As Sen. John McCain examined a custom-built hunting rifle at a gun factory in Rochester, a company executive explained how the weapon's interchangeable barrel could allow one hunter to use a single gun to hunt fowl, deer, elk or moose.

McCain had another target in mind.

"Al-Qaida?" McCain asked, smiling. "Taliban?"

McCain personally requested the stop at the Smith and Wesson-owned Thompson-Center Arms factory, where he scrutinized hunting rifles, watched workers cast parts from molten steel and enjoyed a closed-door session with executives seated around a table with an AR-15 military-style rifle on top.

During a talk with more than 100 of the company's employees, the Republican presidential candidate promised to "bring Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell and shoot him with one of your products." The line got a big round of applause.

"But only after he receives justice," McCain said.

And he clarified further, in a conversation with reporters: "I want to repeat, I wouldn't actually shoot him myself."

The stop at the gun factory was one of several informal events yesterday, as McCain officially filed to run in the New Hampshire Republican primary. He began the morning at the Eagle Square deli in Concord, where a veteran-heavy crowd of enthusiasts raised signs and followed the senator to the State House.

There, he added his name to a commemorative state poster under the words, "HE'S BAAAACK," and filed his papers with the secretary of state.

He then embarked on a brief tour of the State House, asking about the portraits and admiring vintage campaign buttons and photographs in the visitors center.

"There's Gerald Ford, surrounded by ancient white men," he said, pointing to one picture.

"There's Ike and the Old Man of the Mountain, now gone," he said of another. "See that? Climate change."

At a stop at Concord's Swenson Granite, he marveled at the depth of the quarry and quipped that he had come to select a piece of stone large enough to sculpt a statue of former senator Warren Rudman, who traveled with McCain all day.

The gun factory appearance included a lengthy tour. McCain asked questions about why hunters might choose one rifle over another.

"There are no dumb questions, right?" he asked, before inquiring about the purpose of an all-weather surface and asking why anyone would prefer to shoot with a muzzle-loaded weapon.

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