Innehållsförteckning för June 2018 från Gun Digest

Shooting precision rifles at extended ranges is growing increasingly popular. Extreme long-range (ELR) shooting is often defined as distances beyond 1,000 yards, though some many argue ELR “starts” at about 1,500 yards. Wherever that answer lies for you, more people are shooting out to ELR distances — and claiming various levels of success along the way. As part of Sniper’s Hide, I have been involved in ELR shooting for many years. I enjoy it so much that I’m also working with a group of like-minded shooters to standardize what constitutes a “World Record Shot.” Alongside the likes of companies such as Applied Ballistics, McMillan Stocks, Cutting Edge Bullets and Warner Tool, as well as with individuals such as David Tubb, standards are on the horizon. Too often we see videos…

A handloader’s recipes are usually the result of hours of toil, hard work and experimentation. Some are closely guarded, as if they were an alchemist’s formula, while others are freely shared — and some consider their recipes to be the final word on a particular cartridge/bullet combination. They are — more often than not — just a snapshot, being applicable to a particular rifle and/or barrel. Just as factory-loaded ammunition might give stellar performance in one rifle yet give the owner of another rifle fits of rage, a handload recipe is not universal to all rifles. I’ve stumbled upon a few loads that have worked very well in a number of different rifles, but there are always one or two guns that simply don’t like that load. There’s nothing wrong…

Livingstone, Zambia, September 2011. We stood in the queue at the airport, waiting to meet our host for a 3-day visit to Victoria Falls. I collected the baggage — including my rifle case — and greeted the lady who would house us while we visited one of the wonders of the world. “You have a firearm?!?” I knew immediately this wasn’t going to go well, as she was obviously of the anti-gun mindset, not to mention anti-hunting, and we were just off a 7-day buffalo safari. “Yes, and all the correlative paperwork,” I explained, showing her the large packet of forms and necessary documents. “Still, we’re going to have to store that with the local police,” she insisted. Here we go … The “local police” didn’t exactly look as official…

Irony and contradiction are often the warp and woof of history, but there are enough unnatural measures of the unknown in the lurid story of John Brown to spin many a tale weird enough even for modern television. Most of these are best left to the historian, psychologist or armchair thinker to ponder, but at least one of the curious circumstances of Brown’s bloody career is of interest to gun collectors — how Brown came to defy Virginia, the Union and the world with 200 of the best rifles money could buy and an equal number of probably the worst revolvers. The so-called “John Brown Sharps rifle” is fairly well-known to collectors, the slant-breech model of 1853 with brass patchbox in the buttstock and brass barrel band and buttplate. The…

Debating on whether the AR or the AK is “better” is like arguing whether a Ford Mustang is superior to a John Deere tractor. Both have four wheels, engines and transmissions, but they were designed for completely different applications. The AR and AK do exactly what they were designed to do, and they both do it well. WWII was the catalyst for both weapons. There was no more trench warfare — the Germans had launched the “Blitzkrieg,” or “lightning war.” This principle relied on tanks, artillery and aircraft, and plenty of ground troops to smash through the enemy, overwhelming their defenses. During the first half of WWII, the Germans were almost unstoppable. Post war, the winners began studying, testing and designing weapons and tactics based on this new paradigm. The…

RUGER 10MM GP100 MATCH CHAMPION The 10mm GP100 Match Champion is a jack-of-all-trades double-action revolver, ideal for concealed carry, hunting or even competition. And the 37-ounce stainless-steel beauty is born to run with polished and optimized internals, a centering boss on the trigger, centering shims on the hammer and 11-degree target crown on the muzzle of its 4.2-inch barrel. The first chambering in the line for a semi-auto pistol cartridge utilizes 6-round moon clips to headspace the 10mm rounds and is fully capable of shooting .40 S&W safely. High-visibility fiber optic front sight and adjustable rear get the revolver on target in a snap, and custom Hogue hardwood grips with fine stippling not only make the 10mm easy to handle — but pretty dang attractive to boot. $969 PHOENIX WEAPONRY…

There was a time when the term “magnum” was fairly well defined. I’m talking back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, when the word pretty much meant a cartridge more powerful than “normal” and was usually based on the belted Holland & Holland case. In fact, in the eyes of many, if it didn’t have a belt, it couldn’t be a magnum — that’s how synonymous the two words became. As always, though, there were many exceptions to the rule. Back in its early days as a wildcat, for example, the .25-06 certainly provided magnum performance if the “standard” for the caliber was the .257 Roberts. Yet it was never called the “.25-06 Magnum.” At the other end of the .25-caliber spectrum was the .256 Winchester Magnum, a bastard of a…

The Swahili word for “gun” is bunduki, and the Swahili word for “big” is m’kubwa. Those of us who’ve enjoyed reading the works of writers like Peter Capstick, Ernest Hemingway and Robert Ru-ark have been inspired when reading about big double rifles — or bunduki m’kubwas. While I’ve never hunted with these rifles, I’ve always been interested and came pretty close to buying a William Evans .450/400 several years ago. Recently, I had a chance to shoot a few of these remarkable rifles … and they’re fascinating guns. I own a Whitworth .458 Winchester, but it’s mainly been used on Sunday afternoons when the subject of big rifles comes into the conversation. I get it out, load 500-grain soft-points and pass it around just so folks can say they’ve shot…

The Model 19 Has Come Home LUKE HARTLE As the doors opened to the 147th NRA Annual Meetings in early May, Smith & Wesson raised the velvet curtain to reveal the reintroduction of two configurations of the Model 19 revolver. For the first time in 2 decades, the Model 19 will be available as a catalog item, in both a Classics rendition and a stunning Performance Center Carry Comp version. For more than 40 years, the Model 19 was a top choice for law enforcement use across the country, heavily backed by a strong civilian following. And, according to S&W, they got tired of consumers banging on the door and begging, so they brought the Model 19 back. The Classic While the look and feel of all the S&W Classics…

The Smolt You never hear about a lot of cool, custom handguns because they don’t often appear in a magazine or on the internet. This is partly because there’s lots of competition for page space in both, and partly because the bigger custom shops have an employee dedicated to securing that coverage. These media relations experts make sure gun writers know about what’s new, and that they always have something to write about. Fortunately, I have one of the most talented gunsmiths in the country in my hometown. Jerry Dove of Dove’s Custom Guns has been plying his trade for a long time. He can make a 1911 run like a Swiss watch, is rapidly becoming a premier source for scout rifles, and can tweak the trigger on a lever…

The era of the great American double-barreled shotgun lasted for almost 100 years, from shortly after the Civil War in the late 1860s until the middle of the 20th century. Grand old names like Parker, Fox, Ithaca, Winchester and L.C. Smith topped the list of the better double guns that were made in the United States. Each of these brands had (and has) many advocates, users and collectors. With all the many grades, gauges and options, these are the guns that collector’s dreams are made of. In the early 1900s, the side-by-side was still the standard shotgun in America. But then progress came along and soon the gun companies were developing pump-action and semi-automatic repeaters. Many shotgunners began to prefer the single-barreled gun. One frequently touted reason — perhaps somewhat…

The color grabs you first. Not the matte-black, gel-finished synthetic stock, but the metal. Barrel, receiver and bottom metal wear Cerakote, in flat dark earth that borders on bronze. Barrel flutes and bolt (body, shroud and handle) are black. All told, it’s a fresh, striking look. The oversize bolt knob catches your eye, too. Semi-gloss black and profiled for a perfect cosmetic fit, it’s faster and more positive in operation than Weatherby’s standard knob. And to top it all off, the floorplate wears a distinctive KCR logo that adds to the rugged elegance. What you can’t see also defines the Krieger Custom Rifle. Its hand-laid stock boasts a long alloy bedding block for increased rigidity and more uniform action-stock seating. Last year, Weatherby tweaked the profile of all Mark V…

I knew I had arrived. Dad put a handful of green “punkin’ ball” shells in my coat pocket and told me I could load up when it got daylight. “Stay on this stand, don’t make any noise and don’t shoot if the deer is too far away — about 50 yards is your limit.” He turned and disappeared into the darkness. Long speeches were not the style in those days. Four hours and a dried out turkey sandwich from Thanksgiving dinner later, I stood over my first deer. It was a little fork-horn buck, and I would not have been any more proud if it had been a Boone and Crockett monster. The old Model 37 Ithaca 16-gauge pump gun, the same shotgun we grouse hunted with, and the Remington…