Innehållsförteckning för January 2026 från Gun Digest

Everything cycles … and I mean absolutely everything. As a hunter, the most obvious examples of this generally come in the form of population numbers of game and bird species. Ruffed grouse numbers rise and fall in roughly a 10-year cycle. Wolf numbers increase and moose numbers decrease, until the pendulum swings back the other way … and it always does. Always. The same things happen with humans annually (ever think about why you’re so much hungrier in the fall?) and generationally (recent headlines highlight the declining birth rate). Everything cycles, and that includes guns—both figuratively and literally. C’mon, that was a little funny. But it is true. For so long, so many gun and ammo manufacturers have strived to push the biggest bullet possible as fast and as flat…

01 Henry Repeating Arms Mini Bolt Youth G2 Rifle Henry’s Mini Bolt Youth G2 upgrades the classic single-shot .22 bolt-action for young shooters. The main improvement is an integrated feed ramp for smoother, easier loading. Weighing just 3.25 pounds, it features a stainless-steel barrel and receiver, both built for durability in camp and youth programs. The fiber-optic sights encourage confident shooting, while dual safeties—manual thumb safety and exposed cocking knob—aid in teaching responsible handling. The G2 is available in black or Muddy Girl camo, making it a strong choice for a first rifle. MSRP: $335 02 Beretta AX800 Suprema When the air gets crisp and quacky, Beretta has just the tool. The Italian firearms juggernaut recently released its AX800 Suprema, a 12-gauge that is certain to become an icon among…

Many readers of these esteemed pages had their first shooting experience with a .22 LR rifle, likely as a mere lad or lass fresh out of kindergarten … and some perhaps even earlier. The humble .22 LR is a staple of American life and is often the foundational element of one’s introduction to the shooting sports, be it hunting, target shooting, collecting or just an interest in the fascinating machines that this title is dedicated to. There is very little that can’t be done with a .22 and, for a huge number of shooters out there, the 10/22 is synonymous with the cartridge. The 10/22 market is growing exponentially in our current day and is reaching incredible heights. Now is the best time ever to own this type of rifle,…

There’s a cartoon floating around online called “The Invention of Archery.” Three guys are standing beside each other. The first guy says, I really wanna stab that guy, but he’s way over there. Firearms were likely dreamt up along the same lines. Someone hit upon the idea that blackpowder stuffed down a tube, topped with a projectile, and touched off with fire, did spectacular damage downrange. Man, I want to knock that castle down, but it’s way over there. In Europe, cannons showed up in Italy around 1320. For the next 200 years, firearms were essentially hand cannons—short, stout barrels loaded with blackpowder, then packed with rocks, pebbles, and sometimes arrows. You jabbed a hole in the barrel’s top or side with a smoldering stick or hot iron. Firing it…

HISTORICAL NOTES The .25 Remington is one of a series of rimless cartridges developed for the Remington Model 8 Autoloading rifle, and then later used in other Remington rifles. It was introduced in 1906. The Remington Model 14 pump action, Model 30 bolt action and Stevens Model 425 lever action also used the .25 Remington. No rifles have chambered this cartridge since 1942, and the ammunition companies stopped loading it about 1950. Buffalo Arms offers loaded ammunition for this round (AMO-25REM). GENERAL COMMENTS The .25 Remington is nothing more than a rimless version of the .25-35, but it differs slightly in shape. The two are not interchangeable. Since the Remington line of rifles, particularly the Model 30 bolt action, would stand higher pressures than the lever action, it is possible…

I still remember the early days of installing an AR-15 barrel. Trying to clamp everything without crushing anything was a major undertaking. That problem was solved long ago, but Otis, as expected, has some improvements. The Pro+ A15 Uplock is something you need if you plan on installing or replacing a barrel. It’s a reaction rod, a simple bar to hold the barrel in place. A quick look: The front is lugged to match the locking lug slots on the barrel extension. Behind that is a bronze bushing with a roll pin stop. At the back, it’s machined with flats, so you can clamp it in the vise. To use it, simply clamp the rod on your vise, the bigger and stronger the better. Your bench should be big and…

The 10mm Automatic cartridge has had an up-and-down history. With support from former Marine, gun writer and Gunsite Academy founder Jeff Cooper, Norma introduced the 10mm Automatic cartridge in 1983. Designed for a pistol and loaded to 37,500 psi, it can push a 200-grain bullet to 1,200 fps out of a 5-inch barrel. With adoption by the FBI near the end of the 1980s, it quickly established a good following, especially in Colt’s 1911 Delta Elite pistol. However, with the almost wholesale transition to the .40 S&W cartridge—the “40 Short and Weak”—shortly thereafter, interest in the 10mm began to wane, and I seriously doubt anyone back in the 1990s thought we would ever see a lever gun chambered in 10mm. But then something else happened. In 2015, the FBI went…

Now that the 6.5 Creedmoor has supplanted the venerable 308 in terms of sales, particularly with regards to new rifles, there’s been an uptick in interest in other calibers based on the parent design. Once it’s necked down, the otherwise mildmannered Creed takes on a bit of a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality, changing from a ho-hum, jorts-and-New-Balance, reliable-but-dull persona into a fire-breathing nutter. Optimized for heavier bullet weights, the .22 Creedmoor had some teething problems due to operating at the outer limits of current bullet designs. Tales of 90-grain projectiles coming apart as they were spun at eye-watering rates were pretty common. Today, barrel manufacturers have switched to a slightly larger bore diameter, so as not to stress the bullet quite as badly, and as a result they can be counted on…

I’ll be the first to admit that factory ammunition manufactured today is the best it has ever been, and that the choice of projectiles is wider than ever, but I still have a sense of pride when using my handloads. Whether I’m using a unique projectile in a common cartridge or feeding a rifle or handgun chambered for an obsolete cartridge, handloading the unique is just plain cool. And while loading a good old Nosler Partition in your .30-06 is surely sensible, sometimes it’s just plain fun to be the one using a bullet that can’t be bought in loaded ammunition. Here are some of my favorite projectiles for those looking for a unique experience. PEREGRINE BULLETS Hailing from South Africa and imported to the United States by Discreet Ballistics,…