I was alive 50 years ago and shooting.. I would say over the counter rifles like Savage are far more accurate today than years ago.. But even in those dark days, there were guys doing some awesome long range shooting.. A group in northern Penna. shot woodchucks, deer and bear at long distances.. Many up to and just over 1000 yards.. In those days, the 7mm and 30 caliber Mags. ruled.. I have some articles from that era.. One of the popular scopes was the B & L 2=8.. It was equipped with a method to adjust the scope for long range, and another was the big 6-24 B & L... A friend of mine used one of these on his 7X61 to kill deer at 800 yards..
I was shooting rifles 50 years ago also and my buddy's father had a model 1917 enfield with a custom barrel in 30-06 with a B&L 2-8 scope mounted on it, he added a cheek piece and a pistol grip to the stock, he also sawed the barrel of to 22" and did the crown with a ball bearing and some lapping compound. A few years ago I got the rifle off of his estate it hadn't been fired since his son came home from Vietnam when he took it doe hunting here in Penna. I loaded up some light loads with 125 gr STMK and imr 4064 powder, I put a target up at 25 yards because since it hadn't been fired in over 50 years I didn't know where the bullet would hit guess what it was right on. I also tried imr 3031 and it shot good with it also. I tried the STMK and NBT and Speer hot core bullets all 125 grain and they all shot about 3/4" at 100 yards. I shoot it out to 400 yards on steel plates and have no trouble hitting them consistently. By the way the trigger is a crisp 2 lbs. I love this rifle and scope combo.
Joe
