Featured Stories

Guns West! click here
Phil Schreier—A new exhibit at the National Firearms Museum features guns from Jesse James and Buffalo Bill, as well as arms from the Hollywood West—like John Wayne’s ’92 Winchester from “Stagecoach.”

On The Cutting Edge Of Tradition: The 2008 Golden Bullseye Awards click here Brian C. Sheetz—We survey the past year’s best new rifles, shotguns, handguns, optics, ammunition and accessories to determine the winners of NRA Publications’ highest honor: the Golden Bullseye Awards.

Also in AR magazine this month

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	X-Bolt: A Radical In The Family Mark A. Keefe, IV—The new X-Bolt rifle is an innovative and practical design that turns the A-Bolt into an instant classic and sets the standard for Browning bolt-actions for years to come.
	Smith’s Big M&P: The Military & Police .45 ACP Wiley Clapp—The S&W Military & Police pistol is now available in .45 ACP. Not much larger than the firm’s 9 mm M&P, this 10-round-capacity .45 has excellent ergonomics and is a tribute to Smith’s talented engineers.
	The School Of The M1911 Eric R. Poole—Cylinder & Slide’s custom M1911 gunsmithing school is considered one of the best educations of its kind. Whether you want to build your own pistol or set up shop, it pays to get into the right school.
	Wreaking Havoc One Round At A Time John L. Plaster—During the Vietnam War a top-secret program caused the Viet Cong and NVA to doubt the safety of their guns and ammunition. This is the story of Project Eldest Son by one of the soldiers who carried it out.

Special Reports and Official News

	NRA's Derby Run click here By NRA Staff—Every spring the NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits make us proud to be NRA members fighting in freedom’s cause. With our Second Amendment rights on the line in the 2008 elections, it’s critically important that leading NRA members join us to send a message to politicians in every corner of the country—we are ready and able to defeat gun banners and elect pro-Second Amendment candidates in this election. Your presence in Louisville will help send that message loud and clear.
	No Ammo Means No Shooting click here By Chris W. Cox—In practical terms, ammunition bans are gun bans, and that’s exactly what anti-gun politicians hope to achieve with the introduction of bills banning the sale and possession of ammunition.
	The Second Amendment Showdown click here By Frank Miniter—The U.S. Supreme Court heard District of Columbia v. Heller, a Second Amendment case that will likely decide whether you have an individual right to bear arms. Here’s what happened.

President's Column | Standing Guard | Armed Citizen | Regional Report

Dope Bag

The American Rifleman has used the phrase "Dope Bag" since at least 1921, when Col. Townsend Whelen first titled his column with it. Even then, it had been in use for years, referring to a sack used by target shooters to hold ammunition and accessories on the firing line. "Sight dope" also was a traditional marksman's term for sight-adjustment information, while judging wind speed and direction was called "doping the wind."

MicroTech STG-556 Rifle
Caldwell Lead Sled DFT

The Editor

Mark A. Keefe, IV was appointed editor of American Rifleman magazine in 2000, and was promoted to editor in chief of American Rifleman, americanrifleman.org and "American Rifleman Television" in 2003. He started out as a volunteer at the National Firearms Museum in 1988 and became a curatorial assistant there in 1990. He joined the American Rifleman staff in 1991 as an assistant technical editor. An NRA Life member, Keefe is a shooter, hunter and gun collector, specializing in British Lee-Enfield rifles. An Eagle Scout, Keefe taught rifle shooting, shotgun shooting and archery at Goshen Scout Camps while in college, becoming an NRA Certified Instructor in Rifle, Shotgun, Muzzleloading Rifle and Muzzleloading Shotgun. Keefe earned a bachelor of arts in History from the University of Maryland in 1989.

Keefe has written hundreds of bylined and non-bylined articles on virtually every facet of the shooting sports, ranging from firearms reviews to legislative issues. In 2003, he was awarded the Man-At-Arms Cup for "outstanding service in the field of arms and armour" for making American Rifleman, once again, an important reference for arms collectors. An avid waterfowler, upland bird hunter, varminter and deer hunter, Keefe has hunted all over the continental United States, Africa, Alaska and Canada. In 2002, Keefe created the format for "American Rifleman Television" and currently directs and supervises its editorial content.

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