Feature Articles

The American-made Charles Daly Honcho looks like a budget-minded 12-gauge bruiser built for tight spaces and rough work. But once the shooting starts, this compact pump reveals a split personality: smoother and better finished than expected, yet still saddled with reliability issues serious enough to kill the deal.

The Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0 is not just another striker-fired 9mm trying to chase the usual names. After range time, carry time, and real instructor use, this pistol proved flat-shooting, reliable, optics-ready, and good enough to make a longtime Glock carrier reach for something else.

The Mauser Karabiner 98k is not some dusty museum prop that only matters to collectors. It is a hard-kicking, history-soaked bolt gun that still shows exactly why the Mauser action became the gold standard for combat rifles and hunting rifles alike.

Sightmark’s Shade 3.5-28×30 thermal scope zeroed fast, grouped tight, and delivered the kind of real-world night-hunting performance that makes a $999.97 price tag look downright dangerous to the competition.

The Vortex Viper Shotgun Enclosed Micro Green Dot is a purpose-built optic that fixes the awkward, too-high feel of many shotgun red dot setups. With its ultra-low mount, enclosed design, and bright 3 MOA green dot, it looks ready to earn a real spot on turkey guns and wingshooting rigs alike.

From samurai roots to the gallows, this is Hideki Tojo’s fanatic rise, failed suicide with an 8mm Nambu, and the wild “Remember Pearl Harbor” denture secret that rode with him to trial.

S&W’s Performance Center Bodyguard 2.0 Carry Comp is a tiny .380 that shoots flatter than it should, carries easier than most, and only needed one fix at the sights.

The Browning BAR Mk II Safari is one of those rifles that can make a bolt-gun loyalist raise an eyebrow after the first shot. It is classy, quick on follow-up shots, and surprisingly gentle in a caliber that still gets real hunting done.

The tax went away, and buyers did not exactly ease into the shallow end. FOIA data shows silencer applications surged hard in early 2026, but the real surprise is that approvals still moved far faster than many shooters feared.