John B. Snow

John B. Snow shares the story of his first Ruger M77 in .30/06—a fine hunting rifle that he loved so much, he gave it away.

Not long ago, the .270 Winchester reigned supreme. From the post–World War II era right up to the early 2000s, the .270 was a colossus among big-game hunting cartridges, a mighty twin of the immortal .30/06. During that time, if you could get ammunition-makers to open their books, you’d have seen that the .270 was one of the top three or five bestsellers in their lineups. In 1970, Jack O’Connor, who was a major force behind the .270’s ascendance, said that by his estimation, more custom sportin…

There’s no firearm more American than a lever-action. Bolt guns were perfected by the Germans, double-barreled shotguns by the British, and even revolvers trace their origins to Europe. But lever-actions rifles are a purely American innovation. From the time of the Civil War to the early decades of the 20th Century, they were the dominant long-arm in North America. They were the first effective repeater that saw military action, they were used during the great slaughter of the buffalo in the 18…

Several years ago, down in Colorado, I was prone behind one of my long-range competition guns, the scope’s crosshairs steady on the ribcage of an antelope feeding on a sage-covered hill nearly 500 yards away. This better work, I thought. Before that moment, I’d had a pretty fixed notion of what made a proper big-game bullet. Whether I was chasing Coues deer in Mexico, bears in Alaska, plains game in Africa, or whitetails in the Midwest, I wanted my bullets to more or less behave the same. That…

Not long ago, the Holy Grail of hunting-rifle accuracy was 1 MOA. Today, that kind of performance doesn’t warrant more than a shrug. We have entered the era of off-the-shelf rifles with sub .75 MOA accuracy—and we have the data to prove it. The source for the chart above is the annual test of new rifles that I oversee for both Field & Stream and Outdoor Life. This involves a week of intensive trigger pulling by no fewer than four different shooters, during which we fill buckets with empty brass…

In the race to stay competitive in practical precision rifle matches, shooters have pushed the development of rifles, bullets, cartridges, optics, and shooting accessories forward at an unprecedented rate. The companies that are in tune with the needs of this demanding group are making some of the most accurate and rugged shooting equipment we’ve ever seen. Today’s PRS-style rifle matches have their roots in the sniper field matches that we shot back in the old days of the early 2000s. Since ou…

If you want to score some serious brownie points next Valentine’s Day, give your beloved a copy of FM 23-5, also known as the Basic Field Manual for the U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1. This gem, put out by the War Department in 1940, details how to care for and use the immortal M1 Garand, but it also includes a wealth of information on marksmanship and shooting drills. One of the illustrations shows proper way to shoot from the seated position with a shooting sling, which is a skill all but lost a…