One of the pleasures of writing for and editing firearms periodicals for a living is getting to hear about what the general shooting public (new hunters, recreational shooters, serious handloaders, new gun buyers and so on) thinks about “this” and “that,” even though I’m buried in the office much of the time. Such correspondence is generally sincere, is often enlightening and typically includes honest questions – some of the same ones I probably asked back when I was in my mid-20s. ...Read More >

In spite of being almost 150 years old, the .45-70 Government remains highly useful for many applications that range from hunting to personal defense. It is available in a wide variety of rifle types (even revolvers) that allow it to serve ideally in any practical role. Ammunition is offered from many manufacturers, which further increases its versatility and usefulness. In spite of originating as a military cartridge, it is truly an outstanding sporting cartridge and one of my personal favorites. ...Read More >

As do many readers, I have some nice groups taped to my office walls. For the most part, they were fired during the years when learning precision handloading for Black Powder Cartridge Rifle (BPCR) competitions. There are no poor groups posted. Those targets were discarded; in my case, used for fire starter. I’m sure that’s normal for most of us. Here’s an example: One calm, overcast afternoon, I fired four consecutive five-shot groups at 300 yards with one of my favorite BPCR Silhouette rifles – a Lone Star .40-65 rolling block. The first three groups all hovered around 3 inches, give or take a quarter-inch or so. Those three hung on my office wall for years. The fourth group was over 5 inches so I “disappeared” it. ...Read More >

When considering gunsmithing projects that can be done in the home shop, the installation of scopes is probably the first to come to mind, followed by parts replacement and then stock repairs and refinishing. Near the end of the list will be cleaning, because it is generally not considered gunsmithing, even though a large number of failures to feed, fire and eject can be traced to dirt or brass shavings somewhere in the mechanism. ...Read More >