Rifles

Lever-action rimfires can be a lot of fun for kids or adults, whether it’s popping a can along the ground (with a safe backstop),...

Lever-action rimfires can be a lot of fun for kids or adults, whether it’s popping a can along the ground (with a safe backstop),...

Lever-action rimfires can be a lot of fun for kids or adults, whether it’s popping a can along the ground (with a safe backstop),...

The Little Badger is a minimalist rifle stripped of unnecessary features and options in an effort to make the rifle light weight, easy to store, and easy to use. In our opinion, the Little Badger does all these things well.

The Model 70P Papoose had a following among campers and survivalists a generation ago. It was introduced in 1986 and was produced until 1994. Our hope is Ruger resurrects this handy little rifle.

The AR-7 is an iconic survival rifle first produced by ArmaLite in 1959 and is based on the U.S. Air Force’s AR-5, a pilot and aircrew survival weapon.

Toward the end of each year, I survey the work R.K. Campbell, Roger Eckstine, Robert Sadowski, Tracey Taylor, and Joe Woolley have done in Gun Tests, with an eye toward selecting guns, accessories, and ammunition the magazine’s testers have endorsed. From these evaluations I pick the best from a full year’s worth of tests and distill recommendations for readers, who often use them as shopping guides.

Our rifle timeline has now reached into the late 1940s. WWII is over and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has been constituted. With the idea that member nations’ small-arms ammunition should be as interchangeable as possible, trials begin for a new battle rifle.

Who remembers the first semi-automatic rifle actually adopted by a national military? The year was 1911, and Mexico accepted a gas-operated semi-auto designed by General Manuel Mondragon chambered in 7mm Mauser.

Essentially, the Krag-Jorgensen was obsolete the moment it was adopted. Reloading was too slow, and the ammunition, while light years beyond black powder-loaded 45-70 rounds, performed very poorly in comparison to what was being used in Europe at the time.

The 1880s saw smokeless gunpowder replace black powder that had been in use for centuries. The French were first to adopt smokeless with their 1886 Lebel rifle.

Rifles made by Sako in Finland are renowned for their quality and accuracy — and justifiably so. Tikka rifles are engineered and produced by Sako in the same plant and have a great reputation of their own.