By Editors

We can say that we knew Chris Reed before he was famous. In 2009, Reed competed in the Total Outdoorsman Challenge finals for the first time, and made a name for himself with a second-place finish. He returned to the TOC in 2010, and looked like the favorite to win for a while...only to finish second again, barely losing to champ Chad Weatherford.

But, if we learned anything about Reed after both of his near-victories in the TOC, it’s that he doesn’t quit and the guy can flat out shoot—attributes that were on display last night when Reed fired his way to fame and first place (and $100,000) during the finale of the History Channel's Top Shot. We spoke with the marksman of the minute this morning to talk about his big win—and his chances at continuing his winning streak in the 2011 Total Outdoorsman Challenge.

F&S: Congrats! How’s it feel to be the Top Shot?
Chris Reed: Indescribable, man. At this point, it truly is. It’s a blessing just to be in the position I was in and to hold out all the way until the end against some of the best shooters in the world. It’s an honor.

By Philip Bourjaily

Following the Utah legislature’s resolution to name John Browning’s 1911 pistol* as the official state gun of Utah earlier this year, Arizona has became the second state with an official gun, choosing the Colt Peacemaker. I somehow doubt the trend to naming state guns will spread to all 50 states and I’m not sure it should, since legislatures have more important matters to debate. However, state guns are a perfectly appropriate topic for this blog. A while ago I asked for suggestions for state guns and the responses were so good we decided to make a gallery of unofficial state guns for all 50 states. This will be a collaborative effort and I need your help to finish it.

As you see from the list below, we’re almost halfway there. I took the best responses from the first post and added some I chose myself. There is one non-gun on the list: the Bear bow was nominated by two different readers for Michigan. Given Fred Bear’s huge role in popularizing bowhunting I made an exception and am allowing a bow as Michigan’s state gun.

The remaining states are open for suggestions. I would prefer American-made and/or designed guns, although foreign guns can be nominated. Ideally we would have 50 different guns, although some may double up.

By Philip Bourjaily

For years I shied away from two-trigger guns because I thought it would be difficult for me to switch back and forth from one to two. I inherited this belief from my dad, who was even more easily confused than I am. Dad never even shot pumps because he couldn’t remember to work the slide between shots.

I still don’t own any guns with double triggers, but shooting the Parker and the Fox while filming for season two of the The Gun Nuts TV show I adapted to two triggers without any conscious thought at all. I didn’t even dry practice with those guns, I just loaded them and took them hunting. A couple of times I had to make follow-ups and my finger went from the first trigger to the second all by itself. In the afternoon we filmed several segments with O/Us and semiautos, and my finger remembered to pull the single trigger twice.

By David E. Petzal

In my post of April 7, wherein I pissed and moaned about my groups breaking up at 300 yards, Amflyer asked a couple of very interesting questions: First, would a bullet that dropped 10 inches below point of aim at 300 yards really cause me to miss any animal that was big enough to justify shooting at it with a .338? And second, would not a range-compensating scope compensate for the fact that some bullets went way low?

To which I reply: there are two things every rifleman should fear:  shifting winds and anomalies of any sort. Since the first is not relevant to this post, we will deal with the second. In the wonderful world of rifles, consistency is king. Just as surely as Congress is comprised of petulant, half-bright children, any gun, or load, that does weird, quirky stuff is not to be trusted, no matter how often or seldom it occurs, because, when it counts most, that anomaly will jump up and bite you right in the ass.