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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
The .30-06 Cartridge Family
By Ron Spomer
Offspring of the .30-06 are popular and effective, just like their Ma. Most hunters know that the .30-06 Springfield, now 105 years old, has proven to be one of the most versatile hunting cartridges in the world. It’s been used to take everything from elfin squirrels to enormous elephants. Many hunters might not know that the .30-06 has also ... READ MORE
Marlin’s XT Youth .22s
By Richard Mann
The XT series of rimfire rifles are budget models with kid-worthy features. It took a long time for gun makers to come around to the notion they needed to build rifles for kids. Maybe this is because when the generation that is now in charge was growing up, there were few youth guns. They learned to shoot dad’s rifle, even though it did not f... READ MORE
Shotgun Choke Designations
By John Haviland
Other factors besides choke constriction influence pattern size, and only through testing can you learn how a load performs in your gun. Just because your shotgun choke is labeled modified doesn’t mean it will shoot a modified pattern. Modern barrels contain longer forcing cones and chokes that treat shot tenderly to keep it flying straight. ... READ MORE
Muzzleloader Tune-up
By Ralph M. Lermayer
Photo: To protect a scope from corrosive blowback, wrap electrical tape around the area just above the breech. To the uninitiated, muzzleloaders are veiled in a cloak of mystery. To hunters who understand them, blackpowder rifles are simple and predictable in operation. What they are NOT is forgiving. Pay attention to the rules, and they will never... READ MORE
Bear Bait
By Clair Rees
My right leg throbbed with every step as I plowed through the knee-deep snow. Ed Stevenson, my guide, was breaking trail — an exhausting chore we normally shared. I was no longer hunting. All I could think of was reaching the tent and removing the boot from my swollen leg. Randy Brooks and I had arrived in the Alaska bush on the first o... READ MORE