Mike Dickerson

This gun is not cheap, but if you’re looking for a high-quality factory rifle that comes close to being a custom-built gun, the Model 21 may fit the bill.

When Benelli first introduced the rifle in 2019, they got a lot of things right, combining modern features hunters want in a relatively light package that delivers great accuracy.

In keeping with Browning’s penchant for continuously improving the X-Bolt line, that model has now evolved into the new X-Bolt Speed rifle.

With its Super Lite model, Howa has set a new standard for affordable factory rifles weighing less than five pounds.

I had just shot the biggest black bear of my life. Thirty minutes later, I shot an even bigger one.

The author purchased the Girsan MC312 Gobbler as a last-minute replacement before a successful hunt for Rio Grande turkeys and reports that the gun far exceeded his expectations for such an affordable semi-auto shotgun.

If you ask the folks at Browning Firearms which X-Bolt rifle model is the finest built to date, they will likely tell you it is the X-Bolt Mountain Pro. After testing the rifle at the range and in the field, the author completely agrees.

I had an opportunity to use the binoculars for a short time on a prairie dog shoot in Wyoming and came away impressed because the Fusion X binoculars pack a lot of functionality into an affordable package. The binoculars are backed by Bushnell’s transferable lifetime warranty, which translates into a defined life of 20 years for the binoculars and five years for the electronics.

As so often happens when stalking pronghorn antelope, failure comes before success. I was hunting on the vast Crow Reservation in southeast Montana – an area that defines big, open country with little stalking cover – and had already blown one attempt when a previously unseen band of pronghorn materialized and spooked the herd I was stalking.