Bo Whoop: The Enduring Mystique
It was born of genius, destined for fame, and fated for mystery. Together, to make it the single-most fascinating and enduring legend in the multi-colored history of the American sporting scene. Its name was “Bo Whoop.” A custom-built, ten-pound, twelve gauge,...
My Purdey: Much More than a Gun
Endowed with seven decades of shooting tradition and the souls of two men, Purdey No. 21390 came as a gift and will be passed on as such. But for now, it is a living extension of its owner’s nerves and brain. If a man lives in the gun he loves and shoots, then my...
The 270 Winchester: A Very Fast Ball
The Model T, Coolidge, then Depression defined the 1920s. Winchester added the 270. It alone endures. Night’s chill lies late in Spoon Creek. I slipped into cold wool and left the tent before dawn was a pale smudge. Breath white, I climbed through the timber to a bald...
Uncle Dan’s Last Hurrah
Not many American guns are more thoughtfully designed nor better built than Uncle Dan’s New Lefever. Dan Lefever had a knack, if you want to call it that, for getting crossways with business partners. In a career that spanned fifty years, he invented some of the...
Stock Therapy: Preserving Antique Shotguns
As someone who spends a lot of time working to preserve late 19th century and early 20th century double guns, I have thought a lot about why some high quality and once very expensive shotguns have been well preserved and others have not. The formula for the...
Piotti Round-Action
Dan Moore has a long-standing relationship with the Italian gunmaking firm of Fratelli Piotti that goes all the way back to the days of his father, William Larkin Moore. Dan also is a great fan of round-action side-by-side shotguns, especially those from the hands of...
Rebirth of the Centenarian 270 Winchester
Few things get faster and stronger with age, but the 100-year-old 270 Winchester does. When this little “coyote cartridge,” as Elmer Keith deridingly called it, officially stepped onto the stage, it was driving a 130-grain spire point 3,140 fps, according to its...
Hunter’s Guide: Classic American Hammer Shotguns
Some of the finest shotguns ever made in America were hammer shotguns produced in the last decades of the 19th century. However, by the end of World War I, most had been retired to gun cabinets to be only admired, not fired. Their barrels had not been designed for the...
The Best Plains-Game Rifle for Africa
The gun has to be capable of dropping everything from ten-pound dik-dik to 2,000-pound eland.