Alaska Arms: Ruger M77 Rings and Extra Round Floorplate
Alaska is known as a land of extremes, and the men and women who successfully live and hunt there are rather particular about what does and doesn’t work.
Alaska is known as a land of extremes, and the men and women who successfully live and hunt there are rather particular about what does and doesn’t work.
When I unboxed the Predator, I found a skinny little tapered barrel, a light composite stock, and a surprisingly smooth action. I say surprising because there was really nothing remarkable about the rifle other than the action. Admittedly, I did not have high expectations for the predator. It is a deceptively modest gun. Can a rifle that retails for less than $500 makes hits at 1,000 yards?
Having clearly stated goals will tell you if you need to spend extra time with your dog doing more drills to meet one of those goals, or if you need to add to your goal list.
Many people don’t realize it, but Texas is home to tens of thousands of free-ranging aoudads, Axis deer, blackbuck antelope, fallow deer, and nilgai, among others, none of which originated on the North American Continent much less the Republic of Texas.
We were a very talkative group at dinner the night before and during coffee that morning. But when the 15 of us walked into the covered shooting line and saw the steel targets ranging before us–the last row at 1,000 yards—it all went silent. Oh, man, I imagined my fellow students thinking, that’s what 1,000 yards actually looks like? Never going to happen!
But, why I really love shotguns is because they are so versatile. Seriously, if you can find me any other gun that you can shoot a quail with at 15 yards and also shoot a whitetail with at 150, I will be very impressed. Not to mention all the different gauges, styles and brands.
I love to look at Professional Hunter’s firearms; they show the rigors of day-to-day hunting life and are often beat nearly to death. While we all have our safe queens, I appreciate those beat up, well-hunted guns that invariably have a story to tell, be it that one shot that even surprised the owner, of those hair-raising tales of dangerous game at close quarters.
The Remington 783 Scoped rifle and scope package might provide an answer to that dilemma of those looking for a good rifle at a great price. For less than $400, shooters get a quality rifle along with scope rings and a scope—everything they need to get deer season off to a good start. And, it comes with the scope and rings installed and boresighted.
Introduced earlier this year as the company’s first-ever semi-auto shotgun, the Stevens S1200 is powered using a very smooth, fast Benelli-esque inertia recoil system but comes with a very unBenelli-esque price—starting at well under $600, for a semi-auto shotgun.
The Traditions Mountain Rifle is a Hawken style traditional sidelock muzzleloader with a double tenon wedge system. It is deadly accurate with roundballs, and is absolutely gorgeous for the $520 price. If you have always wanted a traditional style muzzleloader, this new entry to the Traditions stable is probably the one.