Search this site

by Andi Bogard Gun Tales is pleased to welcome Andrea “Andi” Bogard, a hunter, multi-platform shooter, reloader, and student of ballistics whose work walks comfortably between old-school field knowledge and the endlessly entertaining world of experimentation. Andi has written on everything from the .375 Holland & Holland and classic safari cartridges to revolvers, lever guns, shotgun fit, reloading, wingshooting, and the hunting life for outlets including American Rifleman, Gun Digest Annual, Outdoor Life, Women’s Outdoor News, and BluePress. She brings a curious mind, a steady respect for tradition, and a willingness to wander down the less-traveled ballistic trail—exactly the sort of voice that belongs around the Gun Tales campfire. Welcome, Andi. —Matt There are shooters and there are gun guys. The distinction between the two is seldom blurred. As with any rule or generality, however, the fun is in breaking it. With that in mind, I give you the Savage 99. I want to take you on a tour through the inception and evolution of this iconic platform. Before we embark, I want to break down our premise—The Gentleman of Lever Guns. What does this mean and why does the Savage 99 qualify? While definitions may vary, the basic essence of a gentleman is a man of strong character, honor, consistency and integrity who treats those around him with courtesy, respect and chivalry. As a woman, these are eminently desirable (and highly sought-after) qualities in a man.

by Jim Wilson If I showed you a room with 200 men in it and told you to pick out the Texas Ranger, you would have selected Joaquin Jackson. He looked like what a Texas Ranger ought to look like, and he acted like one, too. He, in fact, was a Texas Ranger from the crown of his good Resistol hat right down to his custom made boots. I won’t try to tell his life story—he did a good job of that himself in his two books, “One Ranger” and “One Ranger Returns,” which I encourage you to read. Joaquin and I were friends for something like forty years. Back in the 1970s, I was a police detective in North Texas and Joaquin was the resident Texas Ranger in Uvalde. We got together while working an auto theft case in which vehicles were stolen in my area and transported to Mexico. One of the bad guys, driving one of our cars, got caught in Uvalde. Some years later, about the time I moved down to work in Crockett County, Joaquin transferred to take the resident Ranger station at Alpine. Crockett County bordered his district and we worked some cases together.

by Shane Jahn I think we can all agree that the part of the revolver we hold in our shooting hand is the grip frame, and the material that is attached to the grip frame are called the stocks. Right? Certainly some will argue that the material on the gun’s handle is called the grip, and that’s fine too. I expect more folks refer to them as grips than stocks, and I find myself using both terms. I’ll try to stick with the term “stocks” here. There’s a variety of stock options available to shooters depending on one’s budget and preferences. Various sources of wood, bone, antler, horn, ivory, and multitudes of synthetics can be transformed into our revolver stocks. An examination of my wheel gun collection reveals a variety of these textiles. If pressed to pick a favorite, I’m not sure what my pet grip, uh, stock material is, but I lean towards those offered by mother nature with only a few exceptions.

by Fermin Garza My friend John Taffin wrote quite a few books and I have every one of them. The last time I spoke to his wife Dot, she related that there was yet another book on the horizon. I even have a guest chapter in John’s “Book of the Smallbore.” I learned a lot from that writing experience. If you are not careful this “gunwriter” thing can turn into a lot of work. If you happen to have a copy of that book, look closely at some of the pictures of my targets. You will notice they are stapled to the bench just so I can get a picture of them in the blowing South Texas wind! Nothing worse than shooting a perfectly good group on a target and then setting it down on the bench only for it to blow away before you can take a picture. I must have looked like a complete idiot chasing my targets down the caliche range road. The South Texas wind will also blow your chronograph over while the line is hot, and you get to wait for everybody else to go “cold” so you can go pick it up and start over. Best days ever.

by Shane Jahn Dual cylinder revolvers are nothing new. Ruger currently catalogs a couple of Blackhawks with 45 Colt/45 ACP and 357 Magnum/9mm cylinders, as well as the Single-Six in 22 LR/22 WMR. Nighthawk Custom’s top shelf Korth Mongoose sports a 357 Magnum and 9mm cylinder that is easily exchanged to make a two-for-one gun. If we account that 38 Specials can be fired in the 357 cylinders, we can call it a three-in-one gun, which further justifies the upper-investment price of such a fine revolver. Charter Arms’ Double Dog is another dual-cylinder option with 357 Magnum and 9mm cylinders, and the Taurus Deputy single-action revolver also employs two cylinders of the same cartridges. I’m sure there’s others out there as well. These are the first ones that come to mind. The purpose behind these convertible cylinders allows for flexibility in shooting. Cheaper 9mm and 45 ACP ammo can be used for practice and for introducing new shooters to the sport with cartridges of lesser recoil. They can also cater to plinking with bulk ammo and they are certainly viable for personal defense when appropriate ammunition is used.

by Shane Jahn

Shop for the book and new mugs here. Folks, we're excited to announce that our first book is coming Saturday. The first 75 copies sold like hot biscuits at the 41st Shootist Holiday. The book will be available at our online store in a couple days. BUT...we have something special for you, our wonderful subscribers. One day before the normal book goes on sale, we're releasing a Retro Subscriber Edition that only subscribers can purchase. It features throwback cover art and a unique message for our subscribers. And... There will only be 25 copies of the Retro Subscriber Edition. Watch for the release on Saturday morning, June 13, to snag this one day only edition. From the beginning, Gun Tales has been written with a different standard in mind. The goal has been to tell stories that hold up against time itself. A number of readers have asked the same thing: when will you write a book? That idea came up often enough that we decided to take it seriously. There comes a point when a man begins to notice how little of what he reads stays with him. Most writing today is made for the moment. You read it, you move on, and it disappears without leaving anything behind. That may be fine for passing time, but it has never seemed right to us. There was a time when gun writing served a different purpose. It was not written to fill space or to keep up with everyone else. It was written by men who had spent years in the field, who understood their subject through experience, and who took the time to put that experience into words in a meaningful way. Those pieces were not concerned with being immediate. They were written to last, and many of them did. That kind of writing has become harder to find. The pace has changed, the incentives have changed, and much of what is produced now reflects that. There is more information available than ever before, but less of it carries the weight of a lifetime behind it. There are more opinions, but fewer that have been tested in any meaningful way. The first copy has officially arrived. The printers are heating up! Gun Tales was founded in response to that shift. We are not interested in specifications or in keeping up with whatever happens to be new. We are not interested in producing content for the sake of filling space. We do not use artificial shortcuts to generate what we publish. The work you see here comes from men who have lived what they are writing about, and who understand that a story is only worth telling if it is worth sharing with the next generation. There is also something to be said for the act of reading itself. It has changed the same way as the writing. It has become faster, more fragmented, and more easily interrupted. The habit of sitting down with a piece of writing and giving it your full attention is no longer assumed. It is something that has to be chosen. We still believe that is still worth choosing. For that reason, when readers began asking for a book, it did not feel like a departure from what we were doing. It felt like a natural extension of it. A book is not simply a different format. It is a place where this kind of writing belongs, and where it has the best chance of being read the way it was intended. What's Inside The contents of our first book have been selected with care. Not every story belongs in a book, and not every story improves when it is printed. But we believe these do. Alongside those are several original pieces that have never been published anywhere. They will never appear on the site. If you want to read those, the book is the only place to find them. You'll read about... ⭐ Unique Flattops that changed history ⭐ Musings on pocket revolvers ⭐ Heroes and villains of the West ⭐ Single action revolvers for the working man ⭐ Lever rifles in the modern world You'll also help preserve... ⭐ A wonderful culture in its sunset ⭐ A way of writing that comes from true experience ⭐ Standards that don't bend to convenience ⭐ A record of knowledge that would otherwise be lost ⭐ Independence from the modern content machine You can expect... ⭐ A classic U.S. royal 6x9 paperback ⭐ 250 pages to enjoy at your own pace ⭐ Color photos that accompany many stories ⭐ Never-before published stories from Jim and Shane ⭐ Stories from select guest writers that share our vision From the desks of Jim Wilson and Shane Jahn "Thanks to our subscribers, GUN TALES has been very successful. So we are now moving into phase two of our project. We will soon be offering Gun Tales: Volume 1 which is simply some select articles from our internet magazine along with some new stories. Stay tuned because we'll be posting ordering information in the near future." —Sheriff Jim Wilson "It’s a privilege to soon offer you Gun Tales: Volume I. After launching GunTales.net we knew we had to bring it to print form. While the digital world is huge part of our lives these days, there’s just something about holding a good book in our hands. Print media elicits feelings and connections that cannot be experienced from the screen of a computer or phone. Writing these stories is not a burden. It’s a pleasure. Each time we pen an article it’s like sitting down with old friends over a good drink, sharing stories, swapping yarns, and telling tales. Thank you for sitting around our campfire. We hope you enjoy the first of what we hope will be many Gun Tales books. We appreciate y’all!" —Shane Jahn And one more thing... We're not just writers. We have spent just as much time on the other side of the page, reading the work of men who understood how to tell a story properly. Over the years, you begin to recognize what makes a piece worth returning to, and what makes a book one you keep within reach instead of putting it away. We're sure that Gun Tales: Volume 1 will stay on your coffee table forever. Enter your email below to be notified as the book gets closer to release. Thanks for being here with us—you'll hear from us soon.

by Jim Wilson Too often we get in a rut by making unintended assumptions. For instance, when we think about the guns and gunfighters from 1873 on, we think of the Colt Single Action Army revolver. Now, while this was certainly one of the most popular handguns of that era, not everyone used it. There were those who preferred the Smith & Wesson Model 3 and others who sang the praises of the Remington sixguns, or the Merwin & Hulbert guns, to name just a few. Another revolver that probably doesn’t get its share of the credit is the Colt Bisley single action. A customer Ruger fitted with grip frame from RW Grips. One of a number of styles made by this company

by Shane Jahn Bill Ruger’s original Blackhawk we now know as the “Flattop,” is one of the undisputed classic single-action revolvers. The XR-3 grip frame nestles in the hand like that of the famous Colt Single Action Army. Aesthetically the Ruger resembled the Colt somewhat, but it demonstrated a good adjustable rear sight and a ramped front, something Colt didn’t do until 1961 with the New Frontier. The Ruger used a coiled mainspring that is said to be tougher than the flat mainspring of the Colt. The top strap of the first Blackhawk was indeed flat, hence the nickname, and the originals were devoid of the sight ears that were incorporated onto the top strap of the Blackhawk’s frame in later “upgrades” when the XR-3 Red grip frame became the norm. Many preferred the original grip frame of the Ruger. Funny, we firearm types often dislike change of any sort, and we thrive on explaining our views of why one design is “better” than the other. Same goes for cartridges. They are all pretty good and each have their own merits that are lent to the discerning shooter’s taste. No matter which you prefer, these alterations have fueled many lively discussions around the campfire and coffee table, not to mention providing volumes of material for writers of magazine articles.

by Phil Massaro Phil Massaro is one of today's most popular and knowledgeable outdoor writers. An avid and accomplished international big game hunter, Phil loves tracking ornery dagga boys through the tangled thorns and thickets of the Dark Continent. When you read his articles, know you are being offered information from a guy who has amassed volumes of real-world experience. Phil is a man who wears many hats, but arguably the most recognizable is his trademark safari fedora that sets him apart from the crowd. He’s a writer, hunter, ballistician, musician, and a family man. Phil has authored several books that are available at the Gun Digest Store. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the esteemed Gun Digest Annual, and Field Editor for the NRA’s American Hunter. —Shane Jahn Buffalo. One simple word which is guaranteed to immediately grab my attention. Doesn’t really matter which continent we’re talking about, or the species, I love hunting buffalo. As a gun writer with the opportunity to test and try different rifles, I’ve used a number of different rifle models and cartridges for buffalo in many different countries. Some have been good, some have been great, and others are near and dear to my heart—I made them permanent residents at my home. Let’s take a look at some of the buffalo rifles I’ve loved over the years.

by Jim Wilson Folks like you rarely pass up the chance to look at an old Colt single action, whether at a gun show or at your local gun store. Do you realize that you might well have actually held the gun that Wyatt Earp used at the OK Corral fight? And that could likely be true because no one bothered to make a record of the actual gun that he used. Actually, there were quite a few witnesses to that fight and the folks in Tombstone knew what Wyatt carried but, since it was probably common knowledge, nobody bothered to make a lasting record of it. Consequently, a piece of history has been lost...probably forever.

by Kevin E. Steele Kevin Steele is a publisher for the Outdoor Sportsman Group; the outfit that brings us Guns & Ammo, Handguns, and Shooting Times, among others. And my connection to Kevin goes back to my earliest days as a gun writer. I sold my first articles to Handguns magazine and Kevin was an assistant editor at Guns & Ammo. Before long, Kevin was made editor of Guns & Ammo and was kind enough to invite me to write for that magazine as well. That was many moons ago and we have been friends ever since. One of the things that has made Kevin so successful, besides good business sense, is that he is a lifelong gun enthusiast and hunter. He has hunted all over the world and has the reputation of being a good shot and fun to be in camp with...one characteristic being as important as the other in my opinion. Having been there and done that, a writer doesn't have to explain much to Mr. Steele; he understands from experience. One of my favorite Kevin Steele memories is when he spotted me at SHOT and walked right through the middle of an active video shoot to say hello. But I guess I'll have to save that story for another time. Kevin is a good 'un...but please don't tell him I was bragging on him. —Sheriff Jim Wilson It was mid-November 1978. I had been on the job as the editor of GUNS magazine for just eight months as I found myself on a jet traveling from San Diego to St. Louis. This was to be my first national assignment, and to say I was somewhat trepidatious would be an understatement on a grand scale. Barely twenty-four years old, my journalism school training and my lifelong passion for firearms and hunting had gotten me the job. The event I was on my way to cover would be my debut into the rarefied world of gun writer royalty. My stomach was in knots.