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Reviews, guides and range notes

Hands-on reviews, hunting and range guides, cleaning and carry advice — written by shooters who own the gear. 165 posts and counting.

Gun ReviewsBest shotguns for home defense: what I’d actually rack at 2 a.m.Three-seventeen in the morning, a call about a possible break-in on a street I won’t bother naming here, and the homeowner met us at the door with a…Wyatt Coale · Aug 9, 2026

EducationBest gun cleaning kits: what’s actually worth buying in 2025Last Saturday I had three guns laid out on the bench at once – a Ruger 10/22, a Glock, and my dad’s old Winchester pump, and realized my cleaning kit…Hannah Voss · Aug 9, 2026

Gun ReviewsSig Sauer P320 XCompact review: the middle child that makes senseRan into a guy at the counter of a shop off Route 9 last month, trying to decide between a Glock 19 and the P320 XCompact. Took him twenty minutes to…Wyatt Coale · Aug 8, 2026

Gun LawsHow FFL transfers work for private buyersI had a reader email me last month asking why a gun shop in Casper wanted forty dollars just to “hand him a box.” He’d bought a used Savage off an…Marcus Webb · Aug 8, 2026

Gun ReviewsBest hunting rifles for whitetail deer: what actually gets the job doneOpening morning of Wisconsin gun season, a buddy of mine dropped a doe at 140 yards with a rifle he bought used for $380 out of a pawn shop off…Colt Reyes · Aug 7, 2026

Gun ReviewsPump vs semi-auto shotgun for home defense: what I’d actually grabThree-fifteen in the morning, a raccoon got into my neighbor’s trash cans out on Birch Hollow Road, and I heard him rack a pump gun through his…Bud Sorensen · Aug 7, 2026

Gun LawsArizona firearms transport laws for hunters: what the statute actually saysLast October I drove a rifle down from Flagstaff to a unit outside Springerville for a cow elk hunt, and I got stopped for a burned-out taillight on…Marcus Webb · Aug 6, 2026

Gun LawsConcealed carry reciprocity map explained: what it actually coversA reader emailed me last week after getting pulled over on I-40 outside Nashville with a Tennessee permit and a Florida address. He’d checked one of…Marcus Webb · Aug 6, 2026

Gun ReviewsRuger 10/22 Takedown review: still the best backpack rifle you can buyMine lives in a Case Club backpack, right next to the tailgate of my truck, and it has for about six seasons now. Broken down it’s two 16-inch-ish…Jake Marlowe · Aug 5, 2026

Gun ReviewsHenry Golden Boy .22 review: the lever gun that still earns its keepForty-one rounds through a suppressed bolt gun on a Tuesday morning, then I picked up a Henry Golden Boy .22 off the bench at a public range outside…Colt Reyes · Aug 5, 2026

Gun ReviewsSpringfield Armory Hellcat Pro review: the micro-compact that fits like a compactFifteen rounds of flush-fit 9mm in a gun that’s barely bigger than a Glock 43X. That number is why the Hellcat Pro landed on more hips than any other…Wyatt Coale · Aug 4, 2026

Gun ReviewsBest .22LR handguns for practice: what to actually buyLast Saturday a guy came in wanting to spend $600 on a 9mm for his teenage daughter to “learn on.” I talked him out of it, plain and simple. She’s…Tasha Odom · Aug 4, 2026

EducationBest gun safes for a first-time owner in 2025I still remember standing in the garage of my first apartment, a brand new Ruger LCP still in its box, realizing I had absolutely nowhere secure to…Hannah Voss · Aug 3, 2026

EducationHow to store a gun safely with kids in the houseMy nephew is seven and can pick a lock faster than I can find my keys. That’s not a joke, that’s just where kids’ brains are at these days, they…Hannah Voss · Aug 3, 2026

ConcealmentBest holsters for appendix carry: seven that actually workI switched to appendix carry about nine years ago, back when I was still working patrol and needed something that didn’t print under a uniform shirt…Wyatt Coale · Aug 2, 2026

Gun ReviewsWeatherby Element review: a semi-auto shotgun that earns its keepA guy came into the shop last October holding a folded-up duck stamp application and asked me point blank, “what’s a semi-auto that won’t eat my…Tasha Odom · Aug 2, 2026

Gun ReviewsSavage Axis II review: the budget bolt gun that still shoots straightThree hundred and eighty dollars. That’s what a buddy of mine paid for a Savage Axis II in .308 at a shop off Route 9 outside Kalispell last…Colt Reyes · Aug 1, 2026

Gun ReviewsGlock 19 vs Sig P320: which compact 9mm actually winsI had a fella at the counter of a shop outside Sioux Falls last month hold a Glock 19 in one hand and a Sig P320 Compact in the other, like he was…Bud Sorensen · Aug 1, 2026

Gun ReviewsDesert mule deer hunting in Nevada: what the terrain actually demandsI blew a stalk on a good buck outside Ely two Octobers back because I forgot how far sound carries across open desert. Kicked one rock, watched him…Bud Sorensen · Jul 31, 2026

Gun ReviewsLate-season pheasant hunting tips: what actually works in JanuaryLast January I hunted a stretch of public ground outside Mitchell, South Dakota that had been walked by every orange-vested hunter within forty miles…Marcus Webb · Jul 31, 2026

Gun LawsFlorida concealed weapons permit requirements: what applies in 2025Stood in line at a gun shop off Semoran Boulevard in Orlando back in April, and the guy ahead of me was asking the counter staff whether he even…Marcus Webb · Jul 30, 2026

Gun ReviewsScope tube diameter explained: 1 inch vs 30mm vs 34mmI had a customer at a local shop last month insist that a 34mm tube was going to “let in more light” than his old 30mm Leupold. It won’t. Not…Priya Anand · Jul 30, 2026

Gun ReviewsTurkey calling for beginners: what actually works in the spring woodsLast spring, sitting against a white oak about forty yards off a logging road in southern Wisconsin, I watched a gobbler hang up at sixty yards for…Marcus Webb · Jul 29, 2026

Gun LawsTexas constitutional carry for visitors: what out-of-staters need to knowI had a reader email me last month from Ohio, headed to San Antonio for a work trip, asking whether he could just toss his Glock in the glovebox once…Marcus Webb · Jul 29, 2026