Folks, we're excited to announce that our first book is almost ready. The rough draft is nearly wrapped, the proofreading is underway, and the printers are warming up. 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 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.

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 fin

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-five years old, my journalism school training and my life-long passion for firearms and hunting had gotten me the job.

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.

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.

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.

Before starting an article, experienced writers first decide who their audience is. If I were writing this piece for a print magazine I would probably spend a good deal of time explaining why lever-action rifles are worth considering for personal defense. And then I would spend a good deal of time telling about all of the various makes and models that are available to today’s shooters.

The guys at Dodson Guns in Alpine, Texas are aware of my wheelgun affliction, especially when it comes to Ruger single actions. Occasionally they will notify me when a used hogleg wearing the famed Phoenix bird brand shows up.

Lon Parker was an Arizona cowboy. His extended family settled and ranched in southern Arizona near Nogales. In fact, nearby Parker Canyon is named for the family. And, like a lot of the Parkers, Lon served in law enforcement. He was a deputy sheriff for a time and also a Nogales, Arizona, policeman.

The organized opposition of the importation, production, sale, and transportation of alcohol was seen as a way of curbing alcoholism, domestic violence, and wait for it…saloon-based political corruption. I’m sure we all agree that combating alcoholism and domestic violence were noble endeavors. They say rates of infant mortality, liver cirrhosis, and alcoholic psychosis declined during the Prohibition Era.

As time went by, I moved down into Southwest Texas and took a job as Chief Deputy for a sheriff’s office smack dab in the middle of big ranch country. And that’s when two important things happened. The first was that my district judge really wanted my Marlin .44. The second was that I discovered the Browning B-92 carbine.

But there is more to this story. Ray knew how much I was yearning to hunt some African game. However, I was unable to bring firearms on my trip as I was not on a “scheduled safari hunt” for that purpose. Ray did have in his keep three long guns for use on official business.

Below my eloquently written primer you will find Fermin Garza's introductory email to Matt Covert. Matt wears many hats, two of which are editor and mastermind behind all the digital happenings that make Gun Tales what it is. Without Matt, Jim and I would be posting screenshots of articles written on our Big Chief tablets.

You see, I had already discovered Bill Jordan and his great book, “No Second Place Winner.” At that point in my life I didn’t know anything about gunfighting but something told me that Mr. Jordan did. If the Smith & Wesson Model 19 was his choice I figured it might be a good choice for me, too. Consequently, as soon as I got a couple of paychecks under my belt I sprang for a Model 19, 4-inch, blued.

Hunt long enough, and you’re eventually going to mess up. If you’ve never lost an animal, count your blessings and you might want to go out and buy a lottery ticket because you are extremely fortunate and very lucky. You are also probably one day closer to having an agonizing day in the field! As I approach 40 years of hunting I must admit I’ve experienced some mishaps along the way. What follows are a few that stand out. By sharing these episodes, I hope to accomplish two th

It has often been said by many experts that the diminutive Sparrowhawk is only capable of taking on prey no larger than the common field mouse. But let it be known that the field of ornithology is filled with cheats, scallywags, swindlers, and liars. A more dishonest profession likely does not exist. Furthermore, I would surmise that ornithologists and attorneys likely attend the same family reunions. But what is all this talk of birds? This is a gun rag, ain’t it?!

The scorching sun hung high above the Chihuahuan Desert as the lawman carefully made his way up a steep limestone escarpment, mindful not to drive the arched spears of Lechuguilla into his shins as he secured footing to make the next push upward. A fall among the boulders below would be much more painful, if not life-altering. Faint scuffs on the slick rock convinced him that the men he was after had scaled the looming cliffside.

A fellow once told me that, regarding feral hogs, there are two kinds of places...them that’s got ‘em and them that’s gonna get ‘em. Feral hogs, if they are anything, are adaptive. We even have them out here in this high, dry desert country of the Texas Big Bend. They are tough, prolific, and destructive...oh, and they’re really fun to hunt.

For the past five years, I’ve been trying to shoot a bull. When I was twelve, my buddy and I tracked down a cow that had been wounded by poachers and put her down with muzzleloaders. I got close two years ago when I had my bow drawn back at a bull standing at thirty yards for over a minute. Sadly, he never presented an ethical shot, and I had to let him go.