In the immense ocean of possibilities there’s a tiny island of the optimal firearms which is the most perfectly suitable for the “battle with mountain game”.
Carbine
It is clear that a rifle for the mountain hunt should not be too heavy but precise at the same time. Perhaps the most attractive rifles among the abundant instruments are the magazine rifles made by Christensen Arms. Their main advantage is in an application of carbon filled plastic in barrel production. The leer inside the barrel made of the best American stainless steel brand – the 416 R, while outer part of the barrel is reinforced with carbon plastic. The shooting practice of such a barrel increases by 25% comparable to that of full-metal barrel. Besides, because of the high strength and low rate of thermal expansion coefficient, even the barrels of moderate length (550-560 mm ensure fire accuracy up to by half of MOA (minute of arc). The whole rifle is assembled of the best units: the Remington 700 bolt, the trigger made by Jewel Company, which has a wide range of an adjustable trigger pull. Rifles have a non-removable magazine box of three-cartridge capacity. A set trigger may be provided as an option. Another important feature of these carbines is a very light carbon stock which doesn’t absorb moisture and has the same size no matter what weather conditions are. The caliber range may be wide but the barrels from .270 WSM to .338 LapMag and even .416 RemMag. are llyWeight ranges from 2,3 to 2,7 kg are produced commercially. Such lightness is caused by using titanium alloy in producing barrel extension and bolt mechanism.
Talking about using titanium alloys in producing of hunting firearms, the Johann Fanzoj Company should be mentioned which at minimum for three years has been showing its hunting carbines at Arms & Hunting exhibition. Except for the barrel, these rifles are made fully of titanium alloy. Carbines are based on the most reliable and safe Mauser 98 system. They were specially designed for mountain hunting and being made in any possible caliber they seem to be unreal lightweight. They do weigh less than three kilograms. But these are custom-made items and their prime cost and price are quite impressive. However, one should have in mind that metalwork with titanium alloys requires very special machinery. Therefore, titanium details don’t afraid of corrosion. One of the titanium carbines was successfully tested in the Pamirs. There it performed excellently in winter highlands and a “six-hundred-meter” wild goat has become a trophy of Patrick Fanzoj.
Without even a slightest risk being biased, I can recommend Semprio In-Line Repeater by German brand Krieghoff – the best choice for the most difficult mountain hunts. This rifle appeared on a gun market in 2007 and its revolutionary design was developed by young gunsmith Wolfgang Schmidt. I had a chance to shoot it in the Muller shooting center (near the city of Ulm) both in “video shooting cinema” and in 300 m shooting range. It was the 300 m range when all participants of the shooting test were amazed by incredibly high accuracy of fire. The “marksmen” have made five hits in 20 mm area. Converted into gun terms it means 0.3 minutes of arc. It’s a performance of the most advanced sniper rifles! It seems twice as incredible given that the length of the barrel is just 550 mm. It must be stressed that we used RWS cartridges of the new line of .30-06 Spring caliber with Target Elite Plus bullets weighing 10.9 g each. However, no cartridge can compensate the barrel flaws. The test allows confirm that barrels of the carbine are flawless. And there’s no surprise, because the barrels for the model are delivered by famous Anschuetz Company having an excellent production line of barrels. In 2011 a marked event took place – the Anschuetz Company independently entered the rifle market with the carbine of model 1780. The model is produced in quite serious European calibers: .308 Win, .30-06 Spring, 8Х57 IS, 9,3Х62. The company has made use of its experience in manufacturing precise barrels, bolt and trigger systems. Anticipating the approaching crisis the company aimed at budget firearms niche. And they have quite succeeded in it. Moreover, the carbines produced are very convenient for hunters. Constructors have managed to reduce the rifle weight by implementing of a straight-pull bolt action, in which metal knobs enter the grooves of the breech. That enabled to unload the breechblock and to make it of lightweight aluminum alloy. Rifle barrels of all calibers have the same moderate length – 560 mm. New models are equipped with closed trigger system which allows adjust the trigger pull. Carbine line is produced in four elegant stock models, traditionally made of fine walnut. Rifle weight is quite suitable for mountain hunt – 3.2 kg.
Talking about weapons for the mountain hunt I must mention the ORSIS – a young Russian company, which produces tactical, sport and hunting firearms. They have their own production line of rifled barrels, which are made of American stainless barrel steel brand 416 R. The company produces two models of hunting repeaters and one of those models (Orsis Alpine) is specially designed for mountain hunting. It’s essential, that the carbine is made to fit the cartridges which support flat trajectory for bullets. The capacity of detachable magazine is three cartridges; in this case one more cartridge is in the barrel. The free-floating barrel of moderate length is lightened by cannelures, which also increase the speed of barrel cooling. The carbine is a bolt-action type, which, if rotated 90 degrees blocks the breech by means of two knobs. The brand design trigger system is of closed type and has the trigger pull adjustment controls. All metal parts are made of steel with increased to corrosion. Rifle stocks are made of laminated board of three optional tasteful colors. Front sling swivel is adapted not just for the sling itself, but also for mounting of light adjustable shooting sticks. The breech construction is specially designed to be fitted with the scope brackets.
Talking further about precise bolt-action rifles, I have to mention hunting carbines made by Gottfried Prechtl Company, from the German city of Birkenau. I think that the main direction of the work of this company is manufacturing the most precise sporting rifles based on Mauser M 98 Magnum system. Using his own experience of a high-class rifleman and technological advances of the company, Prechtl made several changes to the classic Mauser design. The major changes weren’t aimed at simplification of the technological process and cost saving, but at increasing the reliability and accuracy of gun mechanism along with an absolute safety of rifleman.
Because of the very high gas pressure during firing the modern cartridges, the diameter of firing pin hole was made 1.7 mm instead of 2 mm. The firing pin itself is thinner. The diameter of the bolt itself is 0.2 mm bigger which made the bolt stroke smoother. To fit the modern types of cartridges, the width of the magazine and the magazine well has been made 1 mm bigger. To increase the reliability of the spring, the length of the ejector was increased by 17 mm. Cocking piece design is renewed to increase the compatibility with closed-type trigger system. As on the last model of Mauser hunting rifle made in 1930, the rear part of barrel extention has a special groove which increases its reliability and additional safety of the bolt action. The corresponding knob is placed at the rear end of the bolt body.
The bolt action and barrel extension are made of one piece of modern Swiss chrome-manganese file-hard steel with the ultimate tensile strength of more than 800 N/mm2. In my opinion, these are the best European hunting rifles. The guaranteed accuracy they perform is more than one half of minute of arc. This is also due to the barrels made by Lothar Walther.
Stutzen rifle
It seems to me that it a very useful tradition – to hunt mountain game with a single-barrelled break action stutzen rifles. Of course, being of one-cartridge capacity they need a lot of self-discipline and shooting accuracy. The main advantages include light weight, superior balance and dimensions if compared to “bolt-actions”, and as a result, much better manageability. Russia could hardly be called the motherland of stutzen rifle, however, this type of gun has its Russian manufacturers. For instance, in the last decade of the XX century the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant has developed and produced IZH 18 MN model which was classified as a European Kipplaufbuchsen-class – a prestigious single-barrelled stutzen rifle class. We must pay tribute to the high quality of barrels and, as result, high shooting accuracy provided the good quality cartridges. IZHMEKH produces these rifles in a wide range of calibers from .222 Rem to 9,3 х74R. However, the weight of our “break-open” is more than 3 kilos (3.2 kg) with 600 mm barrel length, whereas western analogs with equal dimensions are much lighter.
Large German companies produce a number of single-barreled stutzen rifles with excellent design and very decent shooting characteristics. The Merkel Company manufactures rifles K-3 and K-4 which differ in caliber range. K-1 fits lighter, while K-2 fits heavier calibers. These stutzen rifles have external supercharger of action spring which ensures high level of safety. The models are equipped with set triggers which are necessary tools for high accuracy.
Another serious German brand Blaser is also a manufacturer of single-barreled stutzen rifles which have a trademark K-95. These are lighter than Merkel’s because of the shorter barrel (50 mm) and are made for the cartridge range from .243 Win. to 8х57 IRS. The Krieghoff Company manufactures single-shot break-open stutuzen rifles under the label Hubertus. These rifles are made in different versions with lots of useful options. The caliber range is wide enough – from .222 Rem to 9,3х74R. Barrels are short – from 550 to 600 cm. The weight depends on caliber and ranges from 2.5 to 3.2 kg.
For the sake of objectivity, I have to add that single-barreled break-open stutzen rifles are also manufactured by small European companies working for custom-made weapons. As an example I can name Johann Fanzoj and Werner Sodia from Austria, Thomas Spohr from Germany and several others.
All the rifled weapons mentioned above are well-known to Russian hunters. But there’s a rifle type which has never been manufactured in our country being at the same time a rather widespread one in Western Europe. These are single-shot falling-block carbines. During the reloading the breechblock of such rifles slides down extracting the cartridge case at the same time. The breechblock length of these rifles may be less than the cartridge length. This action type is very similar to those used in heavy artillery. The cartridge case is blocked in the barrel chamber by the most of the breechblock front surface which sets against the rear part of the barrel extension. The system of this type enables to use the most powerful cartridges along with quite modest dimensions and weight of the rifle. The falling-block rifles are of very small size and of good balance, because the barrel is as close to the hunter’s shoulder as possible. This makes the rifle very dynamic and easily manageable. The rigid full-time fixation of the barrel in stock results in high shooting accuracy. The carbine can be reloaded quickly without changing its position in relation to hunter’s body. The structural strength of the action type guarantees very high resource (the shooting practice). European hunters consider these rifles optimal to hunt mountain game. No accident, that several well-known weapon companies (Lebeau-Courally, Verney-Carron and others) have mastered the manufacturing of falling-block action rifles. And finally, having a good rifle is not enough for a successful mountain hunt. Good optical sight, binoculars, range finder and optimal cartridges are absolutely necessary things. But, may be even more important thing – is to have good personal training, which can be divided into general physical training and special shooting training. The widespread notion that a person with a good rifle and up-to-date scope is automatically equals a sniper – is a delusion. Being a marksman is a kind of art. And one can’t master it reading special books. You can master it only practicing.
