The Shootist Archives - Page 6 of 7

April 22, 2026

About 150 rounds left this lead “core,” or cylinder, in the base of the bore of a .22 handgun. It had to be knocked out with a bronze cleaning tip.

Are your guns ready for deer season?

We were sighting in several rifles for a friend last year — each year it seems he has another boy old enough to start deer hunting, and another rifle gets added to the batch I have to tune in on my range. […]

The Taurus Judge is well-named. It will shoot a variety of .45 Colt and .410 shotgun rounds, including small shot, buckshot and slugs.

Taurus Judge perfect for self-defense

Gordon Hutchinson

A sudden, loud “THUMP” awakens you in the middle of the night. Something was knocked over in the front room, and it hit so hard, the walls shook. […]

Mossberg offers its “Bantam” line of shotguns for youngsters, featuring an ambidextrous top-mounted safety, and a special magazine-tube, limiting plug that renders the gun a “single-shot”.

Right shotgun will hold child’s interest

Gordon Hutchinson

The first wild game Brent ever took was a dove — and he killed it with a Daisy air rifle. […]

To determine which eye is your dominant eye, make a peep sight with the webs of your thumbs, and stare at an object in the distance. Now pull your hands back to your face. The peep hole will automatically go to the dominant eye.

How to overcome cross-dominance

Gordon Hutchinson

Brian Arabie, a regular reader, queried the magazine about teaching his young son shooting and firearms safety. […]

This photo shows what can happen when a pistol fails to extract. In this case, the fired case has remained in the chamber. The extractor failed to pull the empty case from the chamber even though the action cycled. The slide picked up another round from the magazine and attempted to force it into the chamber, but it was stopped by the empty that failed to extract. This condition is known as a double-feed.

Why your semi-auto pistol jams

Gordon Hutchinson

Each time we teach a concealed-firearms course — and we teach at least one class each month — someone is going to come up to me or my associate instructor and ask us to check out his or her semi-automatic pistol because it keeps “jamming.” […]

The Bersa is about the same size as the Glock, but has a slimmer profile and deeper grip, making it much easier to hide and shoot. It costs half as much, but the .380 Auto is not nearly as much of a self-defense cartridge as the 9mm Parabellum. The Bersa has proven to be a dependable and accurate handgun in the author’s tests.

Don’t underestimate Bersa .380s

Gordon Hutchinson

Small, flat-sided semiautomatic pistols have long been popular with law-enforcement officers as hide-away or backup guns to supplement their duty weapons. […]

The author demonstrates the results of a shot with his Ruger Super Redhawk in .454 Casull. The bullet was a 335-grain Hard Cast solid lead slug at approximately 1,600 fps from CorBon. Another dedicated hunter, Abbie Pi, daughter of CorBon V-P Peter Pi Jr., sits on the130-pound boar with the author. Abbie made every hunt with her dad, and helped trail several hogs.

Casull dishes it, if you can take it

Gordon Hutchinson

Like a spouse in a dysfunctional relationship, I find myself missing the abuse.

After all, I had developed a really close relationship with the Ruger Super Redhawk over a four-day hunt for European boar and feral hogs at Caney Creek Lodge. […]

This is a fully automatic version of the AR-15 battle rifle being fired at an indoor range. By actual definition, this is a true “assault weapon,” capable of full-automatic fire.

“Black” rifles legitimate for hunting

Gordon Hutchinson

I wasn’t going to participate in the time-hallowed American tradition of “piling on.” […]

This is the author’s favorite handgun — the S&W Model 66 Combat Magnum with a 4-inch barrel. It’s chambered for .357 Magnum, but most folks shoot .38 Specials for target practice and load .357 Magnums for self defense and hunting.

Two pistols form the perfect pair

Gordon Hutchinson

If you had to choose only one handgun to keep, which one would it be? […]

The new Smith & Wesson Military & Police semi-auto line is so comfortable, it feels like an extension of the shooter’s hand.

New Smith & Wesson M&P a joy to hold

Gordon Hutchinson

The young woman certainly looked like she knew what she was doing.

Slim, longish brown hair, attractive, early 30s, she held the Glock 19 with a firm two-handed grip and addressed the target aggressively, her head tilted forward as she gained proper sight picture. […]