Free Republic

From concealed-carry class attendee to successful team competition shooter to sole owner of an ammunition company, one woman's inspiring journey through the firearms world. America is still the greatest country in the world for allowing anyone to make their dreams come true through enough hard work, ambition and a never-ending devotion to their vision. For instance, consider the historical life of Annie Oakley. The 19th century female trailblazer became America’s sweetheart as one of the greatest shooters of all time. At a time when women were largely confined to home and their family, Oakley generated huge audiences across the country...

Not all match-grade bullets are created equal, especially those featuring an aluminum tip - In the cold, dry air of the eastern Oregon desert, the Leupold Optics Academy hosts its shooting courses at an impressive rifle range, with targets at distances from 100 yards to 2,000 yards. The ever-changing winds, the constant mirage and the physical location of the targets make for some very interesting shooting, to say the least, and you'll want every advantage possible to make that steel ring. There are many facets, but an accurate rifle, good glass and a proper cartridge/bullet combination will make the shooter's...

It took five years – and maybe a little begging on the author's part – but Taylor's and Company now offers their S&W New Model Frontier revolver in .44 Special, along with .45 Colt. Here's the review. Five years ago, in the August 2015 issue, this column featured the New Model No. 3 Frontier revolver from Taylor's & Company in .45 Colt caliber. At that time the .45 was the only caliber offered and my story was concluded with – I'll admit – some rather straight-forward begging for this revolver to be available in .44 Russian or .44-40 caliber, and...

Automatic weapons are unicorns in the gun world. Every gun owners want ones. But thanks to the circus known as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, most automatic weapons and machineguns are prohibitively expensive. And with the recent ban on the bumpstock (even though the bumpstock doesn’t even meet the ATF’s definition of a machinegun) what is a freedom-loving gun owner to do? When you tire of laboriously emptying magazines with one trigger squeeze, when the Mad Minutes get boring, where do you go next? The Gat Crank might be the answer. The beauty of the Gat Crank is...

The merits of each have been debated for decades; here’s one shooter’s take. - The relative merits of the three basic types of pistols – single-action, double-action and automatic – has rarely been discussed in an impartial manner. All have their place and their advantages and disadvantages, depending upon their use. There is a lot of misinformation and even brazen lies that have been repeated for so long that many people believe them. Chief among these is the lie that revolvers are more reliable than automatics. We need to get that lie out of the way before we go any...

Made for a time when cops and citizens carried a pistol in their pocket, this handgun served for decades before semiautos became more popular - I’ve made a habit of perusing the CenturyArms.com website's Surplus Corner to see what gun bargains they've turned up. Recently I found a deal that felt like a time warp back to the 1980s. They had a bunch of clean, well-kept, 1960s vintage, police turn-in Colt Police Positive .38 Special revolvers at really reasonable prices. At a gun show, prices at that level get Colt collectors handing over their money as fast as they can....

In this Episode, we will take a look at the ongiong work by SpaceX in Boca Chica. We will look at Starship SN4 & SN5. Progress is continuing at an incredible rate. We will also take a look at the newly contracted Lunar Landers by Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX. NASA has chosen to give the private sector an opportunity for their own Moon shots. SpaceX is contributing the Lunar Starship, which has quite a few differences compared to the Earth based variant!

The M240 SLR from Ohio Ordnance Works is an excellent replica of the M240 light machine gun, and it is a pleasure to shoot. Variants of the M240 general-purpose light machine gun may have earned a reputation for ruggedness and reliability on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, but this 7.62x51mm NATO belt-fed beauty has provided U.S. Army and Marine Corps infantryman with hard-hitting firepower since the 1990s. And, although the weapon is heavier and more complicated than the Vietnam-era M60-series light machine guns it replaced, those drawbacks are far outweighed by the simple fact that it works much better....

Dear Governor Inslee, Thank you for your announcement reopening most fishing and hunting in Washington starting May 5. That provides welcome relief about when we can get back to some of our favorite spring activities. However, and while in no way do we wish to risk public health, we call on you to help fast track reinstating ocean fishing to, at the very least, private boats by working with coastal communities to ensure that that is possible in a safe manner. Our state – with its variety of fish and wildlife and vast array of state lands and water access...

Handguns are almost always inferior to rifles in terms of accuracy and stopping power. Since defensive fighting usually happens up close, those qualities are important, but casual carrying of long guns is not socially acceptable in much of the world. The solution is to use the most powerful handgun that’s still practical for unsupported firing. Guncrafter Industries Model No. 4 Hunting pistol attempts to create exactly that kind of weapon by combining 6 inches of barrel with a .50-caliber bore, the largest legally possible without National Firearms Act paperwork. That way, the projectile already has an impressive frontal area, 23...

Anyone want to participate in a music play-off bracket-type poll for best songs of the '50s? At the start of this year, as well as 2 and 5 years ago, I ran "tournaments" to pick the best songs of the '60s, '70s and '80s, based on Billboard rankings, so only the best of the best were included! Normally it'd probably be next year before I'd even attempt. But given this stay-home COVID nonsense, I thought maybe everyone would like another something to do. You can view how the earlier versions played out here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3818895/posts http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3635562/posts http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3249477/posts I can do this...

In the long range shooting world the .308 and the .30-06 have been embedded in the history of American firearms. Both rounds have their roots in the U.S. Army and was used in many conflicts all over the world. The hunting community and self-defense groups also recognized its effectiveness and highly embrace them both. However, many gun folks love to debate which caliber is better or the best for hunting elk. Caliber Differences The bullets are an identical 7.8mm in diameter. The primers are the same. The only real difference is in the cases. Put a .308 and .30-06 next...

Seven miles in to our do-it-yourself wilderness elk hunt, I was growing discouraged with the number of hunters my buddies and I were seeing. Then, at about the 13-mile mark, camps began to dwindle. Leading our pack string of horses five more miles, we found the isolation we desired. That night – two days before opening day of Wyoming's archery season – the mountains were alive with bugling bulls. On opening morning, the three of us hiked four more miles, to over 9,000 feet in elevation. By 9 a.m., two of us had big bulls down, with the third member...

A hunter and his wife take to the air to help eradicate invasive feral pigs, fulfill bucket list dream. It had been on my bucket list for a long time. I’ve been fortunate to do a lot of cool things from helicopters. I've parachuted out of them, rappelled out of them, and have even been in a low-speed crash landing in one (no injuries, but we ran like hell!). But the one thing I hadn't done, and had always wanted to, was shoot from a helicopter. Lean out the door with a rifle and engage some targets! So, when I...

VIDEO The media is emotionally and politically invested in President Trump being wrong about the possibility of hydroxyychloroquine, along with Z-Paks and zinc, aka "Trump Pills" as a cure. They were triggered by Sunday's White House press conference as the subject of hydroxychloroquine dominated the discussion. The usual suspects, CNN and MSNBC, were especially outraged. Not only did the CNN reporter at the press conference attempt to push back on hydroxychloroquine but also Brian Stelter was quite upset over the possibility that this drug could WORK. The following day, Morning Joe went into extreme meltdown mode. Joe Scarborough himself...

The creation of an accurate .22 Magnum autoloader has long been plagued by cycling challenges caused by the cartridge shape and construction. The long, skinny case has a lot of surface area and resists extraction. Extracting it while the gas pressure is high runs the risk of blowing out the thin case head typical of rimfire ammunition. Balancing these conflicting requirements was a huge technical challenge to overcome – until the Magnum Lite. Magnum Research calls the action "gas-assisted blowback," but it is not. Gas assistance uses a muzzle booster to move the whole barrel (as on a Maxim machine...

When Winchester produced its famous 1873 lever-action rifles and carbines, Colt wasted no time in chambering its single-action Army revolver in Winchester’s calibers from .44-40 down to .32-20. There are times when the quick handling and easy portability of a handgun is of paramount importance for self defense, but when faced with dire threats cowboys knew it was much better to have a repeating rifle. A handgun and longarm in the same caliber was a winner on the American frontier. From a self-defense standpoint, today’s shooters can find a practical, cost-effective, modern parallel to the 19th century Colt/Winchester pairing in...

Neither hurricanes nor 9/11 caused as big a surge in gun sales as Coronavirus - Gun shop owners have never seen such a surge in sales — not after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, not in reaction to mass shootings, not even when Category 5 hurricanes threatened to flatten South Florida. Fear and uncertainty about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic are motivating people to buy guns and ammunition as they seek protection from possible doomsday disintegration into lawlessness, with home invasions, looting, runs on banks, and fights over food, medicine, hospital beds and shelter across the land. "Our sales are...

I have a bunch of friends who are wild bunch action shooters, and have taken to the shooting competition called BAMM (bolt action military match) with great enthusiasm. Lots of 03 and 03a3 in these matches, but there are lots of other great guns out there, and the question is by design, are any of them faster or slower than others? Not just for five shots but with reload under speed. Do the sights really make that much difference for fast shooting? What about cock on closing compared to cock on opening? Which ones are really faster? Everyone has an...

Kenny Rogers, legendary country singer, died Friday at the age of 81, it has been announced. His family said he died of natural causes at a hospice and surrounded with his family. Yes, this isn’t a Rangers or baseball related topic, but there’s no baseball out there right now, and Kenny Rogers (the singer) is a pretty big deal. It was also the subject of much humor when Kenny Rogers (the pitcher) came up in the Rangers’ system and made his various departures and returns, and was the source of his nickname “The Gambler,” which is an official nickname for...