Posts in category Firearms

The Honest Gun Owner

February 28, 2012 1 Comment Written by DanielS

I don’t usually do chain letters. Some people call them memes, but it’s the same thing (minus the fact that a chandelier will fall on your dog and you’ll be cursed for 5 years if you fail to pass on a chain letter) and I’m not usually a fan of either.

Still, Jennifer tagged me in this one, and I thought it was an interesting enough subject that I could actually create a decent blog post out of it. The concept is to lay out 5 things that indicate an “honest gun owner”. So what exactly IS an honest gun owner?

1. They acknowledge that safety is a way of thinking, an ongoing process, and not a set way of doing things. Col. Cooper’s rules are just the starting point, and even they have many permutations. A single man living by himself might safely keep a loaded Glock on the nightstand, while a family with toddlers on the other hand prudently keeps firearms unloaded and locked up when not carried in a holster. What is safe in one situation is not necessarily safe in another. Honest gun owners know this and evaluate each situation on its own merits and make adjustments when necessary.

2. Honest gun owners know that problems with accuracy generally lie with the shooter, not the platform, and that the solution is more training not more accessories. Almost every bolt action rifle on the market today is capable of shooting 1-MOA. Most semi-auto modern sporting rifles are as well. If it’s a quality modern firearm, the problem is not the gun, it’s the shooter. The corollary to this is…

3. For each problem there is a unique solution and honest gun owners are realistic about the performance of a given firearm. An AR-15 is not suitable for hunting elk at 600 yards while a .458 Winchester Magnum is overkill for Texas whitetail deer. At the same time, a Desert Eagle is not suitable for concealed carry (along with a lot of other things) while a .25 ACP Jetfire is not a great choice as a service pistol. Like any tool, guns are designed for particular uses. Just because a .380 pocket pistol is a lousy choice for hunting doesn’t mean that it’s a useless firearm. An honest gun owner identifies the problem and chooses the appropriate firearm without disparaging other firearms. This rule also has a corollary, which is…

4. An honest gun owner never begrudges someone who purchases a firearm simply for its intrinsic value. Garand collectors, 1911 owners, and Desert Eagle aficionados all have something in common here: All three of those guns are older designs with any number of flaws, and there are any number of modern firearms available that can do the job better and more reliably. It’s perfectly fine however to go out and purchase a Deagle, because hey… it’s a Desert Eagle .50 AE. And it’s coool, man…. Make mine nickel plated please.

Finally, and most importantly:

5. An honest gun owner knows that this gun thing is not actually about guns. It’s about being tool-using monkeys and having the ability to think for, and be responsible for, ourselves. It’s about a government that thinks that by banning and/or regulating things that they can stop violence.

Whether it’s guns, knives, lasers, or any number of other tools, the above rules always apply. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter that the tool you prefer is a rifle, bow, throwing knife, or chainsaw. All are neutral objects with no inherent good or evilness in and of themselves. Like all tools, it’s the wielder that matters.

Tools

Defensive Pistol Training and IDPA

December 5, 2011 1 Comment Written by DanielS

Training is an important part of everyone’s life. No matter what you do in life, you train for it. Some people train at sitting on the couch and watching TV. That isn’t quite as useful as someone who trains at surfing the internet (I’m pretty sure I’m well on my way to becoming a pro at that) but the really useful training is what I want to talk about.

Directed training. Training with a plan. Training that you continue to practice and hone on a regular basis in a controlled environment.

When it comes to preparedness, there are any number of skills that can be improved dramatically with just a bit of training, and lost fairly quickly if that training is discontinued. Defensive pistol shooting is one of those skills.

Most preparedness-minded individuals agree that personal and family protection in the form of a firearm is a very important part of being prepared, right up there with food and first-aid. Far too many people however simply purchase a pistol and a few boxes of ammunition and call it done.

Even if you have the right equipment it is useless if you cannot reliably and successfully employ it when needed. An unplanned trip to the range to shoot off 150 rounds slow-fire at a bulls-eye target helps. A little. A very little.

The primary problem is that the majority of ranges do not allow shooters to practice draws from concealment or transitions from target to target. There are many reasons for this: safety and insurance restrictions to name but a few. Most ranges have a hard enough time keeping people from shooting the paper-hangers.

How do you get started? Where can you go to learn and practice defensive pistol techniques? The first step should be research and find a knowledgeable teacher and to enroll in a defensive pistol course. There are literally hundreds of places with quality instructors where you can get started. But once you’ve spent a weekend learning the basics, where can you go to practice?

If you do not have a range near you with open bays that allow moving and shooting and drawing from concealment, one of the best ways I’ve found to get at least a little bit of practice is to join IDPA. The International Defensive Pistol Association is an action-pistol league run by Bill and Joyce Wilson of Wilson Combat fame, and is based out of Berryville Arkansas. The league was started by Bill Wilson, Ken Hackathorn, and Larry Vickers as an alternative to IPSC and USPSA, which had turned into “gun races” with highly specialized speed-draw holsters, highly-tuned race guns, and custom ammunition. The purpose of IDPA is to provide a environment where competitors can hone their defensive pistol skills utilizing “stock” equipment that would be suitable for concealed carry.

A quality holster like this one from Comp-Tac is perfect for both IDPA and daily concealed carry.

While IDPA competition and training does much good in enhancing valuable skills and further ingraining the muscle memory necessary for a rapid draw and presentation, it is not without some drawbacks. The primary problem many people have experienced when attending their first few matches begins with the discovery that the firearm and holster they have already purchased do not conform to the guidelines set forth in the IDPA rule book.

With few exceptions, to compete in IDPA you need a plastic or Kydex IWB strong-side holster, or an OWB holster that fits your belt like a glove, and that can be reholsterd easily. This eliminates most leather IWB holsters as being suitable for use. Other holsters that require the muzzle to be swept around for proper presentation such as a shoulder holster, crossdraw, or small of the back holster are are all illegal (and may actually be unsafe) for competition.

Many popular defensive pistols are disqualified, or must be handicapped, right out of the box. My Para Ordnance 14.45 (legal for use in ESP or CDP) for example is not allowed to be loaded to full capacity in any IDPA competition. Common modifications such as sights or pinned grip safeties are also illegal. In fact, I’m pretty sure even modifying a Series 80 1911 by removing the firing pin block in order to get a smoother trigger is illegal in CDP.

In addition, with the exception of the occasional back-up gun or “BUG” match, subcompact and smaller firearms that are the most popular for concealed carry are, where legal, uncompetitive, if not outright banned from regular competition for failure to make power factor or other reasons.

We understand that at the end of the day, IDPA is just another “gun game” with the rules necessary to level the playing field for competitors. But for those seeking just a chance to run their defensive pistol setup under the stress of the timer, and with so many rules complicating things and forcing competitors to act in ways they would never act in a true self-defense situation, is it really worth all the trouble?

We spoke with IDPA 5-gun master and spokesman Caleb Gidddings of Gun Nuts Media to get his take on the situation, and to understand further what IDPA has to offer.

The bottom line in any self defense situation where you need to actually fire your gun is to get rounds on target as quickly and as accurately as possible. On top of that, you need to be able to judge in a split second whether accuracy or speed is going to be the more critical component in that situation. Shooting IDPA helps prepare you for that eventually as the critical components of shooting such as sight alignment and trigger control are reinforced under simulated stress. IDPA isn’t teaching you tactics, but it is teaching you to be a better shooter. To my knowledge, no one who has ever survived a gunfight has wished at the end of it that they were less competent with a handgun.

Plinking mediocre groups with your Bersa .380 or Hi-Point won’t really make you a better shooter. Competing will.

Caleb makes some good points. At the end of the day, the skills you pick up learning rapid magazine changes, target transition, quick draws and accurate presentations are all things that you will be able to use with few changes from setup to setup. Whether you’re shooting a Glock or a 1911, carrying a Kel-Tec P3AT or a full size FNP-45 Tactical handgun, the basic skills all still apply.

There’s an old saying, “Beware the man with only one gun; he probably knows how to use it.” Yes, it’s true that minor changes in holster, the location (or lack) of a safety, and the size of the pistol will all affect the speed and accuracy of your shooting. But if you have the basics down, you’ll be well ahead of 99% of all gun owners out there.

Don’t be afraid to change up your carry rig. If you carry concealed from day-to-day one way, and shoot IDPA another, you’ll still be just fine should you ever need to deploy your firearm.

Like all organized shooting competitions, IDPA is just another “gun game”, but it’s one specifically oriented towards concealed carry, and one where you can learn a lot and hone the skills you learn in basic defensive pistol courses in a safe and controlled environment. You can find an IDPA league near you on their website at IDPA.com.

Pistols, Survival and Preparedness, Training

pistols, Survival and Preparedness, Training

Shotgun Ammo Bleg

November 23, 2011 4 Comments Written by DanielS

If you’re a preparedness minded individual like myself, you probably have a well stocked larder, ample survival gear, and a few ammo cans full of rifle and handgun ammunition. But if Uncle and NJT are wrong, and the Zombie Apocalypse happens, AND if it turns out that shotguns ARE the best tool to put down brain eating shamblers, I’m going to be woefully short on ammo. The one thing I’ve not seen for sale in, well, ever, is replicas relojes bulk defensive shotgun ammunition.

Sure, you can buy a case of 12 gauge loads, but I’ve only ever seen Dove, Waterfowl, and trap or skeet loads available by the case. I’m sure you CAN get bulk 00 buckshot loads or slugs, but for the life of me I can’t think of a good source.

So, does anyone have a good (and cheap) source for full-power 12 gauge 00 buck loads and/or slugs?

Ammunition, Shotguns

Squash the Rust Bug with Desiccants

November 17, 2011 Leave a Comment Written by DanielS

Rust is probably the number one enemy of rod and reel, knife, and gun owners. In just a few short weeks, unprotected firearms left alone in even a moderately humid environment will begin to grow an orange or brown colored 5-o’clock shadow. Steel pistols carried concealed during the hot summer months are even more susceptible to rust as corrosive sweat and oils from the wearer encourage rapid rust formation. Fishing reels that are not cleaned and rinsed on a regular basis, especially saltwater rigs, will quickly oxidize to the point that they lock-up completely.

Most owners of fishing, hunting, and shooting equipment know that their gear requires thorough cleaning and oiling after each use, but even clean and oiled if left alone, unprotected, for months at a time in a garage, closet, attic, or gun safe your expensive gear can quickly become ruined, even permanently damaged beyond repair.

When opened, this little pack of dessicant is able to dehumidify up to 3 cubic feet of storage space.

The key to keeping the rust bug away, in addition to keeping your gear well oiled, is to keep the ambient humidity down as low as possible. There are a number of ways to do this, such as a GoldenRod or other electrically powered dehumidifier, but the cheapest and most portable is the lowly pouch of silica gel.

Online retailer Lucky Gunner sent me a sample of Dry-Packs reusable silica gel for review not too long ago. The problem with reviewing desiccants such as this is that you either need a very long time, or a high humidity level, to see how well they work. North Texas isn’t a region well known for its particularly high humidity, though compared to areas located in mountainous ares out west, the ambient 50%-60% RH (relative humidity) is sufficient for a test spanning a month or so.

The Dry-Packs silica gel canister holds about 40 grams of desiccant in a perforated metal box about the size of an Altoids tin. In the center of the can is a small window that can be used to observe the color of the silica gel. This particular type of desiccant has had methyl violet added to it, an indicator that turns from orange to green when it is hydrated. Other brands use cobalt chloride or ammonium tetrachlorocobaltate (try saying that five times fast) and turn from blue to pink when they have absorbed enough moisture to become saturated.

Little cans of desiccant such as this are small enough to keep in a gun case, tackle box, first-aid, or survival kit, and are cheap insurance to make sure that humidity and moisture don’t ruin your gear.

To test the effectiveness of this particular brand, we placed it in a long-gun case along with two older shotguns that I’d recently inherited. These particular shotguns had been stored in soft cases, tucked away in a late family member’s closet for a number of years with no cleaning or maintenance. When they came to me, one of them was so corroded and damaged that the action had completely locked up. I took them to one of my local gunsmiths and had them completely disassembled, detailed, and put back together. All of the surface rust was completely removed, and the few parts that had pitting were replaced.

Now restored to clean and working order, well oiled and rubbed down with a silicon impregnated cloth, the shotguns were ready to go back in the closet. Inside the case, I placed the little metal can. There, until some time in late January when the light-geese conservation order begins, it will stay and quietly do its job sucking moisture from the air while keeping my precious scatter-guns dry and rust free.

Once the little rust-killing can has sucked up all the moisture it can, I can simply toss it in the oven at 250-280 degrees Fahrenheit for a few hours and watch in amazement as the indicator turns from green back to orange once all the water has been baked out.

Priced at only $10 each, these little canisters are fantastic insurance to keep your equipment dry and rust free.

FTC disclaimer: I didn’t get paid a damn thing to write this, but they did send me the desiccant, unsolicited, for free. That was nice of them.

replique montre Replica Uhren Deutschland replicas relojes

Blades, Gear

Low Recoil Firearms for Self Defense

November 8, 2011 2 Comments Written by DanielS

Whether you’re hiking a trail in bear country, or simply resting at home, having a firearm for personal protection is something everyone should consider. There are many schools of thought as to what constitutes an appropriate home defense, concealed carry, or trail gun, and just as many options available for purchase.

Mom commented after firing the PMR-30 that “…this is the perfect gun for me. It makes little holes, but it can make 30 of them. And it doesn’t beat me up.”

Debates over the “perfect” handgun caliber have raged on for dozens of years. Is it better to have a caliber that begins with “.4” or is the 9mm “Euro-pellet” sufficient when topped with modern expanding hollowpoints? Many seek to find the perfect “man-stopper,” “bear medicine,” or basically any bullet capable of a “one-shot stop” but they’re more likely to find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow that’s been crapped out by a unicorn. Such a cartridge simply does not exist.

Still, millions of dollars have been spent on countless studies analyzing the effectiveness of various calibers. The result has been a few exotic cartridges, few of which have ever made it into large-scale production. In the past 30 years the 10mm, .40 S&W, and .357 Sig have been the only handgun cartridges that have reached any level of prominence and, of those three, the .40 S&W is the only caliber to come anywhere close towards becoming as common as the 9mm or .45 ACP.

As with handguns, thousands of words and millions of dollars have been spent determining the suitability of the 5.56/.223 caliber “poodle shooter” versus any number of larger rifle cartridges, and even more hybrid and wildcat rounds have been spawned by this debate than were ever conceived of by the 9mm and .45 brouhaha. Still, by virtue of its use by the US military, not to mention the performance of the round, the 5.56/.223 caliber remains one of the more common rifle chamberings, and thousands of hunters pursuing everything from varmints to white tailed deer have proven its efficacy in the field.

What is not often considered is the person who will be utilizing the firearm. Many people neglect the human element. Having a revolver that can drop a bear with a single well-placed shot is admirable, but can just anyone pick up a .44 Magnum, .454 Casull, or .500 S&W chambered revolver and be proficient with it? A 12 gauge may work well for home defense but how many people, with little or no training, can accurately fire multiple rounds of full-power 00 buck loads?

Perhaps the perfect example of the wrong solution being over-hyped is the ultra-lightweight .38 Special/.357 Magnum snub nosed revolver, which is often wrongly promoted as the perfect weapon for a small woman. It’s easily concealable, and the double-action is reliable, but accuracy is sub-par at best, and it kicks hard enough to make even the most ardent seekers of “recoil-therapy” reconsider firing off more than a couple dozen rounds at a stretch. I know very few women who will tolerate hard hitting firearms (with the notable exception of Jennifer, who is just, odd when it comes to recoil).

Put a hard hitting pistol or rifle in the hands of many women, and almost all new shooters, and you’ll find their taste for the shooting sports quickly sours. That’s no way to gain new shooters and, for someone seeking a gun for self-defense, is a great way to convince them that there are many other things they’d rather do instead of run a few hundred rounds through the firearm while training.

And then we come to my own mother. Mom is not someone who I would consider old, though I suppose she’s getting there, nor infirm, though she has a few problems here and there that have left her on disability. Mom never has spent as much time at the range as I do, has only owned a gun on a few occasions, and never carried one for self-defense. In addition, she has problems with her hands that make it difficult for her to manipulate a stiff double-action trigger, and intense recoil leaves her wrists or shoulder sore and her nerves frayed.

The FN Five-seveN, AMT Automag II, and Kel-Tec PMR-30 are all low recoil semi-automatic handguns that can function as trail guns or self-defense handguns.

When it came time to find Mom a suitable pistol, rifle, and shotgun, low recoil was an absolute priority. This meant that a number of standard firearms were immediately tossed out. The pump action 12 gauge, favored by many for home defense, was simply too much gun. Instead, a semi-automatic 20 gauge was more appropriate. When outfitting Mom for hunting season, we skipped the .30 caliber rifles completely and went straight to the 6.5×55 Swedish Mauser and .223 AR-15, both of which are more than capable of taking deer and feral hog alike.

And pistols? Pistols are, and always have been, a study in compromise. In reality, anything a pistol can do, a rifle or shotgun can do better. So why the big fuss over caliber when it comes to pistols?

It’s not uncommon for a rifle to fail to yield a “one shot stop” even with a well placed round. I’ve seen deer, hogs, elk, and all manner of medium and large game run for hundreds of yards, sometimes even miles, despite a fatal wound. Stories abound of bears and moose who charge and injure or even kill a hunter, only to later fall dead from a lung or heart shot.

Can we really expect a pistol to reliably stop a determined attacker, no matter what the caliber? Of course not.

At the end of the day it is far more important to have a gun, any gun really, and preferably one that you can use accurately, and that you have trained with extensively. When I took Mom to the range, I didn’t give her a snub-nosed .357 Magnum, nor did I give her a semi-automatic .40, .45 ACP, 9mm, or even a .38 Special. Instead, we started out with .22 Long Rifle and worked our way up, next to the .22 Magnum and eventually to the 5.7×28.

Mom fires a 5.56mm AR-15, another low recoil firearm suitable for both hunting and self-defense.

Both the .22 Magnum and 5.7×28 were easy shooting cartridges that Mom, despite her aversion to recoil, could shoot all day long. And on top of that, she was deadly accurate with them. No flinches, no jerking of the trigger, just round after round put on target in a tight little group at distances up to 25 yards away. In the case of the PMR-30, that meant she had 30 rounds in a tight group about the size of a softball right in the center-of-mass.

Caliber isn’t everything. My friend Caleb proved that a cup of Starbucks’ brew and a .25 ACP Jetfire pistol can be exactly what is needed to dissuade a goblin. It’s been said that a .25 ACP may be great to carry when you don’t have a gun, but in this case it did the trick.

Even if you are forced to rely upon the ballistic performance of a particular firearm, when avoiding the conflict doesn’t work and merely the threat of force fails, whether it be against a criminal assault or a bruin who thinks you’re in their territory, small caliber firearms can work, especially when you can put more rounds down omega replica range faster. FBI statistics even show that more firearm-related deaths are caused by the lowly .22 LR than by any other caliber. That’s primarily due to the prevalence of guns chambered for the round, but it goes to show how effective it can be.

Dave Sevigny once told me to “just get the biggest caliber you can hit with or the one you’re most comfortable with,” and I think that’s key. For some people, that means a magnum rifle cartridge and a 10mm handgun. For Mom, that means a Five-seveN or .22 Magnum pistol for self-defense, and a .223 or 6.5×55 rifle for hunting.

Ammunition

Concerning Hunters, Shooters, Gun Rights, and Fudds

November 6, 2011 Leave a Comment Written by DanielS

This blog started out as primarily a hunting, outdoors, and survival/preparedness-oriented blog, but I seem to find more articles to write concerning firearms and gun ownership than anything else at the moment. Perhaps that’s because it is a subject that is near and dear to my heart.

Regardless, I want to take the time to address “sportsmen” and hunters who disclaim the natural and inalienable right to keep and bear arms. Though I’m an advocate of concealed carry and self-defnese, I’m going to address this from the perspective of a hunter. Fellow blogger Weerd took to task a self-proclaimed hunter and writer, whose article I will not link to here, over his claims that the “NRA Extremists” do not represent him. These “Fudds” (as in Elmer Fudd), as they are referred to by those who champion 2nd Amendment rights, claim that it does no harm to restrict or even ban ownership of handguns, standard capacity semi-automatic rifles, or other firearms with “scary” features such as folding stocks, flash suppressors, or muzzle brakes. Such claims could not be further from the truth.

Laugh if you want, but this “tactical” shotgun can easily do double-duty as both a home-defense firearm as well as an effective dove gun by simply inserting a magazine tube plug.

First, let’s take a look at the current tax scheme that weds hunters and 2nd Amendment supporters together. Ammunition sold in the United States is subject to a federal excise tax. Every round that is sold is taxed, and that revenue goes directly into the Wildlife Restoration Trust Fund, also referred to as the Pittman-Robertson Trust Fund. Every year over 700 million dollars are sent to this fund, and that money goes directly to establishing, restoring, and preserving huntable wildlife habitats.

As a hunter, you may think that you are the primary source of revenue for this fund. Based off of just the number of shot shells expended chasing dove last season, it’s easy to see why someone might think that way. But if you’re a hunter who does no range shooting other than to sight in a rifle and fire some #8 shot at a few clays, the amount of ammo you expend is FAR less than what a shooting enthusiast might go through in a given year.

I don’t know a single person with hunting as their only firearm-related activity who will go through more than a couple of hundred rounds a year. On the other hand, an active IDPA or USPSA shooter can easily run through tens of thousands of rounds in a season, all of which are taxed as “hunting equipement”. In fact, every firearm and firearm-related accessory, whether intended for hunting or self-defense, is subject to this same Federal excise tax.

Who’s supporting the wildlife now?

There’s nothing quite like the grin on the face of a new hunter who’s just bagged their first quarry.

Second, let’s address the claims that restrictions upon the types of firearms that are legal for an individual to own will not impact or hamper hunters. For hundreds of years, soldiers and warriors who went off to war brought back with them a fondness for the rifle that kept them alive throughout the conflict. Whether it was the Brown Bess musket of the American Revolution, the 1903 Springfield, M1 Garand, M14/M1A, or even the M16/AR-15, after the war the soldiers who returned often sought out similar, if not identical, rifles for hunting and shooting at home. And why not? The rifles proved themselves accurate and supremely reliable under combat conditions, and that same accuracy and reliability would continue to be useful in bringing home a little venison every fall.

Yet, the excuses from the Fudds pour forth:

“Nobody needs that much firepower in the woods.”

“Those rifles are only good to spray-and-pray.”

“…hunting rifles can be used to kill people as well as deer and ducks, but they’re not designed for that, and that makes a big difference.”

“My shotgun has as much in common with a machine gun as a Piper Cub has with an F-16.”

These and other excuses make up the bulwark of the Fudd’s reasoning for further violations of our natural rights guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment, but when you break down and examine each excuse, they fall flat. Nobody needs that much firepower? A .300 Win Mag has more than twice the energy of a standard issue 5.56 NATO round, and .308 hunting rifles are virtually identical in form and function to a 7.62 NATO “sniper” rifle. Only good for spray and pray? Modern military training with the M16 discourages automatic fire, and in fact many rifles issued to our troops these days are only equipped with a 3-round burst. Instead, soldiers are trained to use deliberate-aimed fire for maximum effectiveness, much as hunters use carefully aimed shots to quickly down their prey. Hunting rifles aren’t designed for killing people? Au contraire, every black powder, bolt action, and semi-auto hunting rifle on the market today was derived from, or is a direct copy of, a military rifle design. Every. Single. One.

Firearms were first developed as a weapon of war and a means of self-defense. It was only later that their usefulness in pursuing game was realized. Ancient cannons, muskets, and handgonnes begat modern punt guns and shotguns, while nearly every modern bolt-action rifle is based in part off of the Mauser brother’s 1871 design.

And what about handguns? I’m using a handgun as my primary hunting weapon this year. It presents an interesting challenge and forces me to hone my skills stalking close to my prey, and it’s much lighter and easier to tote around the woods than a long gun. If there were restrictions on handgun ownership, I might not have that option.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to basic human rights. Everyone has the right to self-defense, and I believe hunters have the right to provide food for the table. Hunters also have the right to restrict themselves to muzzleloaders, shotguns with slugs, single shot centerfire rifles, or modern bolt actions. Or, they can utilize the latest magazine fed AR-based semi-automatic rifle (where hunting laws allow it).

I will not pass judgement on someone who uses a modern sporting rifle in pursuit of deer. We have enough problems trying to grow the sport. Instead, we should be encouraging firearm ownership of all sorts and helping those who have the interest in hunting to learn the ways of the woods, to learn the ethics of hunting, and to learn the skills it takes to bring a meal from hoof to table.

At the end of the day, we’re all in this together, seeking to protect the rights that are valuable to us.

I will end with this offer: If you are a hunter in the North Texas area, and want to learn how to carry and shoot a handgun for self defense, contact me and I will take you to the range at my expense and safely teach you the basics of pistol safety and concealed carry. Likewise, if you are a shooter or CHL holder in the North Texas area, and want to learn how to hunt safely and effectively, contact me and I will help you pass a Hunter’s Safety Education course, help you get a hunting license, and then take you out on a dove, deer, hog, or squirrel hunt (your choice).

UPDATE: Via Thirdpower we find that Weer’d has learned a bit more about this particular Fudd.

Ethics, Hunting, RKBA

Review: Fiocchi Pistol Shooting Dynamics .44 Magnum Ammunition from Lucky Gunner

October 31, 2011 2 Comments Written by DanielS

A few weeks back, AmongTheLeaves.com was contacted by Lucky Gunner to see if we’d be interested in reviewing some of their ammunition on this little website.

Free ammo? Here, twist my arm a little.

Naturally I agreed, and sent them a list of featured articles I was working on for the next few months. Not long after that, a box of 240 grain .44 Magnum Fiocchi “Pistol Shooting Dynamics” ammunition showed up on my doorstep. Sweet! Hunting season was just around the corner, and this year, instead of using a rifle, I’d already made the decision to hunt deer and feral hog alike with a pistol.

My firearm of choice, a Ruger Redhawk, has a 7.5″ barrel with a 1:20″ twist rate, and is topped off with fiber optic sights. The contrasting red and green dots make it very easy to get a clear shot, even in the dusky conditions just before and after sunset. The long barrel gives a longer sight radius for increased accuracy, while allowing for more complete powder burn and higher muzzle velocities.

The 240 grain ammo is a little lighter than I prefer for hunting, and Fiocchi isn’t well known in the US market as a manufacturer of quality hunting ammunition, but I figured “What the heck. It’s free ammo, let’s see how it does.” The first step I took in evaluating the ammunition was to try and figure out what type of bullet it was loaded with. Other than the fact that it was labeled as weighing 240 grains and that it was quite obviously a hollow point, no other information was on the box or website. I can’t say for sure, but it looked for all the world to me that it was a Hornady XTP, or else something very similar (and if anyone help me figure out the bullet manufacturer with any certainty, I’d appreciate it). If indeed it is an XTP, any shooter would do well to use this cartridge. The Hornady XTP is well known for its accuracy and is favored by hunters for the superior expansion characteristics it exhibits.

4 shot group fired kneeling, off-hand, at 50 yards using iron sights.

Normally, at this point in the review, I’d pull a few bullets and weigh the bullet and the powder charge. That gives an indication of both accuracy and consistency. But, with only 50 rounds to review, I thought it prudent to save the few I had, as we’re planning on doing more than just a range review.

These are hollow points, and as such are intended for self-defense and/or hunting. Since .44 Magnum handguns aren’t commonly used as defensive firearms, and since Among The Leaves primarily focuses on hunting and the outdoors, we’re going to proceed along that path.

Texas white tailed deer and feral hogs are the two medium sized game animals that I pursue here in the Lone Star State. Texas white tails are small and slender compared to those found in the rest of the country, and are easily dropped with as little as a .357 Magnum or 10mm handgun and a well placed shot. Wild pigs are built a bit more stoutly, but can still be taken using similar loads with shots that don’t have to penetrate the thick shield and shoulder blade.

Still, all things being equal, if using a handgun cartridge such as .44 Magnum, more is better. To that end, I developed my own heavy “buffalo bore” load that can generate over 2,000 ft-lbs of muzzle energy by launching a 320 grain bullet at speeds exceeding 1,700 feet per second. At short distances, this allows it to hit nearly as hard, if not harder, than a .45-70 Trapdoor, and with significantly more energy than any .30-30. That’s more than enough to take almost any medium or large game animal in North America.

The 320 grain handloads have substantially more recoil than the lighter 240 grain Fiocchi hollow points.

Now, to my way of thinking, the more energy I can (safely) get out of my .44 Magnum loads, the better. If I manage to get a shot on a big porker, I don’t want to have to wonder if it’s got enough “oompf” to knock down the hog. So, when I saw that the ammunition I had received was a standard 240 grain hollow point, I was a bit apprehensive. Would it be enough to take a large wild boar?

It was time to head to the range. The first step was to chronograph both the Fiocchi alongside my handloads. The testing was conducted in a pistol bay, with the chronograph 10 yards from the muzzle.

320 grain SSK Truncated Cone .44 Mag handloads:
Shot 1: 1692
Shot 2: 1712
Shot 3: 1698 FPS (2085 ft-lbs ME)

240 grain Hornady XTP .44 Mag Fiocchi
Shot 1: 1679 FPS (1561 ft-lbs ME)
Shot 2: 1684
Shot 3: 1671

The results from the chronograph are more or less what one would expect from a 240 grain .44 Magnum load. The median result from our very small sample gives us a measured velocity of 1,679 feet per second, and a calculated muzzle energy of 1,561 foot-pounds. I was a bit surprised to find that, though our 3-shot sample was too small to draw any solid conclusions from, the Fiocchi ammunition seemed to have a more consistent velocity than my hand loads.

After testing the loads on the chronograph, I did some accuracy testing. So to speak. Ideally, ammunition accuracy is tested from a machine rest like a Ransom Rest to eliminate any other variables that could affect the test. I don’t have a Ransom Rest (check them out: they’re pricey, but fantastic for handgun accuracy testing), and we’re going to be using this ammo for hunting, not for shooting a match. Instead, I replicated what most handgun hunters are likely to experience and fired from a kneeling position at 50 yards using iron sights. The ammo grouped adequately for this purpose. At 6.25″, it wasn’t the prettiest group, but then I’m looking for “minute of deer” not “minute of angle” and for that, it’s fine.

The Hornady XTP bullet is well known for it’s accuracy, consistency, and rapid expansion. I’ve found that in these Fiocchi cartridges, it remains a viable choice for hunting. As I mentioned earlier, Fiocchi is not known as a manufacturer of quality hunting ammo. Priced at $0.62 a round (on average, based on market prices October 2011) it costs far less than similar cartridges, and can be perceived as a budget load. Other budget brands have ammunition that is inconsistent, prone to failure, and extremely dirty. Fiocchi’s .44 Magnum ammunition is none of these things. Based on my experience so far, it performs as well if not better than other premium brands.

For the average hunter, Lucky Gunner’s 240 grain .44 magnum loads from Fiocchi are everything they’ll need. They’re accurate, and consistent, possibly even more cartier imitacion consistent than my handloads, and that consistency is important for hunters when figuring how much the bullet will drop over a given distance.

But the testing of this ammunition isn’t complete just yet. Deer season opens this weekend for firearm hunters, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to bring home some venison or a bit of wild pork. Keep an eye out for more about this ammunition here on AmongTheLeaves.com.

FTC disclaimer: I didn’t get paid a damn thing to write this, but they did send me the ammunition for free. That was nice of them.

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Ammunition, Reviews

West Texas

October 28, 2011 Leave a Comment Written by DanielS

I’m out in the field this week, but hope to have a few gear reviews posted after this weekend.

Work has me out in West Texas, where I was equally amused and pleased to see that the little grocery store in Ozona has ammunition for sale in a display right next to the tobacco cabinet at checkout. Just as it should be.

Instead of “paper or plastic” the cashier can simply ask “hollow point or full metal jacket?”

Ammunition

Kel-Tec PMR-30

October 20, 2011 1 Comment Written by DanielS

I finally found one.

I’m not one of the “cool” gun bloggers who got a prototype or advance copy for review. I still have to hunt down most of my own products to review.

No matter.

After more than a year of searching, begging, pleading, and generally making an ass of myself, I finally found a PMR-30. While still significantly over MSRP, it was the first I’d found under $500, and I happened to find it completely by accident while wandering into a gun store more than 1,300 miles from home. Which meant, thanks to our curious gun laws, that I couldn’t take delivery of it there, and instead had to pay extra to have it shipped to another FFL located here in Texas.

There, it would wait for me until I returned home, nearly 2 months later.

I picked it up from my local FFL, and took it straight home for a photo shoot. Oleg Volk I am not, but I did my best to get some decent shots for this article. And I figured out how to get that nifty square of 30 CCI Maxi-Mags alongside the pistol (hint: just dump the container upside-down very quickly and then carefully pull it off).

After the initial photos, it was time to head for the range.

Now, the PMR-30 has been the subject of some controversy. Rimfire cartridges in general are less reliable than their centerfire counterparts. In addition to that, the .22 WMR presents some unique challenges to engineers who would chamber an autoloading pistol in this caliber. It has significantly higher pressure than a .22 LR cartridge, and the late peak pressure can cause case extraction problems.

Kel-Tec uses what they call a “hybrid” blowback design, described by in-house engineer Toby Obermeit as a “hybrid blow-back/locked breach [sic] system … accomplished using what is effectively a floating barrel.”

The PMR-30 has experienced a number of problems, many of which Kel-Tec has blamed on sub-par ammunition. A note was placed in the pistol case, alongside the owner’s manual, discouraging the use of any foreign-manufactured ammunition. Press releases from Kel-Tec have also explored the problems that some have experienced with the pistol keyholing 40 grain CCI Maxi-Mag ammunition.

We decided to approach this issue head-on.

With a couple hundred rounds of 40 grain hollowpoint CCI Maxi-Mags, we went to the range with the PMR-30. To test the gun, we headed out with the pistol as it comes from the factory with no additional cleaning, lubrication, nor even a break-in period. After more than 200 rounds fired rapidly out of the 30 round magazines, we experienced zero malfunctions, no misfeeds, FTEs, FTFs, and certainly no keyholing as you can see by the image to the left.

No, the little gun performed admirably with nary a hiccup, and with a reasonably tight group fired rapidly at 10 yards off-hand. Despite the fact that our gun did not have the “updated” barrel, and using ammunition reputed to have serious keyholing problems, we experienced no issues whatsoever.

What can one conclude from this?

In our opinion, not much. This is a great trail and hunting pistol for areas where bears are not common, and we intend to test it as such. Accuracy seems to be adequate, but we’ve not yet seen how well it performs on small game.

We’ll continue to shoot it, test it, and even compare it to other similar fireams such as the AMT AutoMag II and the FN Five-seveN (centerfire though it may be). In addition, we’ll be requesting a replacement barrel from Kel-Tec with the upgraded twist rate, and report back on the differences.

Pistols

pistols

Ruger Redhawk Shoulder Rig by TheHolsterSite.com

October 18, 2011 2 Comments Written by DanielS

This summer, I made the decision to have a custom shoulder holster made for the .44 Magnum Ruger Redhawk revolver that I use for feral hog hunting. In the past, I’ve tried a variety of holsters in many different configurations for the Redhawk, both with a scope and without. None of them seemed to work well. Most were ill-fitting nylon affairs, and even these “universal” holsters were difficult to find in a reasonable configuration to accommodate scope perched atop the revolver.

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I had been evaluating a number of hunts from years past, and after going over my notes in detail (you do take notes about every shot while hunting, don’t you?) I determined that most of the shots were taken from less than 100 yards away, with a significant number of them falling within 50 yards. I figured that if Elmer Keith could hunt medium and large game out to 600 yards using only a magnum revolver and fixed iron sights, then I could do so at much shorter ranges. I took the scope off of the Redhawk and contacted Michael from The Holster Site to commission a custom shoulder rig for my Redhawk.

After contacting Michael, we met up, and he took some measurements while we discussed the particulars of what exactly I was looking for in a shoulder style hunting holster. The biggest problem that I had was the size of the gun. My Ruger Redhawk has a 7 1/2″ barrel, which is just bordering on “too long” for a shoulder holster. A 90 degree vertical holster would leave the muzzle far too low below my belt, so we went with a hybrid setup that had an adjustable cant, initially set at 75 degrees from horizontal. This angle allows for the long barreled revolver to be comfortably carried without impeding natural waist movement, while still enabling a safe and rapid draw.

The other problem was the weight of the gun. Other holster setups I had tried carried the gun only, and this left my body unbalanced with the weight all on one side. Carrying an unbalanced load inevitably led to back soreness as my muscles compensated for the additional weight. The natural solution in a shoulder holster is to add reloads to the off-hand side. Not that I really need reloads for a hunting setup. Even hunting wild hogs, it’s rare to get off 6 rounds at a herd as they tend to make themselves scarce quite quickly after the first shot.

Michael added two pouches to the right side of the rig that are custom fit to accommodate HKS 29-M speedloaders. The weight of the pouches combined with the speedloaders and 12 rounds of ammunition don’t quite offset the weight of the massive handgun, but it does help to balance out the harness.

Normally, the holster making process is pretty straightforward. Michael takes a dummy gun (which he has dozens, if not hundreds of) and models the holster around. The massive Ruger Redhawk isn’t a gun normally carried in a holster, relegated I suppose to life as a safe-queen and toted about in a case or range bag on the rare occasion that it leaves the house. As such, Michael didn’t have a model upon which to base the holster shape. Instead, I left my .44 Magnum with him while he made the shoulder rig for it.

Soon enough, I got an email indicating that the holster was ready and that I could come pick up my revolver and its new leather carrying harness. My travels had taken me up to far northern North Dakota however, and the holster was over a thousand miles away in Oklahoma. Michael was fine holding onto it a while. He even set up a nice hospice to care for the stainless steel hand cannon along with a few of its .44 caliber brethren.

Eventually I made my way back south and swung by to pick up the new hunting holster. Michael made some final adjustments to the fitment, including the last-minute additions of a tanker-style chest strap to keep the weight of the revolver and two reloads from swinging back, and a belt loop at the bottom of the holster to keep the muzzle from swinging out. This way, I could duck under low hanging tree branches and shrubs, climb up to a tree stand, or leap across small creeks and streams without worrying about the large and heavy Redhawk flopping about.

The primary advantage of a custom holster is that it fits like a glove. The custom fit virtually eliminates rubbing and chafing that plagues universal-fit nylon and leather shoulder holsters. The balance and weight distribution are such that I can comfortably carry my hunting revolver all day without undue fatigue or soreness.

In addition to fitting me well, the custom holster also fits my Redhawk like a glove. It fits so well in fact that there is no need for a thumb break strap. Retention is accomplished by friction alone. Initially the draw was tight and cumbersome due to the tight fit of the leather, but after a brief break-in period the draw became smooth and fast without compromising the holster’s snug fit.

Lucky Gunner was kind enough to provide .44 Magnum ammunition for my hunts this year. This 240 grain jacketed hollow point ammunition manufactured by Fiocchi is a bit light compared to the 300 grain loads I usually shoot, but we’ll see how it performs. Keep an eye out for our review that will be posted here at a later date.

Holsters, Hunting