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Classic Styling is Everlasting
By Tom Turpin
Jack O’Connor’s favorite Model 70s are great examples of timeless elegance in rifle design. Photo: Two of the author’s custom rifles based on Model 70 actions. The top rifle wears a stock of New Zealand walnut. The bottom rifle is in Circassian walnut. It makes little difference whether comparing boats, cars, watches or firearms. ... READ MORE
Duh! It’s the Barrel
By Jon R. Sundra
Factors to consider when buying or rebarreling a hunting gun. Photo: H-S Precision is one of a handful of makers using the traditional hook method of rifling. The process can be done after the barrel is contoured, and it need not be stress relieved afterward. There are many ways to make a rifle more accurate. Bolt lugs can be lapped to evenly distr... READ MORE
Those Sweet Single Shots
By Ron Spomer
One-shooters don’t have obvious advantages over repeaters, but there are some. In this age of sub-MOA autoloading AR rifles, why would anyone bother with a single shot? Single shots are not for firepower, efficiency or enhanced productivity. Single shots are for joy. For romance. Challenge. Sometimes, beauty and elegance. A single shot is to ... READ MORE
Predator Calling Setup
By Ralph M. Lermayer
Electronic callers make predator hunting easy. Here’s where to set up and what firepower to bring for success. The introduction and rapid acceptance of wireless remote-controlled electronic callers has moved predator hunting from a sport enjoyed by a small part of the hunting community into the fastest-growing segment of the shooting sports. ... READ MORE
Best Scopes for the Buck
By Ron Spomer
Shop carefully, and you can find an inexpensive scope that hangs with you year in and year out. When you raise your rifle at sunset and the scope shows a bright orange haze instead of the buck standing at the edge of the timber, the answer to the question “Did I spend enough on my scope?” is no. The orange haze incident actually happene... READ MORE
Belly Down for Accuracy
By Clair Rees
Prone isn’t the fastest shooting position – nor is it always practical, but it’s by far the steadiest. Photo: When shooting from prone in mountain country, a backpack adds steadiness. It was a wild, exhausting stalk. Guide Reg Collingwood and I had spent five grueling hours climbing to the crest of British Columbia’s Skeena ... READ MORE
Whatever Happened to Walnut?
By Jon R. Sundra
Beautiful in color and grain, walnut is the most traditional material for stocking a sporting rifle. Photo: High-grade guns like this Sauer 303 are traditionally stocked in fancy grades of walnut, such as this example of Turkish origin. Walnut cannot be matched for beauty, but there are more efficient stocking mediums. When I was growing up in the ... READ MORE
Short Magnums: A Flash in the Pan?
By Jon R. Sundra
The short, fat case design was a step forward, although a small one, in cartridge development. Photo: In 1998, gun writer Rick Jamison, in cooperation with Ruger and Winchester, developed the .300 JRW, but it never made it to market. The author actually used Winchester-loaded cartridges and a Ruger rifle to take a Texas nilgai that year. For ... READ MORE
Five Guns Worth Finding
By Jon R. Sundra
These hunting guns are no longer made, but are well worth seeking on the used gun market. Photo: Top: Winchester Model 9422. Center: Remington Nylon 66. The Nylon 66’s unique construction and looks were far ahead of its time. It remains the best-selling rimfire rifle in the history of Remington Arms. Bottom: Remington Model 788. O... READ MORE
Stock Options
By Ron Spomer
Got an inaccurate rifle? Maybe it’s time for a different handle. Photo: One of the most unusual stocks on any rifle is this weird combination of walnut and metal on the Browning Buck Mark Rifle, a conversion from an autoloading pistol. There was a time not long ago when a rifle was fitted with a wooden handle designed to aid the operator in u... READ MORE
America’s Most Popular OU
By Nick Sisley
A very high-quality shotgun for the price, the Browning Citori holds up to extensive shooting. The Browning Citori over-and-under shotgun and its predecessor, the Superposed, are forever linked. Without the Superposed, the Citori would never have been born. The Superposed was on the drawing board for several years before it was introduced in 1931. ... READ MORE
Field Shooting Effectively
By Ron Spomer
When your target of opportunity knocks, you need to answer in seconds. Greg was as enthusiastic as an 8-year-old on Christmas morning. His first pronghorn hunt! He had a new .257 Weatherby Magnum with a Zeiss scope that could shoot a country mile. Back home on the bench, he was punching sub-MOA groups with 115-grain Barnes Tipped Triple Shocks. No... READ MORE
Sauer’s Elegant 303
By Jon R. Sundra
The 303 is a masterpiece of metal machining. In many ways, the bolt-action rifle is an anachronism. It’s been around since the late 1830s and hasn’t really changed much since the definitive Mauser of 1898. Indeed, if we were to take a brand new rifle like a Winchester Model 70, Remington 700 or a Ruger 77, there’s virtually no dif... READ MORE
The .308 Family
By Ron Spomer
Offspring of the .308 are accurate, compact and easy to shoot. Rifle cartridges may be inanimate, but they do have families. One of the more prolific is the .308 Winchester family, a well-rounded line of nicely balanced cartridges that are fast, powerful, easy to shoot and justifiably popular. The clan currently consists of the .243 Winchester, .26... READ MORE
Mossberg’s New Lever Action
By Clair Rees
The Model 464 is a classic reborn. With so many semiauto tactical rifles introduced over the last few years, it was refreshing to see O.F. Mossberg & Sons resurrect a style many consider out of fashion. The company’s Model 464 lever rifles would seem right at home in the 19th century. When it comes to hunting rabbits and squirrels, one of... READ MORE
Ballistic Balance
By Richard Mann
How to sort out which load offers the most balance for your hunting rifle. Balance is important in everything, even in hunting firepower. A ballistically balanced load offers the most power and the flattest trajectory with the least amount of recoil in a sporting-weight rifle. Average muzzle velocity of the most popular big game cartridges i... READ MORE
Smith & Wesson’s 686 Revolver
By John Haviland
This brother of the Model 19 is great for hunting and plinking. Last summer, I bought a Smith & Wesson Model 686 .357 Magnum revolver, and ever since, I’ve been happily shooting it at the range and in the field. The gun shoots tight groups from the bench and balances well in the hands for accurate offhand fire. It digests a variety of loa... READ MORE
Remington’s Classic Rimfire
By Clair Rees
After 54 years of service, the Model 552 Speedmaster is still one of the sleekest .22 autoloaders available. I fell in love with the Remington Model 552 Speedmaster .22 the first time I saw it in the Sears and Roebuck window. That was in 1957, when the gun was first introduced and Sears and Roebuck still sold firearms. One of its features was a big... READ MORE
Savage Model 25 Lightweight Varmint Rifle
By Clair Rees
A varminter needn’t be cumbersome to be accurate. One of the most interesting new rifles I’ve seen in recent months is the Model 25 Lightweight Varminter from Savage. It’s a startling departure from the 110 series of rifles the company has produced for more than a half-century. Highly successful because of its accuracy and low cos... READ MORE
How to Read a Ballistics Chart
By Ron Spomer
All those columns, numbers and abbreviations become clear as you explore. The majority of hunters are not ballistics experts. Nor do they have to be. Some of the most successful hunters know nothing more about rifles than which cartridge to shoot through it, usually to deadly effect. Many of us, however, become curious, sometimes fascinated by bal... READ MORE