Rifle May-June 2026

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 >

While the firearm industry’s very best riflescopes are a thing of wonder, it does occasionally occur to me while conducting these reviews (with optics on loan) that I could no sooner afford to purchase most of them than buy a second home with lakefront property. Just like everything else, high-end optics have become alarmingly expensive in the times we live in. Like with new trucks, much of this cost comes from advanced features and the latest technologies –particularly in relation to scopes designed to feed the long-range craze. ...Read More >

The holidays are over, spring has sprung, and it’s time to blow the dust off our guns and get outside for some shooting. There’s no better way to ease into your shooting activities than by pulling out some bulk 22 Long Rifle (LR) rimfire ammunition, a favorite shooter, or two, to re-acclimate yourself to shooting basics. Shooting .22’s is a fun and economical way of relieving our itchy trigger fingers. ...Read More >

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 >

After 15 years writing for Rifle magazine, our mission has expanded to include handguns. This is welcome because my interest in revolvers, semiautomatics, target and dueling pistols is at least equal to rifles and shotguns. ...Read More >

I live in an area rich in firearms tradition. Jack O’Connor, Outdoor Life’s Hunting Editor for years, once lived down the road in Lewiston, Idaho. Lewiston is also home to CCI and Speer, as well as Freedom Munitions, Hells Canyon Armory, Rocky Mountain Reloading and Chipmunk Rifles/Rogue Rifle Co. Three top-tier optics brands are assembled in my hometown of Orofino. In the world of custom-grade firearms, Lewiston’s Seekins Precision firearms and scope-mounting systems stand with the very best. ...Read More >

A gun in each hand and the reins in his teeth. By 1863, the partisan rangers, called the Bushwhackers, riding with William Quantrill or “Bloody Bill” Anderson, counted themselves equal to three union men each. It was not uncommon for five Bushwhackers to scatter twenty Federals like quail. ...Read More >

Buying 11,000 scopes was a start,” James Brion told me. “I learned how they were built, how to take them apart, fix them, install new lenses and reticles. I got tooling to fog-proof them.” Then he began selling scopes. Well, not all scopes. ...Read More >

If there was ever a firearm that typified Americana, it is the lever-action rifle. Many consider the Henry, first manufactured in 1860, to be the first workable lever-operated repeating rifle. Its limited use in the American Civil War elevated it to legendary status, grudgingly described by Confederates as the gun that was loaded on Sunday and fired all week. ...Read More >

As I write these words on December 29, 2025, it has been 70 years to the day that the first Smith & Wesson 44 Magnum (pre-Model 29) sixgun shipped to the president of Remington Arms Company. While history was made that day, the cartridges, events and people that led up to the development of the 44 Magnum are remarkable, historical stories in their own right. ...Read More >