According to Yamaha, the 1000cc class is, by far, the largest in the sport/utility segment among trail riders and explorers. Since its public release on Sept. 3, Yamaha’s brand new sport/utility Wolverine RMAX2 and RMAX4 have created a firestorm of positivity and excitement among SXS enthusiasts not seen for a Japanese machine since the time when the Yamaha Rhino 660 was the sportiest machine on the market.

If a manufacturer wants to create excitement that turns into sales instead of criticism, they have to build SXSs with class leading specifications that deliver on the promise of quality and performance without major compromises. That’s exactly what Yamaha has done with their new Wolverine RMAX 1000, and enthusiasts have responded accordingly with many of our viewers split between elation over putting money down on a new RMAX and those suffering with buyer’s regret over last year’s purchase.

Many of the RMAX’ specifications are not only leading in the sport/utility class, they’re competitive or more impressive than some sport models we’ve tested. Infected with enthusiasm shared with our viewers, we met up with Factory Yamaha at Mild to Wild Off-Road in Sparta, Kentucky for a private one-on-one test day with the RMAX2. Open twice a year for public riding, Mild to Wild is the private testing grounds for our pro level test driver, Justin Frasure, owner of RAZR Sharp Customs and a former pro rock bouncer. His company builds SXS chassis, suspension parts, roll cages, bumpers, as well as complete turnkey trail and rock bouncer builds. Justin was joined by UTV on Demand editor, Chad Westcott. Chad is an avid off-roader who teaches SXS driving courses to first responders. With two drivers and 7 plus hours of seat time under our belts, we’re ready to share our impression of Yamaha’s exciting new RMAX2.

Trim Packages

The RMAX is currently available in 3 trim packages: the $19,799 base model; our test unit, the $21,999 XT-R edition; and the $23,299 Limited Edition. The standard model comes with GBC’s new Dirt Commander 2.0 radial tires with Maxxis Carnivores used on the XT-R and LE models. The XT-R and LE models also benefit from various digital throttle modes, backlit switches, blue LED interior lights, removable Adventure Pro GPS/tablet integration, Pre-installed VRX 4,500 Warn winch controlled by a switch on the dash, and upgraded front bumpers with four light pod mounts vs 2 on the standard bumper. Limited editions also benefit from a factory installed SSV Works stereo and Yamaha’s removable key controlled Speed Management system, which limits top-speed to 25MPH while still allowing full power for work or hills. Base models can be easily upgraded with any or all of the before mentioned features found on the XT-R and LE models. One item not easily upgraded are the Fox IQS shocks, which are tunable from inside the cabin. More on that later.

Engine Performance

At the heart of the new RMAX is a brand new 999cc, liquid-cooled, parallel twin-cylinder engine featuring 4 valves and double overhead cams per cylinder. Its 270° firing order helps increase torque and traction. Premium pump gas is recommended with the engine’s sport class worthy 11.2:1 compression ratio. It’s said to produce class leading horsepower and torque peaking out at 108hp at 8,500rpms with a 9,250 RPM redline. That’s 8 more HP than the General XP 1000, the 60” sport class, 4HP more than the Talon 1000, and within 2hp of the RZR XP 1000.

Yamaha is claiming a 4% reduction in rotating mass compared to the 850cc class Wolverine X2/X4 models for improved rev-ability. A counter balancer and 4-point rubber engine mounts were employed to keep vibration to a minimum.

Oil is circulated via dry-sump lubrication with an oil cooler for added cooling. A shallow sump profile on the bottom and inclined engine layout allow for a more compact design with a lower center of gravity.

Air intakes for the engine and CVT are mounted high under the hood making ingesting dirt and water less likely. There’s tool-free access to the primary foam filter with a secondary paper filter Yamaha claims will not pass dirt. Fuel is delivered via Yamaha Fuel Injection with dual, 48mm throttle bodies.

A fully automatic Yamaha’s Ultramatic CVT transmission relies on a primary wet clutch to handle engagement eliminating the need to slip the drive belt on take-offs or getting back on the gas, greatly reducing wear allowing Yamaha to cover the RMAX with their 10 year belt warranty. This type of transmission is a bit harder to tune with aftermarket clutch kits, though. Exhaust from the CVT is utilized to cool the exhaust pipe and spark plug coils. Spiral

beveled and helical cut gears with rigid gears nestled in a detached transmission along with single inline front and rear driveshafts help keep the drivetrain running smooth and quiet. Yamaha’s On-Command drive system delivers the capability of 2wd, 4wd, and 4wd with front differential lock. Available on XT-R and LE models, for the first time, Yamaha is offering multiple drive modes on a SXS with their Yamaha Chip Controlled Throttle offering sport, trail, and crawl modes. Each mode delivers full power with sport mode tuned for quick acceleration and responsiveness to throttle input. Trail mode is tuned for a more linear response and acceleration similar to a cable actuated throttle. Crawl mode offers slower response for greater traction in rocks or mud. Drive modes also affect engine braking. Trail and crawl modes offer full engine braking with sport mode tuned for smoother engine braking, preferable when coming down from speed in whooped out or choppy terrain.

The engine fires right up emitting a mild sporty rumble from the exhaust with db levels we find acceptable inside the cabin for a work capable SXS with sporty intentions. The transmission shifts smoothly and effortlessly between high, low, neutral and reverse regardless of situation. Rolling on the gas from a dead stop or getting in and out of the throttle at speed, clutch engagement is magically smooth and gearbox like with no feel of belt lash like some other CVT equipped machines. It’s one of the smoothest, most natural, feeling CVT transmission he’s experienced.

The butter smooth clutching feeds in the engine’s seamless power delivery. It’s linear, yet fun; controllable, but fast enough to provide a thrill level missing from the X2 and X4. Low-end power is respectable, easily getting the car moving on flat or slow technical terrain. Seamlessly building power into the midrange, the RMAX can generate decent trail speed without having to rev the engine hard. A strong torque curve entering the midrange allows the RMAX to tackle impressively long steep climbs instilling confidence that you’re not going to run out of power.

Pushing the limits of the engine’s performance racing from corner to corner on the roomy trails, you quickly forget that there’s a dump bed behind you. It delivers the type of engine performance we’ve come to expect from the naturally aspirated sport class, all-be-it very refined. When you ask for it, the RMAX has enough thrust to push you back in your seat. We got the tires spinning cresting mild rollers in the trail and it’s possible to break loose and steer a bit with the back end in corners, even in limited slip 4WD. We had our machine close to 60mph on one of the longer straightaways we encountered with the RMAX apparently topping out at 73MPH, so cruising at 50mph on smooth, fast trails shouldn’t be an issue.

Exploring the drive modes, crawl mode allowed us to easily crawl our way through big creek rocks with plenty of power to keep crawling and no sign of wheel spin. On the other hand, with full power on tap, Justin tackled one of the longest, steepest climbs we came across in crawl mode. Even if full power wasn’t necessary, it was there, if needed, which is brilliant.

Trail mode provides a very natural feeling acceleration that seems proportional to the demand placed on the gas pedal. It works well for any type of driving from technical to sporty; good thing as this is the only mode available on the stock base model. The gas pedal, while improved over the one on the older Wolverine X models, still drew mixed reviews with Justin wishing for a heel pocket. Fortunately, low-speed pedal bob is no longer an issue in trail or crawl modes with the digital throttle filtering out most unwanted input without feeling laggy.

Sport mode is sort of similar to slapping a ¼ turn twist throttle on your dirt bike. It doesn’t change the power capabilities of the engine; it simply delivers more gas with less movement of the throttle. Sport mode’s snappy delivery right off idle can reintroduce some unwanted pedal bob that translates to forward momentum at crawling speeds if you’re not precise with your foot. Sport mode is not about babysitting the gas, though; it’s about getting immediately into the heart of the power and it does it well. Sport mode is our mode of choice for motoring or humbling sport SXS owners on the trail.

Variable engine braking seemed perfectly matched with the different drive modes. The normal, higher level of engine braking provided in crawl and trail modes do notably better at keeping speed in check on downhills. Sport mode’s reduced engine braking does well at allowing you to coast a bit more through bumps and reduces the feeling of throwing out the Anker when letting off the gas to set up for turns.

The increased traction of Crawl mode increases the capability of what’s possible, even in limited slip 4WD. However, when negotiating slick, muddy, steep, rutted climb where all four tires are spinning, it’s nice knowing that the front differential is locked with all four tires clawing for traction regardless of what we did with the throttle or if available grip changed from one side to the other.

Overall, the engine is well mannered for all day work with performance that feels worthy of a sport SXS. The General could be out gunned.

Chassis and Suspension

The RMAX is built on a brand new steel frame. Its 64” width is ideal for adapting well to nearly all types of terrain. Most of the underside of the frame is covered by a welded on steel skid plate with a front plastic skid plate and rear CV guards. Kickouts on the lower frame rails help pretend snagging rear wheels on trees of other obstacles. Our unit came outfitted with a set of 3/8” thick, UHMWPE skid plates, protecting the underside of the frame’s armor, which we’d rather not scratch up. Plus, they help slide over rocks more easily. They’d be our number one accessory pic.

Winch-ready steel bumpers feature very overbuilt looking tie down hooks for easy trailering. A channel in the grill allows an observer to keep an eye on the winch cable helping prevent tangling and binding.

The RMAX2 utilizes dual A-Arms front with wide-arc lower arms for improved ground clearance. Dual control arms out back utilize single stamped designed lower arms for improved strength. We were impressed with the thick shock mounts and stout appearance of the exposed frame and suspension parts. Justin felt construction appeared beyond what the competition is delivering at this time.

Fox Podium 2.0 QS3 shocks are used on the standard and XT-R models with Fox IQS shocks used on the LE model. Both shocks feature nitrogen reservoirs, dual rate springs with preload adjustment, and three-way compression damping adjustability with comfort, medium, and firm settings for different speeds, terrains, and uses.. The QS3 shocks have three position dials on the shocks’ reservoirs, while the IQS system allows you to select between the different compressions’ damping settings via a switch inside the cockpit.

According to Yamaha, the shocks were optimized for maximum low-speed comfort and maximum articulation while still offering a high-level of bottoming resistance.

The RMAX2 features class-leading suspension travel at both ends with 14.2” front and 16.9” rear. That’s nearly 3” more rear suspension travel than General XP 1000, within 1/10” of an inch of Yamaha’s YXZ1000R sport SXS, and more overall travel than the 64” wide Honda Talon X sport model. Equipped with a sway bar up front, it foregoes a rear sway bar for maximum articulation.

The RMAX2’s 86.7” wheelbase is claimed to improve the contact to ground feeling on steep climbs and descents compared to the 83” wheelbase of the General XP 1000. Rolling on 30X10-14” radial tires on 14” aluminum wheels, the RMAX2 delivers the square wheel tire setup we prefer. Ground clearance is class leading at 13.8”.

Optimized for use with 29-30” tires, Yamaha’s electric power steering is now offering a 2nd mode that automatically engages to make steering easier when the front differential is locked.

Yamaha is claiming a wet weight for the RMAX2 XT-R edition of 1876.1 lbs, around 172 pounds more than the slightly more compact, but similarly appointed, 850 class Wolverine X2 XT-R, which produces 69hp in comparison to the RMAX2 108hp. The RMAX certainly enjoys a substantial power to weight advantage.

Suspension performance was outstanding on the trails we tested on. The factory suspension settings are designed for two occupants with 150lbs in the bed with room to stiffen or soften the ride. That’s where we left it for our first day of testing, although Justin said he would soften the settings a bit for driving alone. We managed to bottom the suspension on a major G-out, which Justin said pushed most sport SXS’s shocks to their limits. Even then, the RMAX never bottomed harshly and quickly regained its composure.

Even with good bottoming resistance, during rock crawling, the shocks do an excellent job of absorbing square edge impacts and allowing the suspension to respond to the demands of the terrain aided greatly by the lack of a rear sway bar. It rolls over rocks and fills in holes with the rest of the RMAX and its occupants flying along comfortably above turbulence. Come to think of it, that’s kind of how the RMAX rides when you’re flying down the trail at speed. Small bumps aren’t harsh; the suspension never seems to bottom harshly; and everything in between is well dampened while still leaving you feeling very connected to the trail. Rebound damping was quick enough that the suspension is always ready for the next bump in the rocks, emitting a fun, responsive, and lively feeling over mildly rolling trail. The RMAX2 had a lot of suspension travel and it felt like it no matter how we drove it.

Driving in limited slip 4wd a majority of the time to maximize handling, entering corners at speed dive and body roll were well controlled with just enough front-end squat and weight transfer to the outside tire to get the front end hooked up and steering precisely. Justin proclaimed that the RMAX2 is the most accurate steering SXS he’s driven! In bumpy corners where the car might start to bobble, the suspension quickly settles things down. Stability in turns is very good with the feeling of a pretty low center of gravity. When you hammer down exiting corners, you feel the back end squat and transfer its weight to the outside tire, settling into the turn like a trophy truck. Even then, the rear suspension remains very responsive to bumps keeping the ride comfortable and the driver in control.

Power steering is near perfection as we’ve come to expect on all Yamaha models. It’s light with the perfect amount of feedback keeping you feeling connected to the trail while eliminating unwanted bump feedback. The only time any real effort is required to turn the front wheels is at a dead stop with the front differential lock engaged.

Stable with precise handling, and forgiving suspension. What more can you ask for from a sport SXS, we mean sport/utility?

Brakes

The RMAX are slowed by four-wheel hydraulic disc brakes. 255mm rotors with 32mm calipers are used up front with 244.5mm rotors and 27mm calipers out back. Dual piston calipers are found at both ends. Steel-braided brake lines are used for enhanced power and feel.

The brakes deliver good feel and power, but both Chad and Justin felt the pedal required more pressure than they would like. Braking improved a bit throughout the day, but still required a good amount of pedal pressure to get the most out of the brakes.

Work Capability

While we didn’t get a chance to do any hauling or towing, with all this performance comes the capability to get work done or haul more gear out for the weekend. The RMAX2 features a cosmetically well disguised, hydraulically assisted, composite dump bed with multiple steel tie-down points and 600lb of cargo capacity. A 2” hitch receiver is rated to tow an additional ton even with the bed loaded.

Interior and Other Details

Interior comfort and attention to detail are first rate on the RMAX. Entering and exiting has been made much easier compared to older X2 models. New 3-piece doors feature interior door handles located farther from flying mud. Integrated door speaker pods are designed to make installing speakers easier with improved acoustics.

A blue backlit LED display is mounted just behind the steering wheel and is easy to read at a glance. Compared to the previous Wolverine X2 and X4, the automotive style cockpit is roomier for all occupants with nearly ½” more rearward movement for the driver’s seat. Soft touch points are located throughout. The seats feature increased bolstering with new cut and sewn seat covers. The seat belts feature tool free, 6-point adjustability in 20mm increments.

Gas and brake pedals are newly designed. A 17° tilt adjustable steering wheel is constructed of a softer durometer rubber. The passenger benefits from a new quick adjust, T-shaped grab handle with 95mm of adjustment that can be adjusted in 4mm increments.

Getting comfortable in the machine is pretty easy for most body types. At 6’2”, Chad felt that he had plenty of legroom on either side. As wide as an NFL player, his shoulder rubbed the shoulder bolster a bit when he was driving although it wasn’t serious. The steering wheel is rigid, yet soft to the touch, offering plenty of adjustment. The seats are comfortable with a design that’s well balanced for easy exiting from the car while still offering a decent amount of bolstering for aggressive driving. They seem well placed in the chassis, in relationship to the front and rear wheels, minimizing rider movement traversing bumps. While the passenger grab bar is comfortable, we hardly felt the need for it unless we were on monster descents. The three-point belts are among the most comfortable we’ve used with no uncomfortable pressure points, and we genuinely appreciated the added comfort of the soft touch points, which seemed perfectly placed . All of the switches and handles feel high quality.

Riding in the RMAX is a joy with no rattles squeaks or irritating vibrations from anywhere on the machine. There’s just the pleasant sound of the engine and a slight turbo sounding hiss from the CVT.

Interior storage includes a 5.8L passenger glove box and 2.7L center console. There are cubbies in the center console as well as driver and passenger side storage shelves. There are also 2 cup holders.

XT-R and Limited edition RMAX models benefit from Yamaha Adventure Pro GPS tablet integration along with a USB charge port. The Adventure Pro can be locked in place for security and removed for use in your car or truck. The center console is rubber sealed with pass throughs to charge your smartphone while safely inside.

All RMAX2 models come with sun tops standard featuring integration with Yamaha’s accessory windshield, cab enclosure system and mirrors.

Its modern sporty styling is accented with new LED marker lights. 7.6W LED low beams with 15.2W reflector high beam headlights are found out front with LED tail and reverse lights found out back.

Accessory Integration

If you like to accessorize your rig like us, it’s worth noting that Yamaha already has over 100 accessories ready to go for the new Wolverines. Besides the skid plates, our RMAX also benefited from Yamaha’s polycarbonate half windshield, which is far less obtrusive to your sight line than some of the curved half windshields. You might as well pick up a Yamaha accessory windshield before you leave the dealer as well. They’re a great addition to any SXS.

Conclusion

While we are typically excited about new machines, we’re blown away with the new Yamaha Wolverine RMAX2 1000. It’s certainly a contender or best in class in the sport/utility segment, but it’s more than that. Although we didn’t get the chance to test it in whooped out terrain, the RMAX 1000 seems good enough to serve the needs of many enthusiasts who’ve been wishing for a 64” wide, CVT equipped sport SXS from a Japanese manufacturer. It’s both quicker and faster than a Teryx 1000, might give the Talon 1000X a good run, and will work better for many drivers than Yamaha’s YXZ1000R on tighter trails. Plus, it will let you haul more gear, work, or tow more than any Sport SXS. Its combination of performance, versatility, and refinement is unique and why we expect the 2021 Yamaha Wolverine RMAX 1000 to become one of the top selling SXSs on the market. That’s saying a lot, but the new Wolverine RMAX2 1000 is really that good.

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Salting has always been one of the most common methods for preserving meats, so after coming across reference after reference to salted meats in medieval cookbooks, I decided to try it out.

The theory is simple – a sufficiently high amount of salt will dehydrate the meat and prevent any bacteria or mold from growing. However, to the modern mind which is accustomed to refrigeration, the practice of leaving raw meat out on the counter for a couple of weeks seems more than a bit creepy.

Each time I’ve done this, the end result has been safe to eat (or at least apparently so – it tasted good and I stayed healthy). For anyone following these directions though, you do so at your own risk. If the end result smells nasty, you eat it anyways, and you get sick and die, then don’t come complaining to me.

For this experiment, I took approximately one pound of raw venison cut into half inch thick steaks. It had been previously frozen, but was thawed completely, rinsed, and patted dry with a paper towel.

raw venison

I put a thick layer of salt into the bottom of a glass baking dish, put the venison on top, and covered it with more salt. I then repeated this with a second layer. I then covered the whole thing with plastic wrap and left the dish out on the counter for 24 hours.

venison packed in salt

the same dish a day later

The next day the salt had developed a disturbing pink color and there was a layer of thick red liquid at the bottom. I pulled the steaks out and brushed the salt off them, dumped the pink salt and nasty red liquid down the drain, and re-packed the steaks with fresh salt.

steaks after one day in salt

I was prepared to repeat this process the next day, but the salt didn’t discolor at all and no further red liquid formed.

fourteen days later

After two weeks I decided it was time to check the results. The salt had solidified into a crust, and the venison had turned dark and was very hard.

salted venison steaks

I cut one of the steaks in half to check the inside, and while it was a lighter color than the outside, it was still just as hard and dry. At this point the meat smelled substantially better than it did when raw. It’s worth noting though that throughout the whole process it never smelled unpleasant.

steak cut in half

the inside is lighter in color

The proof of course is in the eating. I rinsed the steaks in water and then boiled them in a mixture of water and cheap red wine. After an hour of this, I dumped the liquid out and did it again. The liquid tasted quite salty after the second boiling, so I replaced it once more and boiled it for another 20 minutes.

I then cut the meat into thin slices and served it with mustard. The venison was slightly salty and had developed a bit of a smoky flavor. The whole process was somewhat tedious, but very easy. I’ll have to see how well it works for camp cooking.

Source [Le Ménagier de Paris, J. Hinson (trans.)]: Venison of Deer or Other Beast, If you wish to salt it in summer, it is appropriate to salt it in a wash-tub or bath, ground coarse salt, and after dry it in the sun. Haunch, that is the rump, which is salted, should be cooked first in water and wine for the first boiling to draw out the salt: and then throw out the water and wine, and after put to partly cook in a bouillon of meat and turnips, and serve in slices with some of the liquid in a dish and venison.

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So you’re going on a safari to see the open plains and incredible wildlife of Africa? One of the most important details to check, before booking your trip, is what types of African safari vehicles, overlanding trucks, and other forms of transportation are used.

The range of safari vehicles is enormous. From walking safaris with enclosed transfer vehicles to pop-top 4X4 safari vehicles, and from 4-seater to 44-seater overland trucks. You can go bare-bones or air-conditioned high-luxury, local dugout mokoro, horseback, or air safaris for a bird’s eye view. The important thing is to choose the type of African safari vehicle or overlanding truck, and other means of exploring (or combination) that suits you, for the ultimate African safari experience.

We’ll start with the biggest African safari vehicles and end with the ‘on foot’ transportation mode.

Safari Vehicles, Overland Trucks & Ways to Explore Africa – Quick Links

1. Overlanding Vehicles (Overland Trucks)
2. Minibus or Microbus Safari Vehicles
3. Land Rover & Cruiser Safari Vehicles
4. Open Game Viewing Safari Vehicles
5. Flying African Safaris
6. Hot Air Balloon Trips
7. Shark Cage Diving Boats
8. Rubber Ducks
9. Dhow Sailing Boats
10. Game Viewing Boat Cruises
11. Mokoro Dug-out Canoes
12. Kayak & Canoe Safaris
13. Horseback & Camel Safaris
14. Walking Safaris (on foot & by vehicle)

1. Africa Overlanding Vehicles (Overland Trucks)

Africa Overland Truck

These expedition trucks are specially built to deal with the rough roads of Africa, where potholes, deep ruts, and river crossings are pretty ‘every day.’ They are normally used for longer and larger (12 to 44 people) overland Africa tours, so need to be able to carry a fair amount of equipment while still offering the budget traveler a relatively comfortable trip and good views of the passing scenery and wildlife.

African tour operators choose the best overland truck for each trip, according to the area being visited and the anticipated terrain that will be covered.

Overland Vehicle Seating Arrangements

Overland trucks may differ in their seating formation and size. Some have all forward-facing seats, while others may have some backward- or side-facing seats. The seats are generally raised, allowing for good views over the African landscapes, especially in grassy areas, where you want to be able to spot animals in the grass. Ask your tour operator about seating formation and how many are seated in a row – some overland trucks seat up to three per row, which makes seeing out a bit more difficult if you’re in the middle – before booking your overland tour.

Luxury Overland Truck

Windows, Pop-up Roofs, and Taking Photos on Overland Trucks

The overland trucks generally have large windows, some which open vertically, others horizontally – allowing for good views. Many of them also have a pop-up roof. This allows you to stand up and get 360-degree views and photos.

Luggage Space on Overlanding Trucks

All overland trucks are equipped with storage space (some lockable) for luggage and equipment – some under the seating section, others at the back of the truck, and some with a detachable trailer. Obviously, space is at a premium, so be sure to pack only the absolute essentials. Also, when packing, use soft luggage rather than hard (e.g. samsonite), as it is much easier to fit into lockers and overhead compartments.

Most overland trucks have a safe onboard for the storage of valuables.

Mobile Kitchen & Diner

Many meals while on safari are prepared and eaten out in the bush, far from civilization. The overland trucks are fully equipped for this. Most safari trucks have a ‘kitchen’ section (often fold-out, beneath the seating area) with a stove and hand dish-washing area. They also have a fridge/freezer/cooler boxes to keep supplies and drinks fresh in the African heat. Africa Overland Tours are thirsty work!

Safety First on Safari!

Safety is non-negotiable. Check with your tour operator that there is a fully-stocked First Aid kit onboard, safety belts on all seats, and some means of communication (radio, etc.), in case of emergencies while on safari. All legitimate tour operators have their client’s safety first in mind and ensure that their overland trucks are kept in a good condition and are reliable for long trips – larger fuel and water tanks, spare tires, knowledgeable and well-trained drivers, etc.

Overland Truck Gadgets

Modern Overlanding trucks come fully equipped with the modern gadgets that we’ve all got used to. With iPod/MP3 points, you can listen to your own soundtrack as you watch the African landscape slide by. They also have onboard charging facilities so ensure that your camera remains fully charged and you don’t lose that once-in-a-lifetime shot of a lion hunting his prey!

Luxury safari truck for small group overland tours

Some smaller tours use smaller overland trucks – seven to nine-seaters – which provide window seats only, so nobody has to be in a middle seat.

Luxury Overlanding Trucks

These are state-of-the-art 4×4 overland vehicles used on small-group overland tours. A custom-built luxury overland truck comfortably accommodates up to 12 guests. They are specially designed to provide extra space and amenities. This is the overland vehicle of choice for a more luxurious Overlanding Africa experience with all the adventure in added style and comfort.

Features include an onboard toilet and a water filtration system for purified drinking water on the road. The luxury overland trucks have reclining leather seats that rotate 180 degrees and lock into your preferred position (for example, window or front-facing).

Luxury Safari Truck for Overlanding Africa

Each seat has overhead air-conditioning vents that can be independently operated for individual control of airflow and temperature. Every seat also features a USB port panel for charging your electronic devices and there is a reading light above each seat. Each seat has a safety deposit unit with individual key code access, for storing your passports, phones, and smaller valuables.

Recommended Africa Overland Tours

• 20-Day East African Overland Tour – South or 20-Day Cape Town to Victoria Falls Overland Tour – Camping Safari

• Best of Namibia Safari Adventure – Overland Camping Tour

• Small Group Tours in Luxury Overland Trucks: South Africa Safari Adventure, Delta & Chobe Safari Adventure & Explore Namibia Safari Adventure

• More Overland Africa Tours

2. Minibus or Microbus Safari Vehicles

For smaller safari groups and shorter tours that don’t go through hugely rugged areas, adapted microbuses (or minibusses) are used. As safari vehicles, Toyota Quantums and Mercedes Sprinters are most commonly used. The optimal number in most of these safari vehicles is six to ten people, forward-facing.

Sprinter Safari Minibus

When booking a safari, find out from the tour operator which safari vehicle is used, and how many window seats there are, to ensure that everybody gets a window seat and has a good view of the spectacular scenery and amazing animals of Africa.

These safari microbuses are specially adapted for safari travel and are generally equipped with GPS tracking, sliding windows, cooler boxes, fire extinguishers, and First Aid kits. They generally have a softer suspension than other safari vehicles, giving a slightly more comfortable trip. Many of them – especially on Kenya Safaris – also feature pop-up tops, allowing travelers to stand and view/photograph the countryside and animals from the minibus.

Some minibusses are fitted with air-conditioning. This is a welcome relief from the sweltering African heat but may detract from the whole experience of Africa, as the windows will be closed, blocking out the sounds of the bush.

Recommended small group trips using minibus safari vehicles

• 5 Days Budget Masai Mara & Lake Nakuru Camping Safari

• South Africa’s Garden Route Adventure Tour

3. Land Cruising Safari Vehicles

Pop-top 4×4 safari vehicle by William Warby

Land Cruisers and Land Rovers are used on many safari tours. They range from ‘bare-bones’ models i.e. no added ‘mod-cons’, to highly specialized vehicles that may include air-conditioning, MP3 players, and slightly tinted windows for protection from the sun. Some of the newer safari vehicle models also have pop-up roofs, for added viewing potential, especially in Tanzania.

Safari Vehicle Seating Arrangements

These safari vehicles, in general, can carry four to six (extended version) passengers, all forward-facing. Check the seating configuration with your tour operator before booking. While extended safari vehicles can carry more people, they tend to be slightly more difficult to handle on the road. Most of the Land Cruisers are 4X4s, allowing travel over the rough terrain that Africa is known for… Have a look at images of the road into the Ngorongoro Crater if you want an idea!

While self-hire safari vehicle options are available, tour operators all have experienced drivers who, more often than not have extensive knowledge not only of handling the rough terrain but of the areas through which we travel.

Safety First on Safaris!

Most Land Cruisers are equipped with all possible safety features – fire extinguishers, First Aid kits, seat belts and many have airbags. They have specially designed fuel tanks to allow the economical use of diesel during long journeys and snorkels for travel through rivers.

Luggage Space & How to Pack (light)

In general, luggage is taken either in a trailer or packed on the roof, to keep the safari vehicle as uncluttered as possible inside, for your comfort. Remember to pack lightly!

Recommended 4×4 Trips in Land Cruiser Safari Vehicles

• Tanzania Lodge Safari to Serengeti, Ngorongoro & Tarangire

• Masai Mara, Samburu, Nakuru 4×4 Kenya Lodge Safari

• 4×4 Ethiopia Tour – Danakil Depression & Awash National Park

4. Open Game-Viewing Safari Vehicles

Open African safari vehicle on game drive

Within many of the game parks, smaller, open-sided, or completely open safari vehicles are used for game drives. While these are not suitable for long distances – wind, dust, sun, and Africa’s elements can be harsh! – they are great for game drives as they allow you to get up close and personal with the sights, sounds, and smells of the African bush.

These safari vehicles are most often adapted Land Cruisers which seat between six and nine passengers. Some are designed with tiered seating so that nobody’s view is blocked by the person in front of them’s head!

Open African safari vehicle

Protection from The Elements

Due to their being open to the elements, it is vital to protect yourself against the African sun. Hats, scarves, and windbreakers are all excellent shields from fiery hot UV rays. Many of these open safari vehicles do have canvas/plastic canopies that can be closed if the weather becomes uncooperative. Thunderstorms in Africa can be wild, and come on within minutes!

Safari Drivers & Trackers

Most often when going on game drives, there will be a driver and a tracker (often sits on the front of the car, allowing him to track spoor and dung.) The trackers are highly experienced, and allow one to see the best Africa has to offer in wildlife.

Recommended trips with open game-viewing

• Chobe, Moremi & Delta Botswana Camping Safari

• 6-Day Kruger Park & Private Game Reserves Safari (Lodge)

5. Bird’s-Eye View Flying Safaris

Plane view of the Okavango Delta by Justin Hall

‘Air safaris’ are offered at various places in Africa, like Victoria Falls and the Okavango Delta. A flight over the delta in a small plane gives you an idea of the vastness of the area. A helicopter flight over Victoria Falls will make you feel like an eagle soaring above this spectacular area!

Helicopters on Safari

The ‘vehicles’ used differ from operator to operator. The helicopters used at Victoria Falls are generally 4- or 6-seaters and many have bubble windows, allowing for good viewing. Do remember that, in the 6-seater, you may land up in the middle seat, making seeing out slightly more difficult.

Light Planes on Safari

In the Okavango Delta, many of the lodges are only reachable by air, especially during the wet season. Many small plane charters are available both as a means to get to the lodges and for a birds-eye view of the delta and spectacular photographic opportunities – a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Small plane flights on safari

Recommended safaris with flying components

• Victoria Falls Budget Tour Package (Zimbabwe)

• Okavango Delta & Chobe Accommodated Safari (North)

6. Hot Air Balloon Rides

Hot air ballooning over Serengeti Park by Wajahat Mahmood

What could be better than watching the sun rise over the Serengeti while floating gently above its vast plains in a hot air balloon? Nothing, really. Hot air balloon rides are offered at various places in Africa (like Masai Mara and Serengeti) and provide an incredible, thrilling, bird’s-eye view of the vastness of Africa, dotted with wildlife.

Recommended trips with balloon safaris

• 4-Day Masai Mara Luxury Camping Safari – optional hot-air balloon trip over Masai Mara, Kenya

• 12-Day Kenya & Tanzania Budget Lodge Safari – optional hot-air balloon trip over Serengeti, Tanzania

7. Boat to the Great White Sharks

Shark diving safari by Kim Nowacki

The boat used for our Great White Shark Cage Diving trips in South Africa is a custom-built catamaran. Combining comfort, stability, speed, and safety, this boat ensures not only a good trip for you but also promises minimal interference in the shark’s natural habitat.

The custom-built shark cage diving boat is typically a 46-foot (14m) long catamaran with a spacious upper deck for surface views of the sharks and other marine animals and platforms for the bait and decoy handlers to ensure the best possible shark viewing. It is a lightweight aluminum vessel powered by four big four-stroke 300-hp outboard engines and is equipped with the most advanced electronic navigation equipment.

Great white shark cage diving boat

Staying dry and comfortable

Featuring a spacious indoor cabin, as well as separate wet and dry outdoor decks, the design ensures that when you’re wet, you’re wet, but once you’re out and want to be dry and comfortable, you can be. The boat usually features a central dining area, storage facilities for personal items, and both male and female toilets.

Gadgets

Electronically, the boat is fully equipped with a tracking device, radios, GPS, radar and navigation equipment, depth finder and echo sounder, and even a 12V charging facility for cameras, cell phones, and laptops.

Safety – yours and the shark’s

Safety is of utmost importance and there are life vests for all passengers, fire extinguishers, a life raft, and capsize bottles on the boat. In case of medical emergencies, there are two onboard First Aid kits, oxygen cylinders, and fluid replacement.

Not only is your safety cared for, but that of the sharks too. The cage has no sharp points or edges that could hurt the animals. The cage itself is specially constructed of reinforced steel and can take five people comfortably. It is lowered and winched back up using a winch from a sturdy gantry. Oxygen is supplied from the boat to divers via a ‘hookah’ system with hoses running into the cage.

This, too, is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. There’s not much more exhilarating than coming face-to-face with a Great White in its own habitat!

Recommended shark diving tours

• 2-Day Great White Shark Dive Package

• Great White Shark Cage Diving Day Tour

8. Rubber-Ducking the Gorges

Rafting the Zambezi on safari by Martijn Munneke

Jinja, in Uganda – where the longest river in Africa, The Nile, begins at its source, Lake Victoria – is one of the top whitewater rafting destinations in the world. Add in Victoria Falls, the Fish River Canyon, and the Orange (Gariep) River, where various boat options are offered, from boogie-boarding the rapids through canoeing to rubber ducking both flat water and white water, and it’s an adrenaline junkie’s dream. Your trip choice depends completely on your adrenaline requirements/limits!

Whichever you choose, be sure to check that the tour operator follows all safety regulations, ensuring that you have a safe, enjoyable trip through the gorge. Life jackets and helmets are non-negotiable, these waters can get wild, and a knowledgeable, trained guide will ensure you get the most out of your trip.

Recommended trips with rubber ducking

• Victoria Falls Adventure Tour Package (Zambia)

• Masai Mara & Gorilla Trekking Overland Tour or Uganda Safari & Gorilla Trekking Tour

9. East African Dhows (sailing boats)

East African Dhow sailing boat by Cesar Gonzalez Palomo

There is nothing quite so beautiful as seeing a traditional dhow gliding through the warm, azure waters of the Indian Ocean. Originally used for trading, these long, narrow boats with triangular sails, expertly sailed by locals, are used along the east coast of Africa.

So whether you’re heading off to the Bazaruto Archipelago or exploring the coastline of Zanzibar, do yourself a favor and catch a ride on one of these graceful sailing vessels.

Recommended trips with dhow safaris

• 22-Day Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique & Kruger Safari

• 5-Day Zanzibar Holiday Package – Adventure Tour

10. Game Viewing Boat Cruises

One of the best ways to watch wildlife and birds on safari in Africa is without a doubt by boat. It’s hard to compete with a laid-back sunset cruise. Exceptional wildlife and bird sightings along the rivers and estuaries in top game reserves of Africa. Stunning scenery. Chilled sundowners and snacks or dinner onboard. Easy-paced, yet exciting and novel.

The boats used on boat cruises vary but they are typically open-sided motorboats. The larger boats offer standing and sitting room and are sometimes double-deckers.

Chobe boat cruise in Botswana

Chobe National Park in Botswana is one of the best places for boat-based game viewing in Africa. Another favorite spot for scenic boat cruises is the Zambezi River near Victoria Falls. There are plenty of other great destinations for game-viewing boat cruises, from Uganda to South Africa.

Recommended Safaris with Game-Viewing Boat Cruises

• Botswana: 5-Day Chobe & Okavango Delta Lodge Tour or Botswana Exclusive Camping Safari to Chobe & Okavango – include Chobe River boat cruises (as with most Chobe Safaris)
• Uganda: Gorilla Trekking & Queen Elizabeth Park Safari – includes boat cruises on Kazinga Channel (Queen Elizabeth Park) & in Murchison Falls National Park

11. Winding Through the Waterways in Mekoro

Mokoro in Okavango Delta, Botswana

If your safari includes a trip into the Okavango Delta, you will more-than-likely experience the gentle pleasure of a trip in a mokoro canoe. Check with your tour operator that this is included as part of the package, or offered as an optional activity. You don’t want to miss out on this opportunity to get up close and personal with the prolific birds and wildlife – including elephants, hippos, and crocs – of the Okavango Delta.

Mokoro History

These traditional dug-out canoes are made of wood and guided by a ‘poler’, who stands at the helm. While originally made from indigenous trees, such as the Kingella or ‘Sausage Tree’, they are increasingly made of fiberglass these days. While not as ‘authentic’, this is preserving the indigenous trees of the area and provides just-as-good a means of transport through the spectacular waterways of the delta.

Experienced polers

Many people are afraid of hippos overturning a mokoro. While this is not an impossibility – this is Africa, after all, and you’re in their habitat – the polers are experienced in the area and are very aware that hippos are territorial creatures. They are sure to avoid dangerous situations.

A trip on a mokoro allows you to get as close to the sights and sounds of Africa as is physically possible. Don’t miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Recommended safaris with Mokoro canoe trips

• Botswana Parks & Okavango Delta Budget Lodge Safari

• Budget Delta Mokoro Trail & Savuti Safari

12. Kayak & Canoe Safaris

If you’re a kayaking or canoeing enthusiast this is the ultimate game-viewing safari vehicle for you. Watch the wilderness glide by as you paddle quietly along the rivers and waterways of Africa. A canoeing or kayaking safari gives you more independence than a mokoro trip where a guide poles you along.

The canoes and kayaks used on safaris vary widely, ranging from inflatable canoes to rugged old-school kayaks.

Zambezi canoeing in Zambia

Some canoe safaris offer game viewing opportunities along the riverbanks and even in the waters whilst most are more about taking in the wild scenery and spotting birds.

Recommended safaris with canoe or kayak trips

• 16-Day Zambia & Malawi Small Group Safari or 4-Day Victoria Falls Tour in Zambia – include Zambezi River Canoe Trips

• 4-Day South Africa Garden Route Tour – includes Canoeing in Wilderness National Park

• 15-Day Zambia & Malawi Small Group Budget Safari – includes kayaking on Lake Malawi

13. Explore the African Bush on Horseback or Camelback

An incredible way to experience the bush up close! Horseback safaris are allowed in certain game reserves so if you want to experience the bush on horseback you’ll need to pick your destinations accordingly. Two of the most popular African safari destinations that offer horseback safaris are Victoria Falls (Zambia or Zimbabwe) and Big 5 game reserves near Cape Town in South Africa.

Horseback safaris Cape Town

For a whole new experience, you can explore Africa by camel. An entirely unique and exotic mode of transport indeed. Camelback safaris are far rarer than horseback safaris. You can only embark on a camelback adventure in a few places, including parts of East Africa.

Recommended trips with optional horseback safaris & camelback safaris

• Experience Southern Africa Exclusive Budget Safari & Zimbabwe & Botswana Safari (Lodge Tour) – optional horseback safaris at Victoria Falls

• 3 Day Big 5 Cape Town Safari & 2 Day Big 5 Cape Town Safari – optional horseback safaris at Aquila Game Reserve

• Lake Turkana & Northern Kenya Camping Safari – includes an overnight camelback safari in Tuum (Samburu District of Kenya)

14. Walking Safaris in Africa

Walking safaris in Africa

This is (obviously) only an option once you are in the game reserve. Depending on the safety i.e. the presence of dangerous predators, many game reserves offer guided walking tours. This is the ideal way to get a true, African, wildlife experience. By walking through the bush all your senses experience Africa – sight, smell, sounds, touch – unadulterated by the sound of motors and really off the beaten track.

Guides and trackers

Most reserves have highly experienced guides who are a fountain of knowledge regarding the fauna and flora of the area and are excellent trackers. This allows you to not only experience the bush but also learn all sorts of fascinating facts while seeing the birds, insects, and animals that call Africa ‘home.’

Walking safari guide in Kenya

If you have the opportunity, do not miss out on a walking safari. You can’t get closer to nature than this.

Recommended walking safari trips

• 4-Day Kruger Park Walking Safari or 5-Day Kruger Safari – Hiking Tour

• South Africa Walking Safari to Kruger & Zululand

• 7-Day South Luangwa Tented Camps Walking Safari

Talk to an Africa travel expert to find the ideal types of safari vehicles and other transport modes for your trip to Africa.

African safari vehicle in Kruger

[Updated in 2022: originally posted in 2014]

The 28 Nosler and Hornady 300 PRC are two centerfire rifle cartridges that were developed for long range shooting and hunting. They represent the pinnacle of 21st Century ballistic technology and development that were designed to hit targets at ranges of over 1,000 yards while maintaining sub-MOA accuracy.

Long range hunting is not a new concept, for decades hunters have been relying on cartridges like the 300 Winchester Magnum, 7mm Rem Mag, and 300 Weatherby Magnum to reach out past 500 yards. Although these rifle cartridges are effective at taking big game, their chamber designs limited the types of bullets that could be used.

Hunters wanted access to longer, more aerodynamic bullets to maximize downrange performance, and the 300 PRC and 28 Nosler were designed from the ground up with these bullets in mind.

How then are you to decide which cartridge is best for your style of shooting or unique hunting needs?

In this article, we will evaluate the 28 Nosler vs 300 PRC to help you understand the differences between the two and give you a clearer idea of which cartridge is best for your next hunting rifle.

What is the difference between 28 Nosler and 300 PRC?

The primary difference between the 28 Nosler and the 300 PRC is that the 28 Nosler fires 0.284” diameter bullets compared to 0.308” for the 300 PRC. Also, the 28 Nosler has higher case capacity and will generally have higher muzzle velocity than the 300 PRC.

Cartridge Specs

When evaluating centerfire rifle cartridges, it’s a good idea to analyze the cartridge specs to gain more knowledge of each.

Both cartridges draw their heritage from rounds designed to hunt large or dangerous game. Hornady developed the 300 PRC from the lesser known 375 Ruger cartridge while the 28 Nosler comes from the 404 Jeffery. The 404 Jeffery sired the majority of Nosler’s cartridge line, namely the 30 Nosler, 26 Nosler, and 33 Nosler as well as other cartridges like the 7mm Remington Short Action Ultra Magnum (SAUM).

One of the most prominent differences between the two is that the 28 Nosler fires a bullet diameter of 7mm or 0.284” while the 300 PRC fires the more common 30-caliber or 0.308” diameter bullets. The 300 PRC fires heavier bullets between 190 and 225 gr while the 28 Nosler fires lighter bullets typically between 160 and 185 grains.

Another striking difference between the two cartridges is their overall length. The 3.7” long 300 PRC towers over the shorter 28 Nosler at 3.34” despite both having nearly identical cartridge case lengths at 2.58” and 2.59”, respectively.

This difference in overall length demonstrates a major difference in design concept between the two rounds. The 28 Nosler was designed to fit into a standard long action like the 30-06 Springfield, while the 300 PRC fits into a magnum action like the 338 Lapua Mag.

When Hornady set out to build the 300 PRC, they developed what they considered the ideal 30-caliber round and then built the rifle action around it. In contrast, Nosler developed the 28 to fit into a long action as it is lighter and has a shorter bolt throw. This will mean that follow up shots will typically be faster with a 28 Nosler and rifles for the cartridge will be lighter than those for 300 PRC.

Both cartridges require the use of a magnum bolt face thanks to their base diameter of 0.532” for the 300 and 0.534” for the 28.

Although the maximum chamber pressure for both cartridges is 65,000 psi per SAAMI specs, the 28 Nosler has considerably more case capacity at 93 gr compared to 77 gr for the 300 PRC.

Recoil

Recoil is an important consideration when purchasing a new rifle as a round with heavy recoil will be more difficult to control and will slow your rate of follow up shots.

Recoil is affected primarily by muzzle velocity (FPS), powder charge, bullet weight, and rifle weight.

For this recoil comparison, it is impossible to achieve a pure “apples to apples” comparison as the 300 PRC fires heavier bullets than the 28 Nosler. The lightest factory load available for the 300 is the Hornady Outfitter firing a CX polymer tip 190 grain bullet traveling at 3,000 fps. The 175 gr AccuBond Long Range traveling at 3,125 fps will be selected for 28 Nosler.

The Savage 110 will be the test firearm as it has configurations for both calibers and weighs around 8.7-pounds.

Given these parameters, the 300 PRC will have 32.9 ft-lbs of free recoil while the 28 Nosler will have 32.3 ft-lbs of free recoil. In this case, both rounds have almost the same free recoil energy.

However, the 300 PRC was designed to fire 200+ grain bullets, and the 212 gr ELD-X is their recommendation for big game hunting. Traveling at 2,860 fps, the 212 gr load will have a free recoil of 36 ft-lbs.

Anything over the 20 ft-lbs threshold is generally considered heavy recoil, which is why many rifles for both cartridges will come with a muzzle brake installed from the factory. A muzzle brake works by redirecting gasses from the burned gunpowder to help reduce felt recoil.

However, the 28 Nosler will generally have less recoil than the 300 PRC as the 28 is firing lighter bullets.

Barrel Life

The 300 PRC will generally have a longer barrel life than the 28 Nosler.

When a cartridge is fired, the powder charge is ignited to push the bullet down the barrel. The resulting flame touches not only the base of the bullet, but the rifling as well. Particularly vulnerable is the rifling at the mouth of the chamber.

Heat is the enemy of barrel life, the hotter you get your barrel the faster the rifling will begin to wear out.

Both the 300 PRC and 28 Nosler are know as being tough on barrels, however the increased powder charges of the 28 are particularly brutal.

It should be noted that most hunters will not “shoot out” a barrel for multiple seasons with either cartridge. Those who report short barrel life are typically high-volume competition shooters that are shooting near maximum charge handloads to achieve as much muzzle velocity as possible.

To increase your barrel’s lifespan, it’s best to run either factory ammo or handloads below maximum charge. Furthermore, allowing the barrel to cool between strings of fire will also help extend your barrel life.

However, many shooters report a loss in peak accuracy for 28 Nosler around the 800-round mark, while the 300 PRC can last near 1,500 rounds before accuracy begins to suffer.

The reason for this massive difference is that the 28 fires a smaller diameter bullet with a larger powder charge. This means that all the additional heat is focused on a smaller area which increases erosion of the rifling.

Although most hunters should not experience any difference in accuracy for multiple seasons, a 300 PRC will typically have longer barrel life than a 28 Nosler.

Muzzle Velocity, Kinetic Energy, and Trajectory

Browse any shooting or hunting forum and you find tons of posts expounding on the benefits of 300 PRC ballistics or that 28 Nosler ballistics are the best in the business. This can create a lot of confusion among new shooters, so let’s take four of the most popular factory loads on the market and see how they stack up against each other!

For this comparison, we will analyze the Hornady 190 gr CX and 212 gr ELD-X offerings for 300 PRC. The 225 gr ELD Match load could also be considered, but as this load is designed for long-range target shooting and not a hunting cartridge, it was excluded. For 28 Nosler, the 160 gr Ballistic Tip and 175 grain AccuBond Long Range loads will be compared.

In terms of muzzle velocity, the Nosler rounds were superior to the Hornady factory ammo. Thanks to the added case capacity, the 160 gr Ballistic tip left the muzzle at 3,200 fps and 3,125 fps for the AccuBond. Comparatively, the 300 PRC 190 gr CX load has a muzzle velocity of 3,000 fps and 2,860 fps for the 212 gr ELD-X.

Both rounds have an incredibly flat trajectory that surpasses even the 6.5 Creedmoor and 300 Win Mag. However, the increased muzzle velocity of the 28 Nosler gives it a flatter trajectory than the 300 PRC by a respectable margin.

Perhaps the most interesting data point is how close the two Nosler rounds are at 800 yards, as they are only separated by 5.1” of bullet drop at -132.8” (160 gr) and -127.7” (175 gr). The 300 PRC Hornady loads experienced -147.3” (190 gr) and -154.9” (212 gr) of bullet drop at 800 yards.

Although the 28 Nosler may have superior ballistics in terms of muzzle velocity and trajectory, the 300 PRC has it beat in terms of kinetic energy. At 3,850 ft-lbs of muzzle energy, the 212 gr Hornady ELD-X round has the highest kinetic energy of all four selections of factory ammo at 0 through 800 yards.

The 28 Nosler is no slouch when it comes to kinetic energy though, as 3,637 ft-lbs for the 160 gr Ballistic Tip and 3,794 ft-lbs for the 175 gr AccuBond is nothing short of impressive. The 175 gr AccuBond in particular is very efficient at retaining its kinetic energy over distance, as it only trails the 212 gr ELD-X at 1,597 ft-lbs at 800 yards.

Ballistic Coefficient and Sectional Density

The 300 PRC has a slight edge over the 28 Nosler in terms of ballistic coefficient and sectional density.

Ballistic coefficient (BC) is a measure of how aerodynamic a bullet is and how well it will resist wind drift. Sectional density (SD) is a way to evaluate the penetration ability of a bullet based on its external dimensions, design, and weight.

Both rounds were developed with a high BC in mind. Nosler and Hornady wanted to create a cartridge that was extremely resistant to wind drift and having a flat trajectory. To achieve this, they built their cartridges around extremely aerodynamic bullet designs.

The 300 PRC 212 gr ELD-X and 190 gr CX from the previous section have a ballistic coefficient of 0.663 and 0.575, respectively. In contrast, the 160 gr Ballistic Tip has a BC of 0.531 while the 175 gr AccuBond has a higher BC at 0.648.

All four bullets have a high BC for their respective weight, meaning they will be extremely resistant to wind drift. However, the 300 PRC with its increased bullet weight, will buck the wind more efficiently.

In terms of sectional density, both cartridges are nearly identical. The 212 gr Hornady round has a SD of 0.319 while the 190 gr bullet measures at 0.286. In contrast, the 160 gr Nosler bullet has a SD of 0.283 and 0.310 for the 175 gr AccuBond.

With SD values this close, it is unlikely that a hunter nor a mule deer will be able to discern any difference in terms of penetration.

Hunting

Both the 300 PRC and 28 Nosler make excellent long range hunting cartridges for medium to large game like whitetail, mule deer, antelope, elk, and black bear.

The amount of kinetic energy that both cartridges bring to bear is impressive, with some loadings being capable of ethically harvesting an elk at 800 yards. This gives hunters an incredible amount of flexibility of when and where they can hunt.

Although both rounds are capable of long range hunting, proper practice needs to be done to ensure a clean kill on any animal you shoot at these distances.

Neither the 300 PRC nor 28 Nosler are suitable for varmint hunting as they are way too powerful for these small game animals. For this type of hunting, we would recommend a smaller (and less expensive) cartridge like the 223 Remington, 22-250, or 22 LR depending on the varmint in question.

For big game, it’s hard to say that either cartridge is superior to the other. Both have adequate kinetic energy and flat trajectory for long-range shooting. The 28 Nosler has slightly less recoil, which is ideal for longer range shots, while the 300 PRC has slightly more kinetic energy, which is good for ensuring a clean kill.

The bottom line is that both rounds are effective big game hunting cartridges so long as your shot placement is adequate.

Ammo and Rifle Cost/Availability

The 28 Nosler and 300 PRC are still relatively new cartridges on the market compared to old standbys like the 300 Win Mag, this means typically corresponds to low ammo availability and limited options in terms of different load options.

This couldn’t be more true than for the 300 PRC, as there are currently four different ammo options for it available on the market (three from Hornady and one from Federal). However, the 28 Nosler has considerably more factory ammo options at the time of writing. Most 28 Nosler ammo come from Nosler itself, however Hornady just released a new 162 gr ELD-X load while Browning has three different options available.

Although the Nosler round might have 3x more options available to its name, those rounds are typically more expensive than 300 PRC factory loads.

On average, 300 PRC will cost around $3/round, which is in stark contrast to Nosler factory ammo which runs over $5/round. The Hornady and Browning options for 28 Nosler are slightly less expensive at $4/round, but the 300 PRC is clearly less expensive to shoot.

When it comes to firearms, bolt action rifles with 20+” barrel lengths are the only options for both cartridges at the time of writing. As the 300 and 28 were built for long range precision shooting, a bolt action rifle that maximizes the capabilities of each is preferred.

Rifles are available for both calibers from Savage, Bergara, Christensen, and Browning. For precision rifle shooting (PRS) competitors, long range competition-ready rifles for 300 PRC are available from Ruger, Savage, Barrett, and others.

One other aspect to consider is rifle cost, as most all standard hunting rifle offerings will run you close to $1,000 or more for each cartridge. Competition rifles for 300 PRC typically start around $2,000 and go up from there circa summer 2022.

Reloading

If you like to handload your own ammo, both cartridges offer you a lot of options for customization in terms of projectiles and powders to make the perfect reloads for your competition or hunting rifle.

Although currently there are only a few factory loads for both cartridges, reloading offers shooters considerably more versatility to tune your favorite 7mm or 30-caliber bullets to your rifle.

There’s no denying that there are many popular 7mm cartridges, such as the 7×57 Mauser, 7mm SAUM, 7mm-08 Rem, 7mm WSM, and the 7mm Weatherby Magnum. However, the 7mm cannot compare to the unabashed love affair that North America has with the 0.308” bullet diameter.

Some of the most popular cartridges in the USA fire 308-caliber, such as the 300 Win Mag, 308 Winchester, and 30-06 Springfield. This means that there will be considerably more reloading options in terms of bullets for the 300 PRC.

This is not to say that the 7mm is underrepresented, as virtually every bullet manufacturer like Norma, Barnes, Berger, Nosler, and Hornady have 7mm bullet options available for reloading your 28 Nosler. It just means that there are more options available for the 300 PRC.

In terms of reloading data, Hornady and Nosler provide detailed load data on their respective websites. Other powder manufacturers like Hodgdon also have published load data online.

Powder selection for both cartridges is fairly diverse, with Retumbo, H1000, and IMR 7977 being common between both calibers.

Sourcing brass for reloading might be a little trickier, as neither caliber is currently in military or police use and I’m guessing you don’t have a lot of 404 Jeffery or 375 Ruger brass just lying around to form your own cases! The best practice is to retain your brass from factory ammo or purchase new or once fired brass.

Reloading is a great way to help offset the rather steep cost of ammo for both cartridges and can really enhance your downrange accuracy if you plan on shooting long range.

Final Shots: 300 PRC vs 28 Nosler

The 300 PRC and 28 Nosler represent an evolution in long range rifle cartridge development. Instead of trying to make better bullets for old cartridges, Hornady and Nosler started with the ideal bullet and built the cartridge around it.

The 300 PRC is Hornady’s attempt to maximize the performance of the 30-caliber bullet. Utilizing incredibly sleek, high BC bullets, Hornady created a true magnum cartridge that can easily score hits at 1,000 yards and beyond.

The 28 Nosler came into the shooting scene riding off the coattails of the success of the 26 Nosler and sought to push the envelope of the 7mm bullet. Nosler wanted to create a hotrod magnum round that capitalized on the naturally flat trajectory of the 7mm round.

Deciding between the 28 Nosler and 300 PRC comes down to personal preference and your goals as a shooter. The 28 Nosler has less recoil and is flat shooting thanks to higher muzzle velocity at the cost of reduced barrel life. In contrast, the 300 PRC has slightly higher recoil and muzzle energy but has longer barrel life.

No matter which cartridge you choose, make sure you stock up on ammunition here at Ammo.com and I’ll see you on the range!

We’ve all experienced it. We head to the grocery store to pick up a few things, only to see that there’s a sale on our favorite meats. If you’re like many people who love a good sale, you stock your cart with raw chicken, steak, or even breakfast meats in an effort to save yourself both time and money in the long run. And in the midst of grabbing as many packs as you possibly can, you think to yourself: “How long can meat stay safely frozen?” And, “Does frozen meat go bad?”

Whether you ask these questions in-store or at home when shuffling through your freezer and finding a tucked away pack of steaks, the topic of frozen meats is one that may deliver different answers depending on who you ask. But we’re here to finally put the question to rest, as the USDA states that as long as all foods are stored at 0 °F or lower in your freezer, they are safe to eat indefinitely.

It’s important to note, though, that while food stored constantly at 0 °F will always be safe, the quality of the food once defrosted can still suffer over time. It may not make you sick, but it won’t necessarily taste like freshly-cooked meat, either.

So, to help you stay on track and make sure you’re making the most of your freezer space, we’ve broken down what you should keep in mind when it comes to freezing both raw and cooked meat, poultry, seafood, and more.

How to safely store meat in the freezer

If you’ve decided to place your meat in the freezer, ensuring that you’re doing it the right way is the first step to maximizing freshness. As the USDA notes, you want to remember that the quality of your meat at the time of freezing determines its frozen state condition. If you can’t use it quickly, freeze items sooner rather than later. Food frozen at peak quality will taste better once thawed than foods “frozen near the end of their useful life,” according to USDA food safety guidelines.

While lengthy freezer storage can affect the quality of any food, it’s also worth noting that raw meat and poultry maintain their quality longer than cooked meat and poultry do. This is because of the moisture lost during the cooking process. Either way, once it’s in the freezer, you want to ensure that all foods are stored at 0 °F or lower to retain the color, vitamin content, texture, and — of course — flavor. Freezing to 0 °F also inactivates any microbes — meaning bacteria, yeasts, and molds — that may be in food.

But what about actually storing meat? Can it be tucked away in its original packaging? The simple answer to that is yes, it is safe to freeze your meat and poultry in the original packaging. If you plan to keep your meat or poultry frozen in its original package for a longer period of time (more than two months) or happen to see a tear in its original packaging, however, the FDA notes that you’ll want to overwrap the packages with airtight plastic wrap, freezer paper, or heavy-duty foil, or simply place the package inside of a plastic bag.

Can meat go bad in the freezer?

Freezing meat is a simple and effective way to stock up on your protein of choice, and meat doesn’t technically “go bad” while in the freezer. As the USDA website states, “Because freezing keeps food safe almost indefinitely, recommended storage times are for quality only.” So, here are a few things to keep in mind to help determine the quality of your meat once unfrozen.

How to defrost meat safely

Keep in mind that your thawing process affects the freshness of your meat, too. As the USDA cautions, never thaw foods out on the kitchen counter or in your garage, basement, car, outdoors, or on the porch. Any of these methods can make your food unsafe to eat. There are three safe ways to thaw frozen foods. The first and most recommended is slow, safe thawing in the refrigerator — overnight or over a day or two, depending on the size. A quicker method is to put your meat in a leak-proof plastic bag and let it sit, fully immersed, in cold water. After thawing in cold water, cook immediately. Finally, you can defrost food using the microwave, but again, plan to then cook it immediately. Also, when microwaving to defrost, the food can actually start to cook in some areas.

Is freezer burnt meat safe to eat?

Contrary to popular belief, if your meat (or frozen food in general) develops freezer burn, it’s actually not unsafe to eat. It may not taste great, but just cut the freezer-burned areas off either pre- or post-cooking and enjoy the remainder of your meal. If it is heavily freezer-burned though, the quality will most likely be compromised and you may want to toss it.

How long does meat last in the freezer?

To reiterate, since freezing your food at 0 °F or below keeps it safe pretty much indefinitely, you can defrost and eat any frozen meats or poultry (that has been stored correctly) at any given time. That doesn’t mean, however, that its quality will stay good forever. For the best quality, the FDA recommends that you consume frozen meats, poultry, and seafood within the following timeframes:

Beef, Lamb, Pork, and Veal

If you plan to stock up on fresh meats like beef, lamb, pork, or veal anytime soon, you’ll want to know that — depending on the cut of meat — they can retain their quality in the freezer for months on end. Steak, particularly, is recommended to stay frozen for six to 12 months, while chops have a recommended freezer life of four to six months. Roasts on the other hand, can still offer a quality taste after being frozen from four to 12 months. Other meats like tongue, liver, and chitterlings only retain their quality for three to four months.

Processed pork — such as bacon and sausage (whether pork, chicken, or turkey), hot dogs, and lunch meats — tastes best when kept frozen for one to two months, while raw hamburger, ground, and stew meats can last between three to four months.

Poultry

Like the above, fresh poultry items have a timeframe for the quality of freshness, too — but it depends on which part of the poultry you’re freezing. If freezing whole chicken or turkey, it can last in your freezer for up to one year. Chicken and turkey parts can last for nine months while giblets are suggested to be stored for a shorter time span of three to four months.

Fish and Shellfish

As fish and shellfish include multiple options, the time span of their quality differs, too. Lean fish can stay in your freezer for six to eight months, while fatty fish is recommended to stay tucked away for two to three months. The FDA recommends consuming frozen cooked fish within four to six months, and smoked fish within two months. And finally, fresh shrimp, scallops, crawfish, and squid can stay in your freezer and retain their quality for three to six months.

Cooked and Leftover Meats

If you’re left with an overflow of cooked meats after a delicious meal, don’t worry; those can be frozen, too. The FDA also says that meat leftovers — including cooked meat, meat dishes, and gravy and meat broth — can all be stored for two to three months in your freezer. Cooked poultry on the other hand, depends on what you’ve cooked. Fried chicken and plain, cooked pieces of chicken can last for four months; cooked poultry dishes for four to six months; meats covered with broth or gravy up to six months; and lastly, cooked chicken nuggets and patties for one to three months.

Ultimately though, no matter what type of meat or poultry you choose to freeze, if it is thawed in the refrigerator, you’re safe to refreeze it without cooking it. As the USDA cautions, though, any foods left outside the refrigerator for longer than a two hour time span (or a single hour in temperatures above 90 °F), should not be refrozen.

Ready to cook up some of that meat and poultry from your freezer while it will still taste its best? Get some inspiration from our lists of light dinner ideas, easy chicken dinner recipes, and ground beef recipes for busy weeknights.

Turkey hunting is a trendy sport that involves the pursuit of wild turkeys. It is a sport that has weathered the dynamic tales of time and has become a time-honored tradition. I supposed that this sport dates to the Native Americans, and then even the European settlers took hunting turkeys to pass the time till it got embedded into their culture.

There are over 7 million wild turkeys in North America. Usually, many people engage in the hunt for turkeys in the fall, and some also believe it is a dying activity. It is practiced in the countries of North America, Mexico, and Canada, amongst many others.

One of the most important things to remember when going turkey hunting is identifying the various varieties. There are many types of wild turkeys, and some are meant to be hunted, and some aren’t, so if you have never hunted before or are an amateur hunter, you need to know how to differentiate between these species.

There is Hen, Jake Turkey, and Tom Turkey. The Tom turkey is also called Long Beard Turkey and Gobbler Turkey. Hens are female turkeys and have characteristics like being small, having dark brown and dull hued feathers, short tail feathers, and short leg length.

Jake and Tom are Male turkeys and are often very difficult to differentiate. Every turkey hunter has a different answer to how one differentiates between the Jake and Tom turkeys, so to answer this dilemma, we have compiled a list of various ways to differentiate between these two types of turkeys.

There is a fundamental difference before starting with the list: Jake is an immature male bird whose age would be one human year while a gobbler is a mature turkey of more than two human years.

It is vital to differentiate between them because it is illegal to shoot specific turkeys species in some countries, and no one wants to get on the wrong side of the law. This will often not be a legal rule, but some people feel guilty killing a young turkey and are uncomfortable about shooting them. There is nothing wrong with hunting either Tom or Long Beard, except when it is illegal if you are happy with your decision.

Moving forward, when you can plan the type of turkey in front of you, it all comes down to the turkey’s looks and behavior. From beards, tail feathers to the color of the head, gobbles, and behavior, these factors help determine These types to differentiate between Jake Turkey and the Long Beard Turkey.

Below is a list of all the differences and explanations for them to understand Jake Turkey’s characteristics and the Gobbler Turkey.

Turkey Beards

Turkey Beards is a key identifier. It also helps one distinguish between females and males. The Hens have dark brown breast feathers while the males have black breast feathers.

In the males, Jake Turkey has short beards of about 2 to 3 inches, while the Long Beard Turkey has beards of the length up to 10 inches, which is also the cause of its name. Often the Long Beard Turkeys also have multiple beards showing their maturity.

Only Long Beard Turkeys don’t need to host multiple beards, but only rarely will you run across a Jake Turkey with multiple beards, while a Hen Turkey might also have a beard. The beard of a Hen Turkey will usually be very wispy and short. Many regulations permit you to hunt Turkeys with beards.

Tail Fan

Another common identifier is the Tail Fans. During the summer, Jake Turkey molts and then starts to lose its feathers. Almost all feathers get shed except for the ones in the region of the beard and the central tail feathers, thus resulting in the central tail feathers being above the rest of the fan when the rest of the feathers grow back in.

This extra length causes the fan to look uneven and awkward, which can be seen prominently when the turkey walks around. In the turkey’s second summer, it sheds all its feathers, so they grow back uniformly.

This shows a sign of maturity, so only Gobbler Turkeys will have a uniform tail fan while Jake Turkey will have an uneven and awkward fan. Sometimes, due to forests’ wild nature, even a Gobbler Turkey might have an uneven fan because of losing a few feathers to predators. Still, on looking closely, the unevenness will not be as much as Jake Turkey’s.

Head Colour

Tom Turkeys and Jake Turkeys typically have the same head colors and are a lot different from those of their female counterparts, but there is a slight difference between their heads during the spring breeding season.

Jake Turkey has a paler hue to their usual red and blue heads during this season, while Tom Turkey has a vibrant array of red shades and blue shades to their usual head color.

These vibrant colors help in attracting mates. Some white spots on their head are also found, making it easy to differentiate between the two turkeys during the hunt for the mature turkey bird.

Turkey Spurs

Turkey Spurs are also one of the common ways hunters differentiate between Jake Turkeys and Long Beard Turkeys. It helps determine the age accurately. Jake Turkeys have short and conical spurs that are slightly rounder.

Their spurs are around half an inch in length. On the other hand, a Long Beard Turkey has slightly longer spurs that are straight and pointed. They are longer than half an inch in length. As the Turkeys grow older, their spurs get more curved and hooked in form.

Gobbles

Gobbles are an identifier that requires patience and complete silence. It requires the hunter to use their hearing skills to their best as it is based on the kind of gobble the turkey in front is producing.

Gobbler Turkeys give a long, loud, and very good gobble, and in comparison to that, a gobble produced by a Jake Turkey is much softer and shorter and often not as good. If you are in a position where a Jake Turkey is making gobble sounds with the Gobbler Turkeys, you will probably be able to see the difference.

Jake Turkey’s gobble sounds like the noise that fellow hunters will be made to blend into the environment, while the gobble of a Gobbler Turkey is loud and like a response to the Death Valley Box call.

Behavior

Complimenting the animal kingdom’s general assumption, the older turkeys are more aggressive and loud compared to their younger flock. The Long Beard Turkeys are much more forward and louder in their behavior than the Jack Turkeys, which is why if a Jake Turkey is in the presence of a Long Beard Turkey, then it might not even strut near it.

Although this does not apply to the time when there is a group of Jake Turkeys, they are bolder when teamed up against a single Long Beard Turkey. In hunting, one must be aware of such nuances and decoy strategies.

A weaker, long beard may be more willing to approach hen decoys if there is no other male decoy around, while more robust, more aggressive gobblers may come running in to kick your jake decoys out of town.

All these identifiers are essential, but none of them apply solely individually. They need to be utilized with the complete sense and awareness of the hunter other identifiers’ backingers. Ensure all the conditions before you pull a trigger because a blunder like this cannot be rectified.

Often a hen might be bearded, or a Long Beard Turkey has no spurs or has an irregular fan, while a Jake Turkey might produce a gobble loud and long.

It is essential to be utterly aware while hunting because one is prone to accidents, including injuring a bird that is illegal to hunt or shooting a fellow hunter who was imitating the bird calls with a red and blue hat.

Turkey Hunting is a fun sport that many families enjoy, so to have a hearty experience, make sure you understand all the points carefully and then go into the field.

The title of this post is not referring to the stove bans in several states during summer months, which are becoming more and more frequent.

Stove Bans

For those who are unfamiliar with these bans, different government agencies often ban the use of campfires and any stove without an On/Off valve to turn off the stove. Two popular backpacking stove types; solid fuel (usually Esbit) and alcohol stoves are usually explicitly banned. I do question the wisdom of banning solid fuel stoves, which I no longer use due to the high cost of the fuel.

The problem with alcohol stoves, along with any stove or campfire is user error, or perhaps better stated; a lot of people are plain stupid or careless. Except for when it is dark at night, the flame from alcohol stoves is difficult to see. Apparently some people can knock over their alcohol stove while in use (I find this difficult to do and have never had any problem like this) and some have started forest fires because they cannot use an alcohol stove properly.

I have no problem obeying these stove bans. They are put in place for a good reason.

Cost Advantages of Alcohol Fuel Stoves

It is pretty easy to make an alcohol stove from recycled soda cans or cat food cans. If you might be interested in building your own stove do a Google search for “soda can stove” or “pepsi can stove” or” fancy feast stove.”

Several years ago I did a cost analysis of several fuels and found that liquid gas stoves and alcohol fuel stoves were much, much cheaper to operate than gas canister or solid fuel stoves.

Since then I have mostly been using liquid fuel stoves that run on white gas (such as Coleman Fuel), or an alcohol stove using denatured alcohol as its fuel. At the time both were easy to find and inexpensive compared to other fuels.

Obsolescence

Earlier this year, in my long-term 35 year review of the Gaz Globetrotter stove, I complained that over the years several of my canister stoves became obsolete. Not because the stoves quit working, but because the fuel canisters were no longer available. The inability to purchase the fuel canisters rendered the stoves obsolete. Denatured alcohol is no longer legal to sell or purchase in California, which just about makes my alcohol stove obsolete, as I found this fuel to be best for several reasons.

Well, Nick You Live in California . . .

My friends who live in other states often question why I continue to live in the People’s Republic of California with all our regulations and high taxes. The reason I don’t move is because of our great climate and so many outdoor recreation opportunities.

But the people of California didn’t ban denatured alcohol. It was banned by a government agency that doesn’t have a single elected representative of the people, the California Air Resources Board. From Wikipedia:

The Administrative State

A law professor at George Mason University School of Law, Michael Greve, coined the term Administrative State. Greve defines this as,

Professor Greve advocates that this is contrary to the intention of our founding fathers and these government agencies become corrupt seeking power over the people, resulting in despotism.

Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy

Jerry Pournelle , the famous polymath, observed this shift in bureaucracies and developed “Pournelle’s iron law of bureaucracy”:

Later Pournelle refined the law to make it easier to understand:

. . . in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representatives who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.

Government by and for The People

Today it is impossible for any one person to keep up with all the laws passed by local, county, state, federal legislatures, plus all the non-elected entities in our country. It is especially difficult to track all the bureaucracies that now create most of our laws.

Yeah, But That Can’t Happen in the State I Live In

Don’t be so sure. A great example is vehicle emission laws. Years ago, California adopted much more stringent standards than the Federal Government. For many years automakers built two separate models of each car: one for sale in California and one for sale in the other 49 states. Trying to adhere to the many demands of competing agencies that included more and more separate testing and reporting, the carmakers gave up and now build their cars and light trucks to meet the more stringent car and light standards of California. Many states have adopted California’s periodic emission testing methods and expensive testing equipment.

Along with this, we have wealthy moneyed organizations in California lobbying in other states and in Federal Government to institute California’s “better way” across the entire country.

Why California Banned Denatured Alcohol.

I won’t get into the scientific particulars, especially since I am not a scientist. California has banned most consumer and industrial products that contain volatile organic compounds (VOC). Literally thousands of products have been banned and manufacturers must reformulate their products for sale in the Golden state. The range of products includes paints, varnishes, waxes, cleaning, disinfecting, cosmetic, degreasing and hobby products. California has determined VOCs contribute to climate change.

In California we can no longer buy Mineral Sprits now either. As I explained in these two threads about my TrailStar shelter and my Mega Light shelter, diluting silicone with mineral spirits is a popular way to seam seal a tent. No longer the case in my state.

Instead of a long list of affected products, I will just say that we now have cleaners that do not clean, paint remover that doesn’t remove paint, paint and lacquer thinners that don’t thin, paints that don’t paint well, and so on.

There are states nearby that still sell products that work. Often our out of state camping trips include a stop along the way to buy anything I am running low on. A recent trip obtained these items.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

The EPA has thousands and thousands of documents relating to VOCs. Most that I have read are concerned with personal health effects in their handling, especially when used indoors. From what I have read, the EPA’s focus is on communication to warn of side effects if the materials are not handled safely per the products instructions for use and storage – in other words – read the damn instructions!

Keep in mind I haven’t done a comprehensive review of EPA documentation of VOCs. So take my observations with a grain of salt.

Alternative Fuels for Alcohol Stoves

Everclear (190 proof)

This is a brand name for grain alcohol that contains 95% alcohol. I hear it works really well. But few states allow its sale because it is alcohol that can be consumed – the same stuff you find in almost all liquors.

HEET (yellow bottle version)

This stuff works well in an alcohol stove. BUT, it is 95% methanol and can be dangerous to our health. Not only from the fumes of the product itself, but from the fumes generated when burned in a stove. The product is toxic and can even be absorbed into the body from skin contact. I haven’t used it for probably 10 years or so.

You do not want to use HEET that is sold in the red bottles. It works poorly in a stove.

99% Isopropyl Alcohol

Also known as rubbing alcohol. Lower alcohol content (91%, 70%, 50%, etc.) means the alcohol content has been diluted with mostly water. 99% Isopropyl will burn in an alcohol stove. Actually it will boil water faster than most other fuels used in these kinds of stoves. The amount of soot leftover on the stove and pot is considerable. For me, it is so bad that the fuel is a very poor choice for stove fuel.

So that’s about it for fuel options that are viable for use in alcohol stoves.

When (not if) your state follows the lead of the People’s Republic of California, then your alcohol stove will be rendered obsolete.

Despite the axe’s status as one of humanity’s most ancient and widespread tools, many modern preppers overlook the value an axe adds to a well-rounded survival kit. But that’s a mistake — we consider some form of an axe one of the four core bladed tools everyone should have on hand.

Axes are devastatingly effective against hard materials like wood and metal, exploiting the basic laws of physics and leverage to drive an edge through a surface with maximum force and minimum calories burned. This combination of effectiveness and efficiency makes an axe a lifesaver in situations as varied as escaping a burning office building to surviving the winter wilderness of the Pacific Northwest.

More: Not sure about all the different types of bladed tools and how to mix the right types together for your needs?

More: Survival hatchet review

A good axe can do a lot more than just chopping, though. If an axe has the right beard, poll, and handle design, you can “choke up” on it with your hand and use it for knife-type tasks like carving, game processing, shaving fuzz sticks, and similar fine work.

Sometimes the right axe actually works better than a field knife for certain fine cutting tasks, because the configuration pictured above places your hand and fingers very close to the working edge, giving you more control and allowing your sense of proprioception to engage in a way that it can’t with all but the smallest knives.

Full review details on the best survival axes, our criteria, contenders, and more below the fold.

If you just want to check this off your prepping list and move on without spending too much time or money, the jack-of-all-trades $80 Estwing Camper’s Axe is a heavy, steel-handled, ultra-durable classic with a great reputation. As a general-purpose survival axe from a reputable company, the Eastwing is a capable chopper that works for any type of user (skilled or unskilled) in any environment (country, suburbs, or city).

The $235 Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe is a legendary axe that has dominated the compact survival axe niche for decades and is widely known by the acronym “SFA.” You pay a little extra for the name, but this amazing tool is worth the premium. At only 19 inches and two pounds, it’s small enough to toe the line of being a hatchet, but gives you that axe-level power in a package you can easily carry on foot.

The very best emergency axe for city preppers is the tried-and-true $240 Fire Axe Inc JP Special 4lb Pick Head Axe with synthetic handle. Expensive, but worth it: The JP Special is a high-quality axe carried by firefighters and frequently recommended in firefighter forums because it’s a dependable beast of a chopping, breaching, and demolition tool. Because this is a personal axe and not a truck axe, it’s compact enough (though just barely) to be carried short distances on a belt or pack.

The $180 Hults Bruk Kisa Medium Sized Felling Axe is right in the sweet spot of quality, features, size, and price for an axe that’s built for processing large amounts of forest wood. It’s large enough to handle tough homesteading tasks but small enough to carry a while on foot if you needed to. Hults Bruk is a legendary brand popular among bushcrafters and preppers.

If you’d rather have just a little bit more portability in an axe that’s still capable of handling rural tasks, check out the slightly cheaper $150 Helko Journeyman. However, the Journeyman’s head shape is more suited for wood splitting than it is for knife-type work like carving.

The best budget axe for rural preppers is the $50 Council Tool 2.25# 24” Boy Axe. Made in the US (which is harder to find the cheaper you go) and based on a famous design used by the US Forest Service. You’ll sacrifice fit and finish, plus it’s meaningfully longer and heavier than the more expensive alternatives, but it will serve you well in a pinch.

Why you should trust us

I’ve professionally reviewed bladed tools for 6 years, personally used them in the bush for 35 years, and have been a prepper for 10 years.

We’ve spent an additional 55 hours preparing this review by talking with other experts in the field — ranging from firefighters and first responders to bushcrafters and preppers — and researching countless product reviews and social forum threads.

Top contenders and our selection process

We narrowed down the field to the top 20 survival axes of different sizes and features. From that list we received samples from top manufacturers to compliment the models we already owned.

Any of the axes in the top 20 will serve you well in any type of emergency, but we’ve narrowed down the list further to the ten best picks for different types of preppers in different environments.

View the spreadsheet in Google Docs

Note that axe data, particularly weights, are often wrong or misleading on ecommerce sites. For example, many sellers only list the weight of the axe head, not the overall axe. Where possible, we’ve used data directly from the manufacturer or from speciality retail sites that take care to get it right.

We’ve focused here on more lightweight, packable axes that are big enough to do useful felling work but small enough to carry on-foot for modest distances.

Our final choices come from a mix of reputation and reviews from other experts we trust, combined with our own hands-on experiences with many of these products and brands.

Axe basics

Axes are two simple machines put together: a wedge and a lever. All the members of the axe family (including hatchets and tomahawks) share the same basic anatomy:

• Head: The wedge-shaped weight at the top of the axe that does the chopping.
• Eye: The large hole in the head that attaches around the handle.
• Blade: The part of the axe head with the edge on it that does the chopping. Sometimes called the ‘bit’.
• Poll: The part of the axe head opposite the blade.
• Beard: The part of the blade that extends downward in a triangle shape.

Survival axe considerations

Weight distribution

An axe is more effective when most of the weight is in the head. When the weight is more evenly distributed between the handle and head, the laws of physics make it less “punchy”.

So when you’re comparing models, keep in mind that two axes with the exact same length, materials, and weight can have very different chopping capabilities.

Head shape

The edge shape and thickness determines how well an axe handles different materials.

A flatter edge shape puts more of the edge in contact with the thing being chopped on each stroke, making it great for wood and other natural materials.

But that same flat edge could more easily get stuck in a totally flat surface (like a wall or door), which is why some demolition or “fireman’s” axes have half-moon shaped heads.

Those curvy edges can be awful to chop rounded natural materials with, though, which is why this factor matters when thinking about your environment.

Head thickness and cutting vs. splitting

A wide axe head (think of a “fat” pyramid) is better at using that wide angle to forcefully split pieces apart. Like splitting already-cut logs of firewood into sections: a fat wedge forces the wood apart through opposing pressure, more so than biting into the material and slicing through it.

A thinner axe head acts more like a knife cutting through the material, and is better suited to cutting tasks like felling trees or limbing logs.

We generally prefer the more cutting-oriented heads that are more popular with today’s bushcrafters for their versatility in doing many different kinds of non-chopping camp chores, but for most preppers the real-world performance and usage differences between the different head thicknesses and shapes represented in this guide are subtle and not worth obsessing over.

Poll shape

You can flip an axe around and use the poll as a secondary tool.

Polls come in two varieties: hammer and spike. There’s also a ‘pick’ axe poll, but in this guide we use ‘spike’ and ‘pick’ interchangeably since they’re basically the same thing.

Hammer polls allow the axe to double as a hammer. They’re also generally safer than spike polls. There is some folklore around not using an axe poll as a hammer, but these concerns are vastly overrated. Lightweight striking is fine — it takes a lot of beating against a hard surface to deform the eye of a good axe, so go ahead and hammer those tent stakes and forget about that myth you read on the internet.

The spike or pick poll increases the axe’s effectiveness as a demolition and breaching tool, which is why you see this feature on tomahawks and dedicated breaching axes. A spike poll can also be used for digging, and is especially good at digging through hard or rocky ground.

Handle length

The mechanics of leverage means the length of the handle matters a lot for how well an axe chops. Even an inch can make a difference.

That creates a tricky tradeoff between portability and chopping ability. We favor a balance between these two factors and it’s reflected in our recommendations.

But if you were looking for a big, old-growth hardwood chopper that’ll never leave your garage, for example, you’d clearly want a longer handle.

Some handles are meant to break and be replaced

Like tires on a car, a wooden axe handle is a wear part that is designed to break down with use and be replaced periodically. Axe handle breakage is a normal thing for well-used axes, which is why hardware stores stock so many wooden replacement handles.

Breakage is also a factor for fiberglass handles that are rated to handle 1,000 pounds or more of lateral force. But it normally takes some abuse to get there.

Overstrike is a major cause of breakage for wooden and synthetic handles — especially among amateur users — and will take this valuable tool out of commission until repaired. Overstrike happens when you swing the head too far out and the part of the handle right beneath the head whacks into the log.

Common handle materials

Wood:

• Pros: light, absorbs shock well, and is infinitely replaceable with a little effort.
• Cons: easiest to break or splinter.

Synthetics (mostly fiberglass):

• Pros: lightweight, very strong, good shock absorption.
• Cons: very difficult to repair or replace.

Metal:

• Pros: strongest, lets the axe double as a pry bar.
• Cons: very heavy, transmits shock right to your wrists and arms.

We take those tradeoffs into consideration when thinking about urban vs. rural and skilled vs. amateur preppers. For example, if you live far away from the woods or if you have no idea how to go about fashioning a replacement axe handle, then you might pick a synthetic-handled axe and hope it never breaks.

Don’t plan to fell big trees in a disaster

For every prepper who’s within bug-out distance of a forest, chopping wood for fire and shelter is a necessary and appropriate part of surviving.

But “chopping wood” does not equal “chopping down trees with an axe.” The former is essential, while the latter is a very bad idea for anything but the smallest trees — unless you’re already experienced enough that this guide is pointless.

Felling trees is far more dangerous than it looks, especially with an axe (regardless of axe size). No matter how easy it looks on YouTube, you should not attempt to fell trees that are larger than about half a foot in diameter.

It’s also the case that even with chainsaws and trucks to haul wood in, it can take weeks to prepare enough firewood to heat a cabin for a full winter in any geography where it gets really cold. With axes it can take part of a summer, and that’s if you already know what you’re doing.

If the situation absolutely requires you to fell a tree, and there’s just no getting around it, then you should use a saw — preferably a chainsaw. This is still quite dangerous, but it’s less insane than an untrained axe user wailing away on a large tree.

Best axe for most people: Estwing Camper’s Axe

• Price: $$
• Specs: 26” length, 3.4 lbs weight, all-steel construction, shock-absorbing handle, general-purpose head shape
• Pros: indestructible, great brand reputation, widely available, inexpensive
• Cons: heavy, low splitting ability for the weight

Who should buy this: The $80 Estwing Camper’s Axe is ideal for anyone who lives in a city or suburb, where space is at a premium and they may have to chop materials besides wood.

It’s also good for someone with little or no experience using an axe, who will be prone to overstrike and other axe abuse that could quickly break a wooden or synthetic handle.

At 3.4 pounds, this axe is heavier than the more expensive alternatives, making it less preferable long on-foot bug outs. But it works well for bugging in, vehicle bug outs, or shorter on-foot trips.

If you want to optimize and specialize for a specific environment, activity, or skill level, then you can do better than the Estwing — but for affordable value and all-around flexibility, it’s impossible to beat and will last you a lifetime.

Benefits: The Estwing’s all-steel design makes it strong enough to withstand serious abuse like hard hammering or overstriking, so it’s forgiving for unskilled or fatigued/injured users.

This axe is compact enough to be easily stored in a closet or under a bed, or fit into a pack for short distances. It’s tough enough to be used to hack through a door or wall. The hammer poll can be used for striking in a pinch.

The Estwing’s head shape and edge profile are along the lines of a Hudson Bay pattern, but it’s very thin. The thinness gives it plenty of bite in our own testing and makes it a very capable cutter despite its poor weight distribution. But it will stick in wood and is not wide enough for serious log splitting.

The large beard means you can choke up on it for carving and slicing and get your hand behind the edge — but the thin, diamond shape around the edge makes this uncomfortable. So this is not a general-purpose bushcraft axe, and is not popular with bushcrafters.

The handle steel is relatively soft to help with toughness and shock absorption, but it means you can bend the axe if you attempt to pry with it. But it can be beat back into shape if that happens.

Downsides: The Estwing’s all-steel construction has three main drawbacks: lack of shock absorption, poor edge retention, and poor length-to-weight ratio. The first downside affects comfort and fatigue, and the latter two affect performance.

The steel handle transmits the shock of axe blows directly to the user’s wrists and arms. This increases fatigue when using the axe for long period. The shock-absorbing handle and softer steel help with this, somewhat, but it’s still an issue.

The ductile steel that makes the handle of this axe so tough also makes the thin, V-grind edge more quick to roll and dull than the harder, convex edges of the other axes in this guide.

The Camp Axe’s overall length is much shorter than competing wood-handled axes in the ~3.5lb range, which also reduces chopping ability by reducing leverage.

In short, this axe gives up some efficiency and portability (despite its compact size) in exchange for its incredible, amateur-friendly indestructibility.

Brand and product reputation: Our research and first-hand experience with Estwing axes indicates that this American-made brand has a sterling reputation with campers, construction workers, preppers, and outdoorsmen. We have found no significant complaints about the quality of Estwing products and consider this to be a very reliable family of tools.

Overall upgrade pick: Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe

• Price: $$$$
• Specs: 19” length, 2b weight, hickory handle, hand-forged carbon steel head
• Pros: unmatched reputation, iconic bushcraft and camping tool, excellent for cutting, carving, and general bushcraft chores
• Cons: less suited for splitting, you pay a bit extra for the brand name

Who should buy this: The $235 “GB SFA” is the best compact survival axe for pack-weight-conscious preppers in the hardwood, arboreal forests of North America. This is also for preppers who want to buy the reigning champ and enjoy the resulting peace of mind from knowing you’ve got a premium tool with legendary status and celebrity endorsements.

Benefits: At 19 inches long and only 2 pounds in weight, the SFA is really more of a large hatchet than an axe, with a head that’s optimized more for cutting than splitting (thought it does split), and that can be very effectively choked up on for use in place of a knife for carving, slicing, food and game preparation, and other fine cutting chores.

The SFA is so effective at general-purpose cutting tasks that some bushcrafters who use one prefer it to the fixed-blade field knife for everything but batoning.

Downsides: The Gransfors price premium is the only downside peculiar to this axe, and it’s not nearly as high on this particular model as it is on some other axes in the Gransfors line. Any other downsides of the SFA are shared by their similarly-compact competitors — namely, the compact size reduces chopping ability and user safety compared to a full-sized axe.

Brand and product reputation: This amazing tool is the gold standard in this space, even to the point of being an important part of the cultural history of axes. Note the outsized popularity of this brand and model — thanks in part to an endorsement by famous bushcrafter Ray Mears — has created an online backlash by people who automatically dislike something so popular. Ignore them.

City and suburbs upgrade pick: Fire Axe Inc JP Special

• Price: $$$$
• Specs: 28” length, 4lbs weight, 1200lb-rated fiberglass handle, forged and chromed carbon steel head
• Pros: indestructible, great brand reputation, premium professional demolition tool
• Cons: heavy, better for demolition than wood chopping

The $240 Fire Axe Inc JP Special 4lb Pick Head Axe is perfect for escape, rescue, demolition, and B&E in urban environments. Even though you might end up chopping down trees in Central Park, our top choices for people in developed areas are based on a handling a wide mix of materials and activities.

And when we have to choose between axes great for chopping wood vs. anything else, in this category we optimize for more urban needs like navigating damaged buildings, breaking into locked rooms and containers, making access holes for ventilation or surveillance, or busting up furniture for firewood.

Note: The above link takes you to the Fire Axe Inc JP Special with a wood handle (item# JPSW). The same axe is available with a fiberglass handle (item# JPSF) for the same price, but you need to contact the company and ask for that specific model.

Benefits: The heavy, chrome polished, carbon steel head will chop right through nails, wiring, and other tough industrial materials without taking damage.

But it’s still capable of chopping wood. Although if you’re using it on trees, the blade’s width and shape make it much better for splitting than cutting.

The pick on the back of the head is used for creating holes in sheetrock or wood, and lets the axe operate as a pry bar to force open doors and windows.

The 1200-pound rated fiberglass handle is light yet strong enough to pry with. The low weight of the handle, when combined with the heavy head, makes the axe a devastating splitter despite its short length.

Downsides: The main downside to this axe is the weight. At four pounds, it’s intended to ride for short distances on the belt.

The pick head also prevents it from easily being used as a hammer, although you can hammer with the side of the head if you have to.

The blade profile and ergonomics make it unsuited for common bushcraft tasks that involve fine work, so it has to be paired with a field knife for those jobs.

Brand and product reputation: This axe is commonly recommended on firefighter and first responder forums as an aspirational product, i.e. a speciality, premium tool that you spring for when you’re serious about your work, and that you carry with pride and plan to hand down to your children.

Because this is a niche product carried at speciality outlets, there aren’t many traditional product reviews of it, but all the discussions of it we’ve read are highly positive with no reports of flaws or quality control problems.

Best overall rural axe: Hults Bruk Kisa Medium Felling Axe

• Price: $$$$
• Specs: 26” length, 2,86 lbs weight, 2lb head weight, linseed oil-treated hickory handle, hand-forged carbon steel head
• Pros: legendary brand reputation, premium bushcraft and camping tool, more of a cutter than a splitter
• Cons: none that are particular to this axe

Who should buy this: The $180 Hults Bruk Kisa Medium Sized Felling Axe is a great choice if you live in a rural area, especially in northern areas with hardwood forests, but still care about portability.

Note that none of our rural axe recommendations are on the full-sized end of the spectrum — the very largest axes used by lumberjacks solely to fell large standing trees — because in any case you want it to be portable enough to move on foot if you really need to.

Benefits: The 26-inch Kisa axe is a bit shorter and more lightweight than would be ideal for a straight tree-felling axe. In return for not going overboard into full-sized tree felling axe territory, you get a compact axe that can do everything you’ll need an axe to do in the woods.

At 2.86 pounds, we’d consider it packable for modest distances, and many bushcrafters actually carry this axe (or one this size) as part of their standard loadout. For some experienced bushcrafters, the Kisa is the “one blade” they’d want with them in the woods.

The head is a traditional pattern that works for both cutting and splitting, but is a little more optimized for cutting. It’s easy to choke up on the head for use in non-chopping bushcraft tasks like fuzz stick making and carving. The poll can be used as a hammer in an emergency.

With the Kisa, you get a hand-forged, Swedish axe from one of the world’s oldest and most reputable axe makers, and it offers the same quality and features as the comparable $245 Gransfors Bruks Scandinavian Forest Axe at a lower price point.

Downsides: Any downsides this axe has are shared by all axes in this category, e.g. the wooden handle will break eventually, and the size and weight make it less portable than more compact axes or hatchets. But we’re aware of no downsides particular to this axe.

As with all quality wood-handled tools, you’ll want to store this axe indoors when possible — it’s not something to throw in your truck bed.

Brand and product reputation: This axe model is very popular with bushcrafters, and gets rave reviews in forums, on YouTube, and at retailer sites. Hults Bruk’s reputation is legendary, and we’re not aware of any criticisms of their quality control.

Also great for rural preppers: Helko Journeyman

• Price: $$$
• Specs: 20” length, 2.2 lb weight, 1.5 lb head weight, Swiss-made hickory handle, hand-forged carbon steel head
• Pros: great brand reputation, premium wood processing tool, equally balanced between splitting and cutting abilities
• Cons: less suited for non-chopping bushcraft work

Who should buy this: Pick up the $150 Helko Journeyman instead of the Hults Bruk Kisa if you want something that’s more portable but still good at processing hardwood.

Benefits: The Journeyman’s head shape strikes a balance between cutting and splitting ability, making it a versatile camp axe for creating fire and shelter. The head has a mirror polish to reduce getting stuck in wood and that resists rust from natural moisture. The poll is safe to use for light hammering, since the maker has explicitly designed it for such use.

Downsides: This axe’s head shape makes it a bit less ideal for carving and other knife-type work. So you’ll want to pair it with a good field knife for non-wood-processing chores.

Helko axes often don’t have quite the same hand-finished feel as the Hults Bruk axes — which might be part of the reason the competitive HB Kisa is $10-20 more — so keep that in mind if you care about aesthetics and your tastes lean more towards the traditional, rustic vibe.

Brand and product reputation: Helko is relatively obscure in the US (outside of axe-nerd circles) compared to the major US and Swedish makers, so English-language reviews of this specific model are rare. But we’ve found no complaints about the brand, and this product’s reputation is top-notch in all the sources we reviewed.

Budget pick for rural preppers: Council Tool 2.25# Boy’s Axe

• Price: $$
• Specs: 24” length, 3.5lb weight, 2.5lb head weight, hickory handle, hand-ground carbon steel head
• Pros: legendary brand reputation, quality wood processing tool, balanced between splitting and cutting abilities
• Cons: none that are particular to this axe

Who should buy this: If you want an axe specialized for rural needs but want to spend less than $100, check out the $50 Council Tool 2.25# 24” Boy’s Axe.

Benefits: The CT Boy axe is a budget offering from a premium maker, which we prefer over products made by purely budget manufacturers like Snow & Nealley. This is a well-tested design that’s based on an axe used for years by the US Forest Service, and it’s similar in size and shape to an axe preferred by bushcraft legend Mors Kochanski.

Downsides: The finishing on this is rougher than on the company’s premium lines, and the poll and eye walls aren’t hardened to support hammering. But it’s unlikely that most preppers will really notice much difference if they aren’t comparing this axe side-by-side with a premium offering.

This is a splitting and cutting axe, and not as much a general-use bushcraft/carving axe that can substitute for a field knife.

Brand and product reputation: Council Tool’s offerings are widely considered to be on-par with the best European makers, and in some cases a cut above. We have read about cases where buyers of axes in the company’s budget lines have gotten products with handle issues, but the customer service is outstanding and returns are handled professionally.

The competition

Outside of our top contenders, there’s a whole secondary group of great axes that might fit the specific price or features you’re looking for:

Snow & Neally Hudson Bay ($68): A popular American-made pick for budget compact bushcraft axes. The length and weight is typical of the classic Hudson Bay pattern. In fact, if you want to get as close as possible to the specs of the Gransfors Bruks Ray Mears Wilderness Axe, then this S&N axe is a very close match at a far cheaper price.

Wood Tools Bushcraft Axe ($63): This is a new one to us, but we got a sample and we absolutely love it. This wonderful little hand-ground axe is designed on the model of the perpetually out-of-stock Ray Mears Gransfors Bruks axe, but a bit lighter and shorter. This axe is clearly a labor of love from a boutique shop that, in our opinion, is criminally underpricing its work. We’ve used this axe in a number of pictures in this guide, including the main guide image at the top of the article, so if you like what you see then hurry up and order one before the maker figures out what’s up and doubles the price.

Helko Rheinland Pack Axe ($150): This is a beautiful, bushcraft-focused axe from Helko. It’s along the same lines as the Wood Craft Pack Axe from Council Tool, in that it’s a relatively recent, premium, retro-styled offering aimed at the bushcraft crowd. It’s designed to be lightweight and packable, and to work for carving and other bushcraft chores. Unlike all the other axes in this guide except for the Mueller axe, the axe head shape is a very traditional German all-purpose woodworking pattern. At least one expert review we’ve seen claims that fit and finish on this axe is not quite as good as competing Swedish offerings, but in terms of performance no one disputes that it can hold its own.

Helko Scout ($165): The Scout is a great cutting and splitting axe for preppers who care less about portability and more about getting through lots of wood more efficiently. Between the head weight, handle length, and head shape, this is a better high-volume wood processor than the more cutting-focused axes like the Hults Bruk Kisa, but is not as suited for use as a knife alternative for fine bushcraft work.

Hultafors Classic Hunting Axe ($130): The Hultafors-branded axes aren’t available in the US, so our European readers should give this compact bushcraft axe a very close look.

Hults Bruk Aneby ($160): This is as close as you can get to the Hultafors Classic Hunting axe in the US, and like the Classic Hunting Axe it’s a fine alternative to the Gransfors Bruks Small Forest Axe (SFA).

Ray Mears Gransfors Bruks Wilderness Axe ($175): This famous axe model was designed by Ray Mears, as a midpoint between Gransfors Bruks’ Scandinavian Forest Axe and their Small Forest Axe. It’s never in stock, but if you do score one it’s a wonderful tool. You’ll pay extra for the names on it, though.

Helko Black Forest Woodworker ($160): This is Helko’s flagship product, a beautiful, traditional design that fills the same general-purpose wilderness axe niche as the Gransfors Scandinavian Forest Axe. It has a head that’s slightly heavier than other axes in this size range, and based on overall design it’s a very good general-purpose bushcraft and survival axe.

Council Tool Wood Craft Pack Axe ($155): This axe was recently introduced, and has a ton of features aimed at the bushcraft and survival crowd. The hardened eyewall and poll are designed for hammering, and head shape is made for a mix of cutting, carving, slicing, and general camp use. It’s often out of stock, and some reviewers claim the overall fit and finish level on this model is higher than that of even the premium European axe makers.

Council Tool Velvicut Hudson Bay ($145): The Velvicut line is one of Council Tool’s two premium axe lines, which makes this the axemaker’s best Hudson Bay pattern offering. If you want a traditional Hudson Bay type axe, then this is the top of the line.

Gransfors Bruks Scandinavian Forest Axe ($245): The larger alternative to the Gransfors SFA, this iconic axe has played a major role in the revival of the premium axe scene in the US and Europe. These axes are very hard to come by online right now, and if you can find one in stock it may have a significant markup.

Snow & Nealley Single Bit 2.25# ($80): A budget wood chopper from a solid US axemaker, consider this an alternative to the Council Tool Boy’s Axe of the same size.

Mueller Biber Classic Forest Axe ($150): This axe is similar in shape to the Helko Rheinland Pack Axe, but it’s much larger. It’s a traditional German axe from an established, boutique Austrian maker, and the quality is impeccable, especially for the price.

More info about axe brands

Hultafors is one of the two top-tier Swedish axe makers that still runs its own factory (the other is Gransfors Bruks), and the products are popular with bushcrafters for their high quality and outstanding value. Hultafors axes are fully hand forged, and generally come in two finishes: a cheaper, standard finish and a more expensive, premium finish.

Hultafors also owns Hults Bruk, and axes from both brands come from the same foundry. There are some differences in labeling and branding, depending on the year, but you should consider the two brands as equivalent and just look at the specifics of the model.

Gransfors Bruks is a high-end maker of fully hand-forged Swedish axes. Thanks to a combination of craftsmanship and celebrity bushcrafter Ray Mears’ endorsements, GB has become the bushcraft community gold standard. You pay a premium for the Gransfors Bruks name, though it’s not always clear that the quality difference is worth the price difference over the other top makers — you have to evaluate on a case-by-case basis. But if you can afford to ignore the price difference, and you just want the fan favorite, then this is your axe maker.

Wetterlings is a venerable Swedish axe maker now wholly owned by Gransfors Bruks, and the latter has stopped making axes under the Wetterlings mark as of 2017. If you find a Wetterlings axe for sale it’s usually of very high quality, so buy with confidence.

Snow and Nealley is an Amish axe maker that has been based in Maine since the late 1800’s, and they’re still turning out high-quality, traditional wood-handled axes at unbeatable prices. Many of our budget picks are from this maker. The axe heads were briefly made overseas, hence a smattering of negative reviews that claim they’re made in China or Mexico, but they’re back to being made in the US out of US-sourced steel and hickory.

Estwing is an American tool maker familiar to many from big box retailers, and they make very good axes at budget prices. The Estwings’ all-metal construction — even the handle is metal — is a strength and a weakness. These axes are much heavier than their wood- and synthetic-handled counterparts, but are bombproof.

Council Tool is based in North Carolina, and the company’s premium Velvicut and Wood-Craft lines are on par in price and quality to the top European makers. Their budget axes have differences in tempering and finish from their premium line, but are still quite good. They made axes for the National Forestry service for a while, and have a sterling reputation among axe enthusiasts.

All the Council Tool axes are drop forged, which means that the blacksmith holds the heated metal with tongs while a machine hammers it. So they’re sometimes billed as “hand forged,” and this is accurate for some definition of the term, but they’re not hammer-forged like a Hults, Gransfors, or Mueller, so they don’t have quite the same aesthetics.

Helko is a German maker of fine, traditional axes for forestry and woodcraft. Their offerings generally compare in price, quality, and features to the top Swedish and American makers. Helko’s axe heads are drop-forged, like those of Council Tool.

Husqvarna is a chainsaw maker that is now in the budget axe business. The company sources its axe heads from the Hults Bruk factory, and for this reason many people on the internet who don’t know how quality control, steel selection, finishing, and tempering work have concluded that the heads must be therefore be identical to Hults Bruk/Hultafors heads. This is trivially false, as even different lines from the same maker will have different steel, tempering, and quality variances.

We haven’t included any of Husqvarna axes in our guide because the reviews are so mixed — people either love their axe or they hate it because they’ve broken the head in half. But we did want to mention this brand in order to debunk the myth that you can get a Hults Bruk head on the cheap by buying one of these budget axes and doing some of your own finishing work on it.

Mueller is a small, family-owned Austrian company that has been making axes continuously for over 300 years, and their reputation is excellent. They aren’t as widely known in some of the other high-end makers, but their price and quality are considered on par with the best. Their axe heads are fully hand forged.

Axe safety

There’s an old saying: “You can’t spell accident without axe.” Yeah, the spelling doesn’t work, but you get it. Axes are dangerous. Watch some videos and heed these tips:

• Always use two hands.
• Set up a dedicated safe area free of rocks, hazards, and (most importantly) other people. Nobody comes near you while you’re swinging an axe.
• Always position yourself so you’re out of the path of your swing if you miss your target and it keeps going. Sometimes this will feel awkward and inefficient, but do it anyway.
• Aways swing so that if the axe glances off the wood it won’t hit your body with the edge. Again, this may make your swing suboptimal, but it’s even less optimal to end up with an axe in you.
• Always make sure your axe is sharp. Learn the best ways for preppers to sharpen blades.
• Always carry your axe with the blade pointing toward the ground.
• Never use your axe when the head is cold, because it will be more brittle and likely to chip. If it’s winter, then warm the head up by a fire or by placing it next to your body before using it.

Notice that two of these safety rules are about how you position your body in relation to your swing. This is hard to get right, and it’s where most people have accidents.

In general, a shorter handle takes more care to be safe with than a longer handle, because the head swings that much closer to your body and vital organs.

It also matters how long your arms are and how tall your body is in relation to the axe’s length, so a shorter axe can be safer for a smaller person. Think about this length vs. safety factor when you’re selecting and using an axe, because all that sweet portability you bought by going with a 19-inch pack axe does you no good if the edge ends up buried in your leg.

Big bullets, big cartridges, and shmedium rifles.

Taking big game is one of the few areas that a standard AR-15 doesn’t do well in, but combine an AR with 450 Bushmaster and you have a whole new ballgame.

How does it stack up to a legendary classic like .308 Winchester? We got that info, ballistics, recommendations, and a lot more!

Sure, But Why

To a lot of you, this comparison might seem kind of… odd. I mean, even someone casually familiar with these two calibers can likely tell that these are not similar.

The answer is simple: A lot of readers are interested in this exact comparison. I don’t know why, but who am I to judge.

Y’all asked for it, so you get it.

Holla in the comments with more suggestions of what we should cover!

Story Behind The Cartridges

450 Bushmaster

Who likes big bullets and cannot lie? Jeff Cooper. The man touched many facets of the firearms world and this is yet one more where he left his mark.

While actually designed by Tim LeGendre of LeMAG Firearms, the inspiration for the idea came from Cooper’s support for a “Thumper” cartridge.

Basically, a “Thumper” was a big bullet moving as fast as they could push it so that an AR could take big game at 200ish yards.

Keep in mind that this was before things like the .458 SOCOM and .50 Beowulf were invented.

LeGendre designed what he called the .45 Professional and delivered an AR chambered in that to Cooper himself.

Bushmaster was highly interested in producing the new design, but they needed ammo for it.

When LeGendre approached Hornady about making ammo for it, they requested a slight change to the design of the case – shortening it slightly so they could load the 250gr SST in it.

The change was approved and the final cartridge was renamed to .450 Bushmaster.

.308 Winchester

After a cool story like 450 Bushmaster, the history of .308 Winchester can be kind of boring. Maybe I should have saved the good story for last… oh well.

Back in the 1940s 300 Savage was used for a series of tests for the US military, Frankford Arsenal (the actual US Arsenal, no connection to the brand/company that operates today) saw the tests and liked the results.

They started playing with the design a little and created a case that was slightly shorter, with a little less taper, and thicker walls.

Really liking what they saw, they lengthed the case back to its original specs. Using more modern powders (“modern” by 1940s standards) they created a cartridge that was effectively almost identical to the performance of milspec .30-06 Springfield but with a much smaller cartridge.

Smaller means lighter, lighter means you can carry more of it, so all in all – a lot better.

Winchester saw the potential for this new cartridge and introduced it to the hunting world in 1952.

Two short years later, NATO adopted the 7.62x51mm cartridge as a standard.

Practical Applications

450 Bushmaster

Hunting.

That’s it, that’s the list. The end.

Okay, 450 Bushmaster was designed as a hunting cartridge that could take big game (talking moose-sized “big”) at 200 yards or closer. And if nothing else, 450 Bushmaster does that.

If you’re in a fairly close environment and you need a really big bullet moving quickly to drop something large and four-legged, .450 Bushmaster is a solid option.

However, it comes with some major downsides that make it pretty much useless in all other applications.

Recoil is a beast. 250 grains moving at 2,200 FPS out of a 7ish pound AR means you’re getting the felt recoil roughly equivalent to 12ga slugs.

You can mitigate this with a brake and a good stock, but it’s still a hard hitter.

While you can do things like zeroing at 200 yards to have a point-blank zero out to that distance, 450 Bushmaster is an elephant fighting gravity – and it ain’t no Dumbo.

You are very limited on range and 250 yards starts to push it.

While it starts off with almost 2700 ft.lbf at the muzzle, 450 Bushmaster falls below 1,000 ft.lbf before it hits 300 yards.

.308 Winchester

Everything.

Because of the age of the cartridge and how widely it was adopted by NATO, the military, LEO, and more, .308 Winchester can do basically everything.

Hunting? Oh ya, .308 Winchester has taken every game animal in North America in droves.

Long range precision? Sure, while newer 6mm cartridges are the newest hotness, .308 Win is still widely used by sport shooters, LEO, and competition shooters – although most people running .308 Win in competition do so in special divisions built for it.

SHTF? .308 Win can take game, defend your post-apocalypse bunker, put down mutants (I mean, probably), and is so massively produced and used that refilling your stockpile should be fairly easy.

You can handload .308 Win with every type of bullet under the sun, you can find factory ammo for it in every gunstore and bait shop in the nation, you can find replacement parts basically everywhere, and any rifle you want that is large enough can and probably does come with a .308 Win option.

It is the definitive do-all cartridge in North America.

I would argue that 6.5 Creedmoor is better, but there is no denying that .308 Winchester has achieved unparalleled success. [For more on that, check out our article 6.5 Creedmoor vs 308.]

Ballistics

The real meat and potatoes of these comparisons are how they actually stack up against each other ballistically. Well, in most ways – .308 Win kicks the snot out of 450 Bushmaster.

At the muzzle they are basically the same, .308 Win has around 2700 ft.lbf and 450 Bushmaster has just a few pounds under that.

The big difference is that .308 Winchester keeps at least 1,000 ft.lbf out to about 600 yards, 450 Bushmaster loses it by 300 yards.

While .308 can reach out accurately to 1,200 yards (if you’re pretty good), 450 Bushmaster is on life support by the time it gets past 500.

[To learn more about 450 Bushmaster ballistics and why it was created, see our recent article]

AR-10 Vs. AR-15

I’m going to assume that you’re looking at both of these calibers in an AR platform. While both can be found in bolt-action rifles also, 450 Bushmaster in a bolt gun is kind of silly.

The AR-10 is at least a couple of pounds heavier than an AR-15. It’s larger, less handy, and can quickly become a beast to hike with.

Generally speaking, an AR-10 is also more expensive to build or buy.

This is why “thumper” cartridges like 450 Bushmaster, 458 SOCOM, and 50 Beowulf exist. They give you basically the same punch as a short-action cartridge (at least for a couple of hundred yards) but keep the package small.

Personally, I say get both.

Wild Animal Defense

I’m a big believer in the idea that guns are not your best defense against most wild animals. For black bears, nothing beats a hiking song and some bear spray. For mountain lions, bringing a mule is technically the best but a hiking song and a sharp stick is a decent second option.

However, there are those times when nothing else will do. Maybe you tend animals that are looking really juicy this time of year, maybe you have a particularly mean set of critters in your area, whatever the case – you need a bigger stick.

.450 Bushmaster is one hell of a stick and in this role, it can really shine.

Most of the professional guides I’ve spoken with that live and hike in grizzly country say they choose a 12ga 3” magnum slugs as their last line of defense against a bear – that gives them about 2950 ft.lbf at the muzzle.

450 Bushmaster comes in around 2700 ft.lbf… but you can have 10 rounds in a magazine and less recoil.

If grizzly is your worst-case scenario, you might want to really consider a 450 Bushmaster or some other thumper as your next move.

What Is Better?

If you can stand the size and weight of an AR-10, then 308 Winchester is the clear winner.

But if you need something smaller and lighter – 450 Bushmaster is the ticket.

Really though, 450 Bushmaster is basically in the exact same boat as 50 Beowulf and .458 SOCOM.

They are all basically the same ballistically, they all have basically the same amount of ammo per magazine, they all cost basically the same, and more or less have the same issues.

I would give .458 SOCOM a slight edge in terms of reliability, but everything else really isn’t enough difference to make a difference.

Converting An AR-15 To 450 Bushmaster

The easy method is a new upper and modifying your magazines.

Magazines are standard AR-15 5.56 NATO mags, but with a new single stack follower. You can also get a dedicated 450 Bushmaster magazine.

For the upper, you’ll need a new barrel and a new bolt. 450 Bushmaster and .458 SOCOM use the same bolt face so it’s pretty easy to find.

A normal BCG can be used, it just needs the new bolt.

Overall, like most other AR conversions – 450 Bushmaster is pretty easy.

[Of course you can also buy a 450 Bushmaster complete upper and all the work is done for you. Just drop it on your standard AR-15 lower, pop 2 pins, and you’re ready to rock!]

Parting Shots

When it comes down to it – the “thumper” cartridges are all basically the same, just slightly different flavors.

If you need one, pick the one you like most and go for it!

But .308 Winchester will give you a lot more options and a lot more range. But that comes at the cost of a heavier rifle.

Let me know what you picked!

And let us know what caliber comparisons you want to see next!

A tiny fraction of whitetail hunters have taken a buck that scores over 170 typical or 195 nontypical, the minimums for entry into the Boone & Crockett record book. Many hunters feel like it’s just a stroke of luck to have a buck that size walk by, and many times it is. But that doesn’t explain why some hunters kill them with a shocking degree of regularity.

Several hunters have killed multiple B&C bucks over the years, which proves that they are probably doing things a little different than you and I are when you take to the whitetail woods. In talking to them, I have come up with a list if six things they’re doing that you’re probably not doing.

You’re Not Hunting Where They Live

This may seem obvious, but you have to hunt where there are. You don’t have to live there, but if you don’t have Booners where you live you must travel (or move.) Tim Young packed up and moved to Iowa and has shot two giants there and one on a roadtrip to Kentucky. Rod Owen, Adam Hays, Stan Potts and Ben Rising travel extensively to find and shoot big bucks in states other than their own.

“You have to find them first,” says Adam Hays, who has taken nine Booners including four over 200 inches. “Your best bet for finding a giant will be near sanctuaries where there is no or very limited hunting. These areas will be close to city limits, parks, industrial zones, wildlife refuges and even large tracts of land that allow no hunting. Hunting a specific animal will make you hunt harder and smarter also, just knowing he’s there!”

Rod Owen agrees.

“Killing a Booner isn’t the hardest part, the hardest part is finding one.”

Ben Rising has shot four Booners in the last two years. He says he often spends more time looking for a buck and getting access to hunt where the buck lives than actually hunting him.

You Don’t Understand How Fickle They Can Be

You can’t take chances with human intrusion, checking scouting cameras too often, or hunting in the wrong winds. To shoot a Booner you must do everything right, and get lucky, too. Patience is the key. Rod Owen tells about how he waited weeks for the perfect conditions to hunt a giant buck, but the wind switched so he literally got out of the stand and RAN all the way back to his truck.

“People go overboard trying to get intel on these big bucks and end up hurting themselves in the long run,” according to Ben Rising. They “dig too deep” he says, risking alerting the deer that he’s being hunted.

According to Adam Hays, patience is the #1 key.

“Sometimes the most difficult part of hunting a big buck is actually not hunting him at all,” he says. “having the patience and the discipline to wait until everything is perfect before diving in for the kill.”

You’re Not Willing To Do Whatever It Takes

You are spending your time watching Monday Night Football, you’re hanging out with buddies, you’re fishing when the big buck killers are scouting. The hunters who shoot Booners make sacrifices, and they are consumed by the pursuit and learning everything they can about the deer and the land they inhabit. The drive to shoot giant deer is at a level far above the average deer hunter.

“There are hunters and there are killers,” says Rising. “The drive has to be far greater if you are going to consistently kill big ones.”

With his truck stuck in a snowdrift, Steve Niemerg waited out a blizzard in a farmer’s house for two days, then instead of going home when the blizzard quit, he went hunting and killed a giant Booner that very evening.

You’re Not Hunting During the Peak Times

There are a few specific short periods each year when most Booners are shot. Hays is a big believer in the moon’s position as an influence of big buck movement. Rising says that waiting for the right moment is key.

Hays also claims that a wind that’s good for the buck and bad for you can be the best time to hunt.

“For me, the Holy Grail of whitetail hunting is finding a big buck’s weak spot, somewhere along his travel pattern where you can get within bow range of him while he’s using the wind to his advantage”

When a peak time arrives, you must put the rest of your life on hold. You might be surprised to discover that most of these true giants were not shot during the rut. Most big buck killers agree that they prefer to kill Booners before the chaos of the rut arrives and the deer are in more predictable patterns.

You’re Not Passing On Big Bucks

Those 170 and 180 bucks were once 150 bucks. If you can’t pass up a 4-year-old 150, you will probably never shoot a 6-year-old 180. A friend in southern Iowa who owns a large farm told me he kicked a guy out of their hunting group because he wouldn’t pass up the 4-year-olds that most people would drool over.

“People like Adam [Hays] and I have learned not to smoke the tag on the first 4-year-old 160 that comes by,” says Rising. “We only have one tag in Ohio.”

That’s a tough hurdle for most hunters to get over. If you are happy with a 150-160 then so be it, but if you want to kill bucks approaching 200, you will have to let them walk.

You’re Taking Shortcuts

Most hunters rely too much on gimmicks and don’t go to the extremes necessary. You aren’t choosing your entry and exit routes wisely enough, and you aren’t using discipline to wait for perfect conditions. These big buck killers are scent control fanatics, but they don’t use that as an excuse to take shortcuts with the wind. Scent control is an honorable goal, but the belief that you can totally eliminate your scent and ignore good woodsmanship is a ticket to forkhorn land.

Hanging a treestand during the rain, letting those cameras sit for weeks and only checking them with the right wind, having the patience to wait until everything is right — these are the characteristics of a person who kills Booners. Hunting mature bucks is all about strategic moves at the right time in the right place. There are no shortcuts, you must make every move with precision.