In 2012, after seeing an increasing interest in long-range shooting, Hornady decided to develop a match-accurate, reliably expanding hunting bullet for use at extended ranges. But the challenge set before Hornady’s engineers was to develop a projectile that would embody the company’s keystones—”Accurate, Deadly, Dependable”—at any distance. After overcoming obstacles with the tip of the bullet expanding due to aerodynamic heating, Hornady was able to create a bullet with match-grade accuracy, high retained velocity and energy, and impressive terminal ballistics from less than 100 yards to beyond 800 yards. Thus the ELD-X bullet, standing for Extreme Low Drag-eXpanding, was formed. Check out this video from a recent episode of American Rifleman TV where Joe Kurtenbach visits Hornady's headquarters in Grand Island, Neb., to test the ELD-X Ammunition.
Any survey of military firearms isn’t complete without also discussing the development of ammunition across this past quarter-millennium. From a conceptual standpoint, very little has changed.
Initially introduced in 2019 to the international military market in a select-fire format, the IWI Carmel is a modular, durable and thoroughly modern sporting rifle.
Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc. became the first Blue Diamond level sponsor of the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF) in 2024 by supporting the youth shooting sports program with more than $75,000 a year.
KelTec has brought the stripper clip back with the thoroughly unconventional PR57—a carry pistol with an uncommon chambering, an unusual action and no box magazine.
A number of states in the western U.S. have opened or are planning to open large, versatile ranges to serve the growing need for publicly accessible shooting spaces.