December 06, 2011
By J. Scott Rupp
Holiday cheer is here! Check out these 11 items that'll make great gifts for the rifle shooter in your life.
Savage Bear Hunter Spring bear season will be here before you know it, so now's the time to get that new rifle to head afield for grizzlies and black bears.
Savage's Bear Hunter, available in Model 16 short action (.300 WSM and .325 WSM) and 116 long action (.300 Win. Mag., .338 Win. Mag.) is just the ticket for close encounters of the bruin kind. One of the big selling points (besides the name) is the adjustable muzzle brake: Open it when you need recoil reduction at the bench; close it in the field, where you won't notice the recoil. Your ears and your guide will thank you. Stainless steel 23-inch barrel, camo synthetic stock. Weight is 7.5 pounds in short action, 7.75 in long action. $939 — $973.
Pendleton Vault Stand For you lucky dogs with a dedicated, secure gun room, here's a great way to store your firearms. The
Pendleton Vault Stand holds 40 long guns and 36 handguns and includes a storage shelf. It's built of quarter-inch steel and rotates via wheel bearings with grease fittings. Footprint is just 32 inches.
Leupold Mossy Oak Finishes For hunters who really want to disappear,
Leupold now offers VX-1 and Ultimate Slam 3-9x40 models in Mossy Oak Break-Up and Treestand. The finishes are anodized so they're extremely tough, but the finish isn't so thick that it adds to the main tube diameter. The VX-1 has friction-dial 1/4 m.o.a. clicks; the UltimateSlam is a muzzleloader scope with a ballistic reticle that allows shooters to synchronize their gun with their preferred load.
SKB ATA .50 Caliber Case If you've got a .50, you need a big case--and that's just what you get with
SKB's new model. It measures 56x17x5 and has a high density convoluted foam interior with three sets of nylon cinch tie-downs for your rifle. Extra tie-downs provide security for ammo and accessories. Outside, the case is bumper-protected and has trigger release latches and locking hasps. $410.
Real Avid Gun Tool This could be the perfect stocking stuffer for any serious shooter. Eighteen commonly used gun tools at your fingertips in a handy folder from
Real Avid . Includes five Allen and Torx wrenches and four magnetic hex drive bits, plus a pin punch, scope adjustment blade, flat and Phillips screwdrivers and more. The frame is stainless steel with rubber-coated polymer jackets for a secure grip. $25.
Sierra .25 Caliber BlitzKings Wintertime is loading time and predator hunting time, and long-range varminters and furbearer hunters who cotton to the .25-06 will love the new
Sierra BlitzKing offerings. The .25 caliber bullets are available in 70-grain flat-base and 90-grain boattail. Ballistic coefficients are .260 for the 70-grain (3,150 fps and above) and .388 for the 90 (3,100 fps and above). $28 — $29 per box of 100.
Ruger 77/357 Short, light, handy and just the right size to fit under the tree, this cool new rifle chambers five rounds of .357 Magnum or .38 Special in
Ruger's famous rotary magazine. Stainless steel barreled action with adjustable sights on the 18.5-inch barrel. OAL is 38.5 inches and weight is 5.5 pounds. Our editor shot it a few months ago and just loved it. While it would make a okay deer gun (a 140-grain FTX .357 Hornady from a rifle barrel will do 1,850 fps and 1,064 ft.-lbs. at the muzzle) this would make a great "head for the hills" gun due to its dual-cartridge capability--or just a fun rifle to have around. $793.
Hodgdon CFE 223 Rifle shooters hate copper fouling, but handloaders can now prevent it with every shot thanks to
Hodgdon CFE 223. CFE stands for "copper fouling eraser," a proprietary chemistry originally developed for military rapid-fire systems. Match shooters, varmint hunters and AR fanatics will keep their barrels shooting better longer. Load data are available for 27 cartridges, 147 loads in all. Max velocities are obtained in .204 Ruger, .223/5.56 NATO, .22-250 and .308/7.62 NATO, so if your favorite handloader shoots one of these, it's a great choice.
Brunton Eterna You can spend more on a scope, but you don't always have to. Fully multicoated lenses and waterproof and shockproof construction highlight this series of riflescopes. Available with BDC (4.5-14x50, 3-9x40), duplex (1.5-5x20) and mil-dot (6-24x40) glass-etched reticles. All have fast-focus eyepieces; the BDC and duplex models have 1/4 m.o.a. clicks, the mil-dot 1/8 m.o.a. There's an on-line calculator for the BDC at
Brunton's website. $425 — $965.
MTM Case Gard K-Zone The lucky shooter who unwraps this baby from
MTM Case Gard will discover a lightweight but solid rest with non-marring rubber pads in the front, middle and rear and a quick-turn adjustment on the front rest. Best of all, the rest adjusts for overall length up to 7.5 inches to fit any gun. Includes a compartment you can use to add weight if desired (for recoil reduction) or just for storage. $53.
Maxpedition Sitka S-type Because you can never have enough daypacks. This one is a single-shoulder backpack from
Maxpedition designed for left-side carry, and it can be rotated to the front of the body for quick access to three compartments: 15x8x3 main, 4x7.5x2 top front and 8x7.5x2--all with internal organization. Total capacity is about 618 cubic inches. Water bottle pocket will fit a 32-ounce Nalgene, and the pack is also compatible with 100-ounce hydration bladder. 1,000-deneir ballistic nylon coated with Teflon in several colors. $130.
