Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Most reliable rifle

More pertinent- who screwed around with
the trigger?



According to H.Selby, his Std.98 based .416 Rigby
never skipped a beat...
IIRC neither did his 721 Remington(?) ..😂

Don't have one but maybe one of the English doubles.

Ruger 77

Maybe a list of least reliable hunting rifles would be easier to compile.

CZ 550 American followed by my Ruger M77.

^ Nice pair, I'll agree, CZ 550 in 6.5x55 and Ruger 77 in .243 Win.

Having to take it recoil easy on old shoulder injuries and repairs.

g

My CZ 550.

With regard to fallow, it depends where you are - Straya's a big place - but in the states where fallow are found there's plenty of them about, and their numbers and range seem to be on the increase. Where I live there are certainly plenty of them within easy reach on both public and private land. No tags, no bag limit, and the season runs from the beginning of March until the end of October (all year round in some areas, though it is a bit hot Nov - Feb).

As for the rest of that bloke's post, I think "nevermind" is all the response necessary.

Back to the subject at hand, I think there'll be examples from any make of rifle that have failed. I'd back most unmodified military rifles as being reliable, mainly because they had to pass such extensive tests. Once you modify one though, all bets are off, as they also are with rifles that have been neglected, or due to age Even Mauser 98s will fail if not looked after, or inexpertly tinkered with - I have seen examples. I've also had a No 4 fail, by having the extractor spring let go. But yet I think these would be near the top of the heap for reliability.

I've had a pretty good run with sporters too though. The odd one where a screw has backed out, or a stock has cracked. A broken mainspring in a Marlin 1893 (after over 100 years, not a bad sort of run). Centrefire rifles are a pretty mature technology, and I think that if you don't futz with them, and keep them in good order (and put some nail varnish on the screws!) the ones that have stayed in production for a while are pretty sound.

M70 Claw extract or push feed next. I have seen 2 failures in the woods. BOTH of them were caused by a weed seed getting in the firing pin hole. One was a shot gun and I got it poked out enough to finish the hunt and the other was on a M700 that belonged to a buddy. Couldn't get it out in the field. I showed him I could take the bolt apart on my M70. Ray

There is a video somewhere on the net, that I saw long ago, about using your boot lace to pull back the back part of the bolt on a M700, insert a dime and screw off the end of the bolt. I use a flat bit of metal in a vice at home, but think that I could do it in the field. miles

I've carried, hunted and shot over 150 animals in the last 48 years with m700 Remingtons, pushfeed m70's, m77 Ruger tangers and mk2's as well as others never had a problem with any of them. Proper maintenance and all, scopes not as lucky but not bad . Throw all the effing rocks you like but the 03 & 03A3 as well as the m1917 would get my nod, they have stood the test of time. MB

YEP ! Kinda hard to pick THE most reliable.!

I NEVER have had a rifle fail of ANY brand. I've ONLY had 1 scope failure which I don't consider the scope's fault !
Over a period of years I put that scope on EVERY new to me rifle including the heavy kickers. Finally after years of service the horizontal crosshair broke. ** I still have it ** it deserves respect.


Jerry

An un-tinkered '98 Mauser.

Even in temps well below zero, when the dogs freeze stiff as a board, my Tikkas still have worked fine.

I've got two. Ruger KM77 MKII boat paddle with fixed 4X M8 Leupold in Leupold mounts and a Nosler 48 Liberty with fixed 4.75X Weaver Grand Slam in Talley lightweights. Both in .308.

This quote on P 5

[quote=Mackay_Sagebrush]Even in temps well below zero, when the dogs freeze stiff as a board, my Tikkas still have worked fine.



———————-

This on P 10

I’ve had a Tikka T 3 Lite since 2003. Shot and hunted ALOT

Never give a second thot about taking it anywhere I hunt.

BTW I bought a second T 3 Lite in 7 RM in 2017.


Jerry

Mine would be my FN Mauser 98 made in 1952. It just happens to be chambered for 7X57.

Ruger Model 77 Mk II stainless with the original trigger worked down to around three pounds. (or slightly less) As BSA said earlier on this thread, “You’ve just got to learn how to work on Ruger triggers.” Don’t replace them with a box trigger.

My Marlin bolt action .22 has been completely reliable for 40 years and tens of thousands of rounds.