our tastes, and the Fulton Armory Universal Precision Rifle, which we rated as a D. The summary for the UPR said, "Too many malfunctions caused us to downgrade this rifle. If it were only a matter of a bad magazine, then this is a good example of why all guns, especially expensive ones, should be shipped with an extra magazine. But when it ran properly we think this was the best AR-10 weve handled. If youre willing to fix the problem under warranty, then adjust the grading yourself."Because the article was negative regarding Fultons UPR, we offered W. Clint McKee, the companys president, the chance to respond at length to the May article. He did so in "Firing Line" in the July 2009 issue, writing, "Regarding your test and D grade of the Fulton Armory UPR in the May issue, we received the rifle back and test-fired it without doing anything to it. That is, we simply took it out of the shipping box, ran a patch down the bore to clear any potential obstruction and then just shot it. Shot it with the mag Roger Eckstine received, and with some mags off the shelf, with round counts of 4, 9, and 19. We even shot it with one additional round forced into the mag (10 in the 9-round mag, 20 in the 19-round mag), and we even held it loosely (not against a hard backstop like a shoulder) which can cause short-stroking in semiautos), and still it fired every round, every way, flawlessly. Not a single malfunction. Not one."The rifle has not been disassembled, cleaned, lubed, nothing. I have instructed that it remain this way, untouched, so we can test it again, and again. For a rifle that reportedly functioned so poorly it could not even be used to complete your testing, a rifle that performed so horribly that you failed it in a public venue (by dropping it from the test) without any communication/question/elucidation as to possible causes from the manufacturer is simply incomprehensible to me."Though we didnt find anything wrong to repair, were shipping it back to Houston for the customer, the Gun Tests team, to reshoot. If it functions correctly, as I expect it will, I hope youll revise the guns grade because youll find the UPR works properly, and Fulton Armory gave its customer the prompt attention that every purchaser of our products gets."This Special Report recaps our follow-up testing of the UPR. The results from our retest were conducted by Benjamin A. Brooks, one of the magazines FFL gun coordinators and a longtime shooter with a Master ranking for across-the-course High Power.

The ancient Mosin Nagant rifle has a storied history. It was the first magazine rifle adopted by Russia, back in 1891. The early versions harked back to Civil War rifles as to overall length. The first version of the rifle was over 50 inches long, and by 1930, as with our test rifles, the length is still over 4 feet. Add a bayonet and the gun resembles a spear more than a modern rifle. However, the basic design is still being used by many troops who need a stout bolt-action rifle, well over a century after its introduction. The Mosin Nagant will never win any beauty contest, mostly because of its drop-down magazine, and we don't know of any custom sporters built on them, though they surely exist. However ugly the rifle may be, it has served long and well as a prime military weapon.

In this report we tried to find out how good a military rifle the 1930 variant was, and if it was any better with a scope. To that end, we acquired two of the long Model 1891/30 rifles, which designation indicates the original design was seriously modified in 1930. One of our test rifles was a common variety and the other, the "sniper" version with a reproduction period scope. The two rifles came with a package of bayonet, sling, and cleaning materials. We tested them with three bullet types and weights, 150-grain soft-point boattail, 182-grain FMJ BT, and 203-grain soft point. The first two types of our test ammo were made by the Serbian Prvi Partizan company, and the third by Brown Bear, out of Russia. Here's what we found.

Colt Defense LLC is now on Facebook. And as a way to say “‘thank you” to its customers and to encourage new enthusiasts to join the conversation, Colt is also offering a chance to win a Colt 6920 AR-15 rifle to those who visit the new page.

Fulton Armory is a small manufacturer located in Savage, Maryland, known in the competitive shooting market for its reproductions of the M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, and M-14 models. Their AR-15s aren’t chopped liver either: Fulton’s FAR-15 (5.56/223 Rem.) was our gun of the year in 2009. Now the Titan FAR-308 was in our crosshairs. To ensure neutral opinions on this gun, none of our testers had participated in last year’s review of the FAR-15.

NSSF's Dave Miles takes a look at the popular and rapidly growing sport of three-gun shooting with Tom Fuller of Bushnell during the AR15.com/Rockcastle 3-gun Pro AM held at Rockcastle Shooting Center at Park Mamoth Resort in Park City, KY.

The Savage Model 10 Scout is another attempt to emulate the Steyr Jeff Cooper Scout without breaking the bank. In our May 2011 issue, we tested the Steyr Scout against the new Ruger Gunsite Scout rifle, and though we thought the Ruger looked great, we also thought it was too heavy. We wondered why Ruger insisted on such a heavy, if durable, laminated stock for that gun. Savage put a synthetic, all-black stock on its version of the Scout, so we hoped it would 'make weight,' as Cooper used to put it, which means be light enough to equal the original concept, which the Steyr barely does. We acquired a copy of the Savage Scout and put it to the test to see how it compared to the Steyr, with a few notes on the Ruger. This is what we found.