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Lever-Action Tuneup
By Richard Mann
Easy enhancements for an iconic rifle. With all the new bolt-action and AR-style rifles on the market, you might think hunters have forgotten about lever guns. The lever-action rifle is an iconic American firearm. Thousands of hunters still use them. In some situations, the lever gun can be the best option. Following are some enhancements that can ... READ MORE
Duh! It’s the Barrel
By Jon R. Sundra
Factors to consider when buying or rebarreling a hunting gun. Photo: H-S Precision is one of a handful of makers using the traditional hook method of rifling. The process can be done after the barrel is contoured, and it need not be stress relieved afterward. There are many ways to make a rifle more accurate. Bolt lugs can be lapped to evenly distr... READ MORE
Make Your Deer Rifle Work Overtime
By Ron Spomer
Turn your big-game rifle into a jack of all trades with light and heavy loads. Photo: How versatile can a cartridge be? The .260 Rem pushing a tough, deep-penetrating bullet can be deadly on moose and eland. You invest $1,000 in a fancy new deer rifle, $1,000 in a scope and perhaps shoot your rig 10 times a year — three to sight-in, six to pr... READ MORE
Rimfire Glass
By Richard Mann
How much magnification is best for small-game hunting? “Don’t scrimp on a rimfire riflescope; it is likely the scope you’re going to use the most.” That’s good advice from Pat Mundy, markeing communcations manager at Leupold. Mundy says most hunters shoot approximately one box of cartridges in their centerfire rifles e... READ MORE
DIY Cumberland Deerslayer
By J. Wayne Fears
You, too, can put together a special rifle for the area you hunt. Photo: The author’s Cumberland Deerslayer was designed for tough mountain hunting in the Southeast. It was the hike from hell. To get into the mountainous fold of land so the wind would be in my favor required me to go straight up a bluff thick with cedar and limestone boulders... READ MORE
Bear Bait
By Clair Rees
My right leg throbbed with every step as I plowed through the knee-deep snow. Ed Stevenson, my guide, was breaking trail — an exhausting chore we normally shared. I was no longer hunting. All I could think of was reaching the tent and removing the boot from my swollen leg. Randy Brooks and I had arrived in the Alaska bush on the first o... READ MORE
Four-Gun Battery for Life
By Ron Spomer
Choose carefully, and you’ll be equipped to hunt any game anywhere in the world with just a few rifles. So you are a rifle hunter. Welcome to the club. And you’d like to hunt everything all the time? Lucky you. In North America, you could spend a lifetime pursuing a wonderful mixed bag from small rodents through the biggest deer in the ... READ MORE
America’s Most Popular OU
By Nick Sisley
A very high-quality shotgun for the price, the Browning Citori holds up to extensive shooting. The Browning Citori over-and-under shotgun and its predecessor, the Superposed, are forever linked. Without the Superposed, the Citori would never have been born. The Superposed was on the drawing board for several years before it was introduced in 1931. ... READ MORE
Finding the Sweet Spot
By Ron Spomer
The right bullet at the right seating depth can shoot like a house afire. Pardon the personal question, but how deep is your seat? This has nothing to do with furniture or your personal deep-seated convictions. It has everything to do with how accurately your rifles shoot. Bullet seating depth is critical. You probably already know that a particula... READ MORE
Chronograph Reliability
By John Haviland
Many variables can affect velocity readings. Here’s how to set up for best results. Photo: Setting up a chronograph so bullets pass straight and about 6 inches over the top of the photo sensors helps produce precise readings. A chronograph reveals a lot about rifle and pistol cartridges, from velocity to consistency. But how do you know wheth... READ MORE
Classic Styling is Everlasting
By Tom Turpin
Jack O’Connor’s favorite Model 70s are great examples of timeless elegance in rifle design. Photo: Two of the author’s custom rifles based on Model 70 actions. The top rifle wears a stock of New Zealand walnut. The bottom rifle is in Circassian walnut. It makes little difference whether comparing boats, cars, watches or firearms. ... READ MORE
Evolution of the .22
By Ralph M. Lermayer
The .22 rimfire reigns supreme for controlling pests and filling the stew pot. It was conceived as a parlor game, a way for cooped-up people to amuse themselves, by tipping over little targets with a round not powerful enough to do any damage. M. Flobert patented the Bulleted Breech Cap (BB Cap) in 1845. It was simply the existing musket cap with a... READ MORE
Savage’s Lightweight M11
By Ron Spomer
This 5.5-pound rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor handles beautifully and was exceptionally accurate in our tests. Over the last 15 years, Savage has been dead serious about making great rifles — so serious that I’ve wished they’d lighten up. They have. New on dealer’s shelves this year is Savage’s second true lightweight rifle,... READ MORE
The Hunter’s Telescope
By Ron Spomer
There is no magic in a spotting scope; it just looks that way. Photo: Spotting scopes are ideal for open-country hunting, but they also can be used to spy on isolated fields in the east and Midwest, often from miles away. There were nine of us sharing the alpine tundra just below the snow line in Alaska’s gorgeous Chugach Range. It was early ... READ MORE
A Wild Hog Sledgehammer
By J. Wayne Fears
The stout .45-70 cartridge is bad medicine for big pigs. Photo: Winchester recently reintroduced the modern .45-70 Model 1886. It’s a dandy. Few calibers available to the wild hog hunter have a more colorful history than the .45-70 Government. Popular among settlers, buffalo hunters, cowboys, lawmen and others, the cartridge was with Gen. Geo... READ MORE