Today we will being reading from the New Testament Bible, Book of Revelations, Chapter 6 Verses 1-6, And so the Four Horsemen... The four horsemen were sent by God to reek havoc on earth to the unpenitent and to this end I thought wouldn`t it be good to have a set of four rifles that would similarly diminish the vermin population down on the farm, here on earth..
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Introduction
Today
we will being reading from the New Testament Bible, Book of Revelations, Chapter
6 Verses 1-6, And so the Four Horsemen...
The
four horsemen were sent by God to reek havoc on earth to the unpenitent and to
this end I thought wouldn`t it be good to have a set of four rifles that would similarly diminish
the vermin population down on the farm, here on earth..
This
all started back in 2001 when Dave Tooley a USA gunsmith built me a custom 6mm
PPC rifle, first reviewed in Gunmart in 2001. This was the epitome of my best
looking and shooting rifle I could afford at the time and was dubbed the Plague
rifle by all who saw it in action due to its unnatural way it laid waste to the
pest problems my parents were having in Scotland, namely hooded crows. The name
stuck and since then and following a conversation with gunsmith Mike Norris he
said wouldn`t it be fun to have a rifle each named after the four horsemen that
followed the same general appearance as your original Plague rifle.
I
therefore set to find out a bit more about the said saddle straddler`s and
found that the four chaps rode four horses each with a differing colour and
named differently dependent on their vanquish on earths soil. Death rode a Pale
horse, Famine had a black horse, the red horse was for War and finally the
white horse was for Pestilence or Plague although now some translations from
old scripts say it might be Conquest, but that would spoil the story, so Plague
it is.
An unholy quest begins, Plague
A
quick résumé of the Plaque will give you the idea of the format of each rifle.
I like my long range Varminting and I have always like the look of a heavy barrelled
varmint style rifle especially if it is shod with a thumbhole stock and better
still if it has a custom action and especially if a wildcat calibre is chambered.
The
6mm PPC custom Dave Tooley rifle sported
a Hart barrel with 1 in 14 twist rate for the lighter weight bullets that had
six flutes and was threaded for a 5/8 by18
pitch sound moderator. This was fitted to a McMillan MCRT custom action that
had a semi cone bolt system with only an extract not ejector so I could pick
out the brass without it falling in the mud, tart sir.
This
gave me the best possible chance of precision and the fitment of a Jewell trigger
unit set at 10 ozs weight transforms any custom product into a tack driving
machine. The whole metal work was then clad in Teflon coating to achieve a muted
finish, perfect for hunting and also eliminated any shiny surfaces to spook
game. The best bit was the stock, I love the stocks from Harry Lawson a stock
maker form Tucson Arizona, my first rifle had a Lawson stock.
Well I wanted a synthetic stock and Harry had
actually designed the Lazzeroni style stock for the Lazzeroni custom rifles and
then supplied by McMillan. The stock is the single part of the rifle that
transforms the overall look and feel of a rifle and I love this stock. The thumbhole
just looks right and I really like the pistol grip that has an off set of some
20 degrees to give a more natural hold. The action was aluminium pillar bedded
in Devcon synthetic material and the rifle was topped off with a set of Talley
rings and bases to hold a NightForce NXS 3.5-15x50mm scope which it still wears
to this day. Finally a superb MAE muzzle can is fitted to reduce the muzzle
report to a whisper. Stage one complete, the Plaque rifle lives, it shoots a 65
grain V-Max bullet at 3087 fps with a payload of 26 grains Vit N133. Nothing
within 500 yards is safe!
War
The
red horse or War was next and this was to be a full blown custom item with
wildcat calibre to boot. First requirement was the same Lazzeroni stock so I ordered
a Black textured Kevlar reinforced stock from Jackson Rifles inletted for the
Remington M700 action. I could have used a Remy action , trued or blue printed
but what’s the point when my the time you pay for that work you might as well
buy a true custom action that fits into the Remington bedding platform. To this
end I contacted TWG services (07766 720404) who import the excellent Predator actions from Stiller Precision. This comes with a
precision ground competition recoil lug, lovely fluted bolt choice of bolt
knobs and the ability to fit a Remy style trigger, read Jewell, Shilen, Rifle
Basix and C&G Universal as well as magazines in a similar vein. The Predator
was again synthetically bedded to the stock and I fitted a Timney trigger this
time as I like the wider trigger blade and general solid feel of this trigger,
plus I fancied a change.
I wanted a detachable magazine as this rifle
was to be a deer gun and detachable mags are handy especially if you need to change
bullet weights for a chance at foxes. The HS Precision unit form Viking Arms
with its stainless steel construction and black finish suited the rifle as well
as my criteria and the single final feed of the cartridge is actually very
positive. I could have fitted a one piece scope rail with a 20 MOA bias but
this a deer gun up to 300 yards so a two pieces Leupold steel bases were fitted
so I could use any Weaver type rings I liked. In fact I choose a set of Apel
mounts to which the upper section was made to fit a Zeiss rail mount system.
And that’s exactly what I fitted a Zeiss 7x50 T scope that has a simple 4a type
reticule nice and thin with the option of an illuminated central dot. Perfect
as a not nonsense hard wearing, take any abuse deer rifle.
Now
the problem was choosing the right calibre, well you know me having gone this
far a standard .308 would be a bit boring although very good. Being the War rifle
I stuck to a .30 calibre but wanted a small superb efficient wildcat design. I
loved the 6.5x47mm and thought it would be nice to neck it up to .30 calibre,
so I did. It’s a simple wildcat to make and is really superbly efficient and deadly
on muntjac all the way up to red stags. Its shoots a 125 grain Nosler Ballistic
Tip bullet with a load of 41 grains of Vit
N130 producing over 3000 fps velocity at 3026fps and 2541 ft/lbs energy. The
barrel was a Walther Stainless steel unit with a 1 in 10 twist rate. Fluted to
reduce weight and a short length of 20 inches so fitting a sound moderator
would not give a long overall length.
Famine
The
Black horse, Famine, represents a very unusual and rare rifle indeed and it satisfies
my odd obsession with big bullets travelling very slowly with a meagre diet of
less than 10 grains powder, hence Famine. Subsonic full-bore rifles are a real
interest of mine , the ability to send a 240 grain projectile in the case of
the .308 Winchester case at subsonic i.e. 1050 fps or there abouts. What you
have is a 500 ft/lbs energy rifle when fitted with a sound moderator is no
louder than a .22 rimfire subsonic gun. No good for anything other than
playing, military use and foxes in my case it does not matter as I often set
out a course of fire across a few fields in Scotland up to 500 yards with steel
silhouettes and have ten rounds to spot, range and one round one hit scenario,
it makes you really think about the shot. The bullets drop like a stone but
energy loss is minimal even at 500 yards and the wind has little effect as it
travels below the super and transonic air turbulence. For instance I load a 200
grain Lapua B416 bullet propelled by only 9.25 grains of Vit N320 powder to
achieve consistent subsonic velocities. I have used other weights and powders
such as IMR Trial Boss and Tin Star, N350 but the Vit N320 works in my rifle.
This
rifle is an original Sako Factory SSR (Sniper silenced rifle or Super silenced rifle)
is built on a Sako A2 action, one of the old real quality Sako actions and
fitted with a short 16 inch barrel with a 1 in 10 inch rifling twist rate.
Surrounding this is a 2 inch sound moderator shroud that fits back to the
action and extends 12 inches past the muzzle where a series of baffles are
sited. Using subsonic reloaded ammunition the rifle literally just coughs, you
hear the action tighten up and the firing pin strike is actually audible! To
make it into my Apocalypse set I had the marvel, now retired, Ivan Hancock from
Venom Arms (sorely missed by many) re-stock the SSR in, you guessed it a Lawson
walnut thumbhole stock , Ivan sourced this from his mate Trooper in the States
and Ivan crafted it into a superbly
handling totally silent rifle.
Death
Rides
a pale horse, the final rifle in the quartet of misery is the Venom Arms .20BR rifle. Probably the nicest looking rifle
of the group or ever? This time Ivan Hancock and Steve Pope sourced a select
not quiet exhibition grade Claro walnut stock from , yes that chap in Tucson
again Mr Lawson who’s son is called Randy, that was a strange phone call, where’s
my banjo?
He
inletted the forend with a diamond tiger maple inset and inletted the stock for
a Sako 591 action sourced from Gregor at R. McLeod’s of Tain, I like old Sako
actions they make a great donor action for custom projects. The bolt was
jewelled and the trigger was a factory set trigger unit, very nice. The barrel
was a Pac-Nor stainless steel fluted master piece at 26 inches of .204 calibre
with a 1 in 12 inch twist rate. I had Pacific Tool And Gauge make me a reamer
and heads space gauge for the .20 BR case throated with actually no throat or
leade because the .20 BR cartridges can be hard on barrels and with a short
throat as it wore due to erosion I could just seat my bullets out a little
further, thus maximising barrel life. Up front is an excellent MAE 32mm muzzle
can for a very quiet report.I use a load of 30 grains RL15 powder and a 40 grain
V-Max bullet for 3885 fps and 1341 ft/lbs energy. Alternatively for real speed
a 32 grain Sierra Blitz King will top over 4300 fps with just 31 grains of Vit
N133. The .20 BR is topped off with my favourite scope from Schmidt and Bender
and that’s their Varmint 4-16X50 scope with side parallax and dot reticule in
the first focal plane. The multi dot reticule is fine enough even at the
highest magnification and mimics the .20BR`s trajectory well out to 750 yards,
yes it shoots that far.
The
.20 BR is great cartridge and I will probably have it rebarreled when it gives
up the ghost with the faster twist barrel with 1 in 8 inches to handle the
heavy 55 grain Berger bullet that I use in my .20 Satan wildcat, but that’s
another story.
Conclusions
Therapy
may be the only course of action here but it shows what can be done with a
little effect and thought and achieves a rifle group that gives hours and hours
of varied and enjoyable shooting pleasures. My Mum who is a devout Church goer
is none too happy though! This leads me nicely on to the subject of Wildcat
cartridges and their formation , I will follow this article up with a couple on
designing , feeding and playing with the feline cartridge groups that range from the diminutive .14 Walker
Hornet through the .20 Satan into the 6.5 Rapier and out to the .460 Voodoo. I will
also expand on some of these rifles with regards reloads, field use and actual
performance on game, until then I shall be dodging any Lightning bolts from
above!
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By Bruce Potts
Contacts and Pic text to follow on cd
if that`s ok, cheers
01 McMillan
stocks, Timney,
Jewell trigger Jet-Z Moderator Jackson Rifles 01644 470223
02 Night
force Scopes RUAG
Ltd 01579 362319
03 Ex
–Venom, still going V-Mach 07850 296360
Swift
Precision Rifles 01527 871620
04 Steve
Bowers Custom rifle
builder 01242 863005
05 Mike
Norris Custom
rifle builder 01952 670198
06 Bullets,
powder, cases N Clark 01788 579651
Reloading
Solutions 01865 378200
07 s/h
actions R
Macleod &Son 01862 892171
08 Predator
actions TWG 07766 720404
09 Lapua
brass,
H S Precision trigger guard Viking Arms 01423 780810
10 MAE
sound moderators JMS Arms 07771 962121
12 Zeiss
scopes Zeiss
Uk 01707 871350
15 Schmidt
and Bender York
Guns 01904 487190
16 Optimate Edgar
Brothers 01625 613177
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