Faxon Firearms has just entered the suppressor game with its new HARMONIX line.
First announced at the 2025 SHOT Show, Faxon Firearms’ new HARMONIX suppressor line is finally here. The new suppressors are 3D-printed and feature an interesting internal structure designed to deliver excellent sound suppression with minimal backpressure.
The HARMONIX suppressors are offered in two distinct models—the Sentry and the ION—and each model is available in .36 caliber, .30 caliber and 5.56mm. Faxon says the Sentry is “3D-printed from aerospace-grade Haynes 282, a high-performance superalloy known for extreme strength and thermal stability.” This allows it to be full-auto rated, but it weighs 15.7 ounces (without mount). For those who prefer lighter suppressors, the ION models weigh only 8.4 ounces thanks to their Grade 5 titanium construction. All HARMONIX suppressors are also HUB-compatible and ship with a direct-thread mount.
Jay Wilson, Director of Product Management at Faxon Firearms, said this about the new suppressors:
Suppressor design is a balancing act and usually requires compromises. Sound reduction, flow – backpressure and cleanliness, weight, price. You need to choose between a number of priorities … On Harmonix, we tried to prioritize it all, and I think these cans deliver.
Aaron Meidinger, Design Engineer at Faxon Firearms, also commented on what went into designing the HARMONIX cans:
We tried dozens of concepts, impossible to machine or weld … Rigorous testing stripped away all gimmicks, leaving behind purpose-built geometries that play nice with your rifle, your ears, and your budget.
MSRP for the ION models is $975 and MSRP for all Sentry models is $1,100.
No single holster can cover everything. Different situations, seasons, and attire call for flexible concealment options.
Thanks to the relaxation of concealed carry laws nationwide, more Americans than ever are carrying firearms as part of their daily lives. You could argue that the concealed carry culture is still in its infancy as, unlike hunting, it was not part of our prior generation’s reality in much of the country. Where a hunter may have had a father, grandfather, uncles, neighbors or friends with strong feelings about camo, calibers, optics, or ammunition accrued over several generations of experience, concealed carry still lives in its first or second generation of experimentation.
I was new to it myself, and something I struggled with was holster selection. I see many other carriers struggle to find a single holster that provides the perfect solution for every situation. Like the fabled one true ring of the Tolkien epics, this holster is the missing piece to a successful outcome for whosoever is lucky enough to wield it.
But like Tolkien’s tale of Middle Earth, this holster is fantasy.
Seasons, attire, and situations present unique challenges that you must consider when deciding how to approach your day with a concealed firearm. That means you must be flexible in your holster choices and less dogmatic about how you carry your firearm. Rather than encountering a situation that prevents you from carrying because your singular holster option can’t account for what the day presents, you need a suite of carry options that allow you to adapt your daily carry to the specific needs.
You may be struggling to choose one holster and see the prospect of choosing more than one as a multiplicative problem that appears even more daunting than the original quest. I assure you this isn’t the case. By evaluating several contributing factors, considering the reality of situations in which you would carry your gun, and identifying the two or three options that work for you, finding the best solution is quite simple.
Your Carry Gun
The first reality is that your chosen gun will determine the number of options you have for a carry holster. A 4-inch-barrel 44 Magnum is as poor a choice for pocket carry as a single-stack 380 Auto is for a shoulder holster. Few options are off the table, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t have a longer list of negatives than positives.
Also, consider holster and gun rotation—a concept that has gained too much traction. It’s one thing to have a primary carry gun and a backup that can serve as an alternate. There may also be limited call for those who carry to less-permissive states to have a travel gun, like a 38 Special snubby that doesn’t face the magazine restrictions of more progressive states. That said, I struggle with folks who have four or five guns that are carried seemingly at random just for the sake of rotation. Most of us don’t shoot or train enough as it is with our primary gun.
You can do as you please. I’m not here to finger-wag anyone for their choice of what to carry. That said, carrying a defensive firearm is something that shouldn’t be done flippantly or with fashion or popularity as the primary decision-maker over proficiency or skill.
Holster Location
The location on your body you choose to carry will be the primary factor in determining which holster you select, as most designs are specifically tailored to it. Carry location fits into one of two categories: traditional or non-traditional. Traditional locations are on the beltline, either inside or outside of the waistband. Typically, the holster is positioned on the hip of the strong side. I also placed appendix carry in this category, and we’ll discuss why later.
Non-traditional locations include things like shoulder or pocket holsters or even off-body carry.
As a baseline, it’s wise to have a holster from each category—traditional and non-traditional—to cover as many circumstances as possible.
Traditional
Outside the Waistband (OWB)–Strong Side
Maybe it’s just me, but a 1911 just doesn’t look right in anything but leather.”
There’s a little bit of John Wayne to outside-the-waistband carry. Contrary to popular belief, just because it’s outside the waistband doesn’t mean it’s an open-carry, cowboy-wannabe position. A cover garment such as a lightweight shirt, jacket, or vest can conceal an OWB holster and pistol.
While it may print more easily against the cover garment than something concealed more deeply, it is a viable solution when a suitable cover garment is available.
The biggest benefit to OWB carry is accessibility. Because it isn’t as concealed as it is deep, it can be easier to access. This also makes for a more comfortable carry. Carrying a gun is not a fun, comfortable, or enjoyable endeavor. As Clint Smith said, “Guns are supposed to be comforting, not comfortable.” OWB keeps the firearm from digging into your hip, making for an enjoyable experience.
That said, it is tougher to conceal because the handgun’s profile is outside the beltline. This can present a more “bolted-on” appearance to your silhouette and makes it easier for bystanders to see that you are packing. In some instances, this may not be a big deal, but if you’re in a state where no-firearm signs carry the force of law, it may be unwise.
Some guns demand to be carried outside the waistband in a classic leather holster. While I’m no 1911 romantic, I cringe when I see one holstered in anything but leather outside the waistband. For my Springfield Armory 1911 Operator, 1791 GunLeather provided the best solution. It just looks and feels right.
Inside the Waistband (IWB)–Strong Side
Inside-the-waistband or IWB is a good balance of accessibility and concealability. A high-quality belt and holster combo keeps the gun securely tucked against your side.
For many years, inside-the-waistband carry on the strong side has been the gold standard. Hiding your handgun inside the waistband coupled with the natural reach and draw of the strong side makes for a solid balance between concealment and accessibility. Virtually every carry gun has had someone produce an IWB holster for it.
While not as comfortable as OWB carry, it’s out of the way enough so that comfort isn’t an issue while sitting, standing, or walking. It’s also less likely to print than OWB carry because the holster’s position inside the waistband keeps everything pulled in tighter to your body.
Another factor to consider is the extensive amount of training and resources available for IWB concealed carry. Volumes of books have been written on the subject, and almost every reputable trainer is well-versed in getting students to work from an IWB strong-side position.
Inside the Waistband–Appendix
Appendix-style carry is not the best answer me, but I understand its appeal.
Not that long ago, so-called appendix carry would have been considered a non-traditional holster location. Because the concealed carry culture is still in its early phases, and so many shooters are working on solutions to problems, appendix carry has emerged as probably the second-most popular carry location.
For those unfamiliar, appendix carry places the holster in front of the hip in the 12:30 to 1:30 position, with the muzzle aligned down the inside of the strong-side leg. The rapid growth in popularity, the massive expansion of appendix holster options, and the location of the holster on the beltline make the case for it being considered a traditional carry location.
There’s also the explosion of sub- and micro-compact EDC pistols as part of the appendix carry boom. As mentioned, your carry gun determines the holster and carry method. The appendix style is not one for full-size semi-auto pistols or full-frame revolvers. The proliferation of the SIG P365, Smith & Wesson Bodyguard, Springfield Hellcat, and others have opened the door to the growing popularity of this style.
There is a lot to like about the appendix position. It can be a remarkably comfortable position to carry, especially when you are on your feet and walking around. Concealment is also quite good, depending on the cut of your clothing, and it can be accomplished without a cover garment other than your shirt, provided it isn’t tucked in.
“In concealed carry, we’re seeing a mild trend away from appendix carry and back toward strong-side hip positioning,” said Mike Barham, Media and PR Manager at Galco Holsters. “I think this is for both comfort and some tactical reasons that weren’t fully explored properly.”
On its face, this logic makes sense. While everyone is looking for the easy button, the popularity of appendix carry offered some of the tactical advantages outlined earlier and we saw people gravitate to a carry position that allowed them to run faster times against a standard; others saw a benefit in the position.
Perhaps the most compelling benefit is the firearm’s accessibility from the front of the body. A simple lift of the shirt with the support hand exposes the grip, making the purchase quick with minimal effort, even for individuals more accustomed to strong-side carry. A timer can reveal marked improvement in how quickly you can enter the fight.
Those comfort and concealment positives, though, are somewhat reliant on the cut of your jib. For those of us who pack a little more around the middle than others, this position can be more challenging. A protruding belly can exert constant, uncomfortable pressure, and depending on the specific geometry of your body, it may also result in a pistol that is tilted out and shows. Provided you have a chest that extends beyond your belly button, either due to biology or muscle mass, appendix carry can be a good option. If not, it may just not be a good fit.
Non-Traditional
Shoulder Carry
The armpit is wasted space on the human body and is an ideal place to tuck a defensive firearm using a shoulder holster like this Falco Hybrid Roto Shoulder Holster with a double mag pouch.
I used to think I needed to have a decade on the beat and a handful of years behind a desk as a detective before I could apply to a holster manufacturer for a shoulder model. I’m just old enough to remember the Galco-supplied shoulder holsters on Miami Vice, and I thought they were only for cops.
As with everything else, fewer carry restrictions mean more carry options, and holster makers have added some refinement to the shoulder holster lineup. I find shoulder holster carry to be the most comfortable. Because the weight of the firearm is carried by the yoke on your shoulder rather than on the beltline, that bother is eliminated. Further, the gap between your armpit and upper arm is purely wasted space on the human body, so being tucked into that location bothers nothing.
On a day when I know I will be behind the wheel of my truck more often than walking, carrying a concealed handgun in a shoulder holster is my preferred solution. Because in the seated position, getting to the beltline can be a problem, a shoulder location is easily accessible without needing to remove the gun from my person. For driving, shoulder carry is my A+ answer.
Shoulder carry is not without its drawbacks, however. It can be a tougher location to access and draw from safely. Many shoulder holsters carry the firearm in a horizontal position, making it easy to flag bystanders or even your support arm if careful skill in drawing is not developed. While a great option with a jacket, vest, or overshirt, a hooded sweatshirt (a favorite garment of mine) presents real difficulty in getting the gun into the fight quickly and cleanly.
Overall, I believe shoulder holsters are significantly underutilized as a viable carry option, especially for those of us in northern latitudes where jackets and vests are a staple of our attire for much of the year.
Galco has recently introduced the Masterbilt Slabside Perfection Shoulder System. With the pistol placed on the weak side and two magazines on the strong side, you can easily carry more than most find comfortable on their beltline.
I have also become a fan of the Falco Hybrid Roto Shoulder Holster, which features a double mag pouch. The hybrid design uses a Kydex holster and leather strap system for the best of both worlds. Additionally, the holster features a snap that maintains its vertical orientation when worn, keeping the barrel pointed downward. You can draw from this position or release the snap, and the Kydex will rotate 70 degrees towards the horizontal for a cleaner drawstroke. The double mag pouch is also Kydex.
Pocket Carry
What about just sliding one of those subcompact pistols into your pocket and calling it a day? While it isn’t quite that easy, it isn’t far off, either. Pocket holsters are little more than a sleeve for a small pistol or revolver with a tacky or grippy exterior that allows you to reach into your pocket, grip the firearm, and draw it while leaving the holster in the pocket.
When I was working in sales, this became my best option for carrying a firearm. Because my job often called for dress slacks and polos, I had few places to conceal a firearm. A subcompact 9mm appeared to be little more than a BlackBerry in my pocket, and never once did anyone question if that was a giant phone in my pocket or if I was just happy to see them.
Chalk the biggest appeal here up to convenience. What can be simpler than putting a gun in your pocket? The materials have become quite reliable over the years, and when attire calls for it, pocket holsters are a superb option. However, despite having done it for a long time, it never felt as secure as I would have liked it to. We’ve all experienced sitting in an awkward position or leaning over to get something and having the contents of our pockets end up on the sidewalk or meeting room floor. I would prefer that not happen with my EDC pistol.
Off-Body Carry
Fanny packs offer an off-body solution that doesn’t look tactical. They’re perfectly at home at a farmer’s market or soccer game.
An explosion of purses designed for women who carry has popularized off-body carry. For men, there is the option of a fanny pack. Initially, I turned my nose up at the prospect of using one, but after paying attention while out in public, I was surprised to see fanny packs in use far more often than I had thought.
I started testing it out mainly to try to poke holes in the endeavor, as I’ve never been a big fan of it. That said, there are days when I want to run errands in athletic shorts and a hoodie—the unofficial uniform of spring and fall in the Midwest—and carrying that outfit leaves you with precious few options.
Slinging a fanny pack over your shoulder doesn’t look out of place among other folks who are doing the same thing at the local farmer’s market. Also, I can carry significantly more stuff in my fanny pack. There’s easily room for a reload or two, a couple of tourniquets, basic first aid items, a light, a knife, wallet, keys, and a snack.
The appeal of off-body carry is undeniable, and I’ve found myself defaulting to it more often due to its comfort and ease. Most CCW fanny packs have a dedicated handgun pocket, allowing you to separate your EDC (Everyday Carry) items from other things. No fumbling through pockets or loading up the beltline. It’s something to consider if you’ve been undecided.
That said, like every other option, it has downsides. The one I’ve struggled with the most is working on a new drawstroke. Like clearing a cover garment, you need a swift motion to get the pack open enough to access the firearm. This difficulty varies significantly from one pack to another and from one orientation to another. There is no simple solution that applies to every situation.
Most fanny packs have a tab to pull that opens the carry compartment quickly. Most, not all. Noted trainer Greg Ellifritz has found that the pull tabs are often too small to locate and use reliably, especially during the stress of a defensive engagement. His trick? Add a small flashlight, such as a Streamlight Pocket Mate, to the tab to improve the purchase. Not to mention, having an extra light is never a bad thing. I’ve adopted this logic to my setup.
Depending on how you orient the bag, you may also encounter a situation where the gun is pointed at those around you, and your drawstroke may exacerbate this, similar to a shoulder holster. It’s not a deal-breaker, but it’s another consideration.
I’ve become a fan of the Ex Umbris Designs UltraGrid Multifunctional Fanny Pack. It uses a Velcro panel in the main pouch to secure a holster of your choice. This design allows for the holster to be adjusted to the draw angle that works best for you, while some others use Malice Clips that don’t offer quite the same level of flexibility.
The DeSantis Gunny Sack II and Vertx Everyday Fanny Pack 2.0 are also popular options for carriers.
Of course, there are also purses available for off-body carry from brands like Browning and Gun Tote’n Mamas, which allow for something a little more stylish for the ladies who carry.
Ankle Carry
It’s not a small package, but if you must carry a second gun, ankle carry is not a bad option.
I saved ankle carry for last because I don’t think it should ever be the location of your primary firearm. While drawing a firearm from all the other locations listed above can be done naturally under duress and without compromising your situational awareness, drawing from your ankle requires you to bend over or crouch to access your firearm.
Are there situations where ankle carry is your only option? I suppose that’s possible, but I consider it for backup only. The idea of a snub-nosed 38 Special on the ankle has almost become a grizzled-cop trope, but with some reason. A fair number of cops I’ve talked to have done precisely that and continued to do so even when they were off-duty or retired.
I’ve experimented with the Apache Ankle Rig from DeSantis. When I was a young salesman out on the road in some rough neighborhoods of Northwest Indiana, a Sccy CPX-1 was my everyday carry gun. While I’ve retired it, it fits the bill of a backup gun and plays well with such a configuration.
Ankle carry is not something I do regularly, but it’s nice to have another option. An ankle setup is also a viable way to carry a snub-nose revolver. With today’s revolver renaissance, it might not be crazy to have ankle carry as an option, just not as a primary solution.
However, as with all the positions we outlined, there are also downsides, and as more people adopt a carry style, there is increased scrutiny surrounding it. What works for one person may not work for another, and those preferences as choices may change over time.
Holster Material
Kydex is an excellent option but lacks the warmth of leather.
No matter which of the above positions you choose to carry, your holster has to be made of something. Each material has pros and cons, just like the carry positions.
The most traditional holster material is leather. Leather evokes images of gunfighters from the Old West, such as Buffalo Bill Cody, Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, or the men who portrayed romanticized versions of them.
Leather still has a place in the EDC world, even if newer materials have encroached on what was once a single-material market. Leather options remain popular for revolvers, whose lines create an uncomfortable angle in a more rigid material. Also, as a natural material, it has a warmth that other materials don’t. Leather can soften the edges of a cylinder, making it easier to conceal in a beltline.
Leather is bulkier than other options, however, and can be harder to conceal based on your gun’s profile. Aside from the actual friction of the gun on the leather, any retention mechanism must be done with a snap or Velcro.
Kydex has become the dominant holster material. There are numerous benefits to it. From a manufacturing standpoint, it’s easier to source and produce. A Kydex mold of a specific firearm can be created, ensuring a perfect fit. Furthermore, unlike leather, adjustable tension can provide passive retention on the gun, keeping it in the holster more securely than in some leather designs.
Similarly, it’s easier to create variations of each model with accessories, such as weapons-mounted lights or cutouts for optics. Do you carry a Walther PDP with a Streamlight TLR-7? You’re far more likely to find a Kydex option than leather.
Downsides? Kydex isn’t as forgiving as leather, and it lacks the visual appeal of leather. Yes, Kydex can be customized or have patterns added, but at the end of the day, it’s still a synthetic material. Because it’s more rigid, sharp edges can lead to uncomfortable pinches when carrying.
All that said, there’s a reason Kydex has become so popular. It’s secure and reliable.
Then there’s nylon holsters, which I have regularly used. Mine is an Uncle Mike’s shoulder holster that holds a Heritage single-action .22 I carry on the trapline every winter.
It’s not that there isn’t a place for nylon in EDC holster concepts, but rather as a secondary material, such as a Velcro strap on an ankle holster, rather than the entire holster. Nylon lacks sufficient retention on the firearm while moving around unless it is snapped securely.
There are cases where a nylon design may be useful, but I think most people place it as a distant third option for holster selection.
Concealed Carry Belts
A quality belt designed for carrying guns is not optional. Don’t skimp on this essential part of the equation.
A holster is only as good as the belt that supports it. This sounds like hyperbole, but anyone who has tried to carry on a substandard belt knows it’s true. Like holsters, just one belt suitable for carry won’t do. I have nylon options from Wilderness in multiple colors to match various dress, and a casual rustic finish leather option from 1791 GunLeather that works with almost anything. I also have a couple of high-polish tan belts from Galco, one smooth and one tooled, for when I want to look a little more refined.
The common thread is that all of these belts are designed for carrying firearms. If you’ve put off the investment in a good EDC belt, I can’t implore you enough to commit to a higher-quality one. It’s a game-changing experience when your belt locks the holster in place, allowing you to make a clean draw.
Best Practices
When it comes to concealed carry holsters, no one answer works for everyone. We often learn from others’ mistakes, but what doesn’t work for someone else when it comes to holsters may be our best solution.
Choosing a holster is a process. It requires exploration and experimentation. Chances are, the first holster you try will not end up being your favorite. There’s also a good chance that the carry position you first try won’t be your preferred option. Too many people experiment too little with different holsters and location options.
“While I don’t think training should be legally mandated for concealed carriers, lots of people just don’t know what they don’t know, said Barham. “Some classroom time with a knowledgeable CCW instructor, exposure to different concealed carry methods, and some range time goes a very long way to learning what does and doesn’t work for you, and everyone is different.”
This reality is sad enough when you consider many people’s primary holster selection. The fact that so many don’t even have a second or third option for carry style makes it even more baffling.
My primary carry position will always be on the hip of my strong side. It’s the best option for me. Regardless of the handgun, I will have an IWB holster that will cover most of my carry needs from there. However, I also prefer shoulder holsters for much of the year. And I have my Ex Umbris fanny pack, in which I can swap out a different holster with a new patch of Velcro.
The saying goes, “Two is one, and one is none.”
Three isn’t too many. Four isn’t out of the question.
You might not need a different holster every day, but don’t think that one will work for every circumstance.
When you're building out a rig that's got to perform on the trail and look good doing it, there's a balancing act between form, function, and longevity. Aggressive tread design, sidewall styling, and real off-road capability usually mean you’re sacrificing something—but that doesn’t need to be durability and long-term value of your tires.
We dug into the warranties behind the most aggressive-looking, off-road-ready all-terrain tires on the market. These aren't mall-crawler specials. Every tire here is offered in both hard metric and LT metric sizes with 35” overall diameter options and 3PMS-certification for year-round confidence. Whether your setup leans overland, pre-runner, or heavy-duty daily with a weekend trail schedule, these tires are made to look tough and work even tougher.
Here are the A/T tires we stacked up:
Nitto Terra Grappler G3
BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO3
Falken Wildpeak A/T4W
Cooper Discoverer AT3 XLT/LT
Mickey Thompson Baja Boss A/T
Yokohama Geolandar A/T4
Toyo Open Country A/T3
Mileage Warranty Breakdown
Tire Model
P/Hard Metric Warranty
LT/Flotation Warranty
Nitto Terra Grappler G3
70,000 miles
55,000 miles
BFG KO3
N/A
50,000 miles
Falken Wildpeak A/T4W
65,000 miles
60,000 miles
Cooper Discoverer AT3 XLT
60,000 miles
60,000 miles
Mickey Thompson Baja Boss A/T
60,000 miles
50,000 miles
Yokohama Geolandar A/T4
65,000 miles
55,000 miles
Toyo Open Country A/T3
65,000 miles
50,000 miles
Top Performer: Nitto Terra Grappler G3
The Nitto Terra Grappler G3 takes the win here, offering the highest mileage warranty of the bunch—70,000 miles on hard metric sizes and a solid 55,000 miles for LT/flotation. For an A/T that delivers aggressive curb appeal and all-terrain capability, that’s a serious standout.
It’s not just about surviving the daily commute, either. The G3 delivers stable highway manners while still packing the beefy shoulder blocks and deep sidewall lugs you want when the asphalt ends. For enthusiasts who demand both looks and longevity—whether it’s hauling gear, towing toys, or chasing trails—it’s the rare combo that doesn't ask you to choose.
Deciding Which A/T Tire Works for You
From daily drivers to work trucks and beyond, your tires have a lot rolling on them. When most of your driving time is spent on-road, today’s aggressive all-terrains strike a near-perfect balance of capability, looks and solid performance you can trust no matter where you drive. Choosing your tire purchase carefully can mean you get years more of wear.
For our money, the Nitto Terra Grappler G3 brings the best blend of style, performance, and mileage-backed confidence. If you’re modding your rig for weekend adventures and weekday reliability, this tire keeps you rolling longer—and looking good doing it.
Want a bag that provides quick access to a gun and plenty of storage space? Take a look at MFT’s new 5L Achro Sling Bag.
In their attempt to blend in, far too many concealed carriers stand out instead. Being a “gray man” isn’t achieved by wearing tacticool camo gear and a hat from your favorite gun manufacturer, it’s done by appearing truly nondescript and forgettable while still concealing your gear. To that end, Mission First Tactical’s new 5L Achro Sling Bag seems to knock it out of the park.
It’s plain black, and the only thing “tactical” about its design is a bit of laser-cut MOLLE on the front for attaching other gear. As for storage, the 5L (5-liter) Achro Sling Bag has a dedicated and discreet handgun pocket, a main pocket with organizers for common EDC gear, zippered internal pockets and it ships with MFT’s Multi-Mount Platform for attaching holsters and other items inside the bag. Other features include its lighter-colored water-resistant ripstop liner that aids interior visibility, its cooling mesh padded back panel and its adjustable shoulder/waist strap.
Ryan Ditta, Program Manager at Mission First Tactical, said this about the new bag:
The 5L Achro™ Sling Bag represents the culmination of decades of professional travel experience. We aimed to create the perfect commuter pack, catering to the modern individual's needs while ensuring safe and secure storage without compromising on style.
The 5L Achro Sling Bag has an MSRP of $79.99 and it’s available now.
Ruger's upgraded bolt-action keeps its budget-friendly crown with smart improvements and dependable accuracy.
No corner of the gun world has a more heated arms race than hunting rifles—specifically, budget hunting rifles. The rally to rake in deer, elk and antelope hunters’ hard-earned bucks has resulted in plenty of flops and a few success stories. The Ruger American Rifle falls in the latter.
Born more than a decade ago, the entry-level arm quickly set ranges on fire—not just among the penny-pinchers. Earning a reputation for unparalleled accuracy at its price point, the Ruger bolt-action became almost a must-have, even among the money-is-no-object crowd.
And why not? There’s something novel—and satisfying—about owning a rifle capable of outshooting irons two or three times its price.
I’ve been lucky enough to have plenty of experience with the Ruger gem, in the field and at the range. That bred cautious optimism when the company released the American Rifle Gen II this past fall. Externally, it looked like a winner—but how did it perform downrange? Is the new generation still the budget king I and many other shooters have grown to love?
Curious about the Gen II's predecessor? Check out our full review of the original Ruger American Rifle.
Arming Up With the American Gen II
I brought in the American Rifle Gen II Standard model in 7mm PRC, which put me well behind the curve of the rifle’s initial release. Ruger didn’t tool up for the magnum or modern magnum analogs until 2025.
The ZeroTech scope and Backcountry suppressor proved perfect matches for the 7mm PRC rifle.
My idea was a budget-level long-range hunting setup, so I turned to a ZeroTech Vengeance FFP 6–24×50 scope with an RMG MRAD reticle. It’s ZeroTech’s hunting option, though it takes heavy cues from tactical optics, with an advanced long-range Christmas tree reticle and exposed turrets.
To finish the rig, I mounted a Silencer Central Banish Backcountry suppressor on the muzzle. This lightweight titanium can is rated up to .300 RUM and tailored specifically for hunting.
American Rifle Gen II Barrel
From pictures and in hand, the most striking upgrade on the Gen II is its cold-hammer-forged barrel. It’s shortened from the original to a trim 20 inches and spiral fluted.
Not only attractive, the Gen II's spiral-fluted barrel also lighten's the rifle's load.
While fluting has become commonplace on affordable arms, it’s more than just eye candy—it helps keep the rifle at a manageable 6.5 pounds (without a scope), and its increased surface area aids in cooling during longer strings.
Ruger includes a muzzle brake on all Gen II models and, more importantly, a threaded muzzle. The thread pattern is 5/8×24 RH, making it compatible with most hunting-specific suppressors.
The package is topped off with an attractive Gun Metal Gray Cerakote finish, ensuring all-weather durability.
American Rifle Gen II Action
Ruger didn’t mess with what works. The Gen II maintains the American’s semi-enclosed port and cylindrical action. The added material makes the action stronger and more rigid—one of the key reasons this platform has proven so accurate.
Ruger upgrades the bolt handle on the new American Rifle, enlarging it for better manipulation.
The rifle keeps the three-lug, full-body bolt—a one-piece design known for strength and affordability. It retains a 70-degree throw, which plays nice with large optics. One change: Ruger now includes an oversized, threaded bolt handle (5/16×24) for easier upgrades.
A welcome addition is the new three-position tang safety. Along with “safe” and “fire,” a middle setting locks the trigger but allows the bolt to cycle, so the rifle can be safely unloaded. A small but thoughtful upgrade.
American Rifle Gen II Trigger
I’m torn on the Gen II’s trigger.
It’s crisp, creep-free and adjustable between 3 and 5 pounds. Mine shipped set at a snappish 3.5 pounds, so I left it as-is. Furthermore, shoe is wide, ribbed and easy to index—comfortable and confidence-inspiring in the field.
The trigger on the Gen II is spot on, outside the blade safety.
My only complaint is Ruger retained the blade safety. I don’t know how this became a thing on rifles, but I don’t like it—your opinion might vary. It’s a minor nit that wouldn’t stop me from buying the rifle.
American Rifle Gen II Stock
Along with the barrel, this is where much of the Gen II’s appeal lies. Ruger gave it a gray polymer stock with black speckles. It’s visually more refined than the previous generation and offers a welcome texture upgrade.
The rifle's stock has a new Monte Carlo profile and is completely adjustable.
Despite being polymer, the stock doesn’t feel cheap. It retains a feature that helped the original’s accuracy—Power Bedding. These are V-shaped aluminum bedding blocks that center the action and provide a secure metal-to-metal fit.
Ruger also moved to a Monte Carlo-style stock. I’m neutral on this, though it is fully adjustable for length of pull and comb height. That said, the spacers required for adjustment must be purchased separately, which is a letdown.
American Rifle Gen II at the Range
I was nervous the Gen II wouldn’t live up to the original, but the opposite happened—it overperformed.
A small, but nice improvement is the three-position tang safety.
Shooting five-shot groups from a bench at 100 yards with 175-grain Federal Fusion and 175-grain Federal Premium ELD-X, I found the rifle preferred the ELD-X. It turned in a best group of 0.49 inches and averaged 0.87 inches. That’s outstanding for any factory rifle—especially at this price.
I stretched the rifle out on our club’s mile-long range. With fixed targets ranging from 1 to 3 MOA, I hit every 3 MOA plate out to 500 yards and went 4-for-5 on the 1 MOA target at the same distance.
I’d never shoot at an animal from that far—I still have the legs to close the gap—it passed every test I had for a long-range hunting rifle.
Final Thoughts
The Gen II continues the American Rifle’s stellar legacy—and in 7mm PRC, I fully recommend it. The trigger is excellent, the build quality is tight and it shoots straight.
The Gen II feeds off a detachable box magazine. In 7mm PRC, it holds 3 rounds.
It did take some adjustment to get comfortable with the Monte Carlo stock—my shoulder pocket and eye alignment didn’t line up perfectly at first—but that resolved with time.
Ruger also improved the interface. The scalloping above the grip appears more recessed, supporting modern thumb-off shooting styles.
If there’s one downside, it’s the brake. It works, but it’s loud. A suppressor is a worthwhile investment if you're opting for a magnum cartridge.
Parting Shot
The Gen II costs about $130 more than the original, but factoring in inflation, it still qualifies as a budget rifle. The new generation offers more chambering options, better ergonomics, and the same deadly accuracy that made the original a legend.
Unless the budget bolt-action world sees a major shake-up, Ruger’s latest is likely to remain king of the hill.
As an outdoorsman selecting a sidearm, what features should you look for when picking a field pistol?
Over the past centuries, we have seen a constant focus on the types of pistols and calibers that are suitable for use in the field. In The Prairie Traveler, a contemporary piece on Manifest Destiny, there is a good discussion on what Colt you should carry—the percussion .36 being the surprising recommendation for the era, even over the .44.
These older sources are invaluable as we look at the general nature of what we are putting in our belts and chest harnesses today. I’ve been carrying pistols for various uses in the field my entire adult life as a hiker, fisherman, hunter and general outdoorsman. My choices have sometimes been motivated by nostalgia as much as practicality, but what is true is that there’s no one right answer for you.
There is, however, a fascinating backstory to all this that is worthy of note.
The Outdoorsman’s Sidearm
Pistols have a long history—that much is absolutely certain. We don’t have the space here to explore every culture and their relationship to handguns, but it’s true that there has always been a practical need for a firearm that is compact and can be carried on the person ready to use. While there are some words I will use interchangeably here, I will be referring to these guns as pistols. (Sorry to those who like to make a distinction for revolvers.)
Historically, what we call handguns were referred to as pistols, typically distinguished by mode of carry, be it saddle holster, belt or pocket. In 1835, Sam Colt had a patent for a “revolving firearm,” which is a bit too vague for use here. In the American lexicon, there wasn’t much specialization in this class of arm until 1847.
Colt’s early Paterson designs weren’t very successful. The Texas Rangers had an early success in battle against Native Americans on the frontier using the Paterson. A modern, much more powerful firearm was requested by Ranger Sam Walker, leading to the famous 1847 Walker Colt. This revolver was arguably the first truly modern Colt, and by default, the first of what we would call a field pistol. The revolver after this point would become (and could be argued still is) the dominant field pistol.
Bullets have evolved in the last few centuries, but the base concept are still relevant. The Walker can fire round balls with lethal results even today, but there are other choices.
The idea that an individual would not just be able to have a gun on them, but one that would not require immediate reloading after its one use, was revolutionary. Not only that, but each shot would also have enough power to immediately kill, or at least severely injure, an attacker at close to medium range. Most “repeating” arms of this time were small and woefully underpowered, unreliable and even dangerous to the user. The Walker was no joke and could bring some hurt where it was due.
With reload time and reliability at a distinct advantage over competing designs of the era, the Colt was the one to beat. Over time, we have seen that translate into the Colt, then Smith & Wesson and eventually modern guns like Glock, taking the preferred spot in the field. The base notion of all of this has been that these field guns are reliable and powerful first, high capacity second. These traits are critical because in the mind of modern outdoorsmen, revolvers are only recently challenged by rounds like 10mm Auto, itself the beneficiary of lots of very positive press.
The basis of the field gun is that it needs to be able to deliver power and accuracy, not just as a self-defense option for bears (a somewhat rare situation overall), but serve as a stopgap for signaling, hunting and general-purpose survival. In short, it needs to be a functional backup to a rifle or shotgun, but not a true replacement. On its own, the field pistol statistics are up to the end user.
The ammunition in question has its own flavor—such as the retro hardcast, even in semi-automatic pistols. Buffalo Bore has earned a reputable name producing loaded cartridges on the high end of the power scale. Having shot many of their most potent loads, I can honestly say that many are downright painful in packable revolvers, but overall pleasant in semi-auto calibers like 9mm and .45 ACP. I have killed large whitetails with the Buffalo Bore 255-grain Hardcast Outdoorsman in .45 ACP at about 40 to 50 yards out of a 5-inch 1911.
9mm, .38 Special, .44 Special and .45 Colt are all old cartridges, and each is still relevant for field guns with good bullets.
Raw killing power is more a function of the bullet than the gun, but the features of the gun do matter quite a bit. There is a bit of a dichotomy in that to get a certain level of handling you need a gun that is, by nature, easier to handle. Adjustable sights, excellent accuracy, smooth recoil and reliable functioning are musts in general, if you want to get the most out of placing your bullet with any certainty.
Going hard in one direction is what ends up happening quite often, with many guys opting for absolute maximum power over anything else. You won’t replace a rifle with a pistol; it just isn’t going to ever be feasible. If you’re a hiker or kayaker who camps with prepacked food, a rifle may be prohibitive for weight and fatigue when a handgun would serve emergency use better.
An optically equipped pistol of good power level can be very, very accurate. There is nothing wrong with having a .45 on your chest and a lightweight .22 LR rifle with 500 rounds stowed under board in a canoe. You don’t have to take just one in some cases, especially if your main goals are fishing or other recreational activities.
The Bear Essentials
Westerners reading this will probably disagree with me, but we’re talking apples and oranges here. What’s good for Michigan might not fly in Montana, but what is needed in the Crazies is just extra weight in the waters south of Traverse City. In all of the Midwest, a .45 ACP+P is pretty much guaranteed to be capable of handling any threat.
It’s still a heavily debated topic just how much gun you need when up against apex predators in close proximity. A debate centered on such a niche topic as bear attacks is what has inspired a market of guns and ammo on its own. Putting things bluntly, people are exponentially more likely to be killed by other people even in the woods as opposed to bears. Bear attacks are rare enough that they always make the news, sometimes even nationally.
Yet, in urban environments, we have murders daily, often multiples. I won’t get into a discussion about environmental pressures making bears attack when allegedly socioeconomic factors force people to kill unarmed clerks after a robbery and we must accept this as normal. Likewise, more people have been killed by other people in national parks and wilderness areas than wildlife. Most bullets meant for men will work on bears.
That said, this bear situation is very interesting, as it seems to be universal for discussion on field guns. It is absolutely true that there are many Americans who live around brown bears and their variants. Yet, the rate per million of attacks is extremely low annually, and in those attacks, there is no one caliber that seems to have set itself apart for being able to resolve the situation instantly. Bear attacks have made people extremely conscious of a problem that, while not impossible, is very rare. Yet, the remedy for this rare occasion is often a revolver of such power that it is impossible to master and will not yield better results than something “smaller.”
I’ve spent a good amount of time talking to everyone from cops to coroners to contractors on shootings, warfare, murders and all things in between, and the general consensus is that people kill with what they have on hand and make do with it. Very little out there, aside from premeditated murder is planned out; the vast majority of killing is done with little notice. I have some very cool stuff, a lot of which has appeared on these pages, but I’m not carrying a suppressed Fulton Armory M14 when I type at the coffee house. I’d get some looks. Most days, if I found myself attacked by a grizzly in my beach town, I’d have a .38 Special. I might make it.
Since the bear situation has dominated the field pistol discussion for some time, I’ll take a more practical look at what is really going on for this type of gun. Colt has quietly been releasing new versions of their classic lineup, and I hear there are some good things coming from S&W soon that appeal to the Elmer Keith fan in me. Many companies are starting to make 10mm Auto versions of 1911 and other pistols as standard models in their catalogs.
The debate on this chambering is hot even today, and I’m not a huge proponent of the 10mm as I have used it alongside .45 ACP in the field on large game regularly and really don’t see the effectiveness people talk about online. Given a choice between the two, I’d take .45 ACP all day. I have seen absolutely no difference in its killing effects opposed to 10mm, but I have seen a much greater degree of recoil and difficulty of mastery side-by-side.
As a suppressor hunter, .45 ACP is also far more advantageous inside the effective range of both cartridges, being that it’s quieter with a wet suppressor than any bow out there at 40 yards—I know, to each their own. The debate is far, far from over but I remain deeply skeptical on the degree of need associated with the increase in power lacking a real mandate for it in practical terms.
The Old Guard
Since I mentioned Keith, a name any serious outdoorsman should know, we’ve got to look at what he really thought of as the ideal field gun. As a lifelong student of his work, I will say the man was a legend and has a deep-running influence on the handgun world as a result, but he was honestly presumptive in that he decided he was the authority when he published his famous 1929 article in American Rifleman, “The Last Word,” at age 30. (Keith was born in 1899.)
The thing was, Keith, in fact, did figure it out. His work with his “The Last Word” Colt SAA in .44 Special set the stage for all field guns in our modern era going back just a hair under a century. Yes, that 30-year-old kid did more to influence handguns with that one article than maybe any article ever. His time with pushing the .44 Special was truly special, and he perfected the field gun with his eventual legacy, the 44 Magnum. The initial .44 Magnum loads weren’t nuts by today’s standards, and a 240-grain Keith bullet at 1,200 fps from a 4-inch barrel is still, and likely always will be, one of the best field loads ever.
.44 Mag has been a longtime favorite, a Keith design. Modern monometal bullets are very reliable for penetrating animals from any angle. That is not to say that the old Keith-style bullets or vintage soft points will not work; in fact, they have lots of merit for the outdoorsman.
So, going back to a century ago, what did we know that we don’t seem to remember? For starters, the rampant consumerism of the industry wasn’t as prevalent before the advent of the internet and modular guns, the two feeding off each other to the point that we have a hard time introducing new things because the parts can’t be readily changed out.
The old days saw most guns being hand-fitted and finished, truly investments for the workingman and rich man alike. Smith’s pre-lock guns are highly sought-after, and I’ve had the pleasure of working with many guns from the era over time. The .44 Magnum was always very powerful, but people today don’t realize that this was by comparison to what was considered already powerful rounds. The guns that many of these rounds were housed in were often the weak spot.
Vintage Remington .44 Mag still packs a relevant punch. Bullet technology has strayed from exposed full lead tips like this, favoring JHP designs.
For instance, the .45 Colt can be loaded far above .44 Magnum, but it requires a modern frame. The .45 Colt can be loaded up to some truly impressive numbers and deliver some serious lead down range, enough to make the .44 Mag. blush. However, most people are only familiar with the “safe” loads in .45 Colt, which are quite anemic and meant for cowboy replicas and original Colts SAA revolvers for safety.
It’s Dangerous to Go Alone … Take This!
Where you see the true utility of rounds like .44 Magnum is in their flexibility in terms of power, something that people today only look at the upper end. The beauty of these revolvers is that they can easily use lower-powered ammo. I really like shooting weak .38s in my .357 revolvers. Likewise, I like to load some light 180-grain lead bullets in .45 Colt with what remaining stock of IMR TrailBoss I have. It can be like shooting a .22 LR if you play it right.
Field guns, outside of the bear situation, are blessed with flexibility. This is something widely overlooked today due to the fact that to vary power in a semi-auto, you need an entirely different gun; you’re pretty much fixed at that cartridge power level. If you want sauce, go 10mm Auto. If you want power and easy handling, go .45 ACP. General use, well 9mm. In a .44 Mag. or .45 Colt, you can span the entire spectrum in one cylinder from popgun to piss-your-pants.
The old timers knew this, and this is what made field pistols great in practice. Ammunition was available everywhere; you could travel this country and find something that would work in your revolver in any hayseed town by the streams you’d pull over for.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the September 2025 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Looking for a new iron or piece of kit to enhance the one you already own? Check out these 7 new bits of guns and gear to grow your firearms wish list.
If you ever travel armed, Viktos’ new Counteract CCW Duffel Bag is worth a look. When judged as just a duffel, the Counteract is already a nice bag. It boasts a gen-erous 44-liter capacity and is built using strong, weather- and stain-resistant 500D polyester ripstop. It also features a dedicated, vented footwear compartment, a protected laptop/tablet sleeve and removable padded shoulder straps. As a CCW bag, it only gets better: The Counteract has a removable compartment with a CCW pistol tray, a Universal Hookie holster and several interior pockets for magazines and other gear. Oh, and it has lockable zippers, too, so you can fly with it. MSRP: $200
For a long time, when it came to super-extended 9mm Glock mags, 33 rounds was the ceiling for magazine capacity (not counting drums). Now, you can squeeze in one more round thanks to the Rattlesnake Tactical 34-round mag. Designed in collaboration with Ammunition Depot, the Rattlesnake is compatible with any firearm that uses double-stack 9mm Glock-pattern magazines. Whether you want a spare reload in your glovebox for your little Glock 26 or just something a bit bigger for running your PCC, the Rattlesnake Tactical mag is your ticket. It’s been third-party tested for reliability, is made in the U.S. and features a cool snake scale pattern for extra grip. MSRP: $19.99
B5 Systems Modular Platform Stock
B5 Systems makes some of the most popular AR furniture on the market, but what if you’re accessorizing something besides an AR? Plenty of guns these days come with a 1913 Picatinny rail on their rear end for attaching stocks or pistol braces, and now B5 has an option for those models, too. The B5 Systems Modular Platform Stock features a steel hinge that allows it to fold to the left and has an adjustable spring-assisted cheekpiece that adds 0.5 inch of height. It also has five length of pull adjustment positions, a cushioned non-slip buttpad and both traditional and QD sling mounts. It’s available in black, FDE, Coyote Brown, OD Green and Wolf Grey. MSRP: $200
Everyday Armor T-Shirt 360
Premier Body Armor changed the concealable body armor game with its original Everyday Armor T-Shirt, and they just made it even better. The original version included a special, form-fitting T-shirt with two pockets designed to accept Premier’s Level IIIA body armor panels. The new 360 version is the same but now features two side pockets and two side armor panels as well. It should be just as easy to conceal as the front/back-only version while providing even more protection. Each set ships with one armor carrier T-shirt, two large Level IIIA armor panels and two smaller Level IIIA side panels. MSRP: $380
Foxtrot Mike Products RMB
AR-based pistol-caliber carbines are a ton of fun, but they’re not known for having the softest recoil impulse. If you’d like to make your PCC less harsh, Foxtrot Mike has a new solution available. Called the Recoil Mitigation Buffer System, or RMB, it features a sliding buffer body, a dampening spring and a durable urethane impact modifier. All put together, it results in the complete elimination of bolt bounce. This simple change provides a much softer and controlled shooting experience and can help facilitate faster, more accurate shooting while plinking at the range or on the clock. If you have a PCC, the RMB seems like a no-brainer upgrade. MSRP: $59
Banish 30-V2 Suppressor
We were already impressed with the original Banish 30 suppressor, but Silencer Central went and made it better anyway. The Banish 30-V2 improves upon the original design in every way. It’s 0.8 inch shorter and 1.8 ounces lighter thanks to its full titanium construction. Does that mean it’s not as quiet? Nope, it’s even quieter. Rated for .17 HMR up to .300 Weatherby Magnum, the Banish 30-V2 is modular as well, allowing you to bring its length down from 8.17 inches to 6.4 inches. It also uses the industry-standard HUB mount and ships with a 5/8×24 direct-thread mount. Short, light and quiet, it’s the perfect hunting companion. MSRP: $999
New CMP M1 Garands
Fans of the greatest battle implement ever devised have reason to rejoice, as the Civilian Marksmanship Program recently announced new-production M1 Garands. These faithful replicas of the original have all the right stuff where it counts, namely forged receivers that are based on the original drawings and specifications. Other components, like the barrel and smaller parts, will be a mix of commercial reproductions and original GI parts. The first rifles available will be basic .30-06 Springfield models, but the CMP says it hopes to eventually bring other historically relevant variants to market as well. Government stockpiles of original M1s get smaller by the year, so it’s great to see the CMP thinking ahead about how to keep the Garand alive after all the surplus GI stocks have dried up. MSRP: $1,900
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the August 2025 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Springfield Armory has just announced new .45 ACP 1911 Operator AOS models with threaded barrels.
Living up to the pistol’s Operator name, Springfield Armory just announced a new 1911 Operator AOS model with a threaded barrel. Chambered for the naturally subsonic .45 ACP cartridge, the 1911 Operator AOS Threaded is available in four finish options and comes ready to be adorned head to toe in accessories.
The new 1911 features a 5.75-inch threaded stainless steel barrel (.578×28 threading) with a black DLC coating, and it ships with a knurled thread protector. The pistols also utilize the Agency Optic System (AOS) for mounting red dot sights. The system uses optic plates, making it compatible with RMR, Shield, Delta Point Pro and Docter footprints, but the plates must be purchased separately. 1911 Operator AOS Threaded buyers will be able to purchase a plate at a discounted price of $49. Naturally, the pistols have a Picatinny accessory rail on their dustcovers as well. Other features include tritium front sights, ambidextrous safeties and G10 VZ grips.
The Springfield Armory 1911 Operator AOS Threaded is available with a Coyote Brown, OD Green, Tungsten Gray or black Cerakote finish, and each gun ships with a soft case and two base pad-equipped 8-round magazines. MSRP is $1,289 and they’re available now.
Silencer Central has just announced the BANISH 12, a new 12-gauge shotgun suppressor designed with hunters in mind.
Ear protection is annoying, especially in the field. Solution? Get a suppressor. While rifle suppressors designed for hunting have exploded in popularity in recent years, the same is only beginning to happen with shotguns. The latest, and what Silencer Central describes as the next evolution of wingshooting and the most advanced shotgun suppressor on the market, is the BANISH 12.
The BANISH 12 provides hearing-safe levels of sound suppression, doesn’t obstruct shotguns’ sightlines and features interchangeable choke tubes. It’s also lightweight (17.6 ounces) and compact (8.55 inches long) thanks to its fully titanium construction. It attaches via an interchangeable mount that’s available in various popular shotgun choke tube thread patterns. Each BANISH 12 also ships with three screw-in chokes (Improved Cylinder, Modified, and Full) to tune shot patterns, and more choke tubes will be available to purchase separately.
Brandon Maddox, founder and CEO of Silencer Central, said this about the new shotgun suppressor:
We are very excited to be offering the BANISH 12 shotgun suppressor … The feedback has already been so positive … It’s really unlike anything else on the market. A true, first-of-its kind sporting suppressor for 12-gauge shotguns. Of course, the hunting market is near and dear to my heart, and integral to the story of Silencer Central, so I’m happy to offer this new and innovative suppressor to our customers.
The BANISH 12 is available now with a black or tan finish and has an MSRP of $1,199.
Smith & Wesson has just announced the M&P Shield X, a new subcompact iteration of the Shield series.
For the last few years, almost every new concealed carry pistol released was a 9mm micro-compact, but it seems that sub-compact 9mms are now experiencing a bit of a resurgence. The latest example is Smith & Wesson’s recently announced M&P Shield X with its 3.6-inch stainless steel barrel.
The M&P Shield X has all the modern features shooters have come to expect of modern carry pistols. Namely, it’s optics-ready (RMSc/K footprint), features an accessory rail and has an impressive 13+1 capacity of 9mm with flush-fit mags or 15+1 rounds with the included extended mag. A 10-round compliant version is available as well. The Shield X frame also boasts ergonomic improvements like a lengthened grip, undercut trigger guard, and extended beaver tail. Other features include aggressive front and rear slide serrations, an Ameriglo Trooper LumiGreen front night sight and a blacked-out serrated u-notch rear sight. The Shield X also has Smith & Wesson’s ClearSight Cut, a feature designed to prevent red dot optic windows from becoming fouled.
Grant Dubuc, Director of Product Innovation at Smith & Wesson, said this about the new carry pistol:
When designing the Shield X, a key focus was enhancing ergonomics to deliver a superior fit and feel across all hand sizes. Drawing inspiration from the Bodyguard 2.0, we introduced several refinements to the frame including undercutting the trigger guard, adding a slight beaver tail, and slimming specific areas at the back of the frame. These changes allow the shooter’s hand to sit higher on the frame, improving control and comfort without compromising concealability. Combined with added features like a rail, extended barrel, aggressive serrations, and upgraded sights, the Shield X is the ideal everyday carry 9mm.
The Smith & Wesson Shield X is available with or without a manual thumb safety and has an MSRP of $599.
When it comes to hunting preparation, zeroing your rifle from a bench pales in comparison to competing in NRL Hunter.
We are in the golden age of competition shooting, with different forms and flavors for every marksman. One of the underappreciated but rapidly growing organizations is NRL Hunter. Fusing traditional hunting scenarios with modern competition standards, NRL Hunter elevates the skill cap and educates people nationwide that marksmanship in the field isn’t shooting fish in a barrel.
In essence, it tests your skills to find, range and shoot targets from between 100 and 1,000 yards while layering the difficult conditions you might face while on a hunt. Even for seasoned competition shooters or hunters, this game isn’t easy.
But—it is satisfying, illuminating and oh so much fun.
The Soul of a Hunter
As the name suggests, NRL Hunter was started to benefit hunters. While many skills are necessary for a successful harvest, one of the most difficult to learn or practice is field marksmanship. Shooting off a bench at a paper target doesn’t address the critical skills needed for a real shot taken at an animal in the wild.
Stress, wind reading, knowing your rifle, your ammo and your limits are aspects that can make or break a hunt. Being able to put those skills to the test and improve yourself makes not only for more successful hunting but also more ethical hunting.
For many who shoot NRL Hunter, this is the whole allure of the game. And if you have a once-in-a-lifetime hunt coming up or just want to improve your shooting skills, NRL Hunter is a great place to push yourself.
Gamers Play the Game
Not everyone you meet at an NRL Hunter match is there prepping for elk season. Shooters focusing on hunting are probably the minority. While NRL Hunter is a great way of practicing for the big-game season, it is still a game. Steel elk don’t hear you stalking, AR500 bobcats don’t smell you, and no timers are counting down in the woods.
For a lot of the shooters, NRL Hunter is simply a fresh new format for precision matches, forcing different and interesting skills and giving people a good excuse to build a new rifle. Count me in that category. Matches that push my skillset or force me to learn something new are always attractions, and NRL Hunter does it in spades. It has quickly become my second favorite format to shoot.
Basic Rules
The exact rules should be consulted before your first match, but to give you a taste we can boil them down to CliffsNotes.
Every stage is shot “blind,” meaning you don’t know what you’re getting into. You don’t get to watch other competitors shoot the stage before you, and learning anything about the stage before you shoot is strictly forbidden.
Every stage is 4 minutes and allows a maximum of eight shots. Scoring is “2-1 dead target.” Hitting the target with your first shot earns 2 points, if you miss your first shot you’re allowed a second. Impacting with the second shot earns 1 point. If you miss both shots, the target can no longer be engaged. If you hit the target, it’s considered neutralized, and you move on to the next target at the stage.
Each stage consists of some combination of up to four targets and up to four positions. If you have four targets, you will only have one position. If you have four positions, you’ll have one target. There are also combinations in between, like two targets/two positions. The positions are not fixed and can be selected by the hunter while on the clock. A “new” position must be at least one arm’s length away from the old one.
Each stage is given left and right limits, so you know what area you’re looking in to find the targets. On the start buzzer, the shooter needs to find the targets, range the targets, get into position and shoot.
Trust me, the 4 minutes to accomplish all this go fast.
Equipment
Gear won’t win matches or put meat in the freezer, but it can help. If you’re an established long-range shooter or hunter and you want to test your gear and your skills, you probably won’t need to buy anything new. But if you want to get all the juice for the squeeze, a few tools are game changers.
My loadout included:
Eberlestock UpRanger
Armageddon Gear Game Changer Shmedium with Git-Lite fill
Fix It Sticks Long Range Competition Toolkit
Sig Sauer Kilo 10k Gen II
Kestrel Ballistics 5700X Elite
Longtucky Supply Bino Pouch
Leofoto Tripod with Really Right Stuff Anvil-30 ballhead
L3i Design Solutions Tac Table
The general strategy for a stage is to use a tripod to glass and find your targets, then get into position using any combination of tripod, bipod or shooting bag to take the shot.
Range-finding binoculars help speed and smooth out the process since finding a target and then switching tools to range the target eats valuable time. Add in a ballistic solver, such as my Sig Sauer Kilo 10k Gen II, and the process becomes even easier. It gives range and dope with the press of a button.
One thing to keep in mind is that gear is only useful if it’s easy to access. Most shooters use a chest rig of some kind to make life easier. Longtucky Supply just released its Bino Pouch not long before my California-based Mason Valley match, and it’s a winner. Magnets seal the hood, and Velcro makes the entire pouch adjustable to any size or shape of binos.
A solid bag to carry all your stuff in is a requirement, since stages are spread out and often over broken landscapes. The Eberlestock UpRanger has served me well for several years and is easy to recommend.
One piece of gear that didn’t arrive in time for the match was the new MDT Champion Backpack. While I didn’t get to use the new bag in Mason Valley, I have used it at PRS matches since then, and I highly recommend it. Giving yourself a portable workstation comes in handy when you’re in the bush.
Custom Lightweight Precision Rifle
Most of the gamers shoot in Open Heavy, giving them a maximum of 16 pounds of rifle to play with. Since the hunting aspect is what appeals to me in NRL Hunter, I shoot the Open Light class. This has a 12-pound limit, forcing competitors to use a rifle they more likely would in the field.
To make that goal but still pack on as many luxuries as possible isn’t easy—but it is doable. Here is how my Hunter rifle shakes out:
Rifle Action: Faxon FX7 Barrel: Faxon “Gunner” Profile, 20 inches, 6.5 Creedmoor Scope: Vortex Razor LHT 4.5-22×50 FFP Scope Rings: MDT Lightweight Chassis: MDT HNT26 Muzzle Brake: Area 419 Hellfire Match Suppressor: Silencer Central Banish MeatEater Trigger: TriggerTech Special Grip: Kung Fu Grip Timer: MDT Crush It timer Ammo: Black Sheep Ammo 143-grain ELD
This rifle has performed far better than my wildest hopes. Everything about it has been perfect from the first day … almost.
Faxon Firearm’s FX7 is a sleeper of a rifle. The action is a six-lug, 70-degree bolt lift Remington 700 footprint coated in ArmorLube DLC and made from 416 stainless-steel. Its assets include an integrated recoil lug, integrated 20-MOA Picatinny rail, interchangeable bolt handle, M16 style extractor and uses a standard R700 trigger.
The action is smooth and well-made, and it handles dust and grime better than any bolt rifle I’ve used previously. But my favorite part of this build is the barrel. Faxon Firearms offered the “Gunner” profile in AR-15 and AR-10 barrels for years but applying that idea to a bolt-rifle barrel has been magical.
Barrels are what pack on pounds to a rifle, and it’s hard to cut that weight without running into problems like overheating, drifting POI or groups that explode open. The Gunner profile is built to mitigate all of those. Starting thick, it quickly tapers down to an almost pencil profile before opening up at the very end to host a threaded muzzle. The result is a 20-inch 6.5 Creedmoor barrel that only weighs 2.45 pounds. With my handloads, this is a comfortably .75 MOA rifle shooting 10-round groups with no downtime for heat.
Cutting all this weight left room in the budget for a suppressor, but only if it was light enough. Silencer Central’s new MeatEater by Banish comes in at only 10.3 ounces but offers a full 32dB sound reduction and helps cut recoil with the inclusion of a muzzle brake at the end of the suppressor. If you haven’t added a suppressor to your match or hunting rifle, I cannot recommend it enough. Making life quieter and easier to stay on target is a must-have for any rifle system.
The MeatEater is not the least expensive suppressor you can find, but the full titanium build and added muzzle brake are entirely worth it.
For glass, Vortex provided the Razor LHT 4.5-22×50 FFP. This is an interesting scope that ticks a lot of boxes and is almost perfect for NRL Hunter. While mostly a hunting scope at heart, it has enough features to make it effective in a match environment. A rock-solid zero stop, perfect tracking, great Christmas tree reticle and impressive glass worthy of the Razor name, it has all the hallmarks of a last-generation top-tier competition scope. But at only 21.7 ounces, this was built to not weigh you down.
Part of where the LHT saves weight is the 50mm objective lens and 30mm main tube. While enough to get the job done, this does limit the light-gathering ability of the scope. But even on my last stage of day one at Mason Valley, where we went way past legal hunting light, I could still find the gray steel of my last stage against the gray rocks. For what this scope is designed for, it’s impeccable.
MDT’s HNT26 was the chassis of choice for this project. My feelings on the HNT26 have gone back and forth between love and hate, but after a weekend shooting NRL Hunter, it’s settled on love. The HNT26 feels lightweight. It should, since it’s 26 ounces. But in your hand, out of the box, it feels too light. Don’t let that fool you, because this chassis can take some insane abuse.
Two long days of competition lead to progressively caring less about being gentle on your equipment, none more so than the chassis. But even being banged on boulders, dropped on cacti or dumped in the sand, the HNT26 ate it all.
The only failure point on the chassis was the grip and that happened a couple of months before the match. The carbon-fiber grip of the HNT26 is a shell epoxied to a plastic piece that connects to the rifle via a standard AR-15 grip interface. That epoxy on my grip just failed and disintegrated—slipped right off in my hand. Reaching out to MDT, it turns out my grip was one of the unlucky few in a specific batch of grips where something went sideways with no way for QC to catch the problem until they were in the hands of users. Oh, well. These things happen.
While MDT offered to replace the grip, I didn’t love it, so I was fine with using something else. I like near-vertical grips on my precision rifles, and this NRL Hunter rifle was no different.
The Bubba in me reached for one of my spare Die Free Co. Kung Fu grips because it was the perfect shape and texture. A little Dremel work to remove the beaver tail, and it was perfect.
To finish it all off and actually put lead on target, Black Sheep Ammo provided a pile of their 143-grain ELD match-grade ammo. Made in Union, Missouri, Black Sheep is a newer brand of ammo manufacturer focused on quality over quantity. I’ve used almost everything they make, from 115-grain 9mm to this 143-grain 6.5 Creedmoor, and all of it has been impressive. Accurate, low SD/ES, and dead-nuts reliable. Plus, the brass is great for reloading as well.
Mason Valley Match
Just a hair outside of San Diego County in Southern California, you can find Mason Valley Ranch, a piece of land that hosts one of the best NRL Hunter matches in the nation. This was my second time shooting this match (once in 2023 and once in 2025), and both have been outstanding, though not without challenges.
Boasting 20 stages, it makes for a packed course of fire across just 2 days, with 12 stages shot on Saturday and the last eight shot on Sunday.
The madman in charge of Mason Valley is Serge Ducourneau; assisting the madness was Ben Gallimore. The Mason Valley match has become infamous for how the stages are designed to push shooters in every aspect. The targets weren’t easy to find, and like real animals, they were often where you wouldn’t expect them. Mason Valley is also infested with Sasquatch of a few types. These tall, skinny targets require wind calls with no margin for error.
The targets and the machinations of the match directors are only half the battle. The environment is the other. There was a 50/50 chance of precipitation and a 100-percent chance of wind. Though, it turned out mild by Mason Valley standards with temps in the mid 60s and wind gusting to only 35 mph
The course of fire is spread out across a wide area, and shooters walked 2-3 miles over both days. Most shooters have a love-hate relationship with Mason Valley. On the one hand, it’s an unforgiving match. On the other hand, it’s the challenge that keeps us coming.
As for the match, while Serge and Ben designed some truly diabolical stages, they weren’t all dialed to 11. Most of them were approachable, but some of those ate my lunch (curse you, Sasquatch!). All of it was educational.
And that’s the rub of NRL Hunter: If you’re willing to step up, the matches offer more education, excitement and fun than you can shake a rifle muzzle at.
If you’re not willing to accept the challenge—possibly a fat goose egg on your score—maybe try something less stressful … like watercolors or stamp collecting.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the September 2025 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Ruger’s American rifle is more than just another affordable bolt-action. It’s an American success story.
Every so often a rifle comes along that is so utilitarian—and affordable—that it becomes nearly ubiquitous. Everyone, it seems, either has one or wants one. The Ruger American is one such rifle. Following its introduction in 2011, it rapidly became one of America’s most popular affordable bolt-actions, and sales quickly exceeded Ruger’s expectations. To date, Ruger has delivered well over a million of them in 28 different chamberings and more than 250 distinct models.
What most people don’t know is that the American was intended to be something entirely different. Ruger engineers initially tried to create a more affordable version of the company’s venerable M77 Hawkeye flagship bolt-action rifle, but they could only go so far working with the legacy design.
A Clean-Sheet Design
That prompted a decision to go with a clean-sheet design, and three experienced Ruger engineers were assigned to the project. Step one was gathering input from a “Voice of the Customer” campaign to find out what customers really wanted. Ruger’s polling produced some interesting results.
“With enough folks polled, many features or choices canceled out,” says Mark Gurney, Ruger’s innovation director. For example, about one-third wanted push feed, one-third wanted controlled-round feed, and one-third didn’t care. Much the same applied to decisions over whether the safety should be a tang or wing design, and whether the ejector should be a plunger or fixed type.
In the end, several factors emerged as constants. The rifle needed to be accurate and have a good trigger. It needed to be rugged. And reliable. In other words, it needed to be a Ruger.
From the time Ruger committed to the American, it took a little over a year to bring the design to life. A team of manufacturing engineers were added to the effort during the development cycle and Ruger stood up the first dedicated American rifle production line in Newport, New Hampshire. In 2016, in response to demand, Ruger added additional production capacity in its Mayodan, North Carolina, facility.
The Original American
When first introduced, the American was a no-frills rifle designed to hit a certain price point. It did that handily. Original MSRP was just $449 (it retailed for less), but from the beginning, the rifle delivered performance on par with guns costing far more.
The rifle was, unsurprisingly, originally chambered for some of America’s favorite cartridges, including .243 Win. and .308 Win. in short actions, and .270 Win. and .30-06 in long actions. It was equipped with a 22-inch free-floated hammer-forged barrel (with a recessed crown) attached to the action with a barrel nut for precise headspacing and enhanced accuracy.
The bedded action was mated to the stock using Ruger’s innovative Power Bedding System, which also contributed to the gun’s accuracy. That system used two aluminum V-blocks embedded into the synthetic stock that mate up with a pair of cuts in the action. It was a simple but clever design that worked quite well.
Use of a full-diameter bolt with three locking lugs and dual-cocking cams allowed for a short, 70-degree bolt throw and ample scope clearance. Smoothness of cycling varied a bit on these early guns. I handled some that were quite smooth and one or two others that felt a little stiff, but loosened up with lubrication and use.
The rifle employed the Savage-like bladed-style Ruger Marksman Trigger, but it differed from similar designs in one important respect. The blade locked the trigger, versus the sear, so the sear couldn’t trip no matter how low the pull weight was set. The pull weight was user-adjustable within a range of 3 to 5 pounds. The action used a two-position, tang-mounted safety that did not lock the bolt down.
In a departure for Ruger, the top of the action did not have the milled slots used on Hawkeye rifles for directly attaching Ruger scope rings. Instead, each rifle shipped with two single-slot Weaver-style bases to attach to the receiver.
The rifle had a matte black, glass-filled polypropylene stock. It wasn’t the stiffest stock in the world, but that shortcoming was negated by the stiffness of the action and the free-floated barrel. Stocks were equipped with a recoil pad that did a decent job of mitigating recoil. Stippled panels were impressed into the forend and grip to improve purchase in inclement weather. The rifle fed from a well-designed detachable, four-round rotary magazine that slid rounds smoothly into the chamber.
Visually, the original rifle didn’t look like anything special. At the time, it didn’t exactly stand out on rifle racks overflowing with other guns with black polymer stocks, but once people found out how well it shot, sales took off. In buyers’ eyes, beauty was in the rifle’s performance.
Unfailing Accuracy
I’ve had a fair amount of experience with Ruger American rifles, both in the field and on the range, starting with an American Predator model chambered in 6mm PRC. That rifle had a green synthetic stock and a fairly stiff-cycling bolt that made a bit of a zip-zip sound, which was somewhat common on early models and has since been corrected.
That rifle, which weighed just 6.6 pounds, had a 22-inch medium-contour barrel. Like all American rifles of that time, it had Ruger’s Power Bedding System, a tang-mounted safety, the Marksman adjustable trigger and a four-round flush-fitting rotary magazine. The push-feed action’s bolt had three large lugs, a generously sized extractor, a plunger ejector and a short, 70-degree throw. I wasn’t overly impressed with the rifle’s appearance, but my attitude toward the gun quickly changed when I put rounds downrange. On a day with the wind blowing full value at 12 mph, a Hornady load produced five-shot groups averaging 0.78 inch and a best group of just over half an inch.
I was even more impressed when I discussed the rifle with my friend and fellow outdoor scribe John Barsness. He shared a photo of a group he shot with the Predator in 6.5 Creedmoor with his handloaded ammo. All five shots went into a single ragged hole. That’s impressive performance for any rifle, let alone an inexpensive one. At the time, that American had an MSRP of $529, and you could find it at a real-world price a bit south of $400.
Every Ruger American rifle I’ve tested since then, regardless of chambering, has proven to be unfailingly accurate. Each has turned in sub-MOA groups with ammo it liked, which is more than I can say for some rifles costing far more. That inherent accuracy, combined with its affordable price tag, accounts for much of the Ruger American’s continued popularity in the years since its introduction.
Versatility in Spades
With that sort of performance and price, it’s no surprise that the rifle quickly gained a following and found itself at home in deer blinds and pickup trucks across America.
When first introduced, the American was offered with only a black synthetic stock. Initial chamberings were limited to a handful of popular cartridges. The lineup would quickly expand. In the rifle’s second year, Ruger added .22-250 Rem and 7mm-08 Rem. Ruger American Rimfire models appeared by 2015. Magnum chamberings, including 7mm Rem Mag and .300 Win. Mag., arrived in 2016.
Magnum calibers were prototyped very early in the American rifle’s life, but it wasn’t until 2016 that Ruger built them in any quantity. Today, only .300 Win. Mag. stands as the legacy magnum cartridge in the lineup, though some models have been chambered in 7mm Rem. Mag. and .338 Win. Mag. in the past. Such rounds have been mostly replaced by 6.5 PRC and 7mm PRC, which work with the magnum-sized American receiver and bolt, and feed well from Ruger’s three-round magnum box magazine. These magnums have quickly grown in popularity, especially with long-range shooters and Western hunters.
In 2016, the .450 Bushmaster made it into the lineup without a great deal of notice or fanfare, but it climbed into the number-three spot about a year later. It remains a staple of the line, and is a good choice for black bears, whitetails or hogs.
Over time, a few chamberings have been subtracted from the American lineup, but overall, the list has grown. As of this writing, some models are chambered for an astonishing 18 different cartridges, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see others added. Ruger has never been shy about embracing innovative cartridges—or partnering at times with ammo manufacturers to make them—so you can expect continued flexibility in its choice of chamberings for the American.
Notable Early Models
2014 was a banner year for the Ruger American. That’s when a slew of new models were added to the lineup. They included the All Weather and All Weather Compact models (Ruger introduced the Compact the year before). The All Weathers had 22-inch matte-stainless barrels, while the Compact variants had shorter lengths of pull and shorter barrels, and were designed for shooters of smaller stature.
One of the most important introductions that year was the Ruger American Ranch, which was, as its name suggests, designed to be a handy companion for dealing with situations that call for a quick-handling, maneuverable rifle. The Ranch differed from the standard American in several important ways.
First, it was chambered in 5.56 NATO, which is useful for dealing with predators, and in .300 Blackout, which is potent medicine for feral hogs. Barrels measured 16 inches, which was even shorter than the 18-inch barrels on Compact models, making the rifle easier to whip out the window of a pickup truck when needed. Notably, the barrels were threaded for use with suppressors. The American Ranch also came with a Picatinny rail in place of the more traditional optics mounting system, making it easier to change optics. The gun even looked like a ranch rifle with a flat dark earth finish on the stock. It weighed only about 6 pounds. MSRP at the time was $489.
Another important addition to the line that year was the Ruger American Predator, which sported a moss green composite stock. It featured a heavier-tapered, threaded 22-inch barrel, and came with a one-piece rail for mounting optics. As its name implies, the Predator was quite useful in the hands of predator hunters thanks to the fact that it was chambered for such varmint-dispatching rounds as the .204 Ruger, .22-250 Rem and .223 Rem. Despite its name, the Predator was capable of much more because it was also chambered for .243 Win, 6.5 Creedmoor and .308 Win. Rifle weight in most chamberings was 6.62 pounds. Its MSRP was also $489.
The year 2014 was also when Ruger made southpaws happy with the introduction of a Ruger American Left-Handed variant. When first introduced, the lefty model was a standard American model. Initial chamberings included .22-250 Rem, .223 Rem, .243 Win, .270 Win., 7mm-08 Rem, .30-06, and .308 Win. The MSRP was just $449. The Left-Handed rifle is still available in several chamberings in the American Predator rifle.
If you were willing to spend a couple of hundred dollars more that year, you could get an American packaged with a Redfield Revolution 3-9×40 scope. Later, packages were added with different scopes.
Over time, Ruger introduced new magazine styles to the American lineup, including AI-, AR- and Mini-Thirty-style magazines in addition to the existing flush-fitting rotary mag. 7.62×39 was the first new chambering added to the line with this capability, but AR-sized cartridges have benefitted the most from the addition of new types of magazines. Today, Ruger supports .350 Legend, .400 Legend, 6mm ARC, .22 ARC and 6.5 Grendel with AR mags from the factory in select rifle versions.
Going Wild
One of my favorite additions to the American line came in 2018 with the Go Wild. It featured an upgraded Go Wild camo synthetic stock, Cerakote finish, AI-type magazine, muzzle brake, and a Picatinny rail for optics. The Go Wild had an MSRP of just $629. I initially tested the model in 6.5 Creedmoor chambering, and was more than a little pleased with the results. The action cycled more smoothly than earlier models I had tried. Four of five tested factory loads turned in sub-MOA groups (the fifth load held 1-inch average groups). I used that rifle on a challenging West Texas desert mule deer hunt to cleanly drop a 3X3 management buck.
That rifle stood up to harsh conditions, including a terrific dust storm, and performed like a champ. I was so enamored with the rifle that I bought it, and it would still be in my inventory save for the fact that my son kept hinting that he thought it would make a fine birthday present. I later used another American Go Wild rifle chambered in 7mm PRC to swat a management Axis buck into the freezer. I only had one load to test in that rifle, but it also proved to be quite accurate, with average groups measuring 0.67 inch and a half-inch best group.
Current first-generation American rifle versions include the Standard, Predator, Ranch, Go Wild, Hunter, Compact, and a package option equipped with a Vortex Crossfire II riflescope. The Standard model, with a 22-inch barrel, is offered in seven popular chamberings. MSRP is $599.
The original Predator rifle has options that include 10 different chamberings, black or moss-green stocks, and varying barrel lengths. Depending on the model, magazines included flush-fit, AR-, or AI-style. MSRPs range from $610 to $699. Real-world prices are considerably less.
The Hunter model is notably equipped with a specialized Magpul Hunter American stock, featuring fully adjustable length of pull and comb height, and enhanced ergonomics. Hunter rifles are chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor or .308 Win. Some versions have shorter, heavy contour barrels. MSRP is $1,019, making this the most expensive rifle in the American lineup.
The Best Ruger American Yet
Fans of the Ruger American got a present with the Christmas Eve 2023 introduction of the Ruger American Gen II rifle, which improves considerably upon the original. The Gen II looks quite different than first-generation Americans, but improvements are more than skin-deep. The action still employs a one-piece, CNC-machined stainless bolt, but it cycles more smoothly and no longer has the characteristic “zip-zip” cycling sound of the early bolts. The bolt still has a short 70-degree throw to provide ample clearance for scopes. An oversized bolt knob is a definite plus.
The Ruger American Gen II improves considerably on the original American, but is still affordably priced.
Ruger upgraded the Gen II’s safety from a two-position type that did not lock the bolt down to a three-position, tang-mounted design that allows you to cycle rounds through the action with the safety in the middle, engaged position. It also locks the bolt down in the rearmost position. These features mark a big improvement over the safety in first-generation rifles.
Among other improvements, the Ruger American Gen II now has a three-position safety that locks the bolt down.
The Gen II still uses Ruger’s Power Bedding integral block system, but the free-floated barrel is now deeply fluted to shed weight. The rifle I tested, chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor with a 20-inch barrel, weighed just 6.5 pounds, making it light enough for backcountry hunts. The muzzle is threaded for adding a suppressor or different muzzle brake, and Cerakote protects all the metal.
At 6.5 pounds, the Ruger American Gen II rifle is rugged and light enough for backcountry hunts.
I have always found Ruger American rifles to be well-balanced in the hands, and that holds true for the Gen II.
A New Modular Stock
Also new with the Gen II is a modular stock design with a removable black comb, an effective recoil pad, and a removable spacer to adjust the length of pull. The standard Gen II’s stock has a textured black-and-gray splatter finish that nicely complements the dark gray Cerakote on the barrel and action. The splatter finish improves grip on the rifle, and the Gen II stock is noticeably stiffer than first-gen stocks.
New on the Ruger American Gen II is a modular stock with a removable black comb. It also sports an effective recoil pad and a removable spacer to adjust the length of pull.
Happily, the Gen II addresses one design element that has always annoyed me. The trigger could always be adjusted, but it was a pain to do so because you had to remove a spring-loaded magazine release latch to access an action screw to remove the barreled action from the stock. I always found that lever to be difficult to get back into place. More often than not, I left trigger pull weights at their factory settings. The latest version of the magazine well has a notch that allows you to access the rear action screw with a 3/16-inch ball end hex wrench, greatly simplifying the trigger adjustment process.
I have always found Ruger American rifles to be consistently accurate, and the Gen II was no exception. In testing, a Gen II chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor produced sub-MOA groups with four of five tested factory loads. That accuracy came in handy at the conclusion of a mile-long stalk on an aoudad ram on a remote West Texas ranch. That’s rough country, where shots can be long, and aoudad can be tough to put down. The Gen II was up to the task.
The author used the new Ruger American Gen II in 6.5 Creedmoor to down this aoudad on a challenging West Texas hunt.
The standard Gen II rifle is currently offered in 18 chamberings, ranging from common cartridges such as the .243 Win, 6.5 Creedmoor, .270 Win, 7mm-08 Rem, .30-06 and .300 Win. Mag., to straight-walled rounds (.350 Legend and .400 Legend) and newer options such as 6.5 PRC and 7mm PRC. Barrel lengths, magazine styles, and capacities for American Gen II rifles vary by chambering.
There’s also a quick-handling Gen II Ranch rifle, offered in nearly a dozen chamberings, with a flat dark earth/black splatter-finished stock and shorter barrels measuring a bit more than 16 inches.
Gen II Predator rifles, available in 18 chamberings, have a Burnt Bronze Cerakote finish and a green stock with black and bronze splatter texture. They feature 22-inch barrels to achieve greater velocities.
Continuous Improvement
As the Gen II rifles amply demonstrate, Ruger has continuously improved the American rifle over the years. In 2017, for example, Ruger changed American barrels from six-groove rifling to five-groove, claiming it reduces bullet deformation, makes barrels easier to clean and ultimately results in greater accuracy potential.
“It’s the hidden details that help us win with continuous improvement,” says Matthew Willson, Ruger product manager.
“Engineers spent a lot of time working to improve bolt feel and made improvements in the bolt, receiver, and bolt stop that all played a part in making Gen II feel better than American rifles had in the past.”
An important part of that process is what Ruger engineers call “tolerance stack-up” analysis. This involves, for example, looking at the magazine, magazine well, mag latch, stock, receiver and barrel to ensure all the components align to put the magazine at the correct height to feed a cartridge into the chamber smoothly.
Ruger’s Voice of the Customer Campaign was a key factor in designing the Gen II American. Ruger collected information from a broad group of customers, including consumers, industry insiders, buyers at independent and chain retailers, and wholesale and law enforcement distributors.
Information was gathered via mechanisms ranging from formal surveys, questionnaires and focus groups to informal feedback and even social media. Says Willson, “We had quite a list going into American Gen II development from years of feedback compiled at shows, shoots, retail events, customer service interactions, and even through the ‘Tell the CEO’ function of the Ruger website.” Ruger listened, and the results are reflected in Ruger’s best American rifle to date, the Gen II.
Looking Ahead
By the time you read this, Ruger will likely offer the Gen II American in additional versions and chamberings. As noted, Ruger currently offers seven traditional American rifle models and three American Gen II models, but that will change.
“The original adaptation of American Rifle will remain for now, but will see a reduction in models so we can focus production on the highest-demand models of Gen II. The American Gen II will continue to grow with new configurations and calibers,” says Willson.
The MSRP for all Gen II rifles is just $729, and you can often find them for a little more than $500. All indications point to the Gen II being on the same trajectory to success as the first-generation Americans. It’s a refined rifle, and has more of the features today’s shooters want, but it still reflects the core Ruger American attributes: accurate, reliable and affordable.
Ruger has a long and rich legacy of creating American-made firearms that deliver solid performance at an affordable price. The Ruger American does that in spades, and that will likely ensure its ongoing popularity into the foreseeable future.
The Ruger American is an aptly-named rifle. It’s a great success story, and few things are more American than that.
Smith & Wesson has just released two new firearms chambered for .22 LR, the M&P FPC 22LR and the M&P 22X.
Rimfire enthusiasts have a new pair of .22 LR firearms to consider following Smith & Wesson’s announcement of the M&P FPC 22LR and the M&P 22X. The two guns can share magazines, too, making the pistol the perfect companion to the folding carbine.
The M&P FPC 22LR is optics-ready and features a folding stock that brings the overall length from about 30.4 inches down to about 16.4 inches. It feeds from 20-round magazines and the 16.25-inch barrel is threaded 1/2×28 for attaching suppressors (thread protector included). M-LOK slots on the handguard are present as well for mounting accessories. Other features worth mentioning include the two spare magazine slots in the stock (the FPC 22LR ships with three mags total), the crisp, flat-face trigger, reversible magazine catch and interchangeable backstraps. MSRP is $549.
As for the M&P 22X pistol, it uses the same 20-round mags as the FPC 22LR, has a slim grip for improved ergonomics and sports a crisp, hammer-fired trigger. The M&P 22X is also optics-ready, suppressor-ready (the 4.1-inch barrel is threaded 1/2×28) and has a Picatinny rail for mounting accessories. The pistol ships with two magazines and comes with a fiber Hi-Viz LiteWave H3 front sight and black serrated square-notch rear sight installed, along with additional replacement red, white, and green fiber optics. MSRP is $499.
A look at the logistics and legitimacy of the quarter-bore .25 Creedmoor cartridge.
Neophobia is the fear of new things, and though it’s most often thought of in relation to kids who fear trying new food, it also applies to shooters.
A lot of shooters scoff at the introduction of any new cartridge, not because they cannot fathom its usefulness and application, but because it challenges the status quo or the ballistic norm they exist in.
These folks often say things like, “What does it do that another cartridge cannot?” Or maybe they claim a new cartridge is an answer to a question no one was asking. I expect that, when it comes to the .25 Creedmoor, many afflicted with neophobia—maybe even you—will utter a similar phrase.
The .25 Creedmoor is nothing more than a 6.5 Creedmoor necked down to fire a 0.257-caliber bullet. It is the newest quarter-bore in almost two decades.
This neophobic response to new cartridges has always rubbed me wrong. That’s partly because every new cartridge does fill a need, even though that need might be very niche. But it’s also partly because it is through the development of new cartridges that we ended up with things like the .308 Winchester, .223 Remington and 6.5 Creedmoor.
New cartridges are just examples of evolution, driven by advancements in ballistic understanding or need, and both these things were instrumental in the creation of the .25 Creedmoor.
Quarter-Bore History
Cartridges with a 0.257-inch bullet—a quarter bore—have traditionally been very popular with hunters. The first such cartridge was the .250 Savage, or .250-3000, which loaded to 45,000 psi, was the first American-made cartridge to break the 3,000-fps mark. The .250 Savage would push a 100-grain bullet to around 2,800 fps. It became immensely popular with hunters, because with its 1:14 twist rate, it provided them with a single cartridge that would work very well for varmints with lightweight bullets and for big game with heavier bullets.
The advantage the .25 Creedmoor has over all other Creedmoor cartridges is that it can handle bullets weighing from 70 grains all the way up to 138 grains.
Not long after Savage introduced the .250-3000 in 1915, Remington legitimized a wildcat cartridge gun writer Ned Roberts created. In 1934, Remington called this cartridge .257 Roberts and wisely gave it a 1:10 twist rate to handle longer and heavier bullets than the .250 Savage could.
However, for some ridiculous reason, most of Remington’s .257 Roberts factory ammunition was loaded with a round-nosed 117-grain bullet. Furthermore, they requested that SAAMI (Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturer’s Institute) approve the cartridge at a pressure of only 45,000 psi. The .257 Roberts would outperform the .250 Savage, but not by much.
Currently, with only two factory loads available, the .25 Creedmoor is mostly a handloading option.
Fortunately, other ammunition manufacturers began loading +P .257 Roberts ammo at 50,000 psi that would push a 100-grain bullet to about 3,100 fps. However, the cartridge is at its best in a long-action rifle.
The best ballistically performing quarter-bore cartridge was introduced in 1944: It’s .257 Weatherby Magnum, and it can launch a 100-grain bullet to about 3,600 fps. Like the .257 Roberts, it also had a 1:10 twist, and the cartridge was very popular for a while, but there were two problems with it. First, it came with an intense muzzle blast, and while the recoil was not terrible, it seemed a bit stiff for a rifle that a hunter wanted to use for rock chucks and mule deer.
Too much of a good thing is possible.
In 1969, Remington tried to fill the gap between the .257 Roberts and the .257 Weatherby with a new cartridge called the .25-06 with a 1:10 twist. It was a .30-06 necked down to fire a quarter-inch bullet, and it would squirt a 100-grain bullet out of a 24-inch barrel at about 3,200 fps.
For about 2 decades, the .25-06 was very popular, but by the ’90s, many American hunters were beginning to transition to specialized rifles. No longer was the dual purpose—varmint and deer—rifle enough. With modern manufacturing techniques, rifles were becoming more affordable, and hunters wanted a specific rifle for every different thing they wanted to hunt.
The industry’s last real attempt at a quarter-bore dual-purpose cartridge was in 2004 when Winchester introduced the .25 WSSM. This short and fat cartridge offered performance similar to Remington’s .25-06, but it was about as popular as a toothache. Also, with the lawsuit against Winchester from former gun writer Rick Jamison, Winchester discontinued all their WSSM cartridges to avoid paying him royalties.
Enter The Creed
Given the fact that the dual-purpose rifle cartridge had lost a lot of its appeal—clearly proven with the failure of the 2008, AR-15 compatible, .25-45 Sharps cartridge—the concept was mostly abandoned. This was also the year Hornady introduced the 6.5 Creedmoor, which, though it was a hit with competition shooters, didn’t really catch on until the notion of shooting at stupid long distances was buoyed by the American Sniper movie in 2014.
What made the 6.5 Creedmoor appealing was that the cartridge case was short enough to work with very long and high ballistic coefficient bullets, but it still fit inside a short-action rifle, like a standard Remington 700 or even an AR-10. It also did not kick hard.
By 2015, the 6.5 Creedmoor was on its way to rock star status, and Hornady tried to capitalize on it with the 6mm Creedmoor, which was a 6.5 Creedmoor case necked down to work with a 6mm bullet. Like the 6.5 Creedmoor, the 6mm Creedmoor came with a fast twist rate that allowed for the use of high coefficient (BC) bullets.
Compared to the 6.5 Creedmoor, the 6mm Creedmoor has been only marginally successful—I think partly because it cannot handle the heavier bullets hunters like to use for game larger than deer.
Early .25 Creedmoor Development
While Hornady was screaming the praises of the 6mm Creedmoor, I saw the practicality in creating a better quarter bore by necking the 6.5 Creedmoor down to 0.25-caliber. The cartridge would essentially duplicate, if not outperform, the .257 Roberts, but it would also work in a short-action rifle. With the help of two other West Virginia gunsmiths—Jerry Dove and Mike Cyrus—I created that cartridge in 2015 and, sort of tongue-in-cheek, called it the 2Fity-Hillbilly.
The author has been hunting with a wildcat .25 Creedmoor for a decade. It has proven to be a deadly coyote cartridge with 70-grain Hornady V-Max bullets.
I began hunting with it immediately, and with lightweight 70-grain bullets pushed to around 3,600 fps, it was instant death on groundhogs and coyotes. But with heavier bullets like the 100-gain Partition at about 3,200 fps, and 110-grain AccuBond and ELD-X bullets pushed nearly as fast, it was a serious deer killer.
The author took this Nebraska buck with a .25 Creedmoor about five years ago. The rifle is a custom Remington Model Seven with a Douglas barrel built by Dove’s Custom Guns in Princeton, West Virginia.
I tried to get Hornady to legitimize the cartridge through SAAMI, but they were not interested. In fact, instead of going with the 2Fity-Hillbilly—which is the .25 Creedmoor as a wildcat—a decade ago, their next Creedmoor was in 2023 when they legitimized the .22 Creedmoor. The .22 Creedmoor is sort of a modernized—fast twist—version of the .22-250 Remington. As with most modern rifle cartridges introduced in this new century, specialization has been the guiding force.
Then, somewhat surprisingly, in 2025, Hornady announced they had gained SAAMI approval for the .25 Creedmoor. For now, they’re offering only two loads that include a 128-grain ELD-X Precision Hunter load at 2,850 fps and a 134-grain ELD-Match load at about the same speed. According to Hornady, “The .25 Creedmoor is the end result of our constant pursuit of maximizing ballistic potential. This cartridge fills that competitive niche between 6mm and 6.5mm—providing shooters the absolute best blend of moderate recoil, flat trajectory and superior wind resistance.”
A Big Niche
It’s great that Hornady has answered the call of others who were competing with the .25 Creedmoor in a wildcat form like mine. With its 1:7.5 twist, it will handle very aerodynamic bullets and shoot right with the 6.5 Creedmoor at distance. However, the real appeal of this cartridge calls back to the true forte of the quarter-bore cartridge, which is dual-purpose use on varmints and big game. It will shoot light bullets that the 6.5 Creedmoor cannot, and it will shoot heavier bullets that are too much for the 6mm Creedmoor.
This is a five-shot group fired from a Proof Research Glacier Ti rifle in .25 Creedmoor with a 20-inch barrel, using Lehigh Defense 102-grain Controlled Chaos bullets.
The question is: Are shooters and hunters ready for another dual-purpose cartridge, or are they committed to different rifles for everything they do? The long-range precision ability of the 6.5 Creedmoor has driven many shooters to purchase expensive rifles so they can extract all the cartridge has to offer. The problem with a different rifle for every pursuit is that if you want maximum performance in every area, you must buy an expensive rifle for every cartridge you use.
According to Hornady, 17 different rifle manufacturers will be offering rifles chambered for the 6.5 Creedmoor. Proof Research is one of those.
The .25 Creedmoor allows for the purchase of a single, nice and expensive rifle that you can use to do most anything you want. It fills the traditional 0.25-caliber niche and does it better than any previous cartridge in any caliber.
It can be hard to predict the commercial success of a rifle cartridge. Throughout history there have been some that offered practical and great ballistics, but they simply never appealed to the masses. Will anyone care about the .25 Creedmoor?
Competition shooters have been all over it for the past few years, which is the main reason Hornady decided to legitimize it. I expect it will see some success in that venue if factory rifles built for competition materialize. I, however, believe the hunting field is where the .25 Creedmoor has the most to offer. After all, that has always been the appeal of quarter-bore.
Hornady is offering two factory loads for the .25 Creedmoor: this 134-grain ELD-Match load and a 128-grain ELD-X Precision Hunter load.
The .25 Creedmoor offers great varmint and predator application with lightweight bullets. With bullets in the 85- to 100-grain weight range, it’s superb for antelope and deer, and with heavier bullets, it will also work for larger game. And finally, with the new, long and skinny, high BC 0.257-caliber bullets, the .25 Creedmoor is an excellent, flat shooting, low-recoil cartridge for recreational or competitive long-range shooting. The .25 Creedmoor has taken the dual-threat—varmint and big game—suitability of the quarter bore and expanded it into extreme long range, making it a true triple threat.
Arguably, the .25 Creedmoor is the best triple-threat cartridge ever created and ultimately approved by SAAMI. None of this is a surprise to me. It’s exactly what I envisioned back in 2015 when I made it.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the September 2025 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Taurus has just unveiled the Taurus 817, a new .38 Special snub-nose revolver with a 7-round cylinder.
What’s better than a 6-shooter in your belt? A 7-shooter. And that’s exactly what Taurus is now offering with the Taurus 817. If you enjoy snubbies for self-defense, this one is worth taking a look at.
The Taurus 817 features an all stainless steel construction and is rated for .38 Special +P, so it should eat up hot defensive loads without a problem. The 817’s 2-inch barrel helps keep things compact while its rubber grips help tame recoil. The grips are interchangeable with Taurus Judge and Tracker grips as well. Other features of the 7-shot revolver include its DA/SA trigger, exposed hammer, notch rear sight and a front sight that’s removable and interchangeable with Taurus 856 sights.
As for specs, the Taurus 817 has an overall length of 7 inches, an overall height of 4.78 inches, an overall width of 1.53 inches and an overall weight of 30 ounces unloaded. MSRP is $649 and it’s available now.
Lessons from William Aprill on criminal violence and the self-preservation mindset required to survive.
February 2018, I had the opportunity to take what would become one of the most impactful training classes of my life, Unthinkable: Tactics and Concepts for the Gravest Extreme taught by William Aprill and Greg Ellifritz. This wasn’t your average pistol class or defensive tactics course. Instead, it challenged students to explore the psychology of violence, criminal victim selection and—most importantly—the internal mental shift required to survive the worst moments imaginable.
Today, I reflect not just on that class, but on the legacy of Aprill—a uniquely gifted trainer, mental health professional and former law enforcement officer—who we tragically lost too soon. The gun training world didn’t just lose a teacher; we lost a scholar, a mentor and a man who dared to examine the darkest corners of human behavior not out of morbid curiosity, but to help others better defend themselves against it.
Understanding The Criminal Mind
Aprill often said he didn’t teach people how to shoot better; he taught them how to think better. That was clear in Unthinkable, where we spent hours digging into how violent criminal actors actually think and operate. Unlike many of us whose lives are governed by laws, ethics and empathy, criminals often grow up in an entirely different moral ecosystem—where violence is normalized, manipulation is survival, and victim selection is a tradecraft.
Aprill’s background as a mental health professional and former deputy sheriff gave him rare insight. He understood not just the behavior of criminals, but their developmental path. He pointed out that, for example, the average age of a first felony arrest for offenders who go on to kill police officers is just 11 years old. By the time they’re in their 20s, many of these individuals have spent more than a decade refining their ability to identify soft, unaware, compliant targets.
As Aprill explained, criminals select victims using the same kind of fast, instinctive thinking that concealed carriers rely on in a defensive encounter. But unlike us, their entire lifestyle is often geared toward sizing people up, probing boundaries and exploiting weaknesses. We might shoot 200 rounds at the range in a month. They’ve been living their “training” every day for years.
Deselection As A Way Of Life
One of the most transformative ideas I took from Aprill’s class was the concept of deselection. Put simply, the goal isn’t to win a fight—it’s to avoid being selected for the fight in the first place. “Criminals don’t want to fight,” he said. “They want to win.” If they sense that you’re paying attention, carry yourself confidently or might present too much of a problem, they’ll likely move on.
But this isn’t something you can fake at the last second. You can’t slap on a “tough guy” mask when you’re walking to your car in a dark parking lot and expect it to work. As Aprill emphasized, deselection must be a lifestyle. Your posture, your awareness, your decisions all must consistently broadcast the message: “I’m not worth the trouble.”
He illustrated this with a simple example. Walk like a meerkat. Scan overtly. Look people in the eyes. Criminals, he explained, don’t want to be seen. If they think you saw them, that alone can often break the attack cycle. Awareness, even more than armament, can be your most potent form of defense.
Violence Without Hesitation
While most training emphasizes the hardware—gear, guns, gadgets—Aprill focused on the software. Are you psychologically prepared to act with violence if you must? Not just draw and shoot, but strike, claw, gouge or even beat someone to death with a blunt object if it’s the only option?
He didn’t romanticize it. He didn’t glorify violence, but he also didn’t sugarcoat what survival sometimes demands. He made clear that in the gravest extreme, our polite, civilized sensibilities can become a liability. He encouraged us to rehearse not just techniques, but mental scripts to visualize the level of force we might need to use and to grow comfortable with it—not because we want to use violence, but because when it is necessary, hesitation can be fatal.
Training For The Mind And Body
The Unthinkable class offered practical skills—escaping restraints, disarming attackers, tactical first aid—but its real value was the shift it created in mindset. Aprill and Ellifritz helped bridge the gap between theoretical preparedness and actionable readiness. Aprill’s portion in particular was unique in that it wove together neuroscience, criminal psychology and tactical application in a way that few instructors even attempt, let alone master.
For those in the gun world who obsess over drills, groupings and gear, Aprill’s message was both a challenge and a wake-up call: If you’re not training your mind, you’re only halfway prepared.
A Legacy That Endures
With Aprill’s passing, the firearms community lost one of its most brilliant and compassionate voices. But his impact lives on through the countless students he educated and inspired, and through the trainers who now incorporate his insights into their own curriculum.
David Yamane of Gun Culture 2.0 called Aprill “so far ahead of so many in the gun training community he may well have been on Gun Culture Version 4.5.” That sounds about right. His work was a rare synthesis of empathy and hard realism, of academic rigor and tactical relevance. Even though you can no longer take the Unthinkable class with Aprill, a lot of his work is available on the internet, and Yamane has made a nice compilation available on this website at Gun Culture 2.0.
I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have trained under him, and as a tribute to his legacy, I encourage everyone reading this to dive into his recorded lectures, revisit his interviews and most importantly, apply what he taught.
If you’re serious about self-defense, do yourself this favor: Take a course that challenges not your shooting ability but your thinking ability.
And carry Aprill’s message with you. Train your mind to embrace awareness as a constant task, cultivate the ruthlessness needed for counterassault and embody the principles of deselection—projecting strength and vigilance to deter predators. By internalizing these lessons, you become hard to kill, hard to fool and the kind of person a violent criminal actor passes by, choosing an easier target instead.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the September 2025 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
Looking to go armed, but are stuck in the weeds as to what to arm yourself with? Here are 20 excellent concealed carry gun options that will keep you on the defensive.
