Recent content by MidwestMatthew

Being in a slug state, I'm thinking of getting my son a Mossberg 500 combo for this year's deer season (yes, I know it's getting a little late...) Personally, I like a 20-gauge slug gun, but this being a combo setup, we're wondering if 12-gauge might be the way to go because of the advantages...

When I was about 12 years old, my brother and grandparents and I were hiking at Buffalo Rock State Park in Illinois. There's an outdoor shooting range nearby so you constantly hear shooting there. We were walking along just having a good time, when suddenly we heard a high-pitched buzzing sound...

Most bad guys featured on YouTube security camera footage seem to have no problem with that sequence - in fact it appears many of them comprehend the first and second points simultaneously and don't stick around for further consideration. Granted, an anecdotal perception from Internet videos is...

Serious question: How often do multiple attackers press an attack after the defender fires one or more shots? I'm sure it happens, but the usual story seems to be that they flee at the first bang. Sent from my XT1049 using Tapatalk

So I'm (probably) going squirrel hunting for the first time later this week. I've researched how to skin and dress them, but everyone seems to gloss over how to handle a male squirrel's "parts." I mean, I know they've got to go...but since I assume a mistake in this area can taint the meat, I'd...

Forget the whole running deer vs. sitting duck thing. ;) The point I was trying to illustrate was that principle of takng the "surest shot" is inherently at odds with fair chase. Exactly how much those principles conflict of course depends on the situation, but I've never heard of a situation...

Although I'm personally a new hunter, I've known hunters all my life. From them, I've learned that, other than legality and following safety rules, there are really only two primary principles of hunting ethics: 1.) Only take a clean shot, and, 2.) Follow the rules of fair chase. At the...

He fired the shots himself, with a very old break-action shotgun that his brother-in-law let him use when they went hunting together. All I can go by is what my dad claims. He says he had good hearing before that hunting trip and never recovered it afterwards. It has continued to diminish over...

I'm new to deer hunting and am only recently learning about things like scrapes, licking branches, etc. But while out at my spot last night (didn't get anything - rats!) I noticed what I think was a buck scrape and was wondering if anyone could help me confirm that. What I saw was two bare...

My dad fired a shotgun two times in his life on the same hunting trip without hearing protection. He was in his lower 20's at the time and lost about 50% of his hearing from those two shots. In the 35ish years since then, his hearing has continued to go downhill to the point that he really can't...

It was also a bit of a surprise when my Taurus 25/7 .45 went full auto on my wife once for no apparent reason. Hasn't happened since, but I never use anything less than an iron grip when firing that gun now.

Just recently, my father-in-law and I were in a local gun store looking for a slug gun for him. We saw an old Sears 12-gauge with a fully rifled barrel, custom stock and sight, etc. for $139. It wasn't quite what FIL was after, but when I commented on what a nice-looking gun it was, he looked at...

That's exactly what I thought. Thanks for helping confirm that.

With peep sights, I've heard that moving one's eyes closer to, or farther from, the aperture will cause changes in elevation. This seems suspect based on my knowledge of how peep sights work, but I haven't been able to find any detailed information about this online so thought I'd ask here...

ontarget and BigBore44, I wasn't aware of any adrenaline rush, and felt very calm both before and after the shot. I think my placement was off due to an aiming error more than anything else; in hindsight he was probably a bit too far away for me to distinguish the shoulder blade accurately (at...