Category: All About Guns
I don’t think the claim was that it had no recoil; rather, I believe it was designed to fire bursts so fast that it could send three rounds downrange before the operator perceived the recoil, thus improving accuracy.
Beyond that: I don’t really know. If I had to guess, I’d say the G11 is an example of one of those guns that comes along once in awhile that’s basically the solution to problems nobody really has. The idea of a rifle that can easily carry 50 rounds, and is immune to the sorts of malfunctions/stoppages that can be associated with metal casings, is intriguing…but not really the answer to anyone’s prayers.
Moreover: forward leaps in technology with no proven track record can be scary and intimidating to organizations in any context, especially when the industry is one in which reliable and effective performance is literally the difference between “life” and “death.” It may seem funny now, but when the first M16 rifles made it to line troops during the Vietnam War, one of the reasons why it was initially regarded with distrust was that troops accustomed to large-bore weapons of forged iron/steel and wood felt that the new space-age weapon made of lightweight composite alloys and polymers was flimsy and toy-like (“the Mattel plastic gun”) and assumed it’s small, high-velocity bullet wouldn’t inflict much injury.
H&K’s M8 rifle, which in my opinion incorporated a lot of great features— particularly it’s highly-modular nature— has nonetheless failed to get much traction (or buyers) despite getting serious consideration in military trials by a number of countries, including the US.
Other typical reasons for certain weapons not getting wide acceptance: politics, military bureaucracy, cost of purchase/integration of new weapons systems.
The Remington Model 8 and FN 1900 rifles were the brainchild of John Moses Browning. Originally patented in 1900, the design was the first successful high-powered semi-auto rifle made, and it is no surprise the great J.M.B. was the designer. While Remington built the U.S. market version, Browning contracted with FN to build the European market model 1900s as he already had a good relationship with the firm who already produced many of his designs.
The rifle is long-recoil operated and feeds from a fixed magazine. The Remington Model 8 was chambered in four different Remington rimless cartridges, they were the .25, .30, .32, and .35 Remington while the FN produced variant was only made in 9mm FN which for all intents and purposes is .35 Remington.
The 1900 models were offered starting in 1911 by FN retailers and were available as late as 1931-1932. Some believe that the rifles were mostly all built before the outbreak of WWI but there may have been a small parts clean-up run in the years following.
FN only produced 4,913 of these rifles and they were never officially imported into the United States, there was really no reason to do so when Remingotn was selling the model 8. Considering the price of the 1900 was also $17 dollars more than a Grade III Model 8, it was a wise business decision to not spend the time or money importing them when Americans could get, effectively, the same gun with a different roll mark.
Compared to its sibling made by Remington, the FN model has a few differences, namely the markings, the more elegant looking bolt knob, the lower tang locking screw…and most have a rib. This is an already rare rifle made even rarer by not having a rib and is an early variant with the proofs on the left side.
In a move that will surely make my colleagues Jeff Charles and Ward Clark happy, renowned firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson ditched deep blue Massachusetts and moved its headquarters to friendlier pastures in Tennessee. Although the move was announced in 2021, it was on Saturday that the company officially opened its new 650,000-square feet building in Marysville as part of a $125 million relocation effort.
The company has been in New England since its founding in 1852, but Massachusetts’ strict gun laws are at least partly to blame for their exodus:
The gunmaker had been located in Springfield, Massachusetts, since the mid-19th century, but company officials have said legislative proposals in that state would prohibit them from manufacturing certain weapons. Massachusetts is known to have some of the country’s strictest gun laws.
I’m sure the high taxes didn’t help either; there’s a reason some call the state “Taxachusetts.” It’s also certainly not a coincidence that Tennessee is far friendlier to law-abiding gun owners than Mass.:
Smith & Wesson President and CEO Mark Smith spoke at the event Saturday, which drew a large crowd to the new facility, The Daily Times reported.
“From where I stand, the next 170 years of Smith & Wesson are looking pretty good,” Smith said. “It is something special here in Tennessee.”
He cited a welcoming regulatory environment and close collaboration with the Tennessee state government as a crucial piece of the plan to relocate. The company has said the new facility would create hundreds of jobs.
Tennessee has moved to loosen gun restrictions in recent years under Republican leadership. In 2021, the state passed a law to allow most adults 21 and older to carry handguns without a permit that requires first clearing a state-level background check and training.
The National Rifle Association applauded the move and congratulated the company on their ribbon-cutting ceremony:
“Congratulations to Smith & Wesson on their grand opening in Tennessee. This move is a testament to their enduring legacy, their commitment to firearm excellence, and to the importance of preserving America’s gun industry and Second Amendment rights in a fair environment,” NRA Executive Director of Advancement Tyler Schropp told Fox News Digital in an exclusive comment.
As part of the opening day ceremonies, guns were naturally fired, and shooter Jerry Miculek set a world record:
This is how it’s done, folks. If a state is treating a company badly, they should get the heck out of dodge and relocate to where they’re appreciated. California Gov. Gavin Newsom knows this all too well, as dozens of corporations have headed for the exits during his disastrous tenure. The full list is lengthy, but here are just who have fled the Golden State in just the last three years: McAfee (cybersecurity), Boingo Wireless, American Airlines (flight attendant base), Chevron, Tesla, Charles Schwab, Oracle…
Ok, you get the idea. The point is, just like Bud Light and Target learned, the power of the purse is tremendous. If you’re not wanted, then why not take your money and go elsewhere?
Nice shot, Smith & Wesson.
So-called “red flag laws” have become a recent favorite of gun control activists, who portray them as a way to keep firearms out of “dangerous hands.” The laws empower judges to issue case-by-case firearm prohibition and confiscation orders, upon a petitioner’s showing that the respondent of the order poses a danger to themselves or others.
The concept has at times held superficial appeal even to those who might normally support Second Amendment rights. But it’s constitutionality and efficacy wilt under close, critical scrutiny, which is why the NRA opposes the concept.
Last week, an unusually revealing article by Bridge Michigan, an independent news source from the Wolverine State, brought another critical voice to the debate: that of the police who will actually be tasked with executing the orders. Entitled “Michigan police agencies sweating enforcement of ‘red flag’ gun laws,” it vividly underscores the difference between theory and practice when it comes to gun control.
Among the officials quoted in the article is Robert Stevenson, executive director of the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police. He said he supports the idea that people who are “not mentally balanced” should not have firearms, but he is concerned with the practicalities of how police will enforce Michigan’s new red flag law, which takes effect next spring. Stevenson offered several scenarios in which the supposedly “lifesaving” law could itself pose lethal risks.
As he explained to Bridge Michigan:
What happens if the person with the order tries to hurt the officers? What if the person who was deemed suicidal becomes overwhelmed and still poses harm to themselves when their guns are being seized? What if the individual with an order has to be detained by force or even be killed, due to the threat they pose?
From the citizen’s perspective, Stevenson said, it could be a case of: “We’re trying to save somebody in the family. We went to the police to save them, and they killed them.”
The legislator who spearheaded Michigan’s red flag effort, Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak), claimed to Bridge Michigan she “studied the laws in other states, such as California and Florida” and “found no instances of a gun being fired during a seizure of weapons.”
Sen. McMorrow’s research, however, was seriously flawed.
A simple Internet inquiry should have revealed to her that Gary J. Willis, a 61-year-old African American man, was killed by police in Anne Arundel, Md., as they attempted to retrieve his firearm under a red flag order shortly after 5:00 a.m. on Nov. 5, 2018.
Willis’s wife, Dolly, was also home at the time. Police claim that Willis became increasingly agitated as officers explained the requirements of the order to him and that he reached for the gun after he had voluntarily set it aside at their request.
Willis died on the scene after being shot at least five times by police. A Baltimore Sun article quoted the local police chief as saying the execution of red flag orders involves, by definition, “a tense, dangerous situation,” one he would prefer to be handled by SWAT teams.
Gun control advocates like to claim any intrusion on constitutional rights is justified, if it “could save just one life.” Apparently, however, they don’t hold themselves to that same standard when promoting policies that themselves pose lethal risks.
Also expressing skepticism of the red flag concept to Bridge Michigan was Matt Saxton, the executive director of the Michigan Sheriffs’ Association. Sexton said his “organization was never asked to comment on conversations of how to enforce the new law.”
He described being “left in the dark, not sure what to strategize for and what to envision when [the new law] takes effect.” It appeared to him that localities would be left to figure out the logistics of implementation on their own, perhaps in collaboration with each other. Sexton told Bridge Michigan “he doesn’t believe that extreme risk protection [i.e., red flag] laws are the best laws that could be passed,” but he hopes for the best.
No wonder that the most consistent experience states have when passing red flag laws is to later discover they are little known, little utilized, and don’t live up to their billing as a game-changing way to prevent “gun violence.”
A Duke University sociologist who studies red flag laws and their effects told PBS, “It’s too small a pebble to make a ripple. … It’s as if the law doesn’t exist.”
When a law is almost universally treated as if it doesn’t exist, it may be because it should have never existed in the first place. Disuse, indeed, might be the best that could be hoped for when it comes to red flag laws.
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A Winchester Model 61 in 22 Magnum
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The Timeless Winchester Model 54
Born out of post-World War I demand for bolt-action sporting rifles, Winchester’s Model 54 proved to be a successful marketplace competitor—one that still performs well.
by
- LAYNE SIMPSON
During World War I, Winchester and Remington built more than 2.25 million U.S. Model of 1917 rifles in .30-’06 Sprg. for the U.S. government. Cancellation of contracts toward the end of the conflict in 1918 left them with tons of parts in various stages of completion, not to mention acres of idle production machinery. Soon thereafter, both companies began to explore the possibility of building a bolt-action rifle for sporting use rather than for war. Remington beat Winchester to the punch in 1920 by utilizing modified M1917 parts on hand to create the Model 30 rifle in .30-’06 Sprg.
For several years, Winchester had been building target rifles in .30-’06 Sprg. on the Model of 1903 Springfield action for United States military rifle teams. The new Model 54 sporting rifle introduced in 1925 inherited several design details from that action.
The Model 54 was not the company’s first bolt-action rifle, but it was the first designed for use with high-intensity cartridges. Firearm writers of the day praised some of its features, with Philip Sharpe describing it as “standing high in a class by itself.” But other design details were thought to be less than perfect. At the top of that list was a one-piece steel stamping for the trigger guard and magazine cover. Another was the trigger serving double-duty as a bolt stop. As on the Springfield, the trigger was two-stage, and while Winchester claimed it was “necessary for safety reasons,” it did not belong on a target rifle or a rifle to be used for hunting big game.
A two-piece firing pin, much like that on the M1903 Springfield, also received its share of barbs. The same went for a three-position, Mauser-style wing safety on the bolt shroud that disengaged when rotated to the right rather than to the left. Despite those shortcomings, Model 54 sales were not bad until the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929 when many citizens began to become more concerned with putting bread on the table than with buying a new rifle.
The Model 54 was introduced in .30-’06 Sprg. as well as a brand-new cartridge called .270 Win. A young college professor by the name of Jack O’Connor was one of the first to purchase a .270 Win.-chambered Model 54.
Later added were the .30-30 Win. in 1928, the 7×57 mm Mauser, the 7.65×53 mm Argentine and the 9×57 mm Mauser in 1930, the .250 Sav. in 1931, the .22 Hornet in 1933 and the .220 Swift and .257 Roberts in 1936. Special-order rifles were built in .25-35 Win., .32 Win. Spl. and .35 Whelen, the latter making the Model 54 the first factory-built, bolt-action rifle chambered for a wildcat cartridge.
The only .35 Whelen Winchester Model 54 I’ve ever examined was in a collection at a gun show during the 1970s that had all the correct factory-applied markings.
The specification drawing pictured contains the U.S. patent number attributed to Albert F. Laudensack for his modifications to the design of the Model 54 rifle that would allow it to fire the .22 Hornet cartridge.Model variations eventually offered included the Standard Rifle with 20″ or 24″ barrel (26″ barrel in .220 Swift), Super Grade with 24″ barrel, Carbine with 20″ barrel, Sniper’s Rifle with heavy 26″ barrel, Target Rifle with heavy 24″ barrel and National Match with 24″ barrel.
The Super Grade sporter had a figured walnut stock with good checkering coverage, checkered steel buttplate, hard rubber grip cap, black fore-end tip and quick-detach sling swivels. Unlike the Standard Rifle with a 20″ barrel, the stock of the Carbine had no checkering, but both sides of its fore-end had a finger groove. Also missing were fore and aft steel eyes in the stock for hook-attachment of a sling.
The Carbine was promoted by Winchester as being perfect for carrying in a saddle scabbard while hunting from horseback. The NRA Standard Rifle, introduced in 1931 in .30-’06 Sprg. and .270 Win., had a select-grade walnut stock with checkering, a checkered steel buttplate and a Lyman 48W aperture attached to its receiver.
It was later available in other chamberings. The Lyman 48W was an extra-cost option on other models having open sights. For paper-punchers who used long, high-positioned scopes made by Stevens, J. W. Fecker and others, target rifles were drilled and tapped for a rear mount on the receiver ring and a front mount out on the barrel.
“The receiver has screw holes for attaching a Lyman No. 48W Receiver Sight, which will be furnished on the standard rifle on special order at an extra charge.” [vintage Winchester Model 54 pamphlet]Like the Winchester Model 70 that replaced it in 1936, the Model 54 has three action bolts.
Beginning at the rear, one turns into the tang of the receiver, the next into the receiver just behind the magazine and the third into the recoil lug. Also like the Model 70, a screw out on the fore-end turns into a lug dovetailed to the bottom of the barrel. I have never fiddled around much with Model 54s in other chamberings, but my .22 Hornet is most accurate with the three action bolts tightened to 35 in.-lbs. and the barrel screw at 10 in.-lbs., all with a Real Avid torque wrench.
Once low-mounted, hunting-style scopes began to catch on, a modification made by owners of Model 54s became popular enough to make finding a rifle in totally original condition quite difficult today.
From his basement workshop in 1938, Maynard P. Buehler of Orinda, Calif., began selling a replacement, two-position, low-profile wing safety for the Mauser, Springfield and Model 54 rifles. In addition to eventually selling millions of those, Buehler became even more famous for his streamlined scope mounts.
The Winchester Model 54 action’s original lock time of 5.2 milliseconds was reduced to 3.1 milliseconds with the addition of the .22 Hornet in 1933. Called the Speed Lock, Winchester offered to convert earlier “plain lock” rifles for a nominal fee. This speed was quite incredible for the day, considering that lock time for the latest Model 70 action is 3.0 milliseconds.
This Model 54 in .22 Hornet was built by Winchester in 1933, the year that cartridge was added. It was re-stocked by Hart Arms Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, during the 1940s, and through the years, it has taken its share of prairie dogs, groundhogs, crows and gobblers.I used to have a collection of rifles in .22 Hornet from Winchester, Kimber, Brno, Charles Daly, Anschutz and several others. The most unusual was a Herter’s Hornet from the old mail-order firm of that name. My Winchester Model 54 was made in 1933, the year the .22 Hornet was added, and it consistently shot smaller groups than the others.
Except for a Buehler safety and a very good single-stage trigger, its barreled action is factory-original. The rifle was re-stocked by Hart Arms Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, sometime during the 1940s, and like all early rifles in .22 Hornet (including the Winchester Model 70), the rifling in its barrel has a 0.223″ groove diameter and a 1:16″ twist rate. As contrary as it might seem, both rifles are considerably more accurate with 0.224″ bullets than with those measuring 0.223″.
Altering the Model 54 action to handle the .22 Hornet was costly, but the price was the same as for the Standard Rifle chambered for other cartridges. In addition to shortening bolt travel, a five-round, top-loaded, double-column magazine sized for the tiny cartridge was fastened to the inside of the standard internal magazine box.
The follower is machined steel and its spring is of a wire-type rather than a flat-type. The rim of the top cartridge in the magazine rests below the front of the bolt. As the bolt moves forward, a spring-activated lever drops down to engage the head of the cartridge and pushes it far enough forward to allow the face of the bolt to take over and chamber the round.
At that point, the pusher retracts back into its slot in the bottom of the bolt. It sounds a bit complicated, and it is, but cartridge feeding in my Model 54 and Model 70 rifles has always been flawless. A spring-loaded, blade-style ejector is attached to the magazine box rather than to the receiver.
The rim of the top .22 Hornet cartridge in the magazine rests below the front of the retracted bolt. As the bolt moves forward, a spring-activated lever pinned to the bottom of the bolt drops down to engage the head of the cartridge and pushes it far enough forward to allow the face of the bolt to chamber the round. It has always worked flawlessly.Back when rifles could be legally used for bumping off Thanksgiving dinner in my home state, I preferred the Model 54 because calling a gobbler in close and taking it with a body shot from the .22 Hornet was more fun and more challenging than saturating its head and neck with a swarm of pellets from a shotgun.
Through the years, the rifle has also accounted for its share of crows, groundhogs, prairie dogs and flickertails. For best accuracy, maximum bullet length for its 1:16″ twist has proven to be around 0.590″, but it is more accurate with shorter bullets, such as the Nosler Varmageddon 40-grain hollow point (0.570″), Sierra 40-grain hollow point (0.565″) and the Speer 40-grain spire point at 0.510″.
The basic Model 54 design was also modified in 1928 to handle another popular cartridge not usually chambered in full-size bolt-actions: the .30-30 Win. Mine is a Carbine made in 1929. Bolt throw was shortened and the magazine was blocked for the shorter cartridge. The feed ramp had to be modified to handle flat-nosed bullets commonly loaded in the .30-30 Win.
And whereas Model 54 barrels in all other chamberings have the coned breechface of the M1903 Springfield, it is flat for the .30-30 Win. and fully supports the case with only the rim protruding. As mentioned by Stuart Otteson in his excellent book The Bolt Action, “Smooth functioning from clips and box magazines, and not strength, accounts for the widespread application of rimless cartridges in bolt-action rifles.”
Unlike a .30-30 Win. rifle with a tubular magazine, the Model 54 allows the use of pointed bullets, but its magazine restricts cartridge length to a maximum of 2.60“. When the Nosler 125-grain Ballistic Tip and AccuBond bullets are seated accordingly, the mouth of the .30-30 Win. case is 0.80″ beyond the forward end of their full-diameter shanks.
Cartridges feed from magazine to chamber without a hitch, but the appearance bugs me, so I roll crimp the mouth of the case for light contact against the ogive of the bullet. Another option is to shorten case length to 1.955″, no big deal since the neck of the .30-30 Win. case is considerably longer than it has to be. Regardless of the option chosen, accuracy is quite good.
Maximum cartridge length for the magazine of the Model 54 Carbine in .30-30 Win. is 2.6″. The following bullets (l. to r.) are excellent choices for hunting deer and feral hogs: 125-grain Nosler AccuBond; 125-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip; 140-grain Hornady MonoFlex; 150-grain Rim Rock cast; 160-grain Hornady FTX; 170-grain Swift A-Frame; and 173-grain Lyman cast. For best accuracy, maximum bullet length for the 1:16″ twist of the .22 Hornet barrel has proven to be around 0.590″, but it is more accurate with shorter bullets such as the Nosler Varmageddon 40-grain hollow point (0.570″), Sierra 40-grain hollow point (0.565″) and the Speer 50-grain spire point at 0.510″. Despite the barrel’s 0.223″ groove diameter, the rifle is more accurate with 0.224″ bullets.When I bought the .30-30, it was wearing a Model 330 scope of 2.75X magnification introduced by Bill Weaver in 1933. The rifle was originally purchased by one of my father’s friends in 1935 who installed the scope at that time. Internally adjustable, it has a 3/4″ tube and a 100-yard field of view of 35 feet. The 330 and its 4X mate (the 440) were not the first scopes of American make to be suitable for use on big-game rifles (Rudolph Noske was first in 1930), but a $25 price made them the most affordable.
Not long after buying the Model 54 in 1965, I sent the scope to Weaver for refurbishing, and while the company did a wonderful job, each time it is used, I am reminded of how much riflescopes have improved through the decades. I have taken a couple of deer and several feral pigs with the rifle wearing that scope, but most of my hunting and all group-shooting have been with more modern optics. According to Bob Bell’s Scopes & Mounts (1983), approximately 36,000 Weaver 330 scopes were purchased by the U.S. military during World War II, during which it was known as the M73B1.
Perhaps the most criticized design detail of the Model 54 action is a military-style, two-stage trigger that also serves as a bolt stop.The Model 54’s competition was the Savage Model 1920 and the Remington Model 30, both introduced about five years earlier. Having owned and hunted with all three for many years makes it easy for me to compare them. The Savage, with its short Mauser action and feathery weight, was a wonderful little mountain rifle long before hunters added the term to their vocabularies, but its action was too short for the .30-’06 Sprg. cartridge, so the race was lost before it started. Moving to the Model 54’s real nemesis, the safety of the Remington rifle allowed for the mounting of a scope low on the receiver, long before that type of instrument was readily available to the majority of hunters. It mattered not during the 1920s, but it probably began to make a difference toward the end of the production lives of both rifles.
The floorplate of the Remington was not hinged, but a push on its latch with the nose of a cartridge detached it for unloading the magazine. Not so for the Model 54. The Remington is also a bit lighter. In numbers sold, Winchester won, probably because Remington never offered target versions of the Model 30.
When the Model 54 was discontinued in 1936, more than 50,000 had been built versus about half that number for the Model 30 when it left production four years later. Whereas the Remington rifle would never be seen again, the Model 54 was greatly improved and re-introduced in 1936 as the Winchester Model 70.
