Over the past months I have made an effort to acquire military surplus firearms. My purpose is to extend my involvement and participation in firearm ownership and recreational shooting, and to expand my understanding of world history. Where social and cultural changes are slow in developing and the cause often […]

Lyman is….a quiet product and I am not sure why. My first reloading equipment was built around a Lyman turret press and dies and, as I recall, it did a great job producing jacketed and cast loads for the 30-30 WCF round. I’m not sure what happened to that setup, […]

Reloading for Shotgunners is a well written and comprehensive primer for anyone who wants to know more about the subject, or plans on taking on the task of loading shotshells. As is the case with most good handloading manuals of the metallic cartridge type, Reloading for Shotgunners addresses each component […]

I bought the book just for the title, thinking I would find an artist rendition of some of my errant handloading projects. I did not, but what I did find was a lot more useful. I’ve taken guns apart with some frequency, unfortunately, there has not been a direct correlation […]

I usually purchase a few firearm related books each month. Unless specifically noted at the beginning of a review, they are purchased from retail at the typical market price. A good number I didn’t review because they were lackluster in content, OK for me to read, but nothing outstanding or […]

When I began some project work on military surplus rifles, the most difficult part of the task was getting enough good information to make a purchase of a rifle or replacement parts. It was also difficult to get the history of various firearms in terms of where they were assigned […]

There was a time when I had no interest in surplus rifles, or at least I lacked appreciation for their potential as shooters, collectors items and the basis for some pretty exceptional guns. As is the case, I am sure, with many gun owners, eventually I was taken in by […]

My problem with handgun shooting is not accuracy, I’m actually a decent shot. My problem with handgun shooting is my sloth like speed and lack of adaptable shooting styles. Every once in awhile I will take a course in practical handgun shooting; not the competitive events, but rather practical methods […]

I bought a copy of “The Mosin-Nagant” specifically because I was considering using one of these military surplus rifles for some cartridge experiments. With my lack of knowledge and experience, a trip to the local Big 5 provided just enough information to raise even more questions, so I began looking […]

Stopping power is probably one of the most complex issues a firearms enthusiast might encounter. There are lots of little neat calculations and there are lots of subjective written reports and opinions, but virtually all miss being properly tempered by real world conditions. Formulas tend not to incorporate essential variables […]