Hunting

When the 1873 came out it was a paradigm shift. A repeating rifle that was as reliable and capable as it was practical. However, it was still a pistol caliber carbine. For real rifle work, you had to go to something like an 1869 Sharps, a Ballard Perfection rifle, or a Remington Rolling Block. That’s what buffalo hunters used. What these long range, big game guns had in common was that they were all single shot firearms. The Winchester Model 1876 changed that forever.

 In simple terms, the laser rangefinder will emit an infrared beam towards a target while another sensor looks for the reflection coming back.  Once the sensor has detected that reflection it calculates the range based on the time it took to get back to the unit and displays it for the user. 

This week, I’ve played with a gun that is way outside the norm. From Chiappa, we are looking at what may be the smallest of the Italian shotguns. Ever. When this gun first came up for review, I had no idea what 9mm Flobert was, so don’t feel bad if you have never heard of it either. It is a very common European cartridge but is almost unheard of here in the U.S.A.

It doesn’t matter if you’re out hunting, on the range practicing, or driving down the highway, when chaos strikes, it strikes fast. One missed step along that ridge, a ricocheting bullet off a steel target, a distracted driver, a slip of a blade, and you can find yourself in a life and death situation. Beyond gun safety, first aid training is more useful than any other training you could attend, though most of us put it a ways down the list of our planned training.

For military and law enforcement the tripod is an essential piece of kit for situations where the shooter has to be up off the ground to gain a vantage point and yet still be stable enough to make an accurate shot.  For precision rifle competition there exists a similar need for a good, sturdy tripod but selecting the right tripod and attachment system can be overwhelming with so many options on the market now.

I have had some people ask me about my preferred setup for terminating whistle pigs, so today I am going to discuss just that.

Improving on initial success, Springfield Armory is introducing a new variation of both models. Now, you have the factory option of the Heavy Operator with an RMR pre-installed, cut deep into the slide. I predict another big win, this is the perfect set up for a 10mm 1911.

Burris recently announced their brand-new Oracle rangefinding bow sight, a one-of-a-kind device that provides both the exact distance to the target and exact point of aim. We got our sweaty little fingers on it at this year’s NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits, and it looks like it could be a game-changer.

SIG has come out swinging in the hunting optics arena this year, with the introduction of the all-new BDX line. The Ballistic Data Exchange, or BDX, is a family of range finders and scopes that work together for fast and accurate shots. Once paired, the rangefinder beams data to the scope, showing a holdover dot for a fail-safe firing solution. The illuminated dot in the scope is bright and unmistakable, and also features SIG’s anti-cant illumination dots on the left and right edges of the scope.