|
|
DIY Cumberland Deerslayer
By J. Wayne Fears
You, too, can put together a special rifle for the area you hunt. Photo: The author’s Cumberland Deerslayer was designed for tough mountain hunting in the Southeast. It was the hike from hell. To get into the mountainous fold of land so the wind would be in my favor required me to go straight up a bluff thick with cedar and limestone boulders... READ MORE
The Knockdown Power Myth
By Ron Spomer
Bullet placement is far more important in the field than bullet theory. Photo: Although black bears are usually not as large as grizzlies, they can be just as dangerous, so it’s best to knock them down. The author prefers a deep-penetrating bullet that will exit, leaving two holes for trailing. There’s an old joke about the hunter who k... READ MORE
The Amazing .375 H&H Family
By Ron Spomer
Dozens of rounds have been carved from H&H’s magnum opus. Photo: The .375 H&H and its .300 H&H offspring (far left) were too long to function well in standard-length action. Brass was shortened to make the .264 Win Mag, 7mm Rem Mag, .300 Win Mag, .350 Norma Mag and .458 Win Mag. No centerfire rifle cartridge has spawned a la... READ MORE
Six Rules of Glassing
By Ron Spomer
Good glass and proper technique are the keys to locating game. Photo: A straight eyepiece is not comfortable for use over long periods. It forces one to bend the neck and shoulders to see through it. Every serious hunter has a binocular. Quite a few hunters understand the immeasurable value of a spotting scope. And nearly all hunters know you are s... READ MORE
The Perfect Rifle
By Jon R. Sundra
Planning for the next hunting gun never gets old. Photo: The 7mm WSM from Montana Rifle Co., a near clone of the Model 70, represents the author’s current ideal hunting rifle. Jon also has a nearly identical model and two other similar guns stocked in wood laminates. Does it exist? The perfect rifle, I mean. The answer is yes, but only for ea... READ MORE
King of the Quarter Bores
By Ron Spomer
The .257 Weatherby is a good alternative to the hard-thumping .30-cal. magnums. Photo: Long, sleek bullets are pushed to top velocities by the .257 Weatherby Magnum, making it effective for everything from varmints to moose. It’s often said but seldom appreciated that quarter bores are America’s finest deer cartridges. And the finest of... READ MORE
A Wild Hog Sledgehammer
By J. Wayne Fears
The stout .45-70 cartridge is bad medicine for big pigs. Photo: Winchester recently reintroduced the modern .45-70 Model 1886. It’s a dandy. Few calibers available to the wild hog hunter have a more colorful history than the .45-70 Government. Popular among settlers, buffalo hunters, cowboys, lawmen and others, the cartridge was with Gen. Geo... READ MORE
Coming Clean
By Ralph M. Lermayer
Gun cleaning considerations and tricks beyond the norm. Photo: Complete cleaning kits like this one from Hoppes come with everything you need to keep your guns in top shape. Note the Bore Snake, for one-pass field cleaning If you are one of those rare individuals who enjoys cleaning guns, then drop me an e-mail, I’ve got a pile of fun waiting... READ MORE
Savage’s Lightweight M11
By Ron Spomer
This 5.5-pound rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor handles beautifully and was exceptionally accurate in our tests. Over the last 15 years, Savage has been dead serious about making great rifles — so serious that I’ve wished they’d lighten up. They have. New on dealer’s shelves this year is Savage’s second true lightweight rifle,... READ MORE
The Core-Lokt Stands the Test of Time
By Larry Teague
Granddad’s ammo saves bucks and still brings home the bucks. Photo: A 150-grain Core-Lokt pointed soft point instantly dropped this 9-point Kansas whitetail. The Marlin XL7S rifle with a stainless action and barrel is new this year. Let’s say it didn’t already exist, and you wanted to develop a good-performing, inexpensive deer ca... READ MORE
Know Your Limitations
By Chub Eastman
Don’t attempt a shot in the field you haven’t practiced at the range. Photo: Life-size targets are a good alternative to 5-gallon buckets for determining maximum effective range. A small herd of elk was feeding along a logging road winding up a ridgeline more than a half-mile distant. In the bunch was a raghorn bull surrounded by a half... READ MORE
Sage Goats With a Slug Gun?
By Dave Henderson
The author travels to Wyoming to push the envelope of slug gun performance. Photo: An unlikely pairing: the Burris Eliminator Laserscope mounted on a Savage 220F shotgun for hunting open-country game. For a slug shooter, these are uncharted waters. Most folks don’t bring a shotgun into the potentially long-range scenario of pronghorn hunting ... READ MORE
Barrel Fluting: What Does It Do?
By Jon R. Sundra
Fluting makes a barrel distinctive, but there are other benefits, too. Photo: Fluting usually does not extend the entire length of the barrel. One of the most distinctive options available to anyone contemplating the purchase of a rifle is a fluted barrel. It can be a sporter-weight hunting rifle or a varminter. It doesn’t matter. Fluting set... READ MORE
Make Your Deer Rifle Work Overtime
By Ron Spomer
Turn your big-game rifle into a jack of all trades with light and heavy loads. Photo: How versatile can a cartridge be? The .260 Rem pushing a tough, deep-penetrating bullet can be deadly on moose and eland. You invest $1,000 in a fancy new deer rifle, $1,000 in a scope and perhaps shoot your rig 10 times a year — three to sight-in, six to pr... READ MORE
Which .22 Centerfire?
By John Haviland
It’s hard not to like cartridges with names like Swift, Hornet and Fireball. Here’s what they do best in the field. Photo: The .22-250 Rem and .220 Swift have the reach when shots are long. There really are only a few popular .22-caliber centerfire cartridges, and each one covers only a certain range of bullet velocities. That makes try... READ MORE
The Hunter’s Telescope
By Ron Spomer
There is no magic in a spotting scope; it just looks that way. Photo: Spotting scopes are ideal for open-country hunting, but they also can be used to spy on isolated fields in the east and Midwest, often from miles away. There were nine of us sharing the alpine tundra just below the snow line in Alaska’s gorgeous Chugach Range. It was early ... READ MORE
Chronograph Reliability
By John Haviland
Many variables can affect velocity readings. Here’s how to set up for best results. Photo: Setting up a chronograph so bullets pass straight and about 6 inches over the top of the photo sensors helps produce precise readings. A chronograph reveals a lot about rifle and pistol cartridges, from velocity to consistency. But how do you know wheth... READ MORE
Legacy of the ’98 Mauser
By Jon R. Sundra
Can you think of any 19th century product still being made and used today? Such is the genius of Peter Paul Mauser’s M98. Photo: One of the finest examples of the Mauser ’98 was the 1909 contract built at the DWM factory for the Argentine government. The machining and smoothness of the action have never been surpassed in any commercial ... READ MORE
Return of the Bolt-Action Slug Gun
By Dave Henderson
Turnbolt shotguns are the hottest tickets in slug gun shooting today. Photo: Savage bolt actions have a reputation for outstanding accuracy. Among deer hunters in the shotguns-only environs of rural New York a half-century ago, it was common knowledge that Ithaca Gun and Remington Arms made shotguns, and every other company just tried real hard. Th... READ MORE
Muzzleloader Myths
By Ralph M. Lermayer
Voodoo ballistics and other misconceptions still abound in blackpowder shooting. Photo: This double barrel rifle from Traditions provides the fastest second shot possible with a muzzleloading rifle. It’s also deadly accurate with the right load. Prior to the 1980s, hunting with muzzleloaders was confined to a small cadre of traditionalists, h... READ MORE