The M1A — A rifle that makes a statement
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #45 • May/June, 1997
I take the Springfield Armory rifle out of the box, and savor it. I seldom do that with guns, but a Springfield Match grade M1A will make a...
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...
Picking a holster
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #69 • May/June, 2001
One good thing about being out in the boonies by yourself is that you can carry a gun on your own property. It's a fundamental right that, for...
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...
Building the coyote rifle
By Rev. J.D. Hooker
Issue #107 • September/October, 2007
Feral dogs, coyotes, and those odd-looking "coy dogs" like to feed on my neighbors' livestock on occasion here around Kendallville, Indiana, and for years the neighbors looked...
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....
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...
Sight and sound enhancement
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #71 • September/October, 2001
Enhancing vision and hearing can make you a safer, more effective shooter, and sometimes can save human lives.
Captain Ayoob prepares to trigger his MP5 with SureFire light unit...
Moderate power firearms
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #110 • March/April, 2008
Robert Ruark, the great American writer of the mid-Twentieth Century, was also a big game hunter. One of his most popular books, written on the latter topic, was...
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...
Frontier style handguns for the modern backwoods home
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #101 • September/October, 2006
The year was 1873. Samuel Colt had invented the revolveror at least introduced it to Americain 1836. The Colt Navy .36 and Army .44 cap-n'-ball revolvers had been...
The Appleseed Project
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #123 • May/June, 2010
There is nothing else in the shooting world quite like the Appleseed Project, which combines American Revolutionary War history with rifle marksmanship and firearms safety, and in so...
Reload your own brass
By Dale Petry
Issue #132 • November/December, 2011
Not long ago a friend called to say he had seen an unusual rifle at the local gun shop. Shortly after that call I found myself in possession...
Tailoring guns to females
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #131 • September/October, 2011
So, I'm sitting here in a hotel writing this, less than three hours after getting off the witness stand in a manslaughter case. The defendant was a 5'3",...
Bury a gun and ammo for 15 years
(and be assured everything still
works when you dig it up)
By Charles Wood
Issue #115 • January/February, 2009
Back in the early 1990s the outlook for the nation in general and gun owners in particular seemed rather...
Big boomer guns
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #125 • September/October, 2010
For you long time readers, I know what you're thinkin'"Hey, isn't this the guy who within the last two years wrote the article about moderation, where he said...































