The Rifleman Report: Influential Innovations

We continue to be impressed with the firearm industry’s talent for innovation through the implementation of cutting-edge technology. In fact, such unwillingness to “leave well enough alone” seems ingrained into the minds of engineers and marketers alike at the nation’s gun, ammunition, optic and accessory manufacturers.

A prime example is illustrated on the cover of our February issue, as detailed in the story “A Case For Strength: Federal’s 7 mm Backcountry Cartridge” by Editor Emeritus John Zent. Among the first hunters to take the all-new chambering afield—and anchoring a nice bull elk in the process—he explains just how the cartridge’s advanced Peak Alloy steel-case technology is key to containing the pressure levels that result in its ability to ballistically outperform competitors, especially through shorter barrels. Such developments represent yet another step in rifle shooters’ never-ending quest to overcome the effects of gravity and aerodynamic drag.

Then, in “Herring Model 2024: FightLite’s Evolutionary Inevitability,” Senior Executive Editor Kelly Young undertakes an insightful examination of what is likely the most advanced lever-action of all time. He explains why that long-awaited model’s familial connection to the AR-15, including its M-Lok-clad handguard, Picatinny rails, threaded barrel and synthetic furniture—along with its .300 Blackout chambering, no less—make it “a quiet and handy home-defense tool or a capable hunting arm for the harvesting of small and medium game.” It certainly makes for a modern lever gun experience that could never have been imagined by the cowboys of 160 years ago.

And in yet another example of modern technological innovation in firearm accessories, this one within the field of optics, Field Editor Aaron Carter explains in “Unsatiated: Burris’ Eliminator 6 Riflescope” how he put the newest evolution of the ground-breaking design through its paces to find out if it lives up to its claims. This latest model in the Eliminator series, which launched in 2010, is the first to resemble a conventional riflescope in general shape, but it is also the most technologically advanced. Not only does it operate from an app downloaded to the user’s phone, it then connects the two through a Bluetooth signal when in the field or on the range.

Advanced publishing technology also allows us to separately alert eligible NRA members that it is time to make their selections in our Board of Directors elections. So, if your magazine cover features a “button” in the lower left reminding you to “Cast Your Vote Today,” you will find ballot pages bound into the center of the issue. If you don’t see that button, then note that we’ve included an extra American Rifleman Classics (ARC) reprint inside that is available to all readers at americanrifleman.org/m16.

Titled “The M16 Is A Good Rifle, Says A Veteran Of 82 Patrols,” that retrospective provides a fascinating glimpse into the earliest days of the platform that has become “America’s rifle” when it first saw combat on the ground in Vietnam. Published in 1969, the story contains firsthand accounts by U.S. Army Capt. William L. Smith of missions into the jungles of Southeast Asia with a rifle that featured, for the time, cutting-edge aluminum and polymer construction and fired the relatively new 5.56 mm cartridge.

It seems that whether in the realm of sporting or defensive pursuits by civilians or in military procurements by nations engaged in warfare, the drive to innovate in firearms continues to be as intrinsic as the instinct for self-preservation itself—particularly in America where the right to keep and bear arms is constitutionally recognized and passionately protected by your NRA.