There are many factors to consider when choosing a truck or ranch gun, and in this episode I put mine to the test. I have written about this rifle before (and shot it on the run and gun course), but let’s see how it performs out in its element.

Picking a truck gun:

Picking A Truck Gun

Madsen Run and Gun:

Transcript …

– [Voiceover] Hey guys, it’s Alex C. with TFB TV.

Today’s video is going to be about my ranch gun.

And to be honest, this isn’t actually a video I intended on making.

I just got kind of inspired this past weekend when I was on the ranch, which is about an hour and a half north of where I live, and where I spend most weekends taking care of cattle and doing some shooting if there’s time.

So the reason I decided to do this is because when I got there I saw a coyote harassing one of the five newborn baby calves that we have.

Being as how it’s springtime, the breeding stock are all having new calves, and while I have not lost one to a coyote yet, it’s a fear that’s always been in the back of my head.

Cows aren’t exactly the smartest creatures, and a couple of hungry coyotes could definitely do some damage to a baby.

While the parents will sometimes protect their calves, these are extremely docile cattle, and as you can see here I’m pretty dang close to them and they really don’t care what I have going on.

As a matter of fact, I can hand-feed most of them with the exception of one or two that are a little skittish.

Anyways, on the very back of the property I’ve built a 300 meter range.

Basically it’s just a giant dirt mound that I dug out with a bulldozer, and piled up over the course of about two weeks or so.

And it’s proved to be very very useful so far.

I capped it at 300 meters because realistically I don’t really feel like I do much shooting beyond that distance, and I never really have with the exception of just a few times that was kind of more of a why not rather than a practical shooting experience.

Anyways, my ranch gun is a Madsen M47 bolt action rifle.

Now I’ve got two of them, one is kind of a keeper that’s really nice that I’ve just put back as a collector’s piece.

And one is one that legitimately rides everywhere with me on the ranch.

I like that they’re lightweight, they’re handy, they have a muzzle brake, a rubber recoil pad, and they’re just wonderful rifles, also chambered in.30-06, which you can find pretty much at any gun store in America.

Now we have done a run and gun with this rifle if you’d like to see that, with some speed shooting and speed reloading and everything like that, but that’s not really what I wanna talk about in this video.

The reason I chose the Madsen is because it has excellent sights and the aforementioned features such as the lightweight compactness, handy rubber recoil pad and muzzle brake.

I wanted to show you guys that maybe a bolt action is still a very good choice for defending your property, defending your animals or anything like that.

(gun fires) Probably less ideal for self-defense because there are better options out there, but this rifle has served its purpose wonderfully since I got it.

This is me shooting at 100 meters, and as you can see, it’s very easy.

Even with sights located forward of the receiver ring, rather than being rear aperture sighted, it’s still very capable.

While I’m not a professional bolt action shooter, I’m not a novice either, but it is a skill that you can pick up pretty quickly.

Now in my experience you have between five and 10 seconds to set up a shot on a coyote, so sitting down like I am here and shooting is not exactly practical, so that’s why I practice shooting bolt action standing up a lot more than I do from a prone position.

But let’s take it back to 300 meters, which really doesn’t sound like a lot, until you get back there with an iron-sighted rifle.

Anyways, I’m using 168 grain Federal ammunition.

While these rifles would have been designed for lighter M2 Ball ammunition, I noticed that I did have to move the rear slider up to 400 to land on the steel.

And the results were a little more pleasing than I thought.

(gun fires) (gun cocks) (gun fires) (gun cocks) (gun fires) (gun cocks) (gun fires) (gun cocks) (gun fires) (gun cocks) So at 300 meters with iron sights this gun is a champ.

It just shoots very well, and the rubber recoil pad and muzzle brake just make it a joy to shoot.

While I’m definitely not on par with those guys in Norway who participate in the lovely sport of Stangskyting, I definitely enjoy shooting iron-sighted rifles at a longer distance.

This rifle isn’t one I shoot very often for fun, because it’s almost been relegated strictly to pest control.

That said, these are very capable, and the good news is you can find these for about $500.

It’s a shame they didn’t make more of them.

Anyways, big thanks to Ventura Munitions, and another big thanks to you guys for watching this video.

Hope to see you next time.