Archive for the 'Guns' Category

American Hunter.

Had this scope been a first-focal-plane (FFP) scope, it would not have mattered at what magnification the scope was set, and we likely would have had 300 pounds of meat to haul out. In a FFP optic, as the reticle is etched or marked on a forward lens in the scope, the holdover hash marks below the crosshair would have been the same value, placing a bullet in the same place at 4X as they would have at 12X. However, this was a second-focal-plane scope, which means the reticle was marked or etched on a lens in the rear, closer to where you look into the scope.

Being a SFP scope, the reticle on my 4X-12X Bushnell will always appear the same size as the magnification is adjusted, but changing the magnification does change the hash marks on the reticle in relation to the target. This is where some of you readers may want to start looking through your scope and twisting that magnification ring. In the story above, at 300 yards, the second hashmark represents approximately 10.5 inches (3.5 inches x 300 yards) of drop at 12X magnification. At 4X magnification, that second hashmark just turned into 31.5 inches (12X = 10.5 inches; 12X/4X = 3 times more value; 10.5 inches x 3 = 31.5 inches). This hold at 4X put the bullet 20 inches over the intended point of impact.

With a FFP scope, the reticle will grow and shrink as you adjust the power ring. This does little good on a scope with a standard duplex reticle, as your only holding mark is the crosshair itself, centered at any power. Where FFP is a help is when you have a drop reticle with hashmarks for simple holdover or when you are using a system such as MIL-DOT. If the scope on that rifle had been a FFP scope with MIL-DOT subtensions, the magnification power would not have mattered as the second hashmark would always be a 10.5-inch value at 300 yards.

That’s all well and good, but that reticle sure does appear small on any power for a FFP scope.  If you plan on shooting from one ridge to another, a FFP scope is the best bet.  If you plan on shooting east of the Mississippi, you’re probably better off with a SFP scope.  I’ve had a FFP scope mounted and wished I had a SFP scope.

But YMMV and everyone has his preferences.

This is an interesting idea.

I wouldn’t choose to replace the beautiful wood stocks on any legacy JM stamped Marlin 336, any of the modern Marlins, or any Henry.  We’ve discussed this before.  Fine Walnut stocks are too pretty to replace, and they make heirloom guns for the family.

On the other hand, if you have one of the polymer stock Henry rifles, it makes sense to consider something like this for hunting season for multiple reasons, e.g., water swelling of wood stocks in the rain, banging the stock around, etc.

The best deer cartridge you never shot!

Sorry, I can’t embed the YouTube shorts, just link them.

One can only hope that 35 Remington is next in line for Marlin.  Think 200 grains moving at around the same speed as the 30-30 160 grains, or in other words, 30-30 on steroids.

I like it.

But I do find it a bit off-putting that Marlin won’t formally announce their plans.  We shouldn’t be left to the vicissitudes of the rumor mill.

Watch the video.  Words couldn’t do better than he demonstrates in the video.

Whenever someone says to you, “Such-and-such piece of equipment is malfunctioning because you haven’t broken it in,” run for the hills.  Don’t buy it.  If you bought it, sell it.

You don’t do that with the brakes or other safety equipment for your vehicle.  Don’t do it with guns.

What a stupid thing to say to someone who purchased this firearm.

If I purchase a firearm, it’s going to work, and work correctly, immediately, or I won’t have it for long.  This failure not only puts the person at risk of needing it and not having it, but also of an inadvertent discharge, specifically not the fault of the owner.

Good grief. I don’t do Sig anyway. I see now for good reason.

These observations will be brief and to the point, and they apply to the A400 Xtreme Plus and 1301 (but I suspect to all their newest line of shotguns excluding over-unders).

The bolt carrier is very similar in design to that of an AR-15, with a firing pin held in place by a retaining pin, a cam, and the bolt carrier.  There are differences of course including dimensions, the spring on the fire pin, and the lack of gas return to operate the bolt (the Beretta gas system follows the tube).

But it has the look and feel of maintaining and cleaning an AR-15 at times.

Either Beretta learned from Eugene Stoner’s design and liked it and decided that it would lead to increased cycling speed, or they wanted American buyers to feel more accustomed to the system (or both).

There are numerous YouTube videos on this design.

Their over-unders are absolutely beautiful, but very pricey.

Recoil.

Rifled slugs are designed to be used in smoothbore shotguns. The rifled slug’s defining feature is a set of exterior grooves that resemble barrel rifling. Unlike barrel rifling, the slug’s grooves do not spin the projectile. Instead, the channels allow the slug to compress slightly so it can fit through a shotgun’s choke tube.

Sabot slugs lack the rifled slug’s exterior grooves because they are designed to be used in shotguns with rifled barrels or with a smoothbore paired with a rifled choke.

They go on to discuss various brands, including Remington Sabot slugs, Federal TruBall rifled slugs, Hornady American White Tail slugs, Winchester Super-X, and Brennecke Black Magin and Hefty Slugs.

I wouldn’t want to be behind a shotgun shooting Brennecke slugs unless my life was in danger.

The Hornady slug is 325 grains.  I’m left wondering why anyone would choose to shoot that over 45-70 at 325 grains.  Oh yea, stupid states like Illinois where shotgun and bow hunting are the only legal ways to harvest deer.

I don’t know the fate of HB 4386, but here’s the concern as expressed by the controllers.

“We are talking about cartridges that are as powerful as you need to cleanly harvest the animal without being excessively powerful so that there is accidental damage at distant targets that you can’t see,” Dale said.

Dummies.  South Carolina is a much more densely populated state than Illinois and this has never been a concern there.  The gigantic woods and corn fields of Illinois are the last place one should be concerned about “targets you can’t see.”

I know The Alaskan prefers Brennecke for dangerous animals.  If I lived there I’d probably practice with that – for one or two shots anyway.

Source.

In the 1840s and 1850s, companies in Liege, Belgium, produced thousands of double-barreled percussion shotguns. These imported 12-gauge models were popular among American hunters. At the onset of the Civil War, there is no evidence that state or national entities purchased these weapons in any significant number, but many merchants would for private sale.

While most of these imports did not have many markings on them, some did bear the popular Liege stamp, and a few had information linking them to American dealers inscribed on their barrels. Markings were typically located on the gun’s lock. Some, however, displayed markings on the barrel rib, the piece connecting the two barrels.

When they enlisted, many mounted Southerners brought their personal shotguns with them. The 52-inch length allowed a cavalryman to reload easily while riding, and the two barrels delivered heavy damage at close range. They could also be reloaded quicker than the 20 seconds it usually would take to load a rifled musket.

Southern blockade runners continued importing inexpensive Belgian shotguns throughout the war, as verified by the presence of several cases among many U.S. naval vessels’ prizes-of-war lists. Some of these captured shipments show markings of the Confederate gun companies to which they were being shipped, put there by an agent who had inspected the weapons for his company before it was shipped from a European port.

At the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, Mo., in August 1861, and during the 1862 New Mexico Campaign, close combat favored Confederates armed with shotguns against Union troops carrying rifled weapons.

Shotguns have always been, and will continue to be, used in warfare.  It’s a great CQB weapon and for that reason also a great home defense weapon.

My understanding is that it takes a shell of 2.5″ in length, or more precisely, 2 + 9/16″.  You cannot shoot modern 2.5″ shells in it.  It’s also my understanding that these go for around $200 – $300, although when someone tells you that “This gun was used in the civil war,” that’s almost impossible to prove unless it has papers and was associated with some well-known officer.

But if you could find such a gun with papers and proof or ownership and history, it would be a nice find as a C&R.

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.