When the editors of American Rifleman magazine met to sift through the past year's coverage of firearms, optics and accessories, we were once again faced with the difficult task of selecting the industry's best products for the purpose of awarding them the NRA Publications Division's highest honor: the Golden Bullseye.

"The Golden Bullseye Award honors our winners for bringing to market products remarkable in their utility to shooters and hunters," said Joe H. Graham, executive director of NRA Publications. "The award, now in its seventh year, has become a symbol of excellence and innovation in firearms, accessories and related equipment. We are confident shooters and hunters will receive this year's winning products with enthusiasm, and we congratulate the winners."

NRA Publications will present the annual Golden Bullseye Awards and Golden Bullseye Pioneer Award at an invitation-only breakfast during the 2009 NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits, May 15-17, in Phoenix, Ariz. Following is a look at this year's American Rifleman Golden Bullseye Award winners.

"Federal's new .327 Federal Magnum cartridge is poised to set the revolver world on its ear," wrote Field Editor Bryce Towsley about the .327 Federal Magnum (April 2008, p. 42), which was designed to outperform the .38 Spl. but remain manageable for most shooters in a compact revolver.

Starting with the .32 H&R Magnum, Federal's cartridge design guru, Larry Head, lengthened the case by 1/8", boosted the Maximum Average Pressure and made structural changes to the cartridge case. The new chambering also handles .32 H&R Mag., .32 S&W Long and .32 S&W ammunition, providing low-recoil alternatives for practice. Also, the round's smaller diameter allows it to boost the cartridge capacity in cylinders of similar diameter.

The bottom line, according to Towsley, is that "The .327 offers more "real-world" energy than the .357 Mag., (at least in my test), better penetration and one more shot per gun load. It does all this with substantially less recoil and noticeably less muzzle blast than the .357 Mag."...

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