Feature Articles

This old Smith Model 30 is made on the J frame and is marked 30-1 on the crane. It dates from about 1970 and shows a bit of wear here and there from its 45 year or so life. This Smith belongs to Jon Hodoway and was his grandmothers revolver. He said she kept it in the towel drawer in her kitchen for defense against 2, 4 and no legged varmints.

Looking for an ideal way to blow through a brick of .22 LR? Now that they’re actually brick of rimfire rounds sitting around on store shelves, you might as well. And the Mossberg Blaze-47 is a great way to do it. This rimfire has the nostalgia of the old AK, but and is almost as cheap to run as a 7.62×39.

I’ve had lots of conversations with gun-geeks about barrels and lowers. We can talk triggers until we’re blue in the face. But I’ve yet to anyone truly debate the AR upper. Uppers are just not that sexy. But this is a crucial aluminum shell that holds some of the AR’s most active components. It can’t be overlooked!

The “disposables of life” is what we talk about this week in Prepping 101. It is kind of an icky subject, but these are things that you have to think about in a post collapse world. Nobody can foresee all of the pitfalls of survival, but as the end approaches it is important to tie up the details of things that are unavoidable as potential survival disasters. Dirty is dead in a survival situation. Most of the alternatives we look at this week are affordable, and they work!

This isn’t your average revolver. The Smith & Wesson 647 Varminter is a complete long-range package. What kind of accuracy can you expect from a rimfire handgun? You just might be surprised. Read our review of this unique wheel-gun.

Regardless of the rifle, if magazines exist for it, some of them are terrible. This is hard to believe for AK owners, who have only ever seen their rifle run flawlessly, but there are in fact, AKM magazines of questionable quality and reliability. So how do you distinguish between gold and crap?

Every Day Carry. What’s yours? What gun do you carry everyday? What else? Knives, lights, tools… we’ll be looking at the practicality and functionality. This is the introduction to a series we’re dedication to the here-and-now.

Jacob Epstein, our Tactical Editor, volunteered for a classic pocket dump. He didn’t have much choice–concealed carry is in his job description. So what’s in his pockets? More than guns. Check out what he’s carrying.

When sanctions shut down the import of many AK-47s, many of us began to get a bit twitchy. While the supply of AKs didn’t dry up as some gun-control nuts would have liked, Century ramped up plans for this rifle: the RAS-47. This 7.62 x 39 is made in America and a fine example of the entry level AK. Read our review.