Free Republic

When it comes to this powerful cartridge, 'bullet choice is imperative for the best results.' - I had just obtained my first .300 Winchester Magnum – a cartridge I'd come to absolutely love, and one that I'd end up taking all over the world – and simply could not wait for the first day of deer season. I had the rifle zeroed perfectly, so any shot in the open woods of our hunting property was a dead hold, and it was grouping very well. When opening day finally arrived, the morning had been rather quiet – just a couple does...

Want to bag a buck? Head to the South and Midwest, where the huntin’s good for America’s deer. The deer hunting sector has been changing over the last few years, with new entrants moving into the top positions as far as the number and quality of white-tail deer hunting is concerned. Judging which states are working hardest to produce a high number of deer for hunting can be difficult, but there have been many changes to the states that sit at the top of the list in the last few years. The best States for deer hunting are spread through...

The Virginian's James Drury Discusses Life On The Popular Western The Virginian was a Western TV show that ran from 1962 to 1971. It was based on the 1902 Owen Wister novel, "The Virginian, A Horseman of the Plains." The star was the foreman of the Shiloh Ranch, played by James Drury. He was known only as The Virginian, the man with no name. The series circled around the foreman’s quest to maintain an orderly lifestyle at Shiloh. It was set in Medicine Bow, Wyo., around the year 1898. The Shiloh ranch was named after the two-day American Civil War...

A War Story for the Ages - During World War 2, the 7th BG's 9th Bomb Squadron was dispatched to destroy a railroad bridge at Pyinmana, about halfway between Rangoon and Mandalay and near two active enemy fighter bases. The formation was led by Col. Conrad F. Necrason, 7th BG commander. The B-24 on his right wing was piloted by 1st Lt. Lloyd Jensen whose copilot was 2d Lt. Owen J. Baggett. On that mission, Baggett was to earn a distinction believed to be unique in Air Force history. Before reaching Pyinmana, Burma, to destroy a bridge, the American B-24...

There’s good reason to see the Paramount blockbuster film 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. It’s the true story of a group of six former US military private security contractors who fight with awe inspiring bravery and professionalism to save the lives of their fellow Americans during the September 11-12, 2012 terrorist attacks on the American diplomatic compound and a CIA base (known as the Annex) in Benghazi, Libya. In a battle that eventually took on the feel of a small scale Alamo — odds against them may have been higher than 10 to 1 — they steadfastly stuck...

Which game critters offer new hunters the best entry into the sport? From spotting to taking down with a clean shot, we cover America’s most feasible options. When getting into the hunting game, it's best to start with some lighter or easier prey to help you practice. Of course, before you head out into the wilderness, you need to do some target practice to ensure you know how to use your weapon properly. Once you can easily hit a target that isn't living, you can start hunting animals. The general rule of thumb for hunting is that the smaller the...

Which Duty AR is King? – Nick Perna, a former soldier and currently a cop, weighs in on whether the M16A2 or M4 is a better overall weapon system. Age equals experience. One of the few perks of getting old is that you get exposed to more things throughout the course of your life. This includes weapon systems. I’ve been making a living with a firearm since the late 1980s. In jobs ranging from the military, bounty hunting and law enforcement, I've carried a wide variety of handguns, long guns, crew-served weapons and other things that go "Bang!" I've personally...

Historian John Keegan words on World War II, was "the largest single event in human history," a conflict "fought across six of the world's seven continents and all its oceans. It killed 50 million human beings, left hundreds of millions of others wounded in mind or body and materially devastated much of the heartland of civilization." Much have been analyzed and explored from numerous angles in history books, films and art. Common figures and events are familiar to the average high school student who is buried in the history books. This era is filled with complex and endless fascinating stories...

Gangster Weapons of the Past - In the early 1900’s French gangsters used a weapon called an Apache Revolver that functioned as a revolver, a knife and brass knuckles. (three weapons all in one) The Apache operates on the principle of a pepper box revolver using a pinfire cartridge and incorporates a fold-over knuckle duster forming the grip and also a rudimentary foldout, dual-edged knife. Due to the lack of a barrel, the revolver’s effective range is very limited, but since all of its component parts can be folded inward towards the cylinder, it was easily concealable inside a pocket....

The Idea looked better on Paper - In World War Two Japan had a paratroop corps, Germany provided the technical assistance with equipment implementation in the late 1930’s. One of the methods was the use of parachute-equipped containers housing the firearms, this was dropped separately from the paratrooper. In the combat drop at Sumatra (Japanese) and Crete (Germany), both drop zones had problems of weapons containers landing far from troops, resulting being out gunned. Especially, the experiences of the airborne attack on Palembang in Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, February 13-15, 1942. In that battle, the airborne troops were equipped with...

A Way To Keep Your Head Down While Firing At The Enemy - When fighting stagnates and enemy lines dug into trenches, snipers target anyone whose head pops up above the edge of the trench. Solution: Keep your head down, but your rifle up. The Germans called it Spiegelkolben. Just mount a rifle to a periscope. That way the rifle could be lifted up to get a clear shot at the enemy trenches while the shooter remained safely out of sight using mirrors to see his sights and a length of wire to pull his trigger. While all the major...

Extreme Recycling - Want a new AR lower, but can't afford it? No problem. Just collect soda cans and make one. Everybody loves getting new guns. Unfortunately for some of us, they are just aren't in the budget. If you don't have the cash for a new AR, you can always just start collecting soda cans. No, you don't sell the cans; you melt them down and make your own AR. Meet Jared of Gun Craft 101, this is how he likes to recycle his aluminum. Jared starts out with a bunch of aluminum cans, melts them into ingots, then...

Stolen During The Great Depression - George Irish was an independent-minded man. In 1917, he was 25 years old. He made a living as a jack-of-all-trades in Summers, Conn., just across the border from Massachusetts. He wasn't married and America had just become involved in what became know as World War I. He volunteered for the army. He was assigned to an artillery unit and trained in the Midwest before crossing the Atlantic in an improvised troop ship. In France, he didn’t work the guns, instead he kept the dough boys who labored over them fed. He was a muleskinner,...

Almost Fifty-three years ago, the 173rd Airborne Brigade (Separate) fought in close quarters and uphill through deep foliage to take Hill 875 in what became known as the Battle of Dak To The 173rd Airborne Brigade had already seen action before moving inland to South Vietnam's Central Highlands in early November of 1967. This support included a role in Operation Junction City in the spring, as well as a search-and destroy (S&D) mission in the vicinity of Tuy Ho on the south-central coast. The 173rd was assigned to Dak To after intelligence reports indicated that North Vietnamese Army (NVA) regiments...

Abraham Lincoln’s Private Bodyguard Founded in 1850 by Allan Pinkerton, the Pinkerton Agency quickly became one of the most important crime detection and law enforcement groups in the United States. Born in Scotland on August 25, 1819, Pinkerton worked as a barrel maker before immigrating to the United States in 1842. Settling near Chicago, he went to work at Lill's Brewery as a barrel maker. However, Pinkerton soon determined that working for himself would be more profitable for his family and they moved to a small town called Dundee, some 40 miles from Chicago. Making barrels once again, he quickly...

Petite vz. 58 Bridges The Gap Between Submachine Gun And Rifle The Samopal vzor 58, or Automatic weapon model 58, was put into Czechoslovak military service in the late 1950s. A very lightweight 7.62×39 carbine with a short-stroke piston action, it was one of the first Czech arms to use the Soviet cartridge instead of the longer native round. Lighter than the AK-47 by 1.3 pounds, it also used alloy magazines that weighed half of the steel AK-47 mags. Although similar in overall size to the AK, the slimmer pistol grip and stock gave it a more dainty look. Besides...

Few firearms have earned the mystique that the Thompson submachine gun has enjoyed for nearly a century. The long association that the "Tommy Gun" has had with gangsters, G-men and G.I.s has made it a movie star, a prized collectible, and an American icon. The gun's genesis dates back to World War I when retired General John T. Thompson sought to develop a lightweight, fast-firing rifle that U.S. troops could use as a "trench broom" to break the stalemate of trench warfare. Thompson believed recoil or gas operated weapons were too heavy and complicated for this role and sought a...

Sighting in a rifle is an important thing to do if you want your rifle to be dead on when taking a shot. Which brings us to the Carlos Hathcock way of sighting in a rifle. For those that don’t know who Carlos Hathcock is, he was a United States Marine Corps (USMC) sniper with a service record of 93 confirmed kills. What many people don’t realize is that the Unertl scope back in the day doesn’t have glass amplification. There also isn’t any internal adjustments to zero. The scope adjusts with turrets integral to the rear scope mount, and...

Small hideout guns tend to be small caliber and that means ineffectual stoppers. The current crop of ultra-light polymer-framed .32s and .380s with double action only trigger mechanisms are also very hard to hit anything with. There is a more effective alternative available. American Derringer has beefed up the traditional Remington Double Derringer to .45 Colt caliber and it also will chamber the 2½-inch .410 shotgun shells. The .45 Colt is a one-shot stopper with a hit to the vitals, and you have two shots. It is a close range weapon, but then most gunfights are also close range and...

A knife is a tool, and you must choose the correct one for each specific job. While you can dig a hole with a spoon, a shovel works a lot better, and the same goes with knives. Also, I don't jump out of helicopters with a tactical knife clenched in my teeth to cut off the heads of the bad guys. I just like to hunt and fish, and gut, skin and cut up what I kill, so my advice comes from that perspective. - Just because you skinned your first bear with a certain knife doesn’t automatically mean that...