Hard Times Rifles.

Open Source Survival site ^ | June 10, 2012 | Brother Rat

[Lowell1775]

Well the Big Brown Truck of happiness, dropped off the scope and rings I ordered a while ago. This is what I settled on for the Hard times rifle in the optics department, based on the following Philosophy of the Modern Longhunter and anticipated uses/needs.

Function and Feature priority

A manual action rifle, capable of engaging small game up to White Tailed Deer sized medium game at 25-500 yards.

Magazine or stripper clip fed

Mid range optic capable

Back up Iron sights standard

An easily procurable caliber with lots of reload data

Under 8lb with optic and magazine

Low recoil

Proven action design

Capable of homestead defense in a pinch

What we settled on for the platform was the outstanding CZ 550 rifle, in the FS or Mannlicher Stock variant. The caliber is .243 Winchester.

The optic choice took me several months, trying to decide in the end between Burris, Leupold and Nikon. The Leupold scope won out, the VX-3 1.5-5x to be exact. Its small size fits the rifles profile and shape well. The scope is typical of Leupold in being extremely clear and bright. On 1.5x it is most suitable for close quarters defense if needed and the 5x gives me enough confidence to engage marauding Coyotes out to 500M. I chose the German #4 reticule, having not used one in the past, time at the range this weekend will determine if I like it as much as I think I will.

I mounted the Leupold in Talley CZ specific quick release rings (This was not an outwardly frugal choice, but given the old world quality of rifle and the amount spent on glass I decided to “Buy once, Cry once”). These rings give me the ability to remove the scope in about 15 seconds and go to Irons.

All up weight with sling and 4 rounds of .243 s 8lbs / 1 oz! This is the same as the Ruger Gunsite with sling and empty magazine with no optic or rail! This is an accurate, fast and reliable practical rifle that won’t wear you down. It hits harder and further than the average 5.56 “assault rifle”, and with more magnification would be keeping up with most .308win bolt guns out to 800M.

If your survival plans are concerned more with having multiple use tools than fighting pitched gun battles with hordes of mutant biker zombie U.N Troops, then I highly recommend looking at CZ rifles and Leupold scopes to build your Hard-Times-Rifle.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Still in my collection.