By Phil Bourjaily

"The Blue Book of Gun Values" is the bible on used gun prices; the standard reference on what a gun in any condition is worth. It contains information and pricing on countless guns to the point that the current edition runs 2,342 pages and weighs almost four pounds. It gets to be a burden to lug a copy around a gun show.

As a remedy, Blue Book Publications took all the Colt entries last year and published them in a handy pocket guide, which is now in a second edition. There are now similar treatments for Browning/FN and Winchester guns. These pocket-sized, slim volumes run 144 pages each. They are very handy, containing everything from both companies—from the beginning to their latest 2013 offerings.

By Phil Bourjaily

Just before SHOT Show I killed my last pheasants of the year with a Dickinson double from Cabela’s. It’s a nice Turkish-made classic side by side and for the money you pay ($1599), it is a better looking gun than anything you will find in its price range. Moreover, it has chrome-lined bores, five choke tubes, and a 3-inch chamber which render it completely steel-friendly, meaning this is a traditional gun suited to the hard non-toxic realities of 21st century upland hunting. In fact, I shot Winchester Blind Side steel pheasant loads on this hunt, but that’s another blog post.