The Budget Bolt-Action Revolution

I've been doing this stuff for a long time, and I've been a gun fanatic since I was a kid. With a lifetime's accumulation, it shouldn't be surprising that I have a couple of nice rifles or that, as a lefty, I have a weakness for left-handed rifles. Not too long ago, I picked up a lovely rifle made by my old friend Joe Balickie, now retired. It's a slim, trim .270 on a left-hand Carl Gustav action, with awesome walnut and a steel buttplate with trap; it shoots really well. Read More

Smooth Operating Smith & Wesson Equalizer

Level the playing field with our best-performing micro-compact to date. Next-gen EZ technology, low recoil impulse, and versatile magazine capacity all in a compact footprint make the EQUALIZER™ an ultimate CCW. Read More

Review: Mantis Blackbeard X Training System

Hours and hours of dry-fire practice are most likely in your future if you're looking to master your defensive firearm of choice. Dry-fire practice lets you get used to the feel of the gun in your hand and how to combine a trigger press with your grip so the sights are moving as you pull the trigger to the rear. Dry-fire practice also helps you practice reloads, target transitions and many other critical defensive firearm skills. Read More

Bond Arms New for 2023 Pistols

Bond Arms of Granbury, Texas, is continuing to grow its line up of stainless steel break-action pistols with a fresh batch of new models for 2023. In a previous post, we touched on the gun's origin, its evolution and the caliber convertible, dual-frame size pistol series it is today. This year marks the return of a much-loved rimfire cartridge to the company's caliber options, trimmed down variations of the Stinger RS frame, additional Stinger RS configurations and a brand new single-shot chambered for a big-bore rifle cartridge. Read More

New-Cartridge Trend Shows No Signs Of Slowing Down

The pace of new cartridge introductions from major manufacturers has increased dramatically in the past five years, and the trend shows little signs of slowing. Even this partial list of those standardized and approved by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI) demonstrates the age of rapid development enjoyed by today's enthusiasts. Read More

Wyoming Hunters Take a Step Back to Support Wildlife

The "Let a Deer Walk" program was founded to incentivize hunters to band together and take the 2023 season off in Wyoming in order to give the herd a chance to recover. Read More

Popular Rifling Types: Advantages & Disadvantages

Rifling takes the form of one or more lands and grooves of differing widths, profiles, arrangements and twist (turn) rates. The spiral depressions in the bore surface between the lands are called the grooves; the lands are projections on the bore surface between the grooves. Read More

New For 2023: Marlin Model 336 Classic

The resurrected Marlin Firearms company, now under the umbrella of Sturm, Ruger & Co., brought back its first product to the market with the re-introduction of the classic lever-action 1895 in late 2021. This year, Marlin will be re-introducing two more iconic lever actions designs—the 1894 and the Model 336. Read More

A Disarmed Army?

With a bias that conveniently removes the culpability and failures of the federal bureaucracy to help our soldiers and veterans, an "expert" panel recently wrote a report for the Department of Defense (DoD) entitled "Preventing Suicide in the U.S. Military: Recommendations from the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee." The report recommends that the federal government put in place various gun-control measures for our armed forces under the guise of suicide prevention. Read More

Tested: Henry Lever-Action Magnum Express

Contributor B. Gil Horman tests out a magnum-chambered rimfire varmint slayer from Henry, as sure to impress in the field as it is on the range. Read More

Guns in 42 Percent of Homes With More Female Owners than Ever

More than 106 million American adults have at least one firearm in their home, according to a survey conducted in January and February by Responsive Management at the request of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The figure indicates 42 percent of citizens 18 years of age or older have a firearm in their residence. More than 32 percent of the respondents personally own at least one gun. Read More

Turkey Cycles: How to Hunt Every Stage of the Season

Mike Roux has spent long enough in the turkey woods to know spring comes in four specific cycles. Here's how to hunt each and every one. Read More

Memories of S&W's Magnificent K-Frame Revolver

It wouldn't be much of a chore to prove that Smith & Wesson's K-frame revolvers have been the most produced handgun in the last 125 years. All K-frame means is that it's the company's designation for its medium-frame revolvers. If you count the whole family of K-frames, something north of 6 million guns have been produced—possibly as high as 8 to 10 million. Read More

Deciphering The Language Of The Revised ATF Form 4473

If you haven't recently purchased a firearm from a federally licensed (FFL) dealer or gun store, you will discover two new questions on ATF Form 4473, revised in December 2022 and replacing the old Form 4473 as of April this year. The language of the two questions baffle many first-time users of the revised Form 4473, both in meaning and purpose. Here's a common-English explanation of the new form. Read More

How Bad Is It ... Not to Clean My Gun After Every Outing?

First, any gun that's been out in the rain or snow should be thoroughly cleaned and lightly lubricated inside and out at the end of the day to avoid moisture-related problems. If conditions were good, you should still wipe down the metal exterior parts of any gun after you've shot it or even handled it, because this protects the metal from the acid in your fingerprint oils, among other substances that can damage the metal over time. Read More

Cleaning Kit Roundup

Keeping your firearms in top shape is essential for their longevity and performance. However, cleaning them can be a time-consuming and tedious task. This is where the right cleaning products come in. Let's look at four top cleaning products from Hoppe's, Otis, Breakthrough Clean Technologies, and Radcolube that can make cleaning your firearms a breeze. Read More

Ammo and Guns as Investments?

Shooting Illustrated readers can take some comfort in the fact that during this shaky economy with an increasing number of bank failures, their firearm collection and ammunition does not rely on an under-funded FDIC to maintain its value. The financial turbulence, however, has resulted in at least one company launch a new investment strategy aimed directly at gun owners. Read More

The Ridgeway 'Frankenspencer:' A Lesson NOT Too Late For The Learning

During the folk music revival of the 1960s, the American singer-songwriter Tom Paxton penned the line, "It's a lesson too late for the learning," in one of his greatest hit songs, The Last Thing On My Mind. Hopefully, the following saga will be a lesson that is, indeed, not too late to learn by collectors of antique and vintage arms, and may help them "not to do as I have done" (another bow to the 1960s music scene) when working on old guns. Read More