By David E. Petzal

This actually did occur at a campfire. As I was staring into the flames, waiting for the wind to shift and blow the smoke into my face, I was approached by a young man who wanted my advice on what kind of rifle to take on his first elk hunt.

“What kind of rifle do you have?” I asked.

“An Ultra Light Arms .280.”

“What kind of scope?”

“A Swarovski 2X-10X.”

“Bless your heart,” I said, “you don’t need a new rifle. You couldn’t get a better outfit if you had Mitt Romney’s money.”

“But will a .280 kill an elk?”

By David E. Petzal

I started shooting seriously (as opposed to spraying lead around the landscape) in 1958 at summer camp. We shot in an NRA-sanctioned program, and we did it with set of 10 or so .22 target rifles—good ones, as I recall. These guns were in use every day for two months, and were not cleaned until they were put away at the end of the season. As far as I can recall, they were just as accurate at the end of the summer as they were at the beginning.

This is why I asked John Blauvelt if my compulsive scrubbing of my own .22’s barrel was unnecessary. His opinion was yes. According to John, the best treatment of a rimfire bore is benign neglect. After you put lots and lots of ammo through it and find yourself overwhelmed with guilt because it’s full of grease and wax and burned powder, you can run a wet patch through it and then a dry one. But nothing more than that. Most .22s, said John, don’t really start to shoot accurately until you get them dirty, and as far as rust goes, when the bore is coated with lube from the bullets, the steel is sealed off from the air, so no rust.

By Phil Bourjaily

On my way back from hunting in Uruguay a few years ago, I met a group of hunters from Mississippi who had been shooting doves around Cordoba, Argentina. One of them asked me about my trip. I told him it was a mixed bag hunt for ducks, pigeons and perdiz. He asked how many rounds I had shot.

“About 500 in five days,” I said.

“That’s not very high volume,” he said with disdain. “Check this out.” He pulled up his shirt to show me a bruise the size, shape and color of a tenderized magnum eggplant covering his shoulder and half his chest.

It is summer and if you want to hunt birds now you need to go to South America. If you go, consider a mixed bag hunt instead of a 1,000 dove-a-day marathon. You will still shoot more than most folks shoot in a full season at home and come home unbruised by the experience. I have done it twice, once in Uruguay and once in Argentina. Mixed bag shoots consist of ducks in the morning, then breakfast, then massive lunch and naps, then either perdiz, pigeons or doves in the afternoon, followed by more eating, plus wine. It is an easy schedule to take and South America is a fascinating place to visit. The picture above is of the sun rising over the Parana River in Argentina.

By David E. Petzal

I don’t believe in having lots and lots of guns unless you’re an infantry battalion or a serious collector. You need someplace secure to store them; you have to insure them; and they represent money that’s tied up doing nothing. So periodically you must cull the herd. The question is, which guns go down the road? Here are some things I've learned the hard way.