Ross Seyfried – GunsAmerica Magazine Articles

Long time writer for Guns & Ammo comes to GunsAmerica Magazine to share his most important insights learned over decades of hunting and shooting.

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Busting the Magnum Myth! - Choosing YOUR Ideal Hunting Cartridge

Busting the Magnum Myth! – Choosing YOUR Ideal Hunting Cartridge

Kinetic energy does not matter. Accuracy almost does not matter. The headstamp on the case certainly does not matter. Having more shells in the magazine does not matter. How well you can hit with your rifle is almost all that matters!

What if I were to tell you that there is a rifle out there that will let you take more deer and elk; and bears and sheep and caribou and coyotes; and kudu? Yes, there is a rifle out there that will make you more successful in virtually any hunting situation you can imagine. Now your mind immediately goes to the biggest, fastest, largest, longest and most expensive kind of machine modern technology can create. But alas, this is going to be much simpler and down to Earth than you might imagine.

I am about to offer you the keys to the kingdom of hunting-rifle success; keys gleaned from several decades of hunting and the observation of more than 1000 head of big game being taken. This is not about me, but about the dozens of men, women and young shooters I have guided or known around the world. Folks just like you who I have watched succeed and fail, often very simply because of the rifle, or more accurately the cartridge they have chosen. Kinetic energy does not matter. Accuracy almost does not matter. The headstamp on the case certainly does not matter. Having more shells in the magazine does not matter. How well you can hit with your rifle is almost all that matters!

What if I were to tell you that there is a rifle out there that will let you take more deer and elk; and bears and sheep and caribou and coyotes; and kudu? Yes, there is a rifle out there that will make you more successful in virtually any hunting situation you can imagine. Now your mind immediately goes to the biggest, fastest, largest, longest and most expensive kind of machine modern technology can create. But alas, this is going to be much simpler and down to Earth than you might imagine.

I am about to offer you the keys to the kingdom of hunting-rifle success; keys gleaned from several decades of hunting and the observation of more than 1000 head of big game being taken. This is not about me, but about the dozens of men, women and young shooters I have guided or known around the world. Folks just like you who I have watched succeed and fail, often very simply because of the rifle, or more accurately the cartridge they have chosen.

Lipseys Ruger Flattop .44 Special Bisley Revolvers

As many of you know Lipsey’s is a large firearms wholesale company in Baton Rouge, LA. They have a history of creating interesting and useful limited edition firearms and before us is one of the best and most interesting I have encountered. The guns are flattop target Bisley-Blackhawk revolvers reminiscent of the good old days and are chambered for one of the most wonderful cartridges of all time, the .44 Smith & Wesson Special. Said another way, they are guns that Elmer Keith, Skeeter Skelton and perhaps even Bill Jordan would have gone to a lot of trouble to own. Beyond, they are very close facsimiles of what I think is the finest revolver ever created, Elmer Keith’s No. 5 Colt.

What makes these revolvers so unusual, rare and wonderful is the combination of all three of these features: .44 Special, flattop target and Bisley. With these things we have a wonderful cartridge housed in an elegant target-sighted frame, with the Ruger “Bisley” grip; that to me is the most efficient and shootable revolver grip ever made. It is extremely close to Elmer’s wonderful No. 5. With that I realize many of you are not familiar with this revolver, so we will set the stage.

The Mighty .17 Rimfires – A Tiny Little Cartridge With Great Big Fun

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 and have no killing power is simply untrue. My sweet seventeens have mostly been centerfires, and their emphasis has been on speed. Many of them are honest 4000 fps propositions and the fastest bullet I have ever chronographed was a .17, fired over the Oehler at 4600 fps. I have shot numerous sub-half-inch groups, thumped lots of various small critters, a few coyotes and some deer. With my long term affection for .17s it will not surprise you that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the Hornady Rimfire when it was released over a decade ago.

The Envelope Please! My Best Rifle Sight Award Goes To…

Let’s start this month with a question. It may not be the best writing form, but let’s go for it.

Is there a way to correct your shooting vision without corrective lenses, without a scope, and with nothing more than a plain iron sight? And no, I’m not going to give you the answer right away.

Gun Collecting Basics

The line between having a gun or two and becoming a collector is a fine and blurry one . . . and that is the magic of it all. You do not need a large bank account or carved-in-stone criteria to be a collector. We could use Webster to find a definition of a “collection”, but because I am writing this, I will make one up to suit. To me, a “collection” of guns and/or related items is simply when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. There is more good news, that “greater” need not be in my eyes or in the eyes of formal collectors or organizations; but in your eyes only. If, over time, you choose wisely there is a very high probability that your collection will please someone else also; and it may be a very good financial investment. With that in mind let’s look at the mental process that can lead you down the road to safe and happy collecting.

There should be two overriding criteria when you begin to invest. First, buy what you like. That is, do not try to keep up with the “Joneses.” Just because someone has a fine collection of all Damascus Nambus, or gold inlaid Iver Johnsons it does not mean that these would be right for you.