I am a .17 lover in spite of my reputation for liking really big guns. Being a .17 shooter is sort of like other things your friends and family would like to keep in the closet. But trust me, it is okay to like the wee rifles because there are few things that go bang that are as much fun. To buy and like a .17 of any size you have to overcome the opinions of "experts" and writer types who will tell you all of the "bad" things about them. If you begin with the foundation that it is likely few of these naysayers have ever fired a .17, it immediately makes you feel better about the smallest of the commercial rounds. That they foul badly, are inaccurate, blow like feathers in the wind ... read more

A crash in the night, your heart goes THUMP! We humans have an innate fear of darkness programmed into the firmware of our DNA. It isn't imagined. What you can't see in the dark CAN hurt you. The cover of darkness has been the friend of the predator, the criminal, the terrorist, the Devil Himself, which is why night vision manufacturing is now a billion-dollar business. Night vision technology has come a long way in the last ten years. Gradually the prices have come way down. What used to be available to just the military is now within the financial reach of civilians and law enforcement. I recently had the opportunity to do some night operations training down in North Carolina. Wow! ... read more

Years ago I purchased a used gun in a box of old gun bits and pieces from an estate sale. It was one of those, "right place, right time" moments when the seller and the gun store didn't want to bother with sorting out what was there – some assorted 1911 bits and pieces – and none of which seemed to work. The gun-store owner saw me coming in and since he knew I liked 1911’s, he told the seller I might be interested. I offered a few bucks for what looked like a bunch of parts and a frame, and did my paperwork. ... read more