RIFLE WEIGHT VS. RIFLE ACCURACY
Today’s practical rifle is seldom its namesake. Frank Galli wrote a great column in these pages in the June issue (Volume 38, Issue 8) titled “Practical Precision,” and he details the desire to return to what he called the “fighting rifleman,” where he criticizes the trend toward tournament and series-style events and begs returning to a hunting-style approach with rifles a man might carry into the field. He’s careful to say that innovations coming from the former have been beneficial but, in his view, unrealistic or unable to translate to the world at large.
I don’t necessarily believe that the weight of a rifle immediately determines its usefulness, as the 12-pound .338 Lapua is going to be a bit of a different story than a 12-pound .22 LR. Based directly on my practical experience, I think that physical balance (center of gravity) and a pairing of weight-to-cartridge is overlooked, to the detriment of many riflemen.
The main argument for a practical rifle should be that it, at a bare minimum, is able to be carried easily and pointed naturally. Rifle shooting in competition has become something of a supported, stationary event that favors extremely heavy guns that bear virtually all their
