midland rifles

Some are good and some are bad. An "economical" rifle based on a sporterized '03A3 Springfield action with a new barrel and stock. I bought one chambered in .30-06 when I first met my wife and with it, put many moose & deer in our freezer over the years. Mine is retired now and affectionately known as "old-meat-in-the-pot" and many friends can attest to that old rifle's deadly accuracy. One thing to note, the stock design is terrible. A bit too low for scopes and a bit too high for the open sights and makes felt recoil significantly increased. My Ruger .338Mag was way more comfortable to shoot than old-meat-in-the-pot.
 
My first centerfire rifle was a Midland 2100 30-06. Parker Hale made them but didn't want their name on them because they were cheaply built and it showed. It nearly made me take up golf.

It grouped improved cylinder at 100 yds. The firing pin spring failed about round #30. Out of the box it had extraction problems and had to have a new extractor fitted. Recoil was similar to a lightweight .375. Stock split through the wrist because the action inletting was poor. Scope taps were not right and a regular weaver rear wouldn't fit without some filing.

On the good side - trying to get that rifle to shoot got me started in reloading, and taught me something about bedding and accurizing. I got the average group size from 8" down to 3" after 6 months of hard slugging, but that's as good as it would get. One of the happier days of my life up to that point was the day I traded that POS on a new mod 70 winchester that shot sub MOA right out of the box. I still shudder every time i see a Midland rifle on the exchange.
 
Back
Top Bottom