Richard Mann is probably the most vocal apologist of Jeff Cooper's Scout Rifle concept in the firearms media. As I've noted before, the Scout Rifle concept seemed to have grown out of Cooper's own thoughts on the ideal post-SHTF survivalist rifle. So it always catches my attention when Mann delves into the topic of survivalist or prepping rifles--a fun topic even if (we hope) it is theoretical.
In any event, I recently came across a 2018 article that Mann wrote for Shooting Illustrated entitled "4 Apocalypse-Ready Rifles: Which One is Best?" The four rifles considered are: (i) Century Arms RAS47 (i.e., a pretty stock AKM style rifle) shooting, of course, 7.62x39mm; (ii) a Marlin 336 lever action in .30-30 Win.; (iii) a Savage 110 Scout, a bolt-action rifle shooting .308 Win. from a 10-round detachable box magazine; and (iv) a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 shooting 5.56 NATO, representing a fairly stock AR with a 16-inch barrel. Each of the rifles mounted some form of optic: the AK had a red-dot while the other three rifles all had a magnified rifle scope.
Mann devised a course of fire to test the weapons which he describes:
By running the rifles through this course, I compared their friendliness and effectiveness. There were five stages, and at each I conducted a snap shot on a torso target and a precision shot on a 6-inch target. Engagement distance varied from 60 to 160 yards, and time stopped when both targets had been hit.
On stage one, I engaged the targets across-cab, while seated in a UTV. For stage two I exited the UTV, kneeled and used its hood for support. Stage three started standing, before engaging the targets from the prone position. For stage four, I moved from standing to sitting, and at the last stage, both shots were fired standing, using a tree for support. Ten hits were required to clean the course and scoring was simple. Both targets had to be hit to stop the clock at each stage. I added total shots fired to the total time, and the lower the number, the better the rifle and I performed. Additionally, three, three-shot groups were fired with each rifle from a sandbag rest at 100 yards. In total, 100 rounds were fired with each carbine.
Unsurprising, the AR scored the best at 49.23. Interestingly, though, because of its limited magazine capacity requiring it to be topped off, the lever action had an almost identical score to the AR at 49.45. There was a 9 second jump to the score for the bolt action rifle--58.68. And the AK finished last at 65.93 although, Mann pointed out, "the lack of magnification made precision shots challenging". He also made some general comments that expanded on this:
Most notable [of points that don't show up in the raw scores] was the inferiority of the red-dot sight. For snap-shooting it was fast, but hindered the ability to deliver precision shots with speed. This was partly due to the lack of magnification, but also due to the optic’s inability to deal with varied light conditions. On a pristine range these sights can work like magic; in the field—woods—they can be problematic. Had the AK been fitted with a magnified optic, it would likely have performed on par with the others. The red dot is also battery powered, which may not be wise for a rifle kept in storage until the world happens to fall apart.
On the other hand, in a course geared more at CQB (and even the shortest distance in this course was beyond what is generally considered CQB) the red dot probably would have been at its best. He used a very inexpensive red dot, as well, and I have to wonder if a different red dot with different features might have worked better.
Mann has some more points that he raises concerning each rifle and other topics such as ammunition, appropriateness for different locations or environments, whether the speed differences are really that determinative, and when you might want a more powerful rifle than the 5.56 (or 7.62x39, for that matter), so be sure to read the whole thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment