By David E. Petzal

The Golden Age of Handloading came after World War II when everyone and his brother Montmorenzi went down to their basements to crank out their own ammo and rarely came up into the light. One of the side effects of this craze was the mania for “Improved” cartridges, and the leader of the cult was a Utah barrelmaker, gunsmith, and wildcatter named P.O. Ackley.

In 1962, Ackley published Volumes I and II of the Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders, which contained all sorts of interesting stuff, but mostly loading data for everyone’s Improved cartridges, and there was a bunch.

“Improving” a cartridge meant that you took a well established, respectable cartridge such as the 7x57 Mauser and fired it in an Improved chamber that was cut with less taper and a sharper shoulder than the original. The brass would be fire-formed to its new shape, and the resulting increased powder capacity would boost your 7x57’s velocity up to that of a .280. Or so the theory went.

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By David E. Petzal

I’d guess that of all the scoped rifles I’ve handled, probably ninety percent have the crosshairs out of vertical alignment. The reason is that when you look through the scope you have your head canted, and when the vertical crosshair looks straight to your crooked head, it ain’t. Crooked scopes cause you to cant the rifle, which causes the bullet to fly to the right or the left of the axis of the bore, which means you’re going to miss right or left when you shoot at 250 yards or more.

Over the years I’ve seen various gadgets that purport to enable you to mount the damned scope straight. A couple of days ago, however, I learned about a way to do the job that is sublime in its simplicity and requires only a carpenter’s spirit level. Here’s how it works: [ Read Full Post ]

By T. Edward Nickens

The blackpowder rifles that come out of Hershel House’s workshop hidden in the Kentucky backwoods aren’t just exacting, made-from-scratch re-creations of true frontier guns. The home-forged springs and screws, the hand-carved stocks, the focus on function and reliability embody the history of America.

By 1780, the American frontier was changing. In Kentucky and Pennsylvania and Virginia, in much of the old Ohio Territory and the big woods of Tennessee, the baddest of the big game was largely gone. The eastern wolves that terrorized the earliest settlements had nearly vanished, and so, too, the elk and bison. Bear and mountain lion remained, and deer. But anywhere the ring of an ax was heard, the report of the blackpowder rifle followed. [ Read Full Post ]

By David E. Petzal

That whooshing, gushing sound you heard last week—sort of like the spillways opening at Hoover Dam—was the collective bladder failure of everyone who rejoiced in the thought that this time, at long last, firearms owners were going to get a good dose of sensible gun control shoved up their collective fundament.

Manchin-Toomey did not get the votes, despite Michael Bloomberg’s money, the righteous exhortations of the New York Times, the arm-twisting of the Sandy Hook parents, and the impassioned speeches of both Obamas.

Ninety percent of the American people wanted this, everyone said, so how did it fail? That figure came up again and again, as sacred and immutable as anything that God said to Moses when he went up on the mountain. All but 10 percent of us, went the Revealed Word, wanted Manchin-Toomey. [ Read Full Post ]

By Dave Hurteau

I got the phone call on Friday and spent the weekend not really believing it. But Monday’s usual slap hit like a club, and there’s no getting around the brutally sad truth that Guthrie, as everyone called him, is gone—died in his sleep Friday morning, leaving his wife and two young children.

Known best for his work with Petersen’s Hunting, Guns & Ammo, Shooting Times, and a variety of other titles, as well as Guns & Ammo TV, Guthrie had just begun doing stuff for F&S, including the March feature story “The 1,000-Yard Shot,” which he and I worked on together. I was hoping he’d do much more for us down the road, because he was very, very good, and because I liked him, and I think you—F&S’s readers—would have liked him, too.

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By Dave Hurteau

With almost 5,000 votes, I have to make the call. [ Read Full Post ]