Columns

The best big bore handguns throw heavy bullets hard enough to hunt deer, hogs, and even bears. Chamberings like .44 Magnum, .454 Casull, .460 S&W, and .50 AE turn a handgun into a serious hunting tool or a last-ditch defense gun in big country. We have hunted and shot them. One of our writers dropped [...]

The best Colt revolvers are the modern Snake guns. Colt brought the Cobra back in 2017 and the Python in 2020, then added the King Cobra, the Anaconda, a 10-shot King Cobra in .22 LR, and the Viper. Our writers say the new guns rely on modern machining instead of heavy hand fitting, and the [...]

A suppressed .22 is the most fun you can have with a gun that costs a few cents a shot. The report drops to something closer to a nail gun than a gunshot, the recoil was already nothing, and new shooters stop flinching almost immediately. One of our writers watched a nervous 8-year-old at the [...]

The best semi auto hunting rifles give you something a bolt gun cannot: a fast second shot without taking your eye off the animal. A good autoloader also soaks up recoil through its gas system, so the rifle moves less and you see the hit. That matters on running hogs, on a deer that steps [...]

Coyotes do not care what your rifle cost. They care whether you can put the first round where it needs to go at 250 yards, in wind, after you have been sitting on a cold hillside for 40 minutes trying not to twitch. Everything else is gear-shopping therapy. So this list of the best coyote [...]

“Trying to stop a bad-guy with a nine mm is like trying to stop a charging buffalo with a twenty-two. Might as well use a fly-swatter”.

Such statements were common when I was a kid, and at the time there was some truth to them. Many experienced shooters, veterans, and L.E. officers still preferred the hard-hitting .45 ACP, (Automatic Colt Pistol) to the 9mm with its smaller, lighter and more streamlined projectile.

The best .22LR rifle in 2026 is still the gun that teaches you everything expensive centerfires pretend they invented. Trigger control. Sight picture. Follow-through. Cheap reps until your groups stop lying. Rimfire is where kids learn to hunt, adults stay sharp between seasons, and trainers build habits without burning a second mortgage in brass. If [...]

The best 5.7×28 pistols of 2026 have taken a cartridge that was once a niche curiosity and made it one of the most talked-about rounds in the gun world. The 5.7x28mm was designed by FN in the late Cold War as a personal defense weapon round for troops who needed something lighter than a rifle [...]

Polymer wonder-nines own the gun-counter chatter in 2026, and that is fine until your hands are sweaty, your shirt is wrong, and the slide refuses to cooperate. A best personal defense revolver still solves problems that autos create: no magazine to forget, no slide to rack under stress, and a trigger press that does the [...]