Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2025 i Shooting Times

THE COLUMN BY JOSEPH VON BENEDIKT IN THE JULY 2025 ISSUE REVIEW- ing the Mossberg Model 185 bolt-action shotgun brought back vivid memories of mostly frustrating circumstances. When I was 12 years old and my oldest brother got out of the U.S. Navy in 1962, he went to the local sporting goods store and bought a Model 185 in 16 gauge to pursue squirrels and ruffed grouse near our home in northern Michigan, even though he had not hunted before. He lost interest in the gun and hunting in general, and the shotgun came into my possession. The biggest, but not the only, problem I had with it was the shell feeding from the magazine would rise too far and jam against the chamber rim, so I used it as…

WINCHESTER DID NOT MAKE A LOT OF MODEL 70 rifles for left-handed shooters. Production started in 1997, shortly after the controlled-feed “Classic” Model 70 with Mauser-type claw extractor was reintroduced. From what I’ve been able to determine, left-handed Model 70s were discontinued in 2005, when Winchester closed its New Haven doors and took a two-year manufacturing hiatus. Unlike many left-handed firearms, which can be hard to move on the used market, left-handed Model 70s generally sell easily and for a premium. Mechanicals There’s no room here to detail all the small refinements drawn from the Mauser 98 and Springfield 1903 and Winchester’s own Model 54 and all the other great designs that played a part in the evolution of the un-chokable controlled-feed action. Suffice to say the Pre-’64 Model 70…

EXACTLY FOUR YEARS AGO, I WROTE ABOUT some updates and modifications to the Ruger LCP MAX semiautomatic pistol that were new that year. Well, there has been another newsworthy change to the little personal-protection pistol’s design since then, and it deserves your attention. Let’s take a good look at the little pocket pistol. The New Development The big news this year for Ruger’s LCP MAX .380 ACP pocket pistol is that it provides maximum protection by now being available with a manual thumb safety. Located on the left side of the pistol, the new thumb safety has two positions. Up engages the safety, and in this position, it locks the slide shut, and it also blocks the sear, which prevents full travel of the trigger. Down puts the pistol in…

FOUR YEARS AGO, AS THE LOCKDOWN BIT AND near-panic ensued and gun sales took off and ammunition was nowhere to be found, the handloader was, if not king, at least the bemused possessor of friends he never suspected he had. As ammunition shelves went bare, so did many handloading components. Primers were, as usual, the big problem, there being no substitute, but we ran out of powders, too. Since many powders for sale in this country are imported, first the supply chain broke down (COVID-19) and then Russia invaded Ukraine. Suddenly, powder mills near and far were being diverted to military production. No sooner had supply chains reconnected than they were broken again as tariff wars broke out, causing confusion up and down the line. This was closely followed by…

RCBS HAS JUST LAUNCHED ITS NEW, COMPREHENSIVE, ONLINE RELOAD- ing Hub. The Hub’s purpose is to educate and empower reloaders of all experience levels. Whether you’re a first-time handloader or a seasoned reloader, the RCBS Reloading Hub is intended to be your go-to resource for reliable, expert-driven content. With a growing library of how-to articles, videos, and tips, the Reloading Hub covers the entire handloading process—from getting started with the right press and die setup procedure to topics like case prep, trimming, and bulletcasting. The website gives a breakdown of the essential gear needed to begin reloading, making it easy for newcomers to confidently step into the world of handloading. According to RCBS Marketing Director Joel Hodgdon, “The RCBS Reloading Hub was created to make handloading more accessible, understandable, and…

THE EARLIEST CARTRIDGES FOR THE BUD- ding semiautomatic pistols that were being developed in the 19th century were usually about .30 caliber. The caliber is predictable. Then-new semiautomatics being adopted by 1890s military and police (mainly in Europe) were largely .32 caliber, but those cartridges were not bottlenecked. Bottlenecking allows greater propellant capacity for a given case length and bullet diameter. Some pre-1900 pistols were robust designs, quite capable of managing higher firing pressures. Inventors took advantage of strong actions and higher case capacity to greatly increase muzzle energy. .30 Mauser (7.63x25mm Mauser) The .30 Mauser (1896) evolved from an earlier cartridge credited to German-born American inventor Hugo Borchardt. The bottleneck 7.65x25mm Borchardt cartridge (1893) had a muzzle velocity of 1,260 to 1,300 fps with an 85-grain bullet, obviously helped…

Q. I’M WRITING TO ASK FOR RECOMMENDATIONS ON POWDERS FOR reloading 12-gauge shotgun hulls for a modern semiautomatic shotgun. I have tried to find Alliant Unique, Green Dot, and Blue Dot powders to no avail. It seems that these powders are no longer manufactured. So, what are the best alternatives and how do I use them? James DevillierVia email A. You sure hit the nail on the head with your question. Powders come and go, but fortunately, there are plenty of good replacements out there. My first suggestion is to get a copy of the 2025 edition of the Hodgdon Annual Manual. It’s sold on newsstands throughout the nation and also through our online newsstand (osgnewsstand.com). It contains 20 pages of literally hundreds of 12-gauge loads with virtually all of…

ACCORDING TO MERRIAM-WEBSTER A MENTOR is “a trusted counselor or guide, or a tutor, coach.” I think of a mentor as one who provides positive assistance to another person, and I think that’s the best way to be trained as a hobbyist reloader. I consider myself very lucky to have had the reloading mentors who have guided me. As I’ve said before, I’m still learning—and relearning—things about this rewarding endeavor. Sixty years ago, I paid $10 for a 12-gauge Lee Loader kit. That was all the tooling needed (except for a hammer and a bathroom scale) to become a novice handloader. After acquiring a bag of No. 7½ lead shot, plastic wads with integral shot sleeves, an 8-ounce can of Alcan AL-5 powder, and a 100-pack tray of Winchester 209…

BECAUSE OF THE NATURE AND PRODUCTION SCHEDULE OF PRE- paring a print magazine, you are reading this November 2025 issue in or around the month of September. That means you are probably enjoying the great outdoors in a lot of ways, including heading to the shooting range for some quality practice and fun shooting as well as getting ready for the upcoming hunting season. And you also may be getting in a little fishing at your favorite fishin’ hole. If that’s the case, and you haven’t already discovered it, MyOutdoorTV has a ton of fishing content. For a limited time, use the promo code SHOOTING30 and get a 30-day free trial of MyOutdoorTV. Cannot be combined with other offers. You can watch all the shows you want during your 30-day…

READERS OBVIOUSLY KNOW THAT THE TITLE OF this column is “Hipshots,” but this month it might better be called “Parting Shots” because two more longtime friends of Shooting Times and the gun industry have passed on. They are JB Hodgdon and Frank Brownell. JB Hodgdon (1936–2025) A lifelong resident of Kansas, John Brewster “JB” Hodgdon was born on October 16, 1936, to Bruce and Amy Hodgdon. JB grew up in suburban Kansas City and was extremely active in his hometown community with first responders, Scouting America (formerly the Boy Scouts of America), and the classic car community. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1959 with a degree in business. JB held many roles at the Hodgdon Powder Company. In the early days, he packaged powder at the family…