Accessories

In rifle shooting the search for steadiness is ongoing and problematic. Every shooter in the field likes to have a a rock-solid rest from which to fire a single accurate shot, but sandbags and rests are too heavy and bulky to tote.Enter the bipod, which provides a way to stop rifle movement without the downsides. We recently bought three units at a gun show which fit on or under a rifle with varying degress of success: the Steady Stix II by Stoney Point Products, $36; the Universal Bipod from Advanced Technology, Inc., $40; and the B-Square Roto-Tilt Bipod, $70. We reviewed each unit for function, ease of use, and steadiness while field shooting. Heres how they held up in our evaluations.

Can the American-made side-by-side compete with the best handmade British game guns? In our estimation, no. But if you don't know your stuff, you can get burned on foreign models.

Quicker to the draw than we first expected, the Raptor is a very secure holster that gives the wearer multiple ways to defend against a gun grab.

The Peace Keeper H304 beat out holsters from Bianchi, Blackhawk, and Safariland when we strapped them on to see how easy they were to use and how well they deterred theft.

Reliability and velocity are two prime considerations when choosing a propellant for your flintlock or percussion gun. Which of these products should you pour into your powder horn?

We examined six pairs of optics ranging in price from $260 to nearly $1,700 to see if price really has an impact on ease of use and performance. This time, models over $1100.

Evaluated on the clay-target fields and over dogs pointing quail, the sub-gauge Browning gun had a slight edge over the Beretta.

We think weapon lights from Glock, Springfield Armory, and Insight Technology have their weak spots. Surefire is a sure bet.

Our other test guns were the Browning A-Bolt II Micro Hunter No. 0350202111, a 6.25-pound gun with a 20-inch blued barrel, $684; and the Remington 700 SPS Youth No. 27475, a less expensive synthetic-stocked gun that weighed 6.75 pounds unloaded. Because of its $400 street price (MSRP $510), an Alaskan sheep-hunter GT reader had recommended his .308-chambered SPS "youth" gun as a steal, opining that because it was marketed to beginners, it was priced lower than similar guns. We found his recommendation to be right on the mark, along with the SPS's ability to shoot.

Our test ammos for these .243s showed a range of utility designed to express flaws in the barrels' rifling (we thought). From lightest to heaviest, they were Federal Premium Vital-Shok 85-grain Sierra Gameking boattail hollow points, No. P243D; Winchester Supreme 95-grain Ballistic Silvertips, No. SBST243A; and Remington's Express Core-Lokt 100-grain pointed soft points, No. R243W3. Also, as part of barrel break-in, we shot Remington 80-grain Express Rifle rounds, No. 243W1, but we did not collect accuracy or chronograph data with these rounds.

Its just about summertime again, and as the jackets come off, the ability to hide ones weapon becomes more difficult. Here are three ways to do it from Galco, DeSantis, and Hoffners.

We examined six pairs of optics ranging in price from just under $300 to nearly $1,700 to see if price really has an impact on ease of use and performance. First up, models under $900.

You can't go wrong with the sexy Italian $875 Beretta Cougar Inox or the all-American $940 S&W 4013TSW. But our first pick is the slightly larger $758 Beretta 96 Vertec.