Bear Spray Buying Guide: 4 Top Picks Compared

When a bear closes the distance, the specifications on the label matter less than three things working together: enough volume to keep spraying, enough range to deploy before the animal reaches you, and a delivery system you can operate under stress. In the assessment of Meg Carney, a spray consi...

By James Chen •

Rebel Monster: The Ironclad CSS Virginia

Rebuilt from the scuttled hull of the USS Merrimack, the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia steamed into Hampton Roads and changed naval warfare forever. Tom Laemlein details how this armored Civil War ram sank the USS Cumberland, destroyed the USS Congress, and spread panic through Washington D.C...

By Tom Laemlein •

NFA Transfers: A Revenue Line Dealers Keep Ignoring

The NFA injunction protects parties and their customers, not every dealer. A field guide to running NFA transfers now, pricing them as a revenue line, and getting found when buyers search for a shop that handles suppressors.

By Fred Thompson •

Maryland Judge Finds Glocks Are Protected Arms, Yet Lets Sales Ban Proceed

Maryland’s Glock sales ban remains on track for January 1, 2027, after a federal judge recognized the targeted handguns as protected arms but denied preliminary relief. A Connecticut judge blocked a similar restriction, exposing a sharp disagreement over banning lawful pistols because criminals...

By Duncan Johnson Editor in Chief •

Fudd Friday: Why Are Y'all Sleeping On The .243?

Like so many hunting calibers of the 20th century, particularly in the sub-30 caliber segment, the .243 Winchester is a descendant of wildcatter experimentation. As early as the 1940s, Warren Page was experimenting with .243-caliber rounds, and when the Winchester .308 was released in the early 1...

By Zac K •

The 30 Year Search for the Army’s Squad Automatic Weapon

As the introduction of the SIG M250 potentially opens a new chapter in the U.S. Army's squad automatic weapon story, or more accurately, the GPMG role, it is worth looking back at the excitement around the M249 when it was adopted. The U.S. Army type-classified the M249 on February 1, 1982, ...

By Lynndon Schooler •

The Dueling Roots of the Old West Gunfighter

The lone gunman squaring off in a dusty street, hand hovering over a low-slung holster, is one of the most durable images in American gear culture. Its origin lies not on the frontier but in the East, in a formal ritual imported from Europe and practiced for decades by prominent men in the young ...

By James Chen •

Ayoob: The Guns of Cormac McCarthy

When I plucked the September-October issue of Smithsonian magazine out of my P.O. Box, the first article I turned to was “The Secret Life of Cormac McCarthy” by Richard Grant. As I skimmed it, a pull-quote leaped out at me: “He never left the house without a book. He never left the house wi...

By Massad Ayoob •

Congress Must Rein In ATF’s Billion-Record Gun Archive After Qilin Breach

Qilin breached a separate ATF system, but the bureau’s massive archive of lawful gun purchases remains a threat to gun-owner privacy. Congress should force a full accounting, end informal record collection, limit retention, and change the law that feeds the archive—before a future administrat...

By John Crump •
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