Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2019 i Gun Digest

Many shooters hypothesize that competition is a great way to train with the defensive handgun. There’s some truth to this: The speed and accuracy associated with competition shooting is a shared skill with the practical use of a defensive handgun. And, the stress involved in competition can show you how you’ll react under pressure. However, too much competition shooting can create bad habits. After I became a cop, I realized the handgun training provided to police officers was seriously lacking. Looking for a solution, I became involved in competition shooting. I won several local and regional matches and even the West Virginia National Guard State Pistol Match. Competition was the vehicle that drove me to the place where I could get hits on targets swiftly. But, as I thought more…

To a shooter who’s unfamiliar with the recoil of a cartridge suitable for African dangerous-game animals, it can be nothing short of hellacious. The versatility of the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum, .416 Rigby, .404 Jeffery and .458 Winchester Magnum has been long proven, but to many shooters, the full-house loads represent the fast track to a flinch. Yes, inevitably, the shooter will need to become proficient with the bullet weights and velocities for which these types of cartridges were designed. Nevertheless, there are many instances for which a hunter would want to use their big-bore rifle on lighter game here in the lower 48 states. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking the .375 for whitetails, but you certainly don’t need 4,000 ft.-lbs. of energy to kill a deer. Want…

01 Ruger PC Carbine Chassis Ruger’s plucky PC Carbine has a new look: precision shooter. While precision match shooters might not run to it, the 9mm still has plenty going for it in its chassis configuration. It’s the first in the line to feature a pistol grip and adjustable, folding buttstocks (six-position, telescoping Magpul MOE). It also features several other accuracy enhancements, such as a lightweight, glass-filled polymer chassis and CNCmilled/M-Lok-compatible aluminum handguard, which free-floats the barrel. Ruger didn’t sacrifice the other facets that made the PC line a hit, including the popular lever-operated takedown system and Dead Blow tungsten-weighted action. MSRP: $799 02 TargetVision Long Hawk Opening a new dimension to honing your long-range shooting, TargetVision’s spotting scope-based camera might change the way you look at the…

It was the late winter of 2017 during the writer day (Industry Day at the Range) just prior to the great American Las Vegas Shot Show. Within the first five minutes of the event, my partner and I quickly found ourselves walking up the ramp into the shooting house that was set up for long-range shooting. This event was my first love, bar none, and here I had at least seven or eight rifles to stretch to the 1,000-yard steel while taking a hard look at optics and varied cartridge application on scene. I reached the far end of the shooting house about an hour later (and by now quite familiar with the long-range steel target at exactly 985 yards), and my eyes settled on a striking bolt-action rifle in…

I often wonder what John Moses Browning would have to say if he walked into a modern gun shop. Would he stare with disgust at anything that wasn’t properly blued and with a checkered walnut stock? Or would he look at a synthetic design with a Cerakote metal finish and nod in approval at the strength and resilience of the materials? We’ll never know, but one thing is for certain: Firearms sure have gone through some changes since Mr. B. was at the drawing board. Some of his designs—quite obviously, timeless—are still perfectly viable and get used each season in the hunting fields ... or on a daily basis, in the case of the 1911 pistol. The company that bears his name remains innovative, and while Browning’s name is associated…

PISTOL-CALIBER CARBINE 01 Norma Envy 124-Grain 9mm Ammo If you own a pistol-caliber carbine, Norma wants to become your new best friend. There’s nothing more classic than a pistol-caliber carbine, given its track record of taming the American frontier. But as these guns have advanced from iconic lever-actions to high-tech semi-autos, one aspect hasn’t changed: the ammo they shoot ... until now. Norma has rethought PC carbine ammunition with the introduction of Envy 9mm, optimized in every way to run perfectly out of a long gun. The round is loaded with a 124-grain FMJ bullet with a ballistic coefficient of .175. But its velocity is where the Norma Envy turns heads—1,345 fps. Furthermore, Norma fine-tuned the 9mm’s tolerances for a carbine, unlike other options optimized for handguns. MSRP: $13 (box…

“Yeah, I know, by modern standards, it’s considered a ballistic underperformer … but do you really know the terminal performance capabilities of the .30-30 Winchester?” While the Internet is all ablaze with arguments about the 6.5 Creed-moor and whether anyone should be shooting animals at long range (does anyone know the real definition of “long range”?), in the real world, real hunters are creeping through the timber with a .30-30 and bringing home the venison. In fact, the .30-30 Winchester has been doing that for more than a century. As effective as the cartridge has been, it is, however, indelibly linked to the lever-action rifle. Fortunately, Lipsey’s thinks outside the box. EXCLUSIVE OFFERINGS Lipsey’s (Lipseys.com) was formed in 1953 as a wholesale hunting and fishing distributor. The original name of…

Since the appearance of the bolt-action rifle nearly 200 years ago, the operating mechanics have remained the same: handle up, back, forward, down. But what if someone were to tell you there were manually operated bolt-actions that could be cycled more than twice as fast as those of traditional design? Well, such rifles do exist, and they’ve been available for quite some time. I’m talking about guns built on straight-pull actions—a concept that’s been enthusiastically received by European hunters but almost totally ignored by our American gun companies. THE STRAIGHT-PULL IDEA It’s a simple concept really. Instead of the four motions required to cycle a conventional bolt-action, a straight-pull requires only two. Not only does that reduce the required movements by half, it also reduces by more than half the…

HISTORICAL NOTES The .22-250 Remington was adopted early in 1965 as one of the chamberings for the Remington 700 series bolt-action rifles and also for the Model 40XB match rifle. Browning bolt-action rifles were offered in .22-250 two years later. This isn’t a factory design; rather, it’s a popular wildcat that had been around for many years before Remington’s adoption of the round moved it into the commercial classification. There’s some confusion regarding the date of origin of the .22-250, which is based on the .250-3000 Savage case necked to .22 caliber. Its moniker is derived from the caliber (.22) and the “parent” case name (.250). The parent cartridge was introduced in 1915, and a .22 version might have been made up experimentally shortly thereafter. Harvey Donaldson, Grosvenor Wotkyns, J.E.…

When I was growing up in Texas in the 1950s, one of my uncles had a Winchester Model 97 with a 32-inch, full-choke barrel. I remember asking him why he had the 32-inch barrel. “Turkeys,” he said. “Gotta reach out for them turkeys.” The Model 97 took its fair share of game in its 60 years of production, but that’s not why it’s remembered. U.S. doughboys thinning the German ranks in World War I with the “Trench Gun” or “Trench Broom” is what etched this John Browning design into history. The Model 97 was apparently so effective at its job during the Great War that the Germans filed a diplomatic protest over the weapon, claiming the shotgun was illegal (per the Hague Convention, due to it causing unnecessary suffering. Really?…

Real riflemen know many rifles, but in truth, love none. They’ll bear the sorrow of some, and with others, have fun. Eventually, they’ll always find and run home to one they truly trust. Rifleman are all different, skipping among rifles like a gypsy moves from place to place, looking for that perfection that always seems to be just past the next crossroads. But, sometimes, that special rifle will fall into their hands. For many, it never happens. For most, it takes half a century or more. My son was lucky: He found his at the tender age of 19. The Merkel K3 is a single-shot rifle with a Jeager tilting block that’s manufactured by Merkel Jagd- und Sportwaffen GmbH, which is located in Suhl, Thuringia (in Germany). Merkel has been…

ifty years ago, I was an avid shooter, but I’d never shot in a match. I simply didn’t know how to get started. A close friend let me know there was going to be a police practical pistol match held within 10 miles of my home and that civilians were welcome. The match was being held by the local community college for its law enforcement program. I signed up the next morning. There were four divisions for active and reserve officers, students and civilians. I won civilian and was in the top 25 percent in the overall results. My gun-of-choice was a Smith & Wesson Model 19, 4 inches. I used a Bianchi lined gun belt and a thumb break Bianchi Model 10 holster. The winner shot a 6-inch Colt…

The fact that a new striker-fired, polymer-framed pistol hit the market isn’t a surprise. What is a surprise is who’s churning out the latest addition to the ever-growing corner of the handgun world: Stoeger. Yes, the company with those easy-on-the-pocketbook shotguns has turned its attention to pistols yet again. And, there was no lack of clucking at the last SHOT Show over the surprise move by this Turkish concern. More than anything, this was simply due to the STR-9 coming so abruptly out of left field. Who would have expected a company that’s eearned its daily bread arming waterfowlers and wingshooters to go 9mm, striker fired and polymer framed? On the other hand, at this point, if Daisy added a Glock clone next to its Red Ryder, would any jaws…

The 6.5 Creedmoor, the world’s most popular rifle cartridge choice, doesn’t need any help making new friends. Regardless, Henry Repeating Arms, a company that prides itself on its all-American firearms’ “DNA,” did just that when it introduced the low-recoiling, flat-shooting, .264-caliber cartridge to one of America’s final firearms frontier void of the Creedmoor hype. It was a good idea. You’re welcome, lever-action crowd. Henry’s firearms platform-of-choice for this introduction, the Long Ranger, made perfect sense to me. The Long Ranger is the red-headed stepchild of the lever-action rifle world, because it feeds its action cartridges from a box magazine instead of a tube. Now, the folks at Henry absolutely know how to make fantastic traditional, tube-fed lever-action rifles, but that’s not really the point right now. No, the “point” here…

CLASSIC 01 Henry Big Boy Steel Carbine Henry and lever-action rifles go together like chocolate and peanut butter, so you shouldn’t be surprised to see Henry topping this list. And, in the words of one of GDTM’s columnists and feature writers, “I’ve been a fan of the .327 Federal Mangum cartridge since its inception.” This rifle is a sweet-shooting little carbine that comes with a ladder-style leaf rear sight and a brass-beaded front. Perhaps the top feature is the lack of an extra safety: The hammer and trigger are the safety—which is exactly the way a lever-gun should be. But don’t let the “Steel” designation in the rifle’s name fool you: The rifle, as well as the .327 Federal Mag cartridge, are capable of taming so much more than targets.…

I talk a lot about the fundamentals of marksmanship and how they’re the building blocks for all great shooting. When we break them down into a logical order, they address the core elements of a shot. From our body position to our sights, the fundamentals guide us toward a better result—in other words: hitting the target. When addressing the rifle, we look at natural point of aim: the rifle pointed to the target, and the body pointed to the rifle. Sight picture has become modified when using a scope, from sight picture and sight alignment to aiming. Granted, we still have sight alignment and our eye relief, and sight picture is about edge-to-edge clarity behind the ocular. However, these actions aren’t part of the shot sequence, because the scope should…

We marched like ants into the green jungle that marked the beginning of the wooded sporting clays course. Mosquitoes the size of small hummingbirds plowed bloody beaks into exposed skin. “Pull!” The autoloader cycled once, then twice, as the sporting clays machine launched bright clay into the wild, blue yonder. Orange discs sailed off into the far brush like frisbees. What a glide ratio! As far as missing goes, well, it was ... spectacular. We were shooting the “blue course,” which is supposed to be like the bunny slope. Regardless, things did get better as I warmed up and got a feel for the shotgun—a 12-gauge autoloader from Pointer called the Phenoma. It’s made by Armsan of Turkey and is imported by Legacy Sports International. When it was all ssaid…

Listings are FREE! Simply go online to create or manage your Gun Show Listing. Login or Register to create an account – GunShows.GunDigestMedia.com NOVEMBER Nov 29-Dec 1 MI, Birch Run. Gun & Knife Show - 3 Days. Frankenmuth Credit Union Event Center, Exit 136 off I-75. SH: Fri. 2pm-7pm, Sat. 9am-5pm, Sun. 10am-3pm. T: 700. F: $55. PO Box 404, Mason, MI 48854. PH: 517-676-4160. www.migunshows.com. Nov 29-Dec 1 TX, Texarkana. Texarkana TX Sportsman’s Gun & Knife Exposition. Texarkana Texas Convention Center, 2910 South Cowhorn Creek Loop. SH: Fri. 1pm-6pm, Sat. 9am-5pm, Sun. 10am-4pm. A: Adults $10.00 or three day pass for $25.00 Kids (11-15) $7.00 or three day pass for $20.00. T: 225. F: (1 to 4) @ $55 each; (5 to 9) @$45 each; (10 or more) @$35…

My only regret about meeting Jerry Lee is that it wasn’t sooner. It was April 2011, and the Gun Digest business was in desperate need of someone to step up and help carry the torch. My friend, Gun Digest books editor Dan Shideler, had died unexpectedly, leaving us with a gaping hole in our publishing plans. Jerry and I arranged to meet at the NRA convention in Pittsburgh, and by the time we were done talking about his family, his beloved home state of Texas, deer hunting, publishing and, of course, firearms, I was confident that “The World’s Greatest Gun Book” would continue in more-than-capable editorial hands, as strong as ever. Jerry’s polite and calm demeanor belied his deep understanding of all things in the world of firearms. If anyone…

So, there you are at the range, having fun with your AR (or other firearm), and you realize something’s wrong: Something’s loose. You can’t continue unless you tighten it. What—no toolkit? Your gun bag is sans tools? With a few mutters, you check your car/truck/SUV. No tools. With louder muttering, you check the clubhouse at the gun club. Surely, someone has left a screwdriver lying around—something, anything. Nope; nothing. Now, with vile curses, you load everything back into your vehicle and sullenly drive home ... knowing that within five minutes of getting home, you’ll have the problem solved. If you’d just had a toolkit with you, you could’ve solved the problem there. We ll, how about a toolkit that sits in your gear bag or even your rifle case, ready,…

BATTLESIGHT 01 Crimson Trace CTS-1100 Crimson Trace hasn’t been playing in the optics arena for long, but the company has caught up to the curve in a hurry. New for 2019 is Crimson Trace’s battlesight, the CTS-1100. It offers a fixed 3.5x magnification with an illuminated reticle, complete with holdover that matches most 5.56 rounds out to 500 yards when fired out of a carbine-length barrel. This is a terrific solution for engaging a field of full-sized silhouettes out to standard combat distances or for hunting—for which a large field of view is required. “Battlesight” just rolls off the tongue better than “rifle sight with an exceptional field of view.” MSRP: $549 TOP TECH 02 KonusPro EL-30 One riflescope, 10 different reticles. Yes, you read that right. Go ahead and…

Tim Sundles of Salmon, Idaho, is the proprietor of Buffalo Bore Ammunition. An enthusiastic hunter and real outdoorsman, Tim has the distinction of bringing the fabulous .475 and .500 Linebaughs to legitimacy with the very first factory ammunition ever offered and turned a hobby into his life pursuit, as well as a thriving business based on high-quality products. It didn’t start out that way, because he was a contractor in northern California before making the move to the ammunition manufacturing industry. Tim credits Ross Seyfried with the patience and willingness to impart to him the finer points in load development, both in theory and practical application. And when he starts getting impatient, Tim is quick to remember the graciousness of Seyfried. PRE-BUFFALO BORE BACKGROUND Tim started out in 1983 with…

OPTICS SYSTEM 01 Newcon Optik LRF Spotter Pro & LRM3500M Newcon Optik is a Canadian laser rangefinder company that’s been around for many years, and it’s a top choice of GDTM long-range expert Frank Galli. The LRF Spotter Pro has a powerful, 1550nm laser, capable of ranging targets to 4,500m. Featuring a mil-based reticle, the Spotter Pro is a great single source for both spotting and ranging. It’s fast and accurate—and the biggest benefit is that this one device does it all. The LRM3500M is a handheld monocular unit that features a very capable 1550nm laser, giving the end user 3,500m or more of ranging. This unit is comparable to the much more expensive PLRF25c from Vectronix. Newcon Optik lasers are highly capable and will soon feature a companion app…

RETRO 01 Brownell’s BRN-Proto AR-15 If you long for the good, ol’ days, Brownell’s is currently h humming your tune. A faithful replica of Stoner’s first prototype, the BRN-Proto is a historically accurate rendition with features not found on later iterations. Brownell’s drilled down into the minutiae to pull off the rifle, basing it on AR-15 Serial Number One. And the company’s attention to detail is breathtaking: “slick-side” upper receiver, oversized AR-10 handguard, “duckbill” flash suppressor and a front sight that mirrors the No. 1’s. Most striking is the BRN-Proto’s brown polymer stock, which replicates the look of the prototype’s fiberglass furniture—but not its weakness. All that, and the throwback AR is a shooter, too, chewing through 5.56 NATO with the precision of a modern rifle. It’s like new, but…

“During the Great War, the federal government was paying about $26 for each gun, but prices for used guns have increased considerably since then.” Its official designation was the “U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30 M1917,” but it was also known as the “Enfield” or “P-17”—both of which are technically incorrect (although many attached those nicknames to it). The term, “P-17,” was most likely coined by workers at Remington, Winchester and Eddystone, which were previously contracted to manufacture the P-14, Great Britain’s replacement for the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE). To differentiate these two very similar guns, the P-17 name came into unoffi cial use. “Enfield” most likely surfaced because it rolled off a soldier’s tongue easier than M1917 and because the P-14 on which it was based was designed by the Royal…