Sporting Firearms Journal

®

Number 282

September 2015Display until 10/10/15 Printed in USA

Mauser Revives theLegendary M98!

TESTED: Ruger Hawkeye Guide Gun

LymanIDEAL MODEL

Sharps

WinchesterModel 1892Carbine

FEATURES

COLUMNS

Background Photo: © 2015 Vic Schendel

28 New Model 98 The big-bore Mauser is back! Terry Wieland

34 Rifle Rests Tips for Better Shot Placement Afield John Barsness

40 Lyman Ideal Model Sharps Loads for a Single-Shot .22 Hornet John Haviland

46 Ruger M77 Hawkeye Guide Gun Shooting a New .300 Winchester Magnum Brian Pearce

52 Interesting Rifles A Semiauto, Bolt Rifles and a Single Shot Mike Venturino

4 Rifle 282

On the cover . . . The new M98 .375H&H is pure Mauser big bore, picturedhere with a Leica ER5 1-5x 25mm scope.Photo by Terry Wieland.

ISSN 0162-3593 Volume 47 Number 5 Issue No. 282 September 2015

SSppoorrtitinngg FiFirrearearmmss JJooururnnalal

Publisher/President – Don PolacekPublishing Consultant – Mark Harris

Editor in Chief – Lee J. HootsEditor Emeritus– Dave Scovill

Managing Editor – Roberta ScovillSenior Art Director – Gerald HudsonProduction Director – Becky Pinkley

Contributing Editors

AdvertisingAdvertising Director - Tammy Rossi

tammy@wolfepub.com

Advertising Representative - Tom Bowmanbowman.t@sbcglobal.net

Advertising Representative - James Dietschjamesdietsch@cox.net

Advertising Information: 1-800-899-7810

CirculationCirculation Manager – Kendra Newell

circ@riflemag.com

Subscription Information: 1-800-899-7810www.riflemagazine.com

Rifle® (ISSN 0162-3583) is published bimonthlywith one annual special edition by Polacek Publish-ing Corporation, dba Wolfe Publishing Company(Don Polacek, President), 2180 Gulfstream, Ste. A,Prescott, Arizona 86301. (Also publisher of Hand-loader® magazine.) Telephone (928) 445-7810. Peri-odical Postage paid at Prescott, Arizona, andadditional mailing offices. Subscription prices: U.S.possessions – single issue, $5.99; 6 issues, $19.97;12 issues, $36. Foreign and Canada – single issue,$5.99; 6 issues $26; 12 issues, $48. Please allow 8-10weeks for first issue. Advertising rates furnished onrequest. All rights reserved.Change of address: Please give six weeks notice.

Send both the old and new address, plus mailinglabel if possible, to Circulation Department, Rifle®

Magazine, 2180 Gulfstream, Suite A, Prescott, Ari-zona 86301. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rifle®, 2180Gulfstream, Suite A, Prescott, Arizona 86301.Canadian returns: PM #40612608. Pitney Bowes,

P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.

Wolfe Publishing Co.2180 Gulfstream, Ste. APrescott, AZ 86301Tel: (928) 445-7810 Fax: (928) 778-5124© Polacek Publishing Corporation

John Haviland John BarsnessBrian Pearce Stan TrzoniecClair Rees Mike VenturinoGil Sengel Ken Waters

Terry Wieland

Publisher of Rifle® is not responsible for mishapsof any nature that might occur from use of publishedloading data or from recommendations by any mem-ber of The Staff. No part of this publication may bereproduced without written permission from the pub-lisher. All authors are contracted under work for hire.Publisher retains all copyrights upon payment for allmanuscripts. Although all possible care is exercised,the publisher cannot accept responsibility for lost ormutilated manuscripts.

6 Spotting Scope Who’s Jack O’Connor? Dave Scovill

10 Mostly Long Guns Winchester Model 1892 .44-40 Saddle Ring Carbine (Part II) Brian Pearce

14 Down Range My Gun Buying Partner Mike Venturino

16 Classic Cartridges .416 Rigby John Haviland

20 Light Gunsmithing Picatinny Rails Gil Sengel

24 A Rifleman’s Optics So Many Riflescopes Lee J. Hoots

58 Custom Corner Al Ward Custom Gun Stocks Stan Trzoniec

60 Product Tests Ruger American Rimfire .22 Charles E. Petty

70 Walnut Hill A Dream Gone Awry Terry Wieland

Rifle 28214 www.riflemagazine.com

Because I seldom write aboutnew firearms found on gun-

store racks, I’ve often been asked,“Where do you find the neat gunsshown in your articles?” The an-swer is more complicated, but Ioften say, “I have a gun-buyingpartner called the Internet.” NowI will be the first to say that gain-ing knowledge from the Internet isa hit-and-mostly-miss affair. Therehas been so much errant nonsenseposted on the Internet that themisinformation had to often be in-tentional, but for fetching up goodquality vintage firearms, it is hardto beat.

My first great Internet deal camein 2002. I had no idea that suchthings as firearms auction sites existed on the Internet. Then onemorning a friend called and saidthere was an original Sharps Model1874 rifle being auctioned on a sitenamed Gunbroker (www.gunbroker.com), and it didn’t appear tobe going at an outlandish price.His two boys were in college, andhe just couldn’t afford to bid.

Without having a clue as to whatI was doing, I signed up on Gunbro-ker, started bidding on the Sharpsand got it at a fair price. That dealturned from fair to exceptionalafter the rifle arrived, and I called

for a factory letter. Not only had itnever been lettered before, butalso it had been shipped to DodgeCity, Kansas. Among hard-coreSharps collectors, that is the ulti-mate destination. My old Sharps’value increased enormously.

Gunbroker is also a great sourcefor accessories. Last year I wrotea Rifle column on wanna-be car-bines, the star of which was a Ger-man 1917 Artillery Luger. It wasfound on Gunbroker as a bare-bones pistol. However, as soon asseeing that mine was the winningbid, a search was started for theproper wooden shoulder stockand a holster with all the strapsand ammunition pouches. Thoseitems alone, when original, costthousands, but my search revealedquality reproductions. The newlymade stock and leather gear cost

a bit over $200, and I might addboth were of superb quality.

Alas, not everything works outso perfectly. I also bought a repro-duction 32-round drum magazinefor the Luger. It would not even fitin the magazine well, but it wasguaranteed, so my several hundredbucks were refunded minus ship-ping costs. Another time I boughta replacement barrel for a CzechBRNO VZ24 sniper rifle, becausethe one on it was badly pitted. Itcost $80 plus shipping and $200 tohave a local gunsmith install it. Itwas in noticeably better conditionthan the rifle’s original barrel, butto my chagrin it does not group as tightly.

As with anything to do with theInternet, there are several caveatsone should always keep in mind.Chief among them is that you sel-dom have any idea with whomyou are actually dealing. That’swhere the feedback system comesinto play. Both buyers and sellersrate their transactions from A+ toF. Those grades should be heededwhen buying.

Another factor of which oneshould be aware is the photo ac-companiment of an auction. Ifthere are no photos of a firearm,the buyer should beware. Blurryphotos are another thing oneshould look for. They might behiding flaws.

DOWN RANGE by Mike Venturino

MY GUN BUYING PARTNER

This German 1917-vintage Artillery Luger was bought off theGunbroker Internet auction site. A reproduction shoulderstock and newly made leather gear were later found to accompany it.

Mike is showing Rifle’s Production Director Becky Pinkley the finer points of shootinga Japanese Type 99 Light Machine Gun, one of his bargains found on gunbroker.com.

September-October 2015 15www.riflemagazine.com

Also pay attention to the fire -arm’s description. It is easy for aseller to leave out a pertinent point.I bought a U.S. 1903 Springfieldfor a great price but didn’t noticethere was no mention of bore con-dition. Looking down it the firsttime, I had a sinking feeling that Ihad bought a lemon. It looked ter-

rible. To my relief, after some se-rious cleaning, it turned shiny andshoots just fine. Some sellers givea three-day inspection period, butmany specify “as is,” so the buyershould be careful.

Other points Internet buyersshould take into consideration are

their own levels of stubbornnessand impetuosity. Once when bid-ding on a Japanese Type 97 sniperrifle, my thought was to go to $3,500and stop. Another guy evidentlywanted it badly, and I got compet-itive with him. Finally at $4,200,good sense returned and I droppedout. The very next morning a friendcalled, saying he had found a Type97 for me priced at $3,600.

Then there is impetuosity, whichis a personality trait for me. Oneday when perusing Gunbroker, Ifound a Japanese Type 99 LightMachine Gun at a bargain price.Some Gunbroker items have a “buyit now” feature. Without hesitation,I bought the machine gun and thenworried about paying for it. Luck-ily we have a home equity creditline!

Frankly, I don’t know what Iwould do without Gunbroker inthe evenings. Searching throughits thousands of listings sure beatswatching TV. R

LymanSharps

John Haviland

The Lyman Ideal Sharps is atribute to a rifle and riflesight developed way back inthe 1870s. The Ideal Sharps

is a scaled-down version of the SharpsRifle Manufacturing Company Model1874 single shot. The Lyman No. 2 tangsight on the Ideal traces its linage tojust a few years after the Model 1874was introduced.

The Ideal Sharps is made for Lyman by ChiappaFirearms in Italy. The rifle conforms to the structureand function of the original Sharps, but it is 20 percentsmaller and much lighter at six pounds. The smallersize limits the size of cartridges it can manage, and it’schambered in either .38-55 or .22 Hornet. The rifle’sblued 26-inch octagonal barrel contrasts attractivelywith the polished silver receiver. “Lyman” is engravedin flowing script on the flats on both sides of the receiver, and “Ideal Model” is engraved on the sideplate. The head of a bighorn sheep ram is engraved ina recess in the middle of the polished steel buttplatewith “Lyman” and “1878,” the year the Lyman GunSight Corporation was founded.

The walnut on the buttstock has a straight grip and

Rifle 28240 www.riflemagazine.com

IDEALMODEL

Loads for a Single-Shot .22 Hornet

Facing page, the Ideal Model Sharps wasshot from an abandoned homestead barn.

a bit of a forward pitch to the comb. The comb is justthe right height to line up the eye behind the apertureof the tang sight. The forearm is slender with a “duck-bill” to its tip.

The instruction manual warns that if the hammer isfully down, the firing pin can protrude from thebreechblock, and the pin might break when the leveris pushed down. Raising the hammer to half-cock pre-vents this. Pushing the lever down and forward, thelocking lug on both sides of the breechblock dropsbelow the receiver. With the muzzle tipped down, acartridge placed into the trough in the receiver slidesforward and into the chamber, and a final push withthe thumb seats it. Raise the lever, fully cock the ham-mer, and you’re ready to fire.

The rifle has a double set trigger. Lyman states thefront trigger is the firing trigger, and it can fire in boththe double-set or unset mode. However, the front trig-ger on my review rifle only worked after the rear trig-ger was pulled and set. With the rear trigger set,though, only a pound of pull was required to trip thefront trigger. If the front trigger’s pull is too heavy, itcan be lightened by turning in the regulating screw, located between the two triggers, with a partial turnand then testing until the pull is correct.

When the breechblock is lowered, a cartridge or fired

an aperture. The wide target disk was also a problem,because it blocked the area around the target.

Lyman set about designing a whole new sight that he and his shooting friends refined for a few years be-fore offering it commercially in 1878 as the No. 1 tangsight. It included a large aperture inside a small diskmounted on a stem that could be raised or lowered byturning a sleeve. The small disk greatly increased pe-ripheral vision, and when mounted on a rifle’s tang, itprovided a longer sight radius. The sight was hingedat the base so it could be folded against the tang andout of the way when not in use. An enhancement tothe sight catered to target shooters with a small aper-ture that turned down to reveal a larger aperture forhunting and shooting in dim light. This double aper-ture has been incorporated on many Lyman aperturesights over the years.

The Lyman No. 2 tang sight on the Lyman Sharps is quite similar to the No. 1. About the only differ -ence between the two is the No. 2 has a small or alarge aperture that screws into the frame. These aper-tures can be left out and the even larger aperture of the frame can be used to aim with three differentsize apertures. The sight has .80 inch of elevation adjustment.

Lyman next turned his attention to front sights. Hewas dissatisfied with blackened front sights becausethey faded from view in the dark woods. Lyman’s father traded in elephant ivory, and somewhat after1910 Lyman used ivory as an insert in the front blade.The Lyman Ivory Bead Sight became an instant suc-cess, because it provided a bright aiming point evenin the deep woods, but without reflective light.

For target shooters Lyman designed the first globefront sight with interchangeable inserts, the #17A and#77. The different diameter insert apertures each en-circle a black bullseye of varying diameter with a thinline halo of white showing for exact alignment. Thehooded sight prevented bright sunlight from shiftingthe sight picture.

The #17A globe sight on the Ly man Ideal rifle is madeof steel and fits in a 3⁄8-inch dovetail in the barrel. Eightinterchangeable inserts are included that lock in placewith a threaded cap. The five apertures have diametersranging from .093 to .120 inch in diameter. Two postinserts are .050 and .100 inch wide. A bead .062 inchwide sits on a post.

case is ejected from the chamber and comes to rest inthe feeding trough. Occasionally, a fired case popsclear out of the rifle.

The Lyman Gun Sight Company was founded in 1878on the invention of the No. 1 tang sight by WilliamLyman. Lyman was dissatisfied with the small amountof light that came through the pinhole-sized apertureof the Vernier sight on his Winchester 1873 .44 WCFrifle. He enlarged the hole to allow more light to reachhis shooting eye. Some said the widened hole wouldcause a loss of accuracy, because the eye would havea difficult time centering the front sight in the enlargedhole. Lyman found the eye instinctively seeks the spotof strongest light, however, which is at the center of

Right, “Ideal Model” isengraved on the side

plate of the Lyman rifle.Far right, the buttplatefeatures a bighorn ram.

Rifle 28242 www.riflemagazine.com

LymanSharpsIDEAL MODEL

REBORING byJES Rifle ReboringWe specialize in the reboring ofLever-Action, Single-Shot, Pump,Bolt-Action and selected Semi-Auto rifles. 338-50 calibers.www.35caliber.com

541-942-1342

Due to the run on ammunitionover the last few years, .22 Hornetcartridges and cases are difficultto find. I finally found a box ofPrvi Partizan cartridges loadedwith 45-grain softpoint bullets.While shooting the ammunition, Iswitched between inserts to deter-

mine which one provided the bestsight picture at a 2-inch diameterwhite circle at 50 yards. Aimingwith the smallest aperture in theNo. 2 sight, I shot a 1.37-inch group.Aiming with the largest apertureproduced a 1.77-inch group. Usingthe widest post resulted in a 1.80-inch group. The bead on a post fitinside the circle with a slight haloof white around it to provide anexact point of aim. A three-shotgroup of .93 inch with the post andbead was the result.

The smallest aperture installedin the rear sight required crawlingup the stock to put my eye right upnext to it to see the front sight andtarget. Even then the view wasless than bright on a sunny day.Quite a bit more light passedthrough the larger aperture and al-lowed some leeway in where I hadto position my eye to see throughit. There was no significant differ-ence in the size of the groups shotwith the two apertures. Group sizemay have opened up a bit aimingwith the even larger aperture ofthe frame, but all the world wasvisible through it, and it shouldmake a great sight for hunting.

A few of the Prvi Partizan car-tridges misfired. A look at the unfired primers showed a veryshallow dent from the firing pin. I put them back in the rifle andtried firing them again; all but onefired with a second hit from thefiring pin.

The fired Hornet cases were re-loaded with CCI Small Rifle BR4primers, and about half failed tofire. A second drop of the hammerset off most of them. I had about40 cartridges loaded, and it took along time to shoot them.

The next batch of handloads wereloaded with Winchester Small Pis-tol primers, and every one of thosefired the first time. I wondered ifthe small pistol primer’s reducedamount of hot gas would cause

powder to ignite less efficientlycompared to small rifle primers,but there was no real difference.The velocity’s standard deviationfor three shots with Hornady 45-grain HP Bee bullets and the smallpistol and rifle primers was as follows: powder small pistol small rifle

A-1680 17 4 Lil’Gun 8 12 2400 40 6

Velocity was 40 to 80 fps fasterwith the small rifle primers shoot-ing A-1680 and 2400. However,Lil’Gun was 137 fps slower whenignited by small rifle primers com-pared to small pistol primers. Thatseems odd, but the chronographhad no ulterior motives.

Lyman states the rifle’s riflingtwist is one turn in 18 inches. Thatwas read after shooting Sierra 50-grain SPT Varminter and Hor-nady 55-grain SP bullets that hitthe 50-yard target sideways. Thatslow twist limited shooting to

The Lyman No. 2 tang sight comeswith two different size apertures. Thehole in the frame can also be used.

The shooter’s eye must be placed closeto the small aperture in the Lyman No.2 tang sight for a full view.

September-October 2015 43www.riflemagazine.com

These inserts come with theLyman globe front sight.

blunt-nosed bullets like the Nosler40-grain FBHP Varmageddon andHornady 45-grain Bee.

Those two bullets shot fine withseveral powders, with groups rang-ing from an inch to 2 inches at 50

yards from a solid rest. Shootingprone with the rifle supported bymy elbows, three-shot groups ranfrom 2 to 3 inches shooting theNosler bullets. Offhand, the rifleheld up its end of the bargain withits light trigger pull and 26-inchbarrel that hung steady with theforearm and octagonal barrel inthe palm of my forward hand. How-ever, I was a bit rusty after a longwinter of inactivity. The largerscrew-in aperture for the No. 2tang sight was the easiest to aimwith from the different positions,because it allowed some back and

The Lyman Ideal Sharps test riflewas chambered in .22 Hornet.

Rifle 28244 www.riflemagazine.com

Lyman SharpsIDEALMODEL

forth leeway in eye position. Thepost with a bead insert in the frontsight was as simple to use as float-ing the target on the top of thebead.

This practice was in preparationfor my spring ground squirrel cam-paign. I headed out on my Aprilbirthday into snow squalls and abiting wind, but with high hopesof sunshine. As the morning pro-gressed, the sun peeked out andso did the gophers from their bur-rows.

A lot of sustained shooting of thelittle Hornet cartridge is requiredto heat up a barrel. That is nigh onimpossible with the Lyman rifle,because time is required to workthe rifle’s lever, loading a cartridge,cock the hammer and align thesights on the target. That process,though, adds to the pleasure ofshooting the rifle.

Firing a bullet and knocking agopher off its mound is fun too. Iconnected on a third of my shotsout to 75 yards or so. Shooting theiron sights reminded me of howmuch I rely on a scope, both for its magnification and clarity of atarget, to estimate distance. Therifle’s barrel is drilled and tappedfor mounting a scope, but the tangand globe front sights are what thelittle Lyman is all about.

Afternoon turned into a pleasantevening, and the sun shined on acentury-old homestead collapsedin on itself and grown up in sage-

Above, the 1-18 rifling twist failed tostabilize Sierra 50-grain bullets. Below,Lil’Gun and Nosler 40-grain bulletsshot great from the Lyman .22 Hornet.

brush. Gophers ran among theruins, and I plinked a few. As thesun waned, I leaned the IdealSharps against the weathered logs– the “new” old beside the past. R

Lyman Ideal Sharps .22 Hornet Loads overall

loaded 50-yardbullet powder charge length velocity group

(grains) (grains) (inches) (fps) (inches)

40 Nosler Varmageddon HP A-1680 13.0 1.723 2,621 1.09 Enforcer 9.0 n/a 1.93 Lil’Gun 11.5 2,962 1.1445 Hornady Bee A-1680 12.0 1.665 2,441 1.72 Lil’Gun 11.5 2,786 1.82 2400 9.3 2,353 1.1545 Prvi Partizan softpoint factory load 2,329 1.56Notes: All handloads were assembled with Prvi Partizan brass and Winchester Small Rifle primers. Ve-locities were recorded 10 feet in front of the 26-inch barrel.

Be Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data.