Editorial

Here is a very brief mention of some new guns coming up that we’re sure will be of interest. Watch for ‘em at your dealer and in Gun Tests.

Colt’s will soon be into production with their double-action-only Z40, a semiautomatic pistol design made in close conjunction with CZ of Czechoslovakia. The new Colt Cowboy single-action revolver is also coming along. Colt will also continue to offer the original Single Action Army, but some industry insiders seem to think Colt should stick with just their original SAA and figure out how to make it the old way, for a better price. Colt dropped the DS-II in .38 Special, one of which we tested for this issue. The new .357 Magnum version looks just the...

Col. Rex Applegate died in San Diego on 14 July, 1998, of a stroke complicated by pneumonia. He was 84. Many of you may not be aware of Applegate’s immense contributions to the firearms industry and to shooters. A brief discussion here can’t cover them all, but we can touch the highlights.

During World War II, Applegate was responsible for setting up the combat training for the U.S. OSS (Office of Strategic Services). The OSS eventually became today’s CIA. During that war, Applegate trained in England with Commandos and Special Operations forces. He went on combat operations with them on the Continent, without the knowledge or approval of his U.S. superiors. What better way to learn a c...

Freedom Arms is about to bring out a five-shot .45 Long Colt revolver based on their very successful small-frame gun, first chambered as a six-shooter for the .357 Magnum. We understand Freedom is considering chambering the .475 Linebaugh in their full-size guns, now that Buffalo Bore Ammunition offers both loaded ammunition and components for both the .475 and .500 Linebaugh cartridges. If you want a Freedom in .475 Linebaugh, call ‘em at 307-883-2468 and let ‘em know.

Buffalo Bore Ammunition also offers some very interesting loads in .45 Long Colt and .44 Magnum, in addition to their Linebaugh ammunition. Both labeled “HVY,” and featuring either cast or jacketed bullets, these are hot-l...

Freedom Arms is about to bring out a five-shot .45 Long Colt revolver based on their very successful small-frame gun, first chambered as a six-shooter for the .357 Magnum. We understand Freedom is considering chambering the .475 Linebaugh in their full-size guns, now that Buffalo Bore Ammunition offers both loaded ammunition and components for both the .475 and .500 Linebaugh cartridges. If you want a Freedom in .475 Linebaugh, call ‘em at 307-883-2468 and let ‘em know.

Buffalo Bore Ammunition also offers some very interesting loads in .45 Long Colt and .44 Magnum, in addition to their Linebaugh ammunition. Both labeled “HVY,” and featuring either cast or jacketed bullets, these are hot-l...

I can still see him, eyes squinting, smiling, sixguns in hand, as Dale Evans sang the song. He waited until Dale sang the words, “Shoot, cowboy!” and tossed a glass ball upward. Roy Rogers shot and broke each in turn, never losing his peaceful smile. Man, how I loved it! I was about six or eight years old, and Dad had taken me to see Roy and Dale, live, in person, at the old Sports Arena in Toledo, Ohio. Even Trigger, Roy’s amazing horse, was there. Roy was my idol and there he was, right in front of me on the stage. Wow!

I remember that scene like it was yesterday, but it’s been half a century since I saw it.

A few months later, Dad took me to see the Gene Autry show. Dad and I were w...

Much recreational shooting easily falls into traps of a sort, in that we practice certain types of shooting and leave some vital experiments out of our practice—stuff that could come in mighty handy some day.

For example, many common tests involve how well a person can shoot a handgun at, say, 15 or perhaps 25 yards. This is all well and good, and certainly shows us either our own personal limitations or — if we are among the very best handgunners — the limitations of the handgun. This shows us where the gun hits, which is very important with fixed-sight pistols. Yet do we know where the gun hits at, say, three feet? Can we take the head off a snake or put the bullet within half an inch o...

The hunting seasons are now upon us, and we hope you’re ready. Of course, you’ve got your rifle all ready to go, lots of ammunition loaded for it, and it’s all sighted in. Or is it?

How many of you have made the very common error of using cheap ammunition to sight in your rifle, being careful to use the very same bullet weight you’ll be using in your premium hunting ammunition? If you think the two different loads — the inexpensive stuff and the premium-bullet expensive hunting ammunition — will shoot to the exact same point of impact, you’re almost certainly wrong. Here’s why.

The two types of loads will use different powders and achieve different pressures, the barrel vibration and...

I’ve just returned from the 1999 Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Show, better known as the SHOT Show. In terms of new-product introductions, it was one of the better fireams-industry efforts in recent memory. We’ll be examining many of those products in the coming months, including Walther’s expensive answer to the Ruger 10/22, a GSP-based .22 LR pistol/rifle combo, Winchester’s newly formulated X-2 shotgun, and a raft of new handguns.

Though the new-product introductions were certainly the whipped cream on my trip, a not-very-tasty main course was served away from the crowded aisles of the Georgia World Congress Center. As we reported last month, Atlanta’s municipal government was p...

Most gun owners I know are jammed up about the elevation of New York’s Charles “Chuckie” Schumer from the U.S. House of Representatives to the U.S. Senate. In fact, the NRA’s American Rifleman magazine recently cited Schumer’s win as one of the gun-rights organization’s high-profile losses in the November 1998 elections.

But there’s another person who poses a much graver, much more insidious threat to gun ownership than even Schumer the schemer: Elisa Barnes. Ms. Barnes is the lead attorney for Brooklyn plaintiffs who are suing the gun industry under a novel theory. In the Hamilton lawsuit, eponymously named for the lead plaintiff, the gun fascists are going after the industry as a whole,...

We just got a flyer from Remington, and that financially beleaguered company has come up with some darned good magnets for your money. Hottest of their offerings for 1999 is the .300 Remington Ultra Mag. This is a beautiful, non-belted .404 Jeffery case necked to .30 caliber. You don’t really need that belt, and rounds without it feed smoothly. The new Remington round has a 30-degree shoulder and 20 percent more case capacity than the .300 Winchester Magnum. The result provides ballistics that significantly beat even the .300 Weatherby. The .300 Ultra Mag propels a 180-grain Nosler Partition bullet at 3,300 fps from the 26-inch standard-length barrel that Remington uses in all five of the pr...

If they can’t get around the 2nd Amendment, the gun-control crowd may seek to re-enact the days of Prohibition.

There’s an ongoing push to equate gun criminality with some sort of gun-related “disease,” for lack of a better description. Example: A recent Reuters article, which moved on the wires as “US Health System Fails To Track Gun Violence-Study,” uncritically accepted the conclusions of the Handgun Epidemic Lowering Plan (HELP) Network. The HELP study purported to find an “information gap” that hobbled efforts to combat gun violence in the United States. Translation: The HELP study was searching for some ruse from which to enact more gun laws. Now this oblique attempt to reach in our...

Charlton Heston, president of the National Rifle Association, spoke at the Harvard Law School Forum on Tuesday, February 16. Though his speech, “Winning The Cultural War, ” didn’t exclusively focus on gun topics, he made some points about liberty and fighting for our rights—including gun rights—that made me say, “Yes!” as I read his text. Herewith, then, are a few points from Heston’s speech we should all consider, especially in light of continuing efforts to demonize gun owners and gun ownership, and to strip our gun rights from us.

-Todd Woodard

About a year ago I became president of the National Rifle Association, which protects the right to keep and bear arms. I ran...