Bernie Kuntz:

Three or four years ago I moved each of my firearms, one at a time, to a cleaning table where I had my gun vise and my green gun pad set up for cleaning. It took me more than two weeks but I finally got them all cleaned to my satisfaction.

You’ll have to visit his article to see his last step.

Well, I don’t go through anything that elaborate.  My procedure involves Hoppe’s No. 9, lot’s of patches, brushes, mops and the like, and then oil.  But I don’t have the equipment he does either.

Should I be doing what he’s doing?  Post your own procedure in the comments.  In particular, I don’t use a Copper remover in my cleaning process.

Orlando Sentinel:

With a single shot from his AR-15 rifle, a Lake County deputy sheriff quickly put an end to a large alligator that had a teenage girl trapped in a tree for nearly an hour, authorities said Monday.

Jordan Broderick, 15, was eventually able to climb safely down from the tree, according to a sheriff’s report.

Just after 3 p.m. Friday, the Sheriff’s Office received calls from Michael Henderson of Titusville and other family members, saying that his daughter couldn’t come down from a tree near a boat ramp because a 10-foot alligator sat at the base of the tree hissing at her for more than 30 minutes, the report said.

“My daughter’s stuck in a frickin’ tree and there’s gators surrounding her!” the teenager’s mother said frantically to a 911 operator. “Oh my God! Please hurry! Please hurry!”

Jordan was floating on a raft in the creek near Forest Service Road near Alexandria Springs park when the alligator quickly approached her, authorities said.

That’s when the girl grabbed a large branch hanging over the water and climbed into the tree, according to the report. The alligator then waited in the water at the base of the tree underneath the girl hanging from the branch.

When Deputy Mitch Blackmon arrived, he found the girl in the tree screaming that she was tired from hanging on to the branch, the report said.

“My presence failed to scare the alligator away, and it began encroaching on my area at which time I fired one single 223 round from my Bushmaster AR15 killing the alligator,” Blackmon wrote in his report.

The alligator sank into the water and did not reappear, the report said. A Lake County marine biologist confirmed the alligator had died, according to authorities.

Wait!  I thought the 5.56mm round was worthless (he calls his ammo .223, little difference if he’s correct)?  I thought it was good for nothing except inflicting mass innocent casualties?  I thought no one needed such a thing?

Followup thoughts: I hate to jump on Mr. Michael Henderson after a traumatic event like this one, but where is your AR-15, sir?  What kind of man says this? [My] “daughter couldn’t come down from a tree near a boat ramp because a 10-foot alligator sat at the base of the tree hissing at her for more than 30 minutes.”

No offense, but head to the nearest gun store and spend a little money.

In no certain order, these discussion crossed my path this week.

American Hunter:

There are other benefits to the .224 Valkyrie aside from the availability and component standpoints. The cartridge feeds from a 6.8 SPC magazine and requires a 6.8 SPC bolt—parts that are common and easy to place in an AR-15. Other aspects of the case design make the round desirable, too. Measuring 1.6 inches long, the .224 Valkyrie case is .16 inch shorter than both the .223 Rem. and the .22 Nosler. Yet, the .224 Valkyrie case’s extra neck length of .025 inch allows for more flexibility in bullet lengths and changes in seating depth. This aids in fine-tuning loads and allows for more bullet weight options while keeping the jump to the lands minimal. The .224 Valkyrie willingly accepts long, heavy bullets with high ballistic coefficients, while keeping overall cartridge length within the dimensional limitations imposed by the AR-15 magazine. Most case dimensions are very similar to the 6.8 SPC, including body taper, so magazine capacity is not inhibited in any way. Federal recommends a 1:7-inch twist rate to stabilize the 60- to 90-grain bullets typically loaded in the cartridge.

We had discussed the .224 Valkyrie earlier.  From an article earlier in the year, Andrew Tuohy writing for Omaha Outdoors (in a very long discussion) loves the Valkyrie round.  As we speak, it looks like Savage and CMMG jumped quickly and are offering the best Valkyrie guns, both manufacturers at a reasonable price.

American Hunter on how to build the perfect Western big game hunting rifle.

• 6.5 Creedmoor: Great for youth and recoil-sensitive hunters. Fantastic for Coues deer and pronghorn. Somewhat light, but with careful bullet selection and shot placement, adequate for elk. A bit anemic compared to other cartridges on this list.
• 6.5 PRC: Hot new round that is superb on lighter game and adequate for elk. Fast and flat, and comfortable to shoot. Be sure to choose a tough projectile when hunting bigger game like elk.
• .280 Ackley Improved: Very good round that is perfectly adequate for anything from Coues deer to elk and moose. Boasts almost the same performance as the 7mm mag. but with greater efficiency and slightly less recoil.
• .28 Nosler: Fast, flat and very hard-hitting, the .28 Nosler is one of today’s finest. It’s hot, though, so not ideal for recoil-sensitive shooters.
• .300 Win. Mag.: Less ideal for the small species like Coues deer but great for the big stuff, this cartridge is a thumper—on both ends. Tons of projectile and load options available almost anywhere in the world.

This is a rather odd article to me.  There is little discussion of the traditional big game hunting rounds like .30-06, 7mm Magnum or .270 Win, all of which are more powerful than any of the above except for the .300 Win Mag.

But you be the judge.

Tim does a nice job figuring out what’s happening and troubleshooting a solution.  I confess I didn’t know that striker drag for smallish sub-compact 9mm pistols is a thing.  Then again, I don’t shoot striker fired guns, and I don’t shoot 9mm guns.

Via WoG, this:

‘Hunting & Fishing’ ballot initiative: a thin veil covering the GOP’s apathy toward gun owners…

Other organizations may be happy with a hunting and fishing ballot initiative posing as pro-gun legislation, but we at GRNC are not fooled by a wispy, token gesture in the absence of real pro-gun legislative action. Second Amendment voters like you played a pivotal role in Republicans gaining and maintaining a supermajority in the NC legislature, but how has Republican leadership repaid you for this? Simple:

1. GOP Senate leaders, like Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, have spent a full two years ignoring gun owners, refusing to give GRNC’s ‘Permitless Concealed Carry’ bill (HB 746) even a hearing, let alone bring it to the floor for a vote.

2. Republicans in the NC House, like Speaker Tim Moore, have refused to give a hearing to the time-critical School Self-defense Act (HB 1039), which would help protect our vulnerable school children.

If that’s not a sharp enough stick in the eye, NC’s GOP Executive Director, Dallas Woodhouse, recently proclaimed on Facebook that the GOP will not move pro-gun bills during this session. And yes, you read that right, Dallas Woodhouse is not the Democrat’s Executive Director, he is the ostensibly “pro-gun” Republican’s.

4. Now, our state’s Republican politicians have further “repaid” you by putting forth a virtually meaningless ballot initiative, meant only to conjure thoughts of gun rights and to get conservative voters to the polls. Unfortunately, the ballot initiative does little or nothing to advance gun rights in our state. It definitely won’t protect school children, nor will it help you protect your family.

Good.  No one gets my vote by allowing me to pick up crumbs that fall from the master’s table.  I still want the idiotic, communistic system of CLEO approval for handgun purchases to be thrown out of the state.  I have a CHP for the simple and only reason that I cannot purchase handguns in NC without it.

Because NC republicans are communists.  Oh, and by the way, I don’t give a shit about your stupid hunting and fishing ballot initiatives.

TFB:

What a difference a year makes. Last June we announced that Gemtech was breaking ground on a new world headquarters. Last night we learned that in six to nine months Gemtech will no longer exist in Idaho. At a company meeting yesterday, the remaining Gemtech employees were told that the facility would close and that all business would be moved to Smith & Wesson’s headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Some manufacturers are so tone deaf it amazes me they’re still in business.  S&W has been told time and again by me and literally everyone else that they need to move operations completely and with prejudice away from their current state and come South.  Or West.  Idaho would be fine, or somewhere in the Northwest redoubt, or South would be better.

Leaving the liberal politics behind would be a requirement, of course, but instead of doing this, S&W is buying smaller companies and moving them to Massachusetts.

Procedure: [1] Find the worst possible thing you could do to alienate your customer base, and [b] do it.  If you’re dumb.