The War Horse Bolt-Gun Shootout

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 3/24/20 | R Reed

[w1n1]

I have a bunch of friends who are wild bunch action shooters, and have taken to the shooting competition called BAMM (bolt action military match) with great enthusiasm. Lots of 03 and 03a3 in these matches, but there are lots of other great guns out there, and the question is by design, are any of them faster or slower than others?
Not just for five shots but with reload under speed. Do the sights really make that much difference for fast shooting? What about cock on closing compared to cock on opening? Which ones are really faster? Everyone has an opinion, but have they done it or are they guessing? What about left-handed shooters? What's best for them?

We are going to try and answer these questions plus a few more with this article. Now, this is not a true shootout of bolt gun2all the bolt guns of pre-WWI thru post-WWII. I'm not pulling out any Mannlichers or Carcano cartridges.
I'm not using any carbines or sniper rifles, but these are what we are using: early ’03 Springfield .30/06 03a3, Smith Corona .30/06, Ishapore Enfield 7.62 Model of 1917 rifle, .30/06 1891 Argentine Mauser, 7.65 Colombian R.Farmage Mauser, .30/06 Russian Mosin-Nagant 7.62×54, and a rimmed K-31 7.5 Swiss. I could have expanded the selection, but I feel this is a good representative of different types of rifles and are the most commonly encountered types.

AMMO
Ammo was kept simple; all the above used lead-gas checked bullets, and all were traveling between 1,500 to 1,700 feet per second. Most all used the same powder, and all used the same bolt gun standard Winchester primer. Each rifle had been shot and checked over, and everyone shot with factory ammo and then shot with the lead ammo to verify that our hand-rolled ammo shot at least as well or better than factory. Read the rest of bolt gun.

[G Larry]

How do I get wild game to walk into that setup with the umbrella and bench?

[TexasGator]

“How do I get wild game to walk into that setup with the umbrella and bench?”

Take a nap!

[BwanaNdege]

Do the sights really make that much difference for fast shooting?

Are you kidding me?

These armchair Rambo-esque pretenders are a bunch of idiots of the "spray & pray" type. "Spray & Pray" = hunker down in your foxhole, raise your weapon over your head (horizontally) and let fly on full auto.

Idiots!

Rate of fire means nothing when you are not hitting anything.

BTW, I have fired 5 rounds from an M-14 (or M-16) from the prone position, changed magazines and fired another 5 rounds all in 60 seconds, Standing to Prone. I hit the 12" bullseye with all 100 rounds. From 300 yards.

Well aimed fire is the only thing that counts, unless the enemy is doing an on-line assault and is less than 20 meters from your position.

[real saxophonist]

These armchair Rambo-esque pretenders are a bunch of idiots of the "spray & pray" type.

Idiots!

In other words, about average for 'Am Shooting Journal'.

[lgjhn23]

When I was kid, my dad had two rifles that I was allowed to hunt deer with: one was a Springfield 03A3 that he picked up somewhere, and the other a lever-action Winchester 30-30 that had been passed down thru the family. I always liked that Winchester, not for it’s ballistics, but because it resembled the rifle I’d see in the western movies of that era. It was just cool to have and shoot.
As I got a little older, I started “messing around” with that old Springfield 03A3. After making several 150+ yard deer kills, I took a real shine to it and it became my deer rifle of choice. My dad, an old WWII Marine BAR rifleman, would always just smile every time I grabbed it off the rack. Yeah, it was a heavier rifle, but golly, that old thing was some kind of accurate at distances the 30-30 just couldn’t begin to match. Both guns are now “retired” but still in our family as collector items.

[litehaus]

Musta ben a 6.5 Swede U wer shooting ! ...LOL...

[Scrambler Bob]

I hit the 12” bullseye with all 100 rounds.
= = =

Must have been using one of Joe Biden’s 100 round clips?

[USS Alaska]

After making several 150+ yard deer kills, I took a real shine to it and it became my deer rifle of choice.

This year, my son shot a doe at 250 yards, one shot, perfect, using my bolt action 30-06.

I was carrying my old 30-30 {but in reality, I was just the spotter}.

It was a beautiful deer and provides my wife and me plenty of deer meat for the season.

[Rinnwald]

Maybe useful in an abstract way to compare different actions, but truly useless for actual shooting when you’re using weak-sauce reloads instead of surplus, or similar full power loads. You know, the kinds of ammo people are going to really use in these guns.

[Bonemaker]

6.5 x 55 Swedish Mauser is really, REALLY sweet!

[Seruzawa]

Yeah. I quit reading at that point. I never get through one of these dumba$$ AM articles. Good for a laugh sometimes though.

[Wizdum]

When I was a boy, mom would give me my Stevens Favorite,5 rounds of .22, and say "5 rabbits for the pot tonight".

She meant it. I was 9. I did a lot of walking, but I only missed once.....and that was the first time she sent me out.

I learned a lot from those times. Shoot slow, eat dinner. Shoot fast, miss big, go hungry.

[glasseye]

I have 3 6.5mm rifles.
The ‘tanker carbine’ I found looks new, just perfect.
They are fun at the CMP shoots.

[Lurker]

I’ve got a pair of those Ishapore Enfields. Man do they shoot sweet. 300 yards and every one in a paper plate. Slickest bolt gun I’ve ever fired.

L

[BwanaNdege]

Proofreading is our friend!

It should have read “all 10 rounds”.

Man, did I sound like the pompous idiot!

An extra zero or two here and there and the next thing you know, they’ll have me writng the Federal budget.

Million? BILLION? TRILLION?

[Pontiac]

Million? BILLION? TRILLION?

Who cares?

It’s all worthless anyhow.