Articles by Herschel Smith

Below is another installment of Nicholas Bugosh on the Marlin 444. His insights are wise and experienced. The Rossi R95 has trouble with the Hornady jacketed flat nose 265 grain cartridges, which is a deal breaker for me.

But what I really want is the Rossi R95 in 454 Casull, which is just unobtainium. Here’s another gun that can’t be found: the CZ Bren 2 in 7.62X51. Why advertise a gun that cannot be purchased?

Those CZ Bren 2s in 7.62×51 are essentially “unobtainium” in the states. Nice gun.

— CaptainsJournal (@BrutusMaximus50) September 5, 2025

And an SBR at that! Here is the scoop.

1. Did you get to keep the bear? No. He contacted both the sheriff and Parks and Wildlife. In self-defense bear shootings, the animal is collected by authorities.
2. How did the bear get in? It climbed a second-story deck, opened a cracked window by pushing in the screen. Due to mountain weather and a lack of AC, the window had been left ajar.
3. Is your hearing okay? Yes. The firearm was equipped with a suppressor, and the shooter routinely suppresses all his guns.
4. Did you know it was a bear? No. He only confirmed it upon visually identifying the animal inside the home.
5. What gun did you use? A Geissele Super Duty 11.5-inch AR-15 in 5.56, which he described as a personal favorite.
6. Any damage to the house? Minimal. All seven rounds hit the bear. One fragment nicked the floor, but no other property damage was reported.
7. What ammo did you use? Hornady Critical Defense 55 grain. Despite common skepticism about the 5.56 round on large animals, the ammunition performed effectively.

Among the things you don’t have to be told not to do …

A shooting game between two friends in Texas has taken a tragic turn, with one dead and the other arrested for his murder.

Sean O’Donnell, 37, and Aaron Prout, 34, were taking turns shooting at each other with a rifle while wearing a kevlar helmet inside a Houston home on August 17.

The game unfolded at a home on Pennington Hills Drive in the northern outskirts of the city, but it went horribly wrong when O’Donnell allegedly fatally shot Prout, an English military veteran.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said deputies were called to the home and ‘found an adult male who sustained what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head’.

‘He was transported to a hospital, but subsequently died from his injuries,’ Gonzalez said.

He added that Prout was a British expat living in Houston, while O’Donnell owns the property where the shooting took place.

‘Hard to believe two, so-called friends, would take turns shooting at each other wearing a kevlar helmet, inside a house in a residential neighborhood, while using a rifle,’ Gonzalez said.

He added that the incident was initially recorded as a potential suicide, but ‘things weren’t adding up’.

‘With thorough follow-up investigation, the truth was ultimately revealed,’ Gonzalez said.

Officials did not disclose the type of rifle which was used or the distance between the two friends at the time the deadly trigger was pulled.

It’s unclear whether the bullet missed the ballistic helmet, or if it penetrated through the armor.

A heartbroken relative of Prout’s said he served in the British Royal Marines for 10 years before moving to Texas, ‘the place he was happy and loved’.

‘The passing of Aaron has left me totally heartbroken, this was the worst news I have ever received,’ the relative wrote on Facebook.

‘Aaron was a very caring and wonderful person and was always there for his friends, he lived his life to the absolute fullest.

‘He had a brilliant job and was starting his own business. His passion was target shooting and he had won many tournaments .

‘Aaron always used to make me feel like a million dollars whenever I spoke to him, and made me laugh when telling me about all his wild and wonderful adventures.

‘He was renowned as one of the best pranksters, always with a smile on his face and a very kind heart.’

O’Donnell’s social media indicates that he is also a military veteran.

He was charged with murdering Prout and booked into the Harris County Jail on Thursday.

How could anyone do this unless he was under the influence of … something?

These videos came out several months ago. Unfortunately, the first one can’t be embedded, only linked. The second one is below.

First Video on .444 Marlin

But they always have had that. To work for the ATF these days you must have no conscience.

Your existence puts everyone at risk.

AMIRITE?

— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) August 20, 2025

The original post has been removed. It said:

The millions of law-abiding Americans who have chosen to carry a concealed firearm are putting “everyone involved at risk,” the ATF announced this week in a tweet on X.

“Take a look into our world. This is a scenario @ATFWasington frequently faces when combatting violent crime and maintaining public safety. Many people attempt to conceal firearms on their person or belongings which puts everyone involved at risk. #MakeDCSafeAgain #ATF,” the ATF tweeted on X.

As you can imagine, ATF’s message received hundreds of overwhelmingly negative responses including many that are not fit to reprint.

I’m sure they did – and I’m sure they deserved them all.

This is the first video I’ve seen that frankly admits that it takes too much time, too many resources, and too much manpower to catch hogs in traps. And the first to admit that hunting has the most immediate and dramatic impact on the population.

There is one issue I have with the video. He says, “When you shoot one the rest won’t come back.” Hogwash. I’ve seen it happen within 15 minutes.

By the way, you see that shot at 13:13 of the video? That’s how you take hogs (direct hit to the head or just behind the ear) with smaller caliber rifles. With big bore guns you aren’t so limited.

Source.

Houston police — the real ones — are investigating a lethal home defense shooting that took place late Friday night in the southeast part of the city. Two men knocked on a homeowner’s door claiming they were police officers and were there to serve a warrant. To his credit, the homeowner didn’t just open the door. As KHOU reports . . .

This is yet another instance of criminals posing as cops doing a no-knock SWAT raid. I’ve cataloged other such instances over these pages.

And once again to the cops reading these pages, this is why we can’t just roll over and beg for our lives because you stand at the door cursing at us and beating on the door, or because you don’t do that and you just bust in the door and point guns at us.

We MUST assume that this is a gang of criminals intent on harming our family. If you have any sense at all, you’ll understand my point.

Source.

Military, police, and private gun users have seen problems with the Sig P320 series — which includes M18s — for years now, Laramie-based gunsmith Brian Dimoff told Cowboy State Daily in a July interview.

Dimoff did not immediately respond to a Monday morning voicemail request for a follow-up interview.

Dimoff said last month that he believes the issue is that Sig Sauer tried to design its striker system without infringing Glock’s patent of that same system, and so made an ill-fitting design that may slip over time.

The internal pieces are under spring pressure and a block keeps the firing action at bay. If the pieces don’t fit together well, they’ll loosen over time and be prone to jolts.

“If one part begins to slip off another part, it’s a matter of time before it moves all the way down and you’re going to have a striker hit the primer,” Dimoff said.

As for Dimoff, he owns a P320 and says it’s a “great gun,” but he’s had it both customized and tested to the point of comfort.

It’s difficult for me to see how any striker fired gun can be “great,” but I’ll leave it at that.

This is an interesting hypothesis. I’ve always thought (and have said so over these pages) that the problem stemmed from tolerance stacks and parts wear. He’s adding to it by saying the specific design was to prevent patent infringement.

I’ve also read that the project began as a hammer fired gun (they should have left it at that) and evolved to a striker fired gun. Because big army: “We want a striker. Give us a striker.”

First, I don’t agree with him that bolt action rifles are old and passé. Most sniper rifles in use in militaries around the world are still bolt action rifles (for tolerance issues, seating near the lands, etc., things that a semiautomatic doesn’t do as well).

Second, I like wheel guns for the same reason I like walnut furniture on rifles and lever action guns. The elegance and beauty of the thing, as well as the tip of the hat to older times. There’s just something about being connected to your heritage.

Third, I still think wheel guns are a valid and viable carry firearm. Semiautomatics haven’t replaced wheel guns, just supplemented them.