Hunter S. Thompson has become a lot of things to a lot of people since his death in 2005. While he was alive, it wasn’t much different. He was a public figure so controversial, that went so against the grain of civilized society, and was so litigious ...
That Time Hunter S. Thompson Stole Hemingway’s Elk Antlers
Here’s a corner of American literature they won’t teach you about in class. Or maybe they do. What do I know? It’s a cool story, and if you have a cool teacher or professor, they could totally waste half a class with this one. Two ...
Did the ‘Steven Seagal’ Press Check Come From Col. Jeff Cooper?
We all know what a press check is, or at least we should. When loading a semi-auto handgun, or during the process of checking its readiness, you partially pull back the slide or bolt and visually verify that there is a round in the chamber. It's a ...
A Vickers Machine Gun That Fired 5 Million Rounds: Fact or Myth
There’s a piece of firearms lore involving one of the most respected and used machine guns in history, the Vickers machine gun, that's almost too fantastic to believe — but apparently, it did happen, and that's why we're talking about it now. So ...
The Tavor X95: It’s the AR of Bullpup Rifles
People either love or hate bullpups. This isn’t the time or place for that argument. Let’s just assume, for a moment, that we’re all peaceful with the bullpup concept and agree it is a compact and maneuverable design for a carbine. And in the world ...
Smith & Wesson Releases M&P 5.7 Handgun in Flat Dark Earth
Remember in January when Smith & Wesson surprised everyone with their new M&P 5.7 pistol (see below)— a gun that nobody really asked for but went kinda nuts over? Peanut butter pistol fans rejoice because the M&P5.7 is now available with ...
FNX 45 Tactical: A Gift From the Joint Combat Pistol Competition
In considering the FNX 45 pistol made by the storied Belgian firearms company FN Herstal, I discovered two remarkable things — more good pistols came out of the U.S. Army’s Joint Combat Pistol Program than I thought, and combat-oriented .45 ACP ...
Springfield Model 2020 Redline Comes With Free Tax Stamp
Jeff Cooper’s exact conception of the scout rifle may be a bit outdated in many people’s minds, but some attributes are more than relevant for modern hunters. Springfield Armory has attempted to update the scout rifle concept with its new Model 2020 ...
S&W Releases M&P22 Magnum in .22 WMR With a 30-Round Mag
Smith & Wesson is becoming a gun company of surprises and odd left turns. When you expect a new wheelgun line, the company drops a bullpup high-capacity pump shotgun. S&W adds to the M&P line, which is expected, but the additions have ...
Patriotic Post-BBQ 4th of July Movies
What the hell is a Fourth of July movie? Lots of movies feature the holiday or might have a plot that centers around it in some way, but that doesn't mean they're the right thing to watch on a day that's supposed to be about celebrating and having ...
Cormac McCarthy, Creator of the Anti-Western Novel, Dies at 89
The novel Blood Meridian can simply never be made into a movie. It’s cursed. Adaptation attempts have all failed for 40 years, and now, while in the midst of working on the script for an upcoming film version of what many consider his most violently ...
S&W Drops Performance Center Version of 10mm M&P M2.0 Pistol
Ah, the S&W M&P. It’s one of the most direct competitors to Glock in the U.S., made by one of the country’s oldest and most storied gunmakers, but it rarely gets the respect it deserves. The original run was a little rough but reliable. The ...
The True Story Behind ‘Jeremiah Johnson’: What We Know (and Don’t)
When the American Frontier was alive, and still a drawing force compelling folks to head West for fortune and glory, the lives of famous gunfighters and personalities that inhabited the fringe of civilization were often greatly exaggerated. Men like ...
Climbing Movies: The Best and Worst of All Time
Ascending mountains and battling the forces of nature just to say “I did it” or "because it's there" as the famous climber George Mallory said when asked why he wanted to summit Mt. Everest. It's fraught with danger and that makes it naturally the ...
Illinois Assault Weapons Ban Back In Effect
UPDATE: May 8, 2023: After about a week of respite thanks to a court injunction, enforcement of the recently adopted Illinois assault weapons ban was healed, but after some legal ping-pong, the ban is back in effect. Last week, Judge Frank ...
The Real Guns Behind the Blasters in ‘The Mandalorian’
Among the many, many Star Wars films, TV series, limited series, animated shows, and games that have been introduced since Disney took ownership of the franchise and all its associated media, The Mandalorian has stood out as one of the best, and one ...
Wild Skydiver Rescue: Instructor Pulls Unconscious Man’s Chute
Remember that part in Point Break when Johnny Utah pulls the ripcord on Bodie's parachute as they plummet toward the terra at terminal velocity? This video of a skydiver rescue (below) was posted a couple of years ago for the first time and is again ...
Prohibition Bootleggers: Deer Hoof Shoes and Pig Carcasses
Two decades into the 1900s, as the nation slid headlong into the Great Depression, a growing movement of temperance gained enough to change the U.S. Constitution. It was amended to outlaw the “demon rum,” a substance that a vocal segment of the ...
Credit Card Giants Back Away From Tracking Gun Purchases
The credit card industry has taken a huge step back from plans announced in September 2022 to use a new merchant category code (MCC) to track gun and ammunition purchases made with plastic in the United States. Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc., American ...
Best Selling Guns of 2022 on GunBroker: Numbers Are In!
Gun sales are a nebulous thing — they’re hard to keep track of, and that’s a good thing from a 2A perspective. Usually, we use the number of background checks run through the NICS system in a given time period to get a general idea of how many guns ...
The Valentine’s Day Massacre Tommy Guns and Birth of the NFA
A shocking burst of full-auto gangland payback in 1929 that left seven bloody, bullet-ridden bodies on a garage floor was the Parkland Shooting of its day. The now infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre was a horrendous display of violence that the ...
Live With Courage, Keep Your Word: The Code of the West
In the lawless days of the Old West, men who worked the rough pioneer towns and frontier ranches developed a straightforward, effective way to keep themselves in line. They didn’t give it a name then, but decades later, others did. They called it The ...
Assault Weapon Ban of 2023: Biden Fully Supports Proposed Law
The notoriously anti-gun Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California introduces an assault weapon ban practically every year, like clockwork. For nearly 20 years, they've gone nowhere. This year may be different. Feinstein’s new Assault Weapons Ban of ...
TOPS Knives Has Something New for Everyone in 2023
I love TOPS. Nobody does ridiculously large but still functional blades better, and they also have a bevy of practical-sized knives that are built like absolute tanks. What's more, they’re all made right in Idaho. Here's what they have in store for ...
PSA STG 44 Repro Is First in Palmetto’s New ‘Battlefield’ Gun Line
If you love historic military guns and have spent embarrassing amounts of cash just to fire a couple of magazines through some rare WWII-era hardware, then you’re going to want to keep an eye on Palmetto State Armory’s website this year and its ...
JK Armament 105 CCX 9 1.5-Inch Carry-Ready Suppressor
First red dots made their way to the concealed carry world, and now, it’s time for suppressors to do the same. While it was announced a few months ago, the new JK 105 CCX 9 suppressor from JK Armament is making a big noise at SHOT because of how ...
New Glock Performance Trigger, G20, Gunsite Glock Service Pistol
In typical Glock fashion, the Austrian gunmaker didn’t introduce anything brand new, exactly, at the 2023 SHOT Show, but the company did drop an upgraded Glock Performance Trigger and released a formerly law-enforcement-only pistol to the public, the ...
Oracle Arms 2311 Pistol: Love Child of a 1911, 2011, and P320
If we’re learning anything from the 2023 SHOT Show and the handgun releases surrounding it, single-action, double-stack, 1911-style pistols are all the rage. Many credit Staccato (formerly STI) for kickstarting this trend. We’ve seen gunmakers big ...
Zenk Bullpup Revolver: Have You Seen This Thing?!
I’m a sucker for bullpups. I just am. The IWI X95? Love it. The KelTec KSG family? Yeah, I’m into them. I just like the idea, the crazy designs, and the wild shapes these firearms come in. I was hooked as soon as I saw a Steyr AUG in Die Hard. But a ...
Black Rifle Coffee Invades the 2023 SHOT Show!
The spirit of the Second Amendment and a love of the outdoors make up the Black Rifle Coffee Company DNA. So it makes perfect sense that America’s coffee should be front and center where the entire hunting and shooting community gathers in one place ...
