In years past, one of our favorite features on the NRA Blog was the Friday Feast Recipe of the Week. In the past, the NRA Blog offered up a new delicious food recipe each Friday. Sadly the Friday Feast has not been updated for quite some time, but you can still see dozens of past Friday Feast recipes with this link:

SEE ALL NRA Blog Friday Feast Recipes for Hunters »

Today’s featured Friday Feast combines two things we love — Italian pasta and Elk meat. Article author Emily Rupertus shares our passion for pasta: “I love pasta. I can’t get enough of it! So when I came across this Classic Elk Lasagna, I couldn’t resist sharing with you! You have to try this perfect twist on a classic comfort food.” After assembling your Lasagna in a big cast-iron skillet and covering with tin-foil, bake the Elk Lasagna in a 400° oven for 30 minutes. Then remove the foil, add more cheese and continue to bake uncovered for ten more minutes.

Ingredients
1/2 Package of Lasagna Noodles
1 lb Ground Elk Meat (you can substitute ground venison or antelope)
1 Medium Sweet Onion (chopped)
2 Cloves Garlic (chopped)
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
3 Cups Tomato Sauce
32 oz. Ricotta Cheese
1 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1 8 oz. Fresh Mozzarella Cheese (sliced)
2 eggs

Bake in 12″ – 14″ Lodge Cast Iron Skillet

CLICK HERE for Recipe Details and Cooking Instructions.

Yellowstone Elk photo from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Here are three other Friday Feast Recipe offerings:

In years past, one of our favorite features on the NRA Blog was the Friday Feast Recipe of the Week. In the past, the NRA Blog offered up a new delicious food recipe each Friday. Sadly the Friday Feast has not been updated for quite some time, but you can still see dozens of past Friday Feast recipes with this link:

SEE ALL NRA Blog Friday Feast Recipes for Hunters »

Today’s featured Friday Feast combines two things we love — Italian pasta and Elk meat. Article author Emily Rupertus shares our passion for pasta: “I love pasta. I can’t get enough of it! So when I came across this Classic Elk Lasagna, I couldn’t resist sharing with you! You have to try this perfect twist on a classic comfort food.” After assembling your Lasagna in a big cast-iron skillet and covering with tin-foil, bake the Elk Lasagna in a 400° oven for 30 minutes. Then remove the foil, add more cheese and continue to bake uncovered for ten more minutes.

Ingredients
1/2 Package of Lasagna Noodles
1 lb Ground Elk Meat (you can substitute ground venison or antelope)
1 Medium Sweet Onion (chopped)
2 Cloves Garlic (chopped)
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
3 Cups Tomato Sauce
32 oz. Ricotta Cheese
1 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1 8 oz. Fresh Mozzarella Cheese (sliced)
2 eggs

Bake in 12″ – 14″ Lodge Cast Iron Skillet

CLICK HERE for Recipe Details and Cooking Instructions.

Yellowstone Elk photo from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Here are three other Friday Feast Recipe offerings:

AR-platform rifles are fun and versatile, but the standard, mil-spec triggers leave much to be desired. They tend to be gritty, with creep and heavy pull weight. One of the easiest, most effective AR upgrades is a trigger group swap. An improved fire control group makes a huge difference. There are many aftermarket trigger options for the AR platform rifles. Choose single-stage or two-stage, either standard trigger assembly or unitized “drop-in” trigger, such as those made by Timney or Triggertech.

Read Full AR Trigger Article in NRA Blog HERE »

When upgraded with a precision trigger and match barrel, AR-platform rigs work great in NRA High Power competitions (Photo from NRA Blog, at Camp Perry).

Two-Stage vs. Single-Stage Triggers
Two-stage triggers have two separate movements. The first stage offers a light, spring-loaded pressure that works against the shooter’s pull until stopping at the second stage – this is called “take-up”. If there is no spring pressure, it is known as “slack”. Should the shooter continue to pull the trigger once he’s arrived at the second stage, the mechanism will operate like a single-stage trigger from there until engaging the sear and firing the gun. Good trigger reset requires the shooter to keep pressure on the trigger, even during reset, to minimize movement of the muzzle.

Single-stage triggers feature no take-up or slack, as they begin engaging the sear as soon as the shooter begins pulling the trigger. Some competitive shooters prefer the two-stage trigger because of the feedback it provides during its first stage, while other shooters, including those using their rifle in tactical scenarios, may want the surety of a single-stage trigger, ready to engage and fire once their finger is inside the trigger guard. Regardless of preference, a good trigger will feature minimal creep and should be free of grittiness, providing a smooth, even break.

Drop-In Trigger Assembly vs. Standard Trigger Group
Once you decide between a single-stage or two-stage trigger, you can choose between standard and drop-in trigger groups. Standard trigger groups feature all the fire control group parts separated, and need to be pieced together and installed much like a mil-spec trigger, while drop-in trigger are pre-assembled and contained within a casing that simply drops in to the receiver and accepts the pins, hence the name.

After-Market Trigger Comparison

Some shooters prefer drop-in triggers due to the ease of installation, while others opt for standard groups so they can access the components individually for cleaning adjustment or replacement. If one piece of a drop-in trigger fails, you’ll need to either replace the entire unit or send it to the manufacturer for repair, whereas you may be able to simply replace the broken component of a standard trigger without needing a whole new trigger set.

Trigger Terminology — “Creep”, “Stacking”, “Overtravel”
“Creep” or “travel” is the distance the trigger moves between the end of take-up and when the trigger breaks to fire the fun. Too much creep can affect accuracy, but no creep can be unsafe, as the shooter may not be prepared to fire. “Stacking” occurs when the trigger weight actually increases during travel — this shouldn’t happen. Lastly, “overtravel” is the distance the trigger continues moving back after the gun fires.

This article is based on a longer story in the NRA Blog.

At the NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits in Louisville, the Exhibits Hall may not open until Friday morning, but there’s still plenty to do Thursday. If you have some free time, check out the NRA Blog’s helpful guide to 48 Hours in Louisville. That Travel Guide features recommended Restaurants, Family Fun Activities (such as the KY Derby Museum), Music Events, and even Bourbon Tours.

Registration

You can register in the lobby on the Kentucky Expo Center from 2:00 pm through 6:00 pm on Thursday, May 19th, as well as during all normal show hours. NOTE: Online registration has closed.

Free Airgun Range

Beat the crowds and get in some target practice at the Pyramyd Air Gun Range! The range, located at Expo Center Room #2684, will open at 2:00 pm on Thursday.

NRA Country Sound Stage

The NRA Country Sound Stage presented by Beretta will offer free music in the Beretta Lobby. Stop by to hear Ian Walters and Mark Wills perform starting at 3:00 pm. They’ll kick off the event Thursday, but every day will feature a new lineup of popular country musicians and singers.

CLICK HERE for Full List of Meeting Events and Seminars

For more information on events, exhibitors, and Exhibit Hall hours, visit nraam.org.

One of the features we enjoy on the NRA Blog is the Friday Feast Recipe of the Week. Each Friday, the NRA Blog offers up a new delicious food item as the Friday Feast for hunters. This week’s Feast combines two things we love — Italian pasta and Elk meat. Article author Emily Rupertus shares our passion for pasta: “I love pasta. I can’t get enough of it! So when I came across this Classic Elk Lasagna, I couldn’t resist sharing with you! You have to try this perfect twist on a classic comfort food.” After assembling your Lasagna in a big cast-iron skillet and covering with tin-foil, bake the Elk Lasagna in a 400° oven for 30 minutes. Then remove the foil, add more cheese and continue to bake uncovered for ten more minutes.

Ingredients
1/2 Package of Lasagna Noodles
1 lb Ground Elk Meat (you can substitute ground venison or antelope)
1 Medium Sweet Onion (chopped)
2 Cloves Garlic (chopped)
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
3 Cups Tomato Sauce
32 oz. Ricotta Cheese
1 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1 8 oz. Fresh Mozzarella Cheese (sliced)
2 eggs

Bake in 12″ – 14″ Lodge Cast Iron Skillet

CLICK HERE for Recipe Details and Cooking Instructions.

Yellowstone Elk photo from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

DAY ONE

DAY TWO

DAY THREE

DAY FOUR

View All Images on NRA Site
You can also view all these images in an iPad-friendly grid format on the NRA’s Google Plus Photo Page. This allows you to quickly scan hundreds of photos simply by scolling down the page. You’ll see a grid like the one below, but with hundreds of images top to bottom.

At the Smallbore practice session on Wednesday, well-known shooters filled the line: Tarl and Reya Kempley, last year’s 3-Position Champion Joseph Hein, and USAMU paralympic member Joshua Olson. Olson will compete at Camp Perry before heading over to London for the 2012 Olympics. The slide show below features photos by NRA Blog Editor Lars Dalseide, taken during the practice session.

Slideshow courtesy the NRA Blog.

Teddy Roosevelt loved Winchester lever guns. In his book Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, Roosevelt wrote: “The Winchester stocked and sighted to suit myself is by all odds the best weapon I ever had, and I now use it almost exclusively[.]”

According to Senior Curator Phil Schreier, this Winchester was highly customized and upgraded for its famous owner. Notable custom features include Monte Carlo cheek piece, checkered pistol grip, flat metal buttstock, and deluxe color case-hardening. Given its beauty, one might doubt that President Roosevelt actually hunted with this rifle — it looks too shiny and new. There’s a reason for that — he kept sending it back.

Records show that Roosevelt’s rifle went back to the Winchester plant on five separate occasions. Each time to be refit and refinished to the President’s specifications. That’s why the rifle remains so pristine more than a century after it was crafted. For more information on this rifle and the Roosevelt Collection, tune in to Curator’s Corner on NRANews.com and Sirius/XM Patriot Satellite Radio.

NRA App is Free for a Limited Time
If this sounds like something you’d like to add to your digital arsenal, then head on over to the iTunes store and add the NRA app to your collection. But don’t hesitate — this NRA App is FREE for a limited time only. As with other opportunities in life, you snooze, you loose.

Day Four — Gallery II

Day Four — Gallery I

Day Three — Gallery II

Day Three — Gallery I

Day Two — Gallery I

Day One — Gallery III

Day One — Gallery II

Day One — Gallery I

Photo collections courtesy The NRA Blog. To see more SHOT Show photos, visit the NRA Blog’s Public Photo Gallery.