Column

“Always carry a gun”

I looked in mild surprise at the Border Patrol agent who had just spoken the words. We had been discussing the illegal drug trafficking that occurred on a near-daily basis across the West Texas ranch where I worked.
“Yeah, I usually do … But really?”
“Yes. You just never know.”

For many of us, carrying a concealed handgun includes carrying while spending significant time in the workplace.

In their perfect, all-knowing wisdom, the United States Congress in 1934 limited the legal length of a rifle barrel to no shorter than 16 inches. For barrels under 16 inches, the National Firearms Act requires gun owners to apply for a special license and render unto Uncle Sam a $200 tax stamp. But the Act includes a caveat. Barrels are measured from the breech face to “the furthermost end of the barrel or permanently attached muzzle device.” A barrel can be 14.5 inches long, for example, provided a 1.5-inch muzzle device is also permanently affixed.

When it comes to long-range competition, the automatic assumption is that you need a riflescope that’s equal or greater in cost to most people’s house payment in order to compete. While you can certainly go that route, there’s also a lot to be said about budget-friendly glass that’s still more than qualified to take on the benchmark 1,000-yard shot. A case in point is Nikon’s new Black X1000, a scope engineered from the ground up to tackle the precision rifle game.

Times change, and technology changes along with it. We hunters have an irrefutable connection with the past; we discuss our favorite cartridges — often with opinions based upon the experiences of our forefathers — and we long for the opportunity to recreate those hunts made famous in the hunting literature we adore so much. However, I feel that if our hunting heroes of yesteryear could’ve had the opportunity to use those tools that we now have available, they’d embrace them immediately. And among all the improvements we’ve seen in the last half century, I rate modern bullet development at the top of the list.

Whether you have an old Gen3 Glock or a new Gen5, you should consider putting a new grip on your polymer partner.

Firearms owners who have seen their guns and stored ammunition submerged by flood waters in storm-wracked areas are probably wondering if their firearms and ammunition can be salvaged and safely used.

I don’t usually volunteer the fact that I am carrying concealed, but if the conversation goes there…

The last thing we’re going to discuss in this series is what caliber? And what ammunition? This is probably the most hotly debated topic amongst concealed carriers, and it is sure to draw the ire of at least half of our audience. No one wants to acknowledge that they made a poor choice — or [...]