EXCLUSIVES

When the weather forecast hinted at snow in my region by the end of the week, it didn’t take long for me to do two things: dig out a couple of revolvers...

The Ruger MKIV Anniversary model is a splendid meshing of today’s modern MKIV with the nostalgic looks of the original Standard model and MKI Target. You...

When you work in an urban emergency room, so much of the unfettered tragedy you see there is the result of poor impulse control or just rank stupidity. Now...

By my calendar, it’s mid-winter and across the central U.S., and definitely across the northern tier states from Washington to Maine, a lot of gun owners...

Basements, barns and workshops are magical places. Youngsters are naturally drawn to them. The allure cannot be denied, and it isn’t even explainable, yet...

I’m on my fifth career. You really cannot start medical school at 32 and convince anybody that’s what you always wanted to do. I like to tell folks that...

One thing about looking back on the past year — not everyone has tired of it just yet, although we’re nearly a month into 2024 — is that some...

Having been a cop for over 27 years in my previous life, people routinely ask for stories involving danger, high-speed chases, felony arrests and shootouts....

We live in the weirdest world these days. According to the curious moral calculus of the Information Age, it is okay to blow somebody to bits with a...

Earlier this month, a new law governing how someone can apply for a concealed carry permit took effect in California, and as one might expect, there is a...

We’ve all heard the story of Elmer Keith blowing up his Colt SAA .45 that fateful morning celebrating Independence Day as a youngster. Each time the story...

Being a patient in an American hospital is innately dehumanizing. We try to keep it dignified, but that’s often more a voyage than a destination. It’s...

Here we are in mid-January, and legislatures are in session in many, if not most, states. The ones controlled by Democrats are already scheming about new...

CAUTION: Read at your own risk! No activity mentioned in this article should be duplicated, replicated, or copycatted for fear of injury or death ... seriously!

I recently saw a very sweet lady in the clinic who had gotten her finger stuck in a sewing machine. I encounter folks at work who run afoul of sundry wild...

Almost faster than Steve McQueen in “The Magnificent Seven,” the Biden administration sprinted to court asking for a stay in the U.S. District Court...

This column is dedicated to my cousin, Brian, who complains my stories have too many words and not enough pictures as we ease into 2024. So, Brian, this...

Eve Gordon was the most compelling public speaker I have ever heard. A small-statured elderly woman with a pronounced limp and an impeccably gorgeous...

Early in my career — serving as editor of a small-town weekly newspaper — one of my duties was to make the Friday rounds to pick up advertising for the...

Kylie and Lauren had not seen each other in more than a decade. They had been roommates and Chi Omegas at the University of Mississippi for four years....

It’s just about one more trip around the sun for me, as we approach that most special of all holidays; my 74th Christmas, as it turns out, and by no small...

As an admitted cast bullet junkie, I’m simply in love with these humble, yet effective projectiles. Formed from molten lead alloy to any shape our hearts...

Our great nation was built by rugged individualists who bent the world to their will. These days, it seems populated by professional victims whose day jobs...

It’s as if the gun control crowd doesn’t want me to retire, because the Capitol Hill clown show seems to be taking every federal court rejection of...

Nothing’s better than sitting around a good fire, talking, debating, cogitating and even ruminating about guns. As you and your amigos bare your souls as...

The human animal is such a curious beast. To learn to do something, we must practice it. They say it takes 10,000 iterations before we can get really good...

A discussion of a specific class of concealment holsters, known generically as the “Pancake.” I’ve always admired the concept of the Pancake rig,...

I never fully got over my fascination with chemical reactions. I liked things that created energy or went bang. An interest in guns and handloading was the...

My walk-in medical clinic is the best place in town for meeting people. Everybody ends up there at some point. My quaint little southern community has no...

Something horrible happened in Maine last month, and many people are still talking about it because even at this late date, there remain a fair number of...

How many times have you thought, “Boy, if this thing could talk,” while picking up a gun to admire it? Here’s a tale where we know not only the...

Capt. McClintock’s contrivance has come to be known as a Bangalore Torpedo. You may also hear it referred to as a Banger, a Bangalore or a pole charge.

The name of U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez, who holds court in San Diego, ought to be cast in bronze and/or carved in stone in recognition of the fact...

As a young man, I admit to having harbored a fairly stylized mental image of criminals. My vision of the typical run-of-the-mill burglar was a...

Opening weekend of deer hunting came — and went — with nary a shot fired from my rifle, a Savage American Classic in .308 Winchester, or either of my...

It seems the older we get, our preference for older guns grows. Looking back on the “good old days” makes time less foreboding and more enjoyable even,...

The Israelis call Oct. 7, 2023, Black Sabbath. On that one day, Hamas terrorists murdered roughly 1,400 people. They further took 240 hostages. The...

Many years ago, I acquired one of North American Arms’ primo 5-shot single-action mini-revolvers, considered by some to be a novelty and by others to be a...

Ever since I laid eyes on a Mag-na-port Stalker — you know, the Holy Grail for handgun hunters, designed by the most famous handgun hunter, Larry Kelly...

"Listen, stud, I tell people they are going to die from lung cancer about once every six weeks, and I deal with the stress of my job without cigarettes. You...

Last month’s Gun Rights Policy Conference was one of the best, according to every “after action” report I’ve seen or heard from people in charge,...

When talking of big-bore handguns what’s the first cartridge that pops into your head? Traditional single action aficionados will pipe out either the .475...

Today, we are going to fix the American education system. I bet you thought the thorny problem was beyond the capacity of a simple 850-word Guncrank column....

When U.S. District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez last month handed down his crushing 71-page ruling in a case known as Duncan v. Bonta — declaring...

I had great uncles when growing up! They fed my sense of adventure without knowing it. I guess my mom and grandma should also share in the credit. You see,...

I bought my first putt-putt BB gun at age seven. I went hunting not because I liked deer meat but because I just enjoyed walking through the woods carrying...

If the past three years have taught us anything, it’s that the guy in the White House has some pretty radical views on the Second Amendment. So when his...

I recently shared my favorite .45 caliber bullet molds from Lee Precision. My intention was to illustrate how low-priced molds can produce excellent,...

I have a friend named Mack. Mack is the salt of the earth. He and his kind are what made America what it is. In addition to a lot of other positive...

Further inflaming tempers, she responded to a reporter’s question about constitutional issues by stating “No constitutional right, in my view, including...

It’s been over 10 years since I first laid my hands on Skeeter’s guns. I was fortunate indeed. I rode more than 1,800 miles in 27 hours with mi amigo,...

I had the privilege of spending some time in Israel several years ago, along with one of my teenage kids. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done.

Sometimes it is good to shift gears, even when it comes to packing a defensive sidearm, so when I decided about six weeks ago to pull my Kimber Compact...

Early in the morning on 6 August 1945, my friend needed to go over the Enola Gay’s engines one last time. He made his way out in the darkness, serviced...

Reporting on high-profile — or maybe just highly publicized — shooting tragedies often has a side benefit: Occasionally one gets to hear a local lawman,...

Turning on the TV, I start channel surfing. It didn’t take long finding something of interest — “Rocky.” Even though I’d seen this movie about a...

I recently received a most fascinating email from an alert reader. Paraphrased, it read, “Have an observation for Dr. Will Dabbs: You, sir, bear a strong...

About 10 bucks’ worth of PVC pipe, a couple of corner joints and two T-joints, a saw and a tape measure are all one needs to build a portable and...

When loading them, it was just another box of .45 Colt handloads. I was preparing for a handgun hunt with good buddy Dick Thompson. My mom had died a few...

Harrison Ford was born on July 13, 1942, in Chicago. As a child, he was a Boy Scout and, later, a sportscaster for his high school sports program. He was a...

In politics, as well as business, timing is everything. Dave Workman takes a look at current events and tests the theory.

Each fall, Tank reaches for the familiar, dog-eared book, Forty-Four Years, The Life of a Hunter — the autobiography of Meshach Browning.

What is luck exactly? Entire industries turn on it, and not just casino gambling. People in suits make zillions in the stock market. However, there is not...

For what seems like the umpteenth time, a case which could ultimately find the Illinois statutory requirement that every gun owner in the state have a...

What self-respecting boy didn’t want a knife when growing up? Back when I was a kid, all boys pined for their first knife. It was akin to the first step...

Yeah, I know I’ve seen that title someplace before. Anyway, it was an interesting day yesterday. We live way out in the sticks and have a modest lake for...

It was an innocent-enough mistake — well, not really a mistake; perhaps an error in polite judgment — but it provided an opportunity for some folks to...

Deciding what guns to bring for an African hunt was a tough decision. Tim Sundles, and his wife Kim, graciously invited me to the Buffalo Bore Game Preserve...

I don’t know where you stand on the subject of demonic possession, but I made an acquaintance at a big inner-city hospital who offered some unique...

As this was being written, authorities in Jefferson County, Washington, on the north side of the Olympics National Park, were looking for a mountain lion...

Tank's favorite season is fast approaching. It’s funny what cues trigger the brain, reminding us of our locked-away memories.

Before I went to medical school, I assumed that doctors generally knew what they were doing. Reality is not infrequently something else altogether.

Out of storage comes my trusty old, original Ruger Standard (precursor of the MK I), and I should have stopped right there. To make sure everything would be...

Ask any Smith & Wesson collector, accumulator, or shooter what the most coveted gun displaying the S&W brand is and most likely, they’ll respond...

Why, gun control, of course. Or maybe it’s “gun reform.” Might be “gun safety” or “gun responsibility.” It sure as heck isn’t the “common...

It started with a phone call. Fermin “Two Dogs” Garza, head honcho of Fermin C. Garza Customized Shooter’s Resources, contacted friend Ronnie Wells of...

I was never the biggest, fastest, or best-looking kid as I ineptly clawed my way from kindergarten through puberty. However, I have always had a gift for...

Those of us who grew up digesting a steady diet of big and small screen westerns are certainly familiar with holsters and sixguns, and whatever else we...

Being a typical July day in central Maryland, it was hot, humid, thick and miserable. Of course, the air conditioner decided to go on the fritz. While the...

In 1986, visionary filmmaker James Cameron came out with what was, in my opinion at least, his masterwork. Aliens was the ultimate combat science fiction...

Nothing better then fresh picked sweet corn in the summer, slathered in fresh butter. Only problem, raccoons have a sweet tooth for it too!

After getting his .32 Colt Police Positive Speciare-barreled, Tank finally had the chance to handload some of his favorite loads.

Pride is the alpha sin. It is what got Satan expelled from heaven. It is what pushed Adam and Eve out of the garden. All three aspired to be like God....

Inspired by a review of what appeared to be a genuinely well-designed, dandy-looking revolver, it occurred to me that not everyone has the financial...

What’s old is new, and new is old. Here’s an old trick you can use to make your round-nosed .22 rimfire ammo

Never underestimate the limitless capacity of the human male for stupidity in his timeless efforts to impress the fairer sex. Many a trek across the River...

Yakima County Sheriff Robert Udell is one of those rare public servants willing to speak to his constituents with the sort of candor most three-piece-suit...

Looking back is supposedly bad because you just might see something gaining on you. I’ve always enjoyed a daredevil demeanor and the potential risks when...

The Grease Gun was bulky, heavy and awkward. However, it shot straight enough and was legendarily reliable.

One year ago, this column had the tearful task of announcing the end of what had become a traditional gathering of skilled long-range handgunners who had...

As a whole, sixgunners are a sentimental bunch. Some of the younger set sometimes call us old school, old fashioned, Fudds, fuddy duds — or worse. But...

We raised our kids without television. They, predictably, hated that. However, as a result, we had to make our own entertainment. Part of that was writing...

Attorneys specializing in Second Amendment cases are a busy bunch these days, sometimes filing lawsuits challenging new gun laws even before the ink is dry.

For those having the sense of preferring single-action sixshooters, Tyler Gun Works has something for you … but you better hurry!

It was 1945, and V-E Day was about a week away. Everybody on both sides knew it was coming. Nobody relished the prospect of being the last casualty of the...

From the moment Birchwood Casey introduced its line of Shoot-N-C targets, gun people were in big trouble, because this is a target that simply cannot tell a...

Pulling up the long, twisting driveway of Copper Mountain, a faint haze hung on the horizon. Stepping out of my Suburban, the aroma of smoked bacon and...

I grew up watching syndicated reruns of the original “Star Trek.” Through 13 feature movies, eight live-action television series, sundry computer games...

If anybody needs a living definition of stubbornness, look no further than New Jersey, where last month a federal judge granted in part a preliminary...

Guns mean more to people like you and me than others could ever understand. Being sentimental links from our past, they remind us of the people who...

Young men are hopelessly impressionable. It is this odd mystical combination of fitness, psychological malleability, and rank stupidity that makes...

Declaring “a right delayed is a right denied,” the Second Amendment Foundation’s Alan Gottlieb recently announced a lawsuit — this outfit...

On September 23, 1985, I entered the portals of the Montgomery County Police Academy, as a fresh young police recruit. We were told to report to the main...

There is way more to life than what we can touch and feel. Just about the time we think we’ve got our heads around it, something comes up that calls...

Thank all the gods in the heavens your constitutional rights aren’t subject to public opinion polls because the Bill of Rights might be in tatters and...

Have no fear, The Fixer is here. Faster than a speeding bullet when editing mush, more powerful than a prepositional phrase, able to leap backlogs of...

With the crystalline clarity of hindsight, we all know how the Battle of the Bulge turned out. The Germans called it Operation Wacht am Rhein (translation:...

One of my colleagues in Florida who has been a semi-auto guy probably from day one admits he’s not that adept with a wheelgun, which is fine, because...

So, I’m sitting here alone in the semi-darkness, staring at those institutional ceiling tiles wearing one of those absurd open-backed surgical gowns. It...

It’s been almost 11 months since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, a decision...

In 2015, thumb-busters had a bodacious year with Ruger finally releasing a long awaited 5-shot, single-action Bisley.

The mission was to insert an infantry platoon covertly in the desert. For whatever reason, the grunt company commander was tagging along. Unusually, we were...

About four weeks ago, lawmakers in my home state of Washington pushed through legislation requiring proof of training to purchase any firearm, along with a...

The handguns I wish I’d never bought.

I used to run a STIHL 029 chainsaw with a 20-inch bar, until some dirtbag stole it, forcing me to shell out several Ben Franklins to replace it with a STIHL...

This past week I hear mi amigo, Bart Skelton has stepped on the rainbow to the great shootin’ range in the sky.

We live way out in the middle of no place. The fact that I sort of shoot guns for a living makes that pertinent. One of the fringe benefits is copious wildlife.

While Democrat Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson were celebrating passage of a bill to ban so-called “assault weapons” in the...

Have you ever been drug through the mud? How about being called a stick in the mud? Sounds clear as mud, right? Well, here’s some mud in your eye if you...

In military parlance, an Observer/Controller is like an umpire during war games. Harvested from other tactical units for a period of temporary duty, O/Cs...

Faithful readers will recall I’ve been experimenting for a good .41 Magnum load combining a lead semi-wadcutter bullet and a good charge of propellant —...

Ruger has added to their growing family of modestly priced Wranglers for .22 long rifle shooters by adding the new Super Wrangler.

The mainstream media is like a dog chasing a squirrel. Talking heads pontificate about the crisis du jour, while public figures rend their clothes while...

If you’ve never bought a handgun in California, good for you because the state law has been a train wreck, at least until recently when a federal judge...

Nothing’s better than meeting the “real” people inhabiting the faraway lands we travel. I love picking up local customs, foods or drinks from them....

Cohen specialized in aerospace guidance systems. Her major projects included the Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile guidance computer and the...

Being a career journalist has its advantages in that I can spot unintentional revelations amid all the verbiage which, when pulled out of the larger...

Every deer hunter knows from whence I speak. It starts as your heartbeat quickens and blood pressure skyrockets to astronomical levels at the unmistakable...

Listening to a man describe what Omaha Beach smelled like was quite literally priceless. Mr. Powell may be gone now, but today, we stand on the shoulders...

Traditionally, when spring rolls around (it started March 20, just in case you missed it), it’s been my habit to head for the range and burn up a few...

For those who regularly pray to the silver stream from the melting pot, there’s a fairly new technique that is either loved by some or hated like the...

A couple of weeks into the new year, Lisa Marie Presley died at the age of 54. Like many kids born into show business royalty, hers was a tumultuous and...

About five years ago, while knocking together a couple of holsters for a fall gun show, one of them didn’t turn out quite right and I tossed it aside,...

This past Sunday, noted big bore enthusiast and gunsmith extraordinaire John Linebaugh passed away while doing what he loved most, working one of his...

Given the internet-fueled insanity that has been American government for the last decade or so, one might be forgiven for believing that crazy people doing...

When Joseph W. Marshall, then 78, passed away in Seattle in May 1988, the headline on his obituary in the old Post-Intelligencer newspaper was a bland...

When picking up the No. 5, the first thing noticed is the deceptive lightness of the gun. You’d think it’s going to be heavier, but due to the balance...

They’re pretty much all gone now. When I was a kid, the country was blanketed with a thin patina of World War II veterans. They sold cars, ran service...

We’ve all read about “gun safety groups” lobbying state legislatures for ever-increasingly restrictive firearms regulations, but then along comes a...

The gun I’d want would need to fill several niches to be useful. It would have to be concealable for self-preservation, while needing to be powerful...

How many of you have had a great experience with your health insurance company? Who here can say that their health insurance company is altruistic, easy to...

There are now 25 states with so-called “Constitutional carry” and Florida appears to be approaching permitless carry, which translates to more citizens...

All guns have a story to tell, some are just more interesting than others. When we were kids, nothing was better than seeing those long, heavy, rectangular...

Laws did not stop this maniac. Laws did not even slow him down. The only thing that could have conceivably ended this lunatic’s rampage would have been an...

As you read this, the debate over whether Florida will become the 26th state to adopt permitless (aka “Constitutional”) concealed carry is heating up in...

We talk about firearms for self-defense, and less-lethal options to a lesser, but still respectable degree. What we never discuss is non-lethal —...

Are we alone in the universe? It’s a question as old as humanity. Since the dawn of time, man has stretched out on cloudless nights and gazed up at the...

My year officially gets rolling when Hodgdon’s Annual Manual arrives in my mailbox.

I had a three mid-frame Ruger Blackhawks in need of free-spinning cylinder conversions. Supposedly, it was a simple task.

The project came in the form of a good-sized frozen snake. My buddy had been out riding his bike a few weeks before when he came across a freshly demised...

You cannot make this up, and even if you could, the actual facts would read like something out of a really strange movie script about good versus just plain...

Prior to graduating from the police academy, strict protocol began to loosen up, with the instructors relaxing a bit. Even our sergeant toned things down.

The Headrest Safe provides maximum protection for your valuables or firearms when you are in or out of your vehicle.

Mission First Tactical's Belly Band Holster features a unique, first-of-its-kind design for those who want the freedom of carrying their firearm comfortably...

The Alaskan interior isn’t like the rest of the planet. The following conflict played out over the course of a couple of weeks on the front page of the...

A recent report from Fox News raised a few eyebrows when it alleged “some House Democrats … are suggesting their Republican colleagues will shoot them...

Anyone with kids knows the lovable character Woody from “Toy Story.” It’s one of my favorites and watched it a zillion times when my daughter was a...

With a Bond Arms Stinger RS in each hand, Roy Huntington attempts to answer the question on all of our minds — are they actually accurate?

December 2, 1943, was a Thursday. Allied troops worked feverishly in the freshly-liberated Italian port of Bari on the heel of Italy, offloading the...

The Trace is a publication financially supported by anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg, and as the New Year began unfolding, it provided some...

These joyous and necessary purchases never saved me a dime casting and reloading my own ammo. It just allowed me to shoot a heck of a lot more.

A dear friend came up in the 1930s on a rural Mississippi farm. Growing up on a farm is a bit of a trope in the modern era. Back in the days before World...