Monday, March 17, 2008

I'm Not Irish


I'm Scots...on the single malt, as opposed to the Irish whiskey, side of the family. I think we can all agree, however, that beer remains the ultimate huminod food. Here's a link to DRAFT magazine..don't just glance through it, study it!

Been in Indiana culling a big buffalo bull for COWBOYS. We were at Cook's Bison Ranch in Amish country...who'd'a thought? What great people! Wayne, Pete, Jason and all the guys really pulled out the stop for us, making it a totally fun weekend. Tequila used one of the supercool Mini-Sharps from Chiappa Firearms. Essentially, it's an 80%-sized 1874 Sharps rifle...downright petite!

Tequila's rifle was custom-made by Chiappa in .454 Casull. Normally, he and I would have worked up a heavy-bullet reload with Laser Cast bullets and Hogdon H110, but it took longer to get our handsw on the rifle than we'd expected. We opted for a Winchester 260-grain hunting load. It didnt matter to the 2200-pound bull, who went down quickly with a single lung shot. And yes, for all you pagans out there, I said the Words over the bull, sending him on his way to the Summerlands...hell, I hope somebody someday does the same for me!

I came away with a renewed respect for the .454 round...it is a hammer. The rifle has originally been sighted in with the hot 300-grain Cor-Bon .45 Colts...it sht more than four feet high with the Winchester .454s!! BTW, we had a Ruger Alaskan .454 revolver with us loaded with the same rounds with us as a back-up.


Also BTW, I'm working with Ron Norton at Chiappa on a gun near and dear to my heart — a lever action 16-inch M92 Trapper take-down in .44 Magnum! As most of you know by now, I'm a big fan of the lever gun as a self-defense, or if you will, tactical, weapon. One of my favorite "house guns" is a Winchester 94 Trapper with at 16 1/2 inch barrel in .44 Magnum, usually loaded with either Black Hills 240-grain JHPs or Winchester 250-grain hunting loads as the "just in case" gun in bear/lion season. I like this option so much we're going to be doing a "Tactical Lever Action" class later this summer, which we'll film for SHOOTING GALLERY in 2009.

I like my 94, and it's been a 100% gun with both the magnums and .44 Specials, but the M92 is a much more sevelte package, being as the action was designed around pistol-length cartridges. Ron loves the .45 Colt, especially the thumper Cor-Bons 300-grain +Ps.

Chiappa already catalogs a .45 Colt 16-inch M92...It's a beautiful little gun with a smooth-as-butter lever stroke. The shorter action and the half-inch off the barrel (down to the legal minimum) make this an extremely handy gun...as you may or may not know, most of the "Trapper" versions of lever guns...made, duh, as a handy alternative to a handgun for trappers or cowboys on horseback...had barrel lengths in the 14-15 inche range before the 1934 Firearms Act (or, as we generally refer to it, the Let's Give The Now Unemployed Revenue Agents Something To Do Act) made short-barreled rifles subect to federal control. You can see lots of examples of the shorter-barreled Trappers in the Marlin history book (P. 214) and the Winchester history (P.94). Winchester actually made a few of the M92 Trappers (325 made with less than 18-inch barrels).

Anyhow, I'm badgering Ron to build me a gun like he built himself...a composite-stocked, hard chromed take-down 16-inch M92...his is in .45 Colt; I want .44 Magnum because I believe it is a more veratile cartridge...in fact, I believe it is the most versatile cartridge in the world! Hopefully, we should have the guns by summer. This is the gun I want to use in our Tactical Lever Action class.


The reason I want it as a take-down gun is that it becomes the ultimate travel rifle...it breaks down into a very small package and once we find the right plastic case can be easily stashed in packed baggage (yeah, yeah...of course you have to declare it!). When packaged along with my overhauled S&W M329 revolver (which will be on the way home from Jim Stroh at Alpha Precision any day now), my Alpha Precision 629 .44 Magnum 3-inch (sort of like this one, but without the internal lock and with a world-class DA trigger), or one of the new shorter-barreled Night Guard version, here, , and a selection of .44 Magnum ammo, you have a nearly unbeatable travel package — a concealable big-bore revolver backed with a powerful, accurate rifle. Ideally, I'd want one of the XS scout scope mounts on the rifle, backed up with Ghost Ring sight, and I'd carry an Aimpoint T-1 Micro with a quick release mount for the scope rail.

Admit it...you want one of these Bad Boys, too!

Here's our daily dose on Heller from the WaPo...we're checking our feed systems for tomorrow, which is going to be a busy, busy, busy day!
"This may be one of the only cases in our lifetime when the Supreme Court is going to be interpreting the meaning of an important provision of the Constitution unencumbered by precedent," said Randy Barnett, a constitutional scholar at the Georgetown University Law Center. "And that's why there's so much discussion on the original meaning of the Second Amendment."

The outcome could roil the year's political campaigns, send a national message about what kinds of gun control are constitutional and finally settle the question of whether the 27-word amendment, with its odd structure and antiquated punctuation, provides an individual right to gun ownership or simply pertains to militia service.

"The case has been structured so that they have to confront the threshold question," said Robert Levy, the wealthy libertarian lawyer who has spent five years and his own money to bring District of Columbia vs. Heller to the Supreme Court. "I think they have to come to grips with that."
Stay tuned...

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

You may want to have your webmaster check out your site/contact Trend Microsystems -- they have your site marked as being a "phishing" site.

Anonymous said...

Bane's worked everyother job there is out there...why not a phishinger too?

Bass, crappy, tuna...

Anonymous said...

What most folks don't understand about government is that those with power are perfectly capable of exercising it counter to their authority. Even if the SCOTUS decides in our favor (which I doubt) the thugs on the ground are quite willing to ignore such a decision. If the following does not scare the crap out of you I don't know what to say. God bless Lou Dobbs for giving this a national spotlite...


http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video
/bestoftv/2008/03/13
/ldt.tucker.govt.guns.cnn

Anonymous said...

MB,

Why not a .454 trapper instead of the 44? You can shoot anything from cowboys (which I believe are a great PD round) to heavy 45 to super thumper Buffalo Bore .454 for raging garbage trucks and the occasional T-Rex!

That is the definition of versatile.

Anonymous said...

nj larry... thanks for posting that video link.

It must really suck to be that guy.

Bummer!

I noticed in the video that it showed the conviction paperwork where it said he had a trial by jury.

(rolling my eyes here)

Just what kind of non critically thinking sheeple did they have on that jury?

I sure hope that the NRA and/or Olympic Arms either provided him with legal counsel or financial / monetary support for competent legal aide.

I am not a lawyer, but I thought for a crime to take place there has to be an action and an intent.

I would also think that there has to be a victim.

Who is the victim in this case? Was there anyone really harmed in this instance?

Methinks it's the Army Reservist guy who did have an AR not functioning properly.

Anonymous said...

MB,

What is the twist on that barrel for the .454 sharps?

Also, did ya get it on film?

Anonymous said...

I REALLY would like some actual contact information concerning that Trapper style rifle!!!

I want to know...

1. How much

2. Where or whom do I get a hold of to order.

3. How damned long will it take to get to me.

AEA

Anonymous said...

AEA... check out this list of dealers for the Trapper...

http://www.cimarron-firearms.com/SelectDealers/SelectDealers.htm

Anonymous said...

I notice you didn't comment on whether or not you put some .454 Casull rounds through the Alaskan. My retarred USMC shooting buddy bought an Alaskan for his Civil Engineer son up in Montana and of course we had to take that puppy out to the range and test fire it before we turned it over to the poor soul who gets to carry it on his hip everyday.

Lots and lots and LOTS of fun was had with .45 LC's from a variety of manufacturers. By the time we'd put the 150th round down-range we were feeling pretty darned tough. You know, talking about shaving with Bowie knives and nonsense like that, so we figured a box of Hornady in full loads wouldn't be a problem.

Heh...I went first and since I was shooting in front of a hero, I couldn't quit until I'd put my ten rounds down range. Didn't really care if I'd hit the target or not, I was impressed that I'd suffered only minor scrapes and possible bruising and sucked it up to hand the beast off to the Chief. Hah...he made five rounds and decided he'd had enough. Found out later that the trigger guard had recoiled back against that XXL trigger finger hard enough to cause a hairline fracture.

Don't get me wrong. If I'm ever in grizzly country, I'm taking an Alaskan in .454 and if I end up with a few scratches and a broken finger out of an attack, I'll be the first one to write a testimonial for Ruger. But shooting big bore all day would not be my idea of a fun time.

Anonymous said...

Michael,
Is that "329" THE "329" that had the malfunction of the PC "safety"? What was the final anaysis of the jam? Did I miss the answer earlier?
Thanks for the good buffalo hunt story.
Life Member

Michael Bane said...

Yikes...lot of questions:

1) .454 runs at Big Time pressure, and the M92 was designed around pistol pressure cartridges. The Legacy .454 is a beefed up version of the M92 and I like it a lot. I shoot a .44 Magnum Legacy sometimes in cowboy — I plan to use it in the Wild Bunch match at End of Trail. Chiappa would have to tool up for a .454, and there's probably not a huge parket for it. The short answer is I'd go for a .454 M92 (and might get oen of hte Legacy guns one of these days, especially in the new Scout configuration).

2) Yeah, we have the buffalo hunt on video and you'll see it on COWBOYS, probably in September. Because the .454 Mini Sharps we used is a one-off (actually a two-off, since Ron Norton has one), not sure of the specs. Follow Don's links to Cimarron, who'll be the importer. As soon as all the specs are finalized and the importer lined up, you'll see all the info on DRTV.

3) I've shot a bunch of .454, including the brutal Cor-Bon hunting rounds, through my own Alaskan...I believe I have said in print and on teh podcast that it would make God flinch. Still, like you, it'll be on my side next time I go to Alaska.

4) Yes, THAT 329...Jim Stroh and I agree that the jam was a "perfect storm" combination of heavy bullet, heavy load, Scandium frame and that bouncing lock "flag." As soon as the gun gets home, the lock goes in the garbage — THE LOCK IS NOT A SAFETY PER SE! I'll never be able to sell it because of liability issues, but I get guns to use, not speculate on!

mb

Anonymous said...

"I'm not Irish"

Well don't worry Michael, nobody expected you to be perfect.

Ratcatcher55

Anonymous said...

Michael,
Thanks again for the answer on "The" 329. I've been eye-ballin' one and am still undecided. I have many .44s and like their inherent flexibilit;
a. k. a.: . eats .44 Specials too.
Life Member