Free Republic

When it comes to who is the better shooter and why, men or women, the iconic Irving Berlin duet from Annie Get Your Gun immediately springs to mind. “Anything you can do I can do better! I can do anything better than you” is sung while Annie Oakley and Frank Butler prepare for the climactic sharpshooting contest in the classic Broadway musical. For an object as functionally gender-neutral as a gun, why is it that each of the sexes assumes they are better adept at mastering it? Any quality instructor will tell you the real weapon is not the gun....

We can all boast life lessons that have taught us certain principles. For me, the optics lesson happened years ago. Ed Sweet, the host of Kid Outdoors, and I would take a lot of kids bear hunting. I'd write articles about the hunts and he’d film them for his show. On one of our first hunts we saw 10 bears in two afternoons. Only once did I spot the bear before anyone else. That's because my partners had good glass. I had an average pair of binoculars and have realized over the years that I had been missing a lot...

Do you recall how you became interested in prepping? Was it a personal experience from a localized disaster that you were not prepared for, or perhaps watching a catastrophic event on television? Maybe you fear the economic crisis in Greece or exodus of thousands of people from troubled countries who might reach the shores of America? Maybe it was triggered by a stock market shutdown due to a computer glitch? Whatever the reason or motivation that started you into prepping, the good news is these are all issues you are thinking about. You might be eager to carry this concern...

Given their game-, livestock- and pet-killing ways, booming numbers, spring’s prime time to hunt coyotes. - Coyotes are most prone to prey on pets and livestock in the spring because this is when they are having to feed their pups. They breed around mid-February and have their pups 63 days later in mid-April. At first, the female stays in the den with the pups and the male hunts and brings food back to her in the den. Later, they both hunt and feeding all those hungry mouths becomes an intense full-time job for both of them. Any farm livestock that...

But the question is, how does the replica S&W New Model shoot with Triple K's replacements? In my story last issue about the new Smith & Wesson No. 3, I was able to tell you why I like that Uberti-made S&W-style gun. There are several reasons and I don’t think I missed any of them. However, there was one little thing that I wanted to change and that was mainly for personal reasons. I favored some original-looking grips, such as what Smith & Wesson used to have when they were making the New Model No. 3 revolvers, so I ordered...

For When You Need a War Shotgun - If you do your bird hunting with a classic Mossberg 500 shotgun, you might be taken aback when you first handle their tactically oriented, nine-shot, bayonet-lug- and aperture-sight-equipped Magpul series Model 590A1. For starters, the 590A1 is built for war, not sport, and the Magpul series takes it a step beyond with furniture that enhances its tactical function and allows for more user customization than the standard military stock. Whether you’re repelled by it or drawn to it, you have to admit: it’s a sexy beast. At nearly 8.5 pounds empty, I...

Blast from the Past - A 20th Century Pocket Gun that was ahead of its Time - At the beginning of the 20th century semi-automatic magazine fed pistols were a novel concept. However, this era gave us the iconic M1911 and the German Luger just to name a few. There were many others that popped up into the scene but were left behind as time went by. One pistol that was forgotten but had a really good design was the Remington Model 51 which was developed during the prohibition era of the United States. At this time John Browning may...

A Brief History Safes in one form or another have been around since the days of Julius Cesar. While sometimes disputed, Jesse Delano is credited with the first fireproof safe design patented in 1826. The modern gun safe has its roots in the 1850s designs of Silas Herring. He used plaster and steel to create a fire rated gun storage safe. What's interesting and disappointing is that the gun safes of today are not built to standards anywhere near Herring's 1850 design. Price and profit pressures have caused the whole industry to move away from true fire rated safes. The...

From concealed-carry class attendee to successful team competition shooter to sole owner of an ammunition company, one woman's inspiring journey through the firearms world. America is still the greatest country in the world for allowing anyone to make their dreams come true through enough hard work, ambition and a never-ending devotion to their vision. For instance, consider the historical life of Annie Oakley. The 19th century female trailblazer became America’s sweetheart as one of the greatest shooters of all time. At a time when women were largely confined to home and their family, Oakley generated huge audiences across the country...

Not all match-grade bullets are created equal, especially those featuring an aluminum tip - In the cold, dry air of the eastern Oregon desert, the Leupold Optics Academy hosts its shooting courses at an impressive rifle range, with targets at distances from 100 yards to 2,000 yards. The ever-changing winds, the constant mirage and the physical location of the targets make for some very interesting shooting, to say the least, and you'll want every advantage possible to make that steel ring. There are many facets, but an accurate rifle, good glass and a proper cartridge/bullet combination will make the shooter's...

The merits of each have been debated for decades; here’s one shooter’s take. - The relative merits of the three basic types of pistols – single-action, double-action and automatic – has rarely been discussed in an impartial manner. All have their place and their advantages and disadvantages, depending upon their use. There is a lot of misinformation and even brazen lies that have been repeated for so long that many people believe them. Chief among these is the lie that revolvers are more reliable than automatics. We need to get that lie out of the way before we go any...

The M240 SLR from Ohio Ordnance Works is an excellent replica of the M240 light machine gun, and it is a pleasure to shoot. Variants of the M240 general-purpose light machine gun may have earned a reputation for ruggedness and reliability on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, but this 7.62x51mm NATO belt-fed beauty has provided U.S. Army and Marine Corps infantryman with hard-hitting firepower since the 1990s. And, although the weapon is heavier and more complicated than the Vietnam-era M60-series light machine guns it replaced, those drawbacks are far outweighed by the simple fact that it works much better....

The story of this carbine goes back to 1997, when Kel-Tec introduced the Sub-9 carbine. In general, it was a conventional blow-back gun with the magazine inserted through the hand grip. Designed during the high-capacity-magazine-ban years, it used popular and available pistol magazines, but the Sub-9's claim to fame was its unusual folding form. When folding or collapsible stocks were not legal, the Sub-9 worked around that concept by creating a carbine that folded in half at the chamber, halving its overall length for storage and transport. The folding is initiated by pulling down on the back of the trigger...

A step-by-step guide for replacing the barrel of a deactivated war trophy rifle. Over the years I've seen many otherwise fine rifles with poor barrels sell cheap because barrels are usually the most expensive part on the gun and the gunsmith’s labor to install it was never going to be less than a C-note for the most simple replacement job. Vintage 20th century bolt-action military rifles are among the easiest and most economical to re-barrel. It's not particularly hard, as long as you have a replacement barrel and the right tools. Though you can change a barrel with a bench...

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, right? Guess this all depends on where you're at and what you have to work with. In this case, this homemade pistol is quite a blasphemy to many Glock enthusiasts. But, for some a thing of beauty. Take a look at these pics, the homemade Glock that is nothing short of dismal. These photos were shared on an all-Russian forum. Somewhere in Russia, one basement tinkerer (aspiring gunsmith) is very proud of his creation. From a distance it resembles a beat up Glock that just got runned over by a truck. Notice...

Ever since I was a little boy, I can remember spending many days with my grandpa. His name was Ray. It was actually Walter Ray, but he simply went by Ray. I would spend summers with him at the beach fishing, digging clams and an occasional trip shooting. I can still remember the smell of his den. It always had the aroma of Hoppe’s #9, the gun-cleaning solvent. He had a desk set up to reload, and his rifles were stacked in a gun cabinet. It was in this room I learned many things. I learned to assemble cartridges, how...

The Bots actually respond like a Live Adversary - For the gun enthusiasts that want more out of just shooting at paper targets or moving targets. How about moving robot targets that moves autonomously? Check out Robotic Human-Type Targets from Australia’s Marathon Targets, they’re basically dummy mannequins on wheels with a computer embedded. The bots can be programmed to various scenario whether the bots is hit or not. The idea is to deploy human-looking dummies that can “look, move, and behave like people,” with a degree of networked autonomy. For example, when one bot goes down in a hail of...

Have you ever noticed how everyone seems to be an expert on something these days? Whether it be geopolitics, food, parenting, guns, knives, survival techniques, self-defense, basket weaving … you name it and someone can tell you all about it online in a two-minute YouTube video. Well, knife fighting is not immune to this. There are many untruths, myths and opinions about knife fighting, also known as edged-weapon defense. I can’t address them all in this short article, but let’s try to separate a few facts from fiction. I am a knife enthusiast, and I openly admit that I am...

A Loudener? "The Loudener" for your AR, so what is this? Just as it sounds, when the gun is fired it is "LOUD". Watch the video below and turn up your speakers, it almost sounds like from a .50 cal. They say you can feel the blast from it as well. The "Loudener" was design by Owen Martin of Snake-Hound Machine a New Hampshire based company that has made a huge splash with its AK. Here's the makeup to make your AR loud. Muzzle Brake Single Chamber – allows expanding gasses to burn outside the barrel (see the video above)....

The shotgun is an iconic weapon most often associated with the pump-action badassery of action films and video games. While awesome in fiction, its use in the real world is limited to close combat and breaching doors, not to mention bird and deer hunting. Despite its drawbacks, a mystique surrounds the weapon, and soldiers as well as law enforcement officers still use them. The draw of the gun is so powerful that the Pentagon has spent several decades and millions of dollars to improve on the basic design. In the late 1960s, the military and private companies started tinkering with...