Articles by Herschel Smith

Recoil.

NEW from Daniel Defense comes the SoundGuard Suppressors, powered by KGM!

Boasting multiple patent-pending design features, Daniel Defense says their three new suppressors (SG-556, SG-30, and SG-30Ti) utilize cutting-edge gas-flow dynamics that eliminate over-gassing and direct gas forward, substantially decreasing the amount of blowback.

These patent-pending gas-flow paths also help stabilize rounds as they pass through and exit the can, thus proving a “negligible” point-of-impact shift.

If that isn’t enough, patented baffle stack design and proprietary coatings reduce the flash signature to almost zero.

Combined, these are big claims and would represent some major innovations in suppressor technology. But with the surge of popularity in cans, we’ve seen some huge changes in recent years.

Daniel Defense is backing their SoundGuard Suppressors with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

MSRP is $750 for the SG-556 and SG-30, $1,000 for the SG-30Ti.

Ammoland also covered this, but almost like a paid advertisement with even less information than you see above from Recoil.

Honestly, this is just poor reporting.  So let me ask the most obvious question that wasn’t asked and answered above.  I had talked to the folks at Daniel Defense about removing the welded and staked flash hider on a 14.5″ barrel in order to install a SureFire flash hider.  The reason?  Because SureFire makes a suppressor that installs with a clamp over their own flash hider, so installation and removal is as simple and quick as that.

Does the Daniel Defense suppressor install with a clamping device over their own flash hider?  Do they make a model like that?  If not currently, do they intend to?

Again, lousy reporting.  Daniel Defense should have contacted me to announce this and I would have asked the hard questions.

FWIW, Daniel told me to let a gunsmith do the removal and reinstallation of a new flash hider, that they had a procedure that had to be followed so as not to harm the barrel.  But (and here is the nit I have) they also told me that they had fielded other calls to this effect and knew that folks wanted to install flash hiders that clamped on.

So if they knew this, why didn’t they include it in their own design?  If they did include it, why didn’t the press release say so?

Does Daniel Defense need to hire me?

They say this is going to be a series.  If so, I’ll be sure to watch it.

On another note, he says that Rossi is beginning production again of its 454 Casull rifle.  That’s nice, although I suspect they will be very difficult to obtain.

Light weight rifles in the news.

New Begara Crest rifle, carbon stock.  Somewhere on the order of $2000.

American Hunter on the Bergara Premier MgLite.

Carbon barrel and carbon stock.  And it looks about as skeletonized as you could get it, running at 6.8 pounds but a bracing $3300.

And just today Game and Fish came out with a nicely written article on eight guns that run between 6 and 7 pounds, but also run somewhere mostly around $2000 each.  Carbon seems to be the common element.

The goal is weight mitigation in the bush and especially in the mountains.  As a man who has carried heavy weight in the mountains, I can sympathize with the goal.

These are some nice rifles.  If readers have experience with any of them, please weigh in with comments.  We may revisit these guns in the future.

Reason.  But of course it does.  The notion that the founders, free men, would have begged the government for permits, licensed their firearms, or scratched numbers on the pristine work done by the gunsmiths of the age so the government could track them, would have made them vomit.  They went to war over things like that.

"These scenarios make clear that Section 922(k) is far more than the mere commercial regulation the Government claims it to be. Rather, it is a blatant prohibition on possession." pic.twitter.com/EFfIXznBTy

— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) October 13, 2022

"Finally, I can find no authority for the idea that a firearm without a serial number would meet the historical definition of a dangerous or unusual firearm." pic.twitter.com/mxNrvjiuZK

— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) October 13, 2022

From Guns.com.  Here is the video.

That gun sure is jumping around in her hands.  I’d like to understand the differences between this model and what Langdon Tactical does with the Model 92 low mount red dot optic cut slide.

Watch until the end where you learn the reason for this failure.  It’s quite common, actually, because of the similarity of ammunition case.

Check your ammunition.  Load it by hand, and watch while you do.

That’s a mighty long way to sling that large bullet, but it shows what time and ingenuity can do.

First of all, I don’t shoot Remington ammunition.  I consider it to be rather weak tea most of the time.  It isn’t awful, but there’s nothing special about it.

Second, that muzzle velocity for .45 ACP is quite low.  There is much stouter stuff around (Underwood, Double Tap, Buffalo Bore, etc.).

Third, I still think in many cases ball ammunition is a fine choice for personal defense.

Outdoor Life.

Camouflage made in the U.S. might not sound novel, but it’s a rare product. If hunters are anything, as Fulks points out, they’re a patriotic bunch, emblazoning the stars and stripes on truck sides, bumper stickers and gun stocks. But look at the tags in your new pants, wicking shirts, and down jackets, and you’ll find very few modern-made garments that weren’t made overseas. While Origin isn’t the only company making camo in the U.S.—Forloh and Voormi also manufacture stateside—the company is coming to the public with a splash that includes big names, a high-profile social media presence, and the bootstraps, made-in-America origin story that consumers can’t seem to get enough of.

Roberts and Fulks say domestic production is a matter of principle: Clothing manufacturing can and should return home to the U.S. Other camo companies, like Kuiu, say it’s about the final product: If a Japanese company makes the best waterproof and breathable fabric in the world, then they’re going to source their materials from a Japanese company.

Aaron Snyder, co-owner of Kifaru, says it’s good to see someone else joining the made-in-the-USA game, though he’s reserving final judgement until he sees Origin’s camo in person. (The camo has been available for pre-order, but most consumers have yet to get their hands on the gear.)

“I think that they have an uphill road to hoe because it is a difficult thing to make clothing in the U.S. I think it can be done. We’re doing it and have been doing it for 30 years,” says Snyder. “Only time will tell what that final product will be and what the feedback will be from the end consumer. Are they going to come through and buy it? Is it going to be high quality?”

This is a difficult one, and I have thought a lot about it.

I hate to send my money overseas, and if I can avoid it and get the best product for the money in America, I’ll do that.  Ford still makes the very best trucks, especially the ones built in their Kentucky plant.  That may soon end because of the idiotic decisions by the Ford CEO to go all EV, laying off so many internal combustion engine workers.  That’s why the price of F-250s is so high right now, and still continuing to climb.  Everybody knows it’s a stupid decision and waiting until now to buy that new truck ended up being a costly decision.

So with Ford, at least until now, the best was combined with made-in-America, but also combined with high prices.  I have always opted for the higher price product rather than cut costs and be sorry later for owning a poor product.

The problem heretofore has been mainly the loss of the Christian work ethic, combined with unionized labor, combined with economic incentives to move manufacturing overseas designed to gut the American infrastructure by the politicians in favor of the economic engineers.  They want to bust corporations, make money, and have great products too.

But that just-in-time logistics chain has proven highly problematic, yes?  And the poor quality of foreign made components has caused the regulators to prohibit the use of those products where it matters, e.g., nuclear power, or ASME boiler and pressure vessel code work.

As it applied to this point in question, do you want to be in a tree stand with apparel designed for cold weather and freeze to death because the apparel sucks?  Do you want to be in the field with rain gear that soaks through in five or ten minutes?  Or are you willing to buy gear, part of which is sourced from a foreign company, that actually works?

I opt for the later.  I wish all the best to a startup trying to compete with the big boys, but the product had better be good.  Here’s a quick note to the company: I’d rather pay more for a product that works.  The cost is important, but whether the product works is supreme.

Source.

A North Carolina resident named Tarika McAllister fired a gun for the first time last week and it helped put a man who broke into her home behind bars.

According to WRAL-TV, McAllister, who lives in the city of Dunn, was home alone when she awaken by loud noises and her dog barking around 6 a.m last Tuesday. After hearing the sounds coming from the rear of her house, she went to check if everything was okay. McAllister was stunned to find a man attempting to steal some of her items —including her dog. It was at that moment that she took matters into her own hands.

The 29-year-old yelled for the intruder to get out, but he was unphased. Fortunately, within her reach was the gun she kept stored. And although she had never used it before, she put her nervousness aside and grabbed it.

“All I did was turn around and grab the gun,” McAllister told WRAL. “I was fumbling with it. It’s my first time using it.”

McAllister added that she lifted the safety and did what she had to do.

“I just lifted it up, and I started shooting at him, wherever he was moving to, I just shot him out of the house,” she said.

When the police arrived to the scene, they found the thief, who has been identified as 20-year-old Malihk Giles, only about 200 yards from McAllister’s home with two gunshot wounds, one on his right lower leg and the other on his right side. After his wounds were treated at a local hospital, he was taken into custody at Harnett County Detention Center where he is being held on charges of first-degree burglary and possession of stolen property with a $75,000 bond. McAllister and Giles had no connection to each before the incident but according to McAllister, she experienced a similar incident at her home just three weeks prior. Luckily, she was able to just scare the man away.

So she lives in a neighborhood with a crime problem, and had a home invasion before this incident.  She purchased a gun and stopped this one cold.

Wait!  You mean she didn’t attend “School of the Tacticool Warrior” taught by former Navy SEAL Ranger Scout Sniper FBI SWAT Team member “Mr. Tacticool Himself?”  You mean she didn’t drop $2000 for a class and travel a 1000 miles to take classes from the best of the best?  She just picked up a gun and defended herself and her home?

Well then.  I would indeed suggest that she get some range time and maybe take some classes on proper grip technique and shooting stance to help her in the future, but this just goes to show once again that anyone can overcome their fears and nerves to effect self defense.  A bunch of hollering and screaming from Mr. Tacticool trainer wasn’t needed.