Mike Dickerson

You can do many things, ranging from simple and cheap to costly and complex, to make a rifle more accurate. You may be able to do some jobs yourself with the proper expertise, tools, and machinery, but some are best left to a competent gunsmith.

“To approach the badlands,” wrote author Robert Kroetsch, “is to find a gap in the known and expected world.” That statement could easily apply to one of the newest Weatherby Vanguard rifles. It is named, appropriately enough, the Vanguard Badlands.

The Ultralight Hunter was designed for hunting, but the author believes the rifle would be equally adept in a home-defense role loaded with the right 300 HAM’R ammunition.

After testing one of these new riflescopes, which are built with the rugged durability you would expect from a company that has spent decades developing optics for the U.S. armed forces, I believe Trijicon has hit the sweet spot in balancing quality and price.

You would expect to get a lot of rifle for anything wearing this price tag, and with this gun, you will. Here’s a closer look at what makes this rifle worthy of its price.

When the Mauser M18 rifle was first introduced last year, reactions were predictably split. Some hunters immediately rushed out to buy one while some of the more stodgy types among us declared, “That’s not a Mauser – it’s a push feed!”

Unboxing the test rifle, it was clear at a glance that the First Lite is not Roy Weatherby’s Mark V of yesteryear. The Mark V line got something of a makeover in the last few years, and the result is an updated take on an iconic and distinctly American rifle design.

Spanish steel. For those with more than a passing acquaintance with history, those words conjure up images of flashing swords, booming muskets and roaring cannons from an era of exploration, conquest, and piracy. For today’s shooters and hunters, those words are more likely to call to mind a brand that takes its name, Bergara, from a town in the gun-making Basque Country in the north of Spain.

The newest version of the Hunter rifle, made to support a non-profit veterans’ support group, combines great looks, light weight and an affordable price.