Toughest Rifles

imagine_74714

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What are your favourite bolt action? Which one do youthink is best? I would like to limit choice with either .308 or .300 Win Mag in calibre. Barrel length, I don't care. I always hear great things about Remington 700, but there are others who swear by Savage or Sako, so I just want to see if there is some kind of general consensus on the type of rifles people can relate to being the 'best.'
 
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Sako TRG, then Remington 700's. sold all my remingtons after i put 100 rounds down the sako though if that means anything ;) but im sure i will get them back again, my 700 VS 308 was quite nice.
 
You will have to define "Tough" a little better.
I have seen broken actions of almost every type and brasnd except for

Obendorf mausers and Arisakas!

Cat
 
Tough as in 'take anywhere, seen everything tough...?'
I suppose I'm just asking for your opinions, of which rifle you would trust to perform no matter what, in the range or in the field. The word 'tough' here is purely abstract, and it just a way for me to hear your stories, I guess.
So it could be that rifle itself is tough, as in well made, or tough as in 'it performed in some gawd-awful environment,' tough. Or it looked tough. Whatever you think, I want to hear about it.
 
Hmmm.....This is the precision rifle forum, so I'm not sure how tough comes into the equation, but lets see. I'll say that a Mauser style CRF makes a superior hunting rifle action, and the Remington solid ring of steel which keeps the case centered in the chamber is advantageous in the accuracy game. Trouble is that I've had M-700's which have been dependable in the field, and I've had target rifles with M-98 actions which could hit a dime on demand at 100, so perhaps there is more too it.

If you were to choose the .300 magnum I would advise you get the longest barrel available to best take advantage of that cartridge's long range capability. The .308 will do fine with a shorter barrel - and in the accuracy world shorter barrels are stiffer, and stiffer barrels are considered more accurate - all things being equal. There is no reason why if you are a good shot that you cannot make the claim, "If I can see it....I can hit it!" when armed with a .308.

Stock material comes into question when we consider that wood stocked rifles can shift their POI as temperature and humidity changes throughout the year, and sometimes from location to location. In your case it seems that a synthetic stock would be advantageous.

I guess when toughness is a consideration, the concept of using the rifle in the field might come into play. Most of us these days have come to use high powered, dimensionally large, variable powered scopes. This might not be the best arrangement on a field rifle as these scopes can be fragile, but the new products available from US optics seem to take toughness to a new level. I have a fixed 6X Khales sniper with a steel tube which is much tougher than my 6-20X56 variable, and comes in at less than half the price of the US Optics stuff - and it has a bullet drop compensator for the 168 Gr. .308 load. Some scope mounts made for bench rest are made very precisely, but fail in the toughness equation. So despite the additional cost and weight one should consider tactical mounts on a rifle which is to be used in the field.

A tough rifle for use in the field, should be equipped with a bi-pod, and the PH is the toughest of the breed. I would also recommend an 1.25" leather shooting sling from Leslie Tam in Hawaii.

By now your rifle probably weighs close to 20 pounds, which brings up the question...how tough are you?
 
imagine_74714 said:
Edited

What are your favourite bolt action? Which one do youthink is best? I would like to limit choice with either .308 or .300 Win Mag in calibre. Barrel length, I don't care. I always hear great things about Remington 700, but there are others who swear by Savage or Sako, so I just want to see if there is some kind of general consensus on the type of rifles people can relate to being the 'best.'
That is quite an edit. Sauer 202, then the Steyr SBS, then the Blaser 93, then the Howa 1500. As far as strength, I would have the most faith in the Steyr SBS. As far as reliability and smoothness, the Sauer, as far as cost the Howa, and as far as snazzyness, the 93.
 
Dosing said:
That is quite an edit

Sorry:p My first question sounded so long winded, so I had to boil it down.

I personally think Remington 700 can be quite tough in the field, and it has military service record to go with it. But I've handled Sako 75 Synthetic and Ruger M77 MKII Frontier as well, they stood up well in some of the long-range hike I've been on, with all kinds of weather situations. I'm the last one to talk about accuracy, but they shot straight whenever I pulled triger, even after mud and snow. Obviously, these rifles were a lot tougher than me.
 
being used in the field worldwide ACCURACY INTERNATION built to be dragged through the mud and banged around , also total functional ability from -40 to +40 degrees
 
PGW Steve said:
Unfortunately I can't post pictures of a plugged breech test done on a Timberwolf action but it ate it with no problem. Basically the barrel was plugged 4" from the muzzle with a bullet and the rifle was fired. The barrel ruptured back to just inside the forend, but NOTHING hit the witness screens as far as the operator. The barrel was then plugged with a projecile just in front of a loaded round and fired. There was no damage to the action. It was thought that because the barrel had been previously ruptured that the test was not a good one so a new barrel was installed ON THE SAME ACTION and again a projectile was seated just in front of a loaded round. The round was fired and I think the only damage was the sear on the trigger broke and one of the two ejectors was fused in the hole. The action could be re-barreled and used again.

I know this isn't the spirit of the thread but I had to blow my own horn a bit!!

I thought that your tests were PERFECTLY in line with then spirit of thee thread Steve!
I mean, that is tough, right?
P.O Ackley did some wild tests by sending over too large a caliber bullets in rifles, and this is where I got the Arisaka mention from.
I have personally seen three rifles of an unamed American manufacturer that seized the bolts and blew the breaches, which makes me wonder just how strong the "three rings of steel" claim is?:confused:
Ellwood Epps himself had his doubts....
Cat
 
I will jump in here and say that the "toughest" guns are the Mauser 98 oberndorf mfg., Winchester M70 pre or post (crf), Enfield P14 & P17 and the Remington M30 which was based on the Enfield. I should mention that I am making a distinction between some "strong" actions like the Remington M700 which is a strong action but not necessarily a tough one because of it's weak extraction and ejection systems. Areas where the above rifles are definetly much more durable in design and function.
bigbull
 
tac-driver said:
being used in the field worldwide ACCURACY INTERNATION built to be dragged through the mud and banged around , also total functional ability from -40 to +40 degrees

arent alot(or all) of AI rifles built off rem 700 actions....
 
AI has 2 actions available which are of their own design. The AE series is a dressed down version of their much more expensive AI series such as the AWP model. The difference is in the construciton of the action and how it is bedded to the big hunk of alum to which the action is mounted.

You can by the AI stocks and mount a REM action which is most likely what you have seen. :D Not the real deal, which is a superb weapon!!
 
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