Gun Reviews

I’ve been wanting to build a custom rifle for about a decade now. I had previously assembled a rifle using a blueprinted Remington 700 action, but this time around, I wanted to maximize performance by using the best of every component. This rifle is designed with hunting in mind, first and foremost...

If you asked most American hunters to name every kind of rifle action, they’d probably forget about the straight pull. While fairly common overseas–most famously on the Austro-Hungarian Mannlicher rifle–straight-pull bolt guns never really caught on here in the States. The reasons for this are...

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...

When we published an article last year covering the best lever action hunting rifles, some of you accused us of making a serious omission. Where, you asked, was the Marlin Model 336? You had a point. Marlin’s stable of lever-action rifles is legendary, and perhaps none more so than the Model 33...

Introducing new or young hunters to shooting requires more tact than simply throwing them in the deep end. You might think you’re expediting their learning curve by giving them your old .30-06 because that’s how you cut your teeth (and eye), right? Unfortunately, you’re probably fast-tracking them...

Previous generations of hunters had to rely on the know-how of a professional gunsmith if they wanted a custom rifle. Those days are over. Modern manufacturing technology allows gun makers to cut receivers and barrels to such tight specs that even the least mechanically inclined among us (slowly...

These ain’t your granddaddy’s air rifles. They’ll still shoot your eye out, but they’re also deadly accurate and powerful enough to lay down a squirrel with a single shot every time. They’re quiet, cheap to shoot, and easy to use. If you’re thinking about exploring the small game woods this year...

I know what you’re thinking. This gun review isn’t exactly…unbiased. In some ways, you’re right. We helped develop the MeatEater Edition of Weatherby’s new Model 307, and we think it’s pretty slick. (You can order one for yourself here.) But there’s no such thing as the perfect rifle. Tradeoffs are...

I didn’t watch this show as a kid, but I’ve recently discovered (thanks to my lovely wife) the hit 1950’s western “The Rifleman” starring Chuck Connors. Connors plays a quick-shooting but peace-loving cowboy named Lucas McCain, and I’d put it up against any John Wayne movie for spurring viewers to...

Dedicated turkey shotguns did not become popular until the early 2000s. At the time, turkey populations were booming—there were an estimated 7 million birds inhabiting the U.S. and Canada—which ushered in a new era of optics-ready, short-barreled shotguns that catered to turkey hunters. Truthfully...

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...

The Weatherby Backcountry has created waves in the industry, and the 2.0 continues to push the limits. Check out the video above as Clay Newcomb walks through the new and improved feature sets for this incredible backcountry rifle.

The 9mm Luger isn’t a great hunting cartridge. Let’s get that out of the way up front. But it is cheap, easy to shoot, and readily available-all things we value whenever we’re evaluating a caliber. These attributes make it a great training round if you’re looking to start hunting with a handgun. It...

Choosing the best .22 LR rifle is like picking the “best” flavor of ice cream. We can all agree that pistachio is terrible, but all the other flavors? It’s a matter of opinion. The MeatEater Crew has never been short on opinions, so we polled a few of the guys to share with you some .22 LR rifle...

In 1983, Colonel Jeff Cooper hosted a conference he believed would modernize rifle design and launch the “new wave” long gun of the future. The famous instructor, hunter, and author described this new style of firearm in a manifesto of sorts published in the gun magazine, American Rifleman. The...