By Kristyn Brady

Rebecca Etchen Peters is a competitive shotgunner and bird hunter whose family legacy is marksmanship. The daughter of Pennsylvania custom gun dealer Joel Etchen, she represents the fourth generation of sharpshooting Etchens to emerge as a major contender in registered competition, and the third in her family to look beyond the barrel at a career related to shooting and hunting. In a Q+A with assistant editor Kristyn Brady, Rebecca shares some lessons from her grandfather, a world-class shot, her love of dove hunting, and what it was like to deal with the unique pressure of competing as a youth in a sport where everyone knows your name.

First, a bit of history on her family. Rebecca’s maiden name holds a lot of weight in the shotgunning world. The family’s history of hunting goes back even further than Joel Etchen. Rebecca's great-great-grandfather, John Etchen, was a market hunter who sold birds to local restaurants and hotel kitchens in Kansas in the late 1800s. He trained his six sons in the same vocation, and one of them, Fred, branched out into competitive shooting. He went on to captain the U.S. Olympic shooting team in the 1924 Paris summer games,... [ Read Full Post ]

By Phil Bourjaily

All misses with a shotgun are frustrating, but shooting behind a bird when you think (you know!) your barrel was in front of it may be the most frustrating of all.

The problem is not insufficient lead. The problem is that you looked back at your barrel to measure the lead. When you did that, the gun stopped* and you shot behind even though last time you looked, your gun was ahead of the bird.

I saw a perfect example in the goose field last week. I was hunting with a friend who is normally a very good shot. A single goose came in on his side, offering a 25-yard crosser. He missed behind it with all three shots. I saw clearly over his shoulder that his gun was pointing behind the bird’s tailfeathers every time he pulled the trigger. After his gun was empty and the bird was gone he asked me, “Was I too far ahead of it?”

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By David E. Petzal

Thanks to Deadeye Dick for this idea, but before we get to scopes, here are two more handloading tips that I want to get down before I forget them.

Before I resize my cases, I clean the carbon off the necks with a metal polish called Simichrome. Then I wipe off the black ugh and throw them in the case tumbler with the fired primers still in place. This saves you having to poke pieces of ground-up corncob out of the flasholes.

If you want to do a really thorough job of degreasing, soak the re-sized shells in acetone for 15 minutes. You do this outdoors, or in the garage with the doors open. They dry off very quickly, and if you want to speed up the process even more, turn a fan on them.

OK, scopes. Because long-range shooting is now all the rage, some scope designers have made their reticles things of unholy complexity, packed with dots, lines, very small lines, squiggles and, in some cases, runes. This is due to the belief that a) the more complex it is, the better it is, and b) the people who design hunting optics have apparently done precious little hunting and intend to sell these things to people who are likewise unqualified. [ Read Full Post ]

By Phil Bourjaily

This is me with my first rooster of the year, always a noteworthy event. Almost equally important is this: even though you can see that Jed wanted to jump out of my arms and keep hunting I called my limit one bird and went home. I got back a little earlier than I told my wife I would and had daylight left for some leaf raking.

Having now been married for 29 hunting seasons I can offer this observation: It is not so much the time you spend in the field that leads to disharmony during the fall. Coming home later than you said you would be home is what causes problems. [ Read Full Post ]

By Chad Love

A hunter accidentally shot his own foot in Minnesota. It looks like he'll be okay, but it's an important safety reminder for you handgunners out there.

From this story on parkrapidsenterprise.com:
A Sartell man was hospitalized after he accidentally shot his foot while deer hunting Sunday evening, according to a report from the Todd County Sheriff’s Office. Daniel Hayes, 26, of Sartell, Minn., was allegedly injured at around 6:30 p.m. five miles north of Clarissa, while unloading his firearm. The gun discharged, hitting Hayes in the foot and leaving him with non-life-threatening injuries, the report stated. The report also said Hayes was hospitalized in Staples, and later transported for care in St. Cloud. The case is still under investigation.

So remember: when you're pointing the muzzle of your gun at the ground, make sure your foot's not in the way...

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By Chad Love

When you get right down to it, current firearms technology—even the alleged cutting-edge, state-of-the-art stuff—is still so 19th-Century. Primer, case, powder, bullet, then an old-fashioned bang. Come on, it's 2012. Where are the laser blasters we've been promised for so long? As it turns out, they're closer than we think...

From this story on wired.com:

Never mind looming defense cuts or residual technical challenges. The Navy’s chief futurist is pushing up the anticipated date for when sailors can expect to use laser weapons on the decks of their ships, and raising expectations for robotic submarines. “On directed energy” — the term for the Navy’s laser cannons, “I’d say two years,” Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, the chief of the Office of Naval Research, told Danger Room in a Monday interview.

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