The Vortex Triumph HD 850 is one of those budget rangefinders that has no business being this useful for the money. It ranges farther than its size suggests, weighs almost nothing, and reads fast, but a slightly off reticle keeps it from being an easy slam dunk. The Vortex Triumph HD 850 is a compact laser rangefinder designed for hunters who want fast, reliable ranging without the extra bulk. Built with hunters in mind but versatile enough for general shooting use, the Triumph HD 850 focuses on simplicity, lightweight construction, and practical ranging performance at an approachable price point. With…

The tax went away, and buyers did not exactly ease into the shallow end. FOIA data shows silencer applications surged hard in early 2026, but the real surprise is that approvals still moved far faster than many shooters feared. Most of you reading this are aware that the tax on making and transferring four of the six types of firearms regulated by the National Firearms Act (NFA) was recently repealed. Beginning January 1, 2026, Silencers, Short Barreled Rifles (SBR), Short Barreled Shotguns (SBS), and Any Other Weapon (AOW) could be made or transferred at a zero-tax rate. There was a…

The Browning BAR Mk II Safari is one of those rifles that can make a bolt-gun loyalist raise an eyebrow after the first shot. It is classy, quick on follow-up shots, and surprisingly gentle in a caliber that still gets real hunting done. From Battlefield BAR to Deer Camp Icon The Browning BAR, pronounced B-A-R, was originally designed by John Browning in 1917 and adopted by the U.S. military in 1918 as the M1918 BAR, or Browning Automatic Rifle. The BAR was a lightweight select-fire rifle that chewed through 20-round magazines of .30-06 Springfield ammo at a rate of about…

Potatoes are one of the most rewarding crops you can grow. They’re easy to plant, very productive, and surprisingly adaptable. In fact, potatoes are one of those plants you can grow in almost anything as long as the container has room, drainage, and enough soil. Gardeners grow them in raised beds, buckets, grow bags, trash cans, and repurposed containers. One clever option is growing potatoes in laundry baskets. This method is really useful if you don’t have a lot of planting space. Laundry baskets are cheap, easy to find, and large enough to grow a good crop. They also make…

S&W’s Performance Center Bodyguard 2.0 Carry Comp is a tiny .380 that shoots flatter than it should, carries easier than most, and only needed one fix at the sights. Tiny .380, Big Attitude: Meet the Bodyguard 2.0 Carry Comp Would you carry a 380 ACP for personal protection? What if it were compensated and had a 12-round capacity? You’ll likely answer yes or no to both questions. I’m on team “yes,” but I haven’t always been. My discovery of Smith and Wesson’s Bodyguard 2.0 was my turning point on this matter. It is a micro compact that can be easily…

As I promised at the end of my post on whether Second Amendment groups should be actively devoting limited time and resources to fight against both legal and illegal immigration (and perhaps even women and younger voters), I’ve got some ideas about how to grow the number of 2A activists (and gun owners in general) instead of trying to deport or disenfranchise members of a particular demographic who are most likely to support anti-gun candidates and policies.  We can start by targeting our efforts on those individuals who are already gun owners but not yet…

Our friends at Max Tactical Firearms took a hard look at the Brian M. Hicks study published in JAMA Network Open — specifically the methodology, measurement choices, and interpretive leaps that don’t hold up under scrutiny. What follows is their breakdown. When a psychiatry professor publishes research about firearms, the first question worth asking is: are we looking at behavioral science — or a policy conclusion dressed up in data? When you actually read the Hicks study, what you find is a study whose design appears aligned with a predetermined direction — and then works to keep the data consistent…

I’ve never liked how we treat felons in this country.Oh, we should definitely lock them up when they deserve it, and we go way too light on some of these sentences, to say the least, but when someone has paid their debt to society, it should be considered paid in full. We don’t do that. Instead, we continue to treat a lot of these folks like criminals for the rest of their lives. They have to check a box on most job applications that they’re felons, which doesn’t make sense for a lot of jobs,…

The war in the Middle East, which started on February 28th after the United States and Israel used joint strikes to attack Iran, has now expanded. Yemen’s Houthi Rebels have entered the fight, attacking Israeli military sites. More than 11,000 targets have been struck since Operation Epic Fury began, CENTCOM said Saturday in a fact sheet. Farea Al-Muslimi, a research fellow in the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House think tank, said: “The decision by the Houthis to join the broader Middle East conflict marks a serious and deeply concerning escalation.” “The potential impact on key commercial…

The Ninth Circuit recently heard an en banc review in Yukutake v. Lopez which involves firearm purchase requirements in Hawaii. Did Hawaii get caught lying while playing “he said,” “she said”? Previously reported, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard en banc arguments in a case challenging Hawaii’s firearm purchase permitting and inspection law. Yukutake v. Lopez received a favorable opinion from a three-judge panel and the Aloha State asked the full court for a review. The case is being litigated by attorney Alan Beck and the en banc arguments occurred on Mar. 24.…

Drama doesn’t begin to cover it. Marion Hammer — the 87-year-old former NRA president who created the Eddie Eagle GunSafe® program and is widely credited with pioneering Florida’s concealed-carry licensing framework — is suing the NRA for unpaid compensation. And her deposition earlier this month apparently went about as sideways as a deposition can go. According to subscription legal news service Law360, Hammer reportedly told NRA attorney Brian Hayden, “You think you’re God. And I think you’re an asshole,” at some point during the proceedings — and allegedly directed similar language at him multiple times throughout the hearing. Then things…

An Arizona bill making its way through the legislature this session would require K-12 schools to provide “age-appropriate firearm safety awareness education” to students each year. You can read the criteria for the lessons here, but it’s safe to say that it’s not meant to be any kind of backdoor indoctrination to gun ownership or anti-gun activism. The goal is simple: to make kids and juveniles aware of what to do if they come across a firearm.   Bruce Petillo doesn’t see it that way, though. As he wrote in the Arizona Republic, in his…