Hunting and Shooting with New “Stuff”

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With the start of a new production year, a rash of new product ideas come to the surface, and L.P. Brezny has tested many and shares some reviews with you.

Here is a basic roundup of some new gadgets and tools that can make your hunting and shooting experience just a bit more enjoyable.

It’s just a knife

Bear OPS U.S.A. is selling a new folding knife—It’s Just a Knife. This blade came to me for test and evaluation during the early days of the 2018 hunting season, and as it turned out, that was a very good thing. In general, I don’t write about a product unless I use it for a period of time.

The Bear OPS (Tanto Auto Knife) blade assisted folder measures 8 3/4 inches in total length open, 5 inches closed, and retains a 4-inch blade, The blade design is close to a Japanese pattern, with the chiseled angle that stops one-third down toward the length of the blade’s flat side. They are almost examples of the Semira sword tips in style, and as such make for a clean first-cut skinner on a fresh-killed whitetail or related big game animal. When getting dull, the high carbon steel blade can be quickly cleaned via a stone or carbide sharping tool. The price for this service and defense knife is $139.95. If interested in this knife or others in the Bear line, go to Bear OPS U.S.A. and check out their complete line of cold steel.

Taurus

In the gun world, Taurus has started a major move in terms of advanced design and quality. To be sure, the company had some bad years due to production problems. About five years ago, I tested no less then three weapons that had failures of a major nature. All that aside, today Taurus is building some great weapons, with really cool design features, at a workable price. The new 1911s built by this company illustrate quality in the stainless steel full-size combat model, retaining quality sights, long tang above grip, safety and custom features found on guns costing far more money. Shooting this gun, I find a solid weapon that closely follows the John Browning design. If you’re in the market for the big 45 ACP, be sure to check out the new generation of autoloaders.

Also fresh out of design and production comes the Taurus Raging Hunter. This is a varied barrel length handgun hunter’s weapon to the last detail. With the fist model of this gun chambered in .44 Magnum, there was a solid interest in the smaller magnum, as in the .357 Magnum variant that was considered and now offered by this gun company. It currently may be a bit hard to find because it is just that new. The gun makes use of a double locking lug system, just like the previous .44 Magnum, carries a seven-shot cylinder in the .357 Magnum, and retains a set of very nice open sights that are fully adjustable.

The Raging Hunter also makes use of a full barrel shroud made from aluminum, so as to reduce weight. The shroud carries a weaver-style upper rig for the addition of scope sights, a muzzle brake using five ports to control that second or third shot down range, and a tough, well-built, square partridge-style front sight.

On my digital scale, the gun comes in empty at 5 1/4 pounds: This is a big gun, designed for strictly field applications. Carry it in camp, back country fishing as a defense weapon, or as a survival gun, as it can take on big game with ease. I have taken several deer in the western side of South Dakota with the .357 Magnum, and based on the correct bullet, this handgun is a solid performing weapon.

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Of final note, the gun makes use of a grip system that tends to eat recoil, versus driving the grips into your hand. Shooting full house, .357 Magnum hunting loads for a test, I found the big gun pleasant to shoot, easy to control, and accurate to the last 1/2 inch of group size. The gun is offered in three barrel lengths—the 8.375-, 6.25- or 5.125-inch models. I elected the basic 5.125-inch model, as it fit my needs as a lion gun when hunting with a bow from a tree stand, and a snake gun when loaded with shot cartridges on my buzz-worm-infested, 1,000-yard range in open prairie country.

Ruger

With the fast development of the Hornady-designed 300 PRC, and the military-based 338 Lapua, Ruger has stepped up to the task and offers the new chassis Precision rifle chambered in both of these rounds. The new 300 PRC makes use of ultra-high BC bullets that are heavy, loaded hot, and effective to 2000 yards. The .338 needs no introduction, as it is used by snipers in the military today. Both rifle cartridges are clearly quite capable of getting the job done to distances beyond a mile.

Browning

The Browning Arms Company now offers an additional model of the now well-known Maxus in a gun that will “do it all.” Designed for turkey, waterfowl, upland and target, this new Maxus is lightweight, fast-handling and carries a deadly pattern with a wide variety of loads. The bore of this shotgun is special, in that it is a continued taper or forcing cone design built into the already back-bored Browning barrel design. The design is very high-priced in custom shotguns, but offered in this gun as a factory install.

During testing, I tested up to 13 different loads that ranged from light target training ammunition to heavy buckshot and 3.5-inch turkey loads. All loads tested went through the auto-loading system as smoothly as warm butter. The function test was 100 percent successful.

Today we face an age of new metals and materials that have never before been seen by gun buyers. The methods of production have changed massively within the past decade, and as such, so have firearms performance levels.

 

Check out more information on the latest gear for hunting this season in the fall issues of MidWest Outdoors, available the first full week of each month at the newsstand or by subscribing on our website.