We know how important ammo consolidation can be for both cost savings and ease of training/use. Here’s a great hunting combo.

Source:

Almost all shooters – and hunters – are plenty familiar with how Old West cowboys acquired both a long gun and handgun in the same chambering. That combination was most likely a lever-action rifle and a single-action revolver. A few popular pairings would have been traditional handgun rounds like the .44/40 Winchester, .45 Colt, and .32-20 Winchester.

Old-school shooters paired Colt and Winchester. Our modern-day mates are Henry Repeating Arms and Magnum Research. The method of putting together the perfect combination today may not be quite as critical to life and death, but it’s certainly a viable option for hunters, ranchers, and shooters building a supply of ammunition.

We’re taking this one boot step beyond the Old West today, as modern metallurgy and heavy-built actions allow us the ultimate big-bore combo rig that’s not in a handgun chambering but in the classic walloping .45-70 Government. The Magnum Research Biggest, Finest Revolver (BFR) and Henry Repeating Arms All-Weather Side Gate rifle are perfect playmates.

Photo: Kristin Alberts/Guns.com

It’s no mistake that we hunted Cape buffalo in Africa – on two separate trips – with the .45-70 Gov’t. The first foray saw that Henry rifle take down the buffalo with one well-placed shot. The second saw an even bigger beast drop with two rounds from the BFR. With a wide range of factory ammunition and reload recipes, the chambering can be tailored to handle smaller plains game as well.

But it’s not only for worldly adventures. In fact, the .45-70’s rich American historical bloodlines run deep, from U.S. military use and competition shooting to bison hunts. There’s good reason the round is still thriving 150 years later. We’ve harvested whitetails, varmints, warthogs, and all sorts of African plains game with this round from these two guns. They pack easily, look good together, fly well, shoot with 100 percent reliability, and do the job every single time.

The link also has a very informative 7min video.

Field & Steam

If you’re in the market for a rifle scope you can use to hit stuff that’s a long, long, way off, there’s some good news for you in 2023. If you’re in the market for a more general-purpose rifle scope, like a fixed 4X or the one-time industry standard 3-9X, you may have to fire up your time machine. Consumers drive the market, and the market says we need more long-range optics, and that’s what 2023 has given us. From a 1-10X LPVO to a 5-30X rifle scope that retails for less than seven Benjamins, you should be able to find something you like this year. Of course, there are sure to be some new red dot sights as well. From around $370 to ten times that much, here are the latest rifle scopes for 2023.

The GPO Spectra 1.5-8X44i with G4i reticle.

Interestingly:

GPO has added their very practical illuminated hunting reticle to one of their very practical hunting rifle scopes. Their Spectra 1.5-8X44i rifle scope now has the G4i reticle. This is a thin-wired German #4 style reticle with a small, illuminated dot at the center. The reticle brightness is fully adjustable and powers down when the scope has been stationary for more than three hours. This is a wonderful reticle option, in a great hunting scope, with a suggested retail price of $949.

There are others, including a reflex red dot.

Shooting Illustrated.

Both UPS and FedEx allow only FFLs, law enforcement agencies and specific governmental entities to ship and receive firearms of any type, for any reason. That means unless you happen to be an FFL, you’ll have to enlist the services of one to both send your rifle to a gunsmith or to a manufacturer for warranty repairs, or to receive your rifle from either. An added complication is that in order for FFLs to use UPS or FedEx for this purpose, they must first apply for and receive approval to be a firearm shipper from the company they want to use. As an FFL myself, I can attest that this process is neither simple nor a hoop that every FFL will choose to jump through. UPS takes it one step further by requiring that firearm parts only be shipped by FFLs as well. What constitutes a firearm part? According to the UPS representative who serviced my old account, UPS considers a firearm part to be “anything that would be assembled to make a gun or added to a gun,” such as magazines, small parts, aftermarket furniture or any other components.

Moving on to brighter skies, USPS appears to mirror federal guidelines when it comes to the shipping of rifles. “Publication 52” is the postal service’s main-source document for firearm-shipping rules. According to section 432.3, so long as the rifle is unloaded and all other laws (state, local, etc.) are in full compliance, a non-FFL may mail a rifle to another non-FFL within the sender’s state of residence. Outside of one’s state of residence, it may be mailed to an FFL or to yourself (in care of someone else), in advance of your arrival at the destination address. Specific rules are outlined for each of these situations, so check local, state and USPS regulations before shipping that family heirloom off into the wild blue yonder, whether for repair or use in a different state.

USPS regulations are elusive on the topic of FFLs returning firearms to their lawful owners. However, “27 CFR § 478.148” states that an FFL may return a firearm (or like replacement) to its owner across state lines. There are no restrictions on shipping firearm components and parts through USPS, except that receivers and frames that ATF classifies as firearms must be shipped as firearms.

[ … ]

USPS requires that you declare the firearm and certify that it is unloaded before handing your package over to them. At no time may ammunition be shipped with a firearm (regardless of shipping method). You may be required to show a copy of the receiving FFL’s license and include a copy of your driver’s license with the firearm as well. A note for the receiving party is always a good idea. One of my outgoing rifle shipments, also last year, arrived at the receiving end completely out of the box. In fact, there was no box at all, just a rifle in a case. Thankfully, the paperwork was also in the case, so the receiving gun shop had sufficient information to be able to contact me for guidance.

Even though long-gun shipping has become more complicated in recent months, it’s still not overly difficult. By following the relevant laws and shippers’ rules, you can get your rifle where it needs to be without much fanfare.

I think the bottom line is that we’re probably going to have to either [a] drive it to where it needs to go, or [b] go through an FFL.  FFLs know it’s necessary to ask them for this service, so they charge for it.  I don’t blame them – the FFL costs money to maintain.

The murky thing is “firearm parts.”  Thus far I haven’t had any problems ordering things like ammunition, charging handles, BCGs, etc., and I’ve received barrels in the mail before.

But you can count on the federal code making things as difficult as possible.

Seen here.

Plaintiffs have demonstrated a probability of success on the merits of their Second Amendment challenge to the relevant provisions of Chapter 131 Section 7(a), which criminalizes carrying handguns in certain “sensitive places,” subparts 12 (public libraries or museums), 15 (bars, restaurants, and where alcohol is served), 17 (entertainment facilities), and 24 (private property), as well as section 7(b)’s ban on functional firearms in vehicles. The State may regulate conduct squarely protected by the Second Amendment only if supported by a historical tradition of firearm regulation. Here, Plaintiffs have shown that Defendants will not be able to demonstrate a history of firearm regulation to support any of the challenged provisions. The deprivation of Plaintiffs’ Second Amendment rights, as the holders of valid permits from the State to conceal carry handguns, constitutes irreparable injury, and neither the State nor the public has an interest in enforcing unconstitutional laws. Accordingly, good cause exists, and the Court will grant the motion for temporary restraints. An accompanying order of today’s date shall issue.

The effects of Bruen continue to be felt.  This is the right decision.  These courts all know that they can be disciplined by the Supreme Court.

But this is just the beginning.  There will be hundreds more where necessary.  I predict the gun control laws will continue to fall, including AWB, magazine capacity limits, showing good character, ad numerous permitting schemes.

Furthermore, I expect constitutional carry to come up again in the South Carolina legislature.  I also expect constitutional carry to pass in Florida because they’ve committed to it on video now.  If this doesn’t include open carry then it will be a failure.

Source:

Having a weapon mounted light on your self-defense gun is a good idea whether that gun is used for daily carry, home defense, or as a truck gun. And if you’re like many gun owners, you might prefer a weapon-light-only product over one that includes other things, like a laser. By using a light-only platform there’s no battery sharing with other features, reduced bulk, and no zeroing. It doesn’t matter if you have a handgun or a long gun in need of a light, there’s one out there for you.

The Modlite PLHv2-18350 Light Package (Photo credit: Modlite)

Check out our top 5 list of weapon mounted lights, in no particular order. And remember, just because a product lists a particular firearm doesn’t mean the company doesn’t also make it for other platforms, because they usually do.

They discuss long gun and handgun lights. Though convenient, the Crimson Trace RIG (Rapid Illumination Grip) would probably be bothersome to deal with. Surefire claims that the X300U-A is “recoil proof.” I haven’t run any of the lights listed.

And earlier on TCJ, tactical handheld flashlights.

Prior: God’s Church, Family, State

2 Samual 11:9-13

“But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.” – 2 Samuel 11:9

God was manifest in the flesh, crucified for your sin, rising again from the tomb to offer salvation from sin and life, even life eternal, to all who believe by faith that He is and does what He says. We have a wonderful, loving, and caring God, full of grace and abundant in mercies. If that’s the message you need, stop here.

This post is a hard topic. If you want to avoid facing the reality of our current condition, skip this post. Evil is hard to stomach. Mature Christians must be able to confront the truth of evil in our day if we are to address how to fix it. The object at the outset is to arm you, not cause despair.

The destruction of the family is a blow to the heart of loyalty. The government neither deserves nor bothers any longer to garner commitment, and all its institutions wonder why it’s treated upon the scale from distrust to disdain and outright lawbreaking. The churches soft-peddle a New Religion, becoming full of wicked unrighteous men.

There’s no loyalty anymore. It used to be that a man could have one job, he would work hard, and a company would take care of him. He would have one wife, work diligently to provide for her, and raise his family and she would be loyal to him. The head of the family would have one law, the law of God taught by the Church of Jesus Christ, the foundation upon which civilization must function. But we’re not here to worship the good old days. This law scales up from the individual to the nation.

God is loyal to His own, demanding our loyalty to Him in return. God will never leave you nor forsake you, but what have we done? Loyalty is a component of human behavior and a man’s nature. Being social creatures made in God’s image, we have this same attribute and desire built into us. We have an innate longing to both garner loyalty and to be loyal. Fidelity is how an association of any size functions. But allegiance outside God’s law always leads to ruination in sin.

Though rarely expressed as such, at the core of many a lament today is a lack of loyalty, and rightly so; how can one be loyal to that which is unworthy of trust and respect? Commitment comes from faith that good men will do the right thing, particularly if difficult. All institutions today demand respect but have not functioned for decades in a manner that garners trust; they are deserving of none.

Some men are born having a personality that tends toward loyalty. This is a fantastic character trait, but when the churches, the State, and the family all fall apart, where can one turn? How shall we make a functioning society?

America is littered with millions of people coming to realize their loyalty to the State has been misplaced. This can be a dangerous circumstance as they’ll seek any leader they perceive to be strong enough to direct their cause. And a fraudulent apostate church reinterpreting Scripture to accept sin has led to the ruin of the churches and our country. It’s so bad that forced acceptance of pedophilia and child sacrifice, by law, is not far off. Don’t scoff at this; read your Holy Bible; America is no better than they were. Blind loyalty leads to genocide, and TPTB knows this. Men must be loyal first to God and His law.

Evil tests loyalty by requiring sin, which isn’t much of a test since all men are inherently sinners seeking the iniquity of this world. The darkness truly is the weaker and for the weak of spirit.

God tests loyalty through trials of faith and even tribulations. America is entering one such phase, where the true Church, those in Christ, is being tested. Are they vassals of the unscrupulous empire, or do we follow the Holy One? And God can allow all manner of evil to befall a Christian to draw them closer to Him. God demands loyalty, even obedience. Among the lessons one may find is that God will let you fail, ensuring you know that He is God and that men do not attain perfection. His will, in divine sovereignty, is accomplished in all things.

If you find men who seek to be loyal by nature, you should learn how to be worthy of their loyalty. This is a key component in team building and exists in family nurturing as well. But how can a leader know if somebody is loyal? Seeking a way to devise a test comes to mind, but we have no such formula for righteousness, only time together finding who is full of love one for another.

Some are more so than most by nature. They look for groups to which they can become loyal. It might be that people who appear to have their feelings hurt easily are faithful by nature, searching for reciprocation. They’re not soft or weak but have a remarkable character trait that needs to be recognized and fostered.

People are petty and don’t think long-term, but hard times are arriving. No team wants people that are hesitant to commit fully at that moment of critical decision. Always fostering a team attitude is leadership at its most basic. Don’t take advantage of the loyal.

A man should know himself and his own nature. If somebody is seeking to be loyal, they should be forgiving, accommodating, and patient in all things. Trust takes a long time for others to realize. Even relying solely upon what people say can be misleading; loyalty is found in the trenches of doing hard things together.

The loss of loyalty is a direct result of sin. If you’re a Bible-believing Christian, that’s not much of a revelation. In the case of corporations, commitment to money over people and products is the error. As to government, so too devotion to money and power over the security of the liberties bought in the blood of loyal men. Of the family, the lust of the flesh destroys the foremost fundamental requirement for a functioning society. When marriage is nothing more than a hookup that lasts a few years instead of one night, your society will soon fall.

In the Garden, holy God gave one law that man might not sin against Him. He created the first institution of civilization, the family, to live in peace and prosperity by obedience to His command. At the roots of the destruction of loyalty in America and the west is sin, the violation of God’s law, and His created order upon earth.

Uriah is a hero. We’ve heard much preaching about that section of Samuel but never on the loyalty of Uriah; perhaps the churches are not loyal to Christ our King. The modern churches teach and preach how David and Bathsheba sinned, but then how they moved passed their sin. The American churches teach adaptation to contemporary society with all its wicked sins instead of preaching and teaching how to build and maintain a culture based upon the moral laws of God Almighty. Teaching Christians how to adapt to the beast system instead of how to resist it is despicable; it destroys trust and respect and separates men from the loyalty to God they should always strive to maintain. That’s the foremost problem in American Churches today. When the church has no foundation of moral code, the destruction of the family and the State soon follows.

Few are loyal to a church nowadays. It’s a separate topic, but most Christians seek to find where they feel pleased instead of being challenged in their faith, growing and prospering in the faith of Jesus Christ. Entering into the finers pot (Proverbs 25:4) is hard, but purity before the throne must be above all else. On the tombstone of America will be written: they were comfortable.

Why would men be loyal to a church that condones divorce? In some instances, Jesus taught a more stringent law than the Old Testament, and divorce is one of those instances. See Matthew 19:7-9.

Uriah refused to leave his king (2 Samuel 11:11) until receiving new orders to return to his brothers in battle. That’s loyalty, both to the king and to his brothers. The well-being of his people was at stake because they were at war; this was loyalty to his family and clan. The first reason Uriah gave for not rejecting his moral duty by leaving the battle was that the Ark of God was down on the field; Uriah was devoted to his God. He was loyal to his Creator, the Lord of hosts, the God who is the right hand of the faithful warrior for good.

Government is merely a reflection of society. When men reject sin, flourishing families are established, and a just government is soon born, the structure of which matters much less than the morality of the component members. Loyalty is garnered because the government is loyal to the same law of God that the Church of Jesus Christ is, and the families adhere to it.

It’s good to see this one go down in the flames it should.  Trump and the ATF should be ashamed.  But I suspect both would defend it to this day and beyond.

Stephen Stamboulieh sends this my way a couple of days ago, but since then it has been covered by others (e.g., see Reason here and here, and reddit/Firearms here and here, and also, never forget the NRA’s position on bump stocks).

This is a very well-written and well-researched opinion and points out the distinction between a function of the trigger and function of the shooter.

Here is the opinion.

BLUF:

1. A bump stock does not turn a semiautomatic firearm into a machine gun by the statutory definition of machine gun.
2. Even if the Fifth Circuit is wrong, the ATF lacked the authority to make this change.
3. We have no business deferring to the authority of the federal regulators to make this determination since there is no lack of clarity on this issue.  The issue is perfectly clear – a rifle outfitted with a bump stock is not a machine gun.

Elsewhere, the ATF is becoming tepid over their upcoming rulemaking on unserialized firearms.

Yet the move, which the Justice Department described as a clarification of the regulation, is not without risk. Because the rule was created through executive action, rather than a statute validated by Congress, it has given companies confidence that they can keep selling individual gun parts.

Administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss possible litigation, said the new guidance would almost certainly be challenged in federal court on the grounds that it violates the Gun Control Act of 1968, which allows people to build firearms for their personal use without submitting to background checks or applying serial numbers.

Their upcoming rulemaking on unserialized firearms not only violates prior statutory law, it now suffers from the Fifth Circuit decision on bump stocks, which says that the ATF lacked the authority to inflict this new regulation on the American public.

Queue up the same thing for unserialized firearms.  And a thousand other lawsuits.

The only problem with the Fifth Circuit decision is that it applies only to states controlled by the Fifth Circuit.

Field & Stream has the backstory.  “A wildlife photographer named Slwomir Skukowski recently shared rare video footage of a mature wild boar fighting off a wolf pack in a Polish forest near the village of Mrzeżyno. The three-minute clip was filmed with a trail camera, and it’s amassed hundreds of thousands of views since Skukowski uploaded it to Youtube on December 13. It shows the big Eurasian boar thwarting multiple advances from at least seven wolves working in unison to bring it down.

In the video, the big hog is seen charging into the encircling wolf pack with reckless abandon. The wolves continue to approach the boar, but they never actually take it down—at least not in front of the camera. Eventually, the snorting pig scatters the canines, and they retreat to a nearby ridge before regrouping for another attack. Around the three minute mark, the wolves disperse and the clip cuts out.”

Of course, we don’t know what eventually happened, but it’s significant that one hog dispersed a pack of seven wolves, not once, but multiple times.  They are smart enough to know when there is danger of being gored by an animal that can run as fast as they can.

This is why you carry in the bush regardless of where you are.  In the Northwest it might be brown bears, but in the South it’s snakes, wild hogs and black bears.  There is danger everywhere.  Never go out in the bush without a sidearm.

Here is the video.

Here is a related video from the Southlands of the U.S.

Tenth Amendment Center.

Del. Bill Wiley (R) prefiled HB 1420 (HB1420) on Dec. 13. The legislation amends existing state law regarding prohibited concealed weapons to include the following:

For the sole purpose of carrying a concealed handgun, any person who carries a handgun anywhere he may lawfully carry a handgun openly within the Commonwealth and who is otherwise qualified under this article to obtain a concealed handgun permit. Such person shall not be required to meet the requirements of subsection B of § 18.2-308.02 or subsection B of § 18.2-308.06, as applicable, to carry a concealed handgun under this subdivision.

Currently, Virginia gun owners must apply to a city or county circuit court for a permit in order to conceal carry it in public under most circumstances.

Just like in my home state of North Carolina except it’s the CLEO who must approve.  Furthermore, purchasing a handgun requires a permit from the CLEO (of course, a CHP suffices for the five years it’s valid).  We’re an oddball state I must say.  I can’t recall the last time the voters handed the legislature to democrats, if ever since I’ve lived here.

But the legislature has to fight the governor’s mansion for just about everything.  I’m not sure of the makeup of the Virginia legislature, but I’d like to see them move forward while Youngkin is governor of the state.

If I have any readers in Virginia, please keep us posted on progress, and if possible, supply me with the email address of Mr. Wiley so I can stay in touch with him on this issue.

Prior: Virginia lawmakers could consider repeal of state gun laws

Outdoor Life has the story.

This information comes from PhD work at the University of Georgia (Blaise Newman, a PhD student at UGA) and which is sponsored by Sitka (which makes perfect sense).

See the link for the details, but here is the BLUF.  Avoid blues.  Avoid anything you might wash your gear or clothing in detergent containing UV brighteners.

What’s even more interesting is that a deer’s ability to see in the blue spectrum dictates where they move and when. Newman’s most recent project touched on this connection by tracking whitetail bucks in Florida with GPS collars and seeing how they moved through different landscapes at different times of day. She found that these bucks often chose to move through more open and brightly lit areas that reflected plenty of blue light including UV.

“They’re actually moving through an environment that makes it easier to detect you,” she says. “One way I always relate it is if you had the option to walk down a dark alley or a well-lit alley, which would you choose to move through?”

Newman also evaluated how deer move during low-light hours by hooking them up to an electroretinography machine and measuring their response to different light stimuli. (This is essentially the same technique that was used in the Deer Lab’s 1992 color vision study.) She found that deer were most sensitive to light and movement under twilight conditions, which supports the idea that deer are more active at dusk and dawn because that’s when their eyes function the best.

“One of the most interesting things we found is that deer eyes can detect the best, and are most sensitive, during twilight periods,” Newman says. “So, if you’ve been hunting all day just waiting for that buck to come by, and he’s finally coming out at twilight, you better be careful because his vision is the most sensitive it’s been all day.”

If deer vision seems inferior to ours, that’s only because we see the world through human eyes. As apex predators and tool developers, it’s beneficial for us to see in finer detail and to be able to recognize a wide range of colors. These subtleties aren’t so important to deer, though. Their eyes have evolved to prioritize detection over detail, and their abilities in this department are vastly superior to our own.

“Deer are a prey species,” Newman says. “Having detailed discrimination isn’t really important to deer. They just need to be able to detect and escape something.”

When it comes to color vision in particular, Newman explains that deer benefit from having less “chromatic noise.” By not having to process so many colors in the retina, their eyes can detect movement more quickly and easily. This means that deer can process visual cues much faster than humans do.

“They see motion at an astounding rate compared to our own ability,” she says. “The other aspect is temporal resolution—the time interval over which you integrate information—and their temporal processing just outstrips ours.”

Movement and blues give us away.

Orange, not so much.  It appears grey to them.