84L KIMBER 84L.30-06, - Jeffersonian`s Home Page

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KIMBER
84L
.30-06,
NIKON SCOPE & MORE!
$4.95
$4.95
OUTSIDE
OUTSIDE U.S.
U.S.
$7.95
$7.95
FEBRUARY
FEBRUARY
2013
2013
WILDCAT TAMED
.280
ACKLEY IMP.
SIZZLING
.22 TCM
ROCK ISLAND
18-SHOT 1911
LITTLE BIG .50
CUSTOM CIMARRON 1876
MODERN
MASTERPIECE
BROWNING 725
CITORI 12-GAUGE O/U
OPTICS EXTRA
• ZEISS CONQUEST
4.5-14x50MM SCOPE
• LONG-RANGE SOLUTIONS
TURRETS vs. RETICLES
FIND US ON
Whether on the battlefield, at the range, in the back of a police cruiser, or protecting your family in
the middle of the night- details matter and the DDM4 is ready for duty. Each DDM4 model marks
the culmination of over a decade of dedication by Daniel Defense to make the best rifles in the
world. We offer the highest-quality AR-15 style rifles in the configurations you want most, and
back them all with lifetime warranties
and responsive customer service.
SEE THE WORLD’S BEST
AR15-STYLE RIFLES, PARTS,
AND ACCESSORIES AT:
© Daniel Defense Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Daniel Defense Rifles
and URGs feature the
new DDM4 Rail
Pictured:
.com
Special Services Package
FEBRUARY 2013
Vol. 59, Number 2, 685th Issue
COLUMNS
6
CROSSFIRE
Letters to the Editor
SHOTGUNNER
8
HOLT
BODINSON
EDGE
12 SHOOTER’S
DAVE
ANDERSON
Sponsored by
MUSINGS
18 MONTANA
Mike “Duke” Venturino
20HANDLOADING
John BARSNESS
22HANDGUNS
Massad Ayoob
GUNSMITHING
24
HAMILTON
S. BOWEN
60KNIVES
PAT COVERT
VIEWS,
NEWS & REVIEWS
62 RIGHTS WATCH:
David Codrea
ANGRY SHOT
78 ODD
John Connor
TALES
82 CAMPFIRE
John Taffin
$1,964.95
GUN PACKAGE
GIVEAWAY!
Kimber 84L Classic
Select Grade
76
AND MORE!
DEPARTMENTS
26 SURPLUS, CLASSIC
AND TACTICAL FIREARMS™
LOVE THOSE BLUNDERBUSSES!
HOLT BODINSON
OUT OF THE BOX™
30
THE KEL-TEC PMR-30
J.B. WOOD
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
34
Jeff John
70 QUARTERMASTER
Featuring GUNS All-stars!
8
THE BROWNING 725
THIS MONTH:
MASSAD AYOOB
72 GUNS CLASSIFIEDS
72 CUSTOM CORNER
74 NEW PRODUCTS
76 GUN OF THE MONTH
80 ADVERTISER INDEX
GUNS Magazine (ISSN 1044-6257) is published monthly by Publishers’ Development Corporation, 12345 World Trade Drive, San Diego, CA 92128. Periodicals Postage Paid at San Diego, CA and at additional mailing offices. SUBSCRIPTIONS: One year (12) issues $24.95. Single monthly copies, $4.95. CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Eight weeks notice required on all changes. Send old address as well as new.
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© 2012 by Publishers’ Development Corporation.
4
W W W. G U N S M AG A Z I N E . C O M • F E B R UA RY 2 0 1 3
ON THE COVER
40
The Kimber 84L .280 Ackley Improved
is shown with a pair of Bushnell
Legend Ultra HD 8x36 binoculars and
Spyderco Wood Knife.
FEATURES
36
40
48
54
DOUBLE DUTY
Rock Island Armory’s high-capacity
1911-A2 .22 TCM &
9mm Luger Convertible.
JOHN TAFFIN
WILDCAT TAMED
The .280 Ackley Improved
meets the Kimber Classic Select.
HOLT BODINSON
TO TWIST OR NOT
ROCK ISLAND
ARMORY 1911
36
Reticles vs. turrets.
JOHN BARSNESS
RETURN OF
“LITTLE BIG .50”
The “business length” 1876 rifle.
JEFF JOHN
ONLINE FEATURE
WWW.GUNSMAGAZINE.COM
SIG SAUER MK25
Best of its kind.
SAMMY REESE
EXCLUSIVE
ONLINE MANUFACTURERS
PRODUCT INDEX:
www.gunsmagazine.com/product-index
LITTLE BIG .50
1876 RIFLE
54
WARNING: Firearms are dangerous and if used improperly may cause serious injury or death. Due to the inherent variables in the reloading of
ammunition, be sure to verify any published loads with manufacturer’s data. Products mentioned or advertised may not be legal in all states or
jurisdictions. Obey all firearms laws. Always consult a professional gunsmith when modifying any firearm. Be a safe shooter!
W W W. G U N S M AG A Z I N E . C O M
5
CRO
FIRE
LETTERS TO GUNS
GUNS Magazine® welcomes letters to the editor. We reserve the right to edit all published letters for clarity and length. Due
to the volume of mail, we are unable to individually answer your letters or e-mail. In sending a letter to GUNS Magazine,
you agree to provide Publisher’s Development Corp. such copyright as is required for publishing and redistributing the
contents of your letter in any format. Send your letters to Crossfire, GUNS Magazine, 12345 World Trade Dr., San Diego,
CA 92128; www.gunsmagazine.com; e-mail: [email protected]
War News
With all due respect to Mr.
Trochelman’s letter in December’s
Crossfire, I would like to comment
regarding his statement on your
“military propaganda.”
I believe I am qualified to do so
being a disabled veteran after having
served over 30 years in the military
(both enlisted and as an officer),
almost all of which were spent in
Special Forces or Special Operations.
When a man or woman enters the
military, they effectively hand their
branch of service a “blank check”
on their life, payable on demand
for any amount up to and including “that last full measure of devotion” President Lincoln spoke of. As
such, at any point and in any venue,
it is always appropriate to honor the
members of the Armed Forces.
Those of us who experienced
coming home after Viet Nam, who
were spat upon and referred to as
“baby killers” (yes, including myself)
know that honoring service members
has nothing to do with agreeing with
a war in which they may have served.
There is no such thing as an unspoken truth that supporting the troops
is somehow supporting the war. That
was the mistake the war protesters
made in the 1960s and 1970s and I am
happy to say that most have learned
from that mistake in recent years.
Apparently Mr. Trochelman did not.
I do believe however that Mr.
Trochelman made the correct decision not to reenlist, I would much
rather serve with soldiers who understand and respect the sacrifices of
their fellow soldiers. I imagine that is
what GUNS Magazine is doing, and
I appreciate it.
Maj. R. L. Buckhout (Ret.)
US Army Special Forces
Gun Of The Month
Please create a web page where we
can fill out the Gun of the Month
online. Use the subscription number
as both a validation means, and a
way to prevent a single user from
submitting multiple entries.
6
I have been sending in my entries
on 3x5 card stock. My printer cannot
digest true postcard stock. Do my
entries count?
John Buffum
via e-mail
We do have online entry for the
Gun of the Month contest. Go to
www.gunsmagazine.com and click
on “Giveaway” (or simply www.
gunsmagazine.com/giveaway).
And
yes, all postal entries count, including
the ones written on the back of MRE
containers from our deployed troops
(although we request civilians use
postcards).—Editor
Range Gear
I don’t live close to a range and so
must carry what I think I will need.
How do your writers deal with this
issue? I can carry everything from
a stapler for mounting targets (and
targets) to Allen wrenches to adjust
red dots (and backup batteries). Most
gun bags are designed to carry guns
and ammo, eye and ear protection...
but what about the rest of the stuff ?
A backup bag? Sometimes I feel like
I need an armorer’s kit! And then you
add a spotting scope and tripod... well
you get the idea.
I have seen guys cruise into a range
with just a pistol case, ammo, eyes and
ears. Not me. I have seen several articles on a bug-out bags but nothing on
range equipment. I would love to have
your input.
Tim Elliott
Woodland, Wa.
It’s a good topic for a story. Look
for it in a future issue.—Editor
THE FINEST IN THE FIREARMS FIELD SINCE 1955
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Thomas von Rosen, CEO;
Thomas Hollander, Randy Moldé, Marjorie Young
PUBLISHER Roy Huntington
Editor Jeff John
Managing Editorial Assistant Stephanie Jarrell
Art Director/Staff Photographer
Joseph R. Novelozo
Photography Assistant Jade Moldé
Advertising Sales Director Anita Carson
Advertising Sales Assistant Dana Hatfield
Production Manager Linda Peterson
Website Manager Lorinda Massey
Promotions Coordinator Elizabeth O’Neill
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
John Taffin, Holt Bodinson, Dave Anderson,
Clint Smith, Massad Ayoob,
Mike “Duke” Venturino
FIELD EDITORS
Sam Fadala, David Codrea, John Morrison,
Glen Zediker, John Sheehan, Jacob
Gottfredson, Mike Cumpston, John Barsness,
Dave Douglas, J.B. Wood
FMG PUBLICATIONS
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email: [email protected]
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PRODUCED IN THE U.S.A.
The Browning 725
Look what they’ve done
to the Citori!
B
Holt Bodinson
rowning’s new Model 725 is not your father’s Citori.
Introduced in 1972, the Citori is certainly one of the
world’s most successful O/U designs, but like all good
designs, it was time for a facelift. Having aged through a series
of model changes starting with the Model 325 and advancing
through Models 425, 525 and 625, the Citori has worn many
faces with many designations and price points, ranging from
plain field-grade hunting models through 4-barrel, Grade VI
skeet sets. A Superposed it’s not, but the new Model 725 is
certainly challenging Browning’s oldest and most famous
shotgun model. In some respects, it’s even better.
Browning played it very close-tothe-chest with the redesign. It was
really a tightly kept state secret until
the unveiling this year. I imagine sitting
down with a CAD program and beginning to redesign the flagship O/U in the
Browning line was either a challenge or
a moment of trepidation for the design
engineer assigned to the task. The end
result is a remarkable transformation
of a 40-year-old design.
The most significant change in the
new Citori is a completely new receiver
profile. The Citori was never known
Holt, Steamer and Browning’s Model
725 patiently await opening day.
8
The Model 725 (above) is defined by its low-profile receiver. Even the top line of the standing
breech is more sculptured and streamlined. The
side panels of the sliver-nitride-coated receiver
(below) support stylish hunting scenes.
for having a low-profile receiver. It
does now. The height of the receiver
has been reduced by 1/8" and the top
of the standing breech slimmed down
and reduced in profile accordingly.
An 1/8" doesn’t seem like much of a
change, but when mated with the slimmer barrel profile of the new Citori,
it changes the whole dynamic of the
gun. Subtle changes to a shotgun can
have dramatic results. Changes like
adding a single layer of moleskin to
the comb or lengthening or reducing
the length of the stock by fractions of
an inch or adding drop or cast-off by
bending the stock or adding a ventilated rib can radically affect the way
in which a gun handles and performs
for its owner.
The result of giving the Citori a
lower profile is that the Model 725
feels lighter and achieves that much
sought after balance and weight
distribution between the hands we
often describe in a shotgun as being
“lively.” The shallow frame of the new
725 also facilitates that ideal handsin-line, hand-to-barrel relationship so
important to accurate and intuitive
shotgunning.
While Browning uses a monobloc hinge in their Cynergy model to
achieve the lowest-profile receiver in
the industry, the Model 725 achieves
a lower profile while keeping the fullwidth hinge pin and tapered locking lug of the original Citori design
justifiably famous for its strength and
longevity. Tapering the locking lug
allows the lug to compensate for wear
ACCURATE.
UNMISTAKABLE.
CLASSIC.
The New Gold Cup National Match.
Like the original, this definitive competition pistol is
flawless in execution and performance. Consistent accuracy
and a smooth trigger are hallmarks of this new classic.
national match barrel / wide match trigger / Bomar style adjustable rear sight
TheLegend Continues.
Visit your dealer or go to www.coltsmfg.com
MADE IN THE USA
Scope Mount
SEE THRU ... SEE MORE.
MODEL 730
Style#
705
710
715
725
730
740
741
750
Description
Browning
Marlin
Remington 700
Remington 742
Remington 7400
Ruger 10/22
Savage 110
Winchester 70
TOP MOUNT RINGS FOR
USE ON STANDARD
IRONSIGHTER,
KWIK-SITE OR
WEAVER BASES.
AVAILABLE IN 4 NEW
HEIGHTS W32, W44, W52 & W64
MODEL 570
as it occurs by progressively seating
deeper in the locking recess, and, of
course, a hinge pin is always replaceable. Keep the hinge pin, monobloc
recess, locking lug and fore-end iron
properly lubricated, and the Citori
will perform perfectly through tensof-thousands of rounds. It’s a robust
design and a tough gun.
As remarkable as the new frame
profile of the 725 is, the new “Fire Lite”
trigger is fantastic. If I were blindfolded, handed the new Citori and
pressed the trigger, I would conclude
that I had been handed a Krieghoff or
Perazzi match gun. Gone is the older
inertia design that depended upon
recoil to reset. In its place is a mechanical trigger, with a release weight of
3-1/2 to 4 pounds as measured by my
Lyman electronic scale. Frankly, I was
so surprised by those weight measurements I had to remeasure the trigger
with a Timney mechanical scale and
then even confirm my measurements
with Denny Wilcox, Browning’s Product Manager. Wilcox confirmed that
the factory specification is indeed
3-1/2 to 4 pounds.
Not only are the triggers sensationally light, but also there is a minimum
of take-up and overtravel. The new
mechanical trigger is simply the finest
trigger I have ever worked with on a
field-grade shotgun. “Crisp” is the
word! On the sporting grade Model
725s, the trigger is setup to be adjustable for finger-to-trigger length and is
available with three different, canted,
trigger shoes—a wide checkered, wide
smooth or narrow smooth model.
There is even a new choke tube
design in the Model 725. Browning
introduced their long Invector-Plus
tubes years ago. The new tube for the
Model 725 is named “Invector-DS,”
the “DS” standing for “Double Seal.”
It’s a thin-walled, flush-mounted tube
in the field grade and an extended,
finger-tightening tube in the sporting
MODEL 725 CITORI
MAKER:Browning (by Miroku)
One Browning Pl.
Morgan, UT 84050
(800) 333-3288
www.gunsmagazine.com/browning
SEE-THRU MOUNTS FOR
IRONSIGHTER® OR
WEAVER® STYLE BASES
P.O. Box 85070
Westland, MI 48185
(734) 326-8731
Fax # (734) 326-3378
E-mail: [email protected]
10
Models: Field (tested), Sporting, Adjustable Sporting, Featherweight (tba),
Action: Over/under, Caliber: 12 gauge,
Capacity: 2, Barrel length: 26" or 28"
(Field), 28", 30" or 32" (Sporting), Choke:
Invector-DS (7), Overall length: 43-3/4"
with 26" barrel, Weight: 7 pounds, 4
ounces, to 7 pounds, 10 ounces, Finish:
Silver nitride (receiver), blue (barrels),
Sights: front and mid bead, Stocks:
Field: Grade ii or iii walnut, Sporting:
Grade iii or iv, Drop-at-comb: 1-5/8"
(field), 1-9/16" (Sporting), Drop-at-heel:
2-1/2" (Field & Sporting), Length-of-pull:
14-1/4" (Field), 14-3/4" (Sporting), Price:
$2,469 (Field), $3,139 (Sporting)
The top lever and safety/selector (above) have
been restyled for the new model. With a weightof-pull of only 3-1/2 to 4 pounds, the mechanical
trigger (below) is sensational.
grades. The new Invector-DS tubes are
l-o-n-g. They’re a full 3/4" longer than
the current Invector-Plus tubes. With
the increased length of the new tube,
Browning has been able to more gradually taper the choke and constrict
the shot resulting in improved, more
consistent shot patterns and slightly
higher velocities.
The Invector-DS tube is threaded
at the muzzle end and, where the
threads are on the Plus series tube,
there is an expanding, brass gas seal
that compresses against the wall of
the barrel as the tube is tightened.
“Double Seal” it is with the brass
gas seal preventing gas and fouling
from wedging in between the wall
of the tube and the barrel, keeping
the surface of the tube cleaner and
making choke tube removal much
easier. The Invector-DS factory tubes
are available in 7 degrees of constriction from skeet-to-full, and being thin
walled, they maintain the slim, new
barrel profile of the 725.
One of the less visible improvements incorporated in Model 725
is the Inflex II technology built into
the recoil pad. Inside the pad are a
series of ribs that flex when the shot
is fired and actually lower the comb
slightly away from your face during
recoil. The combination of a shallower-profile receiver and the Inflex
pad, work together to reduce barrel
flip and moderate felt recoil. It’s a
dynamic system that works.
If I sound enthusiastic about this
new Citori, I am. I bought the first one
I saw in Tucson, and Golden Steamer
and I are chomping at the bit for the
opening of the 2012 quail season.
With the new Model 725 in hand, I
think this may be a hunting season to
remember.
Hand Crafted. High-Tech. Ultimate Performance.
We start where the competition leaves off.
Whether you’re in the heat of fierce competition or on the hunt of a lifetime and you only have one shot,
make sure you have the right tool for the job. Performance Center firearms are hand-crafted, high-tech
and ultimate performing machines.
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WWW.BROWNELLS.COM
LearnING the offhand shot is a
worthwhile skill for the hunter.
B
Dave Anderson
enchrest shooting and offhand shooting are at opposite ends of the shooting spectrum. Benchrest shooting is deliberate and precise, intended to wring as much
accuracy as possible from the shooting system. Offhand
shooting is more suitable to “good enough” accuracy, as in
good enough to hit the intended target in a short time span.
This discussion is about offhand
shooting as a practical skill for the biggame hunter. Competition shooters use
a standing position, which has been
rigorously developed to form a steady
firing platform. The level of accuracy
a really good competitive shooter can
achieve standing is a marvel.
The competition standing position
is seldom seen in the field. It could be,
certainly, but if there is time to settle into
the competitive standing stance there’s
likely time to use a sitting or prone position, or find an improvised rest.
The primary advantage of shooting
offhand is speed. It is useful when stillhunting, when opportunities to shoot
come quickly and at close to moderate
(A) Here’s how Dave holds a rifle for offhand shooting. The right elbow is high enough to form a
comfortable shoulder pocket for the rifle stock. Dave likes the support arm to be fairly close to
vertical so primarily the muscles of the upper arm hold the weight. Rifle is an Ed Brown Damara
7mm-08 with 2.5-8X Leupold scope. (B&C) Dave likes to have the support hand holding the rifle
at about the middle of the forearm. It gives good support along with enough mobility to make
fine adjustments while aiming, and to swing the rifle smoothly for running shots. Rifle is Ruger
77 Hawkeye .223 with Leupold Mk 4 3.5-10X scope. David Tubb (D) is one of the greatest riflemen
of all time. In these two photos he demonstrates the difference between the standing position
he uses in competition and the hold he uses for offhand shooting while hunting (E). Note the
offhand position has the support hand well out on the forearm and more of a weight-forward
stance. David posed these positions for me in his yard, be assured when actually shooting he
uses eye and ear protection. Rifle is the superb Tubb 2000.
range. It’s a good skill to have when
following up wounded game.
Offhand shooting isn’t as difficult
as it may seem at first. Actually what is
hardest to overcome is the mental shift
from “extreme” accuracy to “acceptable” accuracy, achieved in a short
time frame. A 1" group at 100 yards
from the bench with current equipment
really isn’t too difficult. A 6" group fired
offhand at 100 yards won’t impress
anyone, but it should. It’s even more
impressive if a shot timer was used,
with the shooter starting holding the
rifle from a ready position, with each
shot in the group within 5 seconds of
the start buzzer.
The photographs illustrate the
offhand stance better than words.
I’m assuming a right-hand shooter in
these descriptions. The shooter stands
roughly quartering to the target, with
the left leg forward. I like to have the
support hand about midway on the
forearm of the rifle. It is stable yet
allows the rifle to be swung smoothly
for a running shot.
B
C
D
A
12
E
I also like to have the support arm
elbow more or less directly under the
rifle, so the rifle’s weight is primarily
supported by the muscles of the upper
arm rather than by those of the forearm and wrist.
Old military manuals often show
the shooting arm elbow elevated about
to the level of the ear, if not higher.
Just how this high-elbow stance originated, or why, I’ve never been able
to ascertain. I like the shooting side
upper arm high enough to create a
comfortable shoulder pocket for the
rifle.
These are just suggestions. I’m not
at all dogmatic about minor details of
stance. I like the support arm to be
underneath the gun. One of my shooting buddies holds the support arm
well out to the side. To me it doesn’t
look right, but the guy is an outstanding shot.
I believe in results rather than
appearance. What you want to
develop is a stance, which is comfortable for you. If it is comfortable and
natural, it is repeatable. Repeatability
leads to consistency, and consistency
leads to accuracy.
Now what you may not want to
hear: there are no shortcuts. Learning
offhand shooting takes practice and
lots of it. On the positive side it doesn’t
have to cost much. Dry fire doesn’t
cost anything but time. It is a superior
training method in some ways, since
there is no recoil to mask (or induce)
bad habits. If dry fire gets boring, a
.22 rimfire and some metallic targets
liven up the process considerably.
For each shot, start from a ready
position, i.e. rifle held in both hands,
safety engaged, trigger finger outside
triggerguard. Smoothly bring the rifle
to your shoulder and as the sights
roughly index on target release the
safety and place the trigger finger on
the trigger. Refine the sight picture
and smoothly press the trigger to fire
the shot.
Mentally call the shot, retaining a
mental picture of exactly where the
sights were as the shot broke. Operate the action to chamber a fresh
cartridge, engage the safety, and
return to the ready position.
Don’t consciously rush any of these
steps. Keep it smooth, and with many
repetitions speed will come. What’s
good? If you can hit a 6" target every
time at 100 yards, in a time span of
5 seconds from ready position to the
shot, you’re a good offhand shooter.
Do it in 3 seconds per shot and you
are a whole lot better than just good.
You may well hunt a whole lifetime and never fire an offhand shot
at game. But it is comforting skill to
have—just in case.
See
Us
Online
AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM
13
Easier
Holdover Hits
The Zeiss Conquest
4.5-14x50mm MC Riflescope.
Z
Jacob Gottfredson
eiss’ American Conquest riflescopes represent a good
bargain for varminters, hunters, and competitors.
Almost half the price of their European models, but
primarily produced with 1" instead of 30mm main tubes and
1/4" clicks, they retain most of the engineering found in the
more expensive Victory series. While the glass produced
for Zeiss’ Conquest and Victory optics are free of arsenic
and lead, their proprietary Advanced Optics System (AOS)
allows them to cut the glass thinner, thereby reducing
weight, and is so far used exclusively in their Victory series.
The glass in the Victory series is also designed to slightly
enhance color rendition and clarity over the Conquest. But
the Victory costs considerably more as well.
The move to holdover hash marks
and ranging reticle designs has forced
nearly every riflescope manufacturer to
come up with innovative designs that
lend a significant amount of flexibility
to riflescopes. Not to be outdone, Zeiss
enlisted the genius of two well-known
American innovators, Mickey Fowler
and Gerald Perry. Holdover systems
are certainly not new, and creative ways
to approach the opportunity surface
every year. Simple is good. On the other
hand, simple does not always solve all
the opportunities you might like to take
advantage of.
The old Mil-Dot system, for example, is simple but sometimes a bit
The Conquest 4.5-14x50mm scope
can be ordered in stainless finish
(shown) or matte black.
14
difficult to learn. Some reticles go to
the other extreme, making the image
look like a Venetian blind. Neither
is bad, and some users who practice
often accomplish phenomenal things
with them.
For the average shooter, a system
that accomplishes his needs in a simple
to understand and apply way, who
has not the time to practice weekly
or possibly even monthly, the reticle
system must work the way he thinks.
It has to be intuitive. As an engineer, I have seen the rise of sophisticated computer software replace the
old “by hand” method to accomplish
the mathematics required to solve
Zeiss retains the European-style quick diopter
focus (above). The turrets are designed like most
target-style dials with 1/4" clicks and an even
10-MOA revolutions. A side parallax adjustment
(below) is standard with this scope. The dials are
reset to zero after sighting in by loosening the
screw shown in the top of the elevation dial. Oddly, the dials turn opposite of most scopes. They
are available in a hunting turret as well.
problems requiring billions of calculations. Some of them arrive at my
office with manuals that would intimidate Einstein (Well… maybe not).
But some are completely intuitive and
use input data the way engineers were
taught to think. The manual often sets
on the shelf, gathering dust as the user
completes design after design.
In my humble opinion, the same
should hold true for shooters. The progress taking us far beyond the old plex
reticle is as much a boon for the shooter
as computer software is for the engineer. Thirty years ago, the engineer had
to make many conservative assumptions in two dimensions to complete a
design. It would take him months of
calculations. Once done there simply
was not time to look at five or six alternatives or even one more, searching
for the best and most economic solution. Today, the same problems are
completed in three dimensions without conservative assumptions and done
so in milliseconds. Alternatives can be
explored and exhausted, looking for
the best and least expensive design, all
the while taking much less time than
the old methods.
This same technology is now available for designing optics and interior
and exterior ballistics, making it fast
and simple for the shooter to obtain
data he can be use in the field. Now the
shooter need not make mathematical
calculations in the field, hold over the
target in space in some empty quadrant
of the image, use guess work, or even
carry data cards.
The Zeiss reticles were designed by
Mickey Fowler. Mickey is a legendary pistol shooter, and in his day won
several national championships and
Bianchi titles. But it was his love for
hunting coyotes that brought about the
search for a reticle to meet his needs.
Those critters don’t often stand still,
nervously running or trotting, stopping,
trotting again, giving the hunter only
seconds each time to range, select the
correct holdover or dial to range, and
fire. Working through several generations of reticles, Mickey hit on reticle designs that do the job for coyotes
or any hunting situation. Mickey, in
collaboration with Zeiss, then worked
out the Rapid-Z reticle styles, thickness,
etc., exclusively for Zeiss.
I spent several weeks evaluating
the Conquest 4.5-14x50mm with the
Rapid-Z 800 and 1,000 reticles. The
scope has great potential in the field
with the new reticles, and the glass
is excellent. For an antelope, coyote,
varmint, or a deer and elk hunter in the
Rocky Mountains, shots are often past
250 yards. The scope has 68" of travel
for dialing the correct comeups for a
The Rapid-Z 600 meets the needs of most
hunters using cartridges normally producing
enough energy to down big game at ranges out
to 600 yards. Zeiss has suggested cartridges
on their website that are optimized to each reticle and for which the reticles were designed.
However, any Rapid-Z reticle can be used and
optimized for any cartridge.
long-range shot, but its potential was
realized with the addition of Mickey’s
reticle and Perry-System’s software.
The new reticles turn the Zeiss
Conquest and Victory riflescopes and
the Diarange into superb hunting glass.
But the innovation does not stop there.
With the use of online software from
Perry-Systems’ on the Zeiss website, the
shooter can configure the scope’s reticle to fit any cartridge’s ballistic path,
optimizing the use of the reticle. PerrySystems has incorporated the Rapid-Z
reticles into their software as well if you
prefer more in-depth analysis.
The concept of the reticle is not new.
Many manufacturers and designers
are using hash marks both below and
above the center crosshair for holdover.
But the Zeiss Rapid-Z reticle design
lends itself to the way shooters think.
For example, horizontal wind bars and
dots are positioned to account for mile
per hour wind increments. To gain an
understanding of that, consider the Mil
Dots used by the military. The spotter thinks of wind in miles per hour
but then must translate that into the
number of Mil-Dots required to hit the
target. Using the Zeiss Rapid-Z reticle,
the dots are already positioned for wind
drift in miles per hour, not requiring the
additional time for translation.
The same thinking applies to the
vertical holdover bars. The reticle is
positioned in the second focal plane.
The software allows the shooter to
determine what power on a variable
scope best fits his cartridge’s ballistic path to match the numbers on the
reticle’s vertical crosshair. The reticles
are designed for varmints, big game,
and long range. However, the user can
simply use the highest power, and the
program will tell him what ranges the
15
hash marks are good for. As a fall back,
the reticle is also designed for precision
ranging. The ends of the crosshair have
incremental hash marks, the tips of
which are further broken down. Unlike
Mil Dots and most other hash marks
reticles, this gives the shooter the ability
to more precisely determine the range
to a target, given that he knows something about the target’s size and has a
steady rest.
Using the Conquest series of riflescopes, the shooter ranges the target,
preferably with an adequate rangefinder. Knowing which hash mark gives
the correct holdover allows the shooter
to make the hit. The reticle makes
this easy because each hash mark
is numbered. Once the shooter has
determined his bullet’s ballistic flight
path, and selected the correct power,
the numbers correspond to the range.
With the new reticle and the Diarange
Integrated Rangefinder scope, he now
ranges the animal, transitions to the
red dot and fires, never having taken
his eyes off the animal. And he did it
all in only seconds. Using the Conquest
series of riflescopes, the shooter ranges
the target with an external rangefinder
or the hash marks and then uses the
correct hash mark for holdover. This
slows the acquisition for a hit, but a
Conquest 4.5-14x50 MC
Maker: Carl Zeiss Optics, LLC
13005 N. Kingston Ave.
Chester, VA 23836
(800) 441-3005
www.gunsmagazine.com/zeiss
Magnification: 4.5-14x50mm, Tube
diameter: 1", Eye Relief: 3.8", Elevation
Adjustment: 68" at 100 yards, Windage
Adjustment: 45" at 100 yards, Click
Adjustment: 1/4", Parallax: 30 yards to
infinity, Reticle in Image Plane: 2nd,
Length: 14.02", Weight: 19.75 ounces,
Price: $1,055.54
Conquest scope and an external range
finder cost considerably less than the
Diarange.
If you use the software to optimize the power setting, the ballistic path will correspond to the hash
mark numbers. For example, on the
Rapid-Z 800 reticle, the numbers are
1 through 8, meaning 100 through
800 yards. The software tells you
where to sight in on the main crosshair and what power sitting to use so
the bullet’s flight path corresponds to
those yardages or very closely so. For
example, instead of using the highest
power of 14X, the shooter may set the
power ring on 10X. Alternatively, the
shooter can leave the power setting on
14, and the software will tell the user
what each hash mark corresponds
to what range. The hash marks are
further divided. So, for example, if the
target is at 525 yards, the smaller hash
mark 1/4 between 500 and 600 would
be used.
Enter Zeiss’ website and access
the Rapid Z calculator. Choose your
cartridge, bullet, velocity, etc. Now
watch what happens when you change
the power setting of the reticle and
scope you chose. At some power
setting, the hash marks will be close to
100-yard increments that mirror the
hash mark numbers 2, 3, 4, etc. But as
I pointed out earlier, you can use the
full power and then make a chart that
tells you what yardage each hash mark
represents. Alternatively, you can use
the dial to range as well.
The Conquest series of scopes range
from 3-9x40mm to a 6.5-20x50mm.
The Victory, the Conquest, and the
Diarange scopes and binoculars
continue to employ only top-quality
glass, materials, and manufacturing.
They are fully multi coated on all air
to glass surfaces, waterproof in compliance with ISO 9022-8, and come with
a lifetime transferable warranty. The
grinding and coatings on the lenses
are still some of the finest in the world.
They are among the most aberration
free lenses money can buy.
More Safety. More accuracy. More confidence.
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16
From a pre-teen it was on Duke’s Bucket
List to fly in a World War II B-17 bomber
(above). He flew on this one in 2007.
No Bucket List?
It’s empty.
B
Mike “DUKE” Venturino
Photos: Yvonne Venturino
ucket List has become a trendy term since the 2007
movie of the same name. For non-movie going readers it means things one would like to do before “kicking the bucket” or in plain terms: before dying. Recently
Yvonne was talking about something on her Bucket List
when she stopped and looked at me oddly for a minute
before saying, “You don’t have a Bucket List, do you?”
Just about everything I wanted out
of life, just about every realistic dream
I entertained has come about. While
still in my teens I discovered Montana
while on a camping trip from my birth
state of West Virginia and vowed to
make it my lifelong home. It has been
for nigh on 40 years now.
Horses were pretty rare in the part
of West Virginia where I grew up.
One item that was high on
Duke’s lifelong Bucket List
was having his own private
shooting range. He does; it
goes out to 300 yards and
he has a heated house to
shoot from during those
long, cold Montana winters.
18
No matter what I was doing if the
chance to see one arose I stopped
and watched it. A couple of times
as a youth I actually got to sit atop
one. It was scary. Fate saw to it that
by age 20 I was getting paid to ride
other peoples’ horses. After several
thousand miles on horseback in the
states of Montana, Wyo. and Idaho
my butt polished the seat of my handmade saddle till it shone. The finest
horse I ever rode was named Duke,
wherefrom I gained my nickname.
He’s buried here on our property. Age
and health problems put a stop to my
riding 20 years ago but we still have
four horses and Yvonne rides a bit.
Speaking of property, when
Yvonne and I married in 1978 we
were just a step above the proverbial
poor church mice. Therefore, it was
a source of great satisfaction that
only 8 years later we had prospered
enough to buy this piece of Montana,
the center of which is laid out almost
perfectly for a shooting range to 300
yards. Along the way I’ve also had a
very nice, heated shooting house built.
Everything I need is always there at
hand, from cleaning patches to chronographs. Having a private shooting
range was one of the biggest items
scratched off of my Bucket List.
There was one downside to finding this piece of land. We had to move
from the small Montana town where
another of my life’s dreams had come
true. That was owning and operating my own movie theater. Growing
up in Williamson, W. Va., in the ’50s
and ’60s one of my fondest memories
is of the Cinderella Theater. Anyway,
Yvonne and I ran our small movie
house for 6 years and I still kid her
about being the best “popcorn girl” I
ever had. Even in those days a small
town movie theater wouldn’t make
anyone rich but it was a most pleasant
way of making money.
As a lifelong serious student of
World War II history some of my
Bucket List dreams were to fly in
a B-17, visit the D-Day beaches in
France, and stand atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. I’ve done all of
that. Additionally I’ve visited the
area of Belgium where the Battle of
the Bulge occurred and walked on
the Guam beach where my uncle,
James Virse landed as part of the US
Marines’ invasion forces in 1944. (He
was 18 years old at the time.) At Pearl
Harbor at different times I’ve stood
on the Arizona Memorial and on the
battleship Missouri where the Japanese surrender was signed in 1945.
My Bucket List item as regards a
career was to be a full-time gun’riter,
which I’ve been now for over 31 years.
Coincidentally with that I’ve been able
to own and shoot an amazing variety of firearms, most of which I only
fantasized about someday encountering. Dozens and scores of Old West
guns such as virtually every type of
single-action Colt revolver, Smith &
Wesson Model No. 3s, Winchester
lever guns, Sharps and Remington
buffalo rifles and most of the modern
replicas of those historical guns have
resided here at one time or the other.
Quite a few still do. I handload ammunition for all.
It was on Duke’s Bucket List to shoot as many different guns as possible in his lifetime. He has done so
to the tune of many hundreds. This photo is just a part of the ones residing in his gun vault currently.
Duke is standing in front of one of the invasion beaches used by the USMC when taking the island
of Guam back from the Japanese (below). His uncle landed in the first wave somewhere behind him.
Back at the turn of the century I
attended a local gun show where after
a single pass through it I stopped at a
friend’s table and said, “I’ve got all the
Old West guns in here already so my
money is safe.” About then I looked
down at his table to see a WWII vintage
K98k 8mm Mauser. “How much is
something like that?” I asked. What he
told me was a mere fraction of what I
was used to paying for Old West guns. I
bought it. It’s still here and in the ensuing 12 years another 75 or so WWII
firearms have joined it. American,
British, Russian, German, Japanese:
most of their significant rifles, pistols,
carbines and even submachine guns
from 1939-1945 are in my vault. I
handload ammunition for all of them
too.
My greatest dream was to meet the
perfect girl for me. That happened in
1977 and I credit her with giving me the
sort of life where an empty bucket list
is possible. Certainly there will be more
guns bought in the future and perhaps
even a tour to the Pacific Battlefields of
Guadalcanal and Tarawa if I can get
my bum knee lined out. Still, as things
are now, my bucket list is vacant.
19
Targets For
Load Testing
Make sure the feedback from
your handloads is right on.
I
John Barsness
t doesn’t really do us much good to build a bunch of
precise handloads for our new rifle or handgun, and then
shoot at targets poorly suited to the scope or sights.
Probably the worst target for testing handload accuracy is
the traditional bull’s-eye, a black circle with scoring rings,
but they still appear at ranges all the time.
Why doesn’t a round, black bull’seye work very well? For one thing,
it doesn’t provide a really precise
aiming point, either with a scope or
iron sights. You can attempt to quarter it with a crosshair reticle, but
quartering a circle precisely is difficult, as anybody who’s cut up a pie
knows. You can put the tip of a front
sight at the bottom of the circle,
but there’s no place to really center
the sight. Plus, with a black circle
it’s difficult if not impossible to see
bullet holes in certain kinds of light.
A bull’s-eye with multicolored
rings provides more precision with
crosshairs, but not with a front sight.
A square provides even more precision, especially if the middle of the
square is left white or a paler color,
but with a scope’s crosshair we’re
actually better off with a square
turned 90 degrees—a diamond
with 90-degree corners and a white
center. The corners provide precise
elevation and windage control, since
we can bisect each corner with the
crosshairs.
Anything other than black can
work for the color, but human vision
varies from individual to individual. Some people have a hard time
focusing on blaze orange, especially
on a warm day with heat-mirage in
the air, and a lot of commercial rifle
targets are printed in blaze orange,
perhaps because it’s considered a
“hunter color.”
Back in the 1970s, when writers
still used typewriters and I was just
getting a slippery hold on my profession, there was a super-abundance of
used typing paper around my office.
The normal method of writing back
then was to rip an unsatisfactory
paragraph from the typewriter and
start over again, and several drafts
were usually typed before the final
version. Between my limited budget
and all this “waste” I started drawing
A blue diamond with a white center is ideal for crosshair reticles.
20
Multilayer targets leaving a bright ring around
each bullet hole are a big help when shooting small-caliber rifles. This target also has a
diamond-shaped aiming point, a big help when
aligning crosshairs.
These groups were shot with a pre-WWII Model
70 Winchester .30-06 and a 2-1/2x Lyman Alaskan scope with a post reticle. The squares were
drawn to match the top of the post at 100 yards,
and the groups turned out pretty darn well!
my own targets with Magic Markers on the back of first drafts and
rejected paragraphs. I came to the
diamond shape pretty quickly, but it
took a few years to realize that red or
blue worked better for the diamond
than pure black. Eventually a couple
of big, dark blue Magic Markers
ended up in my range bag.
After using a bunch of different scopes, it also became obvious
that the size of the diamond needed
to vary, depending on the scope’s
magnification and thickness of the
reticle. Some scopes even had post
reticles, and some still do, since some
woods hunters favor them. Post reticles could be aimed more precisely
by drawing a square about the same
apparent width of the tip of the post
at 100 yards, and the same technique
worked for front sights, whether on
handguns or rifles.
Even with a traditional bead front
sight and a “6 o’clock” hold a square
provided a more precise aiming
point than a circle, since the human
eye can more easily bisect it. Some
shooters, however, put the bead
right on what they want to hit. In
that instance, the traditional black
bull’s-eye works pretty well, especially if we file the face of the bead
flat to provide a consistent aiming
point, or use a fiber optic bead. A red
fiber optic bead looks pretty nifty in
the center of a black circle.
Some iron-sight rifle shooters,
however, prefer the traditional ivory
bead—these days, unfortunately,
usually made of white plastic rather
than real ivory. The translucence of a
genuine ivory bead is able to pick up
a little extra light, the reason some
beads are still made from abundant
warthog ivory, but a white bead really
presents problems when aiming at
a white target, no matter what the
color of the aiming point. The same
thing can happen on a bright day
with really pale gold beads.
The traditional solution was to
darken the bead temporarily with
the smoke from a match. The smoke
could then be wiped off after sighting-in. The shadow under a sight
hood also darkens a light bead, but
not all front sights come with hoods
anymore, partly because the darkened bead is an abomination when
hunting, unless you’re after polar
bears. A temporary hood, however,
can be made of masking tape, and
many of us carry masking tape in
our range bags.
The veteran (and very fine)
gunsmith Dennis Olsen suggested a
nifty target for pale front beads a few
years ago. Olsen tacks a small, white
paper plate on black paper. It works
very well!
I kept drawing my own targets even
after the 1980s, when switching to a
computer from a typewriter nearly
eliminated the stacks of waste paper
that had been flying from my desk,
because I still couldn’t find the right
commercial targets. Then one day a
sample pack of various targets came
from a company named Mountain
Plains, with a cover letter from the
owner. He’d noticed my homemade
blue targets and thought his might
work just as well. They did, since a
shooter has evidently designed them.
There’s even a special version for iron
sights. I use Mountain-Plains targets
for most of my range work anymore,
but also occasionally use some of the
new-age targets that show a ring of
bright color around each bullet hole.
They’re particularly handy for smallbore rifles, especially .17s!
Many hunters firmly believe more
magnification or finer reticles automatically result in smaller groups,
perhaps due to the influence of
benchrest shooting. Bench shooters
do use very high-magnification, fine
reticle scopes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a 3-9X scope turned
The Mountain-Plains Victory target
works excellently with iron sights,
whether on handguns or rifles.
all the way up will result in much
smaller groups than those shot with
a 4X scope.
During the 1990s I started writing
quite a bit about hunting optics, and
eventually realized why small groups
could be shot even with low-magnification scopes. An average 20/20
human eye can resolve (a technical
term meaning see) about 1" at 100
yards. If we use a good 4X scope, we
can resolve about 1/4" (0.250), and
with 9X we can resolve 1/9" (0.111).
The difference in resolution, then,
between a 4X scope and a 9X scope
is 0.139".
Most big game hunters feel pretty
good about shooting 1" groups. Let’s
say our rifle (and the shooter behind
it) will average 1" groups with a 4X
scope. The extra resolution of a 9X
scope will shrink a 1" group to about
7/8". You’d have to shoot dozens of
groups to have that measly difference
show up—and unless you’re really
good at reading wind, it probably
wouldn’t anyway.
Also, just because a scope has a
bigger reticle doesn’t mean it’s not
capable of producing small groups.
No, we’re not going to shoot any
benchrest records with a post reticle,
but if we use the right target we can
sure beat an inch, even with a 2-1/2X
scope.
Birchwood Casey
7900 Fuller Rd., Eden Prairie, MN 55344
(952) 937-7933
www.gunsmagazine.com/birchwood-caseylaboratories
Champion Traps & Targets
1 ATK Way, Anoka, MN 55303
(800) 635-7656
www.gunsmagazine.com/champion-traps-targets
Mountain Plains Industries
3720 Otter Pl., Lynchburg, VA 24503
(800) 687-3000
www.gunsmagazine.com/precisionplustargets
21
Night Of The
Living Zom-B-S
The Zombie Meme has
risen, and shambled
into the world of the gun.
I
Massad Ayoob
Zombie Max ammo. It’s a novelty product, for
goodness sake!
t started in 1968 with George Romero’s classic black
& white thriller, Night of the Living Dead. It played on
mankind’s intuitive fear of its own dead, and the theme
never went back into the grave. It has now, Heaven help us,
shambled into the world of shooting. We now have zombie
cartridges, zombie guns, zombie targets and even zombie
ammo boxes. There are zombie matches, I’m told, though
being culturally deprived apparently, I’ve never shot in one.
Of the undead-related firearms
products, Hornady Zombie Max
ammo seems to have gotten the most
attention. It’s their Critical Defense
bullet, with its plastic tip a sickly green
instead of the usual color. I’ve lost
count of how many magazine readers, followers of my blog (backwoodshome.com/blogs/massadayoob), or
my self-defense advice column in the
GATE (Go Ask The Experts) section
at glocktalk.com, have asked: “If I
shoot someone in self-defense with a
Zombie Max load, will I have a problem in court?”
I remind them the package itself
says that Zombie Max is not for use
against human beings. It’s obviously
a “novelty product.” When you need
to show that you are a reasonable and
prudent person who acted reasonably
and prudently, equipment that looks
as if it was selected by someone who
believes in supernatural monsters will
be gold to a politically motivated prosecutor or a greed motivated plaintiff’s
Gunwriter and IDPA master Chris
Christian takes a turn at Zombie targets with one of his S&W M&Ps.
22
lawyer who wants to hang you out to
dry. If the evidence you brought to the
shooting scene can be construed as you
seeing the situation as the game and
movie series Resident Evil come to life,
I think that’s gonna get in the way of
your establishing that whole “reason
and prudence” thing. What’s your take
on it? Do we agree that having used the
same maker’s “Critical Defense” brand
might be a whole lot more defensible
when the nits start getting picked?
There are psychologists and sociologists who theorize the whole zombie
meme only appeals to people who wish
to commit mass murder. They suggest
that since the zombie is already dead,
it’s OK to shoot these humans en
masse. Personally, I can’t help but
notice that in most iterations, the
zombie is slow moving and unarmed.
It reminds me of Harris and Klebold,
the rabid little dogs who perpetrated
the mass murder at Columbine High
School. They were known to set their
electronic killing games on a mode
where their human targets couldn’t
shoot back, as they worked their way
up to murdering helpless people for
real. I, for one, don’t see a good reason
to be associated with that.
I admit it’s subjective, but I personally think the only zombie movies
worth watching are the ones with some
humor in them. Fido. Shaun of the
Dead. Zombieland. One exception—
humorless, but with social value—is
the TV show Walking Dead, which
puts some pretty good human dynamics into the plotlines, and would be
just as meaningful if it depicted some
other sort of post-apocalyptic social
breakdown.
The new generation of Zombie
targets, I’ll also admit, are fun. I have
two favorites. One is the “Darkotics”
series, with splatter effect when the
bullets strike. The other is the one put
Kenn Blanchard’s zombie targets are fun and
profits go to a good cause. Bluetooth and
SmartPhone make zombie targets more realistic, says Mas.
WITH 6-POSITION TACTICAL CAR STOCK
NEW for 2012
SPECS
out by my friend Kenn Blanchard, an
ex-lawman and current pastor and
author of the incisive book, Black
Man With A Gun. Books and targets
alike can be ordered from Kenn.
Proceeds from sales of the zombie
targets go to his church.
Yeah, I know: What’s the point of
having a whole body target in the first
place, when everybody knows you have
to shoot a zombie in the head? Well, two
things there. If the zombie rules were
real, the logical defense gun should be
a Ruger 10/22. You wouldn’t blow your
ears out with the constant shooting of
hundreds of ’em, and on head shots it
shouldn’t matter that you’re only shooting .22s, right? Alas, reality shows us
that .22 rounds sometimes ricochet off
human skulls. So, occasionally, do the
larger-caliber hardball handgun rounds
many jokingly say would be good for
zombies. Doctors call that thing the
cranial vault, after all, and powerful hollowpoints that bite in and keep
going straight would be called for on
headshots.
In any case, my theory is the “shoot
the zombie in the head” thing is a BS
theory. It’s only gonna work on movie
zombies. For the real zombies—the
ones we deal with every day—the
only way to deal with them would be
to shoot off their Bluetooth or put a
slug through their smartphone. Either
should render them helpless….
The zombie meme provides us all
with amusement, in more ways than
one… but I won’t be sad when it
finally slides into its grave and stays
there.
LAR-47 CAR A4 / AK1263
7.62X39MM / 16 INCH, CHROME-LINED HBAR, 1:10 RH TWIST BARREL / PROPRIETARY FORGED A4
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Pre-production model pictured. All specifications and pricing subject to change without notice.
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Hornady
3625 W. Old Potash Hwy, Grand Island, NE 68803
(800) 338-3220
www.gunsmagazine.com/hornady
23
To Restore Or Not
That is the question.
E
Hamilton S. Bowen
very gunsmith with two screwdrivers to rub together
is queried regularly about restoring guns. Often, the
guns are family heirlooms with sentimental value
or basket cases that would cost many times their NIB
(new-in-box) value to rehabilitate in good style. Many
are perfectly wonderful and desirable guns that are just
a little past their prime. Some are extraordinarily rare
pieces, which deserve the work.
If ever there were loaded term,
it is “restoration.” For most of us,
it means returning to new condition, exactly as it was when it left the
factory. In strictest terms, it is also
an impossible standard. In the years
since a gun was made, the craftsmen
who made it have shed their mortal
coils. Much of their equipment, materials, processes and formulae went
with them. Consequently, at best, we
can get infinitely close to original but
never 100-percent there. On the other
hand, there is “refinishing” which
is probably best defined as getting a
tired arm back into respectable condition with respect to function and
appearance without regard to authenticity. It is often the best goal. A sensible gunsmith will raise a few questions
Export Target Model S&W Triple Locks
(above) are exceedingly rare in any condition. This specimen has much of the original
finish but is pretty banged up and in need of
some minor repairs so may be a good candidate for a maximum-effort restoration. This
lovely old Fraser rifle (below) is just a wee bit
worn and misused to ignore and will justify
any effort and expense to heal.
Smith & Wesson New Frontier Target models in
.445 Webley are also exceedingly scarce. Since
this one was stored in a wet rag for decades,
etched, pitted, and refinished with indifferent
cold blue, it is an ideal candidate for a careful,
meticulous restoration.
before agreeing to a restoration project as there are pitfalls that would do
credit to the average minefield.
Should you? Often as not, no. If
your cousin brings in Uncle Willie’s
Model 61 Winchester .22 showing decades of use in the field and
proper care, it is probably best left
alone. Honest, patina is the work of
a happy lifetime in the field and must
be respected. The costs of a proper
restoration with great care taken with
respect to duplicating factory polish,
bluing, stock stains and finish, etc.,
will considerably exceed the value of
the gun at this writing. Worse, all traces
of Uncle Willie would disappear.
Suppose it is Aunt Bertie’s
“Owlhead” top-break .32 revolver
mail ordered right out of the 1905
Sears catalog for $3.45 and now an
absolute piece of crap with broken
spring, cracked grip, missing parts,
half the nickel flaked off and heavily pitted from storage in the chicken
coop. It might be possible to restore
such a gun since it was possible to
make it in the first place but it will cost
thousands of dollars tedious welding,
fabricating, filing and fiddling to do
so. Then, what do you have? Despite
great sentimental value, it is best
nailed up over the doorjamb next to
the lucky horseshoe.
Good Investment?
Suppose, on the other hand, it
was Great Uncle Willie’s Colt SAA
taken with him to Oklahoma during
the great land rush. It may be a
hellish wreck now with sewer-pipe
bore, missing front sight, bumperchroming shop polish and re-blue
and plywood grips. But, any Colt
with a visible serial number that
isn’t polished beyond the point of
no return is a good candidate in
the hands of an enterprise such as
24
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This S&W Triple Lock retains most of the original bluing and coloring though touched with
a little metal mold. It is best left alone since a
costly restoration wouldn’t add to appeal and
would detract from value.
Turnbull Manufacturing, which can
save most specimens in fine style.
Sentimental value aside, even with
an investment of several thousand
dollars in a serious effort, you have
only to watch the skyrocketing prices
of these guns to see nicely restored
examples as bargains next to some
derelict, thoroughly molested originals. In most case, such work can
only add value. It must be said,
however, it is well to have a costly
purchase of a costly antique arm
authenticated by a knowledgeable
expert since restorations have a habit
of becoming increasingly “original”
at every change of ownership.
A happy outgrowth of this new
appreciation for restored guns is
upgraded guns. Again, our friends at
Turnbull Manufacturing are among the
foremost practitioners. Special-order,
highly finished Winchester rifles, for
instance, are exceeding rare and valuable. A deluxe, engraved M1876 with
many options turned out by the factory
is probably worth more than a nice
house in a respectable neighborhood.
With a bit of skilled work, it is possible to reproduce such a marvel from a
seedy standard model at a tiny fraction
of the cost.
There is a special class of guns
that must be saved at all costs due to
rarity or intrinsic value. I have a few,
one a miniature Fraser falling block
rifle (circa 1885 or 1890) with split
fore-end, scattered external pitting,
broken firing pin, relined barrel,
foggy scope and beat buttstock with
wormy horn buttplate. It is unserviceable, abused and utterly magnificent.
Daniel Fraser, one of Scotland’s finest
makers, is thought to have produce
between 400 to 425 of his elegant falling-block rifles, including 50 or so of
the small ones. This is a favorite rifle,
will be buried with me and cost is no
object. I may not skilled enough to
do all of the work myself and will be
pestering friends who can help but,
someday, this lovely gun will shoot
again. Perhaps Mr. Fraser will look
down upon it with approval.
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25
HOLT BODINSON
Surplus, Classic and
Tactical FirearmS
Love Those
Blunderbusses!
Perhaps the most
iconic of firearms.
T
he Germans named it the “Donderbuchse” (thunder gun), the Dutch, the “Donderbus,” the Italians,
the “trombone,” the French, the “tromblon.” Finally,
the English, after mixing it up with the Donderbus-armed
Dutch ships for control of the high seas, gave it the familiar
phonetic name of “blunderbuss.”
It’s the stuff of myth and of
cartoons with little bands of blunderbuss toting Pilgrims streaming across
the pages of popular literature. From
The first national blunderbuss
match required period clothing.
26
the 1550s through the 1800s, the
belled muzzle blunderbuss appears
in the form of pistols, carbines and
larger swivel guns, sometimes even
mounted with wicked looking, integral, spring bayonets. So when the
National Muzzleloading Rifle Association announced that it would hold
its first, historic blunderbuss competition at the Western Nationals in
Phoenix, Ariz., I grabbed my old
blunderbuss and headed to Phoenix.
The blunderbuss is really a fascinating firearm. In particular, the
English adopted the design more
than any other country and produced
thousands for civilian and military
use. In 1654, documents reveal that
“100 Brass Blunder Bushes” were
carried by the Hispaniola Expedition. In 1670-71, Sir James Turner
writes: “The Carabineers carry their
Carabines in Bandileers of Leather
about their neck, a far easier way
than long ago, when they hung them
at their Saddles. Some instead of
Carbines carry Blunderbusses, which
are short Hand-guns of a great bore,
wherein they may put several Pistol
or Carabine-Balls, or small Slugs of
Iron.”
In 1684, “An Account of Allowance of Ordnance to H.M. Shipps”
documents that blunderbusses were
issued to naval vessels based on the
number of cannon on board. “Thus
a ship of with 100 cannon was entitled to 10 blunderbusses.”
Even General George Washington was impressed with the blunderbuss. Writing to the Board of War,
he stated “It appears to me that
Light Blunderbusses on account of
the quantity of shot they will carry
will be preferable to Carbines, for
Dragoons, as the Carbines only carry
a single ball especially in case of
close action.” The Board disagreed,
and the carbine remained.
The 18th century was the heyday
of the blunderbuss. The blunderbuss
proved very popular as a common
home defense weapon. It was indeed
the Remington 870 and Mossberg
500 of its day. In an age when people
traveled by stagecoach, horseback
and foot and were constantly victimized by highwaymen, the blunderbuss proved its mettle in clearing the
roads of brigands.
In fact, the coaches of the Royal
Mail Services were protected by an
official “Shooter” sporting an issued
blunderbuss and a brace of pistols.
The issued blunderbuss was loaded
with “10-12 pea size shot” and to
insure it would perform on demand,
it was reloaded once a week. The
blunderbuss served the city constabulary as the sawed-off shotgun of
the day and was commonly seen in
the hands of bank, prison and estate
gate guards and gamekeepers.
Because the blunderbuss took
many forms over a period of three
centuries in many countries with
different length barrels, bore sizes,
barrels of iron or brass and flared
or cannon-turned muzzles, it’s hard
to generalize about their design. The
common element among all the blunderbuss carbines, pistols and swivel
guns is their flared or cannon-turned
muzzles.
We now know that the flared
muzzle did not “spread” the shot.
Early makers and consumers may
have thought so, but the shot column
leaving a uniform diameter bore
was not affected by a trombone-like
muzzle if the angle of the bore to the
muzzle was acute and most were. The
flared muzzle had two advantages.
The first is psychological. That 2"
muzzle of my 10-bore blunderbuss
pictured here is really imposing if it’s
pointed in your direction. The second
Facing off with an imposing 2" blunderbuss muzzle is a bit nerve racking.
As an iconic an arm as ever was, the blunderbuss looked more effective and intimidating
than it was.
advantage, referred to in other texts,
may have been the greater ease with
which a coach guard could reload
with powder and ball as the coach
lurched up-and-down-and-sideways.
My personal hunch is that the guard
wouldn’t have time to reload and
would turn to his pistols for successive shots, and a further hunch is that
coach guards would use preloaded
cartridges rather than loose powder
and ball when stationed on top of a
careening stage. Ah, it’s the fog of
history again.
The blunderbuss pictured in the
article is a very typical military and
civilian design of the 18th century
that is seen again-and-again in books
and monographs on the subject. It’s
a 10-bore with a 20" steel barrel that
begins as an octagon and transitions
into a round profile. The steeply
flared muzzle has a diameter of 2".
The overall length of the piece is
35", and it weighs 8 pounds. With
its brass furniture and round-faced
lock, it’s a snappy looking piece,
and it’s the work of contemporary
gunmaker, Mike Brooks. With blunderbuss in hand, it was off to the
NMLRA Western National matches.
The
course-of-fire
for
the
first national blunderbuss match
consisted of three stages:
1st Stage: five shots with roundball on the NMLRA 100-yard target
at 20 yards.
27
The “coach” is about
ready to depart. All
Holt has to say now
is “Giddy-Up.”
The highwaymen
don’t have a chance.
On the primitive
range, you must carry all your loading
equipment with you.
Clay pigeons with a
flintlock blunderbuss
can be challenging.
28
At 20 yards, a smoothbore blunderbuss is
very accurate with a roundball. Holt’s blunderbuss was made by contemporary maker, Mike
Brooks. (below)
2nd Stage: five shots from a
careening coach seat at an 8" metal
gong at approximately 20 yards.
3rd Stage: five shots at trapthrown clay pigeons.
The NMLRA 100-yard target
is 12" in diameter with seven scoring rings. The 10 ring is 2" in diameter and perfect score would be 50
points. On the 8" gong/coach shoot,
you could use ball, buck shot or
shot. The “sound” of a hit would
give you 10 points. Each clay pigeon
was worth 10 points. A perfect score
would be 150.
The match was shot on the primitive range where “primitive rules”
prevailed. Competitors had to be
dressed in period (1750-1840) style
clothing and had to carry all their
equipment on them. For the first
(2012) national match, the definition
of a “blunderbuss” was left undefined. I think the judges wanted to
see what we shooters would haul out
before a definitive rule making.
The match was a gas. Because of
the low humidity in Phoenix and
since we wouldn’t be cleaning our
guns between stages, I chose to shoot
ATK’s Black MZ powder to minimize fouling. My load for the roundball match consisted of 100 grains of
powder, a 1-1/8" overpowder wad, 2
Ox-Yoke Wonder Wads, a 0.760" ball
lubed in mink grease followed by a
final Ox-Yoke wad. Aligning the top
of the belled muzzle with the top of
the black, I was dead-on at 20 yards.
All the balls fell within the black
except two.
The next “coach riding” stage
was most creative. Sitting in a buggy
seat, you were bounced up-anddown-and-sideways while trying
lay down some shot on the gong.
Once you climbed into the seat,
you primed your flintlock and then
shouted “Giddy-Up.” I was shooting
2 ounces of BBs, and it proved a lot
harder than you think to get a “ping”
on a heavy-sided gong that the judge
could hear. Fortunately, we could
“Whoa” the horse to stop to reload
in our coach seat.
The final stage was a disaster
because the flimsy trap wouldn’t
hold the pigeons in position and
kept malfunctioning. We shot it for
the fun of it and were told we could
re-shoot it in the afternoon for score
when a new trap was to be delivered.
So the blunderbuss lives on
into the 21st century. Long live the
blunderbuss!
FURTHER READING
Blunderbusses, D.R. Baxter, Hardcover, 78 pages
©1970, Stackpole Books, OP.
The Blunderbuss 1500-1900, James D.
Forman, Softcover, 40 pages, ©1994, Museum
Restoration Service, Historical Arms Series No.
32, www.books.joesalter.com
29
J.B. WOOD
OUT OF THE BOX™
30-Shot .22
Magnum Pistol
The Kel-Tec PMR-30.
I
n polymer-based firearms design, the people at KelTec are Masters. Observe their latest: a pistol in .22
Winchester Magnum Rimfire chambering, with a magazine holding 30 rounds. The model designation refers to
both points. “Pistol, Magnum, Rimfire, 30 (rounds).
It is the work of two of the
“Masters” at Kel-Tec, George Kellgren and Chief Design Engineer
Tobias Obermeit. With these two
on it, it’s not surprising there are
numerous neat little design points.
The most important one is a barrel
that is allowed to move, lengthwise,
in an amount determined by cartridge
case adhesion.
The .22 WMR has, of course, a
very long case. And, there are several
different loads. This results in varying degrees of case expansion, and
also differences in duration, measured
in micro-seconds. In the PMR-30, the
moving barrel simply adjusts to these
factors. It’s a brilliant design.
There is another design point that
is also related to the removal and ejection of that long cartridge case. The
PMR-30 has dual extractors. The
primary one, on the right side, has the
usual sharp-rim-contact beak. The left
one has a rounded end, and its only
function is to keep the case load in
contact with the breechface and extractor beak until the instant of ejection.
The external controls are perfectly
located. The magazine release is at
lower rear, and is pushed inward
(forward) in operation. The slide stays
open after the last shot, and the release
latch is at the top of the left grip. The
ambidextrous safety levers are at upper
rear. Clicked downward to fire position, they expose a red signal bar.
The nicely shaped trigger has no
annoying vertical ridges. Take-up is
minimal, and there is a rear flange that
limits over-travel. On my pistol, the crisp
pull averaged 3.6 pounds. Perfect. The
grip-frame has ample space for even a
large hand, and the shape is excellent.
The Kel-Tec PMR-30 has an ambidextrous framemounted safety. Note the rail in front of the
triggerguard for lights or lasers. A red bar showing means the safety is in the “Off” position.
The front sight (above) can be moved laterally in
its dovetail mount, but care is advised and the
use of a sight pusher is called for. The fiber-optic
rear sight (below) is non-adjustable.
The Kel-Tec PMR-30 is a big gun although light in
weight at 15.2 ounces unloaded. Even 30 rounds
of .22 WMR doesn’t add very much in weight.
30
Obviously, George and Tobias spent a
lot of time on this.
The sights are also excellent. The
non-adjustable rear sight has orangered fiber optic dots on each side of the
square notch. The front sight has a
single dot in bright green. It is laterally
adjustable (dovetail-mounted), but the
manual cautions against do-it-yourself
drifting. Have a gunsmith do it, with a
sight-mover.
For those who may want to hang
a light or laser, the front extension of
the frame has a generous standard
rail. I was pleased to note the wellwritten manual refers to that area as
“Just forward of the triggerguard” not
using the totally incorrect term “dust
cover.” The firing system parts are all
high-grade steel, and the frame insert
is aluminum. The grip-frame, rear slide
cover, and magazine are glass-reinforced nylon.
This gives the PMR-30 an empty
weight of just 15.2 ounces. A full magazine would, of course, add just a bit.
Even so, it would be a very comfortable carry for camp or field. Could this
pistol also have defense applications?
Yes. The big-bore guys may sneer, but
the .22 WMR is a formidable cartridge.
As a Technical Witness, I recently
In these test targets, the one on the left was fired offhand at 7 yards with Speer Gold Dot Personal
Defense ammo, and the other fired from casual rest. The PMR-30 comes in a nice hard-polymer case
(below), with a spare magazine.
handled a case in which the doctors
initially thought the wounded man
might lose a leg.
When I tried out the PMR-30 at
the range, I mostly used the Speer
Gold Dot load labeled “Short Barrel,
Personal Protection.” These 40-grain
jacketed hollowpoints were specifically
designed for handgun use. I also tried
a few rounds of the regular Winchester
rifle load. The pistol worked perfectly
with all of them. Ejection was vigorous, the empty cases landing about 15'
to the right rear.
31
The PMR-30 takes down easily (above). Here it
is shown fieldstripped. When the magazine is
fully loaded with 30 rounds (below), the top cartridge is on the left side.
PMR-30
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Manufacturer: Kel-Tec CNC, Inc.
P.O. Box 236009
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Caliber: .22 WMR, Capacity: 30+1,
Weight: 15.2 ounces, Length: 7.12",
Height: 5.5", Width: 1.18", Barrel length:
4.25", Sight radius: 6.9", Price: $145
Most of the target work was at 7
yards, standing, with a 2-hand hold.
Groups were 2" to 2.5", all near the
center of the 8" black on the Champion
VisiShot targets. With this very lightweight pistol, I noticed a tendency to
pull very slightly to the left, but this was
easily corrected. One group, fired from
a casual rest, was 1.25". This thing is
very accurate.
Further out, at around 15 yards, it
consistently nailed “targets of opportunity” such as dirt clods, with spectacular effect. We definitely have here
a “fun gun,” but also one adaptable
to more serious uses. About 20 years
ago, Mr. Kellgren designed another
.22 WMR pistol, and P-30 Grendel.
With the Kel-Tec PMR-30, he and Mr.
Obermeit have brought the concept to
“state-of-the-art.”
Champion Traps & Targets
1 ATK Way, Anoka, MN 55303
(800) 635-7656
champion-traps-targets
JEFF JOHN
QUESTIONS
and ANSWERS
Got a burning question to ask the editor? Contact him at: E-mail: [email protected] or postal at: GUNS Q&A,
12345 World Trade Dr., San Diego, CA 92128. Due to the volume of mail received, GUNS cannot offer a personal reply.
Training Rifle
Q:
I have a single-shot bolt-action
Mauser .22 LR that looks similar to ones Duke Venturino writes
about. Why did they make a .22
single shot and what was its primary
use? The serial numbers and place
of manufacture are engraved on the
gun but no date. I inherited it from
my uncle who was a tanker Captain
for Standard Oil (ESSO NJ) from
the late 1930s until the late 1950s.
It is very heavy weighing almost
10 pounds, and made in Obendorf,
Germany.
John Colbert
Albuquerque, N.M.
Many countries, Germany
included, took current-issue
A:
rifles with worn out barrels and
converted them to .22 Long Rifle for
training purposes. It allowed recruits
who had never before handled a gun
to shoot a full-size, service-weight
rifle in the much more benign .22
LR. That way, basic firearm manipulation, sight alignment and trigger
control could be learned relatively
inexpensively without intimidation
by the recoil and noise of the fullpower service round.
Vintage Scope
I bought used a vintage boltQ:
action rifle in .222 Remington
in very good condition. It has a side-
mount 1-piece base with rings affixing
an old 4X power scope with 7/8" tube,
and a 7/8" objective. Does anyone make scopes with a
little more magnification and bigger
objective end in a 7/8" tube? I would
like to keep that vintage look but
improve the scope a bit if possible. Do
you know of any manufacturers who
make scopes to fit the bill?
Matthew Gutmann
Warsaw, Va.
I fear the 7/8" size scope is obsoA:
lete. The industry has pretty
much settled on the 1" tube for standard scopes for many reasons, not the
least of which is better, brighter glass
can be fitted into the bigger tube.
One thing you might do is look at
a new Leupold or similar fixed 4X or
6X scope. Such scopes, with bigger
objectives and oculars were common
in the 1950s, although they’ll have
today’s styling. The big plus is the
optics and adjustments are so much
superior today.
You don’t say what kind of mounts
are on the rifle, or what the rifle is, but
it may be a Weaver or you may be able
to fit a Weaver sidemount and Weaver
1" rings, which were around since
away back then too. Weaver catalogs
mounts for a lot of the old guns still.
With luck, if you have to buy a new
mount, you can mount it without
drilling any more holes. If it were me,
I’d have the holes drilled in the scope
mount rather than adding new holes
to your receiver. Brownells has the
Weaver sidemounts and rings.
And do keep your old 7/8" scope
as a period keepsake for the rifle. It’s
nice they’ve been kept together all this
time.
Brownells
200 S. Front St., Montezuma, IA 50171
(641) 623-4000
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Double
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F
John Taffin
or the past two decades we have
seen the development of super
big-bore cartridges well above the
.44 Magnum in muzzle energy culminating with the .500 S&W Magnum. A halfcentury ago we were at the opposite end
of the spectrum, that is developing, or
it may be more correct to say trying to
develop, high-velocity varmint cartridges
for use in revolvers. Both the .22 Jet and
the .256 Winchester promised much, but
delivered little.
The .256 Winchester was never offered in a revolver
but only in the single-shot Ruger Hawkeye and the
Marlin Levermatic rifle. The .22 Jet was offered in
a sixgun but simply did not work in a revolver with
full-power loads. However the 21st century version of
the high-velocity .22 handgun cartridge is now available as the .22 TCM and this one works. It works
because, thanks to gunsmith Frederick Craig, Armscor, and Rock Island Armory teaming up, this hot
little cartridge is chambered in a high-capacity 1911.
With the 9mm barrel, the TCM becomes
a high capacity self-defense pistol.
These targets were fired with wide
variety of 9mm Luger ammo.
36
Would you believe a 40-grain bullet at 2,050 fps from
a 5" barrel? There certainly must be a better adjective
than “sizzling” to hang on this but I can’t think of one.
This .22 Works!
The .22 Jet was chambered in the Smith & Wesson
Model 53 revolver and therein was the problem.
Revolver chambers work best with straight walled or
slightly tapered cartridges. The Jet was not just bottlenecked it was actually milk-bottle shaped with a .357
Magnum case necked down to .22. The problem was set
back, that is to say when a cartridge was fired it slammed
back against the recoil shield with such force it jammed
up the cylinder which could not be rotated to fire the next
cartridge. What works against the revolver works for a
semi-automatic. When the .22 TCM cartridge is fired its
rearward motion forces the slide back which ejects the
fired cartridge and then comes forward to feed a new
cartridge into the chamber. With the .22 TCM chambered in the Rock Island Armory 1911-A2 this works
flawlessly.
The Rock Island Armory MicroMag Model 1911-A2
.22 TCM is a standard 1911 with a high-capacity magazine listed as holding holding 18 rounds. I say listed as
my fingers got tired after inserting 14 rounds which is
plenty for me. However, this is not all this 1911 delivers as it is a most versatile pistol. I have several sixguns
with auxiliary cylinders allowing the use of
multiple cartridges such as the Ruger SingleSix in .22 LR and .22 Magnum, the Colt
New Frontier in .44 Special and .44-40, and
the Freedom Arms Model 83 chambered
in .454 with extra cylinders in .45 Colt, .45
ACP, and .45 Winchester Magnum. All of
these have one thing in common and that is
no matter what cartridge is used the barrel
diameter remains the same. Not so with the
RIA .22 TCM.
The .22 TCM is based on a shortened and necked down .223 cartridge; that
makes it the same basic case size as a standard 9mm. Revolvers are not normally
easy to change barrel wise; semi-automatics are. The .22 TCM and the 9mm use the
same magazines and it is only necessary
to change the barrel and recoil spring, a
process that takes about 1 minute. The .22
version uses a 7-pound recoil spring while
the 9mm requires a stiffer 12-pound recoil
spring. In either case, with either cartridge,
functioning was flawless except for the fact
e lbuoD
y tuD
Rock
RockIsland
IslandArmory’s
Armory’shigh-capacity
high-capacity
1911-A2
1911-A2.22
.22TCM
TCM&&9mm
9mmLuger
Lugerconvertible.
convertible.
John found the one thing the .22
TCM delivers besides accuracy is
noise and muzzle flash (above).
The TCM becomes a high-capacity,
17-shot 9mm (below) by swapping
barrel and recoil spring.
the slide would sometimes lock back with the last 9mm
round still in the magazine. So basically what we have is a
high-velocity varmint pistol, which can easily be changed
into a high-capacity self-defense sidearm. High-capacity
9mms are very easy to find, but not on a 1911 pattern.
For a long time now I had wanted 9mm on a 1911.
Don’t ask me why as there are so many excellent largecapacity polymer framed 9s. I simply wanted one. Original Colts chambered in 9mm are very hard to find and
when located are quite pricey as collectors items. Well I
was recuperating from my life-saving operation in the fall
of 2010 Springfield Armory sent me an adjustable sighted
1911 chambered in 9mm and I think the fondling of it
over several months help me to recuperate as I looked
forward to shooting it in the spring. It was everything I
had hoped for. Then earlier this year I received a Kimber
Stainless Target II in 9mm giving me two excellent nines.
But that’s not all as a couple weeks ago I walked into
Buckhorn Gun and there sat a duotone Armscor 1911 in
the standard 1911 configuration. The more I shoot this
one the better it performs. So is there room for another
9mm 1911 at the Taffin Homestead? Absolutely and
there is something quite fascinating about a high-capac- marked with clockwise turns moving the groups to the
right. The square-notch rear sight matched up with the
ity 9mm 1911.
post front sight gives a very clear sight picture.
A Closer Look
Slide stop and thumb safety are standard 1911. The
Let’s take a general look at the Rock Island Armory hammer is skeletonized and matched up with a lightModel 1911-A2 first. Being a target model this TCM has weight short trigger. The trigger itself is excellent being
excellent fully adjustable Novak-style sights consisting of creep free and measuring just slightly over 3 pounds.
a slanted post front sight set in a dovetail matched up Rarely do you find such an excellent trigger on a pistol in
with a fully adjustable rear sight also set in a dovetail. this price range. The grip safety is a high riding beaverThe back of the rear sight is serrated to cut down on glare tail with a memory bump and the flat mainspring housand both the windage and elevation screws are large and ing is fully checkered. This is a wide-body 1911, which
easy to adjust and also marked clearly for adjustments. accepts high-capacity magazines. The slide and barrel
This is hardly ever a problem with elevation adjustments are forged and hand fitted at the factory, and the slide
however windage can go either way and this one is clearly is tightly fitted to the frame with cocking serrations on
37
both sides of the rear sight. We find “TCM” on the right
side of the slide while the left side is inscribed “ROCK
ISLAND ARMORY” and also has the RIA logo. The
top of the slide, rather than being rounded off, is flattopped and very eye pleasing.
The 9
My test pistol arrived in the dead of winter so serious
testing outside was out of the question. With the 9mm
barrel in place I fired the MicroMag Target TCM indoors
extensively and then as the weather began to improve I
was able to move outdoors. As expected groups shrunk
by about 30 percent when shooting in natural light. I
appreciate having an indoor range when the weather is
bad however my eyes match up with sights in natural
light much better than the lighting afforded indoors. The
9mm version was tested with 17 different factory loads
with excellent results, which are found in the accompanying chart. If only offered as a 9mm this pistol would
still be desirable. In fact it is definitely a keeper and I
intend to purchase it for my own use. With a 9mm barrel
in place I use it as a hip holster pressing excellent leather
into play from Davis Leather.
Zach Davis, a local crafter came up with two beautifully constructed holsters of exotic leather to carry 1911s.
They ride high and close to the body and exquisitely
MicroMag TCM Target
Maker: Armscor Precision International
Importer: Armscor USA
150 N. Smart Way, Pahrump, NV 89060
(775) 537-1444
armscor-precision-intl
TCM Ammo
Fred Craig’s ATOMITRONX
(775) 513-3962
www.gunsmagazine.com/atomitronx
Action Type: Single action, semi-auto, Caliber: .22
TCM, 9x19mm, Capacity: 18 (.22 TCM), 17 (9mm), Barrel
Length: 5", Overall Length: 8.5", Weight: 41 ounces,
Finish: Matte black Parkerized, Sights: Fully adjustable,
Grips: Checkered rubber, Price: $725
Varmints beware! The .22 TCM delivers a 40-grain bullet at 2,053 fps.
exhibit the three necessary elements of holster making
which are proper design, proper construction, and proper
leather. Zach gets high marks for all three. The 9mm
carries securely in either one of these custom holsters.
Switching To .22
Now we switch to the reason this pistol is called a
TCM. Gunsmith Fred Craig came up with the idea
of a hot .22 in a standard 1911. Personally I’ve never
understood why we don’t have more custom bottle-neck
cartridges for use in semi-automatic pistols and especially
in the larger frame versions chambered in .44 Magnum
and .50 Action Express both of which could be easily
necked down to other cartridges. Fred started with the
basic .223 case trimmed to length to fit a 1911 magazine
and necked down to .22 caliber. My test ammunition
carries a 40-grain softpoint bullet with a muzzle velocity
of 2,053 fps from the 5" barrel of the TCM.
Handguns are useful for many things. The serious side
is for hunting and self-defense while the fun side is simply
that, fun. Shooting should definitely be fun whether it
is plinking, informal competition, are most assuredly
time spent with the family. The .22 TCM is one of the
“funnest” cartridges one is likely to find. Recoil is almost
nil, however it roars and belches fire. This is definitely a
cartridge requiring quality ear protection.
The .22 TCM rides well
and close in these hip
holsters by Zach Davis.
38
The .22 TCM carries easily in this
Tanker Holster by K Bar J Leather.
The TCM started out as a completely custom pistol
built in Fred’s shop, however, Fred managed to work out
an agreement with the Philippine manufacturer Armscor to turn this into a production pistol. Takedown is
standard 1911 and you simply need to swap the barrel
and spring to change from one caliber to the other. Two
magazines are supplied and each may be used as a .22
TCM or 9mm. Of course, the heavier 115- to 147-grain
bullets of the 9mm shoot much higher than the tiny little
40-grain .22 TCM bullet, so the adjustable rear sight is
absolutely necessary. I was able to adjust the rear sight
so point of aim equaled point of impact with the lightweight .22 bullet, however with the rear sight bottomed
out most 9mm loads shot 2" or 3" high which basically is
of no consequence in a self-defense pistol.
Groups with the .22 TCM barrel in place ran right
at 1.5" at a distance of 20 yards. A Match Grade barrel
is available at $195 and for use as a hunting pistol on
small varmints might prove to be a good investment. I
had hoped to do more varmint hunting with this pistol,
however it has been a very strange year to say the least.
We never received any moisture until January and the
ski resort on the mountain I can see from my window
although it is 16 miles away opened two months late.
However, when the moisture did come it really did come
and we wound up with a great snow season in the higher
elevations and plenty of rain here in the Valley. Rain is
always welcome, however it does make it more difficult
to get around in normal hunting areas. Everything will
dry out eventually. For our little ground squirrels, which
are not much larger than the ordinary chipmunk, optical sights, even a red dot would work for me much better
than the production sights. The problem for me is the
sights are too good when shooting the 9mm or on paper
with the .22 TCM to even consider changing them.
While I choose a hip holster for packing the TCM in
the 9mm mode I switch to a different way of carrying the
.22 for hunting. I recently received a Tanker-style shoulder holster from K Bar J Leather Company, which rides
across the chest very comfortably and also out of the way
when getting in and out of a pickup. The design, material, and construction of this most handy holster is excellent and I recommend it highly. Straps are adjustable
making it easy to wear either over or under a coat where
everything is protected from the weather. In addition to
the Tanker Holster itself there is also a built-in magazine
pouch on the strap. A most excellent rig.
The .22 TCM sells for right at $725 and for such a
quality-built versatile pistol I would’ve expected a higher
.22 TCM Factory
Ammo Performance
Load
VelocityGroup Size
(brand, bullet weight, type)
(fps)
(inches)
TCM 40 SP
2,0531-1/2
Notes: Chronograph set at 10' from muzzle.
Groups the product of five shots at 20 yards.
9mm Factory Ammo Performance
Load
VelocityGroup Size
(fps)
(inches)
1-1/2
American eagle 124 fmj1,144
Black hills 115 fmj1,221 1-3/8
Black hills 115 +p jhp1,332
1-1/4
Black hills 115 jhp exp1,301
1-1/2
Black hills 124 jhp1,237 1-1/2
Black hills 147 jhp1,000 1-3/8
Black hills 147 fmj1,054 1-1/2
1-1/4
Federal 124 hi-shok jhp1,144
Federal 147 hi-shok jhp1,025
1-3/8
Hdr 115 tmj
1,1471-3/8
Hornady 147 xtp989 1-1/2
Hornady 100 fmj 1,2461-1/2
Hornady 124 tmj 1,1651-3/8
Hornady 124 xtp 1,1561-1/2
Speer lawman 115 jhp1,151
1-5/8
Speer lawman 115 tmj1,245
1-3/8
Winchester 147 jhp1,016 1-1/2
Notes: chronograph set at 10' from muzzle.
Groups the product of five shots at 20 yards.
price tag. What about ammunition? Of course it is easy
to find 9mm but I can just about guarantee if you walk
into your local gunshop and ask for a box of .22 TCMs
you will get a blank stare. However ammunition is definitely available from Fred Craig and at very reasonable prices. A box of JHP rounds will run $18.50 and
this drops to $12.50 for reloading of fired brass. So far
I have managed to retrieve every round fired and they
are all candidates for reloading. Fred says brass is very
long lasting. By the time you read this reloading dies and
components should be available so we can roll our own.
One final note: The TCM moniker comes from Tuason
Craig MicroMag. Martin Tuason is the president of
Armscor and of course, Fred Craig is the designer of
the cartridge.
Davis Leather
P.O. Box 506, Kuna, ID 83634
(208) 250-6570
www.gunsmagazine.com/davis-leather
K Bar J Leather Co.
P.O. Box 107, Newell, SD 57760
(605) 456-1332
www.gunsmagazine.com/k-bar-j
39
40
ed
Tam
The .280 Ackley
improved
meets the Kimber
Classic Select.
pictured here, stocked in French walnut with an ebony
fore-end tip, a steel pistol grip cap and a black 1" Pachmayr Decelerator pad is an elegant, custom-class firearm
indeed.
Holt Bodinson
Kimber’s designers are the true minimalists of the
PHOTOS: JOSEPH R. NOVELOZO
firearms trade. For example, the diameter of the front
of a Remington Model 700 or a Winchester Model
t is a marriage made in heaven. When ring
70 runs about 1.355", while Kimber slimmed theirs
Kimber recently decided to chamber down to 1.140". Remington and Winchester bolt diamthe remarkable performing .280 Ackley eters are approximately 0.693", while Kimber’s measures
Improved cartridge in their lightweight only 0.585". I compared the weight of a standard Model
Model 84L rifle, designed for the .30-06 ’98 Mauser bolt to that of a Model 84L. The Model ’98
weighs in at 16 ounces on my Sunbeam scale. The
family of cartridges, they gave us a versa- bolt
Kimber bolt weighs only 10 ounces. The Kimber bolt is
tile 7mm powerhouse that treads on the so dainty it looks like it belongs on a .223 Rem rather
7mm Remington Magnum without the than on a .30-06. In fact, the overall styling of the bolt
magnum’s shove and boom. For most for the Model 84L reminds me very much of that of a
big game hunting situations, the Kimber- pre-’64 Model 70.
The small, cylindrical Kimber action offers controlledAckley combination is hard to beat.
round feeding, a Mauser-type claw extractor, a fully
Making its debut in 2010, the Kimber Model 84L, adjustable trigger and a 3-position Model 70-type safety
“L” standing for “Long,” is the most petite and scaled- on the bolt shroud. The firing pin is small and light,
down production rifle I’ve ever handled. In spite of its resulting in a lock-time just short of phenomenal. The
flea weight running from 5 pounds, 10 ounces in the
synthetic stocked Montana model to 6 pounds, 2 ounces
in the Classic Select Grade, the 84L has proved to be an
extremely comfortable rifle to shoot, even with the heaviest of bullets and handloads. The Classic Select Grade,
I
A) The alloy triggerguard has a trap floorplate, with the release button inside the forward part of the guard. B) The Classic Select Grade
Kimber is stocked in a handsome piece of French walnut and ends in
a 1" Pachmayr Decelerator Pad. C) In this position the Kimber 84L’s
safety is on “Safe” and the bolt is locked closed. A natural movement
all the way forward moves the safety to “Fire.” Placing the safety in a
detente between the two positions allows the bolt to be opened and
the chamber cleared while still on “Safe.” D) The checkered pistol grip
of the French walnut stock is finished off in a steel grip cap.
A
C
B
D
41
42
The .280 Ackley
43
The Kimber 84L in .280
Ackley Improved offers
all-around, big-game performance without magnum
side effects. Photo: Holt
Bodinson. (Overleaf) The
Kimber 84L rests on a pair
of Bushnell Legend Ultra
HD 8x36 binoculars.
A
bottom metal, featuring a straddle-type floorplate and a throughthe-triggerguard release, is clean
and custom looking. In fact, the
overall finish of the metal work
approaches custom quality.
The receiver is mated to a freefloated, pillar-bedded, match
grade barrel 24" long to extract
all the ballistic potential the .280
Ackley Improved chambering can
offer in a lightweight sporter, the
action is slick and tight. Its feed- The efficient .280 Ackley
ing from the 5-round magazine of Improved, based on the
Remington (right), is
the Classic Select Grade is posi- .280
a ballistic hotrod, treadtive as is its ejection cycle which is ing soundly on the toes
handled by a blade ejector oper- of the 7mm Remington
ating through a slot offset in the Magnum (left). Photo: Holt
Bodinson.
bolt face from the locking lugs.
As a final touch, Kimber
supplies a set of scope bases so perfectly matched to the
contour of the receiver; they give the svelte action the
appearance of a square-bridge Mauser.
Offered originally in .30-06, .270 Win and .25-06 Rem,
the Kimber 84L is now offered in one of the most efficient
wildcats ever designed, the .280 Ackley Improved. Well,
it was a wildcat until Nosler recently tamed it commercially via SAAMI and now offers an outstanding line of
loaded ammunition and brass for the fine caliber.
P.O. Ackley
The idea of taking a factory cartridge and “improving” it by firing it in an “improved” chamber which typically results in a fire-formed case with minimum body
taper, a much sharper shoulder and increased powder
capacity did not originate with gunsmith and experimenter, Parker O. Ackley, but Ackley certainly fathered
more successful “improved” cartridges than any of his
contemporaries and was a gifted writer about his and
other’s wildcat experiments. In fact, Ackley’s Handbooks
for Shooters and Reloaders series is a “must read” if wildcats are lurking anywhere in your blood.
A) The nicely sculptured bolt release is at the rear of the receiver on
the left side. The scope bases fit the receiver well and have coarse
windage adjustments in the rear base. B) The bottom of the stock is
nicely shaped to match the contour of the floorplate. C) Pressing the
release on the inside of the triggerguard drops the floorplate to empty the magazine. D) The fore-end is nicely checkered and the stock
ends in an ebony fore-end cap.
B
C
44
Ackley reminds me Harry Pope. Like Pope, Ackley
was a college graduate. He also became a renowned
barrel maker, but most of all, he was an inveterate experimenter, an original thinker and a perfectionist. He was
also honest, admitting freely that many of his wildcat
creations were possible but not practicable.
In his extensive list of improved cases, Ackley focused
on 40-degree shoulders and minimum taper cases.
The 40-degree shoulder, originally designed by Leslie
Kilbourn for the .22 K-Hornet, proved to be especially
efficient in burning slow powders such as IMR 4350 and
military surplus 4831. The minimum taper case assisted
in increasing case capacity and minimizing back thrust
on the bolt. In one of Ackley’s classic experiments, he
rechambered a Model 94 Winchester in .30-30 Ackley
Improved and removed the locking mechanism so
merely the lever supported the bolt. Upon firing a round,
he found the unlocked bolt did not open and that the
minimum-tapered case indeed took the load off the locking system.
The advantage of an “improved” chambering over
other wildcat options is you can still fire standard factory
ammunition in it with little or no loss in accuracy. In my
youth, the .257 Roberts Improved by Ackley was the
rage of the neighborhood, and you had to fire-form your
cases using factory ammunition or handloads stoked in
factory brass. Not so with the .280 Ackley Improved.
Nosler offers both loaded ammunition and exceptionally
fine brass already full-length sized, trimmed and with the
case mouths and flash holes deburred and chamfered.
There’s no finer brass on the market.
The .280 Remington
I have some fond memories about the standard .280
Rem. It was the caliber requested by Mr. .270 himself,
Jack O’Connor, for the last custom rifle ever built for him
by Al Biesen. For several years, I shot the .280 in a Hartbarreled, Remington 40-X for 600- and 1,000-yard prone
competition. With available bullet weights ranging from
100 to 175 grains, it’s a more versatile caliber than the
.270 Win. In the improved form, it’s even better. Ackley
wrote, “It will be quickly noticed that there is little difference between the top velocities for the .280 Improved and
the Magnums, plainly demonstrating that there is little
advantage in using a belted Magnum case for anything
under .30 caliber.”
Let’s look at the data, using what I feel is the optimum bullet weight for the 7mm which is 140 grains. The
Remington catalog lists the velocity of the standard .280
The Redfield scope features conventional caps over the adjustments.
The adjustments themselves are clearly marked as to direction and
move point of impact 1/4" per click.
firing a 140-grain bullet at 3,000 feet per second. The
same bullet weight in the 7mm Rem Mag is listed at 3,175
fps. Nosler’s ammunition catalog lists the muzzle velocity
of the .280 Improved with a 140-grain bullet as 3,150 fps,
while Nosler’s reloading manual indicates a top velocity of 3,266 fps with 63.0 grains of AA3100—a load still
within the pressure standards set for the cartridge by
SAAMI.
For testing purposes, I mounted a 4-12x40mm
Redfield Revolution scope with its excellent range
compensating “Accu-Range” reticle which offers a set
of calibrated aiming points out to 500 yards for all the
popular hunting cartridges when the scope is adjusted
to its highest magnification. The Redfield Revolution
line of scopes is entirely built in the Leupold factory in
Oregon. The optics and mechanics are Leupold quality,
and the price of a Redfield Revolution can’t be beat. The
final weight of the Kimber with scope and rings installed
was 7 pounds, 7 ounces.
Model 84L Classic Select
MAKER: Kimber America
2590 Montana Highway 35
Kalispell, MT 59901
(888) 243-4522
www.gunsmagazine.com/kimber
ACTION: Bolt, controlled-round feeding, CALIBER: .280 Ackley
Improved, CAPACITY: 5, BARREL LENGTH: 24", OVERALL LENGTH:
43-3/4", WEIGHT: 6 pounds, 2 ounces, FINISH: Matte blue, SIGHTS:
None, scope bases supplied, STOCK: French walnut, PRICE: $1,427
(Classic Select), $1,359 (Montana)
REDFIELD 4-12x40MM Revolution
D
MAKER: Leupold
1440 N.W. Greenbrier Pkwy.
Beaverton, OR 97006
(877) 798-9686
www.gunsmagazine.com/leupold-stevens
MAGNIFICATION: 4X to 12X, OBJECTIVE DIAMETER: 40mm, EYE
RELIEF: 4.9" (4X), 3.7" (12X), INTERNAL ADJ. RANGE: 50 MOA elevation & windage, CLICK VALUE: 1/4", TUBE DIAMETER: 1", WEIGHT:
13.1 ounces, OVERALL LENGTH: 12.3", RETICLES: 4-Plex Duplex and
Accu-Range, Price: $329.99 (w/Accu-Range reticle)
45
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The Kimber 84L bolt (right) is dwarfed by a
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What’s been interesting now that
I’ve had an opportunity to work
with the Kimber-Ackley-Redfield
combination is how consistent the
published velocities in the Nosler
manual have been when measured
against my handloads over a PACT
Professional chronograph, and how
accurate the combinations have
proved to be.
Starting at 3 grains below maximum with handloads assembled
around Nosler brass, Federal 210
primers and Nosler Ballistic Tips,
I quickly moved up to the manual’s maximum with no overt signs
of pressure. Three loads illustrate
my point. With any of the Nosler
140-grain bullets, the Nosler manual
indicates a top charge of 64.0 grains
of RL22 giving 3,265 fps. That handload in the Kimber averaged 3,253
fps and 7/8" for 3-shot groups at 100
yards. The next load from the manual
I tested called for 60.0 grains of IMR
4831 yielding 3,222 fps. My handload
averaged 3,218 fps and 3/4". With a
120-grain boattail, the manual calls
for 65.0 grains of H4831SC yielding 3,331 fps. My handload averaged
3,319 fps and 5/8". Indeed, the slowest and the least accurate load was the
Nosler factory 140-grain AccuBond
ammunition at 3,127 fps and 1-1/4".
If you’ve been searching for an allaround caliber and rifle combination
that’s more versatile and powerful
than the .270 Win without the boom
and fuss of a belted magnum, the .280
Ackley Improved in a lightweight
Kimber might prove to be ideal. It’s
not magic. It’s simply the marriage
of outstanding ballistic performance
with exceptionally fine design.
Nosler
P.O. Box 671
Bend, OR 97709
(800) 285-3701
www.gunsmagazine.com/nosler
46
47
E
John Barsness
ver since accurate laser rangefinders became available to hunters
in the 1990s we’ve extended the
ranges for sure hits, partly because our
scopes adapted to the new technology.
First, optics companies offered multipoint
reticles, whether simple dots on the vertical crosshair, or more complex versions
such as “Christmas tree” reticles, with
extra horizontal crosshairs that become
longer at the bottom of the reticle to help
when holding into the wind. Eventually
numbered grids appeared, with the reticle
covering almost half the field of view, so
we could pick the right aiming point with
a little help from a computer.
48
Most optics companies also introduced “tactical”
scopes, more-or-less based on military sniper scopes,
featuring extra-tall adjustment turrets with hashmarks,
so the elevation windage could be quickly adjusted to
any range. Some hunters who specialize in long-range
shots still prefer really tall turrets, but eventually most
companies brought out scopes better adapted to general
hunting, with much shorter turrets so the rifle could fit
inside a soft rifle case or saddle scabbard.
Many hunters who twist
turrets prefer not to have
caps on top of them.
To Twist
Reticles
Reticles vs.
vs. turrets.
turrets.
Or Not
This Wyoming pronghorn was
taken with a 10X Leupold Mark
4 scope. There’s no reason not
to use a fixed-power scope for
longer-range shooting, and it
solves the potential problem of
the reticle changing the point
of impact as the magnification changes. These days many
scopes have normal-sized
turrets marked in numbered
hashmarks (right) for dialing in
extra range.
Which works better,
reticles or turrets? It
depends on the application. I first started using multipoint reticle for varmint
hunting, and they did extend the sure range. Often,
however, they didn’t work so well on small varmints such
as prairie dogs, because the aiming points on most reticles were too far apart to provide real precision when
aiming at something the size of a hot dog bun.
Many shooters tape a “cheat
sheet” to their scope or rifle stock
to remind them how many clicks
are required for different ranges.
The best prairie dog reticle I’ve ever used was a gridtype offered in scopes sold by the Ramshot powder
people, who live in the middle of prime prairie dog country in eastern Montana. On one calm afternoon (not
common on the high plains) I once used a Ramshot
4-16X scope on a heavy-barreled .223 Remington to hit
nine of 12 prairie dogs between 550 and 600 yards away.
That scope is still mounted on the same
rifle, now mostly used by my wife Eileen,
but Ramshot quit the scope business
several years ago, apparently because
they got too busy selling powder.
Also, I suspect there isn’t as much
demand for really complex reticles from
prairie dog hunters, who found clicking the elevation turret worked better
on small targets. A shooter set up next
to a big prairie dog town has plenty of
time to laser a target and click a turret,
since prairie dogs aren’t going anywhere,
unlike coyotes. Plus a coyote’s chest is
several inches across, more easily hit
with a multipoint reticle.
Big game animals are even easier.
As somebody once noted, on deer
all we need to do is hit a volleyball.
When shooting a bullet with a high
ballistic coefficient and a muzzle
velocity over 3,000 fps, a center-of-volleyball hold
works fine out to 250 or even 300 yards with the rifle
sighted-in a couple inches above the crosshairs at
100 yards. We don’t even have to consider using one
of the dots or extra crosshairs in a multipoint reticle until out around 350 to 400 yards, and somebody
It’s relatively easy to mark
elevation turrets in yardages, but some manufacturers
offer yardage-marked dials
for specific loads.
49
This Wyoming buck (above) was taken at almost 400 yards with a Trijicon
Accu-Point scope with a multipoint reticle—using 180-grain factory loads in a
.30-06. Even supposedly plodding loads can be used at longer ranges thanks
to modern laser rangefinders and scopes. Pronghorn (below) are often shot at
longer ranges. All you have to do is hit an area the size of a volleyball.
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Whether you use a reticle or twist the elevation turret, you
should spend some time actually shooting at longer ranges.
who practices with a multipoint scope can regularly
hit the volleyball out to 600.
Beyond 600 yards, however, even a volleyball may fall
through the cracks in a multipoint reticle. Twisting the
elevation turret solves the problem, but since only a very
few big game hunters are capable of consistently hitting
volleyballs beyond 600 yards, many stick with reticles.
One problem with multipoint reticles is in most variable scopes they’re located in the second focal plane
(SFP), behind the magnification-changing machinery.
This means the reticle’s actual size relative to the target
changes when the magnification ring is turned. Probably
99 percent of variable scopes sold these days are SFP,
and some hunters don’t understand the potential problem, so end up missing when they forget to crank the
scope to the magnification matching the bullet’s trajectory—and miss.
There are a couple of solutions. Reticle size in a fixedpower scope remains constant, magnification never
changes, one reason fixed scopes are making something
of a comeback these days, especially for longer-range
hunting. If we’re not going to be shooting at “woods”
ranges anyway, there’s no handicap in the smaller field of
view of a 6X scope, or even a 10X.
1st Focal Plane Reticles
The other solution is a variable with the reticle in
the first focal plane (FFP), in front of the magnification-changing machinery. Like the reticle in a fixedpower scope, an FFP multipoint reticle stays the same
size at all magnifications, so will be correct no matter
what. This sounds like a great deal, but most Americans don’t like the way an FFP reticle “grows larger”
at higher magnifications. It really doesn’t grow, since it
stays the same size, but apparently we can’t grasp the
concept. (FFP reticles also have another slight but real
advantage: The scope can’t shift point of impact when
we turn the magnification ring, as sometimes happens
in less expensive SFP variables.)
Many if not most European variables used to
feature FFP reticles, partly because they prevented
impact-shift problems, and partly because most European countries allow hunting during what Americans usually call “the dark.” Sometimes legal shooting hours run much earlier and later than ours, but in
some countries hunting is legal all night long, especially for wild pigs—but lights and night-vision scopes
aren’t allowed. A big, bright scope with a FFP reticle
allows precise dim-light aiming partly because the reticle “grows” along with the image when magnification
is cranked up, allowing a hunter to aim at a wild boar
on a moonlit night as easily as an American hunter
aims at a whitetail a few minutes after sunset.
European optics companies, however, eventually
realized America is the biggest hunting-optics market
in the world, so started making the SFP scopes we
prefer. While many still make FFP scopes, they often
don’t always offer them in North America. Fortunately, anybody who wants an FFP scope can buy
one from Holland Gunsmithing and Shooter’s Supply.
Darrel Holland offers both Leupold and Schmidt &
Bender scopes fitted with his excellent ART multipoint
reticle. All the Schmidt & Benders are FFP, while the
Leupolds are available in either FFP or SFP. I’ve been
using an FFP 3.5-10x40 Leupold with the ART reticle
for a number of years, first wringing it out thoroughly
on varmint rifles. It worked really well, and right now
it’s on a new .264 Winchester Magnum.
Of course, many turret-equipped scopes also feature
multipoint reticles. This might be considered the beltand-suspenders solution to long-range shooting, but
in big game hunting the speed of a multipoint reticle
sometimes outweighs the precision of twisting turrets.
I’ve taken long-range whitetail and mule deer bucks
51
with multipoint reticles when there simply
wasn’t enough time to twirl a turret—or even
use a laser rangefinder.
One other virtue of multipoint reticles
is the ability to estimate ranges by comparing the spacing of the reticle with the size of
an animal. This may seem unnecessary with
today’s fine laser rangefinders, but occasionally even the best rangefinders don’t work
accurately, either due to flat terrain or bright
light.
minutes later we found him down there,
with a bullet hole within an inch of where
I’d aimed.
That shot, however, wasn’t really long
by the standards of some of today’s
shooters. If there’s time to precisely laser
the range and twirl the elevation knob,
the same degree of precision can be
attained beyond 600 yards, partly because
computer ballistic programs are now
available as an “app” in smartphones. The
elevation, temperature, angle of the shot
Range Finding
and other conditions can be easily called
About a dozen years ago I hunted Coues
up in the field, and the scope clicked
deer in the mountains of Sonora, Mexico.
exactly the right amount.
There were lots of bucks, but finding the
Many shooters, however, prefer to keep
right one and having him stay where he
things somewhat simpler. Tactical-style
could be stalked and shot was tough.
scopes have hashmarks denoting some
Several days into the hunt my guide David Burris’s Ballistic Plex
fraction of a milliradian or a minute of
(pronounced dah-VEED) and I were sneak- reticle (above) is very
angle, and probably most tactical-scope
but very effecing down a ridge, planning to sit on the end simple,
shooters prefer to use a ballistic program
tive. Swarovski’s BRX
of the ridge to glass the big draw below, reticle (below) is a
in the field to tell exactly how many clicks
when we jumped three deer, one a buck with “Christmas tree” type,
are needed. But quite a few hunting-style
very obvious antlers. They ran down the with the extra crosshairs scopes have elevation turrets marked in
longer toward
ridge toward the draw, but started to slow growing
yards (usually hundreds of yards), so all
the bottom for help in
down after a couple of hundred yards.
the hunter has to do is laser-range the
aiming in wind.
“Big buck! Big buck!” David said, not as
shot and click the range.
quietly as he might have. I’d already flopped
Yardage-marked turrets have been
to my belly and rested the fore-end of the
around for a long time. I have an old
rifle on my daypack, and was following
2-1/2X Noske scope made in the 1940s
the buck in the 3-9X Burris scope on my
with the elevation dial marked in hundreds
rifle. The scope was equipped with Burris’s
of yards up to 800, with a tiny notaBallistic Plex Reticle, and as the buck
tion saying, “.270 150 2760.” It might,
slowed I compared his chest to the space
however, be difficult to aim at, say, a bull
between the center of the crosshairs and the
moose at 800 yards using a low-power
first dot below. The buck stopped briefly in
scope with heavy post reticle.
front of an ocotillo, and I quickly put the
In the 1970s Bushnell sold a version of
first dot on his chest and squeezed off the shot. He the same idea, and I used one of their 6X scopes to
jumped and ran but within a few yards fell hooves take a pronghorn buck. The Bushnell came with a
over antlers down a steep slope into the draw. A few small selection of dials for general ballistic categories.
Many coyote hunters like ballistic reticles over turret-adjustable scopes when a crafty dog hangs up way out there.
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The dial I used with 100-grain
loads in my .243 Winchester, for
instance, also supposedly worked
with 130-grain ammo in the
.270 Winchester. Obviously such
general parameters only work at
ranges under 500 yards—maybe.
Since we didn’t have laser rangefinders the entire proposition was
moot, and the Bushnell scopes
This nice
didn’t last long.
Coues deer
These days several companies was taken
sell dials precisely calibrated to in Mexico
a certain bullet’s ballistic coeffi- with a Burris
with
cient and muzzle velocity. They scope
their Balwork to longer ranges than generic listic Plex
dials, but obviously can’t be super- reticle.
precise under different field conditions, though they’re usually fine
for hitting the volleyball out to
500 or 600 yards. Some hunters
(including, on occasion, me) make
their own yardage dials by attaching masking tape or blank mailing
labels on the elevation turret, then
shooting their rifle at various yardages and marking the zero points
on the turret. Others tape a yardage chart to their scope or rifle
stock, showing how many clicks
are required for various ranges. If
you hunt mostly in the same area,
these work very well.
Doing some actual practice
shooting at longer ranges is absolutely essential. Even today’s
extremely sophisticated ballistic programs don’t
always match reality precisely, and some ammunition shoots very accurately at closer ranges but
doesn’t group so well at several hundred yards. I’ve
shot ammo that consistently grouped inside 1" at 100
yards but scattered shots over 8" or 10" at 400.
Plus, the clicks in elevation turrets don’t always
exactly match the scope’s specifications. I test a
number of scopes each year, one of the tests actually measuring how much each click averages. If
a scope costs $1,000 or more the clicks are almost
always dead nuts, but I’ve tested scopes costing
nearly $1,000 with “1/4-inch” clicks averaging 0.3".
In the end, however, it doesn’t really matter exactly
how much each click shifts point of impact, as long
as the clicks are consistent.
One excellent side effect of the recent turret-clicking trend is an overall improvement in the repeatability of scope adjustments. Before laser rangefinders most scope manufacturers built scopes to stay
sighted-in at one distance, because that’s what hunters wanted. Consequently many adjustments weren’t
particularly accurate or even repeatable.
Back in the 1980s and ’90s I used one particular
brand of scope because they were among the best
optically back then (and still would be today) along
with being very tough, able to take heavy recoil along
with the bumps and bruises of hard hunting. Sighted
them in, however, was like wrestling a greased pig.
Often I’d click the adjustments a certain amount,
and the next shot would be right in the middle of
the previous group—but the next shot would move
the correct amount, thanks to the recoil of the last
shot. The old trick of tapping the dials with an
empty cartridge case sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t. Finally I gave up and started using other
brands.
Today, however, even many $200 scopes have very
repeatable adjustments, as well as nifty multipoint reticles. If we really practice with these scopes, hitting a
volleyball way out there becomes far more certain than
most of life in the 21st century.
Burris
331 E. 8th St., Greeley, CO 80631
(970) 356-1670
www.gunsmagazine.com/burris
Holland’s Shooter’s Supply
P.O. Box 69, Powers, OR 97466
(541) 439-5155
www.gunsmagazine.com/holland-guns
Leupold
1440 N.W. Greenbriar Pkwy., Beaverton, OR 97006
(503) 646-9171
www.gunsmagazine.com/leupold-stevens
Swarovski Optik
2 Slater Rd., Cranston, RI 02920
(800) 426-3089
www.gunsmagazine.com/swarovski-optik
Trijicon
49385 Shafer Ave., Wixom, MI 48393
(800) 338-0563
www.gunsmagazine.com/trijicon
53
Return of
story and photos: Jeff John
W
inchester’s 1876 .50-95 rifles first
arrived in 1879 with factory literature declaring it to “Meet the needs
of the hunter who needs a weapon having
absolute killing power but not necessarily long range…” Original ammo had a
300-grain lead hollowpoint bullet with a
copper cup in the hollow “… modeled after
the famous English Express bullets.”*
Winchester intended the rifle to be used
at ranges within 150 or 200 yards, and
at such close range, the bullet was quite
effective on thin-skinned game.
54
It is perhaps not surprising that many of these
rifles subsequently went to Africa and India as closequarters stopping rifles for lions, leopards and tigers.
The 1876 Cimarron reproduction (reviewed in
the September 2009 issue), made by Uberti of Italy,
comes standard with a 28" or 22" barrel and a full
magazine. I took an immediate liking to the 28" rifle,
enough so that I bought it after the story for this
project.
While nicely balanced, the 1876—any 1876—is
a huge, long rifle, especially with a 28" barrel, and
modestly heavy with a tare weight of 10 pounds.
Put 10 rounds in it and you can add a full pound.
Thus, the rifle with that entire payload shoulders
and swings slowly. The short, fat bullet over black
powder tends to foul the bore quickly, so accuracy
tends to decline after two or three shots, rendering
the rest of the magazine more or less progressively
useless. Black powder velocity with smokeless
powder is unsafe even in a modern-made toggle-link
Uberti action. This is why I call the rifle “Little Big
50.” In power it pales before its big brethren in the
Sharps family—but it is a .50, and the caliber alone
always has a certain cachet. If heavy bullets, power
and velocity are truly desired, move up to the Sharps
or the 1886 lever action—or even the X-frame .500
S&W—all are strong enough. The toggle-link 1876
wasn’t, isn’t and never will be.
I quickly concluded the long barrel loaded with
only a few cartridges would still handle more like an
infantry musket than a sporting rifle. Within these
weight/length/power considerations, I began to think
of ways I could remodel the Cimarron 1876 into
a handier rifle. Most of these calculations would
revolve around the barrel, it’s contour and the magazine length.
The “Business
Length” 1876
rifle.
The Chamber
I had acquired RCBS dies, but my handloads
during the initial test were disappointing compared
to the Ten-X factory loads (Ten-X uses a special set
of dies for the Uberti chamber). After looking over
the factory barrel, gunsmith John King was reluctant
to change the contour because of its diameter and
the depth of the magazine ring cut, which would’ve
needed welding. So the search was on for a suitable
barrel and chambering reamer, which proved much
harder than anticipated.
There was no group such as today’s Sporting Arms
and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute (SAAMI)
when the last .50-95 round was factory loaded and
John King and I discovered there were many chamber drawings in circulation to add to the confusion.
Pacific Tool & Gauge offered two slightly different
versions, neither of which were close enough to the
dimensions of the RCBS dies.
Where To Begin?
First step: decide on brass and bullets. American-made Jamison brass, properly headstamped
.50-95, the RCBS 50-350 cast bullet and Barnes .510"
300-grain FNSP jacketed bullets were easy choices.
Already on hand were RCBS dies.
The barrel proved problematic because we couldn’t
find anyone duplicating the 1:48" twist of the Uberti
barrel. Although it isn’t cataloged, Douglas Barrels
can make a 1:42" twist, which seemed a good choice
for both the 350-grain cast and 300-grain jacketed.
Better still, delivery was quick and prompt. King
55
A
C
B
G
E
D
F
A) The dust cover of the Winchester Express
rifles had this unique stamping, here recreated
with acid etching by John King. (B-D) An originalstyle reproduction of the factory ladder sight
from Buffalo Arms was chosen because it was
standard on the Express rifle (B) no doubt due to
its V-notch. A V-notch is quick to pick up, but not
conducive for aging eyes to aim with precisely.
56
Paired up with the standard front sight (C), this
repro from Winchester Bob is complete with German silver blade and lock screw on the base.
The express sight with ladder raised is optimistically graduated to 1,000 yards (D). The 1,000-yard
range flies in the face of Winchester’s advertising,
which claimed the rifle was only powerful enough
for 200-yard shooting. E) The crescent buttplate is
notorious for increasing felt recoil, however, it is
just fine on an 1876 rifle, since power (and recoil
energy) is limited by the action’s strength, rather
than the shooter’s tolerance for pain. F) Original
barrels were marked “Cal. 50-95” just ahead of
the chamber, here recreated by acid etch. G) John
King made the button for the 1/2 magazine, which
is held in place by the fore-end cap.
sent a fired Jamison case, resized in the RCBS dies
and topped with a bullet to Pacific Tool & Gauge for
a reamer.
Barrel & Balance
The polished receiver blued quite nicely, but look at all the real
estate available for engraving. The 1876 is a natural for a highly
finished custom rifle. A custom Old West rifle deserves an ammo
box replicating the era, too (above). Did Jeff mention fouling? After
shooting the chronograph session of 10 consecutive shots, Jeff took
the rifle home, turned it upside down and dry brushed out this huge
tidy pile of filth (below). Birchwood Casey 77 Black Powder cleaner
finished up the cleaning task in no time.
The next step was to choose a barrel length. After
much anguish (partly because this was uncharted territory as to balance and feel of the final arm), and long
searches through George Madis’ The Winchester Book,
the 24" length was chosen. Only a couple of original
Winchester .50s were originally made with 24" barrels,
the 26" was the factory standard length and 22" was
much more popular than any other optional barrel
length. I briefly considered the 22", but the fore-end and
magazine are shorter and likely would make the gun a
little squirrely to handle, since the action itself is fairly
long and heavy.
The 24" proved to be very appealing to my eye (I
determined this by taping off the barrel and mag tube
at various lengths and configurations with masking tape,
leaning it against a wall, and casually studying its look
for a day or so). Looks aside, the 24" 1/2 round, 1/2 octagon with 1/2-magazine configuration proved to provide
the gun enough forward weight to be steady during
offhand aim yet keeping it handy and quick to shoul- balance point now is around the receiver and the step
der. Oddly, there wasn’t more than a 1/2-pound savings just forward of the receiver leading to the fore-end acts
in overall weight, but the balance point changed. The a rest for my fore or middle finger giving the rifle a very
secure feel in carry.
Sights
In its new form with 24" Douglas .50-95 barrel 1/2
round, 1/2 octagon and 1/2 magazine, the Cimarron 1876 is much handier and quicker to point.
Standard sights for the Express Rifle would be the
odd long-ladder rear “Sporting Leaf”-style, and is a
reproduction offered by Buffalo Arms. I say “odd sight”
because Winchester literature always claimed the Express
was only effective out to 200 yards max, yet “standard”
was a sight graduated for 1,000 yards. The front is a new
reproduction standard model by Winchester Bob. It has
the correct German silver blade and a screw to lock it in
the dovetail.
57
Custom 1876 Winchester
Original Importer: Cimarron Arms
P.O. Box 906
Fredricksburg, TX 78624
(830) 997-9090
Cimarron-firearms-co
Action type: Lever action, Caliber: .50-95, Capacity: 4+1, Barrel
length: 24", Overall length: 43-1/2", Weight: 9-1/2 pounds, Finish:
Blue, Sights: Sporting leaf rear, post front, Stock: Walnut, oil finished, Price: $1,650.60 (stock rifle), $4,500 (as shown)
The original wood wasn’t bad, just not striking and
I’d already spent enough on this project that going whole
hog wasn’t a hard decision. King kicked through his
firewood pile and scrounged up a purty darn nice stick
of American walnut. In keeping with the mission of
making a custom Uberti, we used the original stock for
a pattern and the final shaping is more true to Uberti
than Winchester. The nose cap had been aggressively
machined polished and the forearm had to follow its
shape, so the forearm is a little narrower at the front
than I would prefer. In keeping with the new iteration
The RCBS cast bullets wanted to shoot. Jeff believes black powder
fouling in the throat caused the third shot (above) to continually go
astray. The best accuracy was obtained with the Barnes 300-grain
JFP bullets at 1,454 fps (below). At 50 yards, the Birchwood Casey
white Shoot-N-C targets are very easy to aim at and bullet strikes
easy to determine without a scope, since it is, of course, a .50.
58
of “Deluxe Model,” checkering was added after giving
the wood an oil finish with Pilkington’s. The inside of the
tangs and the buttplate were sealed with Permalyn.
As I had already taken the action apart back in ’09
and stoned away any burrs inside left from the original
machining, there really wasn’t much to do to tune the
action beyond making the lever safety-bar-spring lighter.
This safety makes you consciously hold the lever tight
against the receiver before the trigger can move. The
Uberti factory spring is too stout and puts too much
stress on my hand for comfortable shooting. King softened it so it’s close to the way Winchester set them. I
stoned the hammer notch and sear square to each other
which made the pull crisp, if not light, at 6.5 pounds.
The original magazine tube was shortened and King
spun a button for the 1/2 magazine to fit inside the Uberti
nosecap. The 24" barrel still looks good with the riflelength forearm and holds four rounds.
While Uberti does one of the better polish jobs in
the business, machine polish can soften edges and dish
screw holes. Having more time than sense, I stoned the
action flat and final polished with paper backed by wood
or metal. In the process I lost the external Italian proofmarks and Uberti name. The hole where the lever lock
resides is the only hole still slightly dished. I didn’t want
to monkey with the thinly struck serial number although
it is also stamped inside the tang.
The hammer and lever exhibited very nice case colors,
although the lever had a few thin, white areas. An easy fix
was randomly applying G96 Blue Creme with a Q-Tip to
the thin spots without doing any degreasing. Leaving a
little oil on the lever keeps the blue from giving the even
coverage normally desired. I didn’t want to cover all of
the light spots, so some thin spots received a simple light
pass of the Q-Tip and other spots more passes to deepen
the color. Being a creme, the G96 is easy to control on
the Q-Tip.
The receiver was given a deep Brownells Oxynate 7
finish by Jim Hoag. When hand polished to a 1,200grit finish, metal finished with Oxynate 7 replicates the
look of the old deep blue-black charcoal blue used by
Winchester, but is sturdier and can be touched up much
easier. I briefly explored case hardening the receiver but it
caused shivers to those who do the work. Warping of the
thin walls of the receiver and sideplate is highly possible
and at this point in the project, the thought of getting
the receiver back in the form of a pretzel was enough to
convince me to go with blue.
I rust blued the barrel using Pilkington’s American
Rust Blue. Polishing the barrel to a 400-grit finish, it has
a subtle matte finish complemented by the blue receiver.
Rust bluing is easily in the realm of the hobby gunsmith.
You only need a tank big enough to submerse the parts
in boiling water, and the ability to follow instructions.
Brownells can supply it all. My setup from the firm uses
a standard BBQ-size propane tank.
King nitre blued the screws, loading gate and sundry
small parts to give the final rifle a pleasing multicolored finish. Oddly, some of the screws under the action
refused to take on the nitre blue or my subsequent stovetop heat blue. They easily were darkened with the G96.
The barrel has original-style Winchester address
markings and caliber acid-etched (sorry Cimarron), but
the serial number, was left alone and is obviously Cimarron’s and not Winchester. Uberti marks still exist on the
steel under the stock, so this is not a “fake” Winchester,
but a custom Cimarron.
.50-95 Handloaded Ammo Performance
Bullet
PowderCharge
VelocityEnergyGroup Size
(brand)
(grains weight)
(fps)
(ft-lbs)
(inches)
Barnes 300 JFP
Swiss FFg
79
1,454
1,409
1-3/8
RCBS 350 LFN
Swiss FFg
77
1,399
1,561
2-1/2*
Notes: RCBS Chronograph set 10’ from muzzle. Velocity results are the average of five shots. CCI 200 primers in
Jamison brass. *Two shots in 1-1/4". Groups fired at 50 yards.
Into Jamison brass from Buffalo Arms went the aforementioned RCBS 50-350, which dropped from the mold
at 359 grains (cast from 20:1 mix, sized .512" and lubed
with SPG lube) and the .510" Barnes 300-grain jacketed
flatnose. The jacketed bullet is mostly contemporary
with the original 1876 being offered at least as early as
1899 (the earliest catalog I have showing it). Capacity of
the modern solid-head modern brass is much less than
the advertised 95 grains of the original loads. For the cast
bullets, 75.5 grains of Swiss FFg was dropped through
a tube and a 0.060" Walters vegetable fiber wad placed
over the powder before seating the bullet. The jacketed
Barnes Bullets, being a little lighter were seated over 79
grains of FFg and both were lit with CCI 200 primers.
Here’s some advice for anyone rebarreling one of
these 1876 rifles. Have the gunsmith make you a chambered barrel stub to check your reloads. After loading the
Barnes Bullets, I decided to load some more cast bullets
with Trail Boss powder. I had to readjust the crimp
between the cast and jacketed bullets and applied a just a
hair too much crimp to the Trail Boss loads, subtly bulging the shoulder.
I loaded the ammo before my move to Nevada and
had to pack and move before continuing this project.
Not remembering I never checked the smokeless loads,
I loaded the rifle with the Trail Boss loads first and the
first round stuck in the chamber, trapped in the carrier.
I spent the better part of the morning carefully taking
apart the rifle almost completely to remove the stuck
round.
That ordeal over, the shooting commenced. Recoil
isn’t bad, even with the crescent buttplate, but it’s loud.
Accuracy with the 300-grain Barnes Jacketed Flatnose
bullet at 50 yards was good with a pleasing 3-shot cloverleaf of 1-3/8" and velocity was decently high. The average of 1,454 fps is pretty good even compared to the
original Winchester advertised velocity of 1,641 fps.
The cast bullet would shoot decent 2-shot groups, but
the 3rd shot always opened up the group. Light bullets
over black powder means fouling occurs pretty rapidly,
especially in the throat. My cast bullets were heavier and
softer than originally used by Winchester, which were of
16:1 mix. It’ll be worth trying a harder bullet. I’m frankly
grateful to get such 3-shot groups without having to wipe
or blow down the barrel. If I stay with the Barnes jacketed bullets and can’t sort out a hunting problem with
three quick shots of .50-95, it’s likely the loose nut behind
the trigger and not the load.
The Cimarron 1876 has proven to be a very worthwhile platform for a custom gun project. There really
weren’t any surprises once gunsmith John King and I
decided the heart of the build was going to be the barrel
and chamber both matched to components commercially available. After the reamer investment, the rest
followed naturally. Being able to do a lot of the finish
work and preliminary polish work both saved money
and gave a feeling of accomplishment, not to mention
one very unique rifle. As expensive as the project was,
it was far cheaper than searching for a scarce original
Winchester with this many “special order” options. Had
I bought such an original, which appear in the 5-figure
ranges these days, I’d likely be afraid to do much more
than look at it!
*Quoted from The Winchester Model 1876
“Centennial” Rifle by Herbert Houze.
The Winchester Model 1876
“Centennial” Rifle, Herbert G. Houze,
©2001, 192 pages, illustrated, ISBN: 0-917218-97-3,
Mowbray Publishing,
54 East School Street Woonsocket, RI 02895, (800) 999-4697,
www.manatarmsbooks.com
The Winchester Book,
George Madis, ©1985, 640 pages,
1,800 photos, ISBN: 0-910156-03-4,
Madis Books,
P.O. Box 545, Brownsboro, TX 75756,
(903) 852-6480,
www.georgemadis.com
Barnes Bullets
38 N. Frontage Rd., , Mona, UT 84645
(435) 856-1000
www.gunsmagazine.com/barnes-bullets
Brownells
200 S. Front St., Montezuma, IA 50171
(641) 623-4000
www.gunsmagazine.com/brownells
Buffalo Arms Co.
660 Vermeer Ct., , Ponderay, ID 83852
(208) 263-6953
www.gunsmagazine.com/buffalo-arms
Douglas Barrels
5504 Big Tyler Rd., , Charleston, WV 25313
(304) 776-1341
www.gunsmagazine.com/douglas-barrels
G96
85-5th Ave., Bldg #6, Paterson, NJ 07524
(877) 332-0035
www.gunsmagazine.com/g96
Hoag Gun Works
8523 Canoga Ave., , Canoga Park, CA 91304
(818) 998-1510
www.gunsmagazine.com/hoag
John King
P.O. Box 700, Kila, MT 59920
(406) 755-5352
Winchester Bob
Bob Knapp, 143 S. Oakfield Rd.,
Linneus, ME 04730
(207) 532-9206
www.gunsmagazine.com/winchester-bob
Pacific Tool and Gauge
P.O. Box 2549, 598 Ave. C, White City, OR 97503
(541) 826-5808
pacific-tool-and-gauge
RCBS
605 Oro Dam Blvd., Oroville, CA 95965
(800) 553-5000
www.gunsmagazine.com/rcbs
59
The White River Caper (top) and Scout
(bottom) are big quality in a small package shown with optional Micarta scales.
In Praise
Of Littl’uns!
Michigan’s White River Knives
small hunters pack small
and deliver big.
Pat Covert
S
mall fixed blades are an oft-overlooked part of the
hunter’s gear, and if you’re not toting one you might
want to give them a second look. A small fixed blade
can skin with much more accuracy and less chance of
error than an oversized field knife. They add very little to
your pack weight and are a snap to clean compared to a
folding knife, which has recesses and hidey-holes that
collect blood and viscera like a pack rat.
At the annual Blade Show in
Atlanta this past June I wandered past
the White River Knives booth and
immediately my head snapped back
in a double take. It wasn’t so much
the company’s selection that struck
me—and they do have a wide range
of choices—but the superb quality of
their knives. The White River Caper,
with its comfortable handle and deep
Caper & Scout
Maker: White River Knife & Tool
130 Mason DR.
Coopersville, MI 49404
(616) 997-0026
www.gunsmagazine.com/white-river
Blade material: S30V stainless steel,
Blade length: 3.5" (both), Overall
length: 6.75" (both), Weight: 2.65
ounces (Caper), 2.56 ounces (Scout),
Handle: Bird’s Eye Maple (standard),
Carr y: Kydex sheath, Price: $159 (Caper), $149 (Scout)
60
finger choil, is a skinning friendly
knife packing in at just a tad over
2-1/2 ounces. The White River Scout
has a thinner profile perfect for fine
caping and weighs about the same.
Both knives sport 3.5" drop-point
blades and are 6.75" in overall length.
The Caper and Scout are of fulltang construction and feature topshelf S30V stainless steel for the cutting
chores. White River offers a plethora of
handle options too numerous to name
here, but a sampling includes synthetics
like Micarta and G10 as well as exotic
materials such as Spalted Maple and
Stag. The fit and finish is custom quality and both knives come with a Kydex
sheath. Price wise the Scout runs $149
and the Caper $159, both in optional
Micarta, which is $10 more. This pair is
small in size but big on quality—check
’em out!
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Every issue of GUNS
Magazine can help you
identify the next worthy
candidate to take to the
range or into the field.
A team of writers that
includes Dave Anderson,
Clint Smith, John Taffin and
Mike Venturino can help
make the decision easier.
Their insightful reviews and
countless hours of research
have refined the selection
process. They’ve spent a
lifetime moving from grip to
trigger, one gun at a time.
Use GUNS Magazine Today to Stay Informed for Tomorrow.
RIGHTS WATCH
VIEWS, NEWS
& REVIEWS
DAVID CODREA
Fourth
Estate Fifth
Columnists
“U
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62
S Distrust in Media
Hits New High,” Gallup
announced, citing a poll
concluding “Americans’ distrust in the
media hit a new high this year, with
60 percent saying they have little or no
trust in the mass media...”
Firearms owners weary of the
barrage of disinformation, spin and
outright lies we have come to expect as
the norm when on gun issues could well
wonder how 40 percent of the populace
can be so thick.
A case study could be made of media
malpractice in its coverage of Operation
Fast and Furious gunwalking. When it
was not ignoring the story, the media,
with a few notable exceptions like CBS
News, Fox News, and surprisingly, the
Spanish-language network Univision,
were working double-duty to carry the
Obama administration’s water and to
parrot its talking points.
When the Justice Department’s
Office of Inspector General released
its long-awaited report on the scandal,
it noted it had found “no evidence”
Attorney General Eric Holder knew
about the program prior to January
2011. Media shills were quick to spin
that into proclamations he had been
“cleared” and “exonerated,” conveniently not mentioning that much
evidence had been withheld, key
witnesses had refused to speak to investigators, and the White House had
refused cooperation with the probe
citing lack of OIG authority.
Further breaches of integrity were
evidenced when the report demolished
a Fortune article claiming gunwalking had not taken place that the media
had previously picked up on to derail
further inquiry. Earlier, a Joint Congressional Report contained allegations
their reporter may have been given
information illegally obtained from the
personnel file of a key whistleblower.
That administration mouthpieces
were coordinating stories with a
sympathetic press became indisputable when The Daily Caller reported
the Justice Department’s public affairs
chief and Media Matters, an influential
leftwing advocacy site that has vociferously defended the administration and
attacked its investigators, had actually corresponded and coordinated on
stories about Fast and Furious.
On another front, the hostility and
hypocrisy of legacy media to the right
to keep and bear arms manifested itself
perfectly in a story brought to light by
citizen journalist John Richardson,
who reported on the Law Center to
Prevent Gun Violence hosting a discussion on “Truth Telling: The Media’s
Role in the Conversation on Guns,”
where the panel was comprised entirely
of anti-gun media hacks. A representative of the CalGuns Foundation was
rejected from going and had his ticket
money refunded because the organizers did “not feel it was appropriate for
[him] to attend this event.”
That’s some conversation they wish
to have.
Pat Caddell, a former Democratic
pollster, thinks “we’re at the most
dangerous time in our political history
in terms of the balance of power and
the role that the media plays,” and told
a recent Accuracy in Media conference that rather than being protectors
of liberty, the press “have made themselves a fundamental threat… and the
enemy of the American people.”
Soviets joked about communist
newspapers, Pravda (“Truth”) and
Izvestia (“News”).
“In the Truth there is no news, and
in the News there is no truth.”
Visit David Codrea’s online journal
“The War on Guns” at
waronguns.com,
visit DavidCodrea.com to read
his Examiner column.
Due to the importance of this column, GUNS will begin
posting “Rights Watch”
at www.gunsmagazine.com on the
1st of the month—long before it
appears here.—Editor
Follow us on Twitter www.twitter.
com/fmgpubs so you’ll be among
the first to know when “Rights
Watch” is posted online!
NEWS
Silver Star For Valor
W
hen a patrol of Marines
from 2nd Battalion, 8th
Marine Regiment, 2nd
Marine Division; Afghan National
Army soldiers and Afghan National
Civil Order Police patrolmen was
ambushed by insurgents on March
5, 2011, Cpl. Jason M. Hassinger quickly realized many of his
comrades were trapped, unable to
maneuver or engage the attacking enemy. The Marines requested
air support, but it was not immediately available, so Hassinger led his
section through the gunfire to rescue
his trapped brothers in arms.
Hassinger, a Philadelphia native,
was recognized for his actions
during the 2nd Marine Division
change-of-command ceremony on
base last August 23, when the outgoing commanding general of the division, Maj. Gen. John A. Toolan,
awarded Hassinger the Silver Star,
the nation’s third highest award for
combat valor. Staff Sgt. Matthew
E. Faircloth, also of 2/8, was also
awarded the Bronze Star with
combat distinguishing device for a
separate incident.
Hassinger was shot four times on
the patrol for which he was recognized. He continued to fight despite
his injuries until the enemy finally
retreated.
“They were all pinned down,” said
Hassinger. “My section was under
fire but their faces were in the dirt,
so it was up to us to get them out.
We suppressed them and regrouped,
and we were going to chase them but
I collapsed and was evacuated.”
After being shot, Hassinger relied
on his training and combat experience to take over to keep him in the
fight. A calm, fearless Hassinger
silenced the enemy with his weapon
and M203 grenade launcher.
“I’m hit and I need to get back
up, … keep going,” Hassinger
recalled after being shot on patrol.
“The dude who shot me is going to
get shot back.”
Toolan showed his appreciation
for the efforts of Hassinger and
Faircloth as he addressed the crowd
63
toward the end of the change of
command ceremony.
“I want you to hear the citations
of Corporal Hassinger and Staff
Sergeant Faircloth,” said Toolan, a
native of Brooklyn, N.Y. “That’s just
an indication of the type of heroism that goes on every day (in 2nd
Marine Division)… We don’t give
awards lightly.”
Those in attendance displayed
their gratitude for the actions of
Hassinger and Faircloth with an
enthusiastic ovation as the two
proudly stood at attention with their
freshly pinned decorations on their
chests.
Hassinger is no longer on active
duty and now works for Disabled
American Veterans where he helps
guide fellow veterans to utilize the
benefits to which they are entitled.—
Cpl. Tommy Bellegarde, 2nd Marine
Division MCB Camp Lejeune, N.C.
A
Undefeated
Team Sinclair
dding to their undefeated
resume, Team Sinclair International has posted their fifth
championship in US F-Class Nationals
competition at the NRA’s Whittington
Winning their fifth consecutive F-Class Championship were Team Sinclair members (left to right)
Paul Phillips, Brad Sauve, Jeff Rorer, Derek Rodgers and Ray Gross. Gross is the team’s wind coach.
Center in Raton, N.M., on Sept. 20,
2012.
The team, consisting of firing
members, Paul Phillips, Brad Sauve,
Jeff Rorer, Derek Rodgers and wind
coach, Ray Gross, toppled 12 other
teams representing the best precision
shooters from the US, South Africa,
Australia and Canada.
Boasting the highest attendance of
any F-class nationals, the 2012 competition was made up of dual 1,000-yard
matches where teams vied for victory by
attempting to shoot the perfect cumulative score—800 points.
Team Sinclair’s aggregate score
of 790-31x, which indicates an overall score of 790 points with 31 X-ring
(center) shots, was good enough to
earn them not only the win, but a
Visit one of our three traveling showrooms at a dealer near you and get your
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64
O N LIN E!
www. gu ns magazine.co m
KWIK-SITE
has taken Weaver®
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and new lengths
Our Caps Will NOT
Scratch Your Scope Or Rust
The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) is underway as part of Enterprise Carrier Strike
Group to support maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in
the US 6th Fleet area of responsibility. USN photo: Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class
Scott Pittman/Released
U.S. National Record (pending NRA
approval) for 1,000-yard F-Class shooting competition.
“We’re grateful for Sinclair International’s support,” said the team in a
joint statement. “All of us use Sinclair’s
precision shooting components and
reloading supplies when preparing for
these events. We need products of the
highest quality and consistency for us
to succeed. We’ve never been defeated,
and that’s a testament to Sinclair
International.”
The members of Team Sinclair
International have been competing
together since 2007, adding its newest
member, Jeff Rorer, in 2009. They have
never been defeated in professionallevel competition.
Sinclair International is the world’s
premier supplier of high-quality reloading tools, components, ammunition
and accessories, plus unique competitive shooting and hunting supplies. A
member of the Brownells Group since
2007.—Courtesy Ryan Repp, Brownells
Sinclair International Inc.
200 S. Front St.,
Montezuma, IA 50171
(260) 482-3670
www.gunsmagazine.com/sinclair
51 Years of Service
A
fter 51 years of distinguished
service, the aircraft carrier USS
Enterprise (CVN 65) will inactivate on Dec. 1, 2012, in a ceremony
to be held at Norfolk Naval Station, in
Norfolk, Va.
The inactivation ceremony will be
the last official public event for the ship,
and will serve as a celebration of life
for the ship and the more than 100,000
sailors who served aboard. Details of
the actual ceremony are still being finalized at press time, however, numerous
dignitaries and thousands of veterans
of the ship are expected to attend the
event.
Commissioned on Nov. 25, 1961,
the eighth ship to bear the illustrious
name Enterprise, the “Big E” was the
world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft
carrier.
A veteran of 25 deployments to
the Mediterranean Sea, Pacific Ocean,
and the Middle East, Enterprise has
served in nearly every major conflict
to take place during her history. From
the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 to six
deployments in support of the Vietnam
conflict through the Cold War and the
Gulf Wars, Enterprise was there. On
Sept. 11, 2001, Enterprise aborted her
transit home from a long deployment
after the terrorist attacks, and steamed
overnight to the North Arabian Sea.
“Big E” once again took her place in
history when she launched the first
strikes in direct support of Operation
Enduring Freedom.
For more information on USS
Enterprise, her legendary history, and
Inactivation Week events, please visit
www.enterprise.navy.mil.—Enterprise
Carrier Strike Group Public Affairs
Indiana Marine
Earns Silver Star
“I
thought I was going to die,”
Staff Sgt. Alec Haralovich
pondered as he lay on his back
in Afghanistan. Taliban fighters had
ambushed his patrol of dismounted
Marines with automatic gunfire. The
enemy’s aim was accurate. Two bullets
had struck his body armor with such
force he was knocked backward into
the dirt.
Haralovich had seen all the signs. It
was quiet as they patrolled Ghorah, a
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65
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66
field,” Haralovich remembered. “I had
to basically hurry up, take the shot.”
Haralovich fired. The explosion
blew up the enemy stronghold and
caused all of the attackers to cease fire
and retreat. But Haralovich and the
Marines weren’t finished. He wasn’t
just going to let insurgents attack them.
Haralovich tried to communicate
with the other element but he couldn’t.
One of the rounds that struck his armor
also ruined his radio.
He had to go back and link up to
get a face-to-face with his other patrol
element. Then both elements patrolled
forward as a bigger, stronger unit.
“We knew there was a command
and control element well known within
the region that was near this mosque so
we pushed to the north,” Haralovich
said. “We pushed toward that area, ran
into a couple more fighters. They were
surprised to see us and then they took
As Chen was returning, he was
wounded in the leg, with a minor
grazing wound from an enemy bullet.
“That’s when I was like, time
for the rocket shot,” he said.
“It’s time to end this now.”
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village usually filled with people. “As
we were pushing through we were all
feeling confident like we were going
to get a drop on these guys,” thought
Haralovich, who is from Bloomington, Ind. “They’re not going to have
anywhere to run to.”
He was wrong. The insurgents set
up a complex ambush that lured his
Marines into a death trap. Haralovich didn’t let his fears get the best of
him though. He had survived two
other combat deployments to Iraq and
Afghanistan. A reconnaissance Marine
who knows how to treat his own
wounds, Haralovich applied pressure
to his side while he checked for bleeding. There was no blood.
“I was really angry,” he recalled.
“I was angry because it basically was
like they had duped us, they had out
maneuvered us, outsmarted us.”
Haralovich’s combat medic, Cpl.
Matthew Chen, bounded forward to
treat Haralovich who he thought was
critically wounded. However, Haralovich was only shot in his armor, so he
yelled at Chen to get back.
As Chen was returning, he was
wounded in the leg, with a minor grazing wound from an enemy bullet.
“That’s when I was like, time for the
rocket shot,” he said. “It’s time to end
this now.”
He yelled for a Marine to bring him
the M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon, a
rocket launcher that can disable a tank.
He knew this weapon well. He trained
extensively with it on active duty before
he became a reconnaissance man in the
Reserves.
Haralovich and his team bounded
forward through an open field toward
the enemy, while two of his Marines
were sending rounds steadily to the
enemy. Haralovich armed his rocket
launcher. He knew he had to hurry
because those two Marines were laying
prone, shooting with less than one foot
of cover.
“Running out with a prepped LAW
on your shoulder, you’re definitely a
target, I realized like halfway into the
off.”
With the insurgents nowhere to be
seen, Haralovich gathered his men and
headed back to the patrol base. His
company commander, Capt. Jonathan
Joseph, said he had to convince him to
rest after he had returned.
For his gallantry in action, Haralovich was presented the Silver Star Medal,
the nation’s third highest award for
combat heroism, by Maj. Gen. James
M. Lariviere, the 4th Marine Division
Commanding General at Camp Atterbury in Indiana last August 26.
More than 100 Marines, sailors,
soldiers, family and friends attended
the event at the training base. This was
the same place where his grandfather,
an Army veteran, was stationed before
serving in D-Day in 1944. So it was also
a historical occasion for Haralovich
and his immediate and extended family
members who attended the ceremony.
“I’d have to say that he’s made me
extremely proud,” said Peter Haralovich, Alec’s uncle. “We followed his
three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan
and communicated with him regularly by satellite phone and email.
We’ve experienced the stress that any
family experiences. And of course we’re
relieved that he’s healthy and in one
piece and looking forward to the rest of
his career in the United States military.”
According to his uncle, heroics
run in his family. Haralovichs’ have
fought as Marines in the Pacific and
executed bombing missions as soldiers
in Germany during World War II.
Haralovich now adds a new daring
chapter to his family’s long legacy of
war fighters who have lived for something greater than themselves.—Sgt.
Ray Lewis, Marine Forces Reserve
T
NJ NG Trains
With Botswana
he ground shook as satchel and
improvised Bangalore charges
packed with C-4 explosives detonated, to clear the way for 1st Battalion,
114th Infantry Regiment, New Jersey
Army National Guard in Shoshong,
The Republic of Botswana, last August.
Unrelenting mortar and smallarms fire filled the air with a deafening orchestra of explosions, as rounds
impacted the dry, African desert.
While support-for-fire rounds landed,
infantrymen of Company A rushed the
simulated battlefield through dust and
debris in tactical bounding movements.
The high-tempo assault and supportfor-fire mission was part of Southern
Accord 2012, a large combined, joint
exercise designed to enhance military capabilities and interoperability
between US military forces and the
Botswana Defense Force, or BDF.
“They’re just like us,” said Pvt.
Rusty Rogers from Point Pleasant, N.J.,
and infantryman with Company A,
1-114th. “Most of the BDF perform
the same jobs we do, just a little bit
differently, which has made it fun for us
to learn from one another.”
Once the dust settled, flames still
smoldered from detonated ordnance
and expended ammunition, creating a mirage-like haze in the air as US
Soldiers advanced toward their objective to eliminate their target.
“This is my first time overseas and
my first time firing rounds with my
new team,” said Camden, N.J., native,
Pfc. Brandon Wood with Company
C, 1-114th. “It’s a whole new experience, far different than what I expected.
Learning a new culture and being
around my team for the first time has
Pfc. Tyler Castor (left) and Pfc. Brandon Wood of Company C, 1st Battalion, 114th
Infantry Regiment, New Jersey Army National Guard, fire 60mm mortar rounds down
range during a field training exercise at Southern Accord 2012, Aug. 10, 2012, at
Shoshong Range in the Republic of Botswana. SA12 is a combined, joint exercise
designed to enhance military capabilities and interoperability between US military
forces and the Botswana Defense Force. Photo: Sgt. Adam Fischman, 139th MPAD
67
Clint on Vehicle Defense:
A CH-47F Chinook Helicopter from 1st Battalion, 171st Aviation Regiment, Hawaii Army National
Guard, carries infantrymen from 1st Battalion, 114th Infantry Regiment, New Jersey Army National
Guard to Shoshong Range during a field training exercise at Southern Accord 2012, Aug. 10, 2012 in
Botswana, Africa. SA12 is a combined, joint exercise designed to enhance military capabilities and
interoperability between U.S. military forces and the Botswana Defense Force. Photo: Sgt. Adam Fischman, 139th MPAD
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68
given me that deployment mindset in
an atmosphere close to the real thing.”
Wood’s favorite part about being a
mortarman is firing rounds and carrying the heavy gear. He said it is hard
work, but it feels like an accomplishment at the end of the day. He also
loves the sound of the rounds making
contact.
“There is nothing like hearing the
sound of a mortar,” said Wood. “It’s
like magic.”
Once the assault team reached the
ridge where Company C provided
supporting fire, the teams switched,
which allowed the BDF a chance to
run the lanes. Three separate assaults
and support-for-fire missions were
completed in addition to the BDF livefire missions.
“This has been a great opportunity
to learn from one another,” said Voorhees, N.J., native, Pvt. John Donatucci
of Company C, 1-114th. “To see how
the BDF run their missions and teach
them how we run ours has provided
great training. It’s also a unique experience to train with a foreign military
force.”—Sgt. Adam Fischman, 139th
Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
Miss. High Court Ruling
L
ast fall the Mississippi
Supreme Court upheld the
dismissal of a wrongful death
lawsuit brought against Walmart
for its alleged unlawful sale of
handgun ammunition to an underage buyer who would later use it to
shoot an acquaintance. At the time
of the sale, Walmart had no reason
to believe the buyer was underage or that he had a propensity for
violence, and it was not “within the
realm of reasonable foreseeability”
that he would commit the criminal
act. According to the court, it was
the criminal and reckless shooting by
the buyer, not the retailer’s alleged
unlawful sale of ammunition to him,
which proximately caused the decedent’s death.—Courtesy NSSF
Lead In Ammo
“Very Inert”
I
n a column by Emily Miller
of the Washington Times last
September 27th, research scientist Don Saba explained the difference between the lead in bullets and
the lead in paint that is harmful to
children. “The lead that is used in
ammunition is metallic lead and is
a very inert material that does not
dissolve in water and is not absorbed
by plants or animals,” Dr. Saba
said. “There is a tremendous toxicity difference between highly inert
metallic lead used in ammunition
and the highly toxic lead compounds
used in legacy leaded paints.” Dr.
Saba noted that groups intent on
banning traditional ammunition
made with lead components are
deliberately trying to confuse and
scare the public into thinking they
are the same.—Courtesy NSSF
ATK Continues
To Run Lake City
A
TK announced it has been notified by the US Army that it was
selected for both the production
of ammunition and continued operation and maintenance of the Lake City
Tech. Sgt. Peter Feliciano Jr., 8th Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron Air Transportation joint
inspector, inspects a downed UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in Forward Operating Base Chakhcharan. Feliciano and the JI team prepared the Black Hawk to ensure all hazardous material and
cargo were properly secured so it could be loaded and transported in a C-17 Globemaster III and
flown out for repairs. Photo: USAF
Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Mo. The initial contracts period
is 7 years, and if all award terms are
exercised, the contracts would cover a
10-year period.—Courtesy NSSF
Recovering A
Downed Black Hawk
T
wo joint inspectors from the
8th Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron were tasked with
an invaluable mission at a remote
forward operating base in Afghanistan to help with the inspection and
movement of a downed UH-60 Black
Hawk helicopter.
Tech. Sgt. Peter Feliciano Jr. and
Staff Sgt. Micah Hallman, 8th EAMS
air transportation joint inspectors, are
part of the joint inspection team that
rallied up with UH-60 Army counterparts at FOB Chakhcharan Sept.
17, 2012. Chakhcharan is a town
and district in central Afghanistan,
which serves as the capital of Gwhor
Province. Chakhcharan is a NATOcontrolled FOB operated by the Lithuanian Army.
“This FOB is located in a valley
surrounded by two villages,” said Feliciano. “We knew there was an element
of risk involved because this location
was no stranger to enemy sniper fire.”
After the arrival, the JI team
assessed the damaged UH-60. The
Black Hawk experienced a hard nose
landing, smashing the nose cone and
bottom of the cockpit rendering the
brakes inoperable.
“The ideal situation would have
been to have the aircraft recovered and
airlifted out by a (CH-47) Chinook helicopter,” said Feliciano, deployed from
Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. “But because
of the weight of the Black Hawk and
the elevation we were currently at, this
wouldn’t be possible.”
The team’s next option was to
prepare the Black Hawk to ensure all
hazardous material and cargo were
properly secured to allow it to be
loaded in a C-17 Globemaster III to
be transported to an airfield and flown
out for repairs.
“Even though some structural
damage was sustained in the crash,
the Black Hawk’s struts were mechanically sound, which is important for
raising or lowering the helicopter to
meet airframe height requirements,”
said Hallman, deployed from Pope
Air Field, N.C.
The JI team deemed the UH-60
airworthy to be transported on the
C-17. The Blackhawk was then
prepped and readied for onward
movement. The team’s quick and efficient work got them in and out of the
FOB in a day and a half.
Even though the successful mission
was over and they were on their way
back to their squadron, a tenant unit
to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing,
the excitement didn’t end for Hallman.
His brother, Army Staff Sgt.
Nathan Hallman, is assigned to the
Army Corps of Engineers at Kandahar Air Field where Micah traveled
through. The two hadn’t seen each
other in almost a year. They were able
to connect and spent a day hanging
out and playing pool before Micah
returned to the 8th EAMS.
“The reward of not only getting
our mission accomplished at FOB
Chakhcharan, but to spend time
with my brother was worth the risk,”
said Hallman. “This was a great
mission and I’m glad I was a part of
it.”— Senior Airman Bryan Swink,
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public
Affairs
69
FEATURING GUNS ALL-STARS!
QUARTERMASTER
Getting A Grip
On Grips
S
MassAd Ayoob
o, our own John Connor tipped me off to Tuff1 grip
sleeves, and now there’s one of ’em on one of my
Glock 17s. It’s the Thin Blue Line model, because
the “thin blue line” thereon sends a message that resonates with me. That, and they donate to COPS (Concerns
of Police Survivors, a genuine group helping widows and
orphans of police killed in the line of duty), and they work
very well. Check their website for their broad variety of
styles and textures.
When I was young, lots of folks’
idea of custom “gun handles” was
fragile, slippery mother of pearl,
now known as “mother of toilet
seat” in tactical circles. Today, we
have “shoes for the baby” that
combine good looks with functional
feel. Some more I can recommend, in
alphabetical order:
Alumagrips are modern-style with
old-fashioned class. You see them in
proprietary-to-the-gunmaker form
on such marques as Nighthawk, and
while they’re made for Beretta and
others, they’re most often encountered on 1911 pistols. The slim grip
format may be the most useful, especially for those with small hands. The
set on my Nighthawk T3 compact
.45 is going to stay in place.
Crimson Trace LaserGrips don’t
just help you control recoil in revolvers, they help you hit your target with
any kind of sidearm, thanks to the
projected laser dot. They’re particularly useful for small-frame, shortbarrel revolvers. Their LG405 unit is
my favorite, its backstrap piece cushioning recoil and giving me more
trigger reach for better shooting
leverage, without sacrificing concealability. One of those is on the J-frame
in my pocket as I write this.
Eagle Grips cover the waterfront from durable, well-executed
faux ivory, to hardwood shaped for
the human hand, to real-deal “bone
handles” in shapes that are actually
useful for shooting. I have them on
several of my guns.
Grashorn is a name to remember
if you want “stag handles” on your
six-shooter. Pat Grashorn’s work is
the gold standard there.
Herrett’s stocks proved early on
good looks and improved “shootability” need not be mutually exclusive. I have a pair of their beautiful,
Crimson Trace LaserGrips,
seen here on S&W Model 342,
improve both hold and aim.
70
Craig Spegel Boot Grips greatly improved
handling and shooting of Mas’ Cunningham
Custom Colt Detective Special, with no loss of
concealability.
functionally-checkered
Trooper
stocks for one of my Colt Pythons.
Generations of shooters have been
well served with the products from
Hogue. A family-owned business,
Guy Hogue’s widely copied revolver
stocks have won countless matches,
and countless gunfights. The “rubber”
versions are on more of my .357-anddown revolvers than any other brand,
and a sweet pair of Hogue Cocobolo stocks has not only made my
pet Ernest Langdon-tuned Beretta a
better-looking pistol, but also probably helped me to win some matches
with that gun.
Nill grips are another example of
form combined with function, sacrificing neither. The P220 .45 ACP is my
favorite SIG, and my favorite Langdon Custom P220 wears Nill grips.
Perfect fit to the hand… no slippage
in grasp at all even when rapid-firing
.45 +P. And folks say, “Man, that’s a
handsome gun!”
Pachmayr is one of the oldest and
most respected names in the business,
and I suspect I’ve won more matches
with Pachmayr-gripped handguns
than any other brand. The soft backstrap cushioning on their heavy-duty
models makes them my choice for
almost all of my .44 Magnums, and
Colt is still putting them on some of
their high-end 1911 pistols… with
good reason.
Spegel is another magic name in
“handgun holding.” Craig Spegel
created the widely-copied Boot Grip,
which Oregon cops turned me on
to back in the day, and which have
adorned many of my guns ever since,
including my favorite Colt Detective
Special tuned by Grant Cunningham. Many have said that no gun
fits their hand better than a Browning Hi-Power, and I can say that no
gun better fits my own hand than a
Browning tuned by Bill Laughridge,
who insisted that I put Spegels on it.
Laughridge was right.
Trausch is making a very nice set
of replacement stocks for the Beretta
92/M9 pistol. I’m overdue to really
put them through the wringer myself,
but having seen at least one competitor kick major butt with them on
his 92, they’ve earned my respect.
The above but touches the surface
of modern grip options. With the
pre-eminent polymer pistols, the tip
of a soldering iron gives you a stippling job.
However, the brush doesn’t make
you an artist and neither does the
soldering iron. The stippling on the
Glock I have in reach at the moment
was done superbly by Dave Maglio,
who you can reach for an estimate at
[email protected]. The reshaping
of Glock grips began with Robbie
Barrkman at Robar, and can also be
done by Rick Devoid at Tarnhelm
and Dane Burns. I’ve used all their
work, and all will give you a slimmer
grip, more finger on the trigger, and
in my experience, better control.
You wouldn’t wear clothes that
don’t fit you well and make you look
good. There’s no reason to use a handgun that doesn’t, either.
Alumagrips
2851 N. 34th Pl.,
Mesa, AZ 85213
602-294-2390
www.gunsmagazine.com.com/aluma-grips
Burns Custom Pistols
700 Gilman Ave. #116, Issaquah, WA 98027
(425) 391-3202
www.gunsmagazine.com/burns-custom
Eagle Grips
460 Randy Rd.,
Carol Stream, IL 60188
(800) 323-6144
www.gunsmagazine.com/eagle-grips
Grashorns Gunworks
4185 Antelope Meadows Dr.,
Burns, WY 82053
(970) 576-2488
www.gunsmagazine.com/grashorns
A
Herrett’s Stocks, Inc.
P.O. Box 741,
Twin Falls, ID 83303
(208) 733-1498
www.gunsmagazine.com/herrets-stocks-inc
Hogue Grips
550 Linne Rd.,
Paso Robles, CA 93446
(800) 438-4747
www.gunsmagazine.com/hogue
Dave Maglio
[email protected]
Nill Grips
In Schlattwiesen 3
D-72116 Mössingen, Germany
Phone (+49) 7473 / 9434-0
Fax (+49) 7473 / 9434-30
www.gunsmagazine.com/nill-grips
A) Hogue Cocobolo grips enhance both looks and shootability of Mas’
Langdon Custom Beretta 92. B) Different grips on three Glock .45s
include (from top) G30 SF, G30 older style, and G30 with grip reshaping
by Rick Devoid at Tarnhelm. C-D) “Thin Blue Line” grip sleeve by Tuff1
adorns this Gen2 Glock in Mas’ working battery. Tuff1 grip-sleeves are
available in a variety of texture options.
Pachmayr Grips
Lyman Products Group
475 Smith St.
Middletown, CT 06457
(860) 632-2020
www.gunsmagazine.com/pachmayr
Robar Companies, Inc
21438 N. 7th Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85027
(623) 581-2648
www.gunsmagazine.com/robar-companies-inc
B
C
Craig Spegel
P.O. Box 387
Nehalem, OR 97131
(503) 368-5653
www.gunsmagazine.com/craig-spegel
Tarnhelm Supply Co., Inc.
431 High St.,
Boscawen, NH 03303
(603) 796-2551
www.gunsmagazine.com/tarnhelm
D
Trausch Grips Int.
SLI, Inc.
765 N. Route 83, Ste. 124,
Bensenville, IL 60106
Fax: (770) 234-3992
www.gunsmagazine.com/trausch
TUFF1
8543-A N. Dixie Dr., Dayton, OH 45414
(888) 998-8331
www.gunsmagazine.com/tuff1
71
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2008. Ads received after closing will appear in the following issue. Please type or print clearly. NO PROOFS WILL BE FURNISHED. Include name, address, post office, city, state and zip
code as counted words. Abbreviations count as one word each. Mail to GUNS MAGAZINE
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ACCESSORIES
FREE CATALOG! Make your own kydex
gun holster or knife sheath. Over 1200
items. Visit www.knifekits.com or call
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KNIVES & SWORDS
AMMUNITION
LEATHERCRAFT
Quinetics Corporation! Reloading
supplies. Made in USA.
www.quineticscorp.com
Your One-Stop Place for
Unique and Useful Gear
800-578-9862
THE BELTMAN makes sturdy, top
quality, DUAL LAYER bull hide belts
(not cow), for dress wear, concealed
carry or competition from $69.95.
HANDMADE in the USA in three widths
and five colors. Any length! Options
include: Horse, Elephant, Velcro,
tapering, stiffeners, etc. 919-387-1997
www.thebeltman.net
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GUN PARTS
No Drilling or Tapping!
The absolute best scope mount made for the
Styer M95 with the longer ladder rear sight.
Easy installation without modifications to your
gun. Machined from solid bar stock & made in
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for a list of our other mounts & scopes.
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GUNSMITHING AT PIEDMONT COMMUNITY COLLEGE. Two-year, handson program; financial aid available;
approved for GI Bill benefits; P.O. Box
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CUSTOM
CORNER
“Our Gift
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NEW! NOW YOU CAN ADD PIZZAZZ
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72
Straight sided
bits perfectly sized
for straight sided
gun screws!
Gun Kit #5589 is $59
All American made precision
rachet and bit tool kit
860-349-9228
www.chapmanmfg.com
D.O Reichard S&W Armorer
Trained Exclusively by S&W with 30 years skilled
experience in the art of the S&W Revolver.
Actions Tuned, Cylinder work, sight systems
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We back our work!
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Call or Drop a line to Sand Burr Gun Ranch
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“For Revolvers that Work!”
Get our latest
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Order online today!
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Toll Free: 1-888-732-2299
or by mail, P.O. Box 502610, San Diego, CA 92150-2610
73
NEW PRODUCTS
JASON MOREAU
3D Series
Carson Optical
he lightweight 3D Series
binoculars have precisely-placed
thumb grooves, “just right” texturing
and all-over body ergonomics. The
advanced optical technology produces
advanced depth and dimension. The
3D Series features the High Definition optical coating technology
found in Carson’s XM-HD Series. The ED glass offers distortionfree colors, clearer images and greater details. The BAK-4 prisms
are fully multicoated and phase corrected, and are nitrogenfilled/O-ring-sealed to provide the ultimate in water and fog proof
performance. The 3D/ED Series binoculars are also available in
10x42mm. All come equipped with a BinoArmor Deluxe binocular
case/wrap, durable harness system and neck strap. For more
info: (800) 900-8427 or www.gunsmagazine.com/carson-optical
T
Bolt Action Magazine Conversion
CDiPrecision
Gunworks
DiPrecision
manufactures box
magazine conversion kits
for an extended line of
bolt-action rifles. Magazine
conversions are available
in short- or long-action
versions for Remington 700, Tikka T3, Howa 1500, Savage
10/110 series, FN-SPR/Winchester, Kimber 8400 and Mauser 98
Large Ring rifles. Their conversions utilize top-quality Accuracy
International magazines in .223, .308, .300 Win and .338 Lapua.
CDiPrecision offers stock inletting and complete installation
service with a fast turnaround. Several stock manufacturers
provide pre-inletted stocks for CDiPrecision conversion kits.
For more info: (941) 961-3185 or www.gunsmagazine.com/
cdiprecision
C
Extended Safety
Lever for SIG 500
Rifles
Krebs Custom
rebs Custom announces
a new Extended Safety
Lever for SIG 500 series rifles
(522, 530, 540, 542, 550,
551, 5565, and 566). Made
from 6061-T2 aluminum
(with a 2-milliliter coating
thickness) that’s been anodized in conformance with mil-spec
MIL-A-8625, Type III, Class 2 Black, this lever is designed to
be installed easily by the purchaser, and provide the user with
superior ergonomics and improved manipulation. Price is $44.
For more info: (847) 487-7776 or www.gunsmagazine.com/
krebs-custom-guns
K
Cometa Airguns
AirForce International
uto-Numatic Corp. has announced
the formation of their latest venture,
AirForce International. The new company
will join Airforce Airguns in the expanding
realm of pre-charged pneumatic (PCP)
airgun systems. They will be importing
and distributing pre-charged shooting
systems; the first to become available will
be the Cometa line of airguns. Heirs to a
A
74
Monstroid Darkotic Targets
Birchwood Casey
est your shooting skills against
things that “go bump in the night”
with the new Darkotic Monstroid
targets from Birchwood Casey. The
new Darkotic Monstroid targets include
eight new scary monsters are available,
including the Snack Rabbit Jackalope,
Dead Sea Sea
Monster, Freezer
Burn Yeti, Night
Watch Werewolf,
Final Harvest
Scarecrow, Farm
Hand Chupacabra,
Grounds Crew
Garden Gnomes
and Scar Tissue, a
chainsaw wielding
maniac. 12"x18"
splattering targets
are available in
8-packs for $12.50, 50-packs for $70,
or can be ordered individually/bulk in
multiples of 100 for $1.20 each. 23"x35"
non-splattering paper versions of all
eight targets are available for $1.98
each in bulk/multiples of 100. For
more info: (800) 328-6156 or www.
gunsmagazine.com/birchwood-casey-laboratories
T
LockDownX Optics
Deployment System
S4Gear
he LockDownX was designed
for maximum comfort,
incorporating an X-style harness
design that evenly distributes the
weight of the binocular across
your back to eliminate shoulder
or neck tension. It’s extremely
breathable and has multiple
adjustment points, allowing
for easy resizing when wearing
extra layers of heavy clothing.
The LockDownX’s wider, lowprofile binocular shield provides
protection as well as constant
security for your expensive
binocular, yet it affords the user rapid and quiet deployment.
The LockDownX fits binoculars from 5.75" to 7.5", and the
hood of the binocular shield can be molded to fit tightly for
a low-clearance setup. For more info: (866) 574-8743 or
www.gunsmagazine.com/s4-gear
T
centuries-old tradition of high-quality gun
making, Carabinas Cometa are specialists
in the development of craftsman-built
airguns. The barrels are precisely drilled
and later cold-hammer forged in machines
especially made for this process. For
more info: (817) 451-8966 or www.
gunsmagazine.com/airforce-international
If you would like your product featured in GUNS Magazine’s New Products,
Contact: Jason Moreau (866) 903-1199. For more New Products visit us online at www.gunsmagazine.com
H2000 Flashlight
Sightmark
he Sightmark
H2000 Tactical
Flashlight features
Cree LEDs to provide
2000 lumens of light
for the most difficult
shots or furthest
point in the dark of night. The H2000 Triple Duty Flashlight
is constructed with Type II mil-spec anodizing aircraft-grade
aluminum for durability and protection against corrosion. The
H2000 features 2 hours of continuous battery life, significant for
a high-lumen count. It comes with two rechargeable batteries, a
battery recharger, a weapon mount, on/off push button, pressure
switch and three color filters. This product is recoil resistant,
waterproof, lightweight and protected by Sightmark’s limited
lifetime warranty. For more info: (817) 225-1625 or www.
gunsmagazine.com/sightmark
T
PBS-DigiSWIPE
LockSAF
he LockSAF PBS-DigiSWIPE
biometric safe features the same body
as the PBS-001. The DigiSWIPE reader
opens the safe in 1 second, and nextgeneration algorithms allow the reader
to be more reliable and consistent. The
PBS-DigiSWIPE features the LockSAF’s
tamperproof 9-gauge steel box that is
mountable to any flat surface or can be secured with a cable,
and comes with backup keys. For more info: (877) 568-5625 or
www.gunsmagazine.com/locksaf
T
MOE Rifle Stock
Magpul Industries Corp.
he MOE Rifle Stock is a dropin replacement for AR-15/
M16 A1 and A2 rifle stocks,
utilizing the standard rifle-length
receiver extension (buffer
tube). Designed as a basic
upgrade, the stock features an integral 1.25" sling loop that can
be used as a butt hook for sand bag or support-hand weapon
control, optional dual-side front and rear QD mounting points,
compatibility with PRS and PRS
extended rubber buttpads and a
large internal storage compartment
accessible through the rear storage
door. Made in the USA. For more
info: (877) 462-4785 or www.
gunsmagazine.com/magpulindustries
T
BattleHook Rear Combat Sight
Volkmann Precision
true combat-ready and proven
sight design. This heavily
serrated black rear blade shows
a sight picture that is quick for
target acquisition and has the
ability and strength to operate the
slide of the pistol single-handedly
in a real combat situation. Luke Volkmann designed this
sight in partnership with Henning Wallgren. For more info:
(303) 884-8654 or www.gunsmagazine.com/volkmanncustom-guns-inc
A
B.A. Baracas
QTRM5TR
TRM5TR’s first karambit design. Angular and industrial
in appearance, the B.A. Baracas includes an enlarged
finger hole to accommodate the most swollen knuckles or
gloved hands. This knife is being produced of the same
powder-metallurgy 154 ultra-premium steel that their
other three knives are cut from. There are no small parts
and the design is simple—no spine-spacer means lighter
weight and easier
cleaning. A G10
finger-hole spacer
means smoother
spins and better
transitions. A
jimped thumbramp and bilevel blade spine
will soon become an industry standard once enthusiasts
get their hands on this knife. For more info: www.
gunsmagazine.com/qtrm5tr
Q
Slip-Over Ruger No. 1 Scope Mount
E. Arthur Brown Company, Inc.
he new Slip-Over Ruger No. 1 scope mount solves the
problem
of aligning an
after-market
scope base on
a contoured
barrel. The
Slip-Over uses
the factory prealigned rib as
an alignment
shim! Now you can have a precisely aligned Weaver/
Picatinny-style scope base on your Ruger No. 1. Remove
the screws from the original rib (it will stay in place with the
recoil pins). Slip the Slip-Over mount onto the rib, and install
with replacement screws included... easy! The Slip-Over
scope mount is made of strong, lightweight, aircraft-grade
aluminum. Retail price: $59. For more info: (320) 834-3000 or
www.gunsmagazine.com/earthur-brown-co
T
RAD (Radiation Detector)
MTM Special Ops
he MTM RAD is a gamma dosimeter and a Swiss movementequipped watch that monitors environmental radiation
levels and alerts users in case of dangerous levels with an
audible alarm. There is
a multifunction, digitaltime-keeping display,
analog time display and a
100-meter water resistant
watchcase. The MTM
RAD can be worn by both
professionals dealing with
radiological materials
and environments on a
daily basis, and citizens
concerned with possible
radiation exposure. It
records data for up to 500 separate events in its non-volatile
memory and will transmit all recorded data to a PC for
processing and analysis. For more info: (800) 284-9487 or www.
gunsmagazine.com/mtm-specialops
T
75
Total
package
value:
$1,964.95
WIN!
FOR WEB LINKS, GO TO WWW.GUNSMAGAZINE.COM/PRODUCT-INDEX
B
Kimber 84L Classic Select Grade
lending true light weight
with exceptional accuracy,
the Kimber 84L Classic
Select Grade is unequaled as
a hunting rifle. It is a step up, with a
French walnut stock, ebony fore-end
tip, and hand-cut checkering that
establishes a new high-quality baseline for a production rifle. Fine details
speak loudly of quality, and attention
to the smallest detail is a cornerstone
of every Kimber rifle.
On your new rifle is a Nikon riflescope, mounted with a Warne 2-piece
base and medium scope rings. The
Monarch’s wide magnification range
sets the standard of performance for
a mid-sized scope! Nikon’s Monarch
eye box offers a 4-time zoom range
and a generous field of view, all while
maintaining 4" of constant eye relief,
making it the perfect hunting companion even on hard-kicking rifles.
But we have more this month for
just one lucky winner! You’ll be hunting in comfort with a set of Howard
Leight by Honeywell Impact Sport
Electronic Earmuffs. Impact Sport
keeps wearers both protected from
hazardous noise and connected to their
environment. The muffs actively listen
and automatically shut off amplification when harmful noise levels are
reached. You’ll need eye protection,
too, and the Genesis Sharp-Shooter
eyewear features wrap-around lenses
for uncompromised peripheral vision
and protection.
All this can be yours for free, so
enter to win! Go to: www.gunsmagazine.com/giveaway or send those postcards in now.
84L Classic Select Grade
Maker: Kimber Mfg.
2590 Montana Highway 35
Kalispell, MT 59901
(888) 243-4522
www.gunsmagazine.com/kimber
Action type: Bolt, Caliber: .30-06, Capacity: 5, Barrel length: 24", Overall length:
43-3/4", Weight: 6 pounds, 2 ounces,
Finish: Hand-rubbed oil, Stock: A-grade
French walnut, Value: $1,427
76
TO ENTER CONTEST:
Impact Sports
Earmuffs
Value: $79
Genesis Eyewear
Value: $29
Maker: Howard Leight by Honeywell
7828 Waterville Rd.
San Diego, CA 92154
(800) 430-5490
www.gunsmagazine.com/howard-leight
Medium
Scope Rings
Value: $28.99
Kimber M84 Base
Value: $25.99
Maker: Warne Scope Mounts
9500 S.W. Tualatin Rd.
Tualatin, OR 97062
(800) 683-5590
warne-scope-mounts
Monarch 2.5-10x42 Matte BDC
Maker: Nikon
1300 Walt Whitman Rd., Melville, NY 11747
(800) 645-6687
www.gunsmagazine.com/nikon
Magnification: 2.5-10X, Objective diameter: 42mm, Eye Relief:
3.8-4", Internal adj. range: 10.1 to 40.3 feet @ 100 yards, Click
value: 1/4", Tube diameter: 1", Weight: 16.6 ounces, Overall
length: 12.6", Color: Matte black, Value: $429.95
PLEASE Use YOUR OWN postcard
(no envelopes, please)
Follow sample card below. Mail postcard to:
GUNS Magazine, GOM FEBRUARY
P.O. BOX 502795, San Diego, CA 92150-2795.
Entries must be received before MARCH 1, 2013.
Limit one entry per household.
QUESTION OF THE MONTH: When loading your firearm’s
magazine, do you use aftermarket loading tools?
(A)Yes
(B)No
(C)Sometimes
(D)I do not own a loading tool
Name
Address
City, State, Zip
Email Address
CIRCLE ANSWER(S) TO QUESTION OF THE MONTH FEBRUARY 2012:
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
IF I WIN, SHIP MY PRIZE THROUGH:
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Address
City, State, Zip
Phone # (
)
Store Hours: ___________ ___a.m. thru ______________p.m.
Attention Deployed Military: USE STATESIDE ADDRESS!
instant
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WINNERS CHOSEN BY RANDOM DRAWING.
Limit one entry per household. To protect the privacy
and security of winners, their names will NOT be made
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Contest void where prohibited by law. Winners must
undergo a background check and comply with all other
federal, state and local laws. Taxes and fees will be the responsibility of the winner. Contest open to U.S. residents
only. Employees and agents of Publishers’ Development
Corp. are not elegible. No purchase necessary. Winners
will be notified by certified mail on official letterhead. Attention deployed military: Use stateside address! Giveaway guns and accessories may have evidence of being
test fired or exhibit minor handling marks. Factory warranties may apply in some cases.
The Gun of the Month package is awarded only to
the entrant drawn and will not be awarded if the firearm
presented is illegal in the jurisdiction of the winner. An
alternate, authorized winner will be selected. No substitutions or transfers to a third party are allowed.
77
Shrap & Frags
Eyeballs, primers, bugs and lead.
I
John Connor
routinely get questions from all kinds of sources. Few
are enough to expand into columns, while sometimes
the answers couldn’t fit into the entire magazine. So, I
bundled some together and picked a couple at random. If
yours isn’t among them, well, maybe you’ll find something
of interest anyway.
Several questions related to vision
and perception: Yes, you can sometimes see a star or distant light from
the corner of your eye, but can’t
see it when you stare directly at
it—and there’s nothing wrong with
your vision. Here’s why: The structures in your eyeballs which pick up
light and color are called rods and
cones; rods sense light, cones sense
color. Directly behind your lens and
retina you have a mix of rods and
cones, but starting a few degrees
it pays off.
Another visual phenomenon to
be aware of is superimposing. This
happens most in snow-covered,
desert, and rocky high-mountain
terrain. If you stare at, let’s say, a
dark brushpile in snow or knots of
debris or dark shrubs in desert, looking for game, enemy or movement,
then you stare at another brushpile or shrub cluster, your eye may
momentarily superimpose a “blot”
from the previous site onto the new
“When movement is sensed, don’t stare
straight at it! First try to use your peripheral vision to bracket it with other features
so you don’t “lose” it. Soldiers and hunters
learned this centuries before science explained it. This takes practice, especially
when using binoculars, but it pays off.”
off center from your pupil, rods not
only dominate, they’re more densely
packed than those at the center. So,
your peripheral vision picks up that
star or distant light better than your
center-focused vision simply because
it’s better equipped for light-andcontrast sensing.
This is one of the reasons why
doing a slow, sweeping scan of an
area will help you pick up movement
much better than staring directly at
various points. When movement is
sensed, don’t stare straight at it! First
try to use your peripheral vision to
bracket it with other features so you
don’t “lose” it. Soldiers and hunters
learned this centuries before science
explained it. This takes practice,
especially when using binoculars, but
78
one, so you’re not really seeing what’s
there. It’s kinda the dark version of
the “retinal memory” you get from a
sudden bright flash.
Lead and Primers
.22 Lead Fouling: Frank inherited a rack full of .22 rifles described
as “shot a lot for many years, never
cleaned, and heavily lead-fouled.”
Here’s a great technique I got from a
top gunsmith. Caution: Wear impermeable gloves and I recommend a
filter mask. This process produces
highly absorbable lead. Mix up a
slurry of JB Bore Paste and Kroil.
With muzzle down, liberally douse
a stainless steel bore brush with the
goop and make a couple of slow
passes from breech to muzzle.
Leave the slurry thick in the bore
for 10 minutes up to overnight. Then
slowly push a snug brass jag down
the barrel and marvel at the chunky
moosh that comes out. Sometimes
you’ll even get “strings” of lead a
couple inches long. Clean the residue
out with patches, then do a “normal”
cleaning and recheck for any remaining lead. Remember, stainless steel
brushes should only be used on heavily lead-fouled or rusty steel barrels,
and then, sparingly. They’re too
aggressive for regular use.
On corrosive primers: One reader
bought a case of 1980s production
Sellier & Bellot 7.62x51mm ammo,
and was surprised to find it has
corrosive primers. He thought corrosive primers were obsolete by World
War II and asked why they were still
being made in the 1980s.
Most militaries continued using
corrosive primers through the 1950s.
They were using up existing stock,
and, because early non-corrosive
primers didn’t have the same surefire ignition record, especially in
freezing temps. The Warsaw Pact
countries continued using corrosive
primers long after that because the
Soviets firmly believed they held up
better over long-term storage in deep
cold conditions. Their experience
supported that, and Ivan knows all
about freezing.
Lots of shooters recoil in horror
from the thought of using corrosive primers, but proper cleaning
isn’t hard at all—just a bit more
demanding and requiring follow-up
bore, chamber and bolt face cleanings (and gas systems of semi-autos)
for a couple of days—not vigorous,
but regular cleaning and oiling. I’ve
used hot soapy water, diluted household ammonia and Windex with
ammonia, with great results. If your
weapon has a flash suppressor, be
sure to clean, dry and oil its slots
thoroughly or rust will form. I’d say
take advantage of the low prices on
corrosive-primed milsurp ammo, do
a little study on proper cleaning, and
you’re good to go!
Bugs: Don’t Let
’Em Bug You
About Those Bugs: In my writing about emergency preparedness, many have noted an emphasis on post-disaster protection from
insects, recommending inclusion
of mosquito netting, sheet plastic,
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insect repellent and bite-and-sting
treatments in your supplies. Several
have asked “Why so insistent on
that? Are insects really such a problem after fires, floods or whatever?”
Yes, they are! To a lesser extent
after fires and to a greater extent
after flooding, hurricanes, major
storms, etc., insects and bugs of all
kinds have been displaced from their
usual habitats and become concentrated in the same constricted areas
where humans are seeking shelter.
Hey, they’re just as determined to
survive as you are, and most of ’em
are better at it.
You know how infuriating half a
dozen flies can be at your backyard
picnic table? How hard it is to sleep
with just one persistent mosquito in
your bedroom? Imagine trying to eat
and feed your kids with thousands
of flies swarming you, or the hunger
of a million female mosquitoes after
being “grounded” and unable to
feed for 24 to 48 hours. It’s not just
a health and medical issue, though
that’s serious enough. It’s also about
preserving your sanity and decisionmaking ability. Enough said?
Aside from gathering supplies,
here’s something smart you can do
in mid-winter: Test yourself and
family members for negative skin
and respiratory reactions to some
popular insect repellent lotions and
sprays, particularly any containing
DEET. Test only a very small area,
and watch for rashes or other reactions. Most repellents have detailed
information on testing and reactions.
At least, find out which repellents
are apparently safe for you before
you really need them. It’s not a bad
idea to test for reactions to after-bite
treatments too.
Believe me, you wouldn’t want to
rub something on your wife to soothe
her, and find out it makes her swell
up and break out like a lobster with
scabies! Learn from my experiments
and mistakes, OK? Connor OUT
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79
FEBRUARY 2013
ADVERTISER’S INDEX
The companies listed have
featured advertisements in this issue. Look
to them first when you are ready to make a purchase.
ADVERTISERPAGE
ADVERTISERPAGE
ADVERTISERPAGE
Al Mar Knives . . . . . . . . . 25
American Handgunner
Subscription . . . . . . . . 35
American Watch Co. . . . . 3
The Beltman . . . . . . . . . . 66
Blade-Tech Industries . . .15
Bond Arms . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Boomer Gear LLC . . . . . . 46
Chapman Mfg. . . . . . . . . 73
Colt Mfg. Inc. . . . . . . . . . . 9
Crimson Trace Corp. . . . 63
CrossBreed
Holster LLC . . . . . . . . . 13
Daniel Defense . . . . . . . . C2
DeSantis Holster . . . . . . 34
Dixie Gun Works . . . . . . 66
El Paso Saddlery Co. . . . 79
Elite Sports Express . . . . 64
FIIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Fiocchi Ammunition . . . . C3
Fort Knox Security . . . . . 62
Graf & Sons . . . . . . . . . . 34
Gum Creek . . . . . . . . . . . 32
GUNS Magazine
Subscription . . . . . . . . 61
Hogue Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Kimber
Manufacturing Inc. . . . C4
Kirkpatrick
Leather Company . . . . 64
Kitanica . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Kwik Site Co. . . . 10, 60, 65, 69
LaserMax . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Mec-Gar USA . . . . . . . . . 79
Rio Grande
Custom Grips . . . . . . . 73
Rock River Arms . . . . . . 23
Sand Burr Gun Ranch . . 73
Savage Arms . . . . . . . . . 17
Smith & Wesson
Performance Center . . 11
Spartan Blades . . . . . . . . 46
Springfield Inc. . . . . . . 7, 33
Ten Ring Precision . . . . . 73
Thunder Ranch
Training DVDs . . . . 47, 80
Tuff1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Wicked Grips . . . . . . . . . 67
“ C l i n t i s m ” No . 3 :
“The gun that’s with you
is better than the one that’s home
in the safe.”
You’ve decided to carry
a concealed handgun. Now what?
Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch can help you adjust to
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continued from page 82
and especially speed shooting and
long-range shooting. For the latter
he used the then relatively new Smith
& Wesson .357 Magnum on silhouette targets out to 600 yards. Today
we may think scopes on handguns
are relatively new, however McGivern
was scoping the S&W .357 Magnum
in the 1930s.
Even before the advent of the .357
Magnum McGivern was using the
.38/44 for long-range shooting and
his book has targets pictured with all
six shots on a silhouette target shot at
300 yards with iron
Classic of
sights. When it came The
all Classics.
to speed shooting his
favorite sixgun was
the Smith & Wesson
Military & Police .38
and this book shows
several photographs
with five shots
which
could
be covered by
the hand even
though shot in a
1/2 second. Using two
guns, one in each hand,
he performed the same
feat onto targets in just
over 1 second. His book
is not the easiest reading, however,
for pure sixgun information it is still
valuable and a must read for any
sixgunner.
Bob Nichols, author of The
Secrets of Double Action Shooting,
1950: Bob Nichols was a contemporary of both Fitz and Ed McGivern
and his book takes up where they left
off. He used the Fitz Special modification, however, like McGivern, he
preferred Smith & Wesson revolvers, saying, “Smith & Wesson actually did produce the first smooth and
faultless double-action revolver ever
made. The job took them all of 50
years to accomplish. The accomplishment came, however, when the perfect
double-action revolver no longer
seem particularly important. The
automatic was now in the saddle.”
So even as early as the 1940s the
handwriting was already on the wall
and the semi-automatic would be
eventually be king for military and
police, as well as many civilians. As
the title of Nichols’ book says, this is
about all aspects of real double-action
shooting, using the trigger not the
hammer to cock the action and it is
worthwhile to note he talks of bull’seye shooters in the 1940s using their
Smith & Wesson Target revolvers in
the double-action mode. This book is
an absolute must-read for those who
appreciate, and want to know more,
about double-action shooting. It is
interesting to note his observance that
Fitz understood full well the Smith &
Wesson was better for double-action
shooting than the Colt he by necessity
as an employee of Colt had to use.
Walter Winans, author of The Art
of Revolver Shooting, 1901: In the
closing decades of the 1800s, Walter
Winans was a champion revolver
shooter. He was Russian born so it
is somewhat fitting that much of his
shooting was done with a Smith &
Wesson New Model No. 3 Target
revolver chambered in .44 Russian.
Using black powder loads in the
1880s, Winans set records at 50 yards
that for all I know still stand
today.
He wrote, “When I first
began revolver shooting,
I saw in a standard book
on shooting that to hit a
mark the size of a man at
10 paces was all one could
expect of a revolver!
Nowadays, if a
man cannot at that
distance hit the pip
of the ace of hearts, it is
own fault.” His book is
a true classic on revolver
shooting. However something I find most interesting was how
forward-looking Winans was. In his
book The Modern Pistol from 1919 he
makes the statement, “Moreover, the
revolver is now obsolete, and there is
no use learning to shoot it.” I don’t
know if I can forgive him for that
statement as wrong as it was and is!
The semi-auto may be king now but
the sixgun is far from obsolete.
Allotted space is always a problem so we will have to save such other
contributors to the art of shooting
as Walter Roper, Phil Sharpe, Henry
Stebbins, Townsend Whelen… for
another time or times. Where can
you find any of the above-mentioned
books? An excellent source I use for
old books is www.abebooks.com, and
the Firearms Classics Library (www.
palladiumpress.com) has reprinted
over 100 valuable sources of information. Books sell for about $40 and
arrive about every 6 weeks or so. I’ve
already filled six shelves in my library
since I’ve been a member. I began
building my library of firearms information as a teenager in the 1950s
through the old Outdoor Life Book
Club and those books, which opened
whole new vistas for me, are still in my
library. In this age of electronic books
and the Internet there is still nothing
like the printed page especially when
the weather is bad and actual shooting is out of the question. Reading is
even better than dry-firing.
Clint on Concealed Carry:
“It’s a BIG gun
when I put it on
and it’s a BIG gun
when I pull it out.”
Learn how to choose a gun,
carry concealed and draw
carefully. Get Clint Smith’s
Thunder Ranch DVD course.
Three Course
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Concealed
Carry Options
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Vehicle
Defense
Two-disc set only $49.95 — Order Today:
(800) 628-9818 (M-F 8am-3pm PST)
www.americanhandgunner.com/TRvids
81
Wisdom Of The Ages
It’s all at your fingertips.
I
t is the best of times; it is the worst of times. We won’t
dwell on the latter, however when it comes to firearms
these are definitely the best of times. We have the “best”
guns ever offered to the shooting public. For the most
part they are stronger, held to tighter tolerances, relatively
cheaper, (at least until the powers that be did such a job
on our dollar—oops, that is part of the worst of times and
we don’t need to go there!) The proliferation of production
firearms is proverbially mind-boggling. Catalogs are
crammed with every possible choice as to action, finish,
price, and chambering.
The finest gunsmiths who have
ever plied their trade are alive today
and they have the best tools and raw
materials to work with. The exhibition shooters of yesteryear have nothing on today’s crop of both men and
women. Put a semi-automatic in the
hands of Robbie Leatham, give Jerry
Miculek a double-action revolver,
and allow Bob Munden to pick up a
single-action sixgun and prepare to
be amazed. We often assign mystical properties to gunwriters of old,
however compare a copy of GUNS or
American Handgunner to early
issues and the amount of information provided and the boggling
of the mind rivals that felt when
we contemplate the proliferation
of firearms.
As blessed as we are with
today’s situation we still must
not lose the benefit of looking
to the past. Anytime sixgunners
gather and reminisce there are
certain names that come up very
quickly, names of the men who
influenced all of us; the obvious
ones being, at least for me, Elmer
Keith, Skeeter Skelton, and Jeff
Cooper. However, these are just a
couple of names in a long list of
82
influential shooters. Even before Skelton and Cooper began sharing their
knowledge there were many others
disseminating their knowledge. The
writings of Elmer Keith go all the way
back to the 1920s, however there are
those who were both contemporaries
of his and even preceded him; men
who contributed in a large way to the
wisdom of the ages.
We are living in an age when everything is obsolete an hour later, so it is
not surprising to find older firearms
literature somewhat dated. This does
not mean we cannot glean invaluable
knowledge
Wisdom awaits!
from the writers of
yesteryear.
Some
of these men who
can still provide us
with both information and entertainment in alphabetical order are John
Henry FitzGerald,
Ed McGivern, Bob
Nichols, and Walter
Winans. Let us take
a brief look at their
contributions and
what they still have
to offer us.
John Henry FitzGerald—“Fitz”—
author of Shooting, 1930: From
1918 until 1944 Fitz was the face of
Colt, their goodwill ambassador and
expert at tuning Colt revolvers and
semi-automatic pistols. Fitz’s book is
certainly dated, being over 80 years
old, however, guns and cartridges may
change, but basics remain the same.
When reading through Fitz’s book,
especially the sections concerning
quick draw, self-defense, and police
techniques, much of what we still use
today is evident including 2-handed
Weaver-stance style shooting.
Everybody who had anything to do
with handguns knew Fitz. Fitz had the
reputation as the fastest in the world
with a double-action sixgun and he
carried a pair of specially altered .45
Colt New Services in his front trouser pockets. These were not ordinary New Services, which is a large
double-action sixgun by anyone’s definition. They do not fit easily into a
pants pocket, so Fitz made them fit.
Barrels were cut back to 2", the grip
frame was shortened, the hammer
was bobbed so it would not catch on
clothing, however enough was left so
an expert at double-action shooting
could start the hammer back with the
trigger action and then use the thumb
to cock it for deliberate single-action
fire. What became known as Fitz
Specials, had, for quick access to the
trigger, the front of the triggerguard
removed. That alone makes reading
his book worthwhile.
Ed McGivern, author of Fast and
Fancy Revolver Shooting, 1938: Ed
McGivern is the fastest man with a
double-action sixgun who ever lived,
at least until modern times and Jerry
Miculek. Unlike Jerry, McGivern also
used Single Action Colts in his exhibition shooting and was unbelievably
fast fanning the hammer and putting
all five shots into the area of a playing card. McGivern’s book covers
just about every aspect of shooting
continued on page 81
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84L KIMBER 84L.30-06, - Jeffersonian`s Home Page

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