Head Cold Woes...

...and yes, I am still struggling with the head cold I've had since my tour of the Pacific Rim. Man, I had rather have ebola — at least it would be over quickly! A head cold just drags and drags so I sound the day running at about 25%. Plus, I ran out of the bootleg Actifed I collected in England and Brazil, which worked better than anything else. Sigh...I so have to get over this before SHOT!!!!

Will have my appearance schedule at SHOT up next week. Of course, Marshal and I, along with Ed Head, will be posting daily updates from the Floor.

Ruger has jumped ahead of SHOT and released an aggressive new products schedule. Marshal, Ed Head and I got I believe the first 3 1911 Commanders coming off the Ruger lines. It is a great addition to the line, which is I believe the best value in an American-made 1911 out there. Ed'll be doing a comprehensive report for DRTV.

LC380

Couple of guns on the list caught my eye. The LC380, an LC9 in .380, is kind of an interesting development. Here's my take...the huge success of the .380 bought a flood of new people into concealed carry. Gunmakers followed in a couple of years with the introduction (actually, re-introduction) of the mini-9mm, which appeared to be a perfect upgrade path for the new .380 CCW holders. Except, as we've noted repeatedly here, on the podcast and on the television shows, mini-9mms are essentially experts' guns. They recoil, some fiercely...if you want to shoot them good, you've got to shoot them a lot. An addition point was is that with the flood of .380s, ammunition manufacturers stepped up with superb .380 self-defense ammo. I have said before that if I have to carry a .380, I'm good with that. In fact, I carry and LCP with Corbon DPX every day (it's in my pocket as I write this).

So we get a strange secondary niche...people who like the slightly larger size of the mini-9mms but are comfortable with the .380 as a self-defense caliber. I generally like the LC9...I recently had mine overhauled, but I haven't had a chance to pick it up yet. The LC9 is a little large for the pocket, although I carried it in the bigger cargo pants pockets a couple of summers ago. Where it really shines is in an IWB because it's very flat, a good thing.

.480 Ruger and .475 Linebaugh

I'm also glad to see a couple of Super Redhawks, including the snubby Alaskan, in .480 Ruger. I always thought the .480 was a pretty cool cartridge. It got labeled pretty quickly as the .475 Linebaugh "Special," with the same relationship as .44 Magnum and .44 Special, but that was never really fair. The .480 approached the power of the .475, which is right out there on the ragged edge of being able to hold onto, and outstripped the .454 Casull. My friend Il Ling New whapped a Cape buffalo with one a couple of years back and it fell right down. I thought the cartridge was doomed to drifting away, but I'm glad to see Ruger staying with it. Now, gentlemen, if you could just give me a 5-shot Super Blackhawk in .480...

Another Lying Weasel

This from one Justin Peters from Slate. You can always tell that anyone who starts out by explaining what a huge supporter he or she is of the Second Amendment will end up lying through his or her teeth. Here's a moron explaining  he has no direct knowledge of, like, guns, but he like, is an expert because he, like, you know, has read a copy of GARDEN & GUNS, and he's, like, smart, you know, and he might buy a gun if he could, or, you know:

In terms of repelling a home invasion—which is what most people mean when they talk about home defense—an AR-15-style rifle is probably less useful than a handgun. The AR-15 is a long gun, and can be tough to maneuver in tight quarters. When you shoot it, it’ll overpenetrate—sending bullets through the walls of your house and possibly into the walls of your neighbor’s house.

Wow! I've learned so much about ARs over the last few weeks. Did you know, for example, than an AR is only accurate out to about 75 yards? Or a mile or two, depending on the article. Or that the 5.56 can penetrate all the walls in your house, go on to shoot through your car and probably knock a satellite out of orbit? That the only purpose of an AR is to "hose down a room" with bullets? That only John Wayne wannabes and terrorists own one? That owning an AR means my penis is little? That owning an AR and being a Life Member of the dreaded NRA means it's okay to call on other people to kill me?

Wow! Who knew?

Meanwhile, I'm going to start doing more and more on training with .22s, because that is our reality for at least a year, even if we manage to survive this feces-storm unscathed. The ammo just isn't out there, and what is out there is painfully priced. I'm a little worried about ammo for the shows...shows eat ammo! Hopefully, all of you have purchased either .22 conversion kits for your ARs and/or a .22 trainer like a 10/22 and have some sort of .22 handgun. Ideally, you'll have a .22 conversion unit for your regular handgun. I'm using a Ruger SR22 for CCW training.

My friend Tom Yost and I will be filming a video training guide to using .22s both for training and in competition. we're planning on filming in March, and the video should be available long before 5.56 ammo gets back in the pipeline.

"A PR Stunt to Fool the Gullible"

That's the best definition of an "assault rifle" I've ever read — a PR stunt to fool the gullible. The definition is from an article in Forbes by Peter Ferrara:

That is because the term “assault weapon” is just a PR stunt that fools the gullible and easily deluded. It is defined in legislation by cosmetic features that frighten white bread suburbanites, but do not involve any functionality of any gun. We tried it, conservatives said it wouldn’t work, and it didn’t work. Yet, it is the liberal answer to the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn.  

Why do the hard work of actually making a difference, when with no work at all you can perform a meaningless and irrelevant gesture that won’t make any difference? A Connecticut state law already banned assault weapons. The difference that made in stopping the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary: zero, zilch, nada, as the saying goes. 

I spent most of the day writing letters to legislators, and I'll probably spend most of the rest of the week contacting as many as I can. That's what you need to do as well!

SHOOTING GALLERY & THE BEST DEFENSE NEW SEASON TONIGHT!!!

It's new season night for both SHOOTING GALLERY and THE BEST DEFENSE!

SHOOTING GALLERY

"Duel in the Sun" — 3-Gunners versus Cowboys!

10:30PM Eastern

Watch the Trailer!

THE BEST DEFENSE

"Neighborhood Watch" — Based on the most controversial self-defense shooting of last year!

12:00 PM Eastern

11:30PM Eastern

3:30 AM Thursday

10:00PM Friday

Watch the trailer!

More Good News

This is from Steven Strauss at the Huffington Post. HuPo is, of course, a blood enemy, a conveniently-collected-in-one-place group of swine who would feed their collective grandmothers into wood chipper to advance the cause of civilian disarmament one millimeter along the road to totalitarianism. That's what makes this article interesting. 10 Reasons Strict Gun Control Will Be Difficult in America...here are the first 2:

1. Americans Are Divided On the Issue of Guns -- According to a Pew Research poll conducted after Newtown, 42 percent of Americans strongly believe gun control is more important than gun rights. However, about 37 percent strongly believe gun rights are more important than gun control. A significant number of American citizens reject even the most basic limitations on gun rights. And such citizens vote for candidates based on this strongly-held issue. Citizens supporting gun control, however, don't let that issue determine how they choose their representatives.
2. Gun Advocacy Groups are Well-Funded -- Because many Americans are passionate about gun rights, groups such as the National Rifle Association (NRA) have the resources for a prolonged fight. The NRA's annual budget is approximately $300 million and it has about four million members. It's one of the largest, and most powerful, advocacy groups in America. For example, the NRA outspends gun control advocacy groups, in lobbying expenses, by 10 to 1. Many NRA members disagree with the NRA's position on gun control, but they all receive its mailings -- giving the NRA a massive platform to highlight (positively or negatively) any politician (or issue) it targets. As a consequence, few politicians are willing to risk the NRA's ire by supporting gun control legislation.

After reading the whole thing, send the NRA what you can afford and email your federal and state legislators! That's what I'm doing tomorrow.

Back at the Bunker...

...after a whirlwind weekend trip to Santa Fe with the Sweetie, sort of an orgy of green chili and margaritas. Dinner at Maria's (the chili rellenos, of course), late lunch at The Shed (enchiladas with red sauce, of course), stocking up on Hatch chili powder and The Shed red sauce for the long year ahead and a new leather top hat pour moi. Mostly just a chance  to be away a few days in a place we love.

The big news:

SHOOTING GALLERY'S NEW SEASON
"LUCKY SEASON 13"  
STARTS TOMORROW, 
WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT THE RANGE, 
AT 10:30 PM Eastern! 

Different schedule this year, with only the PRIME TIME slot, 10:30PM Eastern, being the Lucky Season 13 original. Set your DVRs accordingly. We did special "Lucky Season 13" graphics and opening just for fun.

Tomorrow's episode to launch the season is DUEL IN THE SUN, 3-Gunners versus Cowboys. You'll love it! Lots of shooting, lots of competition and lots of fun. We're very proud of this season...the new hour-long format is coming along swimmingly. We tried a lot of new things this season as part of the continued build-out of the new format. Let us know what you like and don't like about the new season!

Here's a super article looking at gun control from a very Ayn Rand-ian perspective, from Harry Binswanger at Forbes:

Statistics about how often gun-related crimes occur in the population is no evidence against you. That’s collectivist thinking. The choices made by others are irrelevant to the choices that you will make. People understand the wrongness of collectivist thinking in other cases. They would indignantly reject the idea that a member of a given racial group is under suspicion because 10 percent of those with his skin color commit crimes. But the individualist approach also applies to gun ownership and concealed carrying of guns: group ratios offer no evidence about what a given individual will do.

Finally, a great piece from my old friend Massad Ayoob on what good people need semi-auto firearms and 30 round magazines:

The reasoning is strikingly clear. The cops are the experts on the current criminal trends. If they have determined that a “high capacity” semiautomatic pistol and a .223 semiautomatic rifle with 30-round magazines are the best firearms for them to use to protect people like me and my family, they are obviously the best things for us to use to protect ourselves and our families.

Read the whole thing!

BTW, I wanted to mention some heroes of the current gun buying frenzy, companies that are doing their best to "hold the line." Both Brownell's and Midway USA are, of course, out of AR magazines, but they are allowing backorders, working as quickly as possible to fill those backorders and not jacking their prices through the ceiling. Thank you!

Enjoy your New Year's Day! And remember...

New Year's Day, 2013

As aways, I turn to the great mythological tale of our time, LOTR, for wisdom to face the new year:

Courage is the best defense you have now...

— Gandalf

"The Return of the King"

These are the words for the fight to come.

Yes, I Took a Couple of Days Off

Should be back in the saddle tomorrow. Meanwhile, I wanted to link this from No Lawyers, words we should all be living by for the duration of this crisis:

Richard Pearson, Executive Director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, had this advice in his ISRA Thursday Bulletin. I consider them to be very wise words from someone who has been fighting in the trenches for gun rights for a long time. 

As you are aware gun owners have been taking a pounding from the anti-gunners and their allies- the main stream media. Those two groups have declared war on gun owners and we will be maligned, degraded, demonized, and bullied in an effort to turn one group of gun owners against another. Don’t fall for it. I am a strong believer in the Farmer Doctrine. 

The Farmer Doctrine was adopted at the first Gun Rights Policy Conference in 1985. The Farmer Doctrine is patterned after the NATO Doctrine. The Farmer Doctrine is as follows: Be it resolved that an attack one group of guns and gun owners shall be considered an attack on all guns and gun owners. Therefore we should all rise to the defense of each other.

Amen! You heard BHo say today that gun control is is holy mission for 2013... the state media, Pravda, will do everything in its power to help the Dems accomplish this. JOIN OR DIE!

A Little Bit of Bad News Today

By now you all should have read Dianne Feinstein's proposed Assault Weapons Ban. If you haven't, here's the executive summary, to quote NAGR head Dudley Brown:

It's the end of the Second Amendment in the United States.

For once, I'm 100% in agreement with Brown. Read the whole thing yourself. Just the concept of putting all the "grandfathered" ARs and other "evil" rifles, shotguns and handguns on the NFA list, requiring maybe 20 million Americans to go through the NFA licensing/taxation procedure to create a handy list for the confiscation that will come later — remember, under Feinstein's proposed law grandfathered guns can't be transferred, so they all end up in the government's hands eventually — is breath-taking.

The real question is, "Can it pass?"

The answer is, as written, no. Probably not even the Senate, much less the House.

I think what we see here is a stalking horse, a super radical proposal to make the crap that Greasy Joe Biden's "Blue Ribbon" coven of gun banners will excrete smell a little more like chicken salad. Feinstein is trying to set up the play for "moderate" gun reform, except that the "moderate" gun reform will be the most radical ever envisioned in the United States.

From the Power Line Blog, that agrees the Feinstein proposal is DOA:

It is hard to say, at this point, whether it is merely grandstanding by Feinstein that will soon be forgotten, or whether it represents the first shot in an all-out war against gun owners (i.e., red America) by the Democratic Party.

I tend to think this is the war we've always thought was coming. This is the Democrats' best — and last — chance to disarm America, and they're going to do everything in their power, honest or dishonest, to accomplish their goal. I hope it goes without saying that their media handmaidens are already all-in...expect a flood of polls suggesting the America public has seen huge swings in support of gun control, the endless procession of Hollywood whores and turncoat Republicans...it will all be smoke and mirrors. Trust your heart and trust your gut.

We must remember that the goal is always confiscation; no matter what they say, that's where this path leads. Tyranny always comes with little baby steps, but in the end the boxcars always roll east.

A Little Bit of Good News Today

This is from Kurt Schlichter at Townhall.com speculating that our enemies may have lost control of the narrative. The NRA's demand for armed guards in schools, David Gregory's violating for D.C. laws on possession "high-capacity" magazines, the repeated death threats aimed at NRA members and gun owners in general, the calls for the abolition of the Second Amendment and the confiscation of guns, the sheer hysteria of the political Left, the realization by anyone with an IQ higher than an average gerbil that noe of the snake oil being peddled by the Left will actually do anything but strip American citizens of their rights, all are making the gun banners' case a harder and harder sell:

Demonizing those who support gun freedom was always intended as a weapon to silence them. It was also critical that we, law-abiding gun owners, become the Other. By dehumanizing us and painting us as evil, it is that much easier to strip us of our rights. But gun freedom advocates fought back. Using the mainstream media, conservative media and especially social media – we need to understand its huge significance here – gun freedom advocates countered liberals’ bogus “facts.” Media reports about “automatic” weapons were corrected, clownish statements about “high caliber magazines” and “large capacity round” were mocked. The struggle raged over millions of Facebook posts. The average citizen saw gun banners ask “When will America control access to weapons?” and then saw several experts among his or her friends post about the significant hurdles one needs to get over to get a gun. Truth bypassed the mainstream media and became a weapon for the side of fundamental rights.

We're not out of the woods by any means, buts the fight is engaged, and it's up to us, We the People, to push toward victory.

Christmas 2012

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

FROM 

THE SECRET

HIDDEN BUNKER!

Sleep, my child, and peace attend thee 
All through the night 
Guardian angels God will send thee 
All through the night 
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping 
Hill and dale in slumber sleeping 
I my loving vigil keeping 
All through the night 

While the moon her watch is keeping 
All through the night 
While the weary world is sleeping 
All through the night 
O'er thy spirit gently stealing 
Visions of delight revealing 
Breathes a pure and holy feeling 
All through the night 

Though I roam a minstrel lonely 
All through the night 
My true harp shall praise sing only 
All through the night 
Love's young dream, alas, is over 
Yet my strains of love shall hover 
Near the presence of my lover 
All through the night 

Hark, a solemn bell is ringing 
Clear through the night 
Thou, my love, art heavenward winging 
Home through the night 
Earthly dust from off thee shaken 
Soul immortal shalt thou awaken 
With thy last dim journey taken 
Home through the night

Shaking the Kaleidoscope...

...a wonderful, if slightly depressing piece from science fiction writer Sarah Hoyt:

Part of their resentment of us over intervention in the two world wars is the resentment of parents whose kid intervenes in an argument – particularly if the kid was right. If you view the long war of the twentieth century as a civil war, they resent we came in and settled it.  

And they’ve done a lot of projecting – aided by Soviet propaganda – they call us imperialist and war mongers, because they can’t bear that in themselves. 

And also they have no clue what makes us work, not really. They don’t know why we innovate more than they do. They don’t know why our consumer society is what is softening their politics advancement into the rest of the world. They know it, but they resent it.

Definitely read the whole thing!

Merry Christmas Eve!

I found my ideal Christmas present online last night, apparently the last remaining mil-spec AR buffer tube in America — perfect for the project that's scattered all over my office. Sort of looks like an AR exploded there...I wonder if I can remember how to put it back together? Worse comes to worse, I'll call Patrick Sweeney...since it's Christmas he'll probably want a credit card deposit. Of course, it's a crap shoot as to whether I'll actually get it...some of the stuff I ordered early when it was listed in stock has been subsequently cancelled, or backordered until the end of the next Mayan calendar.

BTW, here's the best information I have on the upcoming legislation. The source is confidential, but retired federal law enforcement:

I have reviewed the proposed legislation. It asks to ban future production or import of ANY AK, AR or anything that looks or functions like these rifles. It hopes to also ban extended shotgun tubes and to limit all future rifles to a maximum capacity of 5-rounds and handguns to a max of 10-rounds, except for .22 cal. Also included in the legislation is a separate section seeking to ban future production or import of any hi-cap mags, max 5-rounds for rifles and 10-rounds for semi-auto pistols. It specifically lists about 900 long guns that are legal, but all are bolt action, pump or single shot, not a single semi-auto rifle other than .22lr! There will likely be multiple, competing versions of legislation as the Dems line up to see who can offer the most restrictive language. If you want a modern sporting rifle, aka assault weapon, I suggest you get in line to get one now.

A point I'd like to make here...I have seen criticism on other sites of the NRA and various strategies. My friends, this needs to end NOW! The battle lines are drawn, and they are the lines we will fight on. The NRA will lead that battle, with SAF, GOA and NSSF — and every one of us — providing support. If we survive this, we can have long, penetrating, pointless discussions over "angels dancing on the head of a pin" doctrine and who we do or don't like. In the meantime, STAND DOWN! As the flag says, "Join, Or Die."

I'll be cooking today — the basics of oyster/sage dressing. cranberries with sour cherries and rum (a favorite at Thanksgiving), Chambord chocolate mousse. If I get a few spare minutes I'll go back to torturing that AR back together.

Have a safe Christmas Eve, keep your eyes peeled for any sign of the Wild Hunt and try not to frighten Santa too much.

Hypocrites' Dance Party

BTW...

....it's 5 PM on the night the world was supposed to end and we're all still here...what a rip-off!

DOWN RANGE Radio...

...Episode 295 is live!

Here is the link to Down Range Radio, share it with your friends....

Now we're back to life in the hot zone. Today President Obama called for the public to pressure their legislators on gun control...hey, I totally agree! EVERY ONE OF YOU needs to call, write. email, text, visit personally, whatever with your legislators, national and local, and tell them that you are UNEQUIVOCALLY AGAINST THE GUN BANS!

• You are unequivocally against the demonization and ban of the most popular, best selling, rifle in America.
• You are unequivocally against a useless "magazine capacity ban" drafted by people who wouldn't know a firearm from umbrella stand.
• You are unequivocally against the "solution in search of a problem," of closing the nonexistent gun shop loophole.
• You unequivocally support ENDING gun-free zones.
• You unequivocally support placing armed guards in our schools.
• You are DISGUSTED by the blood libel brought agains gun owners, the industry and our organizations by those who would strip of of our rights!

BTW, did you see Andrew Cuomo's plan for New York State?

Cuomo indicated the state will likely force some kind of permit process on owners of semi-automatic “assault weapons.” In addition to generating revenue and expanding the size and reach of government, the effort will allow the state to confiscate the weapons of citizens who do not comply... “Confiscation could be an option. Mandatory sale to the state could be an option. Permitting could be an option — keep your gun but permit it,” the governor said.

Yes, I Am Holding Off Posting...

...I have many friends, including one of my best friends, in Newtown, the home of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, and they are living in a hell I can't imagine. Again, we are reminded that Evil does indeed exist, and that despite our most fervent beliefs, no place is truly safe. I will speak to this nightmare on Wednesday's podcast.

In the meantime, let me point you to several exceptional pieces on the Internet. The first is from Say Uncle:

A 20 year-old had a couple of handguns (illegal). And, depending on the press report, had an assault weapon (illegal), automatic rifle (illegal), or machine gun (illegal). Shot his mom in the face (illegal). Stole his mom’s vehicle (illegal). Transported the gun in the vehicle (illegal) within 1,000 feet of a school (illegal). Carried it onto school property (illegal). Broke and entered (illegal). Carried a gun in a school (illegal). Discharged a firearm (illegal). Shot at people (illegal). Killed some people (illegal). Killed himself (not sure if illegal).

The next is from my good friend Paul Markel, host of Student of the Gun:

Society’s well meaning, but totally deluded sheep, are obsessed with their little white signs and placards declaring this building or that to be a “No Gun Zone” or “No Weapons Permitted”. (Unless of course you are a homicidal maniac and don’t give a damn about the sign, then feel free.) Ask any cop how effective a civil protection order or restraining order is. It’s a piece of paper, nothing more. Shiny placards, clever little signs, and policy papers don’t stop crime. They might give the prosecutor one more charge to hang on the guy if he’s ever brought to trial, but they don’t stop crime. You can’t sterilize the world.

From Jeffrey Goldberg writing in The Atlantic:

People should have the ability to defend themselves. Mass shootings take many lives in part because no one is firing back at the shooters. The shooters in recent massacres have had many minutes to complete their evil work, while their victims cower under desks or in closets. One response to the tragic reality that we are a gun-saturated country is to understand that law-abiding, well-trained, non-criminal, wholly sane citizens who are screened by the government have a role to play in their own self-defense, and in the defense of others (read The Atlantic article to see how one armed school administrator stopped a mass shooting in Pearl Mississippi). I don't know anything more than anyone else about the shooting in Connecticut at the moment, but it seems fairly obvious that there was no one at or near the school who could have tried to fight back.

From Reason.com, another intelligent analysis:

The general decline in gun-related violence and the inability even of mental health professionals to identify future mass killers should be the essential starting points of any serious policy discussion generated by the absolutely horrific slaughter at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. We should also add a third starting point: Few good policies come from rapid responses to deeply felt injuries.

This is from John Fund at National Review Online:

Almost all of the public-policy discussion about Newtown has focused on a debate over the need for more gun control. In reality, gun control in a country that already has 200 million privately owned firearms is likely to do little to keep weapons out of the hands of criminals. We would be better off debating two taboo subjects — the laws that make it difficult to control people with mental illness and the growing body of evidence that “gun-free” zones, which ban the carrying of firearms by law-abiding individuals, don’t work.

This heartfelt piece from The Truth About Guns publisher Robert Farago, a person I with whom I often take issue:

A good man will do the right thing. It is his nature. But if you disarm him (or her) you make it more difficult for the good man to confront and defeat evil. You allow evil to fester, spread and destroy all that is good in our world, if not the world itself. In just three minutes, Adam Lanza destroyed the safe little world of Newtown Connecticut. In truth, it was never safe. In truth, none of us are safe. All of us, especially those caring for our children, should be prepared.

Finally a quote from the Internet that is being attributed to actor Morgan Freeman, although I cannot find the direct attribution (and given his views on guns, unlikely)...the words are true, regardless of who said them:

You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why. It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single victim of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.
...
So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next. You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news.

MB MIA

You get it...am traveling pretty heavily headed into the holidays, getting up very early and collapsing into the hotel bed too tired to post.

Couple of quickies...I finally got a chance to handle the DoubleStar C3, the Constant Carry Carbine. It is all that and more...5 1/2 pounds without optic but with steel BUIS! As you guys know I've been fretting over a breakdown AR as light as you can get it; my result isn't even close to this. The "pencil" barrel, 9-inch Samson Evolution forend and the great ACE AR-UL-E 7-inch stock keep the weight not the featherlight category.

Add an Aimpoint Micro or a Trijicon RMR, a small light and you've got what is now the ultimate package carbine to long driving trips or to carry as luggage on the plane. I think I'm going to put one of these guys on order as soon as I get home.

In fact, the themes for SHOT 2013 Modern Sporting Rifles is "light" and "SBR."

Expect to see a massive number of SBRs at SHOT...everybody is offering SBRs, and apparently the civilian demand is there. Probably a good thing that the NFA Branch is adding 10 new examiners to deal with the flood of Class 3 requests. I'm putting in paper before the end of the year on a 10-inch .300 Blackout project myself.

Rail systems have gotten skinnier, lighters and in many cases optional. Stag, for instance, lopped pounds off their piston gun with a really cool retro triangular forend. Lighter is a good thing.

BTW, congrats to Rapid Fire co-host Iain Harrison, who's taking the helm of the hapless RECOIL magazine, where the previous editor shot himself in the winkie with ill-advised antigun word bullets. If anyone can turn it around, it's Iain. BTW BTW, RF will be back for a second season!

Man, my left ear never cleared from my last flight, because I have a Terminal Ebola Head Cold! Driving me plum crazy, I'll tell you! Another use for Dremels...LOL!

Bob Munden R.I.P.

And so the legends pass...

Back Home!

And man, am I jet-lagged out! I kept popping awake at odd hours last night and wondering where I was. LOL! Anyway, it was a great opportunity to "get inside" a big company like Armscor/Rock Island Armory. I don't like the package trips with 20 other journalists...I much prefer one-on-one, where I have a chance to sit down with the manufacturing manager, the QA guys, people in research and development, etc. because that's how you really get an idea of how a factory is running and how it's likely to run in the future. The design and the process tell you huge amounts about the gun.

One of the things we talked about at some length is the challenges of the 1911, a gun designed when precision handwork was cheap and machines expensive (or nonexistent), in a 21st Century manufacturing environment. Right now, Armscor is casting their frames, but forging the slides. They're working toward a fully forged version in the next year (I saw the test forgings). I thought it was interesting that they were EDM'ing the 1911 breech faces, one of the more critical, and complicated, cuts. I'll be talking about it more in this week's podcast.

And, yes, I really liked shooting the .22 TCM...yes yes, I know that all the calibers ever needed have already been invented, but then again, I have adult attention deficit disorder...LOOK! A kitty!

BTW, check out this review of my concealed carry video from Kevin at Misfires & Light Strikes!

Back To Normal...

...such as it is, with Wednesday's podcast. Looking at new products for SHOT this week.


-- Post From The Road

Out Of Here Today!

Did an interview with one of my counterpart television shows here in the Philippines late yesterday after an afternoon in Batanga in search of the illusive street balisong. If I'd had time I would have visited with the famous knifesmiths, but as it happens I have a gun, not a knife, show...also didn't have Michael Janich as my tour guide, LOL!

If I could figure out a way to I port Philippine jeepneys into the U.S., not only would I be rich, but I believe the oceans would stop their rise and the planet would begin to heal.

Range Time with the Armscor/Rock Island .22 TCM

In short, pretty cool! A hoot to shoot -- very little recoil (say .22 Magnum-ish), big muzzle flash and seriously loud. Forty grain bullet @ 2000 fps out of 5-inch 1911. Great performance in gellatin...I think you're starting to get up into hydrostatic shock country, but we didn't have the ultra-high speed camera on this one. Have a high-speed session scheduled in early January, and I'll run the .22 TCM on it then...I'd like to see the wound cavity develop. I also want to do some penetration tests, too...was interesting how the bullet performrped in Jello...it either fragment early in, chewing an impressive mound channel, or, in one case, mushroomed perfectly and stopped maybe a quarter-inch from completely penetrating the 15-inch block.

Gosh, might be nice to have a tack-driving bolt gun that uses the same 17 round mags, wouldn't it? Hummmmmmmmmm. I think I mentioned I got .22 TCM brass, bullets and loading dies from Fred Craig, and Hornady has a 35-grainer that should work.

And to head off the "but why, Michael?", I've been contemplating a little .22-ish project for a while now. I've looked at 25/20, .22 Hornet, .221 Fireball, .22 Jet, .256 and the 5.7 x 28. I've got a good bit of experience with the 5.7 in the pistol and carbine configs, but zippidy-do-da on the others ( well, maybe a little with the Hornet, but It has been a long whole back) When Armscor signed on with SG and I reconnected with Fred Craig after many years and started hearing about the TCM, my interest in the little .22 project got bumped up.

BTW, I have one of the new Leupold Mark AR Mod 1 1.5-4... Plant to mount it on Colt 901 .308 next week just to try it out.

Pixs on all coming?

Busy, Busy week!

Will post when I can...sorry about Podcast repeat...hey, only my 4th in 293 weeks!

Moron of the Day Alert!

And our "Dumb As A Sack Of Rocks" weekly media prize goes to Fox sportswriter Jason Whitlock for his laughingly stupid piece on the murder/suicide of NFL linebacker Jovan Belcher. So this scumbag Belcher, who happens to work for the NFL, kills his wife, apologizes to his teammates and kills himself in front of his coaches. Read Whitlock's paean to the Zen of Football...try to keep from laughing, BTW...then he calls for an end to the Second Amendment, because:

Our current gun culture simply ensures that more and more domestic disputes will end in the ultimate tragedy, and that more convenience-store confrontations over loud music coming from a car will leave more teenage boys bloodied and dead.

Yeah, right...hey Whitlock, why don't you stick to those deep, penetrating analyses of 'roided-up gown men smashing their heads against each other for millions of dollars? Or try to grow a brain and join the rest of us...

"Doctrine" on Potentially Armored Aggressors

Read the last post, especially the second comment on the alleged "armored" aggressor in the Aurora shooting. As you all know, the aggressor was only wearing "tacticool" wardrobe items — no soft or plate armor. What I have said on the podcast and what we will say on TBD is that when faced with an aggressor who appears to be armored, TAKE THE CENTER MASS SHOTS IMMEDIATELY. If the aggressor is armored, the center mass shots will at worst buy you some time for a more precise shot and at best either spin the aggressor or knock him/her to the ground, giving you clearer shots at the unarmored areas — side, hips, head, legs.

Remember, you are probably not fighting a Navy SEAL or a Force Recon Marine who can take the pounding of rounds slamming into armor and keep going. Likely the aggressor has never been shot or even shot at. I would go as far as saying after examining active shooter situations it is likely the aggressor has never even taken a punch. I fall back on that great Zen philosopher Mike Tyson who noted that, "Everyone has a plan until they get hit in the face." Pain can be a massive distraction, and you are in a position to deliver the pain.

IMMEDIATELY transition to either a "failure drill" — the headshot — or some sort of mobility kill based on whatever targets are available. A mobility kill, a shot that knocks the aggressor to the ground  and removes his/her ability to move freely, still does not solve the problem! That problem is only solved when the aggressor cannot continue firing and the threat ceases.

If the aggressor is only "dressed for success" in contractor casual, it will become readily apparent by noting the spreading red stain.

Another "Must Read"...

...this one from December's Atlantic Magazine by Jeffrey Goldberg:

Boulder may be the locus of left-wing politics in Colorado, but it is also home to the oversubscribed Boulder Rifle Club, which I visited on a bright early-fall morning with Dave Kopel, of the Independence Institute. The existence of the rifle club surprised me, given Boulder’s reputation. But Kopel argued that gun ownership and sport shooting are not partisan phenomena, and he made the plausible assertion that Boulder is home to “the largest population of armed vegans in America.”

I certainly don't agree with all the conclusions reached by Goldberg (and my good friend Dave Kopel does have an excellent turn of phrase, doesn't he), but this article clearly shows the lack of rationality the part of publicity whores like Tom Mauser, and the list of suggestions for what university students should do if faced with an active shooter is just heartbreaking — grab a pencil?

This article is just another data point that regardless of the election results, we are long past the tipping point for public acceptance of firearms. That is a darn good thing!

A Comforting Presence

Spent the evening filming openings and closings for THE BEST DEFENSE in a seedy area of a big urban downtown...the SR9c was definitely a comforting presence! Am getting ready for Friday's "live studio audience" session for SG. Response has been so great we may split up the session and do a second session end of January.

So Black Friday set a 1-day record for NICS checks, so much so that it briefly shut the system down. I can't find the link but I read that 62% of the checks in this bubble are long guns. Wow! That's a lot of bolt-action rifles! Joking...joking! That represents a flood of AR and AK platform guns. I've been looking around for a lower for an SBR .300 Blackout project,,and my first choices (Spike's, DSA, Noveske, Stag) are MIA.

An Important Article one"Assault Weapons"

This is a great article in the Captain's Journal blog on "assault weapons." Read it all and give it some thought...

Arguing that their bans don’t adequately distinguish between weapons leads them to refine their ban.  Arguing that there is equivalent lethality between weapons denies aspects of utility and design, and only causes them to ban weapons that have specific utility for home and self defense.  And arguing that their regulations were ineffective only embarrasses them to pass even more onerous ones.

The correct way to argue against Feinstein’s proposed assault weapons ban is to argue that there is no constitutional basis for such a ban, and any new assault weapons ban would be at least as immoral and obscene as the last one was.

Thanksgiving Weekend Wrap-Up

The quick executive summary? I need another 4 days off...maybe 8 days...a month...LOL! Yesterday my Sweetie and I went up to the site of the new Secret Hidden Bunker, where the dirt work is well underway. We now have a driveway and the beginnings of a house platform! I do wish a genie could wiggle her cute little nose and the whole new Bunker would miraculously appear. Second wish would be to dig up a really big nugget of gold to cover all the cost, but there you are...

Friday my Sweetie and I took a 3-Gun class with old friends Mark Passamaneck and James Casanova. Both are veteran 3-gun shooters and champions in their own right...James in particular had a spectacular season last year. The class was just excellent and gave both of us the grounding we've been looking for. My Sweetie in particular smoked the rifle and shotgun stuff. She was shooting a Stag 3G competition rifle with a Swarovski Z6i and an FNH SLP shotgun overhauled by Mark P. Mark shortened the stock, opened up the loading gate and welded up the lifted, etc. Of course the gun always ran like a scalded dog.

I ran the JP rifle I shot up in Oregon, still with the now-ancient Leupold CQ/T. I used a T&E Mossberg 930 JM Pro shotgun, which I was very impressed with. It ran with birdshot and slugs, was extremely easy to manipulate in all the drills and was fast fast fast cycling.

I was also impressed with Mark and James company, Carbon Arms, TWinS shotgun loaders. The cowboy shooter in me appreciates any device that lets you load a shotgun quicker. The technique I worked on for the day involved rolling the shotgun upside-down with my strong hand, locking the stock under my strong side elbow, drawing 2 rounds at a time from the TWinS loader and sliding them in. Takes less time to load 2 rounds than to describe it here. The quad load is just as quick...check out the video.

We'll probably aim for a big 3-gun match in April and try to get through it in once piece. I will tell you the absolute truth...the expense of starting 3-gun is daunting, and I get discounts! My friend Iain Harrison is adamant that a person can get started in 3-gun for less than $1500...well, maybe (here's some of Iain's star-up videos for G&A and here).

Three-gun is more like cowboy that I think a lot of people realize, with their joint emphasis on transitions and speed. Obviously, 3-gun requires a higher skill level, but the base is very similar.

I'm looking forward to getting at least one more cowboy match before winter sets in hard. The weather up in the high country has ben nothing short of amazing, a long, lingering Indian Summer with sunny days at temperatures in the high 50s and low 60s. Makes for wonderful days at the range.

Gordon Davis, R.I.P.

I note the passing of master holster maker, and my friend, Gordon Davis, after a long illness. In these days of floods of high quality holsters, it's hard to image how important Gordie's magnificent holsters were for both the fledgling sport of practical pistol — "combat shooting," in the into of the times — and concealed carry. I remember when I filly scraped up enough money to buy my first Davis hipster...I still have it today and it is still simply a great holster.  Later, Gordon was one of the founders of cowboy action shooting...Harper Creigh, "Judge Roy Bean," SASS #1 still carries his Colts in a Gordie Davis rig.

Go with God, brother.

And a Happy Thanksgiving for All!

Our dinner went super. hey, how can you go wrong with lobster tails, stir-fired veggies, sweet potatoes roasted with chili, cranberries with sour cherries and rum, fresh rolls and...wait for it...wait for it...a homemade Boston creme pie. Yes, it rocked!

Going to do some 3-gun shooting tomorrow, then I swear I'm going to sleep until noon on Saturday. Maybe until 2 or 3 PM, getting ready for the Sprint 'til Christmas. Ho ho ho on d'at!

Busily Trying to Relax!

My plan for yesterday was catch up, then knock off for the Thanksgiving week. Ha! Today my plan is to catch up, then knock off for the Thanksgiving week. Tomorrow my plan is...you kinda get the drift. I've got to cook Wednesday, or at least cook a little Wednesday. Hopefully, I'll be doing a little 3-Gun shooting this weekend, then begin the sprint to the end of the year...well, at least until the world ends just before Christmas.

I realize I've talked about the Spike's/JP .22 LR AR but haven't gone into it too deeply. That's because it's a SHOOTING GALLERY project gun, and you'll see us put it together on the show next season, then use it at the Project Appleseed event. The genesis for the project was that I love .22 LR AR-platform guns, because they make wonderful and adaptive trainers for newbies, provide a platform for tactical training in a time of dreadfully expensive ammunition, serve as a great tool to bring young video gamers into the shooting sports, etc. I have shot most of the .22 conversions and dedicated .22 ARs. I have a Tactical Solutions upper on a Stag lower that has been a very good gun and crazy fun to shoot. But it was my observation that the vast majority of the .22 ARs couldn't shoot alongside a high-end 10/22 when it came to pure accuracy.

Secondly, some of my friend who are putting thousands of .22 rounds through their guns are telling me the guns aren't holding up as well as they'd hoped. I'd like to say quickly that has not been the case with the Tac Sol conversion unit. I do have friends who shoot Ruger Rimfire a lot have gone from dedicated .22 ARs back to 10/22s for reliability after thousands of rounds.

Finally, there's the largely undefinable "feel" of a gun. Ideally,  a rifle should del solid, like well, a rifle, not an adaptation of a paintball gun.

So the goal for the build was a .22 AR that would should alongside a good 10/22 (and I have several). It needed to be very accurate, very reliable and rock solid. I did about month of research, talking to shooters (especially Ruger Rimfire veterans) and reading on the Internet (AR15.com was invaluable), then posting questions.

My decision was to go with a Spike's Tactical upper with a Lothar Walther barrel. I have a lot of experience with Spike's products, and they have been uniformly excellent. I'm familiar with the Lothar Walther barrel, and it is hard to find better. I chose a JP lower after talks with John Paul at JP. He put in his own trigger system with an eye toward .22 LR. We finished the lower with CMMG parts and I used Magpul furniture. Magazine choice was also a major consideration, and the hands down winner was the Black Dog magazine with steel lips. I chose the first generation Fowler/Pride Rapid Reticle 3-9X .22 scope because i had it and because Mickey Fowler, who has forgotten more about shooting .22s in the last 30 minutes than I will ever know, told me it was the single best .22 scope he'd ever used. I went with the Midway USA mounts because they were the only ones I had for a 1-inch scope.

I was prepared to go through my .22 ammo bin and see what the gun liked. The first ammo I tried was the CCI "Tactical" .22s, 40-grain plated. My "reference group" with that ammo was, as I mentioned, a 5-shot one hole group at 25 yards. I didn't try any of the other ammo.

Will have pictures of the rifle, accessories and groups when I finish chasing my tail this AM!

Appleseed Weekend!

It was really really fun, and I am really really tired! Appleseed Colorado Coordinators Jim and Kim Heath did a marvelous job, Colorado Rifle Club is a super venue and the weather was just amazing. Not to mention a great group of instructors and participants.

It's going to make a great SHOOTING GALLERY!

The Spike's/JP .22 AR may be the best .22 rifle I've every shot. Certainly among the top 3. I did the quick sight-in on Saturday AM at 25 yards from prone off a rolled up jacket. Ammo was CCI Tactical. The final "reference" group was a single hole 5-shot group (I'll post the pix tomorrow). My earlier generation Fowler/Pride 3-9X .22 scope is a world class scope...I've got a bunch of .22 scopes around the Secret Hidden Bunker, and the F/P is simply in another league.

How did I shoot?

My best tally was 216 out of 250 possible points on the Appleseed AQT,  which (barely) got me over the necessary 210 points for the "Rifleman" patch. I had some trouble with the sitting position so I decided to go to kneeling for that shooting string. I threw away some points on the off-hand 10 shots, which surprised me because I'd been shooting the off-hand really well in practice. But I made it up on the final prone stage, which is pretty much my strength.

I cannot say enough good things about the Project Appleseed. This is one event that every shooter should attend!

On The Phone All Day...Sigh...

...so aborted trip to the range...I go to Appleseed with 2 rifles without a clue as to their zero. Sigh. Maybe sigh twice. Shouldn't take too long to sight them in, though. BTW, I'm doing the best I can to deal with the Twinkie Apocalypse...

I did have a long time on the phone today with Mark Keefe from AMERICAN RIFLEMAN, in which we never actually mentioned Twinkies. Mark is a really good friend and he and I almost never have a chance to get together. We had lots of stupid gun stories to swap.

Am I the only one who has the urge to rush out and panic buy Twinkies? I can't even remember the last time I had a Twinkie, but if the world ends next month I'm going to be pissed that I didn't have a Last Dessert of ice wine and Twinkies. Maybe I'm over-reacting. I could go for ice wine and Ding Dongs.

It's like losing a relative, assuming said relative was stuffed with a sweet, creamy center. I doubt I'll be able to sleep tonight. Farewell, fair junk food!

Range Day (I Hope!)

The temperature is creeping up and the clouds seem to be moving out, so hopefully I'll be able to get rifles sighted in this afternoon. We're in kind of the pre-SHOT doldrums in the industry...people are frantically trying to get their catalogs done, collateral material printed and party invitations all sync'ed up. I'm trying to get both SHOOTING GALLERY and THE BEST DEFENSE wrapped before the end of the year — new season starts the last Wednesday of December. All in all, we're in much much better shape than we were last year!

I note that there are big changes afoot at OUTDOOR CHANNEL. As per the presser this AM, OC will be merging with InterMedia, which operates the SPORTSMAN CHANNEL and the InterMedia magazines and websites. As to what this means of our various and sundry projects, I have no idea. I plan to follow the advice of the great management sage Pete Townsend:

"Pick up my guitar and play 

Just like yesterday..."

Tickets are going fast for our 30 November live studio filming in Denver for SHOOTING GALLERY 2013! Email FLYINGDRAGONHELP@AOL.COM to get your free ticket! 

Fizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

So I ordered some OC to spray the pooches. I'm willing to go OC in the left hand, gat in the right. I'm also thinking of getting Alf an Ithaca Auto & Burglar with stocks cut to fit her little paws. Or maybe one of those little Danish grenades that only have a 3-foot kill radius. She could hook her little claw into the pin, then bombs away! The world's first Assault Beagle! Except Alf doesn't like loud noises, so there you are. Maybe she can handle little nunchucks.

I was in Denver today at the Dish Network call center signing autographs and generally schmoozing. It was big fun. I've got to get to the range tomorrow, so I can maybe go to the Appleseed shoot with a rifle vaguely sighted in. Although it wouldn't be the first time I Kentucky windaged a whole event. Maybe it'll be warm...

My Sweetie and I are gong to take a 3-Gun class after Thanksgiving with my old friend Mark Passamaneck. Mark and I shot a lot of IDPA back in the day, and I'm looking forward to doing some 3-Gun matches when/if spring comes, which I have on authority will happen after winter.

BTW, got Glock 19 #2 back from Mark at L&M...this one has a Leupold DeltaPoint mounted ahead of the rear BUIS. This will make an interesting segment of SG. Interesting that S&W became the first company to offer "optic ready" semiautos. I suspect they won't be the last. [ADDENDUM...yes, I did forget the FNX .45...sorry]

I'm going to finish watching the Bogart version of THE BIG SLEEP, then call it a night. If I could write one book as good as Raymond Chandler's worst book, I'd be content to cut off my fingers...
 “Such a lot of guns around town and so few brains. You’re the second guy I’ve met within hours who seems to think a gat in the hand means a world by the tail.”

Generally Icchy Day

Sigh...working like crazy getting ready for the SHOOTING GALLERY studio sessions in Denver (you're coming , right?). Also spent time on the phone working on finding financing for the new Secret Hidden Bunker, with a little light at the end of the tunnel...maybe.

Had a little problem this afternoon. My Sweetie and I were walking Alf the Wonder Beagle up a trail. As you remember, Alf got ripped by a local dog a month ago and it took 6 staples to get her patched up. Jackasses up here in the mountains think their dogs should "be free," that is, off leash and for all intents and purposes out of control.

Let me preface this by saying I love dogs. I have had dogs my entire life, usually big and potentially aggressive dogs like malamutes and chow chows. In each case I have put in the time and the work and (occasionally) the money to make them good dogs, socialized dogs, great and loving companions. There is not an aggressive bone in Alf's body...she was raised as a show beagle until my Sweetie and I rescued her from that fate worse than death.

Alf's last attack cost more than $200 and left her limping for a month. We talked to the local police, filed a report and the people were fined.

So we're walking on the trail today and about 70 pounds of brown lab comes running our of the woods, followed by a couple of runners. The lab is not on a leash, of course. It runs up to Alf and then goes off on her, snapping and biting hard. I kicked the lab's nose, got it off Alf and my Sweetie risked limb to pluck Alf out of the way. The lab them made a move for me...the situation got resolved with no shots fired; I talked to the police about the situation; Alf is okay...but...

...I am DAMNED sick and tired of of these hippie-dippy morons and their big "rescue" dogs running all over the place...the last thing I ever want to do is shoot a dog. It's not the dog's fault that it bites. But I will NOT go to the hospital with my leg ripped up or see my own beloved dog injured or even killed.

Okay...rank mode off!

Busy Busy...

...getting started on the new, improved Secret Hidden Bunker. At least, we broke ground on the driveway and house platform, plus fired a few rounds of .22 on the property to give it a little lead inoculation. Our original plan was to build an off-grid house...we're still headed in that direction, but to say that the banks are less than enthused is being kind. Friggin' liberals talk a good game when it comes to "treading lightly on Mother Gaia, but it's all just hot air and lies. We will endeavor to persevere!

Am shooting an Project Appleseed event this week, which we'll be filming for SHOOTING GALLERY. I'm going to be using the Spike's Tactical/JP Rifles .22 AR, which is a much better rifle than I am a rifleman! Strictly a cook, to borrow Appleseed terminology...but I am a really good cook!

Colt LE901

Also, am darned excited about new guns that have just arrived here at the Bunker — a Mossberg 930 JM Pro, my long-awaited Colt Custom Shop Defender 9mm, one of the RIA/Fred Craig .22 TCM 1911s and (wait for it...wait for it...) a Colt LE901 .308!  Can't wait to get to the range...

FINALLY, WE WILL BE FILMING SHOOTING GALLERY STUDIO SESSIONS IN DENVER ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, AND WE'D LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN US! WE WILL HAVE LIMITED TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR 2 STUDIO AUDIENCE SESSIONS. LAST YEAR WAS REALLY A HOOT. AND YES, THERE WILL BE A "SWAG BAG" FOR EACH PARTICIPANT!

EMAIL US AT FLYINGDRAGONHELP@AOL.COM FOR YOUR FREE TICKET (OR MORE INFO), AND START SAVING UP THOSE ROTTEN TOMATOES AND ASSORTED GARBAGE TO THROW!

Veterans' Day 2013

Battle flag of the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteers, the "Iron Brigade"

Antietam Battlefield

September 17, 1862

More than anything else, our thoughts and prayers today are with our troops on far-flung battlefields, fighting wars of no consequence for a government that has long since stopped caring.

We owe a debt we can never pay. To all who serve now and have served, thank you.

Moving On...

...which is about the only thing I can think of to do. A dear friend, himself a legend in law enforcement,   told me many many years ago (and late at night, I might add) that the greatest challenge of his life was to find a way to live in a world he neither agreed with, liked, nor truly understood...a world that that had no place for people like him. I've been thinking a lot about that conversation over the last couple of days and how we go forward in an America that is not the America we all envisioned or, indeed, want to live in. I don't have a lot of answers right now, but a few things come to mind. We need to all become "preppers" in a sense, prepared enough to insulate as much as possible our families from the uncertain times that I believe must come. You don't have to build your own Secret Hidden Bunker in the Rocky Mountains, but you do need to be aware and have a plan. I believe we need to redouble our commitment to the cause, the right to keep and bear arms, but also to stand for the Constitution at every point. That is going to be harder and harder to do as the progressive juggernaut thunders forward and the social pressures to "get into lockstep" increase. Finally, and I know this is going to sound a bit trite, but we need to remember to live both with honor and with joy, because our individual lives may be the only things we can truly control. Your thoughts?

And So the Battle is Joined...

Honestly, I was just too depressed to post earlier today. But we pick ourselves up and get ready for the battle to cone. And it's coming quickly. Obviously, the first thrust is the damned U.N. Arms Trade Treaty. This looks like the fastest way for the Dems to rev up the gun control wars; it will fail, this time.   The Senate as presently constituted is not going to ratify this abortion. I think even the Democrats might pause a bit to consider the consequences of trying to ram through a U.N. proposal that overrides the U.S. Constitution.

Ditto for Diane Fienstein's nifty new AWB, as reported by Jim Shepherd and others. Apparently, not even the BATFE was enthusiastic about a new Ban, which would not stand a snowball's chance in hell in the House and probably not the Senate. At least for now.

But we ARE going to be fighting every single day for the next 4 years. Blink once, and we lose.

I've been monitoring gun prices, especially ARs, and ammo, especially .223/5.56. The sales are huge...this from Traction Control:

Buyers ordered 10% of available firearm and ammunition stock on hand in just one day following the Election. $5,471,760 in total sales were made on November 7, 2012 from a starting inventory valued at $53,624,215. 8% of ammunition, 3% of handguns and 15% of long gun units were sold during the day, for a total of 4,284 new firearms and 67,749 boxes of ammunition.

Prices depend on the dealer. I have found 5.56 Federal ball at the same price it was selling for Monday AM, roughly $360 per 1000. Some dealers have upped the 1K price on 5.56 ball as high as $100 over Monday's prices. Magazine prices are holding, although my cherubs and seraphim tell me that a major distributor of plastic mags for plastic guns will up retail mag prices 50% tomorrow AM. PMAGs still at $12-14 apiece.

AR sales are brisk, to say the least. There's a lot of inventory out there, though. I'm hearing about lots of stripped lower purchases. A lot of the high-zoot lowers are already on waiting lists. The big dealers are mixed...Impact Guns is showing most of their lowers on back order; RGuns showing their owes all in stock.

I'm in pretty good shape overall, but I would like to have a few lowers banked for upcoming SG projects. I may make some calls on that tomorrow...

Vote!

Nothing more to say, is there?

Escape From Texas!

Home from Comin' At Cha, the big cowboy action shooting regional in English, Texas, that we filmed for SHOOTING GALLERY 2013. What a great great match! I have to say that if you're a cowboy action shooter who hasn't traveled to any big national matches, you could not have a better experience than at Comin' At Cha. T-Bone Dooley and his Dooley Gang do a magnificent job of not just running a fine match, but in creating an fun experience around that match. "This is all about the entertainment dollar," T-Bone told me yesterday. "It's not just a competition."

Those words should probably be tattooed on every match director's forearm where he or she can be reminded every day. Yes, the competition has to be world class — and most big match directors have that down pat — but match directors truly need to understand that they are competing for a decreasing amount of leisure time. And traveling to a big match is flat out expensive. Each year the organizers of Comin' At Cha sit down and figure out how to get more value-added activities in the event. There are banquets and activities every night, much of the food is included in the match fee, a good selection of vendors, both traditional and eclectic side matches and a relentless attention to detail. Small point...in addition to experienced and well-briefed squad leaders ("posse marshals," in the lingo os SASS), there are several range masters constantly roaming from bay to bay to head off any problems before they start. And T-Bone and the Dooley Gang are everywhere, talking to shooters, visitors and vendors and asking how they can make the experience better for participants.

As the shooting sports continue to grow in popularity, it falls upon match directors to make sure their matches stand out in the crowd. Hornady did a masterful job of that with their Zombies in the Heartland 3-Gun Shoot this summer. Ditto for Crimson Trace and their Midnight 3-Gun Invitational. My friend Paul Erhardt has written extensively over the years on how to make matches more competitive in the increasingly crowded marketplace.

So how'd I do? In a word...sigh. I've been shooting well and went into the match feeling pretty solid, shooting up to my potential on most of the early stages. On the second day, my last minute lack of match prep caught up with me. Normally for a big match, I will take every reloaded round and "drop test" it, that is, drop it into either a chamber gauge or, better yet, remove one of the cylinders from a match pistol and drop the round into the cylinder to make sure I hadn't screwed up reloading. Time, laziness, whatever, I didn't, which gave me the wonderful opportunity to lever a .357 round that had somehow missed the taper crimp final stage on the  reloading press into my 1873 rifle. What happens is it jams the crap out of the lifter — you can't clear it on the line. So I ate 9 misses from that little stunt, giving me a middle-of-the-pack finish among 400 shooters. Learn from my mistakes, little grasshoppers!

Finally, congratulations to K.C. Eusebio for winning the overall Steel Challenge last weekend with an Open Glock. SHOOTING GALLERY regular B.J. Norris took the iron sighted division and Taurus' Jessie Duff repeating as high woman. Dave Sevigny won the Rimfire Steel Challenge.

Tomorrow, VOTE, for America and for those who will never cast another vote.

End Of a Crazy Week

Check out the new U.S. Firearms (USFA) Zip .22 pistol and SBR...Okay, different, but cool-looking. USFA head honcho Doug Donnelly is a visionary, as well as an interestingly to hang out with, so I'm interested in seeing the final product. BTW, this goes along with what the cherubs an d seraphim are telling me that USFA is  moving away a bit from their superb single action pistols toward the amazingly lucrative black rifle market.

Shot the Turnbull 1911 .45 in a Wild Bunch match and was EXTREMELY happy. It is one heck of a 1911. I had a couple of problems that I'd call ammo related...I didn't have any of my 230-gr cowboy 1911 .45 ACPs loaded up, so I grabbed a couple of boxes of factory cowboy I had on hand. It wasn't until I got to the tach that I realized they were 200-gr round nose, which are actually WRETCHED bullets! The design has a slightly smaller round nose with a little "platform," for lack of a better word, around the base of the bullet the nose sits on. I have a pretty varied selection of 1911s, from stock to full-blown competition guns. NONE of my guns will feed this bullet design reliably. Not one. In fact, I had 500 of them a few years back I won at a match. I loaded up a bunch, then a bunch more with varying cartridge OALs, changed the crimp...no dice. I hauled out my Wilson Master Grade, which will feed empty cases, and it would not reliably feed the 200-grainers. I finally consigned the bullets left to the scrap lead bin. The Turnbull gun choked on a couple of the factory loads...then I borrowed some rounds from a friend and the gun ran like a top. Am very pleased with this gun. I'll probably shoot it off a bench in before the snow sets I and see what it's like at fixed distances.

I also ran a Winchester Model 12 12 gauge pump instead if a '97. Night and day. The Model 12 feels different from both the '97 and the Rem 870, the 2 pumps I have a lot of rounds through, but I could definitely get used to it.

My Wild Bunch rifle was another test run -- a Taylor Uberti converted from .44 Special to .44 Russian. Lever guns flatly don't like short cartridges, but Adirondack Jack, a SASS shooter and gunsmith, created a specially modified carrier to allow the link guns to use both his proprietary .45 Special in the .45s and .44 Russian in the .44s. As I am probably the only person on earth who has a large supply of both loaded .44 Russians and components (don't ask...it was another project that plain-ass didn't work), I got the kit installed in a '66 I'd had for a while. It's a cool gun. The Russians didn't recoil at all with the octagonal barrel and, as expected, it's as accurate as stink. One caveat...whe loading the stubby rounds through the loading gate, you have to make sure the last round is pushed in enough to seat it's rIm against the little spring-loaded thingie that allows the shorter cartridges to work in the lever guns.

And before you ask "why," the answer is "because." I like the .44 Russian cartridge, and in a levere gun my experience has been that In a larger caliber the short cartridges tend to be more reliable than their longer brethren.

Light Blogging Alert

Busy busy busy...will see if I can get some stuff up tonite...