Wild boar hunting rifles: The current production of semi-automatic batting rifles has reached truly excellent levels, both from the mechanical - functional and from the aesthetic point of view.
After decades of studies and modifications by manufacturers and tests and verifications by hunters from all over the world, we could almost say that many, but not all semi-automatic rifles have now reached the degree of efficiency that a firearm destined for. to shooting fast moving animals should have. But despite everything, several models could, indeed, should be improved. Let's see how semi-automatic rifles work and how they were born. When the firing pin is launched and primes the cartridge, a small explosion occurs inside the chamber. This phenomenon generates pressure, heat and therefore energy. Why not mechanically use this energy to create a repetition system? The most common automatic systems are basically three: the striking mass, the short or long barrel recoil and the gas recovery one.
There are also variants of the striking mechanism that use lever or roller delayed closures, such as the French military FAMAS and the German Heckler & Koch, but they are very rarely used. The exploitation of the recoil was instead much experimented in the semi-automatic shotguns with smooth bore and in the heavy military squad weapons, but unfortunately, given the weights involved, it was not suitable to be exploited in small arms chambered in powerful metal ammunition. The repetition system par excellence of all current semi-automatic weapons is the one that exploits the tapping of a small part of the propellant gases. The gases generated by the firing combustion disengage and retract the bolt block which subsequently, pushed forward by a sturdy spring, takes a new cartridge from the magazine and pushes it into the chamber ready to repeat the firing cycle. This patent, over a hundred years old, except for some minor modifications, has remained unchanged to this day and was used for the first time, needless to say, in weapons intended for war use. The best known and most widespread portable semi-automatic military weapons, which exploited the firing gases were the Garand, the Winchester M1 carbine, the Gewer 41, 43, 44 and the FG 42, but it was the American BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) submachine gun the one that was taken as a champion to create the first, true sporting hunting weapon. The project was revised and corrected by Remington, Winchester and finally by Herstal's FN, but always under the supervision of the great Mormon genius John Moses Browning or his son Val. Despite the goodness of the project, the evolution of semi-automatic hunting rifles was slow and somewhat limited because they were very delicate, fairly heavy weapons, which often jammed and did not equal the precision of those with manual bolt action.
Today the Browning BAR, the Remington Woodmaster model 742 - 7400 - 750, the Ruger Deerstalking 44 magnum, the Winchester mod. 100 and Vulcan SXR, Harrington and Richardson 308, Heckler & Koch 770, 940, SL 7 and SBL Light, Valmet Petra and Hunter, Voere 2295, Benelli ARGO, Verney and Carron, Merkel SR1, Sauer 302, the Molot, the Saiga, the Izhmash, the Zastava, and many models ex ordinance (American, German, French and the old Soviet bloc) with questionable good taste when used for hunting, are an exceptional choice for the enthusiast. wild boar hunting. The Browning BAR e Benelli ARGO they are undoubtedly the most widespread, but the others also boast discrete admirers. The choice of a hunting weapon is always conditioned by many factors such as personal tastes, needs, characteristics, caliber and unfortunately also the cost. However, custom-built or ex ordinance, a rifle must always be reliable, sufficiently practical and manageable and above all precise. Once it was very easy to choose a “wild boar” semi-automatic, because there were very few of them, but today, at the time of purchase, we have to carefully explore the pros and cons of what is offered to us. There are models that offer the possibility of modifying the stock to our liking, others that have batting sights, adjustable micrometric notches, or military-type diopters. It is up to us to choose the make and model according to our needs or our simple likes, but if we want to put a red dot or a telescope we will have to make sure if it is easy and possible to assemble, if the attachments are commonly available and what type , if too high, too low or if we prefer them with quick release.
For the most demanding who want something more like an oversized magazine, the hold open - cutt off, an excellent shot, even a long or short interchangeable barrel, a butt with cheek pad or sights with fully adjustable fiber optic inserts , the choice is greatly reduced. I will allow myself to give you some small tips on how to carry out a few, but super-tested "accuratizations", because, unfortunately, even after we have entered the third millennium, many semi-automatic rifles still do not have sights to match the gun and some trigger groups should be radically revised. The trigger can be lightened and / or modified with a few practical interventions, such as reducing the pre-stroke, lapping the hammer retaining surfaces and adjusting the release springs, but since it is a very delicate job, which conditions safety and that not everyone knows. to do perfectly, it is better to delegate it to a specialized gunsmith. Completely reviewing the sights should instead be an obligation on the part of many manufacturers and first of all Remington. The brand new semiauto model 750, practically the evolution of the legendary 742 - 7400, is truly an excellent rifle: elegant, precise, reliable and easy to handle, no complaints, but…. adopts a notch and front sight designed more than fifty years ago. How much would it have cost the American sacred monster to mount on all his excellent model 742, 760, 7400, 7600 and 750 rifles a nice notch, open V-shaped with fiber inserts and a valid and highly visible adjustable front sight? In my opinion, those who own a semiautomatic of the well-known US brand should change both the notch and the viewfinder with other more specific types, with green fiber inserts for the notch and bright red for the viewfinder. The LPA of Gardone VT produces and exports all over the world excellent. Is it possible that the Remington technicians have not yet noticed this little detail? Or perhaps they were waiting for a modest Maremma belt-maker to point it out to him? Unlike the Remington, many models of batting rifles (also bolt action and express) have adopted valid fully adjustable sights and with fiber optic inserts, but the notches? A rifle is not like a 12 gauge, where the front sight alone is sufficient. In targeted precision shooting, even the "leaflet" has its fundamental importance and therefore must be well made, clearly visible and easy to acquire. I will surely have understood who has this problem, so the old notch should change it to one that allows good visibility of the target and that is clearly visible even in poor light conditions. Better if of the adjustable type. Remember that the adjustments must always be made on the notch, I have no sympathy for adjustable sights, they are too delicate.
All projects BrowningBetter late than never, they finally realized that if they wanted to remain leaders in the semi-auto field, they had to build new oversized, removable and easily replaceable magazines; in place of the 2 - 4 swinging shots, which had become anachronistic and no one liked anymore. The System company, marketed by Poli Nicoletta Erredi Trading of Gardone, produces excellent oversized magazines that, with very little effort, can also be adapted to the old BAR II models, both in steel and in alloy in the Light version. Regardless of whether we want to use iron sights or a scope, the butt of the gun will always have to be adjusted so that it fits us quite well, especially in instinctive bracing shooting. We can make these adjustments with the plates that some weapons are equipped with, otherwise to change the advantage and fold we will have to provide with a few, but precise strokes of rasp and sandpaper. The total length of the butt is also of paramount importance. Better short than long! How is a rubber recoil pad better than a wooden or bakelite one? And then let's not "measure" a weapon in the summer, because remember that we will have to use it in the winter when we are well covered and harnessed. Even the rifle belt discourse needs to be revised for batting semi-cars. Someone will surely have noticed that Browning does not put the screw for the sling shirt in the stock of the BAR. Many will have seen this as a defect and will have regretted it, not me! Apart from the canai and the bucklers, who often need to have both hands free, I don't understand what the belt can ever serve to a hunter who is in the post. To reach the hunting area? He can do this with the rifle in the scabbard. To rest your arms after hours holding the weapon? Experience has shown that the weapon is always better to keep it within reach and not over the shoulder. Maybe if we really want to rest our arms, we can lay the weapon on a tree or a hedge, but it must always be close, within reach and with the safety off.
The sling on a batting weapon hinders movement too much and has the unpleasant ability to always get caught in the least opportune moments. Do we want to mount a low magnification variable stop scope or a good Red Dot on our rifle? Although rare, it may happen that we cannot find specific attacks and then it is better to mount a Weaver or Piccatinny type base screwed on the weapon's castle. It is the best choice because the Weaver base (strictly in steel) is practical, sturdy and very economical, Then, it will be our care to mount on it the rings or rails that are the lowest and most robust possible, fixed or quick release, always according to need. . I am into FIXED bindings for two reasons, first because I don't like assembly - frequent disassembly and second because I prefer to get used to shooting with what I put on the gun. Red dot or telescope, if I have chosen one or the other I adapt and train myself to shoot at it, I am not always puzzling "whether perhaps it is better to take it off or not". I will never tire of repeating that with this type of weapon, more than with the others, you have to really shoot at it a lot. Buy some boxes of ammunition, including military ones: Turkish, Bosnian, Hungarian, Chinese, Russian etc; go to a shabby quarry and shoot everything that comes your way, such as stones, moving car tires, stationary and moving shapes, and so on. In this way, in addition to becoming familiar with the weapon, you will get used to the sprint and aiming systems. I am fighting for all boar hunters, or at least a good part, to use a rifled weapon. This is for many reasons and not least that of security. After all, is the boar a big and leathery hoofed animal or not? So how can we deny that the semi-automatic rifle is the best weapon to hunt him down?