Gun Digest Spring 2017

No cartridge typifies the American shooting sports quite like the .22 Long Rifle. With a legendary history behind it—and many personal histories interwoven along the way—the .22 is a round many of us have grown up with, whether we were hunting squirrels with our Ruger 10/22 or popping soda cans with Dad’s.22 pistol at the range. It continues to be popular today, with an expansive list of firearms ready and waiting to take it for a spin downrange. The .22 has also paved the way for numerous other rimfire hot rods, many of which have appeared in recent years and taken the firearms industry by storm. Included on that list are the .17 HMR and WSM, both of which deliver impressive velocities and far-reaching stopping power. Varmints and predators, be…

Replaceable-blade knives have been around for a while now, but new for 2017 from Browning knives is a replaceable-blade knife that features ceramic rather than metal blades. While ceramic knives have been a more common feature of late in many kitchens, Browning is one of the first hunting knife companies to bring them to the outdoor world. The new Speed Load Ceramic comes with three different styles of inserts—drop point, gut hook and caper. And if you don’t happen to have a ceramic insert on hand or you want to do some heavy-duty box cutting, the Speed Load knife is also compatible with standard-size razor/utility knife inserts. The advantage of ceramic is that it keeps an edge longer than many metal counterparts, is rust-free and is extremely lightweight. As Russ…

A 2004 joint rimfire cartridge development between Hornady and CCI, the .17 Mach 2 cartridge delivers higher velocities and flatter trajectories than the .22 Long Rifle cartridge. Hornady designed the .17 Mach 2 for plinking, varminting, and small-game hunting. In quality firearms, the .17 Mach 2 is capable of MOA or better accuracy. The .17 Mach 2 is not reloadable. It uses the rimfire .22 Stinger case as its parent. Exactly.100-inch longer than the .22 Long Rifle case, the Stinger case is necked down to accept .172-inch diameter bullets weighing 17 grains. The .17 Mach 2 is well-suited to 18/22-inch barrels with a 1:9-inch twist. Ruger, Marlin, Thompson/Center, and other manufacturers offer rifles chambered for the .17 Mach 2. Hornady, CCI, Remington, and Eley supply loaded information. Hornady offers the…

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Predator Slayer Read the “Top 10 Predator Calibers” story from your February issue that was posted on the website. I like the Top 10 list. However I would have included the 5mm Rem. Mag. rimfire. Lots of them still out there and when Aguila started producing ammunition for it again, a lot of people stocked up. I like it better than a .22 WMR. Excellent varmint round for short and mid range, under 200 yards. Also, I believe the 22 Nosler is about to take center stage very soon. Custom leatherman, online comment Thanks for your feedback on the article. It’s always really interesting to see some of the reader comments on these types of articles, which are, by nature, highly debatable. There are tons of great calibers out there…

There we sat, a group of gun writers perched on a rolling South Dakota hill on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, blasting away at prairie dogs with a host of new Savage rifles. The summer sun baked down on us and the barrels ran hot, but none of it was enough to deter us from slinging round after round at the hundreds of dogs scattered before us. We drank from giant, frozen jugs of ice melted in the sunlight, quenching our thirst but not our appetite for more shooting. It was on that trip that I inherited a fondness for Savage’s new B.Mag, a bolt-action rifle chambered in .17 Winchester Super Magnum (WSM). At first glance it’s just another black, synthetic-stocked rifle, but upon closer inspection, there are plenty of features…