I'm not really responding to this thread but to your statement about Springfields. I have two Springfields -- a sporterized .30-06 and a sporterized .25-06. My father sporterized both of them. by shaping and bedding the walnut stocks. The .25-06 has a medium weight 24" barrel. The .30-06 is very accurate. I took my first elk with it this past October. The .25-06, too, is very accurate. I'm sure these rifles will still be accurate and providing excellent service when I die and pass them on to my son.

Sometimes the cartridges do not feed smoothly in the .30-06. I don't hunt dangerous game, so this is not an issue. It has only happened on the range and not while hunting. I wonder whether perhaps I have done something amiss on these rare occasions. The .25-06 bolt has slided open while slung on my shoulder. Now I take care to lay my right elbow over the bolt to be sure it doesn't rotate free and open. While I will allow that these may be instances of "unreliability," I love these guns nevertheless and love to carry them in the field and to take game with them.