90% decided on a K95, but what calibre?

[Blasernovice]

With a rimmed round if you hold the barrel up the empty case will fall out. With a rimless round the case is held by the extractor.
Some people have gloves made up that hold rounds for quick access. I'll try linking a couple of videos that show what some people have done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekTycKe ... WPTaZfwWdc

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjkwr0X ... dc&index=9

[stokesrj]

I really like that rifle and thinking of buying one.
However the fact that it doesn’t have an ejector is holding me back a bit as I’m wondering how quick it is to reload in case a quick follow up shot is needed, especially when wearing gloves in colder weather

I think this is a common concern and at least partially responsible for the ongoing debate on the choice of traditional rimmed cartridges that can be gravity dumped or rimless cartridges that require manual extraction. Many of us come down on either side of the rimmed or rimless choices of calibers, there really isn't a consensus on this issue there are the traditionalists that must have a rim and the modernists that choose based upon their favorite calibers regardless of rim configuration. I can be somewhat neutral because I have both, but to the overall concern if fast reloads are required or not, I can tell you my tale of struggling with this issue over several decades and my current thoughts on the subject.

In 1979, I moved from Alaska to Arizona with a set of custom Ruger #1 single shot rifles which I had built custom with consecutive serial numbers. This was intended to be my battery of rifles to use for any game in the world, I had them chambered in .22LR, .22 Hornet, 270 Winchester, and 375 Holland and Holland, all in the A configuration with schnabel forend and light barrel contours profiled to keep the balance as close as possible between calibers with Shilen match barrels. I used these successfully until one day in the Sonoran desert near Baboquivari Peak on the Mexican border I stalked a huge desert mule deer. I had marked his location by a lone saguaro cactus at the edge of an arroyo and began my stalk which would take me out of sight and down wind.

As I crept up to the saguaro I could not locate the buck, I glassed carefully for a long time and concluded that the only place he could be was at the base of the cliff I was using for cover. Ever so slowly and quietly I eased up to the edge of the cliff to a point that I could see all the way to the bottom of the arroyo and sure enough there he was tight against the cliff and looking straight up at me, he bolted. I sat down and acquired a solid sitting position for the shot as he exited the arroyo and entered a low platteau that stretched for at least 250 yards. I was confident that he would stop in typical mule deer fashion and look back before he cleared the platteau and I was ready. But this was an old buck and he showed no indication that he would stop, so as he neared the point I would soon lose sight of him, I took a running shot but failed to lead him sufficiently. At the shot he stopped, I reloaded and regained my sight picture of him just in time to watch him hop out of sight in a single bound.

I was heartbroken, quite sure I would never get a chance at a desert mule deer of this caliber again and so far this has been true, to this day, 38 years later, I have not had the chance at an equal trophy and likely never will.

When I returned home, I phoned a friend who had coveted my set of Ruger Number Ones and he bought them without hesitation. I gave up on the single shot rifle ideal, and bought a Steyr Model M professional in 30-06 which I used for the next 25 years or so to slay hundreds of big game animals from little Coues Deer to Elk, Bears, Mule Deer, and even a Desert Bighorn Sheep, it was an effective rifle with it's Mannlicher (burris) fixed 6X scope and German number one reticle it was all business. It was also awful in the looks department, just plane ugly with it's brown plastic stock. But in the back of my mind, I still loved the romantic ideal of a single shot rifle and I realized that with the Steyer, I had not needed a quick follow up shot in all those years and all those animals.

Then one day in 2002 I was visiting a gun shop in Pennsylvania and saw for the first time a K95. It was a lovely little rifle imported by Sig Sauer USA and I bought it on the spot. This little rifle that I still have today has become my favorite rifle of all my rifles and has served me with deadly precision and joy. I've now owned it for more than 15 years and not needed a quick follow up shot even hunting down all the pygmy antelope in Africa in thick brush, it has just been deadly effective.

It no longer bothers me to have lost that desert mule deer of a lifetime, in fact, I'm kind of glad he got away. Now I can just tip my hat to him and happily go about my hunting and shooting with a joyful rifle.

[MM]

I have rimmed and rimless barrels in both single shot and combo guns and they both work equally. Yes you can turn the rifle upside down and drop a rimmed case out but I fail to see the practicality of that in a hunting situation. It is much faster to open the barrel and flick the cartridge out with your finger regardless of being rimmed or rimless and it is easier to keep your eye on the game that way. In Montana this year I shot a Mule deer with my 30-06 and it went down but appeared he might have been trying to get up so I shot him again the guide commented on how fast I shot the second time. The second shot probably was not needed but I like to be sure. Tipping the rifle upside down in that scenario would not have been practical by the way because I was laying down and shooting down over the lip of a hill. In Ohio this year I shot a buck with my 9.3x72r and the buck ran about 75 yards into some brush and I reloaded while watching him and he was down by the time I closed the barrel but I was able to watch him while I was reloading. I would not have been able to get an accurate second shot off with a semi auto. I probably could have fired another round but not accurately. I think the rimmed rimless debate is overblown because in my experience I see no advantage in the field of one over another. I take my gloves off when I shoot or wear a thin liner glove under my heavy gloves so that is not a problem for me it was 16f in Montana when I shot my buck. Single shots are not for everyone but if they are just pick a cartridge you like practice and go hunting a lot.

[YellowLab]

A lot of great advice here. I will throw in my free opinion. I recently acquired a second hand K95 in 30-06. I think the rimless common cartridge was the right decision. I don't have to gear up for a one off cartridge and I have no problem quickly reloading if a second shot is required. When I can afford more barrels they will be rimless, probably 6.5x55 and .222

[mchughcb]

Traditionalists are right up there with the people who insist a shotgun should be sxs, straight stock and double trigger yet always rock up with an o/u , pistol grip and single trigger quietly saying they cant hit squat with a sxs.

Go with what works for you.

[9.3x64]

Sorry guys, but in my opinion I prefer rimmed.
You can put me in a pit and stone me to death with Blaser barrels.

I have drillings in rimmed and none rimmed, and when it's bloody cold and you have gloves on, and your chest is heaving from a hard morning climb, it is bloody hard to get some small calibers out quickly.
It's far easier to tip the empty shells out and reload. I don't have any trouble doing this and reloading two 9.3x74r cartridges without looking.
BUT, I have to admit neither of my drillings are Blasers and I have no expirience with Blaser break action guns at all, so maybe they are better with rimless cartridges. I really struggle to get a fired 222 remington case out of my Merkel drilling underneath two 12 gauge barrels with gloves on. In fact some times it is bloody infuriating. I don't see that same situation happening with a single shot rifle like a K95 though .
But why not get I rimmed cartridge anyway, I can't think of any disadvantages apart from case availability in some places.

[secondtry]

Let's not hijack a good thread with a previously well done discussion

I've got both and used both. I also am firmly in the rimmed camp with 9.3 x 64. The rim IS superior BUT the rimless is NOT inferior, if that makes sense.

And it isn't necessary to invert anything rimmed without an ejector to get the empty out, although many seem to roll the rifle over. Simply tilting it as you open it will do the job, if that is important to the user.

Then the popularity, versatility and availability of rimless rounds and brass like the .06 and the 308 confuse the choice even more. Brass for rimmed calibres is simply not available in some markets.

So, what Charles said, go with what works for you.

[Gun Barrel Ecologist]

In many markets outside the US a Blaser break action is a 6 (or more likely over 9) month wait proposition.
In that time period I could source dies, and 500 pieces of brass even for the 8,5x63R and 6x70R