Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/742011
96 • S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S this breech are cut the locking lug recesses. Without male and female threads to match between barrel and receiver, concentricity is maximized as the bolt is closed around a chambered cartridge. That, at least, is the theory, and one that appears to work beautifully, given the accuracy I've gotten from two 100s, one here in Idaho, the other on the Auch Estate in Scotland's western Highlands. There, under brooding clouds, a borrowed 100 wearing a "moderator" (suppressor) nailed target after target at 100, 300, and 547 yards. A three-shot, 300-yard group went sub- MOA despite a gusting 10-mph wind. Unfortunately, I had but one afternoon for stalking, and 20-mph winds blowing lowering clouds down the naked peaks thwarted all attempts at stalking within even extreme range of the estate's bachelor bands of stags. Stag or no stag, the new Sauer 100 XT bolt-action rifle is solid, spot-on accurate, proof that Sauer, originally founded in 1751, is far from fading. It's shining brighter than ever. n bedding platform, plus the unusual way the barrel is fitted to the receiver and locked into battery. When I removed the 100's stock from its barreled action, I discovered a single threaded post protruding from the lower receiver ring. Behind this post was a groove instead of the usual protruding recoil lug. This groove and the action bedding bolt both fit into an aluminum bedding block epoxied into the stock just ahead of the magazine well. The raised lip of this block mates to the groove. When the bedding nut is tightened over the bedding screw/post, it and the receiver are secured, repeatedly and consistently, metal to metal. The barrel floats free of any vibration-altering pressures from the stock. The final accuracy enhancement surely comes from the heat-seated barrel and breech locking system. Instead of screwing the barrel to the receiver, Sauer friction- seals it by super-heating the front receiver ring, inserting the barrel to precise head- spacing, and then cooling the receiver to shrink around the barrel breech. Inside in the hands of new and sensitive shooters. Sauer guarantees sub-MOA accuracy for three consecutive shots at 100 yards. This is damning with faint praise. My test rifle shot sub-MOA with several brands of bullets and loads, the best three-shot group spanning just .535-inch. Seems to me I was paying several thousand dollars to custom gun-builders for that kind of accuracy back in the late 1990s. Sauer is selling it for a MSRP of just $699. Some might say I overpowered such a budget rifle with the Leica AR5 2-10x50mm scope I mounted via those Talley rings, but I can't agree. Any rifle that shoots this well deserves a top-quality scope to take advantage of that accuracy. Why compromise sub-MOA precision with a sub-quality sight? So, credit the Leica and Talleys for a critical assist, but let's acknowledge the 100's precision, all the more impressive because it comes from a 6-pound, 10-ounce rifle wearing a 22-inch, light- contour barrel. It would appear Sauer has the cold-hammer-forge process nailed, but that's augmented by the 100's unique The Laird (to little Tomkyns, who is being initiated into the mysteries of deer-stalking). "Don't move a step, lie down where you are!" FROM Mr. Punch With rod and Gun, 1910.