Firearms

Consider a Boyds Pro Varmint as a replacement for the Mossberg Patriot Predator Stock as a modular solution for shooting from a prone position.

Within an hour of my first hunt, we saw four coyotes and killed one. And we did it in the rain. Was that just luck? Hardly.

I rose from my blind, Stoeger 3500 semi-auto shotgun pressed to my shoulder. In seconds, I’d fired off my three shells and was sure I’d missed everything.

Ever since we learned about the new 224 Valkyrie round from Federal and its alleged performance, the questions have been fast and furious. But how does this perform out of a 16 or 18-inch barrel?

A couple of months earlier, Jones and I were on the phone talking about two of our favorite things–hunting and shooting. Jones told me about a friend with a ranch located in the Texas Hill Country north of San Antonio, and the guy was having problems with hogs and had given Jones an open invitation to come out and kill as many as he wanted.

In 1945, Roy Weatherby introduced three cartridges that became synonymous with speed. That has always been Weatherby’s calling card: high velocity equals flat trajectory, and they’ve stuck with that concept.

This week, we got a chance to look at a Savage 10 GRS, which boasts a Berserk stock, suppressor-ready barrel and runs off Magpul AICS style magazines.

But, why I really love shotguns is because they are so versatile. Seriously, if you can find me any other gun that you can shoot a quail with at 15 yards and also shoot a whitetail with at 150, I will be very impressed. Not to mention all the different gauges, styles and brands.

I love to look at Professional Hunter’s firearms; they show the rigors of day-to-day hunting life and are often beat nearly to death. While we all have our safe queens, I appreciate those beat up, well-hunted guns that invariably have a story to tell, be it that one shot that even surprised the owner, of those hair-raising tales of dangerous game at close quarters.