Anyhony's story of his grandpa was special. Brought a tear to my eye. Yes Ron, you do speek in the manner we came up in. I have been reading, watching, 'following ' yourself since the mid 70's. I do love your work.

I would go with the Mauser m18. They feel like they are good quality, fit and finish.

I have used bronze bore brushes for years, I have never seen any damage from them.

I own both these rifles and both are really accurate. I had to send the ruger back for feeding issues they fixed the issue and gave me an extra mag for the trouble . I prefer the m18 though mine feeds better and is a tad more accurate but the trigger and three position safety gives it the win for me . Prefer the finish on the ruger good though . Paid the exact same price for both 399 each .

The only disadvantage I have seen from 223 and 22/250 rounds is that they don't leave much of a blood trail.

Of the lower priced guns, I really like the Ruger Am’s, Cva Cascade & Franchi Momentum.

I cant remember the guys name but a national champion Benchrest shooter takes a bronze brush and a cordless drill to his barrels to clean them between every string of fire so if it were possible to damage a barrel and ruin accuracy with a brush I think the guy who shoots sub .2" groups all day would have discovered it by using a drill.

I did a lot of research on a budget rifle and settled on the M18. Of the four of us that hunt together we own the following, the patriot (2023), rem 700-new version (2016), the savage axis with the acutrigger (2015) , and my m18 (2017), all of us 100% shoot the Mauser better than any of the other rifles. It is just a joy to own.

Ron , I like the Poor man's rifles . Recently I have pickup Mauser 98 that was sportized and a 03A3 that was sportized too. Both rifles are in 3006. I don't have a lot money invested. I like finding Military Surplus rifles that have been Sportized you can usually get them on the budget. The Poor Man's Rifles.

Really like my Mauser M18, It was the first rifle i purchased. Its not perfect but it's a good solid rifle for the price.

222cal was used extensively in New Zealand during the 1950s for deer culling. Not my choice but they clearly work on deer with good shot placement

For gun cleaning, I use a slightly undersized bronze brush with a cotton patch over it. That protects the bore from the brush but gives more pressure on the cotton patch.

My dad was a high Master ranked high-power rifle competitor and gunsmith for decades. He always used the .30 and .22 bore brushes in his rifles.

I feel the same way as Anthony when I listen to you Ron it feels like I’m talking to my grandpa about cartridges and different game he was a wealth of knowledge like you having gone on everything from African safari to Montana Colorado Wyoming and his his multiple leases in central and west Texas. He left us in 04 when I was 24 and it’s always a breath of fresh air listening to you. By the way he was a huge fan of 22-250 like you but he took 4:04 his go to everything rifle 7mm rem mag everywhere including Africa and killed basically everything there except the big 5 Thanks for your knowledge and willingness to share

If you tape a large soda bottle to the end of your barrel you eliminate cleaning spatter.

Mauser M18 is lots of gun for not a lot of money. The bolt is some of the best I've seën amongst most rifles. Great accuracy with hand loads. Wonderful rifle to carry in the African bushveld. That being said....I do not think anyone is making bad quality rifles these days.

Ron, E A. Brown carries the "accelerator" sabots. I have some to do the 55g in 30-06. I have not had a chance to play yet. my experience back in the day was after about 75 yards it was a real crap shoot on accuracy. but short distance 4000= ft. per sec was a lot of fun

Hey Ron, regarding smaller calibers that "grenade" on impact. I wanted to add my own experience: I'm not sure if they sell this bullet anymore, but through years of personal experience, I found a 90gr Remington Core Lokt Hollow Point shot from my inherited Rem 700 BDL .25-06 to be bad medicine for mule deer. Upon autopsy, the animals' we shot all looked like an explosion liquified their lungs. Sometimes we'd even find small lead fragments in the chest cavity. It almost looked like we shot the deer with bird shot at close range. Devastating results. As you stated, the key is to avoid hitting the shoulder. As long as we did that, we were eating deer meat for dinner. Thanks for another great episode. I appreciate your content.

Thanks for the explanations Ron!👍🏼

I met Tubbs service rifle shooter at Camp Perry. He claims to use Windex on his rifling to remove all oil before shooting. He has a badger barrel on his service rifle that has thousands beyond thousands around through it. It reduces heat and friction on the rifling. I have been doing it with some long range rifles and swear by it as well. You need to remove the oil from your rifling 37:56 before shooting because your barrels cannot take that kind of heat and pressure. Thanks long time, KZfaq watcher first timer on replying. Love what you do. Keep it up and if you ever make it to neck of the woods look me up love to take you fishing or set up an Osceola turkey hunt. Tight lines will keep them in the X ring Captain Todd Walker signing out

I own a M18 "Fenris" in 6,5 SE, it shoots 1/2 MOA at 300 Meters any time. I love that Rifle

Whenever I listen to barrel mechanical cleaning advice, I think about what I’m doing versus what a bullet does when it slams down the barrel at 2800 ft/sec with an incinerating conflagration immediately behind it. It is difficult for me to imagine a level of incompetence that could damage a gun barrel using any cleaning rod or brush. Some of the most admonishing people that point out my incompetence won’t hesitate to discharge 60 rounds/min of ammunition through the same barrel that they insist on only using sacred cloth to clean.

Ron the exception for shot is 00 and 000 you want to use a cylinder bore. Because any choking will cause flat spots on the shot which results in flyers.

my favorite rifle of all time is the M77 tang safety

Ron: I love your shows! just wondering why people worry about barrel burn out,when my gunsmith can take my barrel and re chamber it and only shorten it less than 1/4 in. all for about 100 bucks more or less depending on brand of rifle.It's like new again! I've had this done a couple times as I love making my old guns new again!

Used to be a marlin 336 30-30. Used to be the cheapest deer rifle you could buy new, even KMart used to carry them. Cheap factory ammo, inside 150 yards you could realistically expect to kill anything. And fast and handy, quick follow up shots. Now it cost $800 just to get a used one and $1000+ for a new Ruger-built marlin 336. So it’s probably gonna be a Savage Axis, super cheap at a pawn shop, pick your cartridge. All the old milsurps use oddball cartridges.

I hear what you say Jim says about cleaning with a jag and patches only. But, I have found that after those patches "come clean" a brush perhaps small for bore, with a thin patch, soaked in bore cleaner and wrapped around the brush pushed down the bore, helps bring out " age settled" carbon that can then be picked up by jag and patch. I've dealt with a lot of old converted war rifles from the 20th and 19th centuries that have been just stacked in the back corners of old farmhouse closets and forgotten.

Thank u for the videos. I love your info and all your videos.

I enjoy watching you Rob but your video covers so many questions and topics I couldn't even find the part about the rifle subject in the title I was interested in watching

@ 1:27 in ~ Beautifully done, Ron. Absolutely love Your work(s). Godspeed! 🙏

There I learned something again as always thank you Ron and thor

You’re a class act, Ron.

Wow ! So interesting to find out we were all doing it wrong in BCT and RVN using bore brushes ... doc 68-71 😂

Hey Ron- just caught up with the video. Talking about cleaning with a bronze brush. I bought myself a Winchester single shot 22 rifle for my 6th birthday in March of 1952. I have been cleaning it with a bronze brush since day one. It was a used one I got from a neighbor for $5.00. Got in the back of his pickup the same day, drove to the Sheriffs Department to register it lm my name. No problem in those days. Still have it and shoot Agila Colibre in it in the back yard. No noise and stops in a cardboard box full of paper. The bore is still like the day I got it. By the way -I am now the old grandpa the younger ones come to but sometimes I think they ask only to be polite but don’t really listen I am a steal and wood kind of guy while most of them are polymer people. I love all guns and I really enjoy your videos and pod casts. Always learn something new or old. Richard

Though rifle barrels are tougher than bore brushes a brush can slightly eroded the rifling if it is pulled back and forth continuously for 5,000 years.

The Mauser 18 is a great rifle! I bought one in 300 Win because it was so affordable. I cut my barrel back to 20 inches for a fun truck/black timber gun. No the 18 is not perfect, but close. Here's what I like about the M18. It's not too heavy. It's ergonomic. Short smooth bolt lift and very fast cycling. A superb trigger. The bolt assembly is field strippable by hand. My flush fitting 300 Win removable box magazine hold 4 rounds! The mag is slick to load... just push em in, and is easy to remove/install. The mag also has an internal shoulder, which holds cartridges in place during recoil. What I do not like... Single feeding is sketchy. Bolt shroud is some polimer plastic. Recoil pad is kind of hard. No stainless yet? Mine is accurate. Now to explain what Ron was talking about the bolt situation... The 18 bolt has dual ejectors with heavy springs. When driving a round into battery, those ejector springs must be compressed, or the bolt won't close. So, one can't limp-wrist an 18. Work the bolt with authority and there are no problems. Slow loading requires an extra push to compress the springs. My guess, and I told Blaser... the springs are too strong. Honestly with use, it gets much better. My Tikkas are fast to load follow up shots, but my M18 seems faster! For the money the M18 is lots of gun! I view mine as a working rifle and love it!

I been using alcohol 99% with a patch wrapped around my nylon brush, and lastly using 3 in1 oil .

The Mauser M 18 comes in 9.3 ×62 , thats interesting.

My feelings exactly Anthony, While my Grandfather wasn’t a hunter (or gun owner) Ron’s cadence, inflection, and humor remind me of my now departed “Pop”. It makes listening to Ron all the more enjoyable.

I started with 30-06 and went to a 243, for deer less recoil ,and more than enough nock down power. My favorite bullet was the 85 gr boatail made by Speer.

...always enjoy you show, Ron.

Great video 👍👍 I agree with your statements on all the subjects. Especially on the 12 ga chokes and shot size and 243 for Elk. Distance,shot placement, and bullet choice. And proficiency.

You are a very kind Man.

It is unfortunate that many believe.308 Winchester is inherently more accurate than any other .30 caliber because the U.S. military adopted it. The fact is the military chose it due recoil reduction for a perceived recoil sensitive service member. Performance was secondary .308 Win was just good enough.

Competitive shooters doe not use the same 308 chamber as most hunters. The SAAMI chamber is considered too sloppy for best accuracy. Most competition shooters use barrels with chambers optimized for the bullets they use. The freebore (the snug cylinder in front of the case to align the bullet before entering the rifling) of the SAAMI 308 has about 4 times the slop as that used in competition chambers. More recent cartridges like the 7mm-08, 6.5 Creedmoor, etc use similar "match style" chambers that have only about half a thousandth of an inch clearance for the bullet in the freebore.

When I listen to Ron I am immediately reminded of my grandfather and the discussions we used to have. Every time I thought I found the best all around cartridge he would find a way to make me doubt it in one aspect or another. At the end of the day a .270 win does everything out east. Legal diameter for coyotes in my province and big enough for moose/black bear without the unnecessary powder burn/recoil of a magnum

Common question. If the brush is a softer metal than the barrel no harm done. If accuracy goes down brush and clean a bit at a time until you find the sweet spot. Re-loader experience here I know more than you!

In terms of barrel burning out People dont take into account that target shooters tend to shoot fairly large strings of shots rather quickly, which might be why they see burnout at rates that seem to occour at lower round counts than most folks will see.

My hunting buddy uses 22-250. Soft point or varmint bullets, out to 400 yards. Deer drop like when he used to use 300 Win Mag, except he shoots the 22-250 better. It took a few years until I stopped being amazed and got used to it. It's not for me, but it works.

Yes you can use brake cleaner although it can damage some finishes. Try it out in an inconspicuous place first. Keep it off plastics if at all possible. I would suggest carburetor cleaner as a safer option and generally works better on carbon deposits anyway. Dirty secret: I use a cheap spray can of carburetor cleaner and whatever motor oil I happen to have in the garage to clean and lube my AR15. Works super fast. And I use a brass brush down the bore, no F's given. Doesn't hurt anything. The gasses from firing are going to erode the gas port and throat long before my cheapy brass brush ever causes a single issue. The patches are for the final wipe down, drying and oiling the bore, not unlike using a buffing cloth as the final step to shining up your boots.

Enjoy your show and podcasts just wanted to chime in and let you know that smith& Wesson indeed makes a revolver in 350 legend. It's available in Thier x frame model.

Thank you for the tips on shot size and chokes. Good, useful information. I have used Brake Clean on the carbon deposited in the gas systems of my M1A a d AR's for years and it works great, but I never thought of using brake cleaning fluid in my barrels. I'll give it a try.

Thanks 👍

Excellent video

The Mauser M-18 is a super accurate rifle; sub moa is easy. I have shot a THIRTEEN shot group that was 1 inch @ 100 yards. Only one of those was a "flier" that appeared as a single hole - all the rest were just part of one jagged sub 1 inch hole. The bolt hang-up happens at the closing of the bolt - you just need to do that with a firm forward motion.

Mauser advertises they have the best process to manufacture cold forged hammer barrels in the world. Therefore they say they make the best cold forged hammer barrels in the world. I thought yea right. After that I found a Mauler M18 in 6.5 PRC on sale. At the range in extremely harsh windy conditions the rifle shot a .30 sub Moa. Unbelievable! They did back up what they advertise. Still nothing wrong with ruger. They shoot good no problem with ruger. This my experience. I was not prepared for the Mauser, to say I was impressed would be an understatement.

So waaay back in the 1960’s I bought a very used Browning Sweet Sixteen. What I quickly realized was that no one ever put the shells on sale. Started out with a Lee hand loader and I settled on a heavy field load with 7 1/2 shot with a modified choke tube in a Cutts compensator. Probably the reason I can’t hear today. I hunted EVERYTHING, dove, quail, ducks, with the rare goose thrown in. Now I have a 12ga Browning, same choke system and except for waterfowl, still the same setup. Something about old dogs and new tricks?

I have a 1930s era sporterized Mauser and I would rather have it than any of your synthetic stock fanboy newer rifles.

Carb cleaner is better . B12 and compressed air . Nowadays if I get 2 bullets in the same hole I call it a Spomer .

The accelerator 30-06 was used by my brother in T.N. he shot a 38 lbs.groundhog at about 350 yards, he loved it, but it was banned because it was not able to get Marks on the bullet, but every 10 shots it had to be cleaned because of the flowing. ECK USMC

Lovely first letter.

I was raised as my Dads retriever on the dove field. He shot a Winchester model 50 with an improved cylinder. My first shot gun was an Ithaca 20 gauge pump with an improved cylinder. Seemed to be the best on Georgia dove fields.

So this is what I just did for cleaning. My one of my rifles, say Thompson center venture in 708 which I rebuilt it last year by putting a new stock and new scope. New rings and mounts, new trigger guard and new butt pad, , and I read because I went to copper bullets this past year, because I was using nosler partitions in it ever since I bought it which I have shot at least 3 to 400 rounds out of this gun. With that bullet I like to shoot and I practice and that's my go-to gun for hunting, and then I read about cleaning your boar before you start using copper bullets because that's what I went to, so I talked Tetra brand copper bore solvent cleaner and fouling cleaner, which I used a brush with patches wrapped around the brush with that solvent on it which I probably did. 20 patches in that brush ran through it and elk came clean, and then I talk that brush and put tetra gun oil on it, and ran it through there and tell that claim came clean again, and then I took patches and just ran patches through it on a jag until they came out clean. Whichever is very little residue on it, and then I took one patch and ran with tetra gun oil on it, and I wish you could send pictures on KZfaq because I'm not on patreon because I got a quarter inch group with five shots of that 708 and her yards which I was getting three quarters of an inch group before I cleaned this gun, and the way I clean this gum before was rem oil, and a boar snake. And when I after I got done running the board snake through it then I'd spray remo oil in it and barrel down. I'd let drip out and that's how I cleaned it and was still getting three quarter inch groups which I was fine with for hunting rifle. So but like Ron says clean it the way you want to clean it. Some guys aren't as picky. Some guys want the utmost accuracy! Which is what I was trying for more accuracy

Good answers on the shotgun and amount of pellet used. I was always too quick with my shots. I ended up loading 3/4 oz and used the improved cylinder choke in my 12 gauge. and still my wife complained about how much pellets were in the pheasant.

Interesting. Last year I asked Barnes about a load development that they did not have any published data on. They told me I could not use load data from a traditional cup and core bullet in the same weight as an all copper bullet.

The tests that I have seen show only a very small decrease in velocity with increasing twist rates. It is usually on the order of 10fps. Some data is on the Accurate Shooter site in an article "How Muzzle Velocity Changes with Different Barrel Twist Rates".

I should add, I picked up a Ruger American Gen II, it is a great rifle. It’s not as cheap as a savage axis but it is a much nicer gun.

To our Quebec friend. Take a look at the Mauser model 12. I think you will be more happy with that rifle…just save a little more money. I keep suggesting Winchester model 70 for new owners low on funds I consider the 70 the best all around.

your video is amazing

additional note for the shotgun question at the beginning. The type of shot also plays a crucial role in choke selection, steel shot typically patterns one choke tighter than lead and isn't generally recommended in any choke tighter than an improved Modified, I don't have enough experience with tungsten or bismuth to know how their patterns differ from lead. Also, the denser shot material are effective with smaller shot sizes for improved shot patterns, I know quite a few duck hunters that have fallen in love with tungsten 7.5 for everything up through large Mallards

Savage 110

Mauser M18 all the way!!

To Mr. Spomer and listeners; Be aware some if not most brake cleaners are using water, yes water, as inert ingredients. Takes up space and cost little to nothing. Even the best brake cleaners that do not package water, can cause moisture by pulling atmospheric water and condensing it inside the bore. Probably moreso in the Pacific Northwest versus Arizona.

have an old savage shotgun with a screw on adjustable choke. works awesome

Over the past 45+/- years I've done more pheasant hunting over my German Shorthaired Pointers in the Northeast than any other kind of hunting. I've found that #6 shot works the best for me with either a Cylinder Bore or Improved. I've shot mostly 12ga but over the past 10 or 15 years I've become a big fan of the 16ga, having almost as much shot as the 12ga but in a lighter shotgun so it feels like you're carrying a 20ga. But my favorite shotgun to use is one of my Pedersoli 12ga SxS muzzleloaders packed with 80gr of RS Pyrodex and 1-1/8 ounce of #6 shot. It's just so fun and relaxing, and my hunting buddy Zeke told me he liked watching me use the BP shotgun to take the birds he sniffed out and pointed for me (we always had good conversations on our ride home!). In terms of wearing rifle barrels out, my father bought a used Winchester Model 70 chambered in .243 Winchester, not knowing much about the cartridge back then at all. It was a heavy barrel, free floated barrel, glass bedded action with a very crisp trigger and we mounted a 6.5-20x Leupold scope. This was back in the early 80's when I was still in elementary school and he wanted a rifle for us to shoot woodchucks which were destroying the farmer's crops in town. We experimented with different bullet weights and brands of ammo and didn't have many good results, until a gunsmith recommended we try Federal Premium loaded with 60gr Sierra HP. We were no expert rifle shots back then, but from a sandbag rest we could shoot quarter size groups at 100 yards using that load. And we learned holdovers and made shots out past 400 yards on woodchucks, which was a long way for us back then. But after handloading using 60gr HP bullets and shooting a LOT over the next decades, it was starting to get less and less accurate. When we finally traded it, it couldn't group better than 2" at 100 yards. It was still good enough for the person who we traded it to, but knowing what it used to be capable of it just didn't do it for us anymore. I wish I kept track of exactly how many rounds we put through it but I do know it was over 1000, and we didn't know the rifle's history before we owned it.

You can always replace the stock on a cheap but well made barreled action.

Yep. 22 lr is a classic 😉

Rich man poor man hunting man Ruger is my favorite. 😊😊

I’ve always had good results with the Ruger American I have the GoWild in .22mag 6.5 Creedmoor 350 Legend The rifles are sub MOA but I’m afraid I’m not sub MOA Come with picatinny rail Ceracoat & camo stocks Great value

I don't know why the Browning AB3 isn't mentioned much, it's economical and accurate rifle and if you would like to improve it a little with a trigger spring which is very simple to install and not expensive and to get the rifle bedded making it stack up against most more expensive models I only mention this because very little is said about it, aim small, good hunting, GOD bless.

I like to angle my barrel down so the solvent doesn’t run back into the action and point the muzzle into a container so the spray of solvent of the brush is mostly captured.

Regarding the discussion starting around 11:00 if you start with a lead free bullet and get the copper from those onto the barrel, if you shot traditional bullets and they are accurate, if you go back to lead free will the initial accuracy still be good or do you still need to remove the copper and start over?

On shot sizes….viewers in the UK and Europe bear in mind that shot sizes in the USA and Canada are different from the UK or europe. I believe a #7 1/2 US shot is similar to a #6 UK shot. Look it up…I might be wrong.

I have been looking for a old Wingmaster 410 with no luck so now 28 is getting a look. Any news if Remington will build 410's anytime soon? I have a 20 O/U I like to carry scouting but the 410 for late season bunnies in deep snow sounds appealing now the freezer is already full ;)

I had to subscribe again.

Yes, it should be rather obvious that soft, small caliber bullets at a high velocity do a lot of damage inside the chest cavity of a whitetail. What’s not so obvious and actually, quite surprising, though, is how heavier bone like the shoulder knuckle of even a yearling buck can deflect or stop bullets that are, by the way, designed for varmints. Years ago my son’s .243 Win unfortunately tumbled heavier bullets so bad they key-holed. So I took the advice of a sales associate at Bass Pro Shop and tried some Hornady 75 gr hollow points. All of a sudden the gun was shooting sub MOA! The very first deer my son shot that fall was a young buck at no more than 70 yds or so across a narrow strip of bean field if I recall. My son immediately goes to high five me but I kept an eye on where the buck fell and to my amazement he jumped back up and ran off, not leaving a drop of blood anywhere to be found. I’ve got a cherished photo of my son between two does that he killed one morning a couple weeks later. The boy should shoot! That was after making a switch to Remington 80 gr soft points, though. The fourth deer he shot ran a long ways, though, so I decided to just let him use my 270 Win. from then on. And that was the end of having to look for any of his deer, at least after bow season.

Ron , thank you for your channel , I have a point that might be beneficial to a good number of your viewer's. in the podcast I just watched there was a gentleman that brought up a 30/06 as being the ultimate cartridge and then another touting the 300 WM now both of these cartridges are amazing there is no such thing as the ultimate cartridge , I digress what is important is that there are options: barrel burn out ? that doesn't need to be an issue for a hunter obviously mistreatment can cause barrel burn out .However given a 30 Cal weapon its way more reasonable to think in terms of : for reloaders more so than factory ammo shooters the ability to run up and sown the pressure scale. If your shooting a 300 savage shooting a 150 grain bullet and top velocities are maxing out at say 2600 fps or so and by doing that your at the edge of the pressure curve you have to ask yourself the question if I want 2600 fps without over pressure or at the top edge would it not be more reasonable to just buy a 308 and the same could be said for each given bullet dia. out there . Step up in cartridge size and shoot something more comfortable for the bullet and velocity desired. can't wait to hear your take .

Nosler big game hunting bullets have worked best 4 me.going back35 yrs>>

Put a damn brush down that barrel. Nothing cleans like a brush, nothing.

Both Ruger and Mauser are cold forged barrels. Best technology for the class of rifle. Smoother rifling and more inherantly accurate. Apparently Ruger copied a lot of the technology from the Mauser

I use carb cleaner and brushes all the time

Ron do u clean ur rifles after hunting season to be stored away for next hunting season??

About using a bronze brush? Well let’s just say when I got my Rigby in its case was not only a rod for patches and the patches there was also a brush attachment. I’m going to think a London Best manufacturing company just kinda knows what they are talking about. And my cheapest Rigby is about $17,100USD. I use my bronze brush when I need to.

I HAVE THE MAUSER M-18 IN 6.5MM PRC IT COULD COMPETE WITH MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE RIFLES FOR ACCURACY AND SMOOTH ACTION.

I would suggest Savage Axis.

Ron, about the Sabo cartridge. Isn't that much like the paper patch technology from the 1800s .....thanks George from SC

Mauser's like the bolt run a bit harder that other rifles the k98 was the same

Hi my name is Allan from northern MN. I am curious about shotgun slugs. Mainly the 410 slugs I see them all the time in stores and wonder what they are good for? Are they viable for deer? Thanks for any info on these slugs.

I haven’t cleaned more than a shot of carb cleaner in 30 years.

Talkig about using or brushes that what we used all th time in the military and they was made of copper or bronze never hur te bore