Hunting

The BFR 22H10, code name Little Max in the Magnum Research brochure, is a single action only gun. To load the BFR you first open the loading gate. No manipulation of the hammer is needed to free the cylinder. Much like the Ruger single-action revolvers, the hammer stays safely in a down position.

The BFR strikes a chord. We would have to rate the workmanship of the BFR superior to the Taurus. We recommend it if you need a hunting iron without the recoil of the harder hitting calibers meant for bears and large game.

This was an attractive $685 rifle, with a blonde-colored laminated stock sporting an extremely nice and well-done matte finish. After our initial negative experiences with the electronic Remington, the entirely conventional Ruger, with no gizz-whizzes or batteries or insulators needed to make it go bang, was most welcome. Besides .243, the same rifle is available in .223, .22-250, .220 Swift, 25-06 and .308.All the metalwork except the sling swivel studs was finished in a semi-matte light color that Ruger calls Target Gray, which we found very attractive in contrast with the light-colored stock. The studs were blued. The 26-inch-long stainless-steel barrel was free-floated evenly all the way back to the action.

Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation announced that James Debney has been named as president of S&W’s Firearms Business unit, reporting to Michael Golden, president and CEO of Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. has been presented with the Firearms Manufacturer of the Year award by the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers for the third consecutive year.

The Grade II is one of five BL-22s offered by Browning for 2008. The Grade II is scroll engraved on the receiver and has a gold-colored trigger. The Grade I tested in December 2006 lacks the II's scroll engraving and checkering on the walnut, but the Grade I MSRPs for a lot less, $494. Browning's most expensive lever rimfire is the BL-22 FLD Grade II Octagon, $786, which a silver-nitride finish, octagonal barrel, and a front gold bead. Because the Grade II comes at a $150-ish premium to the Marlin and Henry, we wondered if those extra dollars would turn into enthusiasm in our evaluation.

In support of the fight against breast cancer, GunBroker.com is hosting a charity auction of an unusual pink rifle. The auction ends October 25.

Many shooters want a lightweight, handy 223 carbine for self-defense—and that means reasonable accuracy, a good trigger, shooter friendliness, and ease of handling. In self-defense use, reliability is paramount, but the gun has to have enough accuracy to hit what it’s aimed at.There are several potential solutions to this firearms problem, one of which is the AK-based Arsenal SLR 106FR, $925. Mikhail T. Kalashnikov’s famous assault rifle is the basis for the Arsenal gun. Likely more than 75 million AKs have been produced by more than a dozen countries, including Albania, Bulgaria, China, East Germany, Egypt, Finland, Hungary, Iraq, Israel, North Korea, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Africa, and the former Yugoslavia.

One of the major reasons hunters choose a 20 gauge over a 12 gauge is the former's smaller frame, weight, and recoil. Though they may already own a 12, many field sportsmen wind up reaching for their 20s because the smaller gun is just easier to handle, and there are just a few hunting situations—layback goose hunting and spring turkey hunting, to name two—in which the bigger payload might make a difference.

One 3-inch-chamber 20 gauge we recently tested was the Mossberg SA-20 No. 75771, $496. The Mossberg is a new-for-2008 line for that company, so the SA-20 designation names just a single chambering, as you might expect. However, comparable guns in the 930 autoloader line, which are chambered only for 12 gauge, weigh 7.75 pounds to the SA-20's feathery 6.0 pounds.

The domestic rifle market is well populated with brands that consumers know well and trust, and as a result, they buy a lot of Weatherbys, Remingtons, Winchesters, Savages, Marlins, and Rugers. These companies make a number of grades of bolt-action guns, ranging from $300 to $350 entry-level guns to much more expensive custom-shop products, and everything in between.But across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, there are few pretty talented production gun makers whose products find favor overseas—and to a lesser extent on these shores—and we wondered how such bolt actions would rank when pitted against more familiar marques.

Lynch Hummer, a $7.5 million Hummer facility in an upscale St. Louis suburb, has announced the opening of the world's first combined Hummer and firearms dealership.

Every summer at Camp Perry, Ohio, prior to the National Rifle and Pistol Trophy Matches, soldiers from the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit pass their shooting knowledge on to the next generation of American shooters at the Small Arms Firing School.

The school was instituted in 1918 by the Department of Defense and is conducted by the USAMU, along with assistance by members of the Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Army Reserve and National Guard.

The travel writer Arthur Frommer has authored dozens of Frommer’s Travel Guides, and he writes a blog called Arthur Frommer Online. Now he’s trying to organize a boycott of Arizona’s travel industry because he disagrees with its gun laws.