Mike Walker (engineer)

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Merle "Mike" H. Walker (December 5, 1911 - March 6, 2013 [1] ) was a designer of firearms and cartridges, an engineer employed with Remington Arms for 37 years, and a leader in promoting the sport of benchrest shooting. [2]

Contents

Design and engineering

He is noted as the designer of the Remington Model 721, Model 722 and Model 700. [2] [3] The Model 700 has been called "the world's most popular bolt-action rifle." [2]

Walker developed various cartridges while at Remington including .222 Remington, .244 Remington (later renamed 6mm Remington), and 6mm BR. [3] [4] [5]

Walker also held patents, including one in 1950 for the trigger which went into the Remington Model 700. [6] That trigger has been associated with misfiring for which he proposed a solution. [6] He was also involved in inventing button rifling. [2]

Benchrest

Walker played a role in founding the International Bench Shooters and was its first president. [5]

Related Research Articles

.223 Remington Firearms cartridge

The .223 Remington is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It was developed in 1957 by Remington Arms and Fairchild Industries for the U.S. Continental Army Command of the United States Army as part of a project to create a small-caliber, high-velocity firearm. The .223 Remington is considered one of the most popular cartridges and is currently used by a wide range of semi-automatic and manual-action rifles as well as handguns.

Remington Model 700 Bolt action rifle

The Remington Model 700 is a series of bolt-action centerfire rifles manufactured by Remington Arms since 1962. It is a development of the Remington 721 and 722 series of rifles, which were introduced in 1948. The M24 and M40 military sniper rifles, used by the US Army and Marine Corps, respectively, are both based on the Model 700 design.

Wildcat cartridge Custom cartridge for firearms

A wildcat cartridge, often shortened to wildcat, is a custom cartridge for which ammunition and/or firearms are not mass-produced. These cartridges are often created in order to optimize a certain performance characteristic of an existing commercial cartridge.

Benchrest shooting Shooting sport

Benchrest shooting is a shooting sport discipline in which high-precision rifles are rested on a table or bench — rather than being carried in the shooter's hands — while shooting at paper or steel targets, hence the name "benchrest". Both the forearm and buttstock of such a rifle are usually fully supported by bean bags, a bipod/monopod (front/rear) combination, and/or a specially designed fixture device called shooting rest, so that the gun can remain stably pointing at the target without needing to be held by someone. When shooting, the shooter simply sits/stands comfortably behind the table/bench, operates the action and pulls the trigger, without needing to worry about carrying any weight of the gun. This is in contrast to other shooting disciplines, where the shooter has to bear at least part of the gun's weight while holding it steady to aim, even when using support devices such as bipods, tripods or shooting sticks.

The .204 Ruger is a centerfire rifle cartridge developed by Hornady and Ruger. At the time of its introduction in 2004, the .204 Ruger was the second-highest velocity commercially produced ammunition and the only centerfire cartridge produced commercially for bullets of .204 inch/5 mm caliber.

6mm PPC

The 6mm PPC, or 6 PPC as it is more often called, is a centerfire rifle cartridge used almost exclusively for benchrest shooting. It is one of the most accurate cartridges available at distances of up to 300 meters, i. This cartridge's accuracy is produced by a combination of its stout posture, being only 31 mm (1.22 in) long, and aggressive shoulder angle of 30 degrees. Its primary use has been benchrest shooting matches since the 1980s.

6mm XC is a rifle cartridge, similar to the 6x47mm Swiss Match.

.222 Remington

The .222 Remington or 5.7×43mm (C.I.P), also known as the triple deuce, triple two, and treble two, is a centerfire rifle cartridge. Introduced in 1950, it was the first commercial rimless .22 (5.56 mm) cartridge made in the United States. As such, it was an entirely new design, without a parent case. The .222 Remington was a popular target cartridge from its introduction until the mid-1970s and still enjoys a reputation for accuracy. It remains a popular vermin or "varmint" cartridge at short and medium ranges with preferred bullet weights of 40–55 grains and muzzle velocities from 3,000 to 3,500 ft/s (915–1,067 m/s).

The .222 Remington Magnum was a short-lived commercially produced cartridge derived from the .222 Remington. Originally developed for a US military prototype Armalite AR-15 rifle in 1958, the cartridge was not adopted by the military, but was introduced commercially in sporting rifles.

6mm Remington

The 6mm Remington rifle cartridge, originally introduced in 1955 by Remington Arms Company as the .244 Remington, is based on a necked down .257 Roberts cartridge using a .24/6mm bullet. Known for a combination of high velocity, long range, flat trajectory, and accuracy, it is suitable as a dual use hunting cartridge for both medium-sized big game and varmints. When used in the less common earlier slow twist barrels, it offers exceptional range for varmint applications. While not as commercially popular today as the .243 Winchester, the 6mm Remington enjoys a slight ballistic advantage and continues to be popular with handloaders and custom rifle builders.

Remington XP-100 Bullpup bolt-action pistol

The Remington XP-100 is a bolt-action pistol produced by Remington Arms from 1963 to 1998. The XP-100 was one of the first handguns designed for long-range shooting, and introduced the .221 Fireball and 6×45mm. The XP-100 was noted for its accuracy and is still viewed as competitive today in the sport of handgun varminting, which it helped create, as well as in metallic silhouette shooting.

The 6.5×47mm Lapua is a smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge that was developed specifically for 300–1,000 m (328–1,094 yd) competition shooting by ammunition maker Nammo Lapua and the Swiss rifle manufacturer Grünig & Elmiger AG in 2005. Other common names for this cartridge include 6.5×47mm.

The .264 Winchester Magnum is a belted, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. Except for the .244 H&H Magnum and .257 Weatherby Magnum, it is the smallest caliber factory cartridge derived from the 2.85 in (72 mm) Holland & Holland belted magnum case. It was introduced in the late 1950s and early 1960s with the .338 Winchester Magnum and the .458 Winchester Magnum as one of a family of short-cased 2.5 in (64 mm) belted magnum cartridges developed by Winchester based on the .375 Holland & Holland parent case. It was officially introduced to the public by Winchester in 1959. After many years of dwindling use it began enjoying a mild resurgence in popularity in the mid-2000s among long range rifle enthusiasts and reloaders due to the high ballistic coefficient of the heavier 6.5mm bullets and increasing popularity of cartridges such as 6.5mm Creedmoor, .260 Remington, 6.5 Grendel, benchrest and wildcat cartridges in 6.5mm.

.22 caliber, or 5.6 mm caliber, refers to a common firearms bore diameter of 0.22 inch (5.6 mm).

The .22 Bench Rest Remington cartridge, commonly referred to as the .22 BR Remington, is a wildcat cartridge commonly used in varmint hunting and benchrest shooting. It is based on the .308×1.5-inch Barnes cartridge, necked down to .22 caliber, lengthened by .020 inches and with the shoulder angle increased to 30°. It was first developed in approximately 1963 by Jim Stekl, and in 1978 Remington standardized the dimensions. It is renowned for its high velocities and excellent accuracy.

The .22 PPC is a centerfire rifle cartridge developed in 1974 by Dr. Louis Palmisano and Ferris Pindell, primarily as a benchrest cartridge. The cartridge is based on the 5.6×39mm case which is a necked-down version of the 7.62×39mm Soviet military cartridge. Several companies have made custom guns in this caliber, however no major companies did until 1993, when Ruger announced their No. 1 V and M77 varmint rifles in this caliber.

The 6×45mm is a rimless, bottlenecked cartridge based on the .223 Remington or 5.56 NATO cartridge necked up to .243 (6mm). The cartridge is also known as the 6mm-223 Remington or 6mm/223.

6mm BR

The 6mm BR is a centerfire cartridge created for benchrest shooting. The cartridge is also known as the 6mm Bench Rest or simply 6 BR, and has also developed a following among varmint hunters because of its efficiency. There are two basic variants of very similar dimensions, known as the 6mm BR Remington and the 6mm Norma BR.

The 7mm BR Remington, commonly called the 7mm BR or the 7mm Benchrest Remington in long form, was a cartridge developed by Remington for the Remington XP-100 single-shot bolt-action handgun. The cartridge was developed for the Unlimited Class in the sport of Metallic silhouette shooting. Later it was introduced in the Remington Model XB-40 single-shot bolt-action rifle, which was specifically designed for the benchrest shooting community.

The Model 721 and Model 722 along with the later Model 725 variant are bolt-action sporting rifles manufactured by Remington Arms from 1948 until 1961. The 721/722 replaced the short-lived Model 720. The Model 721/722 is considered to be one of the first modern, economically produced sporting rifles whose design largely continued with the subsequent and highly successful Model 700. Manufactured with high precision, it is known for exceptional accuracy. The bolt and receiver design, based on the Mauser action, is considered one of the strongest ever produced. Samples in excellent condition have become collectible.

References

  1. "Merle Walker Obituary - Hendersonville, North Carolina - Tributes.com". www.tributes.com. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Merle "Mike" Walker's Obituary on Times-News". Times-News. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  3. 1 2 Bellah, Kent (February 1960). "Handloading Bench" (PDF). Guns. p. 14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 May 2012. Reminton's .244 cartridge...Mike Walker...created the hotshot.... also designed the 722 Remington action that is top dog with benchresters generally using the.222 cartidge which he also developed.
  4. Simpson, Layne (24 July 2020). ".222 Remington Rifle Cartridge – Family Portrait". RifleShooter. Outdoor Sportsmen Group. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  5. 1 2 "Legends of Benchrest: Remington's Mike Walker « Daily Bulletin". bulletin.accurateshooter.com. Retrieved 2017-09-27. Remington engineer and first president of the National Benchrest Shooters Association... Along with Remington Engineer Jim Stekl, Mike Walker helped develop a wildcat that became the 6mmBR cartridge.
  6. 1 2 Cohn, Scott (2013-03-25). "Developer of Controversial Remington Trigger Dead at 101". CNBC. Retrieved 2017-09-27.