Firearms and cold weather considerations
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #79 • January/February, 2003
Many of our readers have established their abodes in places which, during the winter months, do not exactly draw the beachgoers. The older I get, the less the...
Teaching a 10-year-old to shoot
By John Moody
Issue #174 • November/December, 2018
In my youth, I remember my dad dragging my brother and me out of bed in the middle of the night, tossing our tired bodies in the back...
How big a gun do you need?
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #99 • May/June, 2006
We Americans like to do things in a big way. Big houses. Big cars. Big boats. And, yes, big guns.
There are good arguments for all this, of course....
The light at the end of the gun
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #128 • March/April, 2011
Dave writes, "A few weeks ago I had to shoot a skunk in the chicken house, but the old long-barreled Sears semi-auto proved unwieldy as I tried to...
How long should your gun’s barrel length be?
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #136 • July/August, 2012
The person new to guns is like the person new to timepieces. "How many of these things are there?" "In how many configurations?" "And they've been around for...
Cold weather shooting considerations
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #126 • November/December, 2010
Winter will soon be upon us. Cold weather makes a lot of things more difficult. Running. Walking. Navigating through the woods. And, of course, safely manipulating and shooting...
Firearms — Tools of rural living
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #91 • January/February, 2005
So, editor Dave Duffy and I got to talking about guns. We agreed that for some people they are sporting equipment like a Spaulding racquet or a Big...
Centennial of the All-American .30-06
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #100 • July/August, 2006
In the long love affair between America and the rifle, there has never been an interlude quite as intensive as the epoch of the .30-06. This cartridge celebrated...
Firearms handling refresher Part II: Shotguns
By Massad Ayoob
Website Exclusive • December, 2003
In Part I, we began a series of refreshers on safety and proper handling of firearms. This time, we'll examine what may be the most common firearm in...
Firearms handling refresher Part III: Rifles
By Massad Ayoob
Website Exclusive • January, 2004
Our three part series on firearms handling ends with this installment. In Part I, we covered handguns and in Part II, we followed with shotguns.
The rifle is a...
Use the right ammunition!
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #130 • July/August, 2011
The purpose of the gun is to fire ammunition. It follows that the ammunition should be the correct ammunition.
This is simple. It is not hard to understand. But...
BHM hosts Appleseed marksmanship event
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #139 • January/February, 2013
Long a supporter of the Appleseed concept, Backwoods Home Magazine hosted one in Gold Beach, Oregon, in second quarter 2012. Naturally, a good time was had by all....
Answering some well asked questions about personal defense
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #97 • January/February, 2006
Jeff Yago, Backwoods Home's energy writer, recently completed a couple of concealed carry handgun courses. The classes apparently left some questions hanging in the air, and Jeff passed...
Just because
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #144 • November/December, 2013
I generally recommend that people buy guns the way they'd buy power tools, or automobiles, or homes. Assess your needs, analyze your budget, correlate it all with your...
Military surplus and military “clone” rifles
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #116 • March/April, 2009
One reader writes to ask if military surplus rifles are still a good idea for hunting, recreational shooting, and all around backwoods use.
The answer is more complicated than...
The time for modern; the time for traditional
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #137 • September/October, 2012
Traditional "old skool" guns, or the most modern and efficient ballistic hardware that money can buy? I asked that question recently on my corner of the Backwoods Home...
