By Phil Bourjaily

Thanks to high winds, high water, and one sneaky hen, this was as close as I was able to bring F&S senior editor Colin Kearns to an Iowa turkey last week. The target is a Champion Re-Stick turkey target and it is a small, slick improvement to the life of a turkey hunter, which can be hard (see high water, high winds and hen, above). [ Read Full Post ]

By Phil Bourjaily

Last month I traveled to Urbino, Italy, home of Benelli, to tour the factory. Urbino itself is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen, an almost perfectly intact walled renaissance town on a steep hill in Italy’s Marche region. The building behind me is the palace of the Duke of Montefeltro, begun in the mid-15th century.

The old part of the city is made of brick and full of narrow, medieval streets and views of snowcapped mountains around it. There is a university in Urbino, so it’s a lively place with many sidewalk cafes and gelato shops. Deer and boar live in the woods and there's a very nice gun club nearby with international trap bunkers.

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By Phil Bourjaily

In the comments to the 28 gauge Mystique post, HogBlog asked me why it is I shoot non-toxic shot almost exclusively in the uplands. The goose in this picture is a big part of the reason. I was pheasant hunting on a place I often hunt geese and suspected one might fly over too low for its own good.  One did. Because I had my waterfowl stamp, and my gun was plugged and loaded with HeviShot and goose season was open, I was able to legally add the goose to the rooster I shot that day, and there is nothing I like better for dinner than goose. [ Read Full Post ]

By Phil Bourjaily

Because my kids are out of the house now, I am not as current as I used to be. Therefore I had no idea splitting Oreos was a Youtube thing. Personally, I eat Oreos whole, or, you know, twist them apart with my fingers.*

That brings us once again to Jorg Sprave of the Slingshot Channel, who has invented a pump-action Oreo splitter. And, while his pump action splitter does a terrible job of splitting Oreos if having an edible cookie at the end of the process is your goal, the pump mechanism he came up with is very clever. [ Read Full Post ]

By Phil Bourjaily

The always-awaited new edition of the Blue Book of Gun Values came out on April 1. The Blue Book, is, of course, the standard price reference for anyone buying or selling guns for one simple reason. “I am more thorough than anyone else,” says Steven P. Fjestad, the man behind the book. That is, in the words of Will Sonnet, no brag, just fact.

This year’s Blue Book runs 2,408 pages long and includes both values for countless guns in every condition from new-in-the-box to 60% as well as 80 pages of illustrations showing how to grade gun condition.

This year marks the 34th edition of the Blue Book, but it has not always been the single-source indispensible bible of all used gun prices. In the beginning, it was geared toward collectibles only, lever action rifles and that kind of thing. Then Fjestad went to SHOT Show, saw all the new guns and thought, “Why not list new and recently discontinued guns, too?” The book grew from there.

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by Michael R. Shea

Like marrying your high school sweetheart, the only shotgun I’ve ever loved was my Remington 870 Wingmaster. Heavy, with a 30-inch barrel, she swung smooth and just felt right. Then last year I shot the Franchi Affinity. Well, I wouldn’t say I divorced my 870, I just moved a younger, lighter, modern gal into the gun safe.

Essentially a dressed down M2, the Franchi’s Inertia system runs up the tube, which makes it nicely balanced, quick to point, and sleek. One of my gripes about most autoloaders is the big bulky feel, like swinging a gas-operated club, but the Affinity has none of that. Franchi will tell you she weighs a lusty 6.5 pounds, but mine is closer to 7 in Realtree MAX-4. She fits well, and held up to near daily abuse on the saltwater. Best of all, you can find one for $700 in synthetic black. For 2013 Franchi has released a Sporting version, with a nickel-plated action, and a few tweaks for the clays course. MSRP: about $1,000. [ Read Full Post ]