The Once and Future 7mm Kings

The Once and Future 7mm Kings

Herr Mauser may not have known he was designing the King, but by 1910 his 7x57mm cartridge had scaled the heights of big game cartridges. From roe deer to elephants, it had settled everything. See Bell, Karamojo, W.D.M.  By 1970, the 7mm Remington Magnum had added...
22 Creedmoor and Friends

22 Creedmoor and Friends

Debating the merits of “deer cartridges” has heated as many hunting cabins as have potbellied stoves. Most such disputations are ignited by calibers from 24 through 35, but if you want a barn burner of a conflagration, toss a 22 centerfire onto the embers. In the...
The Rise of Remington Arms

The Rise of Remington Arms

This brief retrospective of Remington’s 200-year history barely touches upon the many innovations of this venerable and venerated gunmaker.

The Evolution of Adventure Rifles

The Evolution of Adventure Rifles

Sheep hunters often get obsessed. Not just with rams, horns and mountains, but backpacks, boots, optics and rifles. Especially rifles.  Just as backpackers cut the handles off toothbrushes and labels off shirts, so do sheep hunters shave superfluous ounces from...
Planning a Custom 260 Remington

Planning a Custom 260 Remington

Remington Custom Shop manager Carlos Martinez and I put our heads together in an attempt to buck the trend, to create something different, functional, beautiful. Personal. The rifle you see here is the result. Notice the stock is not hand-laid carbon or even...
The Shape of the Future

The Shape of the Future

Another flight around the sun and here we are, 138 years after the invention of the first centerfire, bottlenecked, smokeless powder cartridge, the 8x50mm Lebel, watching cartridges evolve. For better or worse.  The “better” part of this equation are the bullets. In...
Lead vs Copper Bullets

Lead vs Copper Bullets

All-copper, hollow-point bullets typically mushroom like the best lead core bullets without losing mass to jacket separation or core erosion.

How to Select Your Next Hunting Cartridge

How to Select Your Next Hunting Cartridge

The panoply of centerfire rifle cartridges extant in 2023 isn’t just extensive; it’s redundant. Navigating it to select the ideal for your needs, desires and styles of hunting can be overwhelming. We have at least 25 varieties of 30 caliber cartridges, 15 7mms, 10...
Martial Rounds Afield

Martial Rounds Afield

Contradictory though it sounds, a military connection usually predicts cartridge popularity in the hunting fields.  Despite a few naysayers condemning martial cartridges as “nothing but mankillers,” most centerfire rounds that emerge from battle go on to long careers...
Howa Super Lite 6.5 Creedmoor

Howa Super Lite 6.5 Creedmoor

Conventional wisdom suggests this rifle shouldn’t exist let alone function smoothly and shoot precisely. Yet here it is: Howa’s Super Lite.  If there is a lighter weight mass-produced bolt-action hunting rifle than the 4-pound, 7-ounce Super Lite, I’ve yet to hear of...