Todd Woodard has been editor of
Gun Tests Magazine since 1998 and had previously been managing editor and a contributor for the magazine going back to 1992. He began competitive shooting at the age of 10
in NRA-sanctioned smallbore rifle matches, earning various local and regional wins as a sub-junior shooter, including a state
4H championship. In college at
Texas A&M, he earned three letters on the university's smallbore rifle and air rifle teams, and he served as captain of the team for two years. He was also the first A&M student to qualify for an
NCAA Championship slot. He graduated with a B.S. in Journalism.
Other roles he has served in included
Shooting Venue Press Chief for the Atlanta Olympic Games in July 1996; editor,
Guns, Gear & Game; editor,
American Gunsmith Book Series; editor,
Women's Shooting Sports Foundation Magazine; editor,
Performance Shooter Magazine; marketing manager for
Kenner Boat Co.; managing editor for the
Hunter's Handbook Annual (Seattle); consulting editor for
The Range Report, produced by the National Shooting Sports Foundation in Newtown, CT; regionals editor for
Heartland USA, produced by U.S. Tobacco in Greenwich, CT; and executive publisher for
Texas Sporting Journal in Houston. He has also pulled duty as a columnist for
Gun Digest the Magazine (F+W Publications), copy editor for
Fair Chase, a publication of the
Boone and Crockett Club (Missoula, MT); and as a contributing editor for the
Gun Digest Annual. As a blogger, he has produced news-related content for the
Defender Outdoors blog (Fort Worth, TX) and
Midsouth Shooters Supply "Shot Report" Blog (Clarksville, TN), and was senior content writer for
U.S. & Texas LawShield (Houston)
.
In addition to
Gun Tests, his current projects include page production for the
Texas Trophy Hunters Association (San Antonio, TX) and book production for
Dust Devil Publishing of Midland, TX. He has also edited the 14th, 15th, and 16th editions of
Cartridges of the World and authored the
Brownells Guide to 101 Gun Gadgets and
Shooter's Bible Guide to Cartridges (
Skyhorse Publ.)
I’m not sure what kind of “survival” scenario would only require a single shot rifle that you have to break open to load with a round you needed to grab from a buttstock holder with your shooting hand. Your impending survival depends on hitting your target in a vital area the first time around since you’re unlikely to get a 2nd shot off in time..
Peter, obviously you don’t get the concept of this gun package. Anyway, you can train to be a quick reloader. Hopefully you will be faster than the old minute men of the revolutionary war. They had a lot more to do in one minute, then you just cracking the barrel while the shell flys out and sliding another shell in closing the barrel and popping ur target again. Anybody should be able to do this in 10 seconds or less. How bout that bro?
I find this to be the only true survival gun out there. Yes, there is a case for an AR style gun to defend oneself against an attack by other humans. I wont go into that scenario.
But for most other scenarios that require a person to look for food and protect oneself, this is a great gun. in most situations birds, squirrels, and rabbits will be the choice game. Killing a deer is a last resort if a person isnonly providing for themself, but if it was necessary to feed a family or a group of people this rifle will do that also. There are plenty of videos taking down a deer with a 410 slug. Animals dont attack humans like the movies portray. But if they did this is a great weapon to defend against any animal. If a person thinks that carrying an automatic weapon or any large caliber rifle for safety while hiking or to find food is a good choice, they may just want to stay home.
The over/under rifle/shotgun double barrel guns have long been a favorite of the survivalist (this term doesn’t really refer to the prepper community or anyone concerned with an aggressive government, it has really been used before to talk about any situation a person finds themself in where they are required to look for food). At this price, I find this rifle and 4 small boxes of ammo (2 bird, 1 buck, 1 defender slug, 1 45 LC) to be an excellent choice.