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Reliability in a bolt gun is a beautiful thing. Let me tell you about one of my favorite rifles. a pre-War Model 70 Winchester, serial number in the 27,000 range.

High power competetive shooting on the rifle range involves rapid fire: ten shots standing to sitting in 60 seconds at 200 yards, ten shots standing to prone at 300 yards in 70 seconds. The target is the same at both ranges, with a 3" "X" ring, a 7" "10" ring and a 13" "9" ring.

The shooter starts with a loaded magazine, bolt open, standing up on the firing point. When the targets appear, he goes into position, closes the bolt and fires five shots, then, using a stripper clip, recharges the magazine and fires the remaining five shots. It takes about 12 seconds to get into position and break the first shot and between 8-10 seconds more to break the sixth shot after reloading When you subtract another 5 seconds as a safety margin, the shooter actually has about 35 seconds at 200 yards and 45 seconds at 300 yards to fire the ten shots, about 3.5 to 4.5 seconds per shot, using metallic sights, which have to be aligned with each other and the target for every shot.

It's important that the shots all go on the right target,(there are up to 150 targets in a row at Camp Perry) so a certain amount of time is spent with each shot verifying that the target being aimed at is the correct one. Also, using a rifle chambered for the .308 Winchester cartridge means that there is a certain amount of recoil which must be dealt with.

Having a bolt action which is easy to operate and reliable is a given.

I remember once at the National Matches at Camp Perry I fumbled the reload at 300 yards. I don't remember what exactly happened, but somehow I broke the stripper clip and ended up having to load two rounds individually from the mat. I glanced at my stop watch as I finally closed the bolt and went back into position. 8 seconds left before the targets disappeared. Somehow I blazed them off and when the targets came up, all were at least in the "9" ring. If I had "saved" a round or two, I would have lost 10 points per round. That's not significant compared to getting et, but it meant a lot to me at the time.

I have no idea how many rounds I have through that rifle. but I have worn out several barrels with it at about 6000 rounds per barrel and it has never let me down. That's what I call reliability.

I will never own a hunting rifle which I could test to the extent my target rifles have been tested, but hours of practice in the field, firing countless reduced loads with lead bullets gave me a sense of confidence in them which proved fully justified in the field. That is a practice I would recommend to anyone planning to hunt dangerous game, in Africa or elsewhere, or non-dangerous game, for that matter, where a reliable second shot might make the difference between a quick kill and a long drawn out search for wounded game.

In its previous incarnation as a .375 H&H my ZKK 602, manufactured in the 1960's, was totally reliable. In its new incarnation as a .500 Jeffery, it will have to prove itself.

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