“wildcat”

The Winchester Wildcat Sporter SR is innovative, clever, supremely versatile, reliable and inexpensive.

A lot has changed in the .22 market since the mid-20th century. The blowback action Winchester debuted has been refined to near-perfection. If the Wildcat is going to compete with the likes of the vaunted Ruger 10/22, it has to bring a lot to the table. Fortunately, it does.

Here are five cool wildcats that ammunition aficionado Philip Massaro has come across in his years as a gun writer.

Keeping heritage crossbows alive, Barnett has released its all new Blackcat and Wildcat recurves, offering a classic design with contemporary technology.

Developed in 1976 by Ken Waters as a wildcat cartridge, the 7-30 Waters is based on the .30-30 Winchester necked down to 7mm to improve velocity and trajectory, with a significant drop off in felt recoil. In 1984, Winchester began to produce rifles chambered for cartridge, legitimizing Waters’ dream, and establishing it as a commercial cartridge.

Just about every case shape imaginable has been modified to hold both 7mm and .30-caliber bullets, but it was gunwriter Layne Simpson who saw a gap in the lineup: there was no 7mm cartridge based on a full-length .375 H&H case. In 1979, Simpson took the excellent 8mm Remington Magnum and necked it down to hold 7mm bullets, giving his wildcat the name “Shooting Times Westerner.”

From the makers of Fish Monkey, Hunt Monkey Gloves has emerged with the hunting market squarely in its sights.

We’re all familiar with the abundance of .223 ammunition available, and you should have read a story or two over the years about the accuracy potential of the .22-250, but from a hunter’s standpoint, which one comes out on top?