The first Traditions firearms I used, many years ago, were muzzleloaders. They proved to be affordable excellence, and I put a lot of venison in the freezer back then with their front-stuffing rifles.
They seemed to have survived the muzzleloader wars some years later in good shape. When so many others left the market, they remained—a testament to their quality and pricing. I suspect part of that survival was because of a willingness to grow and adapt. It’s a simple step from a break-action muzzleloader to a break-action centerfire, basically a different barrel and some government paperwork. Traditions introduced centerfire rifles in the mid-2000s with the Outfitter series. The Outfitter G2 was introduced in 2017 and the Outfitter G3 in 2020, chambered in a wide range of cartridges from .357 Magnum through .45-70, including the .35 Remington and .35 Whelen.
This year the new Outfitter G3 Pro Series is introduced with a few useful bells and whistles. One issue with a single-shot, break-action, hammer-fired rifle is that the scope must be mounted high enough to clear the hammer. That often results in a poor cheek weld for the shooter as the comb is too low. The Pro Series includes an adjustable cheekpiece that solves this problem. The length of pull is also adjustable by removing or adding spacers. So, this is an excellent choice for a youth hunter as well as a gray and grizzled old hunter like me.
The Pro Series also includes a muzzle brake, which reduces the recoil substantially. The gun ships with a 3-9x40mm scope with a BDC reticle (except the 360 Buckhammer, which ships with a Duplex reticle scope). So, all you need to do is add ammo and it’s ready to hunt.
It was hard to decide which cartridge to choose for this test rifle. There are several straight-wall cartridge options, including some of my favorites like the .45-70, 360 Buckhammer and of course the .450 Bushmaster. It’s also available in the 350 Legend and the .35 Whelen. If you are hunting in an area where it’s allowed, how can you go wrong with a .35 Whelen? In my experience, it’s one of the best hunting cartridges ever used.
I thought long and hard about having the test rifle in .35 Whelen, but in the end I chose the .450 Bushmaster. Mostly because I wanted to take a fresh look at Jeff Cooper’s “Thumper” cartridge, and because the .450 Bushmaster is the most popular cartridge for straight-wall deer hunting areas. I used the .450 Bushy a few years ago to shoot a lot of hogs and a few deer and even an Asian water buffalo. While the buffalo was a bit of a stretch, it was the gun I had with me when the opportunity presented, which is exactly the concept Cooper had in mind when conceiving the cartridge.
The .450 Bushmaster has exploded in popularity in the years since, and the ammo options have grown. Currently there are options for hunting from all the big-name ammo makers ranging from simple deer bullets up to the Buffalo Bore 360-grain Hard Cast load that should penetrate a T-Rex, or at least an Asian buffalo.
Because the .450 Bushmaster is a rimless cartridge, the extractor is spring loaded, and it’s easy enough to push the cartridge past the extractor when loading under stress. That locks up the gun until you fix the problem, which is simple to do. I am just noting this and there is nothing to criticize with this rifle—it’s the same with all single-shots with a spring-loaded extractor for rimless cartridges. My point is simply, if you think it could be a problem, go with a rimmed cartridge where it should not be a problem.
The 22-inch chrome-moly barrel is fluted and is finished in Tungsten Cerakote, as is the frame. The barrel is fitted with an effective muzzle brake with a metric 18x1 thread so, using the correct adapter, it would be easy to add a suppressor.
The barrel is easily removed for cleaning: remove the QD fore-end, open the action and the barrel comes right off.
The frame is laser engraved on the side with the name and logo as well as an impressive whitetail rack. The black stocks are injection-molded synthetic with molded in checkering that provides a positive grip on the fore-end and the pistol grip. As noted before, the cheekpiece is adjustable and locked with a screw. The length of pull is adjustable. There is a 1-inch rubber recoil pad to finish the butt. Sling swivel studs are included.
The safety is located behind the trigger and is a cross-bolt that locks the trigger. The hammer has an extension on both sides, so lefties can’t cry discrimination. The trigger is two-stage with the first stage at 12 ounces. The total pull weight is very good at 3 pounds, 2 ounces. The break-action rifle is opened by pulling on a lever in the front of the trigger guard that releases the spring-loaded bolt. It is closed and locked by the bolt that slides forward from the action and under a lug on the barrel.
The normal protocol for a rifle test for American Hunter is with three ammo products. I have double that number, which is obviously a better test of the rifle. So, what makes a gun writer test so many ammo products? I went to the range with several rifles, but I forgot the ammo for the others. I wasn’t going to go home and do something foolish like work, so I shot the daylights out of this rifle.
I later shot the .450 out to 300 yards and discovered that, like most straight-wall cartridges, for ethical hunting it’s a 200-yard cartridge. The gun is more capable of longer range than the cartridge, and I suspect that with a .35 Whelen that distance would grow to maybe 300 yards.
This Outfitter G3 is very ergonomic, and once everything is adjusted to fit, it is easy to shoot. Recoil is well controlled with the brake and the pad. The gun is accurate with most ammo and very accurate with ammo that it likes.
The price is reasonable and, depending on the cartridge chosen, this single-shot rifle would be suitable for hunting anything in North America.
Technical Specifications
• Type: break-action, single-shot rifle
• Caliber: .450 Bushmaster (tested), .45-70, 350 Legend, .35 Whelen, 360 Buckhammer
• Barrel: 22"; chrome-moly steel; fluted; button rifled; 1:16" RH twist; threaded muzzle 1x18" w/ muzzle brake
• Trigger: Traditions Elite XT; two-stage; 3 lbs., 2 ozs. pull weight
• Sights: drilled and tapped; comes with optics rail and mounted, bore-sighted 3-9x40mm BDC scope
• Safety: cross-bolt
• Stock: Monte Carlo; injection molded; black; adjustable comb; adjustable LOP 13.7"-14.5"; sling swivel studs
• Metal Finish: Tungsten Cerakote
• Overall Length: 37.5"
• Weight: 6.75 lbs. (rifle only)
• Accessories: stock spacers
• MSRP: $749.95; traditionsfirearms.com
