By Phil Bourjaily

This week’s Gun Fight features a pair of guns for actual gun fighting. It’s a classic matchup of revolver vs. semiauto with a twist: The revolver out-magnums Dirty Harry’s .44 by a wide margin.

First, the semiauto: It requires no introduction, but I’ll introduce it anyway. John Browning’s 1911 pistol has been everywhere and done everything in the past 102 years. The .45 ACP cartridge was adopted by the armed services after the .38 proved ineffective against Moro tribesmen in the Philippines. This is a full-size 1911 but it is slender enough to ride in a holster or, as reader Bob Camarata explains, holsterless, between belt and hip. Camarata carried the gun as a police officer in Waterloo, Iowa, and carries it still—now with the addition of Trijicon night sights. [ Read Full Post ]

By Kristyn Brady

Before the adrenaline rush of whitetail season, there’s the taffeta swish of wedding season, ensuring nights of booze, cake, tuxes, and, if you’re lucky, at least one dancefloor sing-along to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing,” between now and early fall.

I would definitely have RSVP'd to the wedding of F&S readers and newlyweds Ashley and Jake Dates, from Red Creek, N.Y., who shared photos of their hunting-themed celebration in July 2012 and explained how a walk to check their trail cams turned into a marriage proposal to remember.
[ Read Full Post ]

By David E. Petzal

About 35 years ago, I bought a trigger pull scale so I could measure trigger pulls. Back then, you could use weights on a rod to do the job, or you could get a spring-style scale with the weights engraved on a brass tube. There was a hook connected to the spring, and you put that on the trigger and pulled carefully until you heard the firing pin fall, and you tried to read where the indicator was at the instant you heard the click.

The scale was by no means perfect. You had to develop a touch with it so you could see what it read at the crucial instant, and every few years you had to polish the thing so you could read it. But it worked. [ Read Full Post ]

By Ben Romans

The recent discovery of vandalism within Saguaro National Park in southern Arizona has some officials concerned. They worry the incident is part of a thrill-seeking trend to deface national parks and monuments across the country. Rangers said the latest episode involves at least 45 spray-painted graffiti tags brandished on landmarks throughout the park—including 16 of the park’s famous 150-year old saguaro cacti.
 
A New York Times article says that in a similar incident late last year, officials had to clean graffiti from the remote Twin Owls formation in Rocky Mountain National Park, and more recently, the Rattlesnake Canyon in Joshua Tree National Park was closed to clean graffiti from the canyon walls. What remains unclear is the motive behind the acts. [ Read Full Post ]

By Scott Bestul

All else being equal, the hunter with the most experience usually has the best shot at bagging a good buck. And when that Experience comes in the form of a great bow built by Bowtech, the odds are even better. Hurteau and I (along with test team members Will Brantley and Danny Hinton) recently put the Bowtech Experience through its paces in our annual Best of the Best bow test, and while I can’t reveal exactly where it placed in a field of hot shooters, rest assured it ranked high enough that I know this to be a very cool prize indeed. [ Read Full Post ]

Father's Day is almost here. Is your pops one of those guys that has everything, or when you ask him what he wants, you get, "Ah, I don't need anything," or a similiar response? This list will definitely help. We have shooting gloves, a cooler, a grill, boots, and lots more—from the affordable to the extravagant. They're all sure to make the old man crack a smile. Scroll through and get some ideas.

In England: £27.99; online: $45-$50 (macwet.com) Serious target shooters, high volume dove hunters, and any dads that shoot anything will love a pair of MacWet gloves for Father’s Day. Skin-tight and thin enough that you can easily pick up a dime while wearing them, MacWets offer exceptional dexterity. In fact, I am wearing a pair as I type this. Seriously.

Hailing from England, a famously damp island, MacWets are made of Aquatec fabric that both wicks moisture and retains its gripping power when wet. I have worn mine shooting on days both dry and very rainy and they perform exactly as advertised. They are so thin that at times I really have forgetten I had them on as I was... [ Read Full Post ]