Articles by Herschel Smith

I appreciate your patience and the diligence of my tech support.

This is a very long and detailed article and study on pricing yesteryear and today on a whole host of things. I’ll leave it to the reader to study for himself, but here are snippets.

At a glance, most major life expenses have increased roughly 3x to 4x over 40 years. This sets a baseline expectation: if guns and ammo followed the same trend, we’d expect similar increases.

But they didn’t, at least not evenly across the board …

The mid-1980s marked the early adoption of high-capacity 9mm pistols, often called “Wonder Nines.”

The introduction of the Glock 17 into the U.S. market was particularly significant:

• Polymer frame construction (revolutionary at the time)
• Higher magazine capacity than revolvers
• Lower manufacturing cost

Law enforcement agencies began transitioning away from revolvers, a shift that would later drive massive civilian demand for 9mm pistols and ammunition.

This shift is one of the key reasons why 9mm ammo became so dominant (and eventually so affordable) by 2026 …

In 1986, a box of 9mm cost $22.50, or about $0.45 per round.

In 2026, it averages $10.00 per box, or $0.20 per round.

Even without adjusting for inflation, that’s a dramatic decrease. When adjusted for inflation, 9mm is significantly cheaper today than it was in the 1980s.

At the same time, less common calibers (.38 Special, .45 ACP) have become relatively more expensive due to lower production volume and niche demand.

Well, .45 ACP certainly isn’t a niche demand round for me because I shoot God’s round. Anyway, one thing they may have wanted to fold in what the cost of powder because of the war in Ukraine which if I’m not mistaken is driving pricing up and availability down and making it more difficult to meet velocity advertising on the boxes.

Covered here, but this is a more succinct listing of what models have been canceled for production. Maybe Beretta knew something we didn’t when they tried to buy Ruger. Maybe they should still try.

This is really a shame given that Ruger now owns Marlin and Marlin makes the best lever action rifles in the world.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:
THE FOLLOWING RUGER SERIES GUNS ARE BEING SUSPENDED INDEFINITELY FROM PRODUCTION

SR1911
LC Carbine
PC Charger
PC Carbine
LC Charger
Redhawk
Super Redhawk
Blackhawk
Super Blackhawk
Single-Series revolvers
Vaquero
No. 1
77-Series rifles
Hawkeye
Ruger Precision

— Harvey’s Pistol & Pawn (@harveyspistols) October 13, 2026

The seem to like it. Let that be a warning to you.

💥 A 14-month-old PUPPY ran to a cop the way puppies DO. THREE seconds later, two BULLETS. PARALYZED. Then DEAD.

His name was Herkimer. Loveland, Colorado. His family was just working on their truck in an empty lot.

The cop pulls in. Herkimer runs to him. No bite. Just a baby dog RUNNING.

Bang. Bang. Four days in intensive care. Herkimer NEVER came home.

And the cop, on his OWN bodycam: "I’m not in the business to get bit." Officer Mathew Grashorn.

Then they went after the OWNER, charging him with having a dangerous dog. DROPPED. The department called it reasonable. Federal judges REFUSED him immunity. Loveland PAID $675,000.

Seconds before, Bubba ran at the SAME cop. Jay called him back. Bubba lived. Herkimer got THREE seconds. Now he’s GONE.

Warning: the video shows the shooting.

https://t.co/pd5BjQO882

— ShadowPatriot (@ShadowPatriotUS) October 18, 2026

Please end qualified immunity for these pet killing bad cops.

— Sonny Shepherd (@ShepardSon54197) October 16, 2026

Shooting News Weekly.

In September, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Gun Violence Solutions published a tract titled “Extreme Risk Protection Orders: A Clergy Resource Guide” (extreme risk protection orders are the gun control advocates’ preferred term for red flag gun confiscation orders). The document was authored alongside groups including Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence, Faith Leaders for Ending Gun Violence, and Jewish Women International.

Another author was the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness, which the document described as “the public policy information and advocacy office for the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA).” The “progressive” PCUSA currently hosts the guide on its website. Texas Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico, who has put his version of religion at the forefront of his campaign, trained at a PCUSA seminary.

Astute gun rights supporters will know that the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health bears the name of billionaire gun control financier Michael Bloomberg. For his part, Bloomberg appears to believe he can dictate terms to the divine.

Here’s the deal, buddy boy. Run from churches like that. This is an easy problem to solve. Don’t ever hook up with folks like that under any circumstances. Don’t take vows of submission to elders, don’t let clergy know you have weapons, and don’t open the door to tyrants who want to take your guns.

But this doesn’t surprise me about the PCUSA. They are lost, and have been for some time. Want to see an example of what I’m saying?

"We don’t use gendered language about God here, for good reason….’He’ ‘Father’ ‘Lord’ ‘He’ ‘Him’ ‘He’- I couldn’t even hear his message."

PCUSA ‘pastor’ explains how she couldn’t hear another man’s preaching because she was too upset/ distraught by the use of male pronouns. https://t.co/tg7b2v3DGp

— Protestia (@Protestia) September 28, 2026

Via Len Savage. Update to NFA Guidance.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives released an Open Letter and Frequently Asked Questions explaining how it will treat ownership, transfer, and transportation of the National Firearms Act (NFA) firearms for which Congress eliminated the making and transfer taxes in the One Big Beautiful Bill.

Under ATF’s guidance, ATF will not enforce the requirements for individuals to apply and receive ATF approval before making or transferring short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, suppressors (silencers), and certain other concealable firearms known in the law as “any other weapons.” ATF also will not enforce the NFA’s registration, tax-stamp or related requirements for those covered items. The $200 tax remains in place for machine guns and destructive devices. The NFA requirements apply in full to those weapons.  The guidance does not supersede state and local laws that restrict NFA firearms.

I had previously stated that I thought this would create an inconsistency between the federal code and states laws that still required suppressors to be registered as NFA items (because of a lack of schema for registration in light of the court order). I was mistaken. This Q&A exists down below.

Will ATF permit individuals to file registration forms voluntarily?

Yes.  ATF will continue to maintain the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record and approve all NFA forms for those who voluntarily wish to submit them.

So non-free states like the one I live in – NC – will have to get the law amended to take advantage of this court ruling, and that’s not a simple thing in NC where Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro tend to rule the roost.

Pathetic. Cowards, one and all. They have sought out the wrong sort of person to be LEOs, or to them, maybe the right sort of person. I suspect LE has redacted the audio.

H/T WiscoDave.

🚨BREAKING: I got the HeeHaw Shooting bodycam footage. This is the raw footage, as provided by prosecutors. Does this look justified to you? https://t.co/bVGiDn37Vj

— The Civil Rights Lawyer (@johnbryanesq) October 9, 2026

As many as seven bears seen at one time in one location. Only the combine separates him. I wouldn’t be out there without a large bore gun.

Although I can’t confirm these are grizzlies and not brownies.

Video Link (I am not on Fakebook).

Source.

That was my guess, anyway.

@_Gun_Lover Out of battery?

— CaptainsJournal (@BrutusMaximus50) September 27, 2026

This is AI generated, but I commend it to you — the entire video. If you’re a hunter, or even if you’re not, you will want to know the information in this video. In fact, if I had the energy, I’d try to round up the source studies it uses for the narration and study them myself. I find this interesting — and highly troubling.

BLUF: It’s very, very complicated. Also, as if you needed to be told, man is involved it its spread and probably was involved in its inception.