Gun Digest March 2023

Can you wrap your head around that? The gun on the cover of this issue—the Heym Express—auctioned at the 2023 Dallas Safari Club International Convention for more than $87,000. Now, if the fine craftsmen who honed this particular rifle were to slap a price tag on the gun, I bet it would be nowhere near that number. Charity has a way of stretching the wallet. Even still, we’re talking truck-like numbers for a gun that certainly warrants its own insurance policy. Contrasting that type of gun buyer, I can’t help but reflect on the Hi-Point .45 ACP my bear hunting buddy keeps on his hip while running baits. That $175 gun will likely send way more rounds downrange than the Heym ever will, but the shooting experience with that particular…

HISTORICAL NOTES In 1982, Winchester introduced rimmed versions of the .308 Winchester and .358 Winchester cartridges, and called them the .307 Winchester and .356 Winchester. They became available in a special version of the Winchester Model 94 lever-action rifle, with its receiver sidewalls reinforced to handle higher chamber pressures than is common for the .30-30 Winchester and other cartridges for which that rifle was originally designed. Two loadings of the .356 Winchester were available, a 200-grain deer load at 2,460 fps and a 250-grain moose load at 2,160 fps. Despite the fact that the new cartridge delivered the same level of energy at 200 yards as the .30-30 at 100 yards, it failed to win the hearts of America’s deer hunters and was eventually dropped from the Model 94 rifle.…

Gian Luigi Ferri, a real estate speculator from Los Angeles, California, was 55 years old when he walked into the law firm of Pettit & Martin. It was July 1, 1993, and the 48-story high-rise was located on 101 California Street in San Francisco. Armed with three handguns and a lot of ammunition, Ferri wasn’t there to seek legal advice. Moments later, he’d killed eight people, and more than a hundred police officers had surrounded the building. Ferri, however, would not be taken into custody; he committed suicide. His heinous attack would have serious impact on the firearms industry. Prior to that, on April 2, 1991, the Olin Corporation (Winchester) applied for a patent—U.S. patent #US5101732 was awarded on April 7, 1992—and the resulting Black Talon bullet and ammunition made…

X2DevGroup offers rifles and parts that aren’t your vanilla-plain mil-spec parts. One in particular is the Jackal ambi charging handle. Offered in both AR-15 and AR-10 sizes, they’ve rethought how this gizmo is supposed to work. The first thing you’ll notice, if you look closely, is that they changed the pivot point of the unlocking levers. Instead of being in near the centerline, the pivot point is out at the ends of the wings. This does two things: First, it takes a lot of stress off the pivot point, and it changes the leverage of the latch when your gear gets caught up in it. If you have more than just a shirt or a plain coat on, your gear, webbing, pouches, etc. can get hooked on the charging handle.…

Ol’ Grumpy Pants came over to the shop with a bag full of spent .22-250 Remington brass, intending to load ammunition. Dad, who taught me how to reload decades ago, just looked over his nose as I warmed up the RCBS Charge-Master Link, while using the Universal Case Prep Station to trim the cases to the proper length. Turning off the loud rotary trimmer, I checked the case dimensions with my Mitutoyo digital caliper and used my phone to have the electronic dispenser throw the proper amount of Hodgdon’s H380 powder. Feeling that familiar stare on the back of my head, I stopped to ask him just what he was gawking at. “When I started doing this, I didn’t have a singlepieceofgearthatrequiredan outlet or a battery,” he said. “What the…

01 Browning Citori High Grade 50th Anniversary Has it been 50 years already? Apparently so, as Browning honors perhaps its most famous and popular over/under shotgun with a special anniversary edition. The Citori High Grade 50th Anniversary capstones the line’s endurance in the market with a stunning tribute to Browning’s design. Grabbing you immediately is the sharply chiseled floral engraving cut into the 12-gauge’s silver-nitride receiver sides and bottom, offset with gold accents and a Grade IV Turkish walnut stock. Less apparent is the inclusion of the Invector-Plus Midas choke system, a triple trigger system (you heard right) and HiViz Pro Comp sight enhanced with an ivory mid-bead. Like what you see? Hurry, because Browning is only making a limited run of these beauties. MSRP: $8,400 02 Tristar LR94 Once…