Feature Articles

The whitetail deer has to be our most popular big game animal in the Continental Forty-Eight, yet the settings in which we hunt them, and the means with which we hunt them has got to be the most diverse ever.  Entire volumes have been written on what makes up the consummate deer gun, and while I’m not going to attempt to define that within this article, I would like to talk about some ideas to optimize your existing deer rifle, or perhaps to choose a different rifle in order to try a different means of deer hunting.

Traveling to hunt is something I feel everyone should do at least once; it represents an adventure that can quickly make a hunter feel years, if not decades, younger. An unseen valley, an exotic species, perhaps the need for a different rifle or cartridge, it all adds a flair to the sport we love so much. Now, depending on where you call home, the destinations I’m about to list may or may not seem like an exotic place to hunt, but here are ten places that I’ve either fallen in love with or plan to in the near future.

There are a lot of options out there for 9mm suppressors, but not all of them are made equal. The SRD 9 kit from Sig Sauer is arguably the best deal going. Today we are going to take a look at why that is and what you should look for when purchasing a suppressor.

What would you think if I asked you about a Benelli M2 with a 25 round capacity? Work of science fiction? Only if micro mini shells have been introduced? Did I smoke rock this morning? Such a thing exists and it’s brought to you by our friends at Roth Concept Innovations (RCI).

Why do I want a sawed-off shotgun, a tiger skin run, and a moonshine still? Mostly because the government tells me I can’t have them. At least not without some serious hoop jumping. After all, anything is an option if the price is right. But for us mortals, we don’t have thousands of dollars and lawyers on call. Good news. Remington has solved one of those problems for us this week. At least in a new gauge, they did.

We’re all guilty, each and every one of us, myself included. We’ll be at a summer barbecue, or sharing a beer at the local pub, or sitting around the campfire, and the cartridge debate will begin. And, once it begins, you’re bound to hear all sorts of boastful claims, insistent arguing points, hand-me-down tales of perfect, flawless performance in the hands of various uncles and grandsires, and all sorts of reasons why any other cartridge than the metallic hero receiving adoration at that moment is a silly, wasteful, childish design. Sometimes you’ll hear – possibly simultaneously if the crowd is large enough and the tongues are loose – that old cartridge should be put out to pasture.

The .22LR is about as American as apple pie and it’s safe to say that no other .22 rifle is as American as the Ruger 10/22. Since the 1960’s, the Ruger 10/22 has been responsible for the countless shot-up cans, the taking of small game, and general fun having then just about any other .22LR made. This is for good reason. Similar to the AR-15, the 10/22 is manufactured in a way that makes it easy to swap out components to go from plinker to tack driver in no time.

There are lots of great companies competing for a slice of the AR-15 market, but it’s sometimes hard to find a rifle that is different. Enter Rock River Arms. I was torn between two rifles: the LAR-15 QMC (Quick Magazine Change) and the LAR-15 BTB (Better Than Basic) Carbine. I couldn’t decide between which one to test, so Rock Rivers graciously sent both.

Precision Rifle Shooting (PRS) has been gaining a lot of ground in recent and with that an increasing interest in precision rifle competitions.  I started shooting precision rifle competitions about 12 years ago and back then, the competitive landscape was different. There weren’t as many matches around as I was getting into it and there certainly weren’t any standardized rules about what was and wasn’t allowed.