Rifles 101 with Rachel Schmidt and Neal Emery

This week we're revisiting one of our favorite episodes on a timely subject matter: Rifles - they seem so simple, right? You put the bullet in. You pull the trigger. You (hopefully) kill the animal. But there's a lot of nuance in how a rifle performs, and it can often feel overwhelming to new hunters. This week we're talking to two experts from the firearms industry: Rachel Schmidt, formerly of Kimber Manufacturing, and Neal Emery of Hornady. 

3:00 - Mushrooms in lasagna? OR CAPERS?!

5:30 - Piscivorous: You were probably missing this from your vocabulary.

7:00 - On growing up in a hunting family, "I never knew there wasn't hunting."

14:00 - Rifle calibers... what do those numbers mean? 

15:00 - First off, you don't need to be a rifle caliber/reloading expert to have enough working knowledge to go hunting. So don't sweat it. Start with knowing what you want to hunt.

18:00 - Calibers are confusing. It's like learning the English language... there are some general rules, but lots (LOTS) of exceptions.

19:00 - Hornady website, go to "Rifles" and "Ammunition" for a basic caliber chart

21:00 - Start with the basics: How does your rifle work? What does the firing pin do? How does the safety stop it from firing? Check out this great animation from hunter-ed.com.

27:00 - Caliber is just a size. The same caliber bullets can come in different weights, which are called grains (i.e. 220 grain versus 110 grain)

32:30 - Rifle fit and recoil. Heavier guns generally absorb recoil better (the downside: you have to carry them places).

35:00 - Muzzle brakes screw onto the tip of your barrel, and they dissipate the pressure of the air as the bullet exits the barrel, lessening recoil

37:00 - Recoil pads can go on the back of the gun to soften the recoil impact on your shoulder

37:15 - And different ammunition has different recoil... minimizing the weight of the bullet can reduce recoil some. And different gunpowder has different burning properties that can affect how a bullet feels leaving the barrel. In short: Lower recoil loads exist.

39:30 - Does noise make recoil feel worse? Wear ear protection!

44:00 - Bullet construction: This controls how fast (and when) a bullet opens up...aka mushrooming.

50:00 - How well a rifle shoots certain ammo is subjective. The only way to know what works best for your gun is to try a bunch of different bullets.

1:00:00 - Checklist for choosing a rifle: Game you're hunting, stock fit against your body, weight of the rifle, budget.

1:04:00 - Length of pull: distance between the trigger to the butt of the gun

1:06:00 - Hornady cheek pieces

1:12:00 - Rifle myth busters: "A good cartridge for women and kids is the .243"

1:24:00 - Marcia's Moroccan Fish Tagine with halibut.

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