In my favorite J.M. Pyne story, The Madman of Gaylords Corner, author Lucian Cary arms his fictional protagonist with a .25-caliber single-shot rifle. When it’s noted that no company made such a rifle in the 1880s, Pyne replies that he made it himself. ...Read More >

As a young boy, I was exposed to the virtues of the 264 Winchester Magnum when dad allowed friends of movie actor Lorne Greene to hunt our ranch for deer and antelope. Dad was busy running the sprawling ranch and assigned me to guide them to the areas where they could take their game. A task I was elated to do! I was impressed by the huge ball of fire at the muzzle and while my understanding of ballistics was very limited, I knew that fire breathing dragon of a cartridge was fast. Period listed velocities rated 100-grain bullets around 3,700 feet per second (fps), gave a laser-like trajectory and anchored deer and antelope reliably. ...Read More >

Perhaps, like me, you enjoy picking up an old gun magazine from thirty, fifty or a hundred years ago and seeing what was important, what was attractive to shooters of another era. Sure, there’s a bit of wistful fascination in seeing new rifles in old magazines advertised for $31.99 or new revolvers selling for $17.95, but we forget for a moment that back in whatever day, thirty bucks was a week’s pay. Still, it’s entertaining to dream about taking a couple of hundred inflated 2026 dollars back to 1926 to buy a handful of new Colts or Winchesters, or back to 1986 to buy a crate of military surplus Swedish Mausers, with some paycheck left over. ...Read More >

The years directly following World War II saw a large increase in both shooting sports and just informal plinking. Every weekend, the local gun club rifle and pistol ranges saw dozens of folks shooting all types of arms, including many big-bore hunting rifles. This seemed strange as my part of rural Illinois was noticeably lacking in elk, moose and grizzly bears. Here was my first encounter with what are now expensive “classics” but were then just old guns. ...Read More >