Like anything, you can take patterning a shotgun too far. A turkey hunter told me once he spent $1,000 one winter buying XX-Full chokes and magnum loads for his guns, then he patterned them all to ...

Since there’s nothing more discouraging than watching a ringneck or pintail turn on the afterburners and disappear without as much as a ruffled feather, now is the time to check the pattern on your ...

When a shotgun is fired, a column of round shot pellets leaves the barrel and spreads out into a “pattern.” As the pellets travel farther from the firearm’s muzzle, the pattern widens. At some point, ...

It was just a casual conversation on shooting shotguns that made me realize how much misinformation is out there regarding choke tubes and shot shell patterns. Although this topic has been kicked ...

Warm weather has roused turkey hunters from their slumber, sending them afield for dawn patrols on lonely roads listening for gobbles. Finding and patterning turkeys is helpful, but it's also ...

On a working homestead, you do not have the luxury of a different firearm for every chore. You need a handful of calibers and ...

When I was 10 or thereabouts, my father introduced me to quail and rabbit hunting on my grandmother’s farm north of Carl Junction. On a calm, sunny November morning, we flushed two coveys of quail and ...

Dove season begins on Sept. 1, and here’s an important piece of advice to improve your shooting this season — don’t choke. I don’t mean that in an insulting fashion, though it’s easy enough to choke ...

This article by John M. Taylor appeared originally in the September 2004 issue of American Rifleman. To subscribe to the magazine, visit the NRA membership page here and select American Rifleman as ...