The Ruger 57 5.7x28mm

12/31/2019 Snow storm coming tomorrow afternoon. The weather has held up so far this winter so, with a little bundling up, there have been lots of good shooting days. Temperatures have dropped into the high teens on occasion, but the air is still and clear and offering good opportunities to... […] [Read More]

Ruger's AR-556 Pistol

In 1865 Charles Dodgson, a conservative Christian working as a mathematician at Christ Church College, Oxford, writing under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, penned “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. Dodgson’s intent was to have published a satirical criticism of abstract mathematicians of the day. The well known setting of Alice and the... […] [Read More]

Ruger's 77 Series Model 77/17 17WSM

Some of the most significant firearm related information I’ve encountered came with the purchase of a spiral bound copy of Ackley’s “Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders”.  Originally published in 1959, my copy was a 1961 10th printing. I was fifteen years of age; five years a shooting enthusiast, three years... […] [Read More]

Case Trimming...Does the Excitement Ever End?

Just when I thought I had as many case trimmers as anyone could possibly want or need, that would be one, I realized the reason it took so long to trim the ever popular, but very short, 17-357 RG case was that the cutter didn’t reach the case mouth. Bummer.... […] [Read More]

Outside Neck Turning

By Joseph D’Alessandro Editor | RealGuns.Com Through neck size reduction, or brass flow under chamber pressure, material thickness at a case neck may increase. The result is an inside neck diameter that is not concentric to the outside, or a case neck outside diameter that is oversize to specification. These... […] [Read More]

Small Shop DIY Reloading Dies Part I

If I had my choice as to how I would spend my time, it would be building one off prototype firearms and cartridges. Which is a little ironic, as I am not actually skilled in any of the associated technical disciplines. Yet, here I am, a couple of decades since... […] [Read More]

Remington's VS SF II .220 Swift Part I Long Ranges and Short Spaces

I’ve been carrying a “Ten guns I’d like to own” wish list in my wallet for over fifty years. For at least some of those years the list was probably the only thing I had in my wallet, which made it retain its importance over the years. Drafted during Miss... […] [Read More]

RCBS's Pro 2000 Auto Indexer There's heavy duty, and then there is HEAVY DUTY

The Real Guns’ shop is usually set up for short run load development and experimentation rather than for volume. It’s not that loads aren’t developed that serve a useful and volume demanding purpose, it’s more an issue of me getting bored after a lot of tedious short run reloading. I... […] [Read More]

Remington's Model 700 CDL 300 Ultra Mag Part I The Ultra Mag Chronicles

I was sitting at my desk, looking out of the shop window into the woods, and wondering exactly what kind of big, bushy, snarling mammal had just dragged a wild turkey down into a hole under a nearby birch tree. Living in Maine, home to Stephen King, can be interesting.... […] [Read More]

When Longevity Trumps New...gevity Part III Tequila with a Cold Dos Equis Chaser

Sometimes it is tough for me to write a piece that doesn’t put me to sleep mid sentence. So when you doze while reading some of my stuff, I can empathize, I’ve been there myself. So take a short nap beforehand, and try to get through what follows, because the Taurus... […] [Read More]