Hunting season is coming soon around the country. If you want to get hunting tips from experts, here is a great audio “infotainment” resource. Leupold offers podcasts, 40-75 minutes in length, on a variety of topics of interest to hunters and precision shooters. A podcast is like a radio show that’s available 24/7, at your convenience. When you want to “tune in”, via your home computer or mobile devices, just visit the Leupold Podcast Page.

CLICK HERE for All Leupold Core Insider Podcasts »

Oregon-based optics-maker Leupold & Stevens (“Leupold) offers the “Core Insider” podcast series. These podcasts deliver hunting advice and recount successful hunting trips — such as Caribou hunting in Alaska. Other Leupold podcasts provide optics info, industry intel, and tech tips. Leupold’s Core Insider podcasts can also be accessed directly from Leupold.com. From the Leupold Podcast Home Page, you can stream the podcasts live or download for later listening.

You can also stream these podcasts via iTunes and Spotify.

The Leupold Core Insider Podcasts cover a wide variety of shooting and hunting topics. One early episode features Leupold team members Kyle Lamb and Buck Doyle discussing long-range shooting, while recent Episode 55 explains how Binoculars and Rangefinders function. There are now 96 Leupold Podcasts available online for FREE.

Episode 2, Long-Range Shooting. Click to launch Leupold Ep. 2 Podcast Page:

Episode 55, How Binoculars and Rangefinders Work. Click to launch Leupold Ep. 55 Podcast Page:

Episode 36, The Art of Wild Game Cooking. Click to launch Leupold Ep. 36 Podcast Page:

There are now ninety-six (96) Leupold Core Insider Podcasts. Here are ten of our favorite episodes. Click links below to access:

Episode 94: Anyone’s Hunt Colorado Rifle Elk
Episode 56: Hunting Elk in Utah with Wild Country Outfitters
Episode 54: How to Select a Riflescope for Your Budget
Episode 52: Randy Newberg’s Top 5 Glassing Tips
Episode 44: Understanding Rangefinder Technology, Myths, and More
Episode 41: Precision Rifle Competition Shooting with Jon Pynch
Episode 37: Q&A with Leupold Technical Service
Episode 26: Understanding Your Shooting System 101
Episode 7: Predator Hunting with Jeff Thomason
Episode 6: Trendsetters — Women Who Hunt

You can access all Core Insider podcasts on Leupold.com, as well as iTunes and Spotify. In addition, Leupold Core Insider videos can be found at YouTube.com/LeupoldOptics.

Hunting season is underway in most areas of the country. Before you head out to the hunting fields, you may want to practice your shooting on specialty paper targets designed expressly for hunters. Here is a selection of free game targets which can help you achieve success this hunting season.

Fall Winchester Hunting photo with Nikki Boxler from Winchester Blog.

FREE Printable Game Targets from the NRA

To help you prepare for your fall hunts, NRABlog.com has created a set of color practice hunting targets. You can hone your skills on a trio of bucks, three wild hogs, or three turkeys. Each target features three red bullseyes, centered on the animals. You can print the targets in black and white, but they look best in color. Click on each image below to download a FREE printable PDF file.

Right-Click Each Image to Download Printable PDF File:

While devotees of this site are hard-core accuracy addicts, who normally shoot tiny groups with sophisticated Benchrest and Varmint rifles, we should not overlook the pure fun of shooting a classic iron sights lever-action rifle at reactive targets. Lever guns are fun to shoot, easy to transport, AND they require a lot less maintenance than your modern black rifle.

Drilling a tight 1/4-MOA group is very satisfying. But for simple, basic shooting fun, it’s hard to beat a slicked-up, “race-ready”, Winchester-clone lever gun. In fact, this Editor’s favorite rifle for “fun shooting” is my 20″ Uberti Model 1866 “Yellowboy” Lever gun. Shooting low-recoil .38 Special rounds at steel targets from a standing position offers old-fashioned shooting satisfaction. When I invite a new shooter to the range, I usually bring the 1866 Yellowboy, and let the newbie shoot steel at 50 yards. New shooters (of all ages) love the look and feel of the rifle, and the low recoil. The typical response is: “Wow, that was fun!”.

My rifle features a slicked-up action and lightened trigger. After a “CodyMatic” action job by cowboy gunsmith Cody Conagher, my Yellowboy’s lever can be cycled with just one finger. Trigger pull is about a pound and a half. The high-gloss, blued octagonal barrel is very accurate and the mirror-finish bore cleans up easily.

Based on the Model 1866 Winchester, Uberti’s Yellowboy, and its Model 1873 “older brother”, feature a toggle-link action that is extremely smooth. The toggle action design also keeps the linkages separate from the chamber so the gun runs extremely clean. After firing 100 rounds or more, all you need to do is wipe off the bolt and breech-face with some solvent and run a bore-snake down the bore a few times. To be honest, the Yellowboy is more fun to shoot at steel than my AR Carbine. And maintenance-wise, for every five minutes I spend cleaning the 1866, I’ll spend an hour detail-stripping and cleaning the AR. The shooting-to-cleaning ratio favors the lever gun by orders of magnitude.

These Italian-made Winchester clones are very handsome, with nicely figured wood under a durable clearcoat. You can polish the brass receiver to keep it shiny, or leave it alone to develop an authentic, dulled patina. Uberti’s Model 1873 features a steel receiver with gorgeous color case-hardening.

After the fun factor, what’s the best thing about Uberti lever guns? Resale value. I can sell my 1866 for quite a bit more than I paid for it. Over the past decade, the price of Italian-made Uberti lever guns has been steadily rising. This means that older rifles fetch a premium on the used market.

Yes Hunters Should Protect Their Hearing
According to Dr. William W. Clark, the current Director of the Washington Univ. School of Medicine’s Audiology/Communication Sciences Program, a “serious threat to hearing comes from recreational hunting or target shooting”. This is in large part due to the fact that many people choose not to use traditional hearing protection devices like earplugs and earmuffs because they want to be able to hear their surroundings. Multiple studies have found that between 70 to 80% of hunters never wear earplugs or earmuffs, and nearly half of all target shooters don’t consistently wear traditional hearing protection. Thus, it should come as no surprise that for every five years of hunting, hunters become seven percent more likely to experience high frequency hearing loss.

We recommend that hunters carry quick-insert plugs on a cord around your neck. These can be quickly deployed when you are getting ready to shoot. Or, get a lightweight neck band with earbuds, such as Howard Leight Quiet Band QB1HYG, Sellstrom Band, or 3M Safety Band, all with good Noise Reduction Ratings of 25 dB or higher. You can keep these lightweight bands around your neck for quick deployment.

The Risk of Hearing Loss

Hearing loss can be progressive and irreversible. If you are a shooter, this is serious business. As the NRA Blog cautions: “You may not even realize you’re harming your hearing. Hearing loss occurs gradually, and can go effectively unnoticed until symptoms become severe. By then, the damage is done. Effective hearing protection is a must whenever you are shooting firearms or when you are in the vicinity of gun-shots.

For ultimate protection, we recommend a good set of tapered foam earplugs, topped by ear-muffs. However, there are situations when you may prefer lighter-weight hearing protection that can be quickly removed. For example, if you are standing well behind the firing line as an observer, or if you are working as a rangemaster or waddie some distance away from the shooters.” Good muffs or plugs will reduce sound by 23 to 33 dB.

Team USA Olympian and ISSF World Cup Winner SFC Michael McPhail is one of the world’s best smallbore rifle shooters. He is also an avid hunter, who enjoys harvesting game with centerfire rifles. In a USAMU video, McPhail shows how competition shooting positions can be adapted for hunters. McPhail shows how well-established positions can provide a more stable platform for hunters in the field. That can help ensure a successful hunt. McPhail demonstrates three positions: kneeling, supported prone, and sitting in a tree-stand.

Watch SFC McPhail Demonstrate Positions for Hunters (Good Video):

McPhail first demonstrates the kneeling position. Michael notes: “I like kneeling. It’s a little bit of an under-utilized position, but it’s almost as stable as prone. It allows you get up off the ground a little bit higher to [compensate for] vegetation. For kneeling start by taking your non-dominant foot and put that towards the target, while at the same time dropping down to a knee on the dominant leg. At the same time … wrap the sling around wrist and fore-arm, lean slightly into the target and take the shot.”

McPhail shows a nice “field expedient” use of your backpack. He shows how the basic prone position can be adapted, using the pack as a front rifle support. McPhail recommends pulling your dominant (strongside) leg forward, bent at the knee. According to Michael, this takes pressure off the abdomen, helps minimizes heart beat effects, and helps with breathing.

Fall hunting season is here. When we ask serious deer/elk hunters to name the #1 thing they’d like to improve about their equipment, most say they want to reduce the overall weight of their gear. Weight savings can start with a lighter rifle. This article features the very affordable Howa Super Lite rifles, which are under 4.5 pounds without scope.

When you’re trekking many miles in the back-country on a hunt, rifle weight DOES matter. Many hunters want to keep their rifle weight as low as possible to reduce the overall load they must carry in the field. Howa now offers a series of Super Lite rifles that weigh under four and a half pounds (without scope, sling, or ammo). That’s impressive.

Howa claims that its Super Lite rifle is the “absolute lightest centerfire rifle on the market”. We can’t confirm that. But at a listed 4 pounds, 7 ounces (without optics), the carbon-fiber stock Super Lite model is very low in weight and mass (4.4375 pounds to be exact, without scope). And there is a Super Lite Short Barrel model (with 16.25″ barrel) that is just 4 pounds, 3 ounces (without scope). Either version is VERY light indeed — an important plus for hunters carrying their gear for long hours in the field.

Both standard and short-barrel versions of the Howa Super Lite rifle are currently available in .243 Win, 6.5 Creedmoor, 7mm-08 Rem, and .308 Winchester, four very popular hunting chamberings.

Photo shows Howa Super Lite Rifle with Kyptek Altitude Camo finish.

For 2024 the Howa Super Lite is offered with six carbon stock finishes, including three impressive camo types: Kryptek Obskura Transitional, Kryptek Altitude, and XK7 Kings Camo. Fitted with the strong but light Stocky’s Carbon Fiber stock, these Super Lite models feature a black webbing and soft touch for added texture and enhanced grip on the low-mass carbon stock. Howa also offers a walnut-stocked version of the Super Lite rifle. This weighs a bit more — 5 pounds, 9 ounces.

Howa Super Lite Rifle Features

Stock Options: Gray, Tan, Green, Kryptek Obskura Transitional Camo, Kryptek Altitude Camo, XK7 Kings Camo, and Walnut Wood (no wood for short barrel models)
Rifle Weight: Standard 4 lbs. 7 oz. | Short Bbl 4 lbs. 3 oz. | Walnut Stock, 5 lbs. 9 oz.
Chamberings: .243 Win, 6.5 Creedmoor, 7mm-08, .308 Win
Stock: Stocky’s Carbon Fiber Stock with Accublock patented Lug Bed
Standard Barrel: 20″ Blued barrel threaded (½”-28) and Suppressor Ready
Short Barrel: 16.25″ Blued
Trigger: 2-Stage Match Trigger with 3-position Safety
Optics Mounting: Included one-piece Picatinny Rail
Stock Feature: Limbsaver Butt Pad
Warranty: Lifetime Howa Warranty

Accuracy Claim: Sub-MOA 3-shot group at 100 yards with premium factory ammo

The Howa Super Lite also has some interesting mechanical features, including machined receiver and gorged bolt, tool-less firing pin removal, and a reliable M-16 style extractor/ejector. CLICK HERE for more INFO on HOWA Super Lite rifles and the rest of the Legacy Sport International product line.

Thomas Haugland, a Shooters’ Forum member from Norway, is a long-range target shooter and hunter. He has created an interesting video showing how to gauge wind velocities by watching trees, grass, and other natural vegetation. The video commentary is in English, but the units of wind speed (and distance) are metric. Haugland explains: “This is not a full tutorial, but rather a short heads-up to make you draw the lines between the dots yourself”. Here are some conversions that will help when watching the video:

.5 m/s = 1.1 mph | 1 m/s = 2.2 mph | 2 m/s = 4.5 mph
3 m/s = 6.7 mph | 4 m/s = 8.9 mph | 5 m/s =11.2 mph

How to Gauge Wind Speed and Hold Off Using Reticles

This field video shows how to observe natural indicators — trees and vegetation — to estimate wind velocity. Then it shows how to calculate hold-offs using the reticle hash-marks. Thomas shoots a fast-cycling Blaser R93 rifle with Norma 6XC ammunition.

More Interesting Videos from Norway
There are many other interesting videos on Haugland’s YouTube Channel, including Game Stalking, Precision Reloading, Shooting Fundamentals and Tips on how to use a Mildot Reticle on a scope with MOA-based clicks.

In some areas of the country (California in particular), hunters are now forbidden to use bullets that contain lead. If you need a lead-free projectile for your deer rifle, consider Nosler’s E-Tip projectile. This has plenty of penetrating power and retained energy while complying with laws requiring “unleaded” ammunition. An “expansion chamber” behind the green polymer tip helps ensure reliable expansion with 95% weight retention. The video below shows a .30 caliber, 180gr lead-free ‎E-Tip‬ impressively power through TWO 12-inch blocks of Ballistics Gel at 100 yards. This was fired from a .308 Winchester.

Watch 180gr eTip Penetration and Expansion in Ballistic Gelatin:

Nosler claims the E-Tip (“Expansion Tip”) bullet has advantages over other solid copper hunting bullets: “Unlike the competitor’s one-piece designs, Nosler E-Tip bullets will not blow the petals off at extreme velocities nor will the low end expansion ever be questioned, as the minimum impact velocity is set at 1800 fps for standard calibers.” One hunter, posting on Facebook, gave the E-Tip high marks: “I have had the opportunity to take a pig with a 130 gr E-Tip from my .270 and they work flawlessly. My son took two pigs with his .300 Win Mag and 165gr E-Tips and they worked flawlessly as well.”

This video illustrates the design and construction of the Nosler eTip Bullet:

Hunting season is coming up very soon, so it’s time to get your rifle squared away. You’ll want to zero that rifle before the hunt, and you need to know how your shots will impact with a cold barrel.

Commonly, hunters won’t have the ability to fire one or two fouling shots before heading out on a hunt. Therefore it’s important that a hunter understands how his rifle shoots with a “cold bore shot”. Both the point of impact (and possibly velocity), may be different with a cold bore than with a barrel that has been warmed and fouled with a series of shots. In this video from the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU), you’ll learn how to determine your cold bore point of impact (POI) for a rifle that just been cleaned, as well as the cold bore POI with a barrel that has already been “fouled in”.

SGT Joe Hein of the USAMU shows how to plot cold bore POI with both a clean bore and a fouled bore. Note that the “cold bore” shot from a fouled barrel was closer to the follow-up shots than the cold bore shot from a clean barrel. This is typical of many factory barrels. SGT Hein provides a simple way to understand your rifle’s cold bore performance. Hein’s advice can keep you from missing that long range shot at that big buck on opening day. A little time spent on the range before that critical first shot will help ensure you have meat in the freezer this season.

On the Defensive Edge Website, you’ll find a good article by Shawn Carlock about wind reading. Shawn is a veteran law enforcement marksman and a past USPSA national precision rifle champion. Shawn offers good advice on how to estimate wind speeds and directions using a multitude of available indicators — not just your wind gauge: “Use anything at your disposal to accurately estimate the wind’s velocity. I keep and use a Kestrel for reading conditions….The Kestrel is very accurate but will only tell you what the conditions are where you are standing. I practice by looking at grass, brush, trees, dust, wind flags, mirage, rain, fog and anything else that will give me info on velocity and then estimate the speed.”

Shawn also explains how terrain features can cause vertical wind effects. A hunter on a hilltop must account for bullet rise if there is a headwind blowing up the slope. Many shooters consider wind in only one plane — the horizontal. In fact wind has vertical components, both up and down.

» CLICK HERE to Download Full Article as Printable PDF

If you have piloted a small aircraft you know how important vertical wind vectors can be. Match shooters will also experience vertical rise when there is a strong tailwind blowing over an up-sloping berm ahead of the target emplacements. Overall, Shawn concludes: “The more time you spend studying the wind and its effect over varying terrain the more successful you will be as a long-range shooter and hunter.”

This Editor, as a life-long sailor, also has some suggestions about wind. Many folks may not realize that wind can cycle, both in direction and in speed (velocity). If you are patient, you should be able to sense the timing of the cycles, which will help you predict shifts in wind direction and velocity. While it is tempting to shoot in the lulls, sometimes the true wind vector (angle + speed) may be most constant when the wind is blowing stronger.

Another tip for hunters is to orient your shot, when possible, in alignment with the wind direction. Try to face into the wind, or have the wind at your back. This is especially effective when shooting in a varmint field. Use a string of tape on a pole to show wind angle. Then shoot directly into the wind or with the wind directly at your back. This will minimize horizontal deflection caused by the wind.