“semi-auto rifles”

I’m just guessing, mind you, but I believe the first American deer rifle was the Model 94 Winchester. To be sure, a lot of deer fell to Model 73s, Marlins, Trapdoor Springfields and flintlocks, but the first sporting deer rifle was the 94. Since that iconic rifle there have been a whole lot more.

For the most part, waterfowl and upland bird conservation groups leave defending the Second Amendment to the National Rifle Association. There are a variety of reasons they do so, but these are no longer ordinary times for gun rights.

The question of the day: Is the .223 Remington/5.56 NATO cartridge an adequate deer cartridge?

The new Savage A17 uses a delayed blowback action. A small bar in the top of the bolt slides up to fit into a slot in the receiver when the bolt is closed, locking the action. The bar cams back down upon firing to release the bolt and allow the action to cycle, but it delays the action from opening until pressure has dropped to a manageable level.

Today, Ruger produces a whole line of single- and double-action revolvers, semi-auto pistols, bolt-action rifles and semi-auto rifles, and is one of the most successful firearms manufacturers in existence, building more guns than any other manufacturer. That much, just about everyone knows. But here are 10 things you might not know about the company's history.

Which seminars should you attend at the 145th NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits? We’ll make it easy: Here are three you can’t afford to miss. The presenters for each are also American Hunter contributors, so you know they know their stuff. Be prepared to take notes.

It was 150 years ago that the name “Winchester” was first stamped on a rifle. But Winchester’s narrative began well before that, and it is a tale tied to the American West, to the wars of the 20th century, to big personalities such as John Browning and John Olin, and to the manufacture of billions of cartridges and millions of rifles and shotguns beloved by generations of Americans.

The Sharps Rifle Company (SRC) developed the .25-45 Sharps cartridge and introduced it in 2012. Not to be confused with Shiloh Sharps—a company that makes historically correct blackpowder cartridge rifles—SRC is for all practical purposes built around this one cartridge, which is designed to replicate .250 Savage ballistics in an AR-15. Four years after its introduction, most hunters have never heard of the .25-45 Sharps. That’s about to change.