Posted on 01/03/2009 12:39:36 PM PST by yankeedame
1. Winchester Model 70 (pre-1964)
It was not even an original design. The Model 70 was an improvement of Winchester's Model 54, which in turn was based on the Mauser Model 98. But upon its birth in 1936, it kindled a love affair that has never died. Winchester advertised it as "the rifleman's rifle,-¿ and the slogan stuck. This was the big-game rifle by which all others were measured, and it is still, in my opinion, the best factory bolt action ever made.
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2. Mauser Model 98
Imagine someone building an automobile two years before the end of the 19th century, five years before the Wright brothers flew. Now imagine that this same automobile is still very much in use, still regarded by many as the best car around, and still in production. That is exactly what Peter Paul Mauser did when he designed his Model 98 rifle in Germany.
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3. Winchester Model 12
It is well known among the snobbier of shotgun enthusiasts that no repeating shotgun can handle as well as an over/under or a side-by-side. But there is one repeater that points like the Finger of Doom itself-"the Model 12 pump.
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4. Remington Model 1100
Autoloading shotguns had been around for a long time by 1963, but the new Model 1100 was different. Previous self-loaders were heavy and handled like sledgehammers. If they were recoil operated, they kicked like mules. People tolerated them only because they offered three or more fast shots. The 1100, on the other hand, was sleek, moderate in weight, and handled splendidly. Most important, it had softened recoil.
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5. Smith & Wesson Model 29
Some people date the birth of S&W's Model 29 .44 Magnum to the 1970 movie Dirty Harry, but they are ignorant and deserve our scorn. The Model 29 debuted in 1955 and is one of those rare firearms that force us to redefine what a gun can do. The .44 Magnum enabled handgunners to not only hunt big game but to shoot it at rifle-caliber distances.
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6. Winchester Model 94
It is useful only at comparatively short range; it does not take to scope mounting; it is not accurate by today's standards. Every attempt to torture it into something else has failed. But if you say "deer rifle," you mean the Model 94 lever action. Short and light, it kicks hardly at all, gets on target fast, is ultrareliable, and carries comfortably in the hand.
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7. Remington Model 700
In the years after World War II, Remington hired a pair of brilliant designers named Mike Walker and Wayne Leek. The two men realized that if the company was to survive, it could not make guns the way it had before 1941. The new generation of Remingtons would have to be far simpler and cheaper to make. And so they came out with a horrible-looking rifle called the Model 721. It was cheap to make and looked it, but it was more accurate than any other factory rifle at the time.
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8. Benelli Autoloader
Newton's First Law of Motion-"an object at rest tends to remain at rest-"drives the ultradependable Benelli action, which redefined autoloading reliability in the 1990s.
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9. Remington XP-100
The development of handguns has progressed in a series of seismic jolts. One came in 1963, when Remington announced the XP-100, which looked like a prop from a Buck Rogers movie. It was not so much a handgun as a one-handed rifle. To make the gun, Remington utilized the bolt action from its Model 600 carbine, a Zytel stock borrowed from the Model 66 .22 autoloader, and a barrel rib and sights from the Model 660 magnum carbine. Designers didn't stop there, though. They also cooked up a red-hot varmint cartridge called the .221 Fireball to chamber in the new gun. The result was historic: For the first time, varmint hunters could pound pasture poodles without a rifle, and handgunning had taken on a whole new dimension.
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10. Remington Model 870
Think of it as a Winchester Model 12 that is easy to manufacture. The Model 870 made its debut in 1950 as one of the first of Remington's "new generation" of guns that did away with the complex machining of the past. And it may be sacrilege to say so, but the plebian 870 is probably as good a gun as the aristocratic Model 12. It pumps just as fast, points as well, is just as reliable, and is unbelievably long-lived. The late shotgunning great Rudy Etchen put 4 million rounds through his 870 with just some minor parts replacement to keep it going. The 870 is still with us, made in every configuration known to man, and it will probably be around for many years more.
These are the top ten from a fairly long F&S article called: "The 50 Best Guns Ever Made". Be sure to check it out.
Fudd guns in the top ten. No doubt a F&S list.
A beautiful and accurate description of #6.
If nothing else, metallurgy has come a long way in the last 40 years or so; it doesn't hurt to dry snap modern rifles but you'd not want to do it with anything 'pre-64'...
Modern autoloading shotguns are much faster than those of 40 yearss ago i.e. you can't outrun the trigger on Beretta or Benelli's recent semiautos.
No fudd guns for me.
I have about 30 firearms, and own exactly zero from that top 10 list.
Thanks for the article. My dad just handed down his Winchester Model 70 to our son.
4.5 for me
(I’m giving myself a half point for my post ‘64 Model 70)
Jeez, was the author a Winchester salesman?
lol...
Had the same thoughts run thru my head...
The only one (actually three) from that list that I own is the Benelli. I have two H&K Benelli M1S90s for home defense and a Super Black Eagle II for hunting.
AMEN!
A magazine writer whose number one advertiser is probably Winchester. This incestuous relationship is why Cold Steel Knives doesn’t advertise in knife magazines.
Top ten hunting guns obviously as it did not include the AK-47 and the B.A.R.. ;)
The author loses.
No 1911, Colt Model P or High Power on the list.
Now if you change the headline to the 10 morst popular hunting firearms, it would make sense.
My personal favorite.
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