Author: Braxton Taylor

Cal is on assignment this week hunting turkeys somewhere in the wilds of West Virginia, but not to worry. We have a special interview episode. Last week, Cal sat down with Steve Williams, the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from 2002 to 2005. They discuss how the recent actions and proposals from the Trump administration will impact future conservation work and what hunters and anglers can do about it. Read the full article here

Steven Rinella talks with U.S. Senator for Montana Tim Sheehy, Ryan Callaghan, and Brody Henderson. Topics discussed: The U.S. military, wildfires, public lands, and more.  Connect with Steve and The MeatEater Podcast Network Steve on Instagram and Twitter MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube Read the full article here

NexTorch has just unveiled the new TA22 Tri Mode Tactical Penlight, a compact high-performance tool with the latest technology meant for hard use by tactical professionals, first responders and outdoor enthusiasts.    NexTorch designed the new TA22 to be a professional-grade, compact penlight that throws out up to 850 lumens of white light illumination. It has a maximum beam throw distance of 95 meters in high mode and a quick access, one-step-strobe function. Besides the strobe function, the TA22 features a multi-mode design with three selectable settings: Lock, Duty and Tac. The tail switch operation in Tac mode allows for…

Rock River Arms (RRA) first caught my attention at SHOT Show in 1997, where its M1911 pistols really stood out for high quality—and included an ultra-rare 9 mm long slide. Two years later, the company started making AR-15s, and now that line is among the broadest of any manufacturer, with a bewildering array of models. One of its latest releases is the BT-2 Operator ATR. ATR stands for Ambidextrous Tactical Rifle, and the BT-2 delivers with a bilateral safety selector, charging handle, magazine release and bolt catch. Though ambidextrous functionality isn’t new, the BT-2’s bilateral bolt catch and mag release…

As the 101st Airborne Division prepared last year to receive their first M10 Bookers—armored combat vehicles designed specifically for infantry forces—staff planners realized something: eight of the 11 bridges on Fort Campbell would crack under the weight of the “light tank.”It turns out that though the vehicle was initially conceptualized as relatively lightweight—airdroppable by C-130—the twists and turns of the Army requirements process had rendered the tank too heavy to roll across the infrastructure at the infantry-centric Kentucky post, and nobody had thought about that until it was too late.“This is not a story of acquisition gone awry,” Alex Miller,…

Galco Gunleather recently added a new shoulder holster system to its premium Galco Masterbilt series. The Masterbilt Series represents Galco Gunleather’s superlative products made to the highest standards. These items are also made by Galco’s most senior and experienced leatherworkers and are manufactured so that the leather will not need a final break-in period, which makes these holsters ready to use and wear straight out of the box. The new Masterbilt shoulder-holster system is called the Galco Master Agent and it is designed to hold a small-frame revolver. In addition, its straps take on an old-school vintage style with a…

When we think about our personal defense, it may be that we spend too much time considering just which gun to carry, which ammo to use and exactly how to carry it. While all of that is certainly worthy of consideration and study, there might be other things that are just as important or even more important. Here are three other areas that the concerned citizen needs to give thought to. I firmly believe that the greatest defensive tool is awareness. The more that we are alert for possible problems, the more options we have to deal with it. If…

The Army has rolled out a generative AI workspace where users can apply large language models to daily tasks and boost productivity. But using AI tools requires a lot of compute power and storage. So the service has also been working to streamline how it handles cloud services and contracts. “We’ve been working to bring on something we call the Army Enterprise LLM Workspace, which is how we look at LLM usage in a safe way at the [Impact Level 5] for our warfighters” and in daily office operations, Gabriele Chiulli, the chief technology officer for the Army’s Enterprise Cloud Management…

At Shooting Illustrated, part of our job is to dive into the weeds on topics that may seem mundane, obvious or even geeky to some, such as what length of shotshell is best for a home defense—2 3/4- or 3-inch? So, here goes … In general terms, a shotgun shell’s overall length deter- mines its capacity for pellets and powder. Historically, a longer shell meant more pellets, more terminal energy, more recoil and less magazine capacity—although today that’s not necessarily true. Lengths range from Federal’s 1 3/4-inch “Shorty” shell to 3 1/2-inch magnums, with the number of pellets and amount…

Federal Ammunition has recently added another target load for .32 H&R Mag revolver shooters with the recent introduction of the Federal American Eagle 85-grain .32 H&R Mag JSP load. During the past few years, the world of revolvers has been experiencing a resurgence in the mild-shooting but classic .32 caliber revolver cartridges, following the introduction of.32 caliber revolver models such as the Smith & Wesson 432 Ultimate Carry J-frame, the Ruger LCR .32 H&R and the Taurus 327 TORO. In addition to serving shooters who own .32 H&R Mag. revolvers, this new cartridge from Federal is also useful for those…