Featured

"Hare with Flask and Game Bag," Chardin (1728–30), Louvre, Paris
Hare with Flask and Game Bag, Chardin (1728–30), Louvre, Paris

Jean Siméon Chardin – Who He Is Not

Picture in your mind the artwork you associate with the Château de Versailles during the…
ithaca e
This Flues-model Ithaca 4E trap gun was a mess when Edy received it, and a lovely article when he returned it to Dick Stephens a year or so later.

Edwin von Atzigen, RIP

The name “von Atzigen” is not familiar to most, but in my opinion it should…
Granite Mountain .505 and Blaser R8 chambered for the equally fearsome .500 Jeffery. Both have short, heavy barrels — the Blaser’s is 24 inches, but it saves length on the action — which are exactly what the doctor ordered for such bruisers. They weigh an identical 10.4 pounds.

Weight a Minute

What follows was triggered (so to speak) by my learning that the Army’s new rifle,…
Edward Curtis’s famous portrait of Chief Joseph, from Timothy Egan’s "Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher."

On the Road

I don’t necessarily like it.  I really don’t.  But one of the pleasures of finding…
People who participate in grouse trials are, much like their dogs, a special breed.

Bells in the Forest

Last April, I was invited by my friend Jeff (yes, I know him through the…
Ken Carlson, Polar Bear
"Polar Bear" — Ken Carlson

The Making of a Ken Carlson Painting

For a sick boy stuck in bed for a year recovering from rheumatic fever, the…
Volumes that should be found on every outdoorsman’s bookshelf. And in case you’re wondering, I have never found a single female who enjoyed reading Jack London. No idea why. Maude Brewster, the heroine of The Sea-Wolf, is eminently admirable.

Perfection Revisited

Beginning with my sojourn in high school, which was never yesterday, as Robert Ruark would…
roosterfish
Roosterfish, Nematisius pectoralis

Fly Editor

It’s one of those days you return to your room not bummed but frustrated, certain…
Student and instructor at the Holland & Holland shooting ground near London. The instructor wears ear muffs, because he is around shooting all the time. The student is using plugs because many young people find it difficult to wear large muffs. The people at Holland & Holland, sticklers for safety, feel the plugs are sufficient under the circumstances. The best combination: High quality muffs (with or without an electronic sound-enhancing system) and soft rubber “finned” plugs properly (i.e., deeply) inserted. Absolutely essential for shooting indoors or with heavy rifles, handguns, or anything with a muzzle brake.

Turning a Deaf Ear

 A gunsmith friend of mine who specializes in tactical and competition rifles says that applications…
An Amethyst Hummingbird with a White Orchid, by Martin Johnson Heade

I Went to the Cummer Museum of Art in Jacksonville

This wasn’t the first time I’ve traveled far to see a painting—only to discover, when…
Warren Page’s Mashburn custom rifles were auctioned by his widow, Martha, at the sixth GameCoin convention in San Antonio in 1977. All three were purchased by Arthur McGreevy, shown with Page’s Mannlicher-stocked bear rifle.

O’Connor versus Page; the Clash of the Gun-Writing Titans

The greatest rivalry in the odd world of gun writing was between Warren Page of…
tsetse fly
The tsetse fly, a.k.a. glossina palpalis, a.k.a., Africa’s finest game warden. This one a female, although she does not look very feminine. Or maybe she does. They’re not quite this big in real life, but they feel like it.

The Worst Bug in the World

I’m willing to bet everyone who reads this post that they can’t recollect a bug…