After using the Optika6 for a few months, I have grown fond of it. I’ve reviewed a handful of mediocre optics as well as incredible ones. I’d categorize the Optika6 4.5-27×50 under the incredible offerings. This optic is feature packed, extremely affordable for what you are getting, the optical quality is fantastic and you get a great warranty from a well-established company that will be here for years to come.
A few years ago, I began searching for a property that would accommodate constructing my own shooting range. To help get you started in the right direction, below are a few tips from my journey that I hope will help you construct your own backyard range.
The FLIR PTS736 Thermosight Pro delivers ultra long range thermal detection and comes loaded with new features.
The Garmin Xero S1: think of it as your magic wand for learning exactly what’s happening every time you miss a clay bird. It’s like Doppler radar for shotguns.
The Vortex Fury HD 5000 is a compact unit that offers a crisp, clear view for spotting and evaluating game or targets and a powerful, fast rangefinder to determine a precise range to those targets. Two fantastic tools in one small package.
The Stalker QD proved to be a nice piece of light-weight hunting gear that went on at a moment’s notice to provide the stability I needed for a good, ethical shot.
This Model 1894 .30-30 Winchester will be at home on the shooting range, hunting big game, or at the spring roundup.
Ruger has decided to enter the light-weight, long-range hunting rifle game with their appropriately named Hawkeye Long-Range Hunter Bolt Action Rifle. This gun is designed to be accurate, lightweight, user adjustable and tough. The light profile, stainless steel barrel contributes most to this rifle’s low weight and comes chambered in the most popular 6.5 calibers.
“I’m your Huckleberry!” The phrase conjures up scenes of Doc Holliday facing down bad guys, eyes gleaming and fingers gently toying with the curvaceous grips of an unusual-looking revolver. And yup! This is the gun.
Spanning six decades of rigorous use and counting, the Bearcat has carved a name for itself as an All-American rimfire six-shooter.
The Tuffpak is made from a rotational molded high-density polyethylene. The unique shape of the case allows you to pack up to 3 scoped rifles or 5 shotguns with room for extra gear. I recently had the opportunity to use and travel with the Tuffpak case and afterwards I wish I had known about it sooner- especially when I used to compete.
Built on the Browning’s X-Bolt action, the Max Long Range comes ready for long range.
President Jackson was notorious for settling his differences with his fellows via gunfire. Estimates hold Jackson as having participated in between five and one hundred duels over his long and craggly life.
One of Remington’s most practical rifles is the Model Seven Threaded, which features a short, threaded barrel, a hydro-dipped synthetic stock, and a one-piece scope base.
Need an intro to patterning? It refers to where you’d like to break a target, using the height of the shotgun’s comb to change where the gun shoots.
Old West-style lever guns used to be deer hunting mainstay. From Florida swamps to Alaska woods, they’re great brush guns—but they can be so much more.
Consider a Boyds Pro Varmint as a replacement for the Mossberg Patriot Predator Stock as a modular solution for shooting from a prone position.
This reticle was created for combat, competition, and hunting scenarios. It’s clearly made for fast, accurate holds.
Ever since we learned about the new 224 Valkyrie round from Federal and its alleged performance, the questions have been fast and furious. But how does this perform out of a 16 or 18-inch barrel?
This week, we got a chance to look at a Savage 10 GRS, which boasts a Berserk stock, suppressor-ready barrel and runs off Magpul AICS style magazines.
But, why I really love shotguns is because they are so versatile. Seriously, if you can find me any other gun that you can shoot a quail with at 15 yards and also shoot a whitetail with at 150, I will be very impressed. Not to mention all the different gauges, styles and brands.
Long-range hunting continues to gain in popularity. But just because you want to go long doesn’t mean dropping in bullets at 1,000 yards. Most deer hunters, for example, take their shots at 100 yards or less. Yet, if those same hunters could extend their range to 400 yards? Their chances at filling their tags would go up greatly.
There are only so many ways to get your favorite deer slayer from Point A to Point B and hunters should decide what the goal is before they pick a method. Is it a short jaunt in the dark to a treestand? A hurried march after work into camp? A slow, methodical still- hunt to a rendezvous with a hunting partner?
I love to look at Professional Hunter’s firearms; they show the rigors of day-to-day hunting life and are often beat nearly to death. While we all have our safe queens, I appreciate those beat up, well-hunted guns that invariably have a story to tell, be it that one shot that even surprised the owner, of those hair-raising tales of dangerous game at close quarters.
With a little creativity and practice, our hunting gear and/or Mother Nature can provide the same stability at a moment’s notice as the most versatile bipod sold.
Two things are certain in life: the changing of the seasons and hunters being out there when it’s happening. We can anticipate, prepare, and come out on top or get turned back to the truck early, defeated. Use these 7 tips to stay one step ahead of Mother Nature and her varying moods this year:
Turkey hunting gear can make or break a hunt. With gobblers having some of the best vision in the animal kingdom, and ears that can pick up details that humans can’t fathom, it’s imperative that hunters have the right equipment to get the job done.
Here is some of my favorite gear for 2018, which helped me harvest five turkeys just last season.
As Vortex’s entry level rangefinder, the Impact 850 outperforms its price point. As someone who does a variety of hunting, I look for diversity in my gear. I want equipment that’s going to function whether it’s spring or fall, archery season or gun season, and good conditions or poor. When it comes to a rangefinder, I’ll be looking for optics that can function for bowhunting deer, shotgun hunting turkey, and rifle hunting elk.
Sure Shot uses a different style of architecture in how a call is built, going back to the companies first patent, for a double reed call held together by rivets. Starting in 1959, they won pretty much every calling contest in the world for a decade straight. Since that first duck call, they have expanded into many styles of predator calls, and continue to be used by hunters around the world today.
The mere mention of the word obtains my undivided attention; it is the concept of a hunting adventure in the wild places of Africa, and is undoubtedly my happy thought. The word safari is taken from the KiSwahili dialect of East Africa, and it simply means ‘journey.’ It represents the challenge of shooting a big-bore rifle and being in an environment where there are animals large enough to take your life with ease. The CZ 550 rifle is, in and of itself, a journey, in that it has its roots in the Czechoslovakian Brno ZKK 602 rifle, and has come a long way to get to the current inception. That ZKK 602 is still revered among those who enjoy the big bore bolt-action rifles; the action is considered as rock-solid and reliable as a Mauser 98.
Here are some top gift ideas for the hunter and backcountry adventurer in your life. With candy canes and gum drops dancing in your head, it’s never too early to start scheming and dreaming of Christmas.
The whitetail deer has to be our most popular big game animal in the Continental Forty-Eight, yet the settings in which we hunt them, and the means with which we hunt them has got to be the most diverse ever. Entire volumes have been written on what makes up the consummate deer gun, and while I’m not going to attempt to define that within this article, I would like to talk about some ideas to optimize your existing deer rifle, or perhaps to choose a different rifle in order to try a different means of deer hunting.
Traveling to hunt is something I feel everyone should do at least once; it represents an adventure that can quickly make a hunter feel years, if not decades, younger. An unseen valley, an exotic species, perhaps the need for a different rifle or cartridge, it all adds a flair to the sport we love so much. Now, depending on where you call home, the destinations I’m about to list may or may not seem like an exotic place to hunt, but here are ten places that I’ve either fallen in love with or plan to in the near future.
New for 2017 is Kimber’s Subalpine Mountain Rifle, available with a Gore Optifade camo finish. Kimber also teamed up with Leupold to make matching scopes.
Primos’ new Gen 3 Trigger Sticks offer several improvements on the older generation, making an already excellent product even better.
After a long battle, Pennsylvania recently passed new legislation allowing hunters to hunt with semi-automatic guns. The black rifle has gone mainstream.
The Remington 783 Scoped rifle and scope package might provide an answer to that dilemma of those looking for a good rifle at a great price. For less than $400, shooters get a quality rifle along with scope rings and a scope—everything they need to get deer season off to a good start. And, it comes with the scope and rings installed and boresighted.
Introduced earlier this year as the company’s first-ever semi-auto shotgun, the Stevens S1200 is powered using a very smooth, fast Benelli-esque inertia recoil system but comes with a very unBenelli-esque price—starting at well under $600, for a semi-auto shotgun.
The Traditions Mountain Rifle is a Hawken style traditional sidelock muzzleloader with a double tenon wedge system. It is deadly accurate with roundballs, and is absolutely gorgeous for the $520 price. If you have always wanted a traditional style muzzleloader, this new entry to the Traditions stable is probably the one.
The Traditions Lady Whitetail is a limited edition Pursuit G4 in a special pink Hotleaf camo. Built for the female shooter, or anyone who loves pink camo, my range test showed the gun to be reliable and accurate. At $515, this is yet another great value from Traditions Firearms.
While Hollywood gave screen stars Winchester rifles, many real-life heroes carried Marlin rifles. According to the company’s website, Annie Oakley, Captain Hardy, and William “Buffalo Bill” Cody all used Marlin rifles. And, today’s 1895GBL carries on the tradition of providing great lever-actions to consumers.
Want to get a rebate to save some money on a great rimfire rifle? Then take a look at this full review of the impressive Savage A17 autoloading rifle in .17 HMR, a handy little shooter that packs a lot of performance in at a great (and now even better) price.
With deer season just around the corner, I thought that now would be a good time to review the Kimber Hunter, which is their entry level deer rifle of a very high end line. If you are a regular here at GunsAmerica, you’ve probably seen the ad for the rifle running on our homepage, and they sent me a review rifle a few months ago. Now that summer is pretty much behind us, it’s time to start thinking new deer rifle, and if you have the budget, the $885 MSRP Kimber Hunter is an option you should seek out. Most people think 1911 when they think of Kimber, but the company started with rifles, and it is still a core component of Kimber Firearms today. The Hunter is the same action as the $1,400 Kimber rifles. If are have been looking for an upgrade this deer season, please watch the video.
A father and son go on a once-in-a-lifetime safari in South Africa and live out a dream hunt. Their story told in pictures, video and words.
In this day and age of short magnums, super-short magnums, long cartridges, fat cartridges and everything in between, it seems logical that some of our tried-and-true favorites may have become obsolete. So, is there still a place for the “old” .30-’06?
Now is a great time to pick up your hunting rifle for hunting season at a great price, and Savage Arms has some outstanding rebate programs going right now!
Benelli has done with the Ethos what many companies have attempted but just couldn’t quite achieve—they ‘ve figured out how to bring truly high-end features to a firearm the average man or woman can afford. And that my friend, is no small feat.
The Longslide 10mm 1911 from Republic Forge makes for not only great close-range performance but can also be pushed out to 100 yards distance due to its power and accuracy.
The Stoeger P3000 Pump-action Shotgun. If you need a waterfowl, hunting slug gun, or home defense shotgun, and are constrained by budget, this is a great way to pick up a brand new one for less than 300 bucks.
The 11/111 Hog Hunter’s popularity has been driven in part by the growing prevalence of feral pigs in the United States.
I’m sorry that I didn’t get this out quicker for those of you who have deer season kicking in this week in your state. This product, the Walker Game Ear, shocked me when I got to test it this summer, and I had in mind that I should run the story before deer season, because it is an absolute secret weapon. If you haven’t tried these things, they have super sensitive microphones embedded in them, so they not only protect your ears from your eventual gunshots, they also allow you to hear like…well, a deer.
Over and under shotguns have been around for quite some time and have changed relatively little over the decades. Cosmetically, the Benelli 828U looks like a slightly more space age take on the classic double, but the under the hood features are what stand out as the unique elements of this shotgun.
Tired of all of the kerfuffle about the diminutive GLOCK 43? Had your fill of all of the hype about single-stack stopping power? Want a polymer pistol capable of stopping a Grizzly? Check out the GLOCK 40. This beast is big, capacity is not an issue, and it shoots the 10mm, which–when loaded right–is impressive. So how does the G40 handle?
The Savage M-11 Trophy Hunter XP is a ready-to-go hunting solution that helps simplify the learning curve. It comes preconfigured with a bore-sighted Nikon 3-9x optic with a ballistic drop compensation reticle. Take it out of the box, add ammo, and shoot. It couldn’t be easier.
Turkey season is right around the corner. Although you don’t have to have a shotgun that is dedicated to turkey hunting there are a few options that will help. Turkeys have great eyesight, they see a lot better than we can. Cammo for the hunter is a must for hunting turkeys. I don’t think it is a must for your shotgun, but it can’t hurt. At the very least you want one that is not going to shine and sparkle in the sun like vampires in tween movies. I prefer an optic or rifle sights on a turkey shotgun. These guns with the proper chokes are capable of taking a turkey out to 40 yards or a bit more. The head on a turkey is small and the bead found on typical shotguns really doesn’t cut it. We want a bit more precision here.
With so many first time gun owners out there are bound to be a whole bunch of first time hunters as well. Wild hogs are available to hunt year round, and because they have a short gestation cycle, there are almost no bounds to their numbers. Corn feeders can bring wild hogs in to a specific location at fairly reliable regular times, and the wild-caught meat is not gamy at all. Most would agree that especially corn fed wild hog is much better than feedlot commercial pork. This is a photo essay on how to butcher your own wild hog.
Last year GLOCK was downsizing. The .380 GLOCK 42 is a force to contend with, but it doesn’t compare to the new GLOCK 40. If you are think bigger is better (and we’re talking much bigger) check out this behemoth from SHOT Show 2015.
This Beretta 692 Sporting model shown here is the first one of its type to hit US shores. It’s got the B-Fast comb system for near-infinite adjustment and extra long barrels (32-inch) preferred by many trap shooters. Just to be clear, this is not a dedicated trap gun – it’s well suited for skeet and sporting clays. It just offers features that make it suitable for trap as well. Let’s take a closer look.
Air guns have come a long way from the old “you’ll shoot your eye out” days. Umarex has a new pump BB/pellet gun, the NXG APX, that is a rock solid air gun that captures all the fun of the old pump gun, but has capabilities that make it a great teaching tool. Fun and learning, all for $80? Happy holidays indeed.
Henry makes guns that keep up the values established by the company’s namesake—traditional pistol caliber lever actions, mostly. These guns make versatile ranch guns, and are cowboy competitions. They’re adding to their catalog in a big way. If you are looking for an American made .30-30, or a hard hitting favorite .45-70, check out the new guns from Henry. These are hard-working lever actions, but miles away from the pistol calibers you might associate with the brand.
I believe a new shooter should start with a fully functional gun and not some bargain basement piece of crap. Youth shooters would do well to check out a TriStar. These inexpensive shotguns work incredibly well, and don’t break the bank. Some of them are even pink–which got me some strange looks at the range.
I’ve just come back from my first black powder hunt and I’ve learned a few valuable life lessons that I’d like to pass on. Learn from my mistakes and my successes, and you may have a much more productive hunt–even if the only thing you bag is a big fat rat.
The Troy Pump Action Rifle may look like an AR-15, but it isn’t. While Troy’s Sporting Rifle shares many of the same characteristics and parts, the basic operational mechanisms are unique, and built with compliance in mind. The Troy PAR is 50 state legal, and ideal for hunting, and capable of extraordinary accuracy. If you think this is nothing but an attempt to appease politicians, you need to think again. The PAR is fast and accurate.
The Remington 700 Ultimate Muzzleloader is unlike any front loader I have had my hands on. The bolt-action front loader is as close to a Remington 700 as you can get, which should open more doors for early season hunters who may have doubts about muzzleloaders. But is it the ultimate, hard hitting, long range early-season hunting gun?
I was initially enamored with the RAAC MKA-1919, otherwise known as the AR-15 looking shotgun. It was the star of our 2012 SHOT Show coverage, registering over 80,000 readers within the first few days after release. Then I got a review gun, and in August of that year everyone got to read that the gun had some quirks. My review was one of the few that put the gun through its paces, and demonstrated that it failed more than it fired. But at the time, I was excited about a modification company that had exhibited with RAAC at SHOT. Guns can get expensive and the base price of the 1919 wasn’t that high. A couple hundred in mods I felt was reasonable for a niche specialty gun like this, assuming that it works well. That company never got back to me.
