Hi, I'm Sam.

Growing up in small-town central Minnesota, I was the kid taking apart his toys to figure out why they stopped working, wishing I was the guy who could fix them. That curiosity never really went away. It just found better things to take apart.

Writing is still technically the night job. The day job has been a lot of things - retail, land surveying, a firearms manufacturer, a gun shop, an e-commerce company. A friend who knew I'd been writing since high school brought me into the fold a few years back and that was that.

These days I'm a Senior Staff Writer at The Firearm Blog and Managing Editor at AllOutdoor. The work runs the full range - history, gunsmithing, gear reviews, the occasional oddity that doesn't fit anywhere else. I like the variety. History pulls the storyteller out of me. Gunsmithing lets me teach. Reviews put me in a position where an honest opinion might actually mean something to somebody.

What I try to bring to all of it is perspective. I've stood behind the counter, worked the floor, handled the technical calls, and sat across from brands as a consumer. That background means I can put myself in a lot of different shoes. I also try to stay honest about what years in this industry can do to your instincts - familiarity has a numbing effect, and remembering that a new reader might be coming to this cold is worth the effort.

There's always something worth digging into. That part hasn't changed since I broke my first toy gun trying to figure out what made it tick.