Firearms

When someone contacted me recently to suggest this Caliber Battle matchup, I couldn’t believe we hadn’t done it before. If you ask your average American hunter which big boy caliber he uses, the .300 Win. Mag. and the 7mm Rem. Mag. are the two most likely candidates. And the data backs that up...

It seems like whenever anyone mentions one of the sexy new 6.5mm cartridges, someone else brings up the .270 Winchester and argues that it’s just as fast, hard-hitting, and flat-shooting as any of those newfangled whipper snappers. You can’t get much more sexy or newfangled than the 6.5 PRC. We’ve...

When Bill Wilson began developing the .300 HAM’R in the early 2010s, he wanted to create a .30-caliber cartridge that could be chambered in AR-type rifles and would “at least equal the legendary and time-proven .30-30 Winchester in terminal performance.” If the Wilson Combat website is any...

There were three popular write-in votes when the MeatEater audience selected The Greatest Whitetail Cartridge of All Time earlier this month: the .270 Winchester, the 7mm-08 Remington, and the .25-06 Remington. Many of you argued that these three cartridges deserved a chance to compete in the...

Gun nuts love to argue, and one of our favorite arguments pits the traditional against the modern. Modernists think that newer is always better, whether it’s a polymer frame, carbon fiber barrel, or titanium suppressor. The traditionalists, on the other hand, won’t give up their wood and steel until...

Read enough gun reviews and you’re sure to see a rifle design described as “thoughtful.” The term is probably overused, but I think it fits Sig Sauer’s new rifle: the CROSS Magnum. Sig’s engineers designed the CROSS Magnum with an actual human hunter in mind. The rifle is chock full of small...

I’m a rifle guy in the small game woods. Always have been. I don’t like picking lead BB’s out of a squirrel ham, but I also love to practice my marksmanship. While you may take a single shot all year at a whitetail or an elk, the squirrel woods give you the chance to hone your skills by taking...

Specialized turkey shotguns have become widely popular in recent decades. Turkey shotguns are essentially field models built with shorter barrels, drilled and tapped for an optic mounting system, and sometimes outfitted with a pistol grip to improve steadiness. They are a fine addition to any gun...

Most hunters love their shooting irons (sometimes more than they should), but nothing in this life is perfect. Rifles don’t always perform like you hope, and one bad experience can be enough to banish a once-loved rifle to the back of the safe. But is it really the gun’s fault? How do you know...

The fascinating thing about shotguns is you never really know how one will pattern a shotshell until you pull the trigger and see the results on target paper. A shotshell delivers hundreds of projectiles downrange at the same time. Once these pellets, which vary in size and are comprised of...

When I started hunting in middle school, I was lucky enough to cut my teeth on classic deer rifles. On Saturday mornings during deer-dog season, my grandfather and dad would load me up, and we’d head to their camp and wait for the dog handlers to show up. I have distinct memories of my grandfather’s...

Purchasing a suppressor has historically been one of the most frustrating experiences for gun owners. The paperwork is onerous, but the wait time is what really gets you. No one wants to drop $1,000 on something (plus a $200 “tax”) just to wait a year or more to bring it home. Those days appear to...

For the past several years, I’ve had the opportunity to try out a fair number of different scopes through competition, hunting, and helping the MeatEater crew dial in their kits. For those few scopes I haven’t used personally, I also have data points from folks who spend a lot of time behind a rifle...

If you watched the recent MeatEater Florida turkey episode, you’ll know that I shot my first Osceola turkey. And you’ll also know that it was a long shot. But I felt comfortable and confident in that 60-yard shot because of my turkey gun set-up and ammo. The last two seasons I’ve used a Beretta A30...

Red-dot reflex sights are widely popular amongst turkey and slug gun deer hunters for good reason—they can increase your accuracy with a shotgun to ensure you don’t miss when a shot presents itself. If a red-dot has been sighted in properly prior to the hunt, all you need to do is put that ball of...

The debate has raged for as long as gun hunters have taken animals with tiny, fast-moving metal projectiles: what type of bullet is best? These days, that debate revolves mainly around solid copper bullets and various jacketed lead bullets. Unfortunately, as MeatEater’s Janis Putelis pointed out...

Access to hunting ground is the number-one barrier to entry for new hunters, but firearms are usually also towards the top of that list. It can be intimidating to select, purchase, and learn to shoot a rifle, especially if you’ve never done so before. If that’s you, you’ve come to the right place...

Introducing Ask the Eagle, where I’ll be answering your questions about everything from hunting to butchering to marriage. This week, an Instagram follower wants to know what rifle caliber I’d recommend to hunt all big game with. Have a question of your own? You can write to me asktheeagle...

Caliber selection can be intimidating for new deer hunters. There are so many options, and every gun writer with a blog and an Internet connection has an opinion he’s more than happy to share. You can read our recommendations below, but first, know this: almost every rifle caliber can take down a...

Remember that old children’s story, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears?” Some take the moral as a warning against breaking and entering, but most folks probably remember the story’s lesson about moderation: not too hot, not too cold, not too hard, not too soft—just right. The .257 Roberts is the...

When it comes to turkey shotguns, modern choke-and-load combinations are capable of throwing ultra-tight patterns out to 40 yards or more. At the same time, turkey hunters should remember that a properly outfitted scattergun’s pattern is likely no larger than a baseball at 10 to 15 yards. I learned...

The first time Steve and I met, we sat on a patio discussing competitive shooting and hunting. The conversation was exciting as we connected the dots on how closely related the two really are. Competitive shooters and hunters tend to exist in separate worlds, but many of our methodologies can be...

You’ve got questions. We’ve got answers (and if we don’t, we’ll make them up). Every day, fellow MeatEaters send us more than 100 emails regarding hunting, fishing, cooking, conservation, and more. So, we decided to publish a series dedicated to our favorite FAQs. This is Ask MeatEater. Several...

Whether your rifle is brand new or passed down through several generations, regular and proper cleaning is imperative to keep it in good shape and shooting accurately for hunting seasons to come. It all starts with the right tools and a solid understanding of what you’re trying to accomplish. When...