shooting

Meopta 8x56 MeoPro HD Plus. At roughly $800, this Czech-made glass is inexpensive by today’s standards, yet delivers performance that far out-classes what we considered the best of the best a few years ago.

Crystal Clarity

It seems like the Dark Ages now—that long-ago period when you could name the good…
Oklahoma City gun collector and double-rifle expert Johnny McCharen. He owned the W.J. Jeffery, and considered it the finest double he’d ever seen.

The Finest Double Rifle

Rock Island’s spring premier auction is coming up this month (May 19-21, 2023) and there…
Both plugs and muffs are required for full protection shooting rifles indoors, but for shotguns muffs are rather inconvenient. The small plugs work well in conjuction with muffs, but for plugs alone, the large soft rubber plugs (right) can block out almost all noise. When shooting a shotgun, this helps considerably.

One More Admission

The subject of flinching is delicate, to say the least.  There are all sorts of…
The Winchester Model 12 is an object almost of worship among a certain slice of American shotgunners, and it deserves the respect it gets. Wieland doesn’t shoot them particularly well, but that does not make him admire them any the less.

Shotgun Meanderings

In the course of searching for some answers about some arcane aspect of shotguns, I…
Shooter on the 25 yard line. The ZZ has been released from the trap with the white flap down—a visual signal that occurs simultaneously with the launch of the bird—and its orange wings are visible against the dark green trees.

Helice, a.k.a., ZZ Birds

Most shooters are aware that trap as we know it today grew out of the…
The barrels on this 28-gauge James Erskine from the late 1800s has a kind of twist called “skelp,” which usually originated in Britain. After a life of relentless maltreatement in South Africa, the gun was rescued, restored, and passed re-proof in England with flying colors. It now lives in Colorado.

Damascus

It never fails.  And when I say never, I mean never.  I show up at…
The classic S&W Model 60, a trusty old carry gun that still does the job. How many of these lurk in bedside drawers?
The classic S&W Model 60, a trusty old carry gun that still does the job. How many of these lurk in bedside drawers?

Lessons From History

It was the summer of 1940, the Germans were threatening to invade, and things looked…
A Jagdstutzen built on one of the small Werndl actions, probably in the 1880s. The only name on it is Jos. Heinige of Vienna, most likely a high-end gun dealer.

Puzzles Upon Puzzles

It was the name “Werndl” that first grabbed my attention, attached to a very pretty…
shooting

“Shoot United” — A New Initiative Launching to Attract Newcomers to Enjoy the Shooting Sports

Target shooting is one of the most popular and fastest-growing high school sports in the…

Teutonic Tapestry

When most shooters think of German guns, they think military: Luger, Mauser, Walther. Rarely do…
The gun-auction survival kit: Catalogue, tape measure, chamber gauge, flashlight, bore lights, caliper, micrometer. Add an unencumbered credit card, and you’re ready for the fray.

A Boy’s Guide to Gun Auctions

As I write this, the three-volume catalogue for the Rock Island “Premier” gun auction in…
Cimarron Arms’s Colt Walker reproduction, exactly duplicating the original 1,000 military guns and aged to look authentic. Earlier this year, the Walker Colt was named the offical handgun of Texas.

Notes From the Percussion Section

Never — I repeat, never — did I expect to become interested in muzzle loaders…