All Outdoor

The Primary Weapons Systems FSC has become one of my favorite muzzle brakes, simply because it works great and adds some style to my builds. At this point, I have four rifles tipped with the PWS FSC brakes, so, yeah I really like them.

When OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) step out from behind the veil, we are often treated to some amazing original products.  When Lionsteel first made its own run of knives we got some awesome integral knives.  When San Ren Mu made its own knives we were treated to a host of affordable… um.. .familiar looking blades.  So the story of OEMs making knives is always fascinating to watch, the manufacturing equivalent of the knife modder becoming a custom maker.  So when a truly under the radar OEM started making its own knives in my own backyard (just over 50 miles away), I took notice.  Right now Three Rivers Manufacturing (a subsidiary of Halpern Titanium) has four models–a pair of fixed blades, a small slipjoint that looks incredible, and the knife shown above.

Creating supplemental wildlife food plots is a popular practice these days. Both hunters and wildlife observers are more interested than ever in growing mini-crops of plants that can not only provide additional nutritional benefits to all kinds of wildlife both consumptive and non-consumptive, but also create a man-made habitat where more wildlife can be seen, watched, or photographed for recreational enjoyment.

Many elk hunting stories describe this exciting scenario: The bull charges madly to a bugle call with fire in his eyes and is shot by the hunter at 20 yards. That certainly happens every year, but far less often than you think. The truth is, many more elk are hunted after the rut has ended, when bugling attempts are futile.

This is the third year for which I’ve done an annual review of options for EDC set ups. Here are links to the previous two recommendation series of articles. The idea is to recommend a pair of tools — an edged tool and a light — to supplement the wallet/keys/phone/watch combo most people have. 

Granbury, Texas is not one of the huge meccas of the Lone Star state, but one very notable business has made its home there: the now famous Bond Arms.

One of the most dangerous creatures out in the woods is the poisonous snake. Even though such snakes are elusive and tend to avoid humans, they can still be present in the back country and along hunting paths. If you plan to trek off into the woods and set up in a random area, you should always be aware of a potential encounter with snakes.

The new In-Range Sight Bloc is perfect for shooters and hunters. The In-Range Sight Bloc is manufactured from a specially patented rubber composite with built in U-V protection. It will not break down even under extreme atmospheric conditions. Water does not soak into this material as it is dense by design and simply will not absorb moisture. Freezing temperatures do not affect it.

Hunting mature, trophy whitetails is a wonderful sport. The pursuit of record book whitetails is a passion that lives year round in the mind of just about every serious whitetail hunter. Every year, millions of hunters take to the field looking for the buck of a lifetime. Some are hunting out behind the barn on Grandpa’s property. Some are hunting with whitetail hunting outfitters on some of the best trophy whitetail properties in the nation. We are all waiting for that one magic moment to happen.

Outdoors enthusiasts are always on the move. Whether you hunt, fish, hike, bird watch, camp, kayak, ride ATVS or whatever you do outside close to home or a distance off, you are at some point traveling in a primary vehicle. When you pack your gear in the pickup truck, SUV, RV or whatever you drive, do you include a basic road travel safety bag?

After a long wait and even longer decision process, I decided to spring for a tabletop mill. I settled on one that is capable with harder materials and with enough capacity, power, and flexibility to tackle even larger sized home fabrication and machining projects. I do have a 14” tall 20lb $400 Micro Mill from Proxxon which is a wonderful tool, but it’s essentially a glorified precision Dremel Tool in Micro Mill format. It works great, accepts Dremel bits, but definitely has its capacity, power, and bit size limitations. Even for finishing a roughed-in polymer AR-15 80% lower receiver with the drill press the little Proxxon worked but was painfully slow and at its limits. I needed “more power”.

As noted in my previous giddy review of the Walther PPQ M2, that gun is without question my favorite production compact pistol loaded with all the custom features already included. In short, I love the PPQ M2 design. Ambi-slide releases, reversible mag releases for lefties, match grade barrel, outstanding ergonomics, light rail, custom look and serration, and a grip which seems magically custom molded to my hand. The trigger is also amazing, which leads us to the PPQ M2 .22LR, which has an equally amazing trigger in an identical copy of the PPQ M2 9mm. What? That’s crazy — a .22LR version of a full caliber pistol without a 17lb trigger pull in a weight, feel, and finish that is identical to the full bore version – Yes, Mrs Jackson, it is for real.

Becoming a better catfish angler is all about knowing a few catfish fishing tips. You don’t need the most expensive rod or a fancy boat to fill the boat up, but you do need a little know how and some confidence to give it a try. This article focuses on the best tips for catching catfish. By the end of this article you should be ready to improve your catches however you see fit! Let’s get started!

I’ve been following the unfolding ebola catastrophe in Africa via two very excellent, well-regarded, and level-headed infectious disease blogs: Avian Flu Diary and H5N1. As a parent of three small children, I’ve been following these blogs on and off for a few years now, and if you don’t have these two in your regular rotation, I highly recommend both of them. Between them these blogs cover 90% of the non-alarmist, fact-based news in the realm of infectious diseases. And both of these blogs are run by amateurs, so they have no financial incentive to drum up pageviews with alarmist headlines and ledes.

A tree that has been shredded by antlers is the most obvious sign that a buck has been in an area. But with some knowledge of deer behavior and a little scouting, a rub can tell you a lot more. You can determine when the rub was made, what the deer was doing when he made it, and the buck’s probable age. Rising levels of testosterone circulating in the buck’s blood toward the end of summer have caused the final maturation of the antler and the death of the antler velvet. In only a matter of days, the velvet covered antler is transformed into a polished weapon of competition.

While Marlin 336 has a stronger receiver than most older lever actions, it is still equipped with the same open sights used on the original 30-30 over a century ago. The sight radius is limited and so is the sight picture visibility in low light. Side ejection means that optics can be mounted, so XS Sight company solved both concerns with one part, the Lever Rail. It replaces the rear sight, attaching to the top of the receiver with several screws.

As a fervent white-tailed deer hunter, I like the flexibility of moving around my hunting property from stand to stand as the deer season changes. When the wildlife food plots green up in late October with lush ryegrass, wheat and oats, I like to slip into a shooting house along a mile long right-of-way to see both directions. We have several enclosed elevated houses that give several options for different areas to hunt.

Fixed Blade Broadheads

Cathryn Lavery, a New York City-based designer and founder of Calm the Ham, recently launched a Kickstarter for her latest design project, the Filmography of Guns. Previously, Lavery has designed posters depicting the Filmography of Cars and Aircraft, so researching iconic guns seemed like a natural next step. She says: