Smith & Wesson Announces 300 Whisper Carbine

Smith and Wesson has announced an expansion of their popular M&P (Military and Police) line of rifles by adding a bigger bore cartridge.  Their choice in a new caliber; the 300 Whisper®. 

This new carbine, based on the AR15 platform, is a 16" barreled unit with standard handguards, collapsible stock, and flat-top from rear to front making it optic ready, and sans iron sites. All the furniture as well as the upper and lower receivers are coated with a camo finish in Real Tree APG camo.

It is always exciting to see more AR15 brands in the marketplace with products designed to appeal to the hunter. As is the modus operendi of this organization, we encourage more  products and for the brand names to target market the sportsmen who will be using their AR's in the field as their hunting rifle of choice.

So how did Smith & Wesson do? Is this a "hunting rifle"? How excited should we as hunters be about this new product?

Read more...

The AR Platform Rifle for Hunting: The Industry Joins In

The National Shooting Sports Foundation and the NRA have both taken steps to support the AR platform firearms as a legitimate hunting tool. While the term “Modern Sporting Rifle” (I believe originally coined by these two groups) has been much maligned by some, the phrase must be recognized as useful in the arsenal of terms used in the dialog between pro-hunting and anti-hunting groups. This has been noted by others such as Bill Brassard of Ohio State’s Buckeye Firearms Association (also seen HERE.).

Regardless of how you feel about the AR being referred to as a ‘Modern Sporting Rifle’ (which like it or not, it is), seeing the firearm that so many of us are familiar with and have come to know and love better than any other firearms we have ever owned or used, come to the forefront of the discussion regarding its use as a hunting rifle – should be welcomed with open arms.

In 2010, the NSSF commissioned a survey of gun owners, and found that those who own ‘Modern Sporting Rifles’ are some of the most active shooters in the country. And why not? The AR platform is safe, simple to use, comfortable to shoot, and more versatile than any other firearms in the world with well over 50 different calibers available, all that work on a standard AR15 lower. The report had much more to say as well. The NSSF 2010 Consumer Report can be downloaded in its entirety by clicking HERE.

But what is more important, is that the campaign to promote the Modern Sporting Rifle is not over. It is still being pushed by the NSSF as evidenced by....

Read more...

Here is just one of the many successful hunters who have already taken to the field this year and harvested game with their AR15's. Josh (pictured below) is a long-time owner and shooter of the AR platform rifles, but has been hunting just a couple of years with his AR15. This year was successful!

Josh shot, bagged and tagged a perfectly nice buck this year in Washington State.This rifle was a home build project by Travis and chambered for the world famous 7.62x39 caliber. Obviously, most people will equate this carttridge to the AK47 and religate it to purely a military round. However, with ballistics slightly better than a factory loaded .30-30 (and even better when handloaded), the 7.62x39 makes

Here's a quick report on the hunt and what Josh was using...

"I was using American Eagle 7.62x39. It is the only American made, brass cased ammo I can find locally for this caliber. It shoots consistently tight groups at 100 yards and has worked well for me 2 years in a row now. The distance was only about 150 feet...

Read more...