“lever actions”

The Model 94 Sporter is fast and reliable, and it's made with a quality that assures it will put bucks on the ground for generations to come.

In hunting there are the rifles you choose to make sure you take an animal humanely; and then, there are the rifles you choose to make sure the animal doesn’t take you. A choice for a black bear rifle lends itself to the latter.

Hunters looking for a gun that offers high performance with a straight-wall rifle cartridge should welcome the 444 Marlin. It functions well, provides excellent accuracy for a big-bore lever-action and accepts a scope.

Over the decades, several cartridges have proved themselves as worthy against charging bears in North America. Here’s a look at the best bear defense cartridges ever made.

A well-sealed walnut stock will stand up to most hunting conditions, though a wood stock is not as rigid or easy to produce as a synthetic stock. Many of the today’s wood stocks are plain looking, and the highly figured stocks come at a premium. Has the synthetic stock won after all?

Ruger’s take on this classic makes for the most rugged Marlin rifle ever made.

What makes an open-sighted handgun most attractive is how easy it is to carry and how quickly it may be pressed into action. However, as hunters age we usually fall victim to presbyopia and struggle to focus on near objects, making it difficult to focus on the front sight of a handgun. Here’s what the author’s learned as he’s aged and discovered solutions to the problem.

Contributor Dennis Bradley compares two big-bore powerhouses: the .45-70 Government and a relative newcomer, the .458 SOCOM.

Contributor B. Gil Horman tests out the Model 1854 lever-action from Smith & Wesson.