Innehållsförteckning för December 2023 från Gun Digest

Like trucks (or muscle cars), the shinier a gun is, the better she looks. Ain’t no denying that. Regardless of what it’s molded into, polished metal has a way of making a fella’s heart skip a beat. But, also like trucks, guns don’t need to be squeaky clean and spotless to run properly. Too much dirt and debris can certainly cause operating issues, but a little mud on the fenders is a sure sign of a good time. In today’s world of build-it-yourself ARs, modular pistols and at-home gun refinishing kits, we truly live in the clichéd golden area of DIY gunsmithing. Even with minimal patience and two left thumbs, you can accomplish quite a bit with a few tools, a good vise and proper lighting in your basement. I…

Ever be in the middle of an assembly project or reassembling something after cleaning and drop a part? Sir Isaac Newton had no clue regarding the physics of small parts: The smaller and more necessary a part is, the faster it scurries to the darkest corner of your workshop to hide behind a bench leg. I’m convinced when the old neighborhood revives and someone rehabs the building my gunsmithing operation used to be in, they’ll find parts. Lots of ’em. Other times, you’re holding a part up to the light, wondering which one is this one? Let Edge Independent Product Developers help you with that. They make a tray they plan for use as an assembly template for your AR-15. Me, I see it as that and a great aid…

Lever-action rifles have become exceedingly popular in the past few years, but there has been some controversy over the “modernization” of these guns. Several camps exist in the lever-gun world, namely those who see these types of guns as a classic example of Americana that needs no further modification, those who accept the platform as necessary for legality… and those that see it as a blank slate, aesthetic horrors be damned. The cultural status of lever guns makes them difficult to accessorize in a pleasing way, and people are very concerned with making what could be considered the most beautiful type of rifle into an eyesore. However, I think a middle ground can be had considering one of the strongest benefits inherent to the lever gun: suppressors. NOT AS NOVEL…

One of the things that we find very important in the LE Patrol rifle classes is getting rifles to fit officers. While no one would consider for a moment the idea that the standard and only issue shoe should be a size 9, the uniform jacket a 38 Regular and trousers 30L-32W, management blithely assumes that one pistol will fit them all. And one rifle, as well. Well… no. So, in the early days, we saw officers arrive with fixed stocks, and they’d look enviously at the one or two who had telestocks. Now, it’s rare to see a fixed stock, they’re all telestocks. And yet, not all are properly assembled. Or even tightly assembled. The telestock has a buffer tube, a sliding stock with some sort of latch, and…

HISTORICAL NOTES Introduced in 2001 and intended for ranks of riflemen preferring 7mm cartridges, the 7mm WSM is crafted from the instantly popular .300 WSM case, necked down to accept .284-inch-diameter bullets. Also, the 7mm WSM shoulder was lengthened by .038 inch to prevent any possibility of chambering in a .270 WSM rifle. The 7mm WSM is the modern short-action equivalent of the 7mm Remington Magnum, a cartridge that showed untold numbers of hunters just how effective a flat-shooting, highly efficient .284 cartridge could be for North American and large African plains game. SSK Industries also re-barrels the AR-10 self-loading rifle for 7mm WSM. At one point, Winchester and Browning offered several chamberings of their rifles in this round, including the M70 Extreme Weather, Featherweight, and Coyote bolt actions. Browning…

If you look at the most recent cartridge designs, the 60-year-old .300 Winchester Magnum is the antithesis of modern trends. It’s belted, has a neck considerably less than one caliber in length, and it functions in a long-action receiver… yet the engineers moved the shoulder forward to increase case capacity. This last feature certainly allowed more room for powder, but it preclude the use of long, sleek bullets that have proven to give the best downrange results. These new bullets possess ogives so long that they can’t be seated in the .300’s case and still fit in the magazine. Being a derivative of the Holland & Holland case, the .300 Winchester Magnum headspaces on the belt, and that can pose several issues. First, there will be stretching above the belt…

My father served in the Army during the Korean War. He’d been a shooter and hunter prior to that, but it was the military that taught him about firearms preventive maintenance checks and service (PMCS). The Army’s modus operandi of cleaning your gun every time you use it originated much earlier than with my father’s military career in the 1950s, and it’s persisted to this day. Dad passed that lesson to me, and it took a long time for me to outgrow it. If you have the custom of cleaning your gun every time you shoot it, you might consider kicking that habit like I did. GUN CLEANING HISTORY Our first guns were fueled with ammunition loaded with black powder. Black powder is made of sulfur, carbon and potassium nitrate.…

For all the advances in polymers and Hollywood nonsense about plastic guns, metal remains the fundamental building block of firearms. And where there is metal, there are many options for how to treat, finish or coat it. Long past the days of just choosing between bluing or raw stainless steel, we now have a veritable bounty of options. Each has a certain set of characteristics that may make one or another more suitable for your particular needs. Read on to learn more. KEY CHARACTERISTICS TO KEEP IN MIND INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: Hardness, durability and wear resistance: For hard-use weapons, whether for duty or competition, this is often a key consideration. Thousands of presentations from a Kydex holster, thousands of rounds through a barrel—this will take a toll on metal. For…

Tisas of Turkey is known for its affordable 1911 pistols, and SDS Imports has just announced two new models that will soon be available in the United States. Called the 1911A1 Aviator, they feature lightweight aluminum frames and will be available chambered for both 9mm and .45 ACP. Regardless of the caliber selected, Tisas 1911A1 Aviator pistols come with an H-151 Satin Aluminum Cerakote finish on their frames while the slides and smaller components sport an H-146 Black Cerakote finish. Both models also feature 4140 hammer-forged slides and hammer-forged steel barrels that are 4.25 inches long. For some extra flair, the pistols also have the Army Aviation badge engraved on their slides. Other notable features of the 1911A1 Aviator pistols include their GI sights with brass bead inserts, round hammers…

It’s thought that the concept of firing two fast shots to stop a threat, also known as a double tap, was first taught by W.E. Fairbairn and E. S. Sykes, around 1944. The history is important but not as important as the logic behind the concept. Since handguns are notoriously poor at stopping fights, common sense suggests that two hits achieved very quickly are better than one. It should be obvious that two hits will make an attacker bleed more than one hit, and the more an attacker bleeds, the sooner they’re likely to become incapacitated. However, because the effects of bullet wounds are very complex things, it cannot be said with any certainty that two hits are twice as effective. Wounding speculation aside, the delivery of two quick shots…

If you’re going to have guns, you should have some gunsmithing tools. Many of the most useful ones are available in your local hardware store, but others are a bit more specialized. The terms “gunsmith” and “gunsmithing” are often applied to what are more properly called armorer tasks. A gunsmith is a machinist who specializes in firearms. If using a mill or a lathe isn’t a regular part of someone’s duties, they aren’t a gunsmith—they’re an armorer. HERE ARE SOME IMPORTANT THINGS TO CONSIDER: • You are responsible for what you do to your gun. If you Bubba your gun and ruin it, that’s on you.• Leave that which you cannot do, or are uncomfortable doing, to professionals. Know thy skill level, and let those who are more skilled than…

It was so nearly dark as not to matter, and I was frantically waiting on the green light to shoot the enormous tom leopard feeding on bait just 60 yards away. When Tanya Blake uttered, “Take him,” I wasted no time settling the crosshair just behind the cat’s shoulder and broke the trigger. Blinded by the muzzle flash, I heard the bullet strike flesh, and Tanya told me I’d knocked the cat out of the tree, but he’d recovered and trotted away behind the bait, albeit very slowly. Elation mixed with doubt combined for one of the strangest feelings I’ve ever experienced. After the celebration of the fact that we had good blood under the tree, and all the team’s hard work had come together for the opportunity alone, we…

We all like nice things. Luxury cars, posh clothes, fancy cell phones, whatever your vice might be, it’s nice to have the good stuff. But when it comes to rifles, that attitude can get really expensive. And while none of us would turn down a $10,000 Blaser R8, most of us aren’t lining up to pay for one. For the vast majority of hunters, a cheap rifle will put as much meat in the freezer as an expensive one. And these days, those budget rifles even come with scopes. But are they any good? We got a whole pile of them to find out. OUT OF THE BOX & INTO THE WOODS Before we get into individual reviews, let’s talk about some big-picture things. First, don’t make your decision based…