In the Eye of the Beholder

Miculek art...

Regulating Clark Double Rifles

Regulating Clark Double Rifles

Swiss Family Miculek

C'mon...You Always Wanted to Do This!

The First .22 Scout!

Built by Jerry on a Nylon  Remington .22 with one of the first TASCO pistol scopes, circa early 1980s...

Jerry's Nylon Remington

SHOOTOUT LANE Begins Filming

What could possibly go wrong? I'll let you know if it works!

Strategies for Surviving on the Other Side of the Bubble

My ubiquitous travel cold seems to be receding, which is great because it gives all-new road viruses a chance to take hold! Was a glorious late summer morning here at the New Improved Secret Hidden Bunker while Newt and I were out walking. For some reason the light reminded me of late summer mornings in NYC many many years ago whenI was living in a 5th floor walk-up in Greenwich Village. I remember thinking that, man, I'd never leave the City! LOL! How things change.

I did a presentation yesterday for OC on the state of the industry, and I thought you guys might be I terested in the Cliff Notes version. Marshal and I called the top of the market in late June last year, so we're 14-15 months into the down side. I'm thinking that we're not at the bottom yet, but I suspect we'll see it before SHOT 2015. Black rifle sales are, as everybody knows, pretty much in the crapper...essentially, anyone who was even thinking about buying an AR or an AK sucked it up and bought, leaching huge amounts of "gun money" out of the system.

People are still buying black rifles, but not at the historic rates of the last couple of years. I believe we'll find a new normal pretty soon. Concealable handgun sales are holding up pretty well — concealed carry is still the primary driver for the market. Accessories are down, but not as emphatically as black rifle sales.

I'm seeing a "race to the bottom" on AR pricing. ArmaLite's $600 ARs ($900 for the 7.62s) have put a stake in the ground; the blow-out houses (Centerfire Systems, CDNN, etc.) are below that $600 stake already. I saw one deal with an AR and 5 mags for $550-ish. Keep you eye on that market niche, kids!

It could be and has been worse.

A Good Day for Congratulations!

I was all the Trijicon World Shooting Championships, presented by the NRA, at the sprawling Peacemaker facility in West Virginia, about an hour from Dulles Airport, and I think it was an absolute home run! I love the idea of testing all shooting skills to determine who is the "Undisputed World Champions" shooter for this year. Trijicon, the NRA and Peacemaker really stepped up on this one!

The winner?

Not really a huge surprise:

Daniel Horner from the Army Marksmanship Unit and arguable the top 3-Gun shooter in the world. He edged out multiple Bianchi winner Bruce Piatt and held off challenges from Jerry Miculek to claim the $50,000 purse...one of the largest in shooting sports history.

The women's title went to wait for it...wait for it...Lena Miculek — the top woman 3-Gunner, BTW — who outdistanced SHOOTING GALLERY's own Dianna Liedorf-Muller for the win.

I'm going to be talking about this on the podcast this week, but I wanted to note an interesting point. All through the match the pro shooters were telling me that victory would come down to a single stage, the Double Wobble Traps — 2 MEC wobble clay throwers on a stage that was confounding even champion trap throwers. The provided gun (this was a provided gun match to level the playing field) was a dedicated high-rib trap gun, not a piece most of the pro shooter were familiar with.

Going into the stage, Horner knew he had to deliver. And deliver he did, winning the stage. That is the definition of a champion. I believe the Trijicon World Shooting Championships will quickly become the premier shooting event in the world!

Here are the stage descriptions and the overall place finishes.

Also, a quick congrats to Mike Seeklander of THE BEST DEFENSE fame for his 3rd place overall finish (and yes, I know IDPA doesn't recognize overall place finishes!) at the IDPA Nationals in Tulsa.  Seek came in just behind Nil Jonasson in ESP, Enhanced Service Pistol, class. Of course, Bob Vogel, continuing his Terminator-like domination of IDPA, finished first overall and first in SSP, Stock Service Pistol, a staggering 23 seconds ahead of Jonasson

Here are the unofficial results!

Busy Busy Busy

Filming for SHOOTING GALLERY. Sorry to be lost in space for awhile. BTW, signed up for Winter Range, one of the largest cowboy action matches and one long considered a "shooters' match." I haven't shot Winter Range in 3 years and I'm looking forward to it early next year.

Big Moose; Little Dog; Big Gun

I know it's a crummy iPhone pix, but check out this mack daddy moose hiding out up near the old Secret Hidden Bunker...really nice rack on the old boy. Would sure look good on the wall...LOL!

BTW, Newt is as rambunctious as a 6-month old puppy is supposed to be. Here she is with part of her massive pine cone collection.

She reminds me of my chows, always testing to see who's really the pack leader. So far, I'm winning, but it's a close thing.

Finally, while I'm cleaning pictures off the phone, here's the SHBDos Afternoon Walking Around Gun, the .454 Ruger Alaskan. The rounds in the 5 Star speed loader (and in the gun) are Winchester 260-hr hollow-points. The extra ammo in the Simply Rugged holster are Corbon 335s, in ace I'm jumped by a velociraptor driving a dump truck.

Long Bike Sunday...

...then shopping at a garden store in Ft. Collins...barely thought about guns at all, not even the LC9 I was carrying. Came back to the Bunker and sorted through music for the podcast this week. Now I'm sitting at home watching "Outlander" and having a Leupold's Navy Strength Gin with a Fever Tree Tonic and a little lime, bemoaning the fact that this time last year I was headed to Africa. I'd so hoped to go for buffalo this year, or that damn gemsbok I walked away from on the long shot. I'm a much better rifleman now than I was last year at this time. Poorer, too. Hence, no Africa trip this year.

Strangely enough, I dream about Africa, something my friend Dwight Van Brunt, who used to run Kimber, warned me would happen. At least in November I'm going to Texas to work with my Ruger Guide Gun .300 Win Mag at longer ranges.This week I need to mount a scope on the Ruger American .22, stick a suppressor on it and thin the rabbits a bit. Only fair, since I removed the big snakes. Plus, we're having a really bad tularemia year here in the High Country, and I can do without all these bunnies.

Well, Heck!

I managed to get in a cowboy match yesterday and shot like complete crap for the first 2 stages. I'd made the decision to push myself on speed in this match (after all, no one is going to win a Cadillac, or even a Yugo). And push myself at did, right over the edge. I imagine my friend Caleb Giddings would tell me that's a good thing, since I now clearly know where the edge is, but it still sucks. I really thought I could hold myself together at that speed, but nyet! LOL! I actually had a fast run on the second stage, but managed to prove conclusively that you can't point shoot a rifle even if the target's only 12 yards away.

I did manage to get things put together by the end of the match, turning in a 25 seconds run on the last stage (10 pistol; 10 rifle; 4 shotgun), 3 seconds off the winning pace. was fun, as always.

Winter Is Coming

It's 47 degrees, socked in and misting rain here at the Secret Hidden Bunker. Not the greatest day for solar power, but we've got a pretty efficient system...not a day to run a lot of appliances! 

Or a day at the range, for that matter. Hopefully, the heavy weather will break late this afternoon, and I'll be able to hit a cowboy match this weekend. No 3-Gun or revolver on anybody's schedule.

 

I'm gald to see CCI "Tactical" .22LR apparently back in the world...I don't know whether CCI has done a run or if some of the hoarded ammo trickled out. I was skeptical when this stuff came out in 2011, thought it was a marketing ploy for the then screaming-hot black rifle market. However, it shot extremely well out of my 2 .22LR ARs...one hole groups for my primary gun, which we used in SHOOTING GALLERY to win my Appleseed "Rifleman" patch. Quite honestly, I'm going to pick up a case if I can. If not, I'll "stem and seed" it, to use Colorado terminology.

I strongly recommend you visit Bearing Arms and read Bob Owens' report on the GUNSITE 250 class. As you know, I have unconditionally recommended the 250 class to everyone who carries a gun. It is the baseline against which all other training is measured. If you take no other class, take this one.

I also note that, sadly, Tam has pulled the plug on her blog, A View from the Porch, because of long-term cyber-stalking. She left the site up for the archives. I know Tam personally, and she has struck me as a person of both great knowledge on guns and strong personal honor. We have not always agreed, but hey, that's normal. She deserves better than being run off the Internet by some A-hole in his mommy's basement.

Whew!

Every so often I hit a week where I'm in 2 places at once (which, as the Firesign theater once noted, means you're really nowhere at all). Listen to the podcast this week for my wrap-up on whe Boise NSSF Rimfire Challenge event, one of the largest Rimfire Challenges. It was amazingly fun, which is EXACTLY what we designed the Rimfire Challenge to be! 

I know it's driving you guys crazy, but I remain fascinated with manually operated rifles like the Browning BLR and the Ruger American. We'll be filming fornSG later this year at FTW Ranch in Texas on long-range shooting. I'm going to use the Ruger Guide Gun in .300 Win Mag that I used on out HUGELY successful Africa special last year. I've added a Burris XTR 4-20X, the baby brother of the scope I used at FTW in March.

Working on THE BEST DEFENSE scenarios now...a child abduction, as I mentioned, and a violent stalker.

Sorry!

Traveling, and pretending to be a television producer.

Will have gun reviews up next week...have to abduct a child tomorrow...even writing it sounds icky...

I Woke Up & It Was Wednesday!

This week is slipping away from me. I had to run about 6 hours of errands, so it seems like I have driven back and forth from Seattle. The puppy peed on the couch. We can't have Tequila Thursday because we've got to take said puppy to Puppy Obedience Class, which she is clearly flunking. I can't find any of the many scope rails I have for 10/22s. Woe is me!

Well, maybe not woe woe...

Gonna spend tomorrow AM on the range with the Ruger American Rimfire I plan to shoot in the NSSF Rimfire Challenge. I wanted to use a Burris 2-7x scope that mimics the scope on my hunting rifle, the Ruger Guide Gun in .300 Win Mag, but sans Weaver scope mounts, I'm SOL. The America has good fixed sights, including a green fiber optic front, so I'll be A-Okay-ish.

Having been having a blast with the Apex Tactical S&W 617! Great little gun to shoot.

More tomorrow...

A Weekend of Catching Up

I'm "bachelor-ing" this weekend while my Sweetie is off at an Appleseed. I've got hammer-and-nails stuff and gun stuff to do, including the final dialing in of the Mini Race-Gun .22. Call me crazy, but I think I'll do the gun stuff first...after I finish watching "King Arthur" for about the umpteenth time. Of course, I'm only watching it because there are no Godzilla movies on.

I'm going to shoot the Mini Race-Gun revolver and, heaven help us all, a bolt-action rifle at the NSSF Rimfire Challenge match we're filming for SHOOTING GALLERY. The reason I decided to do and film the Rimfire Challenge this way (especially given that NSSF is eliminating the "Mechanically Operated" category for the matches this year) is that I want people to consider using competition in different, more personal ways as opposed to an end in itself.

As I've mentioned (repeatedly), I have 2 goals for the next 12 months — working on improving my rifle skills, especially with bolt guns n anticipation of another African trip after I win the lottery or something, and getting a grip on my abilities with a DA revolver. Might as well take every opportunity I can get to move toward those goals.

While we're on the subject of competitions, there's an interesting article over on the Sensible Self-Defense blog on training to get off the "X:"

One of the challenges many long-time IDPA shooters face is the tendency to start the draw and then move. When I first began practicing the skills I learned in Close Range Gunfighting, I genuinely believed that I was moving and then drawing my pistol; however, the video proved I was not. This is a common training scar associated with those who regularly shoot IDPA and one that takes some effort to overcome. Based upon our experiment, the time I was taking in subconscious IDPA-mode to begin my draw before I started moving would have likely resulted in me taking a bullet. 

"Training scars" are interesting beasties, and they're the logical consequences of all competition (and all training, for that matter). The training "doctrine" we've tried to evolve on THE BEST DEFENSE is one that constantly challenges its presuppositions. It's hard, and occasionally anger-inducing, but it's important.

Back to the Big Iron

I've spent most of the summer bopping around the Secret Hidden Ranch with my SR-22 for plinking. I like plinking. However, as we're creeping toward autumn the neighbors are all riled up by a big mountain lion that's moved into the neighborhood. One of the neighbors has already run him off with a couple of warning shots, but Front Range lions haven't been hunted in decades and they have absolutely no fear of people or occupied dwellings. Plus, it's grumpy black bear season as they start fattening up for the Big Winter Sleep.

Accordingly, I've sucked it up and gone back to the Big Iron for hiking. For quick bathroom jaunts out with Newt,  I'm carrying the Taurus Public Defender with Federal 4-pellet #000 buckshot, which has impressed me with it's penetration and grouping, backed up with .45 Colt Silver-Tips. Not a bear load by any means, but should be a medicine gun for lions/coyotes up close.

For longer hikes, right now I'm carrying my old Ruger Alaskan in .454 with Winchester Platinum Tip 280-grainers, which are slightly less bone-rattling than the Corbon 335-grain tyrannosaurus killers. After I get a few more round though it, I'll probably go to this little guy...

...the TALO Kodiak, a.44 Magnum Redhawk with a round butt and a 2.75 inch barrel. Here's my pal Jeff Quinn's report. Yeah, it recoils, but not like the .454!