|
|
|||||||
For what it's worth, I killed my 1st deer of this season with my old (1941) Remington M141 in 35 Remington. Peep sight, and the shot was 181 yards. Bang/Flop. Pumps are very cool, but have not been paid attention too enough (I believe anyway) I believe a pump is a design that should be revisited by the sporting arms makers. Remington M760s were pretty good, but could have been so much better if they had incorporated a better extractor and inertia ejector (like those on my 141) and a telescoping forearm hanger that was square instead of round. That could have kept the forearm from touching the barrel at any point even if the hold was a bit "sideways". If so made, the barrel would have remained fully free-floated no mater how the rifle was held. Also making the guts more robust and adding a good trigger would have been things that would have made the gun a lot more desirable to the American hunter and rifleman. Pumps are best as hunting rifles and not fighting rifles, but can bridge the gap in some cases. Overall, I think Browning/Winchester, Ruger, and perhaps Savage and Mossberg should re-think the idea and see what could be made. Looking at the overall design of an AR10, such a bolt and carrier can easily be made to use a forearm lever instead of gas impulse, and such a rifle could be quite a good hunting arm. By making the cam arm a bit longer and off-setting the action rod, initial extraction can be made easier. The bolt design is already quite strong. The bolt carrier need not be as long because no return spring is needed, so the action can be modified to accept existing length mags, and it would not be a big trick to make a variant with 30-06 length mages either. If we look at the accuracy available in the AR15 and AR10lines, removing the gas system and simply adding an action bar to unlock and reciprocate the bolt and carrier would not be hard to do and the accuracy could be outstanding. It's a design I have had drawn up for about 20 years, but I don't have a set of machines to build the prototype. But I do think the American and probably the Canadian sportsmen would think such a rifle would be very desirable. Magazines can be made to hold 3, 5, 10, 20, and even 30 rounds, but for the hunter, I am betting 3 to 5 is going to be the way most would like the rifles set up. f0or all the 223 and 308 base cartridges I would make the rifle to accept military spec mags. For 30-06 and shells up to 338 mag, I would spec out a set of mags for that size and length of cartridge. In the USA the pump shotgun is by far the most popular, and pump rifles are often skipped because of the "lack of accuracy" and the lack of selection of calibers. My design would eliminate 98% of the objections. FAR better extraction and ejection than what's available now and for the last 50 years. FAR better potential accuracy, A LOT of options as to calibers and barrel lengths. Excellent triggers right out of the box, safeties that are easy to change from left to right handed shooters, ease of scoping and a good set of iron sights available. All the things dedicated hunters would love and also set up for real riflemen too, with excellent sights and scope mounting available, excellent triggers, adjustable or switchable stocks for differing LOPs, calibers from 17 Remington to 338 Win mag and 375 Ruger. with AR15 size mags we could have 17 Rem, 204 Ruger, 5.56 NATO, 6.5 Grendel, 6.8SPC, 300 Blackout, 458 SOCOM and 50 Beowulf. With the AR10 size we could offer the 243, 6.5 Creedmoor, 7-08 308 338 Federal and 358 Winchester. With the new 30-06 length we can offer the 25-06, 270, 280, 30-06 338-06 35 Whelen, 9.3X62 and with the same length mag with wider feed lips we could offer the 7MM Rem mag, 300 Win Mag 338 Win mag, and 375 Ruger. With changeable bolts (bolt carriers need not be changed) and a set up for a simple barrel nut tool, it would be easy to swap calibers too, with the owners being able to swap out barrels to any caliber that will fit in their magazine well. For example oing from a 25-06 to a 375 Ruger would me having a different magazine, a different bolt and a different barrel, and about 5 minutes to do it. Going from a 243 to a 358 Win would requite only a different barrel and that same 5 minutes of time. All done to a very high degree of precision and done in a way that was also affordable to make such swaps. I do believe such a gun would really catch on if it were made available. And looking at what I know of manufacturing, I also believe the whole package could be offered for a retail price under $1000. |