Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Rifles 50 years ago

Tighter tolerance?
Who believes that...things made today are bean counter driven...there is no pride in workmanship left..all plastic garbage...

I agree about the sweeds. I bought one a while back and she's a shooter: Pretty close to moa with iron sights:


I wonder if Carl Gustav had a 1 moa (3 shot) guarantee way back in 1906?

How about my 103 year old M1917?


How about my other m1917:

I'll blame my handloads because there is absolutely no way 2 different 100+ year old rifles would/should shoot the same exact load equally well (well below moa for 3 shots).

Oh, wait, check this out. The same rifle shooting a different load. Maybe it's not the load? Maybe its the rifle?


And then I said screw it, I have too many good shooting 30-06's!! So I turned it into a 308 Norma magnum:


Oh, chidt dudes, I realized I'm hitting the orange on every target. Throw those sumbitches out!!!!! Too old of rifles and they are hitting what I'm aiming at... Fu ck!!!!

Benchrest accuracy was less critical 50 years ago. Most hunters had not seen American Sniper and actually closed to within 100 yards of game.

65 years ago we didn't shoot paper, we had a white spot on a sand rock bluff behind the barn, we didn't know exactly how far it was but guessed it to be 200 yards + - if we could hit that white spot we were good to go, didn't make any difference what rifle bullet or powder, we killed ELK, Mule Deer, Speed Goats, Bear, and any other critter we shot at.
Nothing changed for me except now I shoot steel and I usually know how far it is. and I do have nicer rifles and ammo. Rio7

National Match M1 Rifles shot out of a machine rest would group ten rounds into a 4" group at 600 yards! That was also using Lake City and Frankfort Arsenal ammo!!

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

Cool story Joe,,

1917 Enfield huh? Is it a coincidence that a 1917 Enfield .30-06 with a bull barrel made from a truck axle (very popular barrel making raw material in the 20's, 30's and 40's, chrome moly with a soft core) held the 300 yard benchrest range record for many years at Snowman's Hill range in Northern Calif, not being bested until 2005 by a 6mm PPC. I, among others, was annoyed that it was a .30-06, which everyone "knows" is not competitive in benchrest circles. But the crowning humiliation was that the original truck axle finish remained, and with the bore on the muzzle end was a good 1/8" off center. The shooter's name was Dan Parkinson, a quiet gentleman it was impossible to dislike, although I wanted to.