Field & Stream No. 4 - 2020

This issue of F&S has been a long time in the making. It started back in 1895, when the first edition of Northwestern Field and Stream: A Journal of the Rifle, Gun, Rod and Camera was published. The periodical—even with its super-catchy title—was not exactly a hit, and it might’ve vanished for good were it not for an outdoors-loving publisher named John R. Burkhard, who bought the journal in 1896, and rebranded it as Western Field and Stream. One year later, the Western was nixed, and the first issue of the more simply titled FIELD & STREAM was published. The rest, as they say, is history. As you’re about to see, this issue is full of that history. Early on in the planning stages, we knew that we wanted…

As we put together this anniversary issue’s cover story, “Modern Classics,” we relied heavily on help from our legendary rifles editor, David E. Petzal, who first joined the magazine on May 28, 1972. CK: What’s your earliest memory of FIELD & STREAM? DEP: I saw my first copy of the magazine in 1953 in Simon’s Sweet Shop in Shrewsbury, N.J. The earliest issue that I bought and still have was August 1956, which was an African hunting special. I was already a Robert Ruark fan, and it was full of him. CK: As you went back and read through old stories for this issue, what era of the magazine impressed you the most? DEP: The 1950s, when I was just starting out in the outdoors, and everything was magical.…

FIRST SHOT Mirror Image Photographer Lon Lauber had heard about this pond in eastern Washington with deciduous trees along the shoreline where, at the right time of year, you could catch the fall colors reflecting in the water. So last October, he arrived there before dawn and set up his camera to photograph the waterfowl that stage on the pond. “I was hoping to catch some wood ducks in the reflection,” Lauber says, “but when this mallard drake swam by, I couldn’t resist holding down the shutter for a burst.”…

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU SAW BIGFOOT WHILE HUNTING? —Pat Mackler, Boise, Idaho I would congratulate him on keeping so much hair when so many have been after it for so long (to plagiarize from “Bear Claw” Chris Lapp), and I would wish him well in the Sixth Great Extinction, which is upon us. DO NICKEL-PLATED BULLETS FOUL A BARREL LIKE COPPER? IF SO, HOW DO I REMOVE IT? —Chris Todd, Springfield, Mass. I haven’t used them in a long time, but my recollection is that the nickel plating, which is very thin, is quickly stripped away by the barrel’s rifling, leaving you with an excellent fouling mix of nickel and copper. You can get both out by scrubbing thoroughly with J-B Non-Imbedding Bore Cleaning Compound. IN THE…

ONE OF THE MORE ORIGINAL IDEAS for a bucket-list entry that I’ve ever heard was this: Catch a fish with teeth. And while my friend didn’t specify what kind of “teeth,” I knew what he meant—a fish with fangs. Payara, tigerfish, mako shark, etc. Because, all due respect to bass and trout, there is something inherently more exciting about knowing that the fish on the end of your line could tear your finger off. Of course, not everything in the wild with teeth, or that bites, is exciting. Some are downright terrifying. So read up, and watch your step. Animals With the Strongest Bite Strength Great white shark 4,000 PSI Saltwater crocodile 3,700 PSI Hippopotamus 1,800 PSI Jaguar 1,500 PSI Most Painful Insect Bites Bullet Ant Reportedly feels like…

MY PARENTS were from Vietnam and weren’t into the outdoors or firearms. But ever since I was a kid, I liked guns and camping. I loved action movies and always wanted someone to go to the range with me, but I couldn’t find anybody. I’m not the kind of person to give up, though, so I figured it out myself. IN 2015, FOR MY 33RD BIRTHDAY, I bought myself a Remington 700 in .308, my first bolt action. After shooting that for three months, I built my own custom rifle—a 6.5 Creedmoor on a Defiance action with a Manners stock and Bartlein barrel that I chambered and threaded myself. I was hooked. ONE BIG LEARNING CURVE was all the terminology in precision rifle shooting. I had to figure out…