Recently a neighbor asked my advice on purchasing a home-defense shotgun—his first gun in fact, and the first one he would shoot since the .22s of his Boy Scout days. Actually, he wanted me to accompany him to an upcoming local gun show, and if not for a sales meeting scheduled for that weekend, it would have been fascinating to hear a newcomer’s take on the gun show scene.

I described different options and then advised him to consider a short-barreled side-by-side like the Stoeger Double Defense because loading and shooting it are foolproof. No effort is required to cycle an action, and the gun can’t jam between shots. Since precise aiming isn’t necessary, even the rawest beginning shooter has a fair chance of operating the gun effectively. Though the Double Defense utilizes the economic, century-old “coach gun” platform, we thought enough of Stoeger’s clever revision to award it Shooting Illustrated magazine’s 2010 Shotgun of the Year award. It now comes with a black synthetic stock, single trigger, 20-inch ported barrels and accessory rails top and bottom for attaching an optical sight and/or a weapon light, both extremely useful when responding to alarming sounds in the night.

I recently returned from a trip to Odgen, Utah, that included an afternoon touring a veritable shrine for anyone interested in gun design. As museums go, the John M. Browning Firearms Museum is fairly small, the lighting is stark and the presentation rather plain. But none of that matters given the importance of what’s on display, which amounts to a family-album-intimate retrospective on Browning’s prolific and hugely influential career.

Offered up are the original or very early examples of such masterworks as:
*Various Winchester lever rifles, including the Models 1882, 1886, 1894 and 1895
*Experimental, gas-operated, self-loading rifle from 1889 plus the famed BAR, which served with U.S. forces in four major wars
*The Colt M1911 pistol
*Shotguns including the Winchester 1897 pump, Auto-5 recoil-operated semi-auto and Superposed over/under.

Within a few days members who take American Rifleman will receive a very special 125th Anniversary issue. Inside, Editor-in-Chief Mark Keefe and Senior Graphic Designer David Labrozzi have compiled a fabulous retrospective of the Rifleman and its predecessor titles going back to 1885. Along with an informative timeline, Keefe has sketched a brief history, and then allows the Rifleman’s proud evolution to speak for itself with a collection of excerpts ranging from a review of the Krag rifle (1894) to Townsend Whelen’s famed “Analysis of Game Bullets” (1924) to the launch of the popular “Armed Citizen” column (1958) and many more gems stretching 8+ pages. Take my word, this issue is destined to become a collector’s item.

Here on AmericanRifleman.org we are augmenting all that with a real treasure house of bonus material that includes behind-the-scenes looks at how the magazine staff has produced “America’s Oldest and Largest Gun Magazine,” and then many more examples of the articles that it earned that status: http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/rifleman-125-anniversary/.

Former NRA editorial colleague Doug Howlett recently enlisted me to write the foreword for his latest project, "The Shooter’s Bible Guide to AR-15s." Slated for release this fall, the new book will examine America’s hottest-selling rifle category with all the in-depth coverage that has made the Shooter’s Bible a gun-owners’ staple for more than a half century.

Doug’s introduction recalled the political struggle to preserve Americans’ rights to own AR rifles that raged during the Clinton years when he and I were working together. As a long-time NRA hand, my involvement goes back even further, and in fact I remember all too well when AR-type rifles suddenly became the anti-gun movement’s chief whipping boy. For reasons only they could elaborate—though “scary looks” certainly were high on the list—the gun-banners decided there was more political gain to be had from demonizing so-called “assault rifles” than from tirelessly bemoaning “Saturday night specials,” i.e., handguns. Amazingly, big media fell into obedient lockstep as if national political discourse was all just a grand puppet show. Go figure. 

One sure indicator of a hot market is when new suppliers attempt get in on the action, and so SIG Sauer’s soon-to-be entry into the .50 BMG rifle category confirms what military operators, 1,000-yard competitors and tactical shooters have all discovered—the big, long-range round’s time has come.

The new rifle has been keenly anticipated since SIG revealed an earlier prototype at its SHOT Show booth back in January, but uncertainty over the release date have kept big-bore enthusiasts guessing. We still don’t know when the official intro will take place, but have been assured it will be soon.

It’s quite common for Alaska bear-hunting guides to carry revolvers for backup, but outfitter Greg Jannen from Valdez, Alaska, told me he’s interested in getting a semi-auto pistol for that purpose. He likes self-loaders, only he wants one more powerful than a .45 ACP when he has to face down angry brown bears or other dangerous critters.

Greg asked me for a recommendation and I had to think on that one a bit. For practical reasons, the M1911 .45s occupy the upper end of carry gun power and size because most shooters just can’t handle more recoil and don’t want to tote a heavier gun.

Over the past two weeks I made a new friend, Craig Hill, from Galena, Alaska. Craig was my guide for the unforgettable adventure of a brown bear hunt on the Alaska coast. Although our long days glassing and looking for bears were mostly spent in silence, we took time to get acquainted, too. I learned that Craig is always good-natured, upbeat and funny, but when it’s time to get after the quarry he’s as focused as they come.

Quite naturally we talked guns, and for Craig, that primarily means Weatherby rifles. He has owned a bunch of them, all Mark Vs, and particularly favors some of the more recent iterations in chamberings based on the .378 Wby. Mag. case. That now includes .30-378, .338-378 and, of course, the original. Case capacity tops 100 grains of propellant, so needless to say, all are extremely potent, right up there with the fastest, and hardest-hitting in their respective classes.

Since returning from the Annual Meetings two weeks ago I have been putting myself through a crash familiarization with a newly introduced model—the Sako 85 Brown Bear. Most days after work I've stopped by my local range on the way home for 10-15 deliberate shots, and in addition have been escaping my desk for brief sessions on NRA's in-house range. Twice I have taken it out on the family farm where I can shoot at longer distances and practice rapid follow-ups from field positions. It will group about 1-1/2 moa off the bench, and from supported field positions I can hold about 5 inches rapid-fire out at 200 yards. So far I have worked out with Barnes Vor-TX, Winchester Supreme and Norma Oryx ammo, and all are plenty accurate for hunting purposes.

Controlled-round feed capability has made the 85 a real up-and-comer. It doesn't clamp on as soon as the case exits the magazine in the way of the Mauser 98 and full-length-claw clones like the Winchester M70 and Kimber 84/8400 series, and for some, that's the tipping point. Not so for me. The smooth feel of the action, the fast bolt throw, the overall design and workmanship all attain Sako's exacting standards. And because the extractor does take hold of the case rim as it slides up the feed ramp, there remains much less chance of double-shucking two rounds into the loading port as can be the case in push-feed bolt rifles. All in all, it's a clever new solution to what many riflemen consider a make-or-break attribute.

Early on in my NRA career (1980s) our star writer was Col. Charles Askins, a Border Patrol lifer, ex-military attaché, pistol champ, worldwide big-game hunter and all-around gun expert. Askins was a mainstay in NRA's magazines for years, carrying on a legacy begun by his father, Capt. Charles Askins, who wrote for American Rifleman throughout the century's early decades. But by 1987, the colonel had worn out his welcome with our boss, George Martin, and their relationship became downright toxic.

George decreed Askins' run would end with the August '87 issues, and Askins retaliated by submitting what clearly was intended as a parting middle-finger salute. Entitled, "Bullfrogs Are Best Sport," it was a comprehensive treatise on how and where to hunt trophy bullfrogs. After years of salty tales recounting desperate gunfights, momentous encounters with game and big guns for every purpose, it amounted to a weird bumper decal as he drove off in the sunset. And no doubt readers found it a perplexing inclusion in a national hunting magazine. In an accompanying editor's note, George dubbed it, "... a croaker story for his croaker story."