Articles by Herschel Smith

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.

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.

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)?

I was discussing this with Len Savage today and no one knows yet the extent of this.  I was speculating that it will declare 80% lower receivers to be illegal unless serialized.  Len thinks that’s just the beginning.

The Biden administration will come out with its long-awaited ghost gun rule — aimed at reining in privately made firearms without serial numbers that are increasingly cropping up at crime scenes — as soon as Monday, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

[ … ]

For nearly a year, the rule has been making its way through the federal regulation process. Gun safety groups and Democrats in Congress have been pushing for the Justice Department to finish the rule for months. It will probably be met with heavy resistance from gun groups and draw litigation in the coming weeks.

Another reader on this same discussion thread was speculating that they will require that uppers and lowers be serialized the same, making it illegal to purchase uppers and lowers separately.

We’ll see.  Either way, this is as obvious an infringement as could be imagined.

So that’s the way it happens.  Completely without Congress, if you want to make something illegal, you just declare it so, sort of like Trump did with bump stocks.

He set the standard, so all of you Trump sycophants have no room to complain about this upcoming ruling.

Dean Weingarten summarizes the ruling.

• The mere possession of a firearm by a homeowner is not sufficient to justify the use of deadly force by officers.
• There is a right to come to the door with a firearm.
• Officers must identify themselves as officers to gain qualified immunity.
• Mere verbal announcement, without visual confirmation, is not sufficient to gain qualified immunity.
• Sufficient precedent exists for officers to be aware of their duty in these situations.

It’s a weak ruling in my opinion, since the officer should have been charged with murder.  But at least this should trickle down into behavior – or at least one would hope so.

It’s yet another case of a cop shooting a homeowner INSIDE HIS OWN HOME when the officer was standing OUTSIDE THE HOME.

The cop is a murderer.