|
|
Sometimes you are the go-to guy or girl. You are the one in your peer group or social network that appears to know the most about firearms. This is a more weighty responsibility than one might think. In our office, I imagine more so than some places of employment, we talk about guns … a lot. Were we to have an actual water cooler (denied yet again in the fiscal 2012 budget), it would no doubt compare to the Fountain of Knowledge (or in Col. Potter’s parlance, perhaps, a “Fountain of Horse Hockey”) for most things regarding firearms. But we assume certain knowledge, a certain level of experience and a certain physiognomy that affect how we discuss firearms.
March 26, 2012
|
|
|
Q. I watch “American Rifleman Television” and hear Mark Keefe and Michael Parker pronounce the name “Garand” like “Ger-und” and in the same show someone else will pronounce it like I do, which is “Guh-rand.” What’s the deal? Are those two misspeaking every week?
March 05, 2012
|
|
|
Ruger has increased its Million Gun Challenge to $1.2 million.
February 27, 2012
|
|
|
By Mark Keefe
If you watched “Top Shot” last night, you got a glimpse of the greatest automatic rifle—notice I did not use the words “light machine gun”—of all time. That gun is the John Moses Browning-designed Model 1918 Browning Automatic Rifle. Browning actually created gas-operated self-loading firearms. Noticing the disturbance in the grass caused by the passing of a bullet out of the muzzle, Browning hooked a “flapper” onto the barrel of a lever-action that harnessed the expanding propellant gasses through a hole drilled in the barrel. He used the force of the gas to move a lever linked to the action to cycle it. That principal, what we call gas-operation, was applied to the Colt Machine Gun Browning designed in 1889, better known as the Model 1895, and later the Model 1914 called the “Potato Digger” and before eventually reaching the Browning Automatic Rifle.
February 22, 2012
|
|
|
American Rifleman Field Editor Bruce N. Canfield is one of the nation’s leading authorities and authors on American military arms. You may not know his name, but if you read a story about guns ranging from the 1861 Springfield to the Garand or M1 Carbine in American Rifleman over the past two decades, you know his work. A genteel, soft-spoken Southerner, Bruce seems an unlikely choice for reality television, but he is a part of the History Channel’s hottest new show. Bruce told me that for executive producers, two things are hot right now on television: guns and Louisiana (I’m sure Will Hayden from “Sons of Guns” would agree). Both are combined in “Cajun Pawn Stars,” which airs Monday nights on History, and is filmed at Jimmy “Big Daddy” DeRamus’ Silver Dollar Pawn & Jewelry in Alexandra, La.
February 21, 2012
|
|
|
After determining there would be little in the way of actual survival skills portrayed and absolutely no cannibalism on “Survivor,” I had little interest in reality television. But while I am still unlikely to voluntarily watch the “Real Housewives of Anywhere,” and could not give a whit about Snooky’s angst or what a Kardasian does or does not wear, I have changed my mind. And that’s because reality television has changed to include things that interest me and those like me.
February 10, 2012
|
|
|
Two trends were apparent in the new firearm models at the recent 2012 Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show: One was increased interest in .22 Long Rifle chambered guns reflected by a host of new variants; the other was a renewed surge of small (or smallish) guns that can be concealed on one’s person (not a new concept, obviously). I have addressed the former and it is now time to look at what some of the handguns covered elsewhere in the 2012 SHOT Blog really mean.
February 01, 2012
|
|
|
By Mark Keefe
All right, I wish I could take credit for this, but it seems I was just thinking on a parallel track with the folks at Springfield Armory. Chad Dyer, Springfield’s marketing genius, called me a few months back to ask what I thought the next gun from Springfield should be. I responded that it was time for Springfield to do a single-stack compact appropriate for discrete carry in the Xtreme Duty (XD) line. As to caliber, 9 mm was all the rage at the time, but a .45 ACP would be better in my view.
January 18, 2012
|
|
|
By Mark Keefe
OK, I’m pretty sure that is not a real word, but if it was actually in the dictionary, it perfectly describes the Beretta ARX, or at least the version I fired at Media Day On The Range. Of course, the futuristic ARX is the current modular selective-fire service rifle of the Italian Army made by Beretta in Gardone, Italy.
January 18, 2012
|
|
|
By Mark Keefe
The gun I principally traveled to SHOT Show this year to see this year was on the last position on the lower range at Media Day At The Range. It is the Uzi Rifle, and it is actually a .22 Long Rifle rimfire version of the legendary Israeli design. I have shot a number of Uzis over the years, including the semi-automatic carbine when I was a teenager to the full-automatic submachine guns and the difficult to control Mini Uzi in full automatic, and I must say this was almost as much fun as a full-automatic Uzi. OK, maybe not as fun, but close. The gun is made by Carl Walther in Germany and imported into the United States by Umarex, with the name and likeness of the gun being licensed by Israel Weapon Industries.
January 18, 2012
|
|
|
This year, 2012, promises to be the year of the .22. Why? Because $20 for 550 rounds of .22 Long Rifle is much better than $20 for 20 rounds of something else if you are just shooting for fun. When I referred to “affordable” in my recent post about the Ruger LCR in .22 Long Rifle, I was referring more to the ammunition cost than the gun itself. But the next Ruger handgun I just received (literally, I have only checked the serial number to log it in) retails for less than the LCR .22 and is still chambered in .22 Long Rifle. It is the Ruger SR22, and it is on the way to your dealer now.
January 02, 2012
|
|
|
“Pretty bold to call your rifle the American, Mike,” I told Ruger President and CEO Mike Fifer. He just grinned at me. Product Manager Mark Gurney and the engineers at Ruger’s Newport, N.H. factory, had given me a full briefing on the design, features and construction of the company’s latest model. Finally I am able to talk about the newest all-American-made bolt-action rifle. In case you haven’t put the puzzle pieces together, it is called the Ruger American Rifle, and it reflects the growing trend toward the economical bolt-action hunting rifles that are dominating the firearm industry. Ironically, it started in 1963 with the Savage Model 110, and has been dog piled on by Remington, Marlin and others. Last year, the hottest selling rifle in this class was the Savage Axis.
January 02, 2012
|
|
|
My blog on the Ruger Lightweight Carry Revolver (LCR) chambered for .22 Long Rifle has brought up a groundswell of requests for the gun to be chambered in .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire (WMR), better known as .22 Mag. It looks to be especially attractive with the introduction of new loads, such as Hornady’s Critical Defense with a .45-grain FTX bullet, which according to factory data leaves a short 1 7/8-inch barrel at 1,000 fps, delivering a muzzle energy of 100 ft.-lbs. So why can’t you buy a .22 WMR LCR right now? The .22 Long Rifle seems to work fine, why not the .22 WMR?
December 20, 2011
|
|
|
The “From The Editor” I wrote for the February issue (if you missed it don’t worry; it won’t be in your mailbox until mid-January) was based on two trends I have seen developing for 2012: Manufacturing guns to be affordable and the introduction of a host of new .22 Long Rifle rifles and handguns that are actually affordable to shoot.
December 16, 2011
|
|
|
Alright, I need all of you to take out your red pen and cross out the “0” in the cover line “Taurus 990: 2 guns in 1” on the this month’s American Rifleman cover and write in a “2” (as illustrated below). This seems like a better solution than trying to get each and every of the 1.7 million issues of the magazine back out of your mailboxes and attempting to fix them all myself.
October 25, 2011
|
|
|
|
|
