J.A. Hunter’s Africa
He saw Africa raw, tapped its treasures and chafed at what his generation had wrought.
P.O. Ackley: Man of Sharp Shoulders
“That’s gone. It sold right away. Sorry.” I had phoned on an ad for a rebarreled Mauser. He did sound genuinely sorry. My reply—“Oh,”—must have had an authentic ring, too. I truly was crushed. “You wouldn’t want a Springfield, would you?” As if he owed me something....
On The Nose
Once merely a bullet’s front end, the tip has become an engineering project. Here’s why.
Arthur Savage and His Inimitable 99
Unlikely seed of cattle, coffee and a torpedo, his rifle failed. Its revival blessed hunters for a century. Gashes in the old snow pulled me into a riot of swamp-grass. Yards into it, a speck of red winked from the tangle. Confirmation, not a promise. I’d called a...
Death by Ivory
Powerful and tireless, quiet and quick, elephants proved smart enough to avoid hunters. Or kill them. It was another time. We’d picked him up at dawn, a slight, expressionless, middle-aged man who nodded to every query and directive. Motoring along a track toward our...
Roosevelt the Rifleman
With horse and rifle he explored frontiers, indulging a lust that would transcend politics. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. defined the bully pulpit, spared the teddy bear and led the strenuous life. “I do not believe,” he declared in a late retrospective, “that any...
Watch: A Closer Look at the New Montana Rifle
Wayne Van Zwoll takes a closer look at the new Montana rifle, highlighting the design and features across different models and eras, showcasing how the rifle has evolved while retaining key characteristics....
Aiming At Night
Still in the dark about night vision and thermal sights and gobbledegook thereof? To enlighten… The feral pig appeared with the first stars. I was already hiking to the car. A quick sit steadied the rifle; but the reticle vanished in night’s shadows and the boar...
The Indefatigable Charles Newton
“Ahead of his time” falls short. His tenacity matched his genius. But war and the Depression would have their way. When rifle maker Buzz Fletcher asked me to photograph a Mauser he’d stocked, I said, “Sure!” Would I like some 256 Newton brass to check it on the range?...