Sporting Rifle Presents: The Book of Rifles

Welcome to the second bookazine in the Sporting Rifle Handbook series, the Book of Rifles. For true hunters, buying a rifle should be on a similar level to choosing a wife. You will be spending a significant amount of your free time – quality time – with your rifle. Therefore, you must like the look of it. Everyone has different tastes and many would argue that aesthetics shouldn’t even be considered when buying a rifle, but I disagree. The rifle will spend more time propped on your lap and shoulder than it ever will in the firing position, so the first consideration is whether you like the look of the firearm. That bit is the easiest part, and the least important, but it is still a valid consideration. So you…

Foxing is the fastest growing sector of our sport, with the amount of kit available increasing on a near daily basis. Though in truth my hunting activities tend to be slanted more towards deer, I have always enjoyed foxing, and have been fortunate enough to spend time with some great foxers as well, and learnt far more than I ever knew to begin with. This has led me to a number of my own conclusions on kit and tactics, but the most emotive issue is always one’s choice of calibre. Instead of imposing my own views on the matter, I have pulled in friends and hunters on each foxing calibre, along with providing the raw facts myself. The list of suitable foxing calibres is vast, even if not always particularly…

Choosing the right rifle is always going to be hard. Whether it be your first or tenth, there are a lot of aspects to weigh up before you make a final decision. The truth is, with new rifles it’s hard to get something truly bad. Even the cheapest budget modern rifle can shoot, and can sometimes outshoot much more expensive rifles. Of course they may still be found wanting in finesse and longevity. In the UK we can rule out semi-auto fullbore rifles, as our laws don’t allow ownership. Single shots don’t tend to be popular for stalking, though they are an option. I currently have a Ruger No 1 sitting in the cabinet and find myself increasingly drawn to it. But in the main, the choice for a stalking…

There is a bewildering array of calibres available for the African hunter, just as there is a huge array of quarry and hunting opportunities. Smaller plainsgame can be taken with a standard British calibre; for larger antelope, anything between a .300 Win Mag and .375 HH could be the preferred option of the PH. When you get on to thick-skinned game, you are looking at the likes of .375, .470, .500 etc. This means there is no way we could cover the options in the space of a feature – the best we can do is give a flavour of what’s out there and advise budding African hunters on how to treat their equipment properly to ensure it performs at the crucial moment. This guide is geared towards safari in…

Over the past few years I have reviewed quite a few rimfires and the vast majority of these have been what you would call bog-standard issues. Bolt action or semi-auto, they have all been very much along the same lines. The vast majority have been well-made, accurate and enjoyable to use. In fact, it is quite hard to find a rimfire rifle these days that does not do the job it was designed for, and this is as it should be. Then suddenly the CZ Evolution arrives – now this one is different! CZ has built up an enviable reputation for well-built, accurate rifles; the company has been going a very long time, since 1936, in fact. Over the years it has manufactured a wide range of guns, including large…

Lithgow Arms has been manufacturing and providing firearms since 1912, with customers ranging from the Australian defence force to more recent ventures designing, manufacturing and now supplying to the civilian market. The LA101 rimfire and the LA102 centrefire both carry the Crossover label, highlighting the broad capability of Lithgow’s rifles – not confined to one ‘camp’, they are hunting/varmint/target rifles. Let’s see how the LA101 rimfire model, which Highland Outdoors were good enough to send me for review, measures up to its multi discipline name. The initial unboxing never gets old for me. It is always enjoyable getting my mitts on new gear. That said, I would have no hesitation in packing something away quickly if it didn’t make the grade. The LA101 arrived from the importer as a kit,…