Guns

The Remington 700 Ultimate Muzzleloader is unlike any front loader I have had my hands on. The bolt-action front loader is as close to a Remington 700 as you can get, which should open more doors for early season hunters who may have doubts about muzzleloaders. But is it the ultimate, hard hitting, long range early-season hunting gun?

Most coverage of concealed carry guns focuses on thin, polymer framed autos that try to pack increasingly larger rounds into smaller packages. Revolvers are treated as antiquated. But Smith & Wesson hasn’t given up on the wheel gun, and the new M&P Bodyguard with an even more effective Crimson Trace laser is making a compelling case for the old-school five shot.

When Beretta launched the ARX100, we put up a spontaneous review. We had only had the gun for a few hours before press time. So we’re going back and taking another look at the rifle. This time Tom McHale has had more time to really push the gun. How well does Beretta’s new rifle stand up to close scrutiny? Read on…

Roy Weatherby created the Weatherby Mark V action to handle hot loads. To this day, many still consider the Mark V action to be the strongest you can buy. In a world of superlative claims, there’s a lot to back this one up. This Mark V Terramark RC in .300 Weatherby Magnum is a hard hitting round capable of going the distance.

If you move the grip on a pistol closer to the muzzle, you can more easily control muzzle flip. But how do you get the rounds in through the grip, and into the barrel? Boberg has invented a reverse-feed system that does just that. The result is the XR9-S, is like a bullpup pistol. It is blindingly fast and accurate, but the design presents some serious reliability issues. Read on for more.

Some see the M1 Carbine as a antique, a collectable that’s nostalgic at best. They’ve never seen Fulton Armory’s carbines. The Fulton M3 Scout Carbine builds on the M1’s classic design. But don’t mistake this for some historic homage, or a safe queen–Fulton’s M3 is an ideal choice for home defense. And it shoots one clean r.

The Sig P226 Elite SAO has classic Sig internals – not the hinged recoil action and barrel bushing we’re accustomed to seeing in a 1911. Yet it offers the benefits of a constant, light trigger to aid in accurate shooting. Unlike the 1911, it offers a double stack magazine so you get 15 rounds of ammo, plus an extra in the chamber. Oh yeah, and it’s chambered in 9mm.

If you trace the evolution of the modern sniper rifle, it invariably leads you back to the Model 1903 Springfield. It served US forces in World War I, then soldiered on into World War II, through the Korean Conflict, and even appeared here and there in Vietnam. Several versions of the 1903 Springfield were used as sniper rifles, the most common of which was the 1903A4. It first appeared in 1943 and carried a Weaver 330 scope, mounted on a drilled and tapped Redfield base that was created specifically for the gun. The Weaver 330 later turned into the M73, and then the M73B1, and with its 2.2x not waterproof sniper scope, the 1903A4 is today the most classic of all US sniper rifles, but they are expensive, in the thousands of dollars for even a beat up one.

Over the past several years there has been an explosion in shooting competitions based on “as issued” military bolt rifles, or “service rifles.” Thousands of old ’03 Springfields and other bolt action battle rifles have left the confines of the gun safe after decades of non-use and have again become “working rifles.” The problem is, a lot of the shooters involved in these new service rifle competitions are great shooters, but have aging eyesight. Over a certain age, you really need optics to shoot well, but the 1903 Springfield isn’t the easiest gun on which to mount a scope. The receivers are extremely hard on most of them and difficult to drill and tap, and drilling and tapping them is a big decision as well. It is very rare if not impossible to find an ’03 that is all original, but they all have historical value and significance. Most of us out here with the guns are also history nuts and at least quasi-collector/accumulators, and we can’t just decide to drill and tap them for scope mounts so we can shoot them better. That is why, until now, they have largely just sat in the safe.

There’s no denying the feeling of potential instilled by a powerful handgun. And when that gun fits your hand just right, the feeling is even better. The last decade has seen a resurgence in the popularity of the .45 ACP, a round whose reputation has been built by more than a century of proven results, and the guns that fire the round keep getting smaller and better. Here are 5 .45 ACP concealed carry pistols that push the limits of form and function.