Gun Digest November 2020

“Well, you can try, but it’s a shot in the dark.” You’ve undoubtedly heard that saying before, and you’ve likely even used it a time or two. I know I have. In fact, my buddies overused it during our college years while seeking out members of the fairer gender. In most cases, they were right. But in the literal sense, taking a shot in the dark is wrong on so many levels that I don’t hardly know where to begin. In addition to that, it’s a terrible defensive strategy. So, with a motherload of statistics to prove that most violent encounters happen in the dark (or, just watch the news … all the really bad stuff takes place at night), what’s your plan? The invention of night sights on defensive pistols was a…

HISTORICAL NOTES The 7-30 Waters was introduced in 1984 for the U.S. Repeating Arms Model 94XTR Angle Eject rifle and carbine. The cartridge was the work of Ken Waters, a well-known gun writer and ballistics expert. He began planning the cartridge in 1976 as a high-velocity, flat-trajectory round for short, handy, lever-action carbines. There are many problems to be overcome by those who’d improve on the performance of the .30-30 cartridge class in lever-action rifles. Severe restrictions are imposed by tubular magazines, the length of the action and permissible working pressures. However, by 1982, Waters had developed a cartridge that’d push the 139-grain 7mm bullet at 2,600 fps. At this point, U.S. Repeating Arms Co. became interested in the project and decided in 1983 to produce Model 94 lever-action rifles in this new…

The finest man I’ve ever met makes peep sights, and his name is Andy Larsson. How good of a man is Larsson? He makes arguably the finest peep sights in the world; yet, more often than not, it’s for life advice that I call him. What’s a man’s character have to do with making peep sights? If you want the very best sights, you need them to be made by a man who can see himself, you and your targets clearly. Mental clarity has and always will be more critical to good marksmanship than how well you can run a lathe. “I’ve always been an outdoors person, hunter, shooter and reloader … almost from birth,” Larsson says. “During high school, I had access to a lathe, mill, shaper and welding equipment, and…

No doubt you’ve seen articles or videos, or at least heard conversations at your local firearms emporium, about the Springfield Hellcat. If, by some inexplicable reason, this is your first-ever gun magazine, or if you’ve been living the bunker life trying to hide from the election flu or rioters, here’s a brief recap. The Springfield Hellcat is an ultra-compact, polymer-framed, semi-automatic pistol that’s only 6 inches long and weighs only 18 ounces. It comes with one 11-round magazine and one extended 13-round magazine. It also has a Tritium front sight and a tactical Rack U-Notch rear sight. Depending on the variation, the suggested retail price ranges from $569 to $643. I’ve spent a couple months working with this pistol and, after more than 500 rounds, I’m impressed. For an ultra-compact 9mm, it’s…

The world was clearer in the past. You were a Windows user or a Mac user. Your pickup was a Ford, Chevy or Dodge. Coffee came black, or with cream and sugar. Now? PC, laptop, tablet, phone. Windows, Mac, Android, U.S. or import. And coffee? Don’t get me started. Gun choices and the tools for them have undergone a similar process. OK, you need to scrape some carbon off of your AR-15. And you need to cut some 550 cord to fit your sling. Or you need to check the tightness of the laser or your trigger settings on your striker-fired pistol. You’re a 1911 user (good choice), and you need to take it apart to clean it. You grumble because the pistolsmith who fitted it made the bushing a bit…

I’ve seen it happen to a good number of avid reloaders—and I’ve had it happen to me. You get so wrapped up in the numbers, and you go so far down the rabbit hole, that the goal of what you’re doing gets lost in the mix. Our goal as reloaders is to produce the best ammunition available, but I’ve seen so many guys become completely obsessed by velocities, bullet runout, standard deviation or extreme spread. Yes, we need to have good information regarding the ammunition we create, but for those of us who load our ammunition for hunting, there’s a different set of tolerances that apply. What’s acceptable hunting accuracy? Well, we’ve got an impressive lineup of hunting rifles that offer a guarantee of sub-MOA accuracy. Is sub-MOA accuracy required for all…