Gun Digest Spring 2016

As a kid, my first expedition into the shooting and hunting world was with a break barrel air rifle my Dad bought me for Christmas. My brother and I would race through the woods, shooting beer cans and squirrels as we imagined ourselves to be reincarnations of Jeremiah Johnson. When we got a bit older, I was given a Ruger 10/22, perhaps the iconic symbol that boyhood had given way to young adulthood. From the days spent longing like Ralphie for a Red Ryder BB gun—complete with those motherly worries that “you’ll shoot your eye out!”—to the days of .22s and more powerful big game rifles, both types of gun have been staples of Americana, signposts marking the path to maturity. The amazing thing is, I enjoy shooting air guns…

Whether used for serious target shooting or for casual plinking, no one can deny the inherent fun of shooting rimfire guns. Rimfires recoil very little, making them manageable for just about any shooter, and ammo is generally inexpensive in comparison to some of the larger centerfire cartridges. This ideal combination of affordability and lack of recoil means that shooters can participate in extended range sessions without tiring and without their pocketbook taking an intense hit. Of course, shooters will need plenty of targets to make full use of their rimfire firearms. Many shooters will purchase sheets of bullseye, varmint and other paper targets to facilitate their target shooting needs. While this is certainly an effective way to shoot, there are some downsides, especially if you shoot at a public range…

.22 Long Rifle Information available indicates that the .22 Long Rifle was developed by J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. in 1887. It is the .22 Long case with a five-grain black-powder charge (likely with a granulation similar to what we would now call FFFFg), and a 40-grain bullet instead of the original 29-grain. The .22 Long Rifle is the most popular match cartridge in existence, and also the most widely used small-game and varmint cartridge. The high-velocity hollowpoint is the best field load and will do a good job on rabbit-sized animals out to 75 yards. Beyond that, it is unreliable. At close range, the high-velocity load with the solid-lead bullet will penetrate six inches of soft pine board and has a maximum range of nearly two miles. Maximum…

Best of Gun Digest: Handguns & Handgun Shooting Annual By David Maccar, Editor From the revolvers that won the old west to modern semiautomatic pistols for self defense, there are few firearms as celebrated as the handgun. And for the first time, Gun Digest is ready to tell its story in Best of Gun Digest: Handguns & Handgun Shooting. Drawing upon 70 years of expert gun writing from the Gun Digest annual, this volume explores the history, advancement and mystique of this indispensible tool. The 15 in-depth articles in the book study all aspects of modern and historic handguns, covering their roles in the firearms world, whether as a military sidearms, law-enforcement pistols or semi-autos meant for home defense. Quite simply, if it’s about a pistol or revolver, it’s in…

New for 2016 with an official launch at the January SHOT Show in Las Vegas, SIG Sauer introduced its own line of air guns, designed to replicate already existing models in the SIG lineup. In advance of the show, we got our hands on a P226 and MCX, both in flat dark earth (FDE) and powered by CO2. Currently there’s also availability on an MPX and P250 handgun, while SIG expects to grow the number of offerings in the coming year. SIG has been jumping into a lot of different sectors of the industry lately, including optics, suppressors, ammunition and now air guns. The air gun lineup has the opportunity to play an influential role in training and to reach non- or entry-level shooters looking to get into the sport.…

In the late 1990s and early 2000s there wasn’t a lot of discussion about rimfire guns and their impact on the shooting industry. Sure, everyone knew that rim-fires made great plinking guns, that they worked to dispatch varmints and small predators at moderate ranges, and that they were a great way to introduce new shooters to the sport. And the early 2000s even gave shooters a couple new rimfires to play with, the .17 HMR and .17 Mach II. But rimfires were just an afterthought, it seemed, a small subset of the market made up of backyard shooting enthusiasts who weren’t willing to spend the kind of money it took to play in the centerfire world. By the late 2000s, however, no one doubted how impactful rimfires were on the…