- [Voiceover] Hey guys, it's Alex C with TFBTV.
Last week I did a video about five firearms
I'm glad I bought, that consisted of guns
that introduced me to new sub-sections of marksmanship
or helped me develop a deeper appreciation
for firearm history, intentionally leaving
out my favorite firearms or guns
I enjoy shooting the most.
While this list isn't necessarily a list
of my favorite firearms, it goes without saying
that a gun I enjoy shooting the most
generally gets some points in that department as well.
First off, the Remington Rolling Block.
I love single-shot breech-loaders.
They represent a crucial period
in the development of small arms
where soldiers who were previously relegated
to two or three shots per minute
could now quadruple their rate of fire
by using a revolutionary invention,
the metallic cartridge.
Today we take for granted that our primers,
powder, and projectile come conveniently packaged
in a small bit of drawn brass,
but it took a huge advancement in chemistry,
metallurgy, and material science to arrive
at what today seems like an obvious solution.
While metallic cartridges today
all have uniform composition,
early examples used pinfire systems
or rimfire ignition for large calibers.
The logical development was drawn brass,
centerfire cartridges using black powder
with big bore projectiles,
like the American 45-70.
But eventually, the oh-so-crafty French
developed smokeless powder.
That's another thing modern shooters
take for granted, that is to say on battlefields
prior to smokeless, which was introduced
to the world with the Lebel rifle in 1886.
When hundreds of men at a time all fired their rifles
alongside cannons and artillery,
the amount of smoke made seeing
a few feet in front of you impossible.
It also gave away the position
of anyone trying to be stealthy.
That said, the metallic cartridge brought us
a smorgasbord of interesting rifles like the Snider,
Trapdoor, Martini-Henry, Sharps, and to me,
the king of them all, the Remington Rolling Block.
Remington was not in a great financial position
after the American Civil War.
There was a huge amount of surplus rifles
left over from the conflict involving 3 million soldiers,
which many historians argue was the first modern war.
Because of this, the market for new rifles,
especially in a military application, was small.
Arms makers went from 60 to 0 as soon
as Appomattox happened, and the need for new,
advanced rifles was small.
The U.S. went the way of the Trapdoor rifle
instead of the superior Rolling Block
because existing Springfield rifles could
be converted to breech-loaders,
but Remington found over 40 customers abroad
who wanted a piece of this new, fantastic rifle.
This was unheard of back then,
a company in the 1860s and 70s selling rifles
to so many nations abroad in 20 calibers,
a feat that would not be matched
until the Mauser company's dominance set in,
largely in 1889 and lasting until the 1940s.
History aside, the Rolling Block's incredibly fun to shoot.
The mechanism is elegantly simple and smooth to operate,
and I get a tremendous amount
of enjoyment pulling the hammer back
and letting the breech block fly to the rear,
letting the spent shell casing shoot out of the chamber.
The fact that Number Fives
can use powerful smokeless cartridges
like seven-millimeter Mauser,
eight-millimeter Lebel, or 303 British,
means also that you can reap the benefits
of nitrocellulose and eschew the corrosiveness
of black powder.
Rolling Blocks are accurate as hell,
fun to operate, interesting to shoot,
and their nature as a single-shot
means that it is up to the marksman
to make every shot count,
and that is why the Rolling Block makes the list.
Next ups a pretty modern offering,
the H and K MP5.
The MP5 is the greatest submachine gun of all time
and that becomes immediately apparent
when you get some trigger time on one.
The roller delay blowback action
that HK made famous with their G3 rifle
was scaled down to work with nine-millimeter Parabellum.
Who knew that this would be a perfect pairing?
The harsh snap of a simple blowback gun
is eliminated with the MP5s roller delay blowback action,
and is a closed-bolt weapon, it curb stomped
the competition in the accuracy department.
Overnight, competing designs like the Uzi,
the MPL, the Sterling, and so on,
that all fired from an open bolt,
were suddenly outclassed by an order of magnitude.
But this is a list about my five favorite guns
to shoot and why, not a history lesson.
Sorry, I can't help but geek out a little bit
in these videos.
Anyways, the MP5 and semi-automatic is brilliant.
Recoil is much lower and smoother
than other nine-millimeter SMGs
and the only one I've ever shot
with lower recoil is the German MP-40
with its pneumatic delay and telescoping firing pin.
The MP5 has a decent trigger for an SMG-2,
and can accept a multitude of trigger pegs.
The sights are wonderful, and gun is quite modular.
You can attach all sorts of tactical do-dads
on a railed forend if you want,
stocks come in different configurations,
and you can get a rail for the top
if you'd like to put an optic on there.
For me though, the HK diopter sights are wonderful,
and with an MP5, I can shoot outstanding groups.
It got a perfect 30 out of 30
on the Run and Gun course,
and it just feels natural in my arms.
Full-auto is also extremely controllable.
The layout and action of the MP5
help eliminate muzzle rise.
In fact, many people say that the gun swaying left
to right under fire is more of a problem
than any elevation change.
For a little nine-millimeter blaster,
you can't get better than an MP5.
Recoil is low, accuracy is there,
reliability is unparalleled, and a day
at the range with an MP5 or a Clone
will certainly bring a huge smile to your face.
Third we have a somewhat unpredictable offering.
As most viewers know, we primarily showcase
historical and modern military-style rifles
and pistols on this channel,
but I'm an avid hunter
and I absolutely love shotgun sports,
so I chose a pretty broad category
for this one, any sporting shotgun.
I say sporting because a shotgun
with an 18 and 20 inch barrel reduces effective range
and opens up your pattern quite a lot,
and a shotgun with a big magazine tube
adds unnecessary weight and bulk
for hunting and shotgun sports.
It is worth noting that the law prohibits more
than two rounds in a shotgun's magazine
for hunting where I live as well,
and if you get caught with an unplugged shotgun,
then you are in for some trouble.
So seen here is a Beretta Silver Pigeon in 20 gauge.
This over-under is a great scatter gun
from the world's oldest gun manufacturer,
and I have used it for skeet, traps,
sporting clays, and lots and lots of dove.
Shotgun sports to me are the most fun thing
you can do with a firearm.
You can get together with some buddies
and cut up while turning clay into dust
and honing a practical skill
that puts food on your table a couple times a year.
By the way, I seriously feel bad
for anyone that has not enjoyed dove breast
wrapped in jalapenos, cheese, and bacon.
Hunting dove is my favorite type of hunting as well.
It's fast-paced, and you can do it
with a large group of friends
without worrying about being quiet.
And there's always enough birds
for everyone to limit out.
And of course, it doesn't hurt
that after everyone limits out,
you put the guns away, get the fire going,
cook up the bounty, while enjoying some booze
of your choice.
Again, just remember to tuck those guns away
before you start getting into the sauce.
So I like sporting shotguns because
of the joy they bring me while using them.
Again, I absolutely love hunting fowl
and the challenge that comes along
with busting clays is easy to learn,
but impossible to master,
and that makes for a great experience.
Fourth, we have my CZ-452.
This little bolt-action has taken more small gain
than any other rifle I own
and coincidentally I bought it on a whim.
I had owned a 22 suppressor for a while,
but never had a bolt gun to put it on.
I wanted a bolt action to get the most
out of my suppressors so I went to a gun shop
with a coworker on lunch break,
in, I believe 2011.
He wanted a 10/22 and ended up with one that day
while I was talked into the CZ by a salesperson
who was really singing the praises
of their Rimfire rifles.
And I thought that 350 dollars was a good price
for a factory threaded barrel 22
from a very reputable company.
The trigger on the 452 is wonderful.
The action is great.
The accuracy is right there
from the factory as well.
I flip-flop on which of my 22 rifles I like the best,
my hotrodded Ruger 10/22 or my CZ,
and really it often comes down
to which gun I'm in the mood to shoot that day.
While my Ruger is lighter,
the CZ is a bit more accurate,
and certainly quieter and easier to clean.
Again, a lot of this comes back to hunting.
Shooting targets and trying
to tighten up your groups on paper
is a tremendous amount of fun,
and I love doing it, but hunting to me is more fun.
Bagging some rabbits with your handy 22
is great fun and also yields you some good food.
I'm a redneck in Texas, so cut me some slack here.
You can also use your 22 to bag squirrels
and we have a year-round season
with no bag limit on them in most counties.
Same goes for rabbits and hares as well.
So the ability to hone my shooting skills
for cheap with no punishment imparted on my shoulder,
or damage to my hearing, are all plusses for this list.
And the ability to bag plenty of edible game
makes my CZ-452 a favorite to shoot.
Lastly, we have a predictable entry,
a Mauser 98.
There's just something charming
about a well-constructed bolt-action
that really does it for me
and the Mauser 98 action is
the quintessential bolt-action.
Nearly every bolt gun produced
after the 98 is either an outright copy
or borrows many of its elements.
Guns in production today like the Ruger M 77
or Kimber 8400s are essentially just versions
of a gun adopted in 1898
so the design has certainly stood the test of time.
It really is incredible to think about.
Imagine a car designed in the 1890s
that was still in production today
and regarded as the best option by many consumers.
But still, many people prefer other actions.
The old saying is that the Germans came
to war with a hunting rifle, the Americans
with a target rifle, the British came
with a battle rifle, and the Russians brought a rifle.
I find this old adage pretty funny,
and with so many rifles built
off 98 actions, it certainly has some truth to it.
But I prefer a rifle that cocks on open
for a number of reasons,
one being that it makes sense
to accomplish primary extraction and cocking
in a single motion, getting all the resistance
out of the way in a single movement.
And two being on a cock-on-close design
when you pull forward, the resistance throws
the rifle off-target much more
due to the shooter fighting spring pressure.
This is personal preference though.
I am sure I'll bear the brunt
of in-field fanboys here telling me I'm an idiot,
however true that may be.
But 98s are sturdy, reliable, and cheap.
You can buy surplus Mausers for cheaper
than most people think
and in an online retailer right now,
as of the posting of this video,
is selling M48s for 30 dollars more
than Mosin-Nagants.
While eight-millimeter is no longer priced
at five cents per round anymore,
guys with MG 42s and 34s gobbled all of it up,
it is widely available and very popular.
Of course, you can also find large-ring Mausers
chambered in all sorts of calibers
if the original eight-millimeter cartridge
is not your cup of tea.
Learning to accurately shoot a big bore rifle
with consistency and without flinching
is difficult to master, but it is a skill
that is most pertinent to hunting large game
and a surplus iron-sighted rifle is perfect
for accomplishing this.
You all have probably seen many of my videos
with me shooting old bolt guns
at 300 meters, and really that's a tough thing
to do with military iron-sights.
However, if you can do this, then you will be
more than able to accomplish it
with an optic or small-bore cartridge.
It's kind of like how if you can master skeet shooting
with a 4-10, you would certainly dominate
with a 12-gauge.
So an old Mauser with irons is a barrel of fun.
Taking your time, lining up the sights,
mastering your breathing, and ringing a small target
from hundreds of yards away is very, very satisfying,
and I love when I get to do it.
So that's my list.
I know a bunch of folks are probably wondering
where the pistols are, but to be honest,
I don't get nearly as much enjoyment
out of handguns as I do long guns.
Long guns are more versatile,
and simply provide me with more amusement.
So out of curiosity, I'd like to hear
from you guys.
What are your favorite firearms to shoot?
Put yours in the comments below
and I'd love to hear what you have to say.
Special thanks to Ventura Munitions
for providing ammo for our shooting videos,
and we hope to see you all next time.