Guides & Articles
The ERG Library
Guides & Articles
Everything we teach at the counter, in one place. Colorado hunting guides, gear breakdowns, platform histories, and the plain-English answers our customers ask most.
01Hunting Guides
Colorado season dates, license deadlines, unit strategy and gear picks — from a shop that hunts the same units you do.
Big Game • 2026
Your 2026 Colorado Big Game Hunting Guide
Verified CPW season dates for archery, muzzleloader, and all four rifle seasons. Plus draw deadlines, what’s new for 2026, and gear picks.
Read the guide
Bear Hunting
Colorado Black Bear Hunting
The September opener, four rifle seasons, mandatory tooth submission, gear, and the respect a big-bodied bruin deserves.
Read the guide
Fall Turkey
Fall Turkey Hunting in Colorado
The sleeper season — OTC tags, either-sex birds, and more legal ways to hunt them than spring.
Read the guide
Archive • 2024
2024 Colorado Big Game Season
Historical reference from last year, with evergreen preparation tips that apply every fall.
Read the archive
02Suppressors & Optics
The gear that decides shots — scopes, dots, and cans. Buying guides, how-they-work explainers, and the shop-counter answers to what beginners always ask.
Optics • Guide
Firearm Optics: Scopes, Red Dots & Sights
The foundational guide — irons, red dots, magnified scopes, prisms and LPVOs, and how to match glass to the job.
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Dual Optics
Multiple Optics on One Firearm
Offset 45, piggy-back and prism-plus-magnifier — the three ways to cover every distance without swapping guns.
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Rifle Setup
Bore Sighting: What Is It & Why
Ten minutes at the bench that saves you a box of ammo at the range. Bore sighting vs zeroing, tools, and when to do it.
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Suppressors • Intro
Whisper Quiet
What a suppressor actually does (and doesn’t). The physics, the hunting benefits, and Colorado’s suppressor rules.
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Suppressors • Buying
Navigating the Silence — Buying Your First Can
The Form 4 eForm process, fingerprints and photos, trust vs individual, and the current ATF wait time.
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03Rifle Platforms
America’s most popular rifle formats — where they came from, how they work, and what to do with them. Read the whole series.
AR Series • Part 1 of 3
Introduction to AR-Type Rifles
What “AR” actually stands for, where it came from, and why the 1956 design is still the best-selling centerfire rifle in America.
Read Part 1
AR Series • Part 2 of 3
A Modular Marvel
Under the hood on components, calibers, barrel length and gas systems — the toolkit that made AR the platform it is.
Read Part 2
AR Series • Part 3 of 3
Versatility, Adaptability & Popularity
Same platform, wildly different jobs — competition, hunting, home defense, ranch chores. Why the AR wears every hat.
Read Part 3
AK Series • Part 1 of 2
The AK Platform
Eighty years after Kalashnikov drew it up, still the most-produced rifle in human history. The design that just works.
Read Part 1
AK Series • Part 2 of 2
AK Variants & Custom Mods
How to spot AK-47 vs AKM vs Zastava M70 vs AK-12. Furniture, triggers, safeties, optics — the modernization playbook.
Read Part 2
04Manufacturer Spotlights
Deep dives on the brands we love on the rack — how they make what they make, and what to look for.
Come Talk Gear at the Shop
Read the guide, then come by the counter. We’ll help you match the right rifle, scope or can to your hunt, your budget, and your season.