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Laser Rangefinder Primer
By Bob Ross
How laser units work, and why they’ve become indispensable to modern hunters. It was really, really cold out. So cold, the fabric of my daypack froze like a potato chip. So cold, the soda pop in the plastic bottle inside my daypack turned to slush. So when I looked out into the cornfield about 3 p.m. and saw the big white-tailed buck scraping... READ MORE
Close-Range Snake Protection
By Russell Thornberry
Shotshell-loaded pistols are the bee’s knees in poisonous-snake country. The unseasonably warm South Texas weather slowed deer hunting to a crawl. With only 15 minutes of daylight and a 30-minute walk back to the truck, I left my blind a little early. I was sweating, and little gnats swarmed around my face. I brushed them away in aggravation ... READ MORE
A Most Popular Magnum
By John Haviland
All hail the 7mm Rem Mag — king of the .284 bores. The 7mm Remington Magnum is the most bought, shot and hunted-with magnum cartridge, despite the continuous introduction of other magnum rounds intended to capture some of its appeal. The 7mm Rem Mag acquired its rank soon after it was introduced way back in 1962 and has held onto that spot ov... READ MORE
Federal’s Triple-Range Turkey Load
By J. Wayne Fears
New shotshell solves the problem of taking “surprise” gobblers that show up unannounced and ultra-close. It has happened to most spring gobbler hunters at one time or another: You are set up, and from out of nowhere a gobbler steps into view at 15 yards. It’s now or never, so you take aim and pull the trigger. At the sound of the ... READ MORE
Knock ‘Em Flat
By John Haviland
Some shots are better than others for putting big game down quickly. The fallacy that a rifle bullet will knock a deer off its hooves never seems to die. If a bullet did thump a deer that hard, the recoil from such a load would also kick the shooter out of his boots. A bullet fired from a big-game rifle has about twice the momentum as a thrown base... READ MORE
Make It Shoot
By Dave Henderson
Is your rifle shooting better patterns than groups? Here are the most common problems — and fixes. Brand-new rifle. Well, it’s new to you, and a dandy — a Remington Model 700 BDL in great condition. The price was steep, but the week’s pay was worth it. Add rings, a scope, a couple of boxes of ammo, and you’re ready for... READ MORE
Do You Need a Pocket Binocular?
By Clair Rees
Quality full-sized binoculars aren’t the best choice for all hunting situations. I first began hunting as a cash-poor teenager who could barely afford a knife and a box of ammo. The Arisaka rifle I carried was on loan from my favorite uncle. My young eyes were sharp, so buying a binocular never even crossed my mind. A few years later, a more ... READ MORE
5 Ways to Protect Your Hearing
By Clair Rees
Every shooter needs good hearing protection. Here’s what’s available. If your hair is turning white or mostly gone, you may remember two of the most famous handgunners of the 20th century. Elmer Keith, an Idaho cowboy turned gunwriter, was almost single-handedly responsible for getting the .44 magnum introduced. His most memorable book ... READ MORE
The Reliable Buck Mark
By Clair Rees
The famed Colt Woodsman lives on in this classic .22 semiauto pistol. Browning Buck Marks are affordable, high-quality .22 handguns. Introduced in 1985, they’re accurate and fun to shoot. Recently, I brought a 5 1/2-inch bull-barreled Buck Mark Target pistol to a Montana prairie dog shoot. I planned on switching to the Buck Mark when I grew t... READ MORE
Maximum Point Blank Range
By Ron Spomer
This simple sight-in system does away with the need to compensate for a bullet’s arc at all but extreme ranges.
Advanced reticle systems in today’s scopes are a great method for pinpointing targets at a variety of long ranges. But multiple crosshairs, hash marks, mil dots and numbers can get confusing, particularly when you’re hy... READ MORE
Cheap Scopes, High-Dollar Performance
By Ron Spomer
Fierce competition among scope makers is improving quality and driving down prices.
When it comes to inexpensive riflescopes, there’s good news and bad. The bad news is there's worthless junk out there, scopes that will cost you a shot. Scopes that will fog, leak, break or transmit such a blurred image as to be worse than open sights.
The g... READ MORE
My Savage 99
By John Haviland
Although retired for almost 30 years, this classic lever action remains one of the best deer guns of all time. A few springs ago, my wife and I walked into a sporting goods store intending to buy some fishing hooks. I walked out with a Savage Model 99 rifle. “How did that work?” my wife asked. “Just the way I’ve been hoping... READ MORE
Trijicons Are Different
By Ralph M. Lermayer
It’s dusk of opening day. You’re easing down a forest road or skirting the edge of a field, when, suddenly, you spot movement in a clearing in front of you. Is it a buck? Whatever it is, it knows you’re there. You instinctively shoulder your rifle. In the blink of an eye, you must locate, identify, evaluate and center the target t... READ MORE
Are You Using Too Much Scope?
By Clair Rees
Winter was setting in along the Utah-Colorado border. It was two days before Thanksgiving, and I was slogging slowly through a foot of snow blanketing the Dolores Triangle. I’d drawn a late-season permit for the area. Hunting had been spotty here during Utah’s 10-day October deer season, when only “so-so” bucks were in resid... READ MORE
Let Your Subconscious Be Your Guide
By John Haviland
You look up to see a pheasant coming. In a flash, it’s going to cross right in front of you. Are you going to take that second to think about swing, angles and lead, or are you going to just shoot? “Shotgun shooting is all about disengaging the conscious brain,” says Shane Naylor, a wingshooting instructor at his Shane’s Spo... READ MORE
Care and Cleaning of Binos
By Ron Spomer
A hunting binocular is a bit like a hunting dog. You have to take care of it to get top performance.
Fortunately, binos are more easily trained in basic obedience like sit and stay. Lay one on a stump, and it’ll stay there through rain, snow, cold and gloom for as many nights as it takes for you to locate it. If you happen to find the Bushne... READ MORE
The Truth About Long-Range Shooting
By Ron Spomer
Ever since humans first threw a stone to kill a bird, we’ve been searching for tools that can extend that range: slingshots, muzzleloaders, centerfires, rangefinders. To facilitate extreme-range sniping, today’s hunter can use VLD bullets, multi-reticle scopes, laser rangefinders, calculators, angled cosine indicators and PDA computer p... READ MORE
This Thing Called Eye Relief
By Ralph M. Lermayer
Perhaps no part of a riflescope’s specifications is less understood than eye relief. Many hunters don’t have a clue what their pet scope’s eye relief is, nor do they care. As long as they can bring Ol’ Betsy to the shoulder and instantly find hair in the scope, it’s perfect.
Eye relief is the distance from the rear le... READ MORE
Quick Accuracy Fixes
By John Haviland
Sometimes new rifles don’t shoot as well as we’d like, or worse, a previously dependable rifle goes off its feed. Operator error is often the culprit with a rifle that throws bullets across a target like a slingshot flinging rocks. When the gun itself is the problem, though, a simple tweak or two often are often all that’s needed ... READ MORE
Sure Cures for Wrong-Eye Dominance
By Ralph M. Lermayer
There is a surprisingly large number of people with eye complications, the kind of problems that make the act of shooting a rifle awkward or near impossible. The most commonly affected shooters are those who are right-handed but left-eye dominant. Although these shooters instinctively mount a rifle or shotgun to the right shoulder, their left eye i... READ MORE