My maternal grandfather owned two shotguns. One was a rusty old 12 gauge with a cracked buttstock and a broken butt plate. The other was a nice little Savage Model 220A in 20 gauge. When I was in my teens, I said to Grandpa, “I would like to try to repair that 12 gauge for you. If you like the work, you can give me the 20 gauge in payment.” That was a foolish offer on my part. Why would Grandpa want to give up a dandy 20 gauge just to get a battered old 12 gauge repaired. But for…

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On April 23, 1014, the army of King Brian Boru of Ireland defeated Viking forces at the Battle of Clontarf, freeing Ireland from Viking control. (The imaginative painting above was rendered by Hugh Frazer, 1826.) — And on this day in 1940, a dance hall fire killed 198 people in Natchez, Mississippi. — Today’s feature article is by  SurvivalBlog staff writer Tom Christianson. — We are seeking entries for Round 124 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $984,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 124 ends on May 31st, so get…

The late 1950s TV Western series Wanted: Dead or Alive launched the careers of two stars. The first was actor Steve McQueen, and the second was McQueen’s character’s sidearm, a cut-down Winchester Model 1892 that was called “The Mare’s Leg.” Henry Repeating Firearms, a name synonymous with lever-action rifles, already makes its own rimfire and centerfire version of a Mare’s Leg lever-action pistol. Now the company is stepping up its lever-gun game with the Bear’s Leg. The Henry Bear’s Leg is an X model version of the company’s Mare’s Leg centerfire lever-action pistol. Think of the Bear’s Leg as an…

FIREARM: Fusil d’infanterie modèle 1777 corrigé an IXMANUFACTURER: Manufacture Imperial de TulleCALIBER: 17.5 mm (.69)MANUFACTURED: c. 1805CONDITION: Fine (NRA Antique Gun Standards)VALUE: $2,750 By the early 1700s, small arms began to take on increasingly uniform aspects. Circa 1727, the British introduced what would be the precursor to a line of fine flintlock infantry arms that, somewhere along the way, picked up the nickname “Brown Bess.” France, in 1717, fielded a standardized musket of its own, the progeny of which would later generically be referred to as “Charlevilles.” Origins of the cognomen of the British family of muskets are still unsettled,…

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In 2025, Federal Ammunition introduced one of the most innovative new cartridges in recent memory: the 7 mm Backcountry. Unlike other recent cartridge launches, the key to the 7 mm Backcountry wasn’t just in the design of the cartridge but also the type of material used in its case construction. Watch our “American Rifleman Television: Rifleman Review” segment above to see the details of this new rifle round. “Well, new cartridges in big-game hunting don’t come along very often, so when they do, it’s fairly big news. And this one, the 7 mm Backcountry by Federal is particularly interesting,” American…

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00:00:07 Speaker 1: This podcast. 00:00:10 Speaker 2: Welcome to Meet Eater Trivia, the only game show where conservation always wins. I’m your host, Spencer Newhart, and today we’re joined by Brody Nate, John, Marge Logan and am I missing anyone? Maxwell? 00:00:22 Speaker 3: Maxwell? I’m here. 00:00:23 Speaker 2: This is a ten round quiz show with questions from Meat Eater’s four verticals, which are hunting, fishing, conservation, and cooking. There is a prize. Meat Eater will donate five hundred dollars to the conservation organization of the winners choosing. All right, we have a couple of mailbag questions…

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