Sporting Notes

This boxlock shotgun by John Graham & Co., of Inverness, is about as plain as a British boxlock can be, and its engraving is minimal, to say the least. But it may owe its continued existence to that little bit of adornment, and it is a good, solid gun.

Aesthetics

Show the average person a Walker Colt—none of which were engraved, most of which were…
Wieland’s old friend, George Calef, in the Yukon in 2008. George was then in his mid-60s, and strolled around with a heavy pack like it was nothing. Those twigs you see sticking out of the pack were firewood to fuel our little ‘ZZ’ stove.

Take the Long Way ‘Round

We’ve posted here several pieces on physical fitness for various types of hunting, with specialized…
The Adolph-Weber single-shot .22 target pistol as displayed in the Rock Island catalogue. Now really, who could resist?

Pistols & Mysteries

The name “Fred Adolph” prompted the vaguest of memories:  A custom gunmaker?  Gunsmith?  What?  As…
Wieland’s favorite page from Donald Dallas’s 2008 masterpiece, The British Sporting gun and Rifle. The shotgun is an Adams-patent Purdey underlever, typical of the superb illustrations that add so much to a book that is already extraordinary.

A Shotgunner’s Essential Library

There’s nothing quite like moving your home, office, gun room, and library to bring home…
Springfield Armory’s M14 (A1). To Wieland’s eye, it is better looking than either its predecessor M1 Garand or its successor, the M16 (AR-15).

The M14. Unsung. Much Loved.

To read John Lachuk’s piece in the 1965 Gun Digest, you’d think the M14 was…
The gun is a W&C Scott Monte Carlo ‘B’.

The Gun Room

The title of this piece might feel familiar to you, and rightly so:  It has…
An avocet, in flight. Illustration by A.M. Hughes.

Bledgrave Hall & After

Say what you will about the internet—and Lord knows, I’ve said enough, not always in…
Holland & Holland ‘Royal,’
Holland & Holland ‘Royal,’ freshly finished, borrowed for the occasion, and not (quite) disgraced.

Dawns & Departures

One frosty morning in December of 1998, I was standing on a hillside in Wales…
Jeremy Koerber demonstrating the one-arm row. Both weight and reps can be increased. No dumbbell? Try a jug of milk or a can of paint. Almost anything will do.

Keeping Up The Good Fight

Much as we might try to minimize it, hunting is essentially a physical activity.  It…
Mannlicher-Schönauer Model 1905, chambered for the 9x56 M-S, is as fine a bolt-action woods carbine as you will find.

Thirty-Five

In many ways, .35-caliber cartridges find themselves in the same situation as 35-year old men: …
The Ruger Blackhawk came along in 1956, chambered in .357 Magnum, and has been with us ever since. The holster is by George Lawrence, from the 1960s.

Everyone’s a Cowboy.  Some More, Some Less.

Thirty years ago, the editor-in-chief of Gray’s Sporting Journal, David Foster, summoned me down to…
Possibly the most spectacular piece of English walnut Wieland’s ever seen, although he prefers the French walnut on the E.M. Reilly, also shown. Some chocolate sundaes are just too rich. Still, a beautiful piece, and no one would ever call it boring.

Stock Synthesis

This week, I had the pleasure of visiting Lee Shaver in his single-shot temple in…