Outdoor Life.

During the 10mm vs .44 Mag. test, none of us were looking forward to running the S&W 329 PD with the Hornady 240-grain JHP loads I had brought along. But while our hands were fresh we shot the revolver first.  According to Hornady’s data, the XTP bullets from a 7.5-inch barrel clock at 1350 fps and generate 971 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle. And I can vouch that you feel every one of the foot-pounds when you pull the 329’s trigger. (I’m glad I didn’t bring the 305-grain hardcast bullets I normally carry in the revolver, which step out at 1,325 fps with 1,189 foot-pounds of muzzle energy.)

Not only was the muzzle flip difficult to control, but running the revolver quickly was painful as hell. And quickly was a relative term. Our average run on the five-target array was 5.5 seconds with a -1.3 accuracy score. (Meaning we missed an average of 1.3 targets during the drill.) Interestingly, one of the misses was an edge hit that failed to knock over the steel popper, which drove home our collective observation of how difficult the revolver was to control while going for vital hits.

Well no wonder.  They were shooting a Scandium frame wheel gun.  I also don’t understand why they were shooting JHPs.  No one would carry JHP for bear defense.

We all shot the 10mm Autos much better, despite the fact that the webs of our shooting hands were swollen and bruised after running the .44. We alternated through the pistols, running them in no particular order, but recording our impressions after each run. For ammo we ran 180-grain JHPs from Federal and Hornady loaded to similar velocities. Published data gives speeds of 1,275 fps and a muzzle energy of 650 foot-pounds.

So what?  I confess that I just don’t get this fascination with 10mm guns for the bush.

I can push 230 grain 450 SMC (Short Magnum Cartridge) bullets at 1150 FPS, and Buffalo Bore +P .45ACP almost that fast.  I don’t consider those rounds difficult to shoot at all.

If you wanted to take a step up for semiautomatic handguns, you could buy a new barrel (with compensator and new spring) and shoot the 460 Rowland and have all the advantages of the rapid reload.

But to each his own

All Outdoor.

The Nitro 505 is supposed to be the perfectly balanced reverse-draw crossbow and is allegedly capable of delivering 400-grain arrows up to 505 fps.

[ … ]

Two packages will be available with the more affordable one being the Nitro 505 which comes complete in a Moss Green camouflage and a black scope for $2,999.99, or the high-end Veil Alpine Camoflague with a matched camouflaged scope for $3,099.99.

My goodness!  You can buy a Bighorn Armory rifle for that.  Good equipment costs a lot of money these days.

You look lonely.  I’ll be your friend.

Here, I’ll share with you.

Yes, I took it.  What?  Do I look guilty or something?  What gave me away?

I’ll be your ears for you.

I’m so happy to see you!

You CANNOT leave without me!

If only I had opposable digits, I could do that too.

We dogs know the difference between good people and bad.

Free to have and use tools for telling people about Christ: Background on how to Share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a Gospel Primer with specific step-by-step instructions. These posts are tagged Gospel Witness, so you can find them all as they are posted over time.

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“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:10

If you are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, having received the Lord as your Saviour, then you have a duty to share that faith with lost souls by being a witness for Jesus Christ. Holy God ordained these works for you before you were saved. Jesus did not save you for no reason. He saved you for good works in the Kingdom of God to bring glory to His holy name.

“Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.” – John 4:29-30

After hearing the good news, the very first thing the Samaritan woman at the well did was to go tell the whole town and bring them to Christ.

When Jesus was just twelve years old, He told Joseph and His mother that serving the Father was the most important thing.

“And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” – Luke 2:49

Soul winners are disciples that continue the mission of Jesus Christ, seeking that which was lost. Christ offers the lost sinner salvation through forgiveness from sin so that they might be saved from death and wrath and hell. As was Jesus, we must be about our Father’s business.

Some of the worst opposition to your service of the Lord may come from family, friends, and other Christians. They are either not truly born again or are hearers of the word only, deceiving themselves (James 1:22). Pray they would repent and also serve. The job is to conquer the world in the name of Jesus Christ, bringing salvation to all nations by wielding the sword of God, which is His word. Go through them, over them, or around them. Lead, follow, or get out of the way!

“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” – John 15:5

If you abide in Christ, you will see the power of the Holy Spirit firsthand to beholding mighty blessings when you share the Gospel leading souls to Christ. Pray, asking God to use you, give you boldness to proclaim the truth of salvation in Christ, and go before you convicting the lost of their need for salvation.

There is no checklist, process, specific method, system, or program that saves a lost soul. And no rite or ritual, or particular words or prayer that saves a lost sinner. Jesus Christ saves lost sinners by grace through faith in His finished work on the cross, plus and minus nothing. Your job is to go and tell them.

I think he makes it clear that he hasn’t been through all of it and there’s more to come.

BLUF.  The rule is a mess, with massive vaguery throughout (probably by intention).  Lack of clarity is always the friend of overbearing regulators and controllers.

For now, until and unless the ATF decides otherwise, they have a calculated mess for manufacturers to deal with, but AR-15 upper receivers are not included in this mess and do not require serialization.

If you’re a mechanic and like to work on things, the FedGov hates you.

UPDATE: The rules are as clear as mud.

I like what he’s done.

“4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” – Revelation 21:4-8

The poor souls that fear God, they know. Not those who fear before God as believers, but those who fear the change that will happen to them if they trust God. They fear the loss of their old self, and mostly they fear the loss of their favorite sins. You know that your life will change when you make the leap of trust in Jesus Christ. Forthrightly, we’ll state; that you won’t miss your sins or your previous life. You’ll marvel at your new self in wonder as you consider why you ever disbelieved. The same God, who by His Son can forgive, will give you new desires, aspirations, and goals in this life; you won’t even care except to think how very silly it was that you waited to call upon Jesus.

Sure there are some weird Christians. There are also some odd Led Zeppelin fans, weird soccer moms, and strange people at your last job. There are also some pretty down-to-earth Christians. God calls men out of every type, tribe and tongue, background, education, and prior belief system; you name it; Christians used to be just like them, just like you.

Your fear is unfounded; it’s better to have sought Christ, accepted the change of heart and mind, to no longer be a servant of your sin. You can be free from the bondage that sin holds over you. Can you not see how sin has you in bondage, convincing you how much you’ll miss it? The knowledge of God Almighty and being made free in Christ Jesus isn’t worse. That’s an absurdity. What has sin ever gotten you but debt, torn relationships, pain, and misery while forging your way in this despicable and wicked world beset by evil? And worst of all, the hold sin has over you is filling you with the fear of accepting God. Your sin is a liar.

Many a wretched man, murderers and whoremongers, have come to Christ, and all men are liars, but the fearful they know it’s all true, they sense it correctly, you will change. But you’ll be well glad of it; rid of the service of your sin, which is slavery. Jesus is freedom, true freedom; no government, not even self-government, has an easier yoke than Christ has upon His own.

He has made you aware of Him by your refusal. Isn’t that interesting? You know that God is real; otherwise, you wouldn’t hold on to your current state so hard. Faith is trust in the unknown, having seen only a glimpse. If you put your faith in Jesus Christ, you will change; you know it. God has shown you that glimpse of His promise.

Both the change now and the offer of eternity are true; they must be, for He is God, the author of life and the creator of all things. Who are you that God Almighty, giver of all knowledge and truth, would reveal Himself to you, and you what; hang on to this wicked and depraved sinful world?

That’s why the fearful and unbelieving are damned to hell because God has told them, God has told you, that your desires and heart will change. Still, you have chosen pleasure for a season that continually ends in misery and always leads to the need for more sin over the grace of God who reached across time and the expanse of His creation, showing you a peek at His offer. How much more the miserable an end of you, knowing the truth, having been personally contacted by God, and rejecting Him. It will not go well with you when you finally meet Him. What will you say?

Since you know that the change in you will be authentic, why won’t you take the threat seriously? You know that your life will change and perhaps in drastic ways, but why do you fear that change more than the threat of death? Revelation 21:8 also tells us that the fearful and unbelieving “shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” Why do you hold onto this life, kicking against the call of the Gospel, knowing that your life will change? Yet you deny the eternal consequences, both the potential for peace with Holy God by accepting His offer, or by entering into eternal death, damned, being condemned already for you know your sin, having denied Him; your sin has found you out! If you know the one to be true, carefully examine by what both spiritual and logical fallacy you hold the other to be false. Either you’re made a new man now and enter into the eternal presence and glory of Holy Father God forgiven, or you stay a slave to sin and die, tortured forever.

“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.” – Revelation 21:5

Christ is making all things new, ending the curse of sin, and holding out the promise of a new heaven and new earth. “…God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain…” Those are the promises of life eternal; having shown you the faintest hints of the beginning of the guarantee, you must come by faith to be with Him at the end. Any Christian telling you that it’s no leap of faith is a liar; it absolutely is; for by grace are ye saved through faith. Why hold to your self-inflicted doubt, for God has shown you. God, by His Son, is making all things new. Not just a change in this life, but the rest of the promise; to not only be forgiven and remade into a new creature with a new spirit but to see God and to meet Him as a friend. If you know the one, you can see the other. Still, that knowledge comes after the day of belief and forgiveness, the day you finally submit, not to your sin, but to the God that created you and breathed the very breath of life into your soul who’s calling you out of the darkness of this present world into His light of truth. For every creature sings, “blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne.”

The change, the transformation, is quite miraculous. You can witness firsthand how the power of God will change your desires and conscience. God takes the most wretched of sinners and turns them into the kindest and most caring people. God takes those who may not be the dregs but sinners nonetheless and turns them into lifelong servants of the good, pouring themselves into helping others. But you can’t know His plan until He makes His covenant with you. Don’t be deceived by the Sunday churchgoers who live like hell the rest of the week; they are not converted. But you, having heard, called by God unto His great purposes, the conversion will be genuine. You’ll be created anew in salvation, and the old self is crucified with Christ unto death, the new man being raised to walk in eternal life, entering into the love and merciful peace of holy Father God.

The words of Jesus are true and faithful; God, the beginning and the end of all life and our faith, decided to offer eternal life and chose to make Christ judge of all things. It is done; Christ has risen from the tomb, ascending back on high, being alpha and omega the adjudicator of every soul’s decision, and you who have heard from God and rejected Him will burn. This isn’t His choice; you made the decision and brought this on yourself. He will pass sentence according to His word, for all the promises of God in Christ are yea, and amen, the fearful of that leap into faith will burn, you have His word.

But unto you, that heard and with an open heart, having sensed what change will come about, you should speak to God of the covenant He would make with you. He will give of the fountain of the water of life freely, that you would overcome this world in Him, given the presence of God in your conscience as He fulfills every aspect of His promises and covenants in you. You won’t miss the person you are now! This sin you crave will be gone. You won’t care about it anymore, and you will no longer desire it. That’s where the trepidation comes; God has revealed it to you; His power is manifest to convert you, removing your old heart’s desire and replacing it with the singular desire for Him and His kingdom, dominion, and rule transformed into a son of God. Take the offer; it’s all true!

Seated upon His throne, behold, He makes all things new; the old is cast into eternal death. But your reborn soul can enter Christ’s kingdom, He will be your God, and you shall be His son overcoming in His strength, leaving your fear and unbelief behind forever.

“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” – Revelation 21:7

You can overcome all things in Christ; your fear is unfounded, for His will works in the heart and mind of the new creation, His word saying; you shall inherit all things, He will be your God, you shall be His son. That’s God’s positive, affirmative, forward word, but you already knew you would change this way. Put your trust in Jesus Christ, the God of that first glimpse; your fear and unbelief are an unfounded lie.

Once again the greatest bear and firearms researcher in the world helps us with new data.  I’ll let you go to Dean’s article for the scoop, but I’ll lift this out.

Of these 20 cases, 15 involve a single, known, pistol caliber. Here are the current numbers of cases for those calibers:

• 9mm – seven documented cases, all successful
• .38 Special –  four documented cases, three successful, one failure
• .357 magnum – nine documented cases, eight successful, one failure
• .40 S&W  – five documented cases, all successful
• 10mm – six documented cases, all successful
• .44 magnum – 37 documented cases, all successful
• .45 Long Colt – 2 cases, successful, this includes the .45 Colt/.410 revolver.

Caliber seems far less important than the willingness to use the firearm and kill the bear.

These were all newly found cases.  I’m surprised to find no .45ACP in the list.

But it isn’t clear to me what Dean’s list means.  This totals to 70 cases, not the 20 new ones he listed.

“The Collector” again.

I left a comment.  Awesome range, but does the ventilation system include charcoal adsorbers and HEPA filters to remove the lead and copper before discharge (there are other things to consider, but these are just two)?