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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.
July 14, 2011
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I have Good news and bad news. The good news is that I have every single issue of “Gun Digest,” all 65 of them. The bad news is that I picked them all up new.
July 11, 2011
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How fast can you draw and fire two shots? Can you do it before an attacker can get to you? You might be surprised.
July 06, 2011
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Weatherby Eyebrow—Noun: The rapid acceleration of the rear of the ocular housing of an optical device impacting the epidermal and subcutaneous tissue on the upper anterior cranium.
June 30, 2011
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The automatic pistol was a new and intriguing device in the early part of the 20th Century. While the first ones may have come from Europe, it didn't take the canny American arms industry very long to pick up on the potential of a quick-to-load handgun that automatically removed and replaced the fired cartridge in the chamber. The guns caught on quickly and gun makers soon offered their own seme-auto pistols, particularly those of the small-to-medium size commonly known as “pocket” autos. By 1920, gun stores offered a number of both domestic and imported guns. While the market was dominated by Colt and Savage, you could also find elegant Smith &Wesson and Remington gun as well. Any one of these models is worth a complete book. But there is yet another model that was made in Gun Valley and was nowhere near as popular. It was the Harrington & Richardson .32 ACP. All guns in this category—made by these five makers—were very well made, fitted and finished. Lots of good tool steel.
June 30, 2011
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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.
June 28, 2011
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Update: The Small Arms Review Convention (SARCON) has been cancelled.
June 23, 2011
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One of those odd guns that has always caught my fancy is the Merwin, Hulbert revolver and one of its more intriguing feature has recently got me “what-if-ing” again. The Merwins are a series of handsome revolvers made during the Frontier era in three sizes and several calibers. Known for their unusual twist-and-pull system of selective ejection, the Merwins were a popular gun in their day, selling slightly behind Colt, S&W and Remington wheelguns.
June 22, 2011
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I recently attended Nikon’s Invitational Shootout, where contestants from across the country—mostly sales reps and behind-the-counter dealers—competed for the first Nikon Cup.
June 21, 2011
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Passing by the desk where packages come into American Rifleman, I spied a small box from Fountain Valley, Calif.—the home of SureFire. Usually such packages contain a new variation on the firm’s superlative flashlights; I initially paid little heed to the box. But the grin on Shooting Illustrated’s Executive Editor Adam Heggenstaller’s face told me that “it”—or rather “they”—had arrived, as he has one, too. It’s the SureFire MAG5-60, a high-capacity magazine that fits the AR-style platform and provides 60-round capacity reliably out of a single magazine. SureFire’s Ron Canfield assured us these magazines were off the first production line.
June 21, 2011
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At this year’s Golden Bullseye Awards, NRA Publications named Melvin Forbes of New Ultra Light Arms the 2011 Pioneer Award Winner. A select group of senior staffers at NRA Publications had spirited input on just who the Pioneer Award should go to, and Melvin Forbes was at the forefront of my list from the beginning.
June 15, 2011
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