Feature Articles

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. 

Having the right tool for the right job helps eek out the most enjoyment of the sport. When I was invited to go waterfowl shooting, I didn’t want to risk water damage to the wood on my upland shotgun. Falling in the water or being pelted by hours of rain is not uncommon when waterfowl hunting, so I knew I needed a shotgun designed for the wet environment of a waterfowl blind. Enter the Mossberg 930 Pro-Series Waterfowl, a 12 gauge, gas operated semi-automatic shotgun designed to take the abusive environment of waterfowl hunting.

With the Hearing Protection Act being heard on Capitol Hill this week and the introduction of the Maxim50, suppressors are front and center in the shooting community. SIG Sauer has been marketing themselves as the “ total systems provider”, and that is proving more accurate by the day. This week, we finished the hard part of getting a suppressor. The waiting game.

The war in Vietnam saw the introduction of a wide array of new technologies. From smart bombs to night vision and lightweight assault rifles, Vietnam was a proving ground for countless new weapons and the tactics that drove their employment. As a result, flight crews operating Army rotary-wing combat aircraft frequently made up the rules as they went along.