Another Day in the Studio

The Newest DRTV Giveaway Gun!!!

I'm gearing myself up to sit in front of the lights, working on the weekly video blog...what's going to be cool about this SHOT Show is the deluge of new products this year. Last year, everyone sat on their new products because in the superheated sales bubble they couldn't keep up with orders for existing products, much less something new. The exception, BTW, was Taurus International, who introduced 10 new products at last year's SHOT and eventually I believe bought all 10 to the market.

I want to touch on several gun-bloggers doing great work this last week. Tam at View from the Porch has been experimenting with the position of her AR vertical grip:

One thing for which I've been using my AR carbine blue gun is experimenting with the forward support hand hold that has emerged from 3-gun competitions. It does indeed seem to allow for a steadier front sight while moving. This differs from the Modern Technique/Gunsite/Pat Rogers school where the support hand is further aft, perhaps even gripping the mag well.

My own experience has moved me to a more forward grip on all my long guns. I'm not crazy about vertical foregrips in general. I know real "operators" with the CT laser/white light vertical foregrip mounted, but used primarily as a reference point. When I worked with some SEAL guys 5 or 6 years ago, all of them were using a very rearward hold, most using the front of the magazine well as the hold point.

I talked awhile back on the podcast about how that has now changed, with the high-speed guys we've worked with recently all using a very forward support-hand hold, with the support hand rotated higher up on the forearm, a la 3-gun competition shooters. I decided to give it a try, and darned if it didn't work. especially in fast multiple target acquisitions. Part of that (and the reason I'm not crazy about vertical foregrips) is that with a forward, rotated-up grip, the weak index finger is actually pointing at the target — goes back to my "what monkeys do" training concepts. Monkeys point good.

I've carried this over to the grip I use on my cowboy rifles, and it's working great. Quick net — a more forward grip means less of the rifle swinging around like a pendulum do; the "monkey point good" moves the barrel/front sight of the rifle toward the target as you mount the rifle, which is fast, and, I like the "reference point" at the front of the forearm for where my hand goes.

Ralph Lermayer over at Military.com is looking at the .458 SOCOM cartridge and has some thoughts on how cartridges are developed:

This cartridge, however, the .458 SOCOM (.458 Special Operations Command) was reportedly given birth over a barbeque and some cold brew. It was at an informal gathering of special ops personnel, specifically Task Force Ranger, when the subject of stopping power came up. It seems it took multiple hits to permanently take the opposition "out of the game" in Mogadishu, Somalia. The consensus was a one-shot stop would sure be nice. Marty ter Weeme, founder of a company called Teppo Jutsu, L.L.C., went to work. In 2000 a sledgehammer cartridge that would launch 250- to 600-grain .45 caliber bullets from a standard size AR-15 with a proper barrel and chamber was born — enter the .458 SOCOM.

I've always liked the idea of the .45-.50 AR-15 conversions, mostly because I'm a big bore kinda guy (some say big boring kinda guy), but ever enough to commit. I've thought that, aside from the hunting applications — the primary driver for most of these cartridges — it made sense in a home defense scenario...the ability to launch 45-70-level lead softballs from a semiauto platform.

Finally, the newest DRTV GIVEAWAY GUN arrived yesterday, and it's a doozey! That's right...it's one of the brand new WILSON COMBAT SPEC-OPS 16+1 9mm 1911-style pistol. Here's the skivvy from the Wilson Combat catalog:

In today’s environment more Americans than ever before are getting their concealed carry permits, one common thread that runs through them all is lighter and more rounds are better. Light weight polymer, 16 + 1 rounds of 9mm, proven fire control system, and built by Wilson Combat, could you ask for more? For some time now we have been working on this new pistol applying the things that we have learned with more than thirty years of building custom pistols combined with our own experience in daily concealed carry. The Spec Ops 9 is the perfect combination to fit the demands of daily use and concealed carry, built with all the features that our customers have asked for and that we demand. If you are looking for a light weight, high capacity, real world fighting pistol the Spec Ops 9 may be exactly what you need in your next pistol purchase.

I've been playing around with the gun (and no, sadly, I'm not going to shoot it, because we want our lucky winner to have that privilege), and I like this gun a lot. Heaven knows I've been shooting Bill Wilson's guns for a long, long time, and every one just feels right in your hands. I have to confess that as I handled the Spec-Ops, I started thinking, "Hmmmmmm..." But, no, I don't suppose Alf the Wonder Beagle is eligible to win a DRTV gun...

I'm shooting video today, and we'll have the contest up and running before SHOT!