Hunting

Getting a good buy on midrange-priced products, such as over-under shotguns, can be difficult because of scarcity, and it’s always a challenge to convert MSRP into a reasonable selling price. Such is the case with the Beretta Silver Pigeon II, which Gun Tests magazine tested in its September 2007 issue.

Gun Tests said of the Silver Pigeon, _ìthe Beretta 687 Silver Pigeon II Sporting is a traditionally styled and typically proportioned sub-gauge. Trim in stock, wrist, receiver, and fore-end, the gun is a symmetrically shrunken version of the 12 gauge. ìPerhaps the greatest testament to this gun_s speed was that all our test shooters came off the sporting clays course liking the gun for that sport, but wanting to head directly for the skeet field. And, indeed, this gun excelled beyond the others at the more regimented sport._

In the test, the SPII listed for $2950. But prices for similar guns on GunBroker.com show wide variations off MSRP.

The gun in Auction # 110246420, listed by Tucker Gun in Atlanta, had a “buy now” price of $2950, or MSRP. The opening bid was $400 less, or $2599. The auction had two days to run on Tuesday.

Another GunBroker.com listing, # 109384437, had a similar gun to the one Gun Tests evaluated, but in 28 gauge. On sale by Gander Mountain in Green Bay, Wisconsin, it is a new Beretta 687 Silver Pigeon V 28 gauge with color case-hardened receiver. With 3 days left on the auction, the high bid was $2001, which didn_t meet the reserve. The Buy Now price was $2799.

The U.S. Army is hosting a National Hunting and Fishing Day celebration at its Heidelberg Rod and Gun Club near the U.S. military base in Heidelberg, Germany. This lone overseas commemoration of National Hunting and Fishing Day is set for Sept. 27 to coincide with hundreds of events across the U.S.

Forjas Taurus S.A. announced September 9 its acquisition of the manufacturing and distribution rights of all Rossi products, including the famous Model 92 lever-action rifle from Rossi Firearms S.A.

The Handi-Rifle was true to its name, we thought. We found it easy to carry, pleasant in all its operations, and…well, just plain handy. The ejector worked every time the chamber was opened, which we didn’t really like. The rifle could be opened carefully and loaded silently, without tripping the ejector. Because we are reloaders, we would have preferred a simple, positive extractor over the ejector mechanism. More on this later. The barrel breech was huge in diameter, indicating abundant strength. This rifle is in fact chambered in many calibers including the .35 Whelen, .500 S&W and .45-70, so the design clearly has strength in abundance. As a Hornet, it ought to last forever.

Todd and Kathy Brown of Rosston, Arkansas, are suing Smith & Wesson in federal court in Texarkana, Texas, alleging negligence by the gun manufacturer that led to a Dec. 27, 2007, accident in which Todd Brown’s left thumb was severed.

Collection of pistols made and sold in 2008.

FFL dealers should advise their customers of two manufacturer recalls from Ruger and Smith & Wesson:

The Browning BPS Special Steel Field Model Pump 20 Gauge was tested as a used gun in the April 2008 issue of Gun Tests magazine. Counter Price at Dury’s Gun Shop in San Antonio: $370. Was that a good price for the gun? A price check on GunBroker.com suggests it was.

Eight years ago (February 2000), we tested the Raging Bull model, which was designed to take the pounding of the newest grenade on the block, the .454 Casull. At the time, the Bull was built on a new larger frame that was fit with a heavy 8 3/8-inch barrel. The barrel featured a deep full-length underlug and porting. The cylinder was braced with a second latch on the crane. The grip was also a new design with a shock-absorbing insert along the backstrap.

Each of these features were carried over to subsequent chamberings, which today include .454 Casull, .41 Magnum, 500 Magnum and of course the subject of this test, .44 Magnum.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sportsmen have a solid history of voting, with 9 in 10 currently registered to vote. Of those registered voters, 83 percent say they will vote in the November election, according to a new survey by the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation. Overall, there are an estimated 40 million sportsmen of voting age in the United States.

The winner of that test was the $625 Taurus Raging Bull Model 444B8, the only one of three .44 Magnums that the Gun Tests staff thought was ready for the field straight out of the box. It earned an ‘A’-grade from the magazine.

Alliant Powder’s Blue Dot should not be used in the following applications: