The first time I assembled an AR-10 from parts and subassemblies, I didn’t have a lot of AR-10 specific documentation and part and assembly descriptions didn’t provide all of the information required to make informed assembly decisions. When closing up, the A2 extension tube went on, as did the buffer […]

This project concluded with a shooting session with friends, a local contractor and his Marine Corp Reservist son-in-law. I think it is safe to say everyone liked this little gun with it’s big bark and big bite. I think any time spectators hold up score cards after each shot to […]

A lot of folks skip over the idea of owning a functionally customized firearm, because they assume all custom rifles come with a price tag similar to the functional custom’s far distant cousin, the superfluously customized firearm. Personally, I’ve not had the desire to own a superfluous custom for several […]

I really like the .243 Winchester cartridge. In fact, when I got to the handloading portion of this project I found that I had: three sets of dies, including small base, three headspace gauges, sixty types and weights of 0.243″ bullets, and four rifles in bolt and lever action, with […]

After finishing a series of articles with an emphasis on high end firearms, AR type firearms and tactical bolt action firearms, writing about the Ruger International is a bit like coming  home. I’m not being critical of the other types of firearms, far from it as I enjoyed each and […]

Part I of “Blaser’s R8 Modular Rifle” addressed some of the more unique aspects of the R8’s design, but ultimately aesthetic appeal and interesting engineering take a back seat to how accurately a rifle places shots and how reliable it is in operation. Fortunately, operating out of rural Maine means […]

One of the benefits of reaching the chronological age of tree bark is having had the pleasure of handling many excellent mass produced and custom made firearms. That means I’m a grumpy old guy who isn’t impressed by big price tags, ego tickling brochures or pretentious sales and marketing types […]

It is a major gamble for a large corporation to release a product with controversial functional or aesthetic design elements. Get it right, Ford Mustang. Get it wrong. Ford Edsel. The fact that most of you have never heard of an Edsel, much less have seen an Edsel, makes my […]

I am always looking for cleaning methods that are not messy and can do a good job with a minimal amount of labor. No, this search is not a function of me being lazy, I just don’t have a lot of free time for tedious, mind numbing work… although it […]

It isn’t every day I get to shoot a relatively light weight, standard size autoloader that can put an aggregated twelve thousand three hundred fifty foot pounds of kinetic energy onto a target without reloading. Nor is it a daily occurrence when I can change a Springfield Armory XD Tactical […]