Innehållsförteckning för July 2018 från Gun Digest

Stopping Power Many organizations, agencies and even individuals have developed theories to rate the effectiveness of defensive handgun ammunition. Most of the results, though they seem definitive in nature, are contradictory. Here’s a brief snapshot of more than 100 years of speculation. “If you don’t think you have time to aim, I doubt you have time to miss.” In 1904, U.S. Army Captain John Thompson and Major Louis LaGarde shot live steers and dead humans to determine which cartridges were most effective. Julian Hatcher, a former Technical Editor at American Rifleman, based his theory of Relative Stopping Power on this study, concluding the .45 ACP twice as effective as a 9mm. In 1975, the National Institute of Justice finalized what they called the Relative Incapacitation Index, which was later updated…

Reloading is such a wonderful hobby; it can be economical, educational and — I dare say — romantic to its own strange degree. The diligent hours put in at the reloading bench seem to be reverted to a simple pile of brass in a fraction of the time while seated at the shooting bench, but once you’ve got the reloading bug and have fallen down the rabbit hole, there’s no turning back. But, things back at reloading bench can get dirty, sometimes filthy, and cleaning your gear is a necessary evil. We need to use lubricants for resizing our brass — doesn’t matter if it’s a graphite lubricant, aerosol or gel — and invariably, that lubricant and little bits of brass will end up everywhere. Shell holders, die bodies, expander…

“… if we’re talking Aspirin accuracy at 50 yards, you’re either going to have to pay for it — or pray for it.” Shooters tend to overlook rimfire rifles. They don’t fit the tactical mantra and they’re not suited for worldwide big game hunting. But, they are the most fun and most affordable firearms to shoot: You don’t need a fancy range or high-tech targets — a backyard and everything from pop cans to Skittles will do. Modern rimfire rifles can be astoundingly accurate. I tested four, priced from $500 to $2500. They varied just as much in style and substance. Depending on whether you want to consistently hit a golf ball, M&M or an Aspirin at 50 yards, you’ll need a different level of precision. I fired a bunch…

Nosler is well-known for its wide selection of bullets, and in 2006, the company introduced the sleek Model 48 bolt-action rifle, in several configurations. It’s chambered for many standard rounds, plus some revolutionary new cartridges from Nosler. While some of these new rounds are more practical than others, all set their own benchmarks within their calibers. We’ll deal with each individually in a moment, but first, a little background. Mike Lake is Nosler’s Senior Manager of Research and Development, and he’s the designer of the family of Nosler cartridges. Lake is a very knowledgeable and a serious ballistics guy, and a lot of thought and planning went into these cartridges. The first new cartridge released was the 26 Nosler in 2013, and nine additional rounds were designed shortly thereafter. All…

We live to shoot. That pretty much sums up being a gun guy or gal. And few things compare to hours smashing clays or pitching rounds down range. Well, maybe one: getting a new gem to add to your gun safe. As luck would have it, we live in an absolute golden age of gun selling and buying. With gun stores, auctions, online retail outfits and gun shows seemingly multiplying by the minute, the gun marketplace arms you with nearly unlimited firepower. But with great power, as they say, comes great responsibility. When it comes to making a deal over a gun, you must take the time to avoid a dud, no matter which end of the transaction you’re on. Just like you’d choose the right rifle and scope to…

“It has now been more than 40 years since these models were in the Colt catalog, which adds to their popularity on the used gun and collector markets.” The classy Colt Woodsman .22 rimfire was one of the most popular pistols in America during the first half of the 20th century. In production from 1915 to 1977, the Colt factory in Hartford turned out more than 600,000 of the various Woodsman models. This total includes the Huntsman, Challenger and Targetsman — economy variations without features like adjustable sights, hold-open actions and thumb rests. Like most guns that were introduced in the early 1900s, the Woodsman required a lot of hand fitting that would make it quite expensive today. Were it not for this, the guns of the Woodsman family probably…

SIG SAUER SIERRA3BDX Arguably the most innovative optic to hit the market since the meridian met reticle dot, the Sierra3BDX looks to make precision shooting all the more precise. Sig’s “smartscope” is capable of calculating holdover, cant and — with the right equipment — windage, all but erasing the margin of error from each and every shot. Working in conjunction with the Sig BDX app on iOS and Android smartphones and Kilo BDX range-finders, the scope delivers accurate real-time shooting data in the form of an illuminated reticle. A shooter simply holds where the scope directs and they are assured the bullet will drop precisely where it needs to go. Unlike boxy and heavy rangefinder scopes of the past, Sig’s beauty is as lightweight as they come — dang near…

I’m often asked by prospective rifle buyers which cartridge to choose for an all-around hunting rifle. It’s a difficult question to answer, because everyone’s bucket list is different, and there are so many good choices on the market today. Some like the traditional, highly popular cartridges, and some prefer to walk a different path — and it’s that variety that makes the decision so interesting. To answer the question properly, we’ll need to identify exactly which species and hunting situations you’ll anticipate the rifle will handle, and then move forward from there. If you’re an avid whitetail deer hunter and that’s your primary focus, the answer could lie in cartridges ranging from 6mm up to the .30 calibers, with many great choices in between. The 6.5mm cartridges are a wonderful…

Like so many things in our modern lives, precision shooting solutions have found their way onto our smartphones. Ballistic calculators or “solvers” have evolved and miniaturized from large computers to handheld devices — and now into smartphone apps. But are the phone apps any good? And if they are, what does the average shooter get from spending money to purchase one and investing the time to learn the systems? The good news is that the cost of a smartphone-based ballistic calculator ranges from free to $29.99. For the average shooter, a free app can considerably improve his or her ability to accurately engage targets and, more importantly, learn the consistency and limitations of a rifle and load combination. And because none of them are overly expensive, you can download several…

Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson developed the first successful .22 round in 1857, after trying to adopt Flobert’s cartridge to the petulant Hunt-Jennings lever-action rifle that would sire the Henry. Smith & Wesson’s rimfire, essentially the .22 Short, was made then much as it is now. A thin sheet-metal disc was drawn into a tube with a closed end, a rim “bumped” onto that end and the fold filled with fulminate of mercury. The fulminate exploded when hammer or striker crushed the rim against the barrel. Smith & Wesson fueled their .22 cartridge with 4 grains of black powder and chambered a revolver for it. Flobert’s round became the BB (Bullet Breech) Cap, its 16-grain bullet at 750 fps ideal for indoor target fun. The CB (Conical Bullet) Cap, circa…

This debate between milliradians (mils) and (minute of angle) MOA is never going to end, but we should at least agree on the facts right out of the gate. Every day we see the uninformed arguments about how one angular unit of measurement is better than the other. The truth of the matter is, one is not better — they’re simply different ways of breaking down the same exact thing. Personally, outside of disciplines like benchrest shooting and F Class, I think minutes of angle should be retired. We have bastardized the unit to the point that people have no idea that a true MOA is not equal to 1 inch at 100 yards or 10 inches at 1000 — but 1.047 inches and 10.47 inches, respectively. If you round…

Choosing ammunition for your AR is as important as every other gear consideration. You have to feed the machine in order for it to function properly — and “properly” starts with reliability. Accuracy, which becomes more critical as distance increases, is another consideration. For defeating a violent attacker, the round has to stop the threat as efficiently as possible. And let’s face it: The AR fires a small round, and the smaller the round, the more critical ammunition becomes. Loading For Reliability Choosing ammo starts with identifying how your AR-15 is configured. Start by determining what chamber your AR has. There are three type chambers you’ll come across — discounting aftermarket variations like the .300, 6.8 and 7.62 versions. AR-15s come with a .223 Rem. chamber, a 5.56 NATO chamber…

Barely an hour into SHOT Show 2017, we got the news that the U.S. Army had selected the Sig P320 as the winner of the Modular Handgun System Contract and would become the newly issued handgun for the U.S. Army. I wasn’t surprised. It’s my opinion that the Sig P320 is the definition of “the modular handgun system.” With the P320 system, you can change calibers between 9mm, .40 S&W and .357 Sig using Caliber X-Change Kits. Shooters can also change barrel and slide lengths, as well as grip and magazine capacities, with the Caliber X-Change Kits. The modularity also extends to grip circumference with small, medium and large grip sizes. In not so many words, the P320 system is one of the most versatile pistol systems I’ve ever encountered.…

“The Saphire’s receiver is machined from aluminum; the bolt locks up with the barrel, and barrels can be switched, making it a different cat entirely.” The Italian gunmaker Sabatti isn’t the first name that comes to mind whenever the subject of rifles is mentioned. In fact, Italy isn’t generally associated with rifle manufacturing in the minds of America’s hunters and shooters. Beautiful shotguns, yes — over/unders, side-by-sides and semi-autos. But not rifles. In fact, a little-known rifle called the Rover was introduced in Europe by Sabatti in 1987, and it had the distinction of being the first bolt-action centerfire rifle to be completely designed and manufactured in Italy — 1987! Yet this same company has come up with an exciting new rifle they call the Saphire, and it’s the first…