48 AMERICAN RIFLEMAN • September 1995

®

Dope Bag is compiled by Staff and ContributingEditors: David Andrews, Hugh C. Birnbaum, Bruce N.Canfield, Russ Carpenter, O. Reid Coffield, William C.Davis, Jr., Pete Dickey, Charles Fagg, Robert W.Hunnicutt, Mark A. Keefe, IV, Angus Laidlaw, Scott E.Mayer, Charles E. Petty, Robert B. Pomeranz, O.D.,Charles R. Suydam and A.W.F. Taylerson.

CAUTION: Technical data and information containedherein are intended to provide information based on thelimited experience of individuals under specific condi-tions and circumstances. They do not detail the compre-hensive training procedures, techniques and safety pre-cautions absolutely necessary to properly carry on simi-lar activity. Read the notice and disclaimer on the con-tents page. Always consult comprehensive referencemanuals and bulletins for details of proper trainingrequirements, procedures, techniques and safety pre-cautions before attempting any similar activity.

THE calibers offered in Smith &Wesson pistols and revolversover the years have ranged

in power from .22 Short to .44Mag, but one round conspicu-ously absent from the tally is the.380 ACP. S&W made a briefforay into the pocket auto mar-ket in the early part of the cen-tury, but that gun is now rememberedonly as a curiosity for cartridge collec-tors interested in its unique .35 S&Wammunition.

Perhaps the failure of that exer-cise deterred S&W from anotherforay into pocket pistols, as did thenatural desire to emphasize itswell-established Chiefs Specialsnub-nosed revolvers. Morerecently, the firm could point toits compact 9 mm autoloaders as aproper choice for concealed carry.

But as we have found (see story p. 42),there are some buyers who insist on the .380caliber, whether for economic or other rea-sons, and so S&W has decided its best courseis to give them what they want.

The new Sigma SW380 is something of amarketing departure for the Springfield,Massachusetts, manufacturer, too. At $308, itis positioned between the products of firmslike Davis and Lorcin at the economical endof the pistol spectrum and those of tradition-al S&W competitors like Beretta, Colt and

SIG. A quick perusal of the Gun Digest showsjust two .380 autoloaders close to theSW380’s price—the AMT DAO Back Up andthe FEG B9R, guns whose names are proba-bly unlikely to ring a bell with the first-timegun buyer.

Clearly, S&W is attempting to expand itscustomer base beyond the hard core of pistolfanciers to purely defensive users who knowlittle about guns but who have heard the Smith& Wesson name.

Like the 9 mm and .40 S&W Sigmas, theSW380 has a polymer frame and a trigger-cocking lock with an articulated trigger blade.The similarities end there, however.

While the big Sigmas are recoil-operatedwith conventional steel slides, the SW380 isa straight blowback arm. The slide is made of

the zinc alloy Zamak, avery common and well-established material used inthe construction of Europeanand economical U.S. pistols.

Zamak is easily die-cast and takes anattractive black finish, but is heavier than alu-minum and has a shorter life than that metalor steel. S&W estimates the service life of theSW380 at about 2,500 rounds. This is morethan a lifetime of shooting for most defensive.380 users.

An integral channel at the top of the slideincorporates the front and rear sights, whichare small and non-adjustable, though it shouldbe kept in mind that any defensive use of thispistol is likely to be at arm’s length, and asmooth, non-snagging surface is more impor-tant in a self-protection gun than is precisionsighting equipment.

Deeply recessed grasping grooves at therear of the slide are a big help in retracting it.These worked well with any hand position wetried. The extractor is pivoted on a roll pin onthe right side of the frame behind the gener-ously-sized ejection port.

The slide also houses a passive firing pinsafety to help prevent accidental dischargesshould the SW380 be dropped on its muzzle.A plunger in front of the extractor roll pinmust be lifted by a projection on the triggerbar to allow the firing pin to move forwardenough to touch off the chambered cartridge.

MANUFACTURER: Smith & Wesson,Dept. AR, 2100 Roosevelt Ave.,Springfield, MA 01102

MECHANISM TYPE: blowback semi-auto-matic pistol

CALIBER: .380 ACPOVERALL LENGTH: 51⁄8"BARREL LENGTH: 3"WEIGHT: 14 ozs.WIDTH: 15/16"HEIGHT: 41⁄8"MAGAZINE CAPACITY: 6TRIGGER: trigger-cocking, 10 lbs. pullSIGHTS: post front, notch rear ACCESSORIES: disassembly tool, empty

chamber indicator, plastic carrying casePRICE: $308

S&W SW380

SMITH & WESSON SW380 PISTOLSMITH & WESSON SW380 PISTOLSmith & Wesson’sSW380 is a big depar-ture for the firm—a gun intended strictly for the pure defensiveuser rather than for the police or sporting pistol markets.

The slide top has agroove connectingthe SW380’s fixed front and rear sights.

The SW380 lockwork is interesting andunusual. The trigger is articulated, followingthe design of the larger Sigmas. Its lower por-tion serves the same purpose as the triggersafety lever of Glock pistols—it prevents trig-ger movement unless it is depressed, againserving to help avoid accidental discharges ifthe pistol is dropped.

Pulling the trigger pushes the trigger bar

rearward against a buffered return spring. Aprojection at its rear serves as a disconnector;it is pressed down, disengaging the trigger barfrom the sear assembly, by a bump inside theslide except when the slide is in battery.

The sear assembly and ejector are part ofa subassembly roll-pinned into the rear of theframe. As the trigger bar moves fully rear-ward, a cam surface on top of the sear meetsa corresponding surface in the body of theassembly, pushing the sear down out ofengagement with the tail of the firing pin,allowing that part to fly forward and fire thechambered round.

As the slide returns after ejecting the spentcase, the disconnector is activated, allowingthe sear to pop up in the pathof the firing pin tail in prepa-ration for another shot. It isimportant to note that this sys-tem does not allow repeatedtrigger pulls on a misfiredround; the slide must cyclebefore another attempt to firecan be made.

In contrast to the larger cal-iber Sigmas, in which the sliderides on Glock-style steelinserts, the slide is supportedin the SW380 by a part called the takedownrail at the rear. There is a generous clearancebetween slide and frame, which provoked alot of jokes when the Sigma was first intro-duced, but S&W defends it on grounds that ithelps prevent jamming should foreign matterlodge there.

The six-round magazine is retained by acatch system heretofore associated more withcordless drills than with pistols. The maga-

zine floorplate has two vertical catches thatengage cuts molded into the interior of thegrip frame. Pinching them inward allows themagazine to be removed. Spring tabs in themagazine box limit their travel.

We saw no easy way to remove the floor-plate for cleaning the inside of the magazine;we suspect a special tool is required to depressthe plastic tabs that hold floorplate to box.

The SW380 has no user-optional safeties,and, unlike some other S&Ws, no magazinesafety. A warning to this effect is molded intothe frame, rollmarked on the magazine boxand repeatedly emphasized in the instructionmanual. There also is no slide stop, so anempty-chamber indicator is provided with thepistol for use at the range.

The grip frame is serrated at front and rear,as is the front of the trigger guard. Finger

grooves on either side of the grip behind thetrigger help short-fingered users reach thetrigger blade. The gun’s serial number, bothin numerals and a scannable bar code, is inlaidin front of the trigger guard.

The disassembly method is unusual, andwill probably be the most controversial aspectof the SW380 for experienced pistol owners.S&W clearly figures most home-defense pis-tol users are unlikely to do a whole lot ofcleaning, and so has traded ease of takedownfor lower cost.

To disassemble, remove the magazine andensure the chamber is empty. Support the gun,except for the extreme rear of the frame (wefound a couple of telephone books did nice-ly). Using the supplied tool as a punch, driveout the roll pin, being careful not to lose it.

Next, grasp the slide and pull it rearwardand upward; the motion will be familiar toWalther users.

Then allow the slide to move forward andoff the barrel. The takedown rail then is freeto slide out the rear of the frame.

The sear assembly is free to move up anddown a bit in the frame, but is retained by thetrigger bar. Take care not to dislodge the ejec-tor from its place in the plastic body of thesear assembly.

The instructions warn against driving outany other pins. Having driven them all out andlaboriously replaced them, we can heartilysecond that advice. The barrel, trigger andtrigger return spring all must be aligned forthe front roll pin to be replaced, and that’s alot easier said than done.

To reassemble, use the disassembly toolas a guide to replace the recoil spring and slideover the barrel. We found this helped keep therecoil spring from kinking. Keeping controlof the slide, replace the takedown rail andalign its holes with the holes in the frame.Then, using a non-marring mallet or similartool, drive the roll pin back into place.

The SW380 was fired for accuracy withresults shown in the accompanying table, andfunction-fired with Geco, Remington andWinchester ammunition. There were no fail-ures of any kind, even when we tried to induceone by “limp-wristing” the pistol. The rearroll pin did have a tendency to walk out of theframe after 25 or 30 shots, but is easily tappedback in.

The SW380 clearly requires a different

AMERICAN RIFLEMAN • September 1995 49

.380 ACP Vel. @15' Smallest Largest AverageCartridge (f.p.s.) (ins.) (ins.) (ins.)

Geco 870 Avg. 2.79 4.06 3.2394-gr. FMC 14 Sd

Rem. No. GS380B 917 Avg. 3.31 4.22 3.65102-gr. BJSP 18 Sd

Win. No.S380 862 Avg. 1.83 3.63 2.6495-gr. JHP 14 Sd

Average Extreme Spread 3.17

Five consecutive 5-shot groups at 15 yds. fired from sand-bags. Abbreviations: Sd (standard deviation), FMC (fullmetal case), BJHP (brass-jacketed hollow-point, JHP(jacketed hollow-point), Rem. (Remington), Win. (Winchester)

ACCURACY RESULTS

The magazine is retained by twin catches ateither side that engage cuts inside the gripframe.The system is secure, but not quick.

Disassembly is unusual. Driveout the roll pin at the rear of theframe, then lift the slide rear upand rearward.Then remove thetakedown rail from the slide.

50 AMERICAN RIFLEMAN • September 1995

VOERE VEC 95 RG PISTOLVOERE VEC 95 RG PISTOL

CASELESS ammunition seemed to be thecoming thing for military arms in themiddle 1980s, with both the former

West Germany and the U.S. military activelypursuing caseless designs.

Doing away with the heavy cartridge caseis a tremendous benefit for military users, whomay need to airlift troops thousands of miles,as well as for defense planners who can findbetter uses for brass.

The end of the Cold War, however, chilleddevelopment of caseless designs. TheAustrian firm USEL, which first began work-ing on caseless ammunition in cooperationwith Smith & Wesson in 1965 and had pro-vided the ammunition for the Steyr AdvancedCombat Rifle prototype, immediately cast

about for alternative markets for its car-tridge. It joined forces with Voere, a smallAustrian maker of sport-ing arms, to offer the VEC91 rifle (May 1993, p. 38).Now the rifle has beenjoined by a pistol, theVEC 95 RG, that uses thesame basic action.

The VEC 95 is con-ventional in general out-line, but totally uncon-ventional in its mode ofoperation. In place of aconventional primer isone designed to igniteonly when a specific elec-

tric current at a specific voltage is applied.This is important to prevent the ammuni-tion from igniting if exposed to static elec-tricity, radar emissions, etc.

In place of a conventional firing pin,the bolt has an electrode that contacts theprimer portion of the caseless cartridgewhen the bolt is closed on a loaded round.Pressing the tang safety button forwardallows the two 15-volt camera batteries inthe pistol grip to charge a capacitor (andilluminate a red pilot light in the tang).

Pulling the trigger closes the circuit,allowing the charge to proceed down thebolt, into the primer and out the copper-covered ejector, firing the cartridge in just1 millisecond. Returning the safety buttondischarges the capacitor to help preventaccidental firing.

standard of judgement than previousS&W pistols we’ve examined. Thereare plenty of S&W revolvers fromWorld War I and even before in every-day use, and a decades-old Smith canbe restored to like-new condition bythe factory or any of dozens of top-level gunsmiths using well-provenmethods.

The SW380 is not a gun intendedto be used regularly for the next 100years. No one has yet figured a way tomake Zamak as durable as steel. Oursample gun showed noticeable wear onthe underside of the slide and some bat-tering of the ejection port after 150rounds or so.

That said, the gun functioned flawlesslythrough as much shooting as a lot of defen-sive purchasers will do in a lifetime. TheSW380 was also accurate by pocket pistolstandards, with groups limited as much by therudimentary sights as anything else. Groupsformed about 3" low at 15 yds.

Ergonomics are excellent. Despite thestunted grip, recoil was never a problem, andkeeping a secure grasp on the pistol was easy.The magazine release system probably won’tbe taking the IPSC circuit by storm, but it was

easy enough to use and allows a very smoothexterior. It would be a big drawback, howev-er, for users who have some disability in thenon-shooting hand.

Many who saw the pistol at the NRAAnnual Meetings were disturbed by its take-down system, and it unquestionably comesoff second-best to guns like the M1911 thathave a military heritage. On the other hand,

it’s certainly easier to get to the working partsof the SW380 than to the insides of a revolver,and the SW380 buyer is more likely choos-ing between it and an inexpensive revolverthan the new S&W and a .45.

We suspect a lot of the longtime readersof this magazine will see the SW380 as yetanother sign that civilization as we know it isdoomed. Fortunately, S&W has a traditionalproduct line intended for them.

The SW380 is for the utilitarian, even thereluctant, gun buyer who will dutifully fire theoccasional practice string but otherwise keepsa pistol for peace of mind. That purchaser willget his money’s worth from the SW380.

The disassembly tool is used to guide theslide over the recoil spring during reassem-bly. While the slide can be replaced withoutthe tool, the process is easier with it in place.

Voere’s VEC 95 RG pistol offersballistics that would require alonger barrel in the .223 Rem.

The VEC 95 RG’s caseless ammuni-tion requires an electronic ignitionsystem powered by two 15V batteries.

AMERICAN RIFLEMAN • September 1995 51

The batteries, available at most camerastores for about $7 each, are retained by acoin-slotted cap in the base of the pistol grip,and are good for 5,000 shots, according to theimporter.

The bolt itself is conventional enough atfirst glance, with two opposed locking lugs.These are angled at the front to mate with acone-shaped collar at the front of the receiv-er that rotates to seal the rear of the cartridge.The bolt face has a small hook extractor fortimes when a loaded round must be ejectedthrough the small contoured port in the pis-tol’s receiver.

The trigger is adjustable for pull weight ina range of 7 ozs. to 7 lbs., according to themanufacturer. Our sample had a 21⁄2-lb. pullas it arrived from the factory.

In contrast to the VEC 91 rifle, which hada front recoil lug trapped between barrel andreceiver as in the Remington Model 700, theVEC 95 pistol’s front lug is welded to thereceiver ring, and the floorplate is doglegged

upward a bit to meet it. The sides of the mag-azine well are drilled through for weightreduction.

The seven-round steel magazine isretained by a catch that passes into the frontof the trigger guard.

The sample pistol’s stock was a blackfiberglass unit that we thought rather unat-tractive for a gun in this price range. We alsowere surprised it wasn’t provided with slingswivels, given the VEC 95’s 5-lb. heft.

The VEC 95 RG was fired for accuracywith results shown in the accompanying table,and function-fired with UCC ammunition.There was one misfire, apparently a faultyround.

The first thing we noticed about the VEC95 was its very soft recoil and report. Recoilstruck us as about on the .38 Spl. level, whilereport reminded us of the .222 Rem., thisdespite velocities well in excess of those wegot from the Remington XP-100 VarmintSpecial, a .223 with a 141⁄2" barrel. In fact, the

.223 UCC drove its 55-gr. bullet at velocitiesvery close to those achieved with 40-gr. bul-lets in the XP-100. Pressures for the UCC car-tridge are in the 55,000 p.s.i. range.

The faster lock time claimed for the elec-tronic ignition system was imperceptible tous; perhaps it could be detected in a side-by-side comparison of two similar guns.

Bolt operation we found a bit stiff, a prob-lem compounded by the limited clearancebetween the “butterknife” bolt handle and the2-7X Burris scope fitted to the pistol. It tooka vigorous shove to chamber theloaded round, though feedingfrom the magazine was smoothand reliable.

We also found that the bolttended to contact the safety but-ton in its travel, returning it tothe safe position when opened,which is not so bad, but alsopressing it forward to the fireposition when it was closed, amuch less desirable thing. Thisproblem proved to be self-cor-recting, as the button wore down

as we continued operating the gun’s bolt.The Remington XP-100 had an

assembly called the trigger balance tohelp prevent accidental dischargesshould the pistol be dropped muzzle-up. The VEC 95 has no such mecha-nism, counting instead on a two-stagetrigger. We pulled the bullet from aUCC cartridge, loaded it into the gunand dropped the piece grip-first abouta dozen times, enough to chip the paint,without the round going off. This wasat the factory pull setting of 21⁄2 lbs.,however, and those addicted to very

light pull weights might want to conduct asimilar test before taking a VEC 95 huntingat the minimum pull setting.

We found the VEC 95 RG a very accurateand pleasant gun to fire, and it certainly is aswitch to open the bolt and have nothing at allpop out.

That said, the issue of ammunition costand availability hangs over all the Voere case-less arms. The importer hopes to establishU.S. production of the ammunition in an

effort to get the price down from the current$2 a round.

The chicken-and-egg effect comes intoplay here—the price per round for the unusu-al caseless ammuntion will come down onlyas volume increases, and volume can’tincrease so long as the price is high.

In the meantime, the VEC 95 RG is a veryinteresting and unusual arm that will appealto the seasoned firearms fancier who’s look-ing for something very different.

MANUFACTURER: Voere GmbH, UntereSparchen 56, 6333 Kufstein, Austria

IMPORTER: Jagersport, Ltd., Dept. AR,One Commercial Way, Cranston, RI02920

MECHANISM TYPE: bolt-action pistolCALIBER: .223 (5.7 mm) UCC (tested),

6 mm UCCOVERALL LENGTH: 2111⁄16"BARREL LENGTH: 12"WEIGHT: 5 lbs.WIDTH: 213⁄16"HEIGHT: 65⁄8"MAGAZINE CAPACITY: 7 TRIGGER: two-stage adjustable:

7 oz.-7 lb. pullPRICE: $1,495

VOERE VEC 95 RG

.223 UCC Vel. @15’ Smallest Largest AverageCartridge (f.p.s.) (ins.) (ins.) (ins.)

JagerSport 3132 Avg. 0.08 0.58 0.34Lightning-Fire 19 Sd55-gr. HP

Five consecutive 5-shot groups at 50 yds. fired fromsandbags. Abbreviations: Sd (standard deviation), HP(hollow-point)

ACCURACY RESULTSThough the VEC 95 RG would bean excellent choice for varminthunting, few would care to workover a prairie dog town for sever-al hours with ammunition thatcosts a breathtaking $2 a round.

The VEC 95 RG was capable of one-holegroups at 50 yds., our standard distance fortesting pistols chambered for rifle calibers.Shots on game at 100 yds. should be easy.

The magazine held seven rounds of the .223UCC ammunition, which originally wasdeveloped for military use, where eliminat-ing the brass case would have great value.

THE Finnish firm of Sako, Ltd., is bestknown for its line of highly accurateand equally high-priced center-fire

rifles. Less well-known are the firm’s rimfirerifles, the only one reviewed here being theP72 (June 1979, p. 60). Styled after the then-current line of Sako center-fire rifles, the P72was accurate, but our sample was plagued bymagazine-feeding problems.

Sako’s latest .22 sporter, the FinnfireP94S, is not an updated P72, but rather a riflestyled after the current TRG-S center-fire rifle(May 1993, p. 50).

The sample we received was stocked insatin brown finished walnut, checkered at 18lines per inch in a bordered point pattern onfore-end and grip. A black plastic buttplateand sling swivels are included.

The detachable box magazine holds fiverounds and is made of lightweight plastic. Anoptional 10-round magazine is also available.

No metallic sights are provided, but thereceiver is dovetailed for a scope. The clamp-ed-in free floating barrel is retained by two

hex screws passing below the barrelto draw the slotted receiver tight.

Rather than having a recoil lugas part of the receiver, the Finnfireuses a loose steel plate set in a recessin the stock that engages a shelf atthe rear of the action.

Like the TRG-S, the separate bolt handlewith stem is screwed into a lug on the rear ofthe bolt body. Unlike the TRG-S though, thislug is also the locking lug, entering a notchcut below the bolt handle after first passingover a detent ball. Bolt lift is very short. Asthe handle is lowered, the rifle cocks and thecocking indicator emerges from the rear of thebolt shroud.

Extraction is by a long single claw on theright side of the bolt. The ejector is fixed.

Bolt removal is accomplished by pullingit back and simultaneously pressing the boltrelease button on the right side of the receiv-er. Bolt disassembly is generally unnecessary,but may be done by removing the bolt anduncocking it by turning the handle 1/8 turnclockwise. The shroud, cocking piece, firingpin spring and handle are then removed bydriving out the rear pin. The firing pin and

return spring can be removed by driving outthe forward pin. Reassembly of the rifle is inreverse order.

Two triggers are offered: a standard trig-ger, as on our test rifle, or a single-set trigger.Both are adjustable. The manual safety leveris located behind the bolt handle and locks thebolt when in the safe position.

The Finnfire was fired for accuracy, withresults shown in the accompanying table, andfunction-fired with a variety of standard-,high- and hyper-velocity ammunition. Therewere no malfunctions of any kind.Trigger pullwas crisp and light.

Standard velocity ammunition was clear-ly preferred by the Finnfire, with accuracy

deteriorating with higher velocityammunition.

Lowering the bolt handle tookquite some effort. At first we sus-pected the difficulty was overcomingthe detent ball, but it was determinedthat it was the beefy firing pin springbeing compressed as the bolt waslowered and the gun cocked.

The price tag carried by this riflewill likely not appeal to those want-ing to plink away with sale-pricedhyper-velocity ammunition, butinstead should find acceptance withthose willing to pay for the accuracycharacteristic of the Sako name.

SAKO FINNFIRE P94SSAKO FINNFIRE P94S

Sako has joined the quality .22 rifle market withthe Finnfire, a bolt-action that follows some of thelines of the firm’s TRG-S series of center-fire rifles.

MANUFACTURER: Sako Ltd.,Sakokatu 2,11100 Riihimaki, Finland

IMPORTER: Stoeger Industries, Dept. AR,5 Mansard Ct., Wayne, NJ 07470

MECHANISM TYPE: bolt-action rifleCALIBER: .22 Long RifleOVERALL LENGTH: 391⁄2"BARREL LENGTH: 22"WEIGHT: 5 lbs., 10 ozs.MAGAZINE CAPACITY: 5RIFLING: 6-groove, RH twistTRIGGER: single-stage, 31⁄4 lbs. pullSTOCK: walnut: length of pull, 133⁄8"; drop

at heel, 2"; drop at comb, 11⁄8"PRICE: $685

SAKO FINNFIRE

.22 Long Rifle Vel. @15' Smallest Largest AverageCartridge (f.p.s.) (ins.) (ins.) (ins.)

CCI Green Tag 1098 Avg. 0.76 1.06 0.9010 Sd

Remington THP 1429 Avg. 1.59 2.28 1.8322 Sd

Eley HV Moving Target 1232 Avg. 0.81 1.66 1.1833 Sd

Average Extreme Spread 1.31

Five consecutive 10-shot groups at 50 yds. fired from sandbags.Abbreviations: Sd (standard deviation), THP (truncated hollow-point), HV (high velocity)

ACCURACY RESULTS

The barrel is slip-fit intothe gun’s receiver andsecured by two screws.

Despite its full-sized proportions,the Finnfire is lightweight, at lessthan 6 lbs., making it easy to carry.

52 AMERICAN RIFLEMAN • September 1995

AMERICAN RIFLEMAN • September 1995 53

THE popularity of small-gauge sportingcompetitions and of preserve huntingwhere small gauges are especially use-

ful has led Ruger to offer a Red Label in 28-ga. The new Ruger shotgun can be had with26" or 28" barrels, and with a straight-grippedor pistol-gripped stock.

The influence of the Sporting Clays modelis immediately apparent in the absence of sideribs. While other Red Labels allow for easyremoval of the ribs, the Sporting Clays comes

with none, and the 28-ga. followsthat lead, for a more lively feel.

There have been some subtle,but useful, changes to the action.The investment-cast stainlessaction body is retained, as is themechanical trigger and barrel selec-tion by a pivoting safety button.

The change is a new system thatreplaces the low-mounted cockingcams with reshaped hammer strutswhose forward tips contact thecocking rods that pass down eitherside of the action body bottom. Asthe barrels are lowered, the rodspress on the strut tips. This appliesforce against the hammers at a high-er spot for better leverage, reducingthe cocking force required. Thiswasn’t much of a considerationwith the early heavy-barreled RedLabels, but is especially welcome

in the lithe 28-ga. version of the stackbarrel.The safety remains automatic, with con-

version to manual operation a factory option.Locking is by a bifurcated bolt that engagestwo lugs on either side of the breech face.Another cube-shaped block under the bottombarrel passes into a square mortise in theaction body to help locate the barrel assembly.

The selective ejectors are powered by coilsprings inside the monobloc and controlledby ejector sears in the stainless steel fore-end

that are activated by cocking rods. The hammer-forged barrels

are silver-soldered into the mono-bloc and are topped by a medium-height .33" floating ventilated ribwith bead front sight. The 1.5"-long choke tubes protrude slightlyfrom the muzzle. The gun is sup-plied with full, modified, impro-ved cylinder and two skeet tubesand their spanner.

The sample Red Label wasstocked in an attractive grade ofmedium-brown walnut withplenty of reddish and black fig-

ure. Checkering was in a point pattern at 18lines per inch. The 28-ga. Red Label was pat-

tern-tested with results shown in the accom-panying table and function-fired with Federaland Remington ammunition. There were nofailures of any kind.

Shotgun purists who prefer side-by-sidedoubles are prone to sniff that over-undersstand too tall in the hand and are popular onlybecause Americans are weaned on rifles (wewon’t ask why Italians like them).

Traditionalists argue that the hands shouldbe, as nearly as possible, in line. Also, they

assert that the forward hand shouldbe as close as possible to the boreline, something thought possibleonly with side-by-sides.

That objection goes by the boardin the Red Label 28-ga. The barrelssit low enough in the hand that train-ing the gun is as easy as lookingdown the index finger.

Some Red Labels we’ve tried inthe past have had divergent triggerpulls, with one barrel requiring anoticeably heavier tug than theother. The 28-ga. was quite theopposite, with both of the triggersreleasing quite crisply at 4 lbs. onthe button.

While we’ve always respectedthe Ruger Red Label, we’ve foundsome niggling drawback in mostprevious versions we’ve tried. The28-ga. is a Red Label we liked with-out reservation.

MANUFACTURER: Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc.,Dept. AR, Lacey Pl., Southport, CT 06490

MECHANISM TYPE: over-under shotgun GAUGE: 28OVERALL LENGTH: 451⁄8"BARREL LENGTH: 28"WEIGHT: 61⁄4 lbs.TRIGGER: single selective, 4 lbs. pull both

barrelsSTOCK: American walnut: length of pull,

141⁄8"; drop at heel, 21⁄2"; drop at comb,11⁄2"

ACCESSORIES: choke tubes, spannerPRICE: $1,215

RUGER RED LABEL

RUGER RED LABEL 28-GARUGER RED LABEL 28-GA

Ruger’s popular Red Label shotgun now can be had in a fast-swinging 28-ga. version. While the original Red Label was criti-cized for its heavy barrels, this one has an appealing, lively feel.

13 12 15 15

27 32 29 31

23 27 25 25

11 12 12 12

Skeet Tube Skeet Tube

=Point of HoldWinchester Super-X Max.-1-6

Pellet count—215 AVERAGE OF 10 PATTERNS AT 25 YDS.

Total Hits 157 (73%) Total Hits 164 (76%)21.2" Inner Circle 109 (51%) 21.2" Inner Circle 110 (51%)30" Outer Ring 48 (22%) 30” Outer Ring 54 (25%)

RUGER RED LABEL 28-GA.

The action has been slightly modified toallow easy cocking with the light barrels.Extended hammer struts (arrow) apply lever-age to the gun’s hammers at a higher point.