Handgun'n for Spring Turkey, could this be the most challenging hunting sport? Try it this coming spring and you decide.

If you read part one (Case Prep) and have made it this far, you know I have a matched and prepped set of cases that are ready for the next step in the reloading process. In this part we’ll discuss reloading data, component selection, and components assembly. It is now time to select the components that will make up our test rounds. The key to selecting components for successful reloads is having access to good reloading data. There is plenty of reloading data offered on the Internet from the major component manufacturing firms as well as individuals that have websites of their own. This is all fine and dandy, but in my opinion nothing will ever replace a good current edition hardcopy, reloading manual. The manual you select should depend on the bullet you plan to shoot or what is available in your area.

At that moment I realized this was now turning into a handgun affair

"The hardest thing for me to get used to was how very long the daylight hours were".

My best handgunned whitetail buck to date was taken with the 6.8 SPC — a fine little deer cartridge!

With one complete season under my belt with hunting only with a handgun, and one buck down, I was eager to get out and try my new anniversary present.

A clean miss on my first attempt at handgun hunting and I was hooked. It took another year, lots of practice, and some misfortune on my father's part, but I finally got my first buck with a handgun.

First of all, this handgun is a prototype. Second, having never met Bob Baker I had no expectations other than I knew he has always made a quality/accurate product. My old FA 454 was extremely accurate and always reliable. I sold it out of a need for funds, but I kept the brass & dies in hopes of someday getting another one. Spending time with Bob this past week caused me to appreciate the man behind the product. He is a no-nonsense kind of a man, who is thoughtful, and is not going to make promises about a product that is not ready to go to production yet. He does not talk over your head and I never saw him trying to “sell” his product. He was more interested in what people had to say about those who were handling and shooting it. When it came to LR shooting with it... read more.

My good friend, John, knows about my extreme weakness for Contender goodies and he exploits it every chance he gets. This time a friend of John’s was transitioning his collection from a few Thompson/ Center Contender barrels over to an Encore based assortment. One of the barrels he was parting with was a Super 16 Contender barrel chambered in 45-70 Government. John heard me talking of getting a 45-70 barrel for some time, but I never really looked into it seriously. John is also very good at tempting me into getting additional barrels. While talking on the phone he mentioned that the 45-70 barrel was sitting in his gun safe waiting for a new home. Before the phone call ended, I was making plans to visit him a few days later to get my new barrel. Along with the barrel, I got a forearm, grip, several boxes of Remington factory ammo, and Bushnell scope.

I bought my first .172 caliber rifle in June of 1999. It was a Remington Classic Model 700 chambered for the only factory .172" caliber available, the .17 Remington. Ever since that time, I have been a true small bore fanatic! As any true varmint does, as soon as (or even before in my case) having one project finished another one is already in the works. As this is being written, I'm having a .17 Ackley Hornet built on a Martini Cadet action. But while waiting on this one I needed something else to do. Also being a fan of the T/C Encore line up I figured this would be a good platform to base my next small caliber from.

I have been reloading my own ammunition for about six years. The first cartridge that I rolled my own for was the ever-popular .44 Magnum. That summer several hundred rounds of this caliber were processed through a RCBS press. Through reading reloading manuals and articles in shooting magazines, I learned how to keep my cases trimmed, sized, and chamfered.

James Swidryk reflects on his time spent with Bill Grover at the YO Ranch. Texas Longhorn Arms produced some fine and very unique guns over the years. Perhaps the most sought after is the #5 Improved version Grover styled after Elmer Keith's #5 revolver.

Ed and Deena Folmar go after axis deer at Indianhead ranch in Texas. Indianhead boasts the finest fair-chase hunting experience in Texas. Rated in the Top 3 Exotic Game Ranches of Texas, Indianhead Ranch offers over 25 species roaming free on 10,000 acres of fence-free land.

After several days and stalks, the Professional Hunter (PH) and I, were able to leopard crawl inside a small herd of fifty animals to see if I could let the air out of a huge old bull with my pistol. Myself, the PH, and the trackers had been following three very large bulls over the course of several water holes and other herds. They seemed to wander in and out of the herds and be by themselves throughout the evening and mornings. We just couldn't catch up to them.

Handgun Hunter Magazine announces the launch of a new digital interactive format. The new digital format will feature some of the most respected and well-known outdoor writers and handgun hunters from across the country including J. Wayne Fears, Mark Hampton, John Taffin, Larry Weishuhn, Dick Williams and others.

A run down of the member organized handgun shoots and competitions. Some are more formal than others but they're all great fun.

Ernest and Marita met us at the local airport and the gun case and baggage were cleared and we were on our way to camp. This camp was different from 2005’s camp as Ernest had a designed a more rustic experience, in suite showers and toilets but tent walls and a thatched roof protecting the hard floors. It was quite exciting when the local pride of lions paid a visit. My main purpose of this hunt was for an old lioness. Deena wanted an nyala bull if time allowed. The pride of lions that my lioness was part of had made a kill on a cow cape buffalo 4 days earlier and that was where we started our hunt.

Most of the hunting I do is backpack hunting in wilderness areas between 8,000 and 13,000 feet elevation. Whether bivy hunting or hunting out of a spike camp my gear does not vary too much. This is what I carry for deer and elk hunts. Even when I go in for a day hunt for marmots or big game, I carry all of this but cut the food back to a two day supply.

For those not familiar with it, the Shooting Hunting Outdoor Trade show or SHOT show is the premier event for manufacturers, buyers, and the media in the hunting and shooting market, including not only sporting goods, but police and military as well. I was only able to attend the show for two of the four days but there were a few products that I just had to have a look at including the new mini red-dot sight base from Freedom Arms (FA). One of the reasons FA never made a base like this before is that no one was making a small red-dot that would hold up on the .454.

I love hunting boar...I`ve been quoted in the past as saying "that God put boar on this planet to be handgun hunted" or "if told I had to choose only one animal to hunt...it would be wild boar". I`ve taken my share using handguns in 357-41- and 44mag- 45Colt- 454- 460S&W and a few with a 270Win. rifle. However, most of these animals were feral hogs and not the true strain of boar found in the Black forest of Germany or those from Poland or the Chechnya Republic. That all changed when I recently had the opportunity to hunt at the Double Boar Ranch located in west-central Pennsylvania. This is a brand new operation put together by longtime hunters Andy Krantz and Dion Magestro. They were fed up with the quality of the animals that were listed as "pure Russian boar" at different preserves throughout the country. They contacted Two Rivers Outdoor Club of Illinois who specialize in the rasing of purebred wild boar and put together an excellent line of breeding stock. I know I am making this sound much easier then it was because they also had built a hunting lodge that rivals the top lodges of South Africa.

LAS VEGAS -- Executives from America's leading firearms and ammunition manufacturers gathered this evening at the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show to mark an important milestone in the firearms and ammunition industry's longstanding support of wildlife conservation. Manufacturers have since 1991 contributed more than $3 billion dollars to fund wildlife conservation through the payment of a federal excise tax on the sale of their products. The excise tax is a primary source of wildlife conservation funding in the United States. Since the inception of the excise tax in 1937, more than $5 billion dollars has been collected.