Articles by Herschel Smith

Outdoor Life has an article entitled The Best Scope Rings of 2022.  They go the spectrum from Seekins to Night Force, from Zeiss to Leupold.  As for prices, they go from budget (just over $50) to around $500.

That’s what I’ve noticed about this market – the massive divide in price point.  Precision Rifle Blog has a rundown of what the long range competition shooters use, and as anyone might guess, it leans towards the pricey end of things with Nightforce being the most prominent of the choices.

Spuhr makes some very expensive mounts/rings too, mostly in the range of $400, up to $500 for quick detach mounts (which in my book are preferable to fixed mounts and rings).

What are the experiences of our readers?  Do you find much difference between moderately priced rings and the pricey ones?  Which ones do you prefer, and why?

I find that the really cheap ones are really cheap and not much worth having.

Source.

Florida sheriff’s deputy was fatally shot by his roommate, a fellow deputy, over the weekend, in what the sheriff described as a “tragic and totally avoidable death.” Austin Walsh, 23, was killed Saturday in Palm Bay by his roommate Andrew Lawson, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said Sunday in a video statement on Facebook.

The roommates, who were taking a break from playing video games with friends, were talking when Lawson “jokingly” pointed a handgun he though was unloaded at Walsh and pulled the trigger, Ivey said. A single round was fired and fatally struck Walsh, the sheriff said.

Lawson called 911 saying he accidentally shot his roommate, Ivey said. When officers arrived, they found Lawson “fully distraught and devastated.”

Lawson was taken into custody on a no-bond warrant on a manslaughter charge by agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and transported Sunday to the Brevard County jail, Ivey said.

“Austin and Andrew were the best of friends and Andrew was completely devastated over what happened. Even with that, there is no excuse for this tragic and totally avoidable death,” Ivey said.

The rules of gun safety are there for a reason.  The fact that they hadn’t had them ingrained and tattooed on their soul shows the complete inadequacy of their training, or perhaps the complete inadequacy of their selection policy for police candidates, or perhaps both.

As TCJ has observed before, you’re never in more danger than when the cops are around.  Leave their presence as soon as legal and possible.

This is a timely and informative video.  I had suspected that the increased bullet weight caused enough decrease in muzzle velocity to cause a wash between the two bullets in terms of energy, but until this video I hadn’t researched it or convinced myself.

Watch this video until the last to understand what the fourth circuit thinks about the rights of the people.  The judge is making up rights for cops out of whole cloth.  There is no such thing in the constitution.

What an old fart.  A school child is capable of more sound reasoning than he displayed.

And by the way, that cop showed too much familiarity with the person he stopped and not nearly enough respect for him as a free man.  I don’t like his attitude or demeanor.  The man’s name is not “Cuz.”  He has a name, and you should call him that, along with “Sir.”

Specifically, leopards.  As best as I can tell, both of the incidents in the linked videos happened in India.  The first dog gave up enough fight to end it.  The second dog had that big cat by the neck and the big cat wondered why he had decided to get into brawl.  It both cases, the fights ended with both the dog and big cats deciding to retreat and live another day.

I love dogs.  Man’s best friend and best protector.

LINK.

For the second encounter use this link.

Source.

While the sacrament of communion or the Eucharist — which is present in many Christian denominations and involves consuming bread and wine in remembrance or exaltation of the body and blood of Jesus Christ — has shifted in presentation and delivery over the centuries, most contemporary churches have similar systems.

Parishioners may be called to the pulpit to receive bread or a wafer from a church leader and to drink from a common cup of wine or — in the case of some more conservative denominations — grape juice. Alternatively, deacons may pass around a tray of wafers or small hunks of bread, followed by small disposable cups of juice. This is a common enough approach that most religious goods stores carry specific communion trays with slots for 1-ounce cups.

However, in the age of megachurches — as well as that of a global pandemic, which caused many churches to reconsider the sharing of bread and use of a common cup — an alternative delivery system for the Eucharist has increased in popularity in recent years. And it’s something of a booming business.

These days, when attendees enter Southeast, they’re guided to a row of long tables filled with small, plastic two-packs of wafers and juice. These aren’t a new product, but they have been primarily used to deliver the sacrament to individuals who are hospitalized or otherwise infirm, or when worshiping outside the walls of a physical church. When indicated by leadership from the pulpit, worshipers serve themselves and eventually dispose of the cups and wrappers in the large recycling cans that are now stationed outside the sanctuary doors.

You can read Kenneth Gentry’s book on wine for yourself.  Nothing irks me more than Christians who think they’re holier than God.  In the time in which the NT was written, refrigeration didn’t exist.  Any grape juice quickly turned into wine.  And if you want to somehow figure out an engineering solution to that dilemma (refrigeration didn’t exist until Carrier), you have to deal with Deuteronomy 14:26-27, and tell me how the term “strong drink” can be interpreted in any fashion than one which can make you inebriated if abused.  And just to be sure not to neglect those among us who rely on tithes, Moses makes sure we invite our local pastor when consuming wine.

Look, I’m not trying to tell you what to do with your life, nor do I have strong opinions about the modern practice of using pre-packaged do-dads for communion.  But Jesus instituted His supper with wine and unleavened bread, and that’s the way it should be taken.  To say that conservative churches sometimes use grape juice means only that they are in slavery to the temperance movement created by do-gooder social gospel ladies in northern churches.

I recall a lecture by R.C. Sproul once in which a student asked him why we couldn’t take the Lord’s Supper with crackers and coke.  Sproul screamed, “Because Jesus didn’t institute it with crackers and coke.  He used wine and unleavened bread.”

He makes a good point about removal of the brass shavings under the extractor with a small tool.  I had never thought of that before.

American Hunter.

Finding a rifled choke tube isn’t particularly difficult for most common thread patterns, such as the Remington RemChoke, Benelli Crio Plus, Beretta/Benelli (Mobil), Beretta Optima HP, Browning Invector and Invector Plus, and Winchester Win Choke. At this time, Browning appears to be the only gunmaker that sells them direct to consumer (as accessories); there’s no need to fret, as aftermarket companies, and particularly Carlson’s Choke Tubes, cover those mentioned above and then some. Options in 12 gauge typically outnumber those in 20.

As with choke tubes offering varying degrees of constriction, rifled models are, at times, available in flush-fitting and extended configurations, though the latter are now conventional. I haven’t found one length to outperform the other, but the extra length of an extended model definitely aids the installation and removal process. Given that many slugs—including those featuring a sabot—can be used with fully rifled barrels and rifled choke tubes, it’s unsurprising that the twist rate of both are similar, if not identical. For instance, a 1:35-inch twist rate is commonly employed in 12 gauge.

While there is ammunition that plays nicely with both fully rifled barrels and rifled choke tubes, some is outright incompatible with the latter. When the manufacture states, “Use in fully rifled barrels only,” or something similar, heed their warning. Avoid that load. Unfortunately, such cautions are common to the highest-performing—and flattest shooting—slugs, but that’s simply the tradeoff associated with going the rifled-choke-tube route.

Provided there’s no warning, or the ammunition box reads, “Suitable for use in smoothbore and rifled shotguns with any choke,” or an analogous message, that slug is safe for use through your rifled choke tube. Most will be of the traditional, full-diameter, Foster-type design or Brenneke’s improved version, though there are sabot slugs that can be utilized in rifled choke tubes, too. Examples of the latter are Winchester’s Super-X BRI Sabot Slug, a favorite of mine, and Brenneke’s new Topas, which pairs a blue, 12-gauge wad with a Brenneke-style, lead-alloy, 16-gauge slug. That’s only the beginning, too.

I found this to be a very helpful article.  A day or two ago I watched Ron Spomer discuss rifled slugs, and I was a bit confused until I figured out we’re talking about two different things between the article above and Ron – rifled slugs that don’t spin versus rifled chokes that do spin a slug.

Anyway, I’m not a slug shooter so this was a learning experience for me.

I stumbled across this video and thought I would pass it along.  It appears to me to be a very efficient and utilitarian setup.  I’ve never seen a setup quite like this.

Here is the tarp he is using (he says 3 X 3 but that’s yards).  This is a very lightweight solution to the need for cover if you find yourself in need of emergency shelter, and also assuming you use trekking poles (I do unless it’s a hunt).

Source.

Team Beretta shooters recently achieved 14 podium finishes during the 2022 National Sporting Clays Championship at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio, TX.

Team Beretta members in attendance at this competition included Zachary Kienbaum, Anthony Matarese, Jr., Joseph Fanizzi, Desirae Edmunds, Diane Sorantino, Dominic Grossi, Meagan Harrington, and Jared Greenwood.

Kienbaum, shooting with a Beretta DT11, secured his third HOA National Champion title with an exceptional score of 285 out of 300 targets, besting his nearest competitor by 1 target. With this accomplishment and his back-to-back National wins in 2018 and 2019, Kienbaum joins a select group of two other sporting clays athletes as the only competitors to have ever won 3 National Championship HOA titles in NSCA history. Kienbaum, shooting with a Beretta A300 Ultima, also took home an additional champion title in the 20 Gauge event with a score of 94 out of 100 targets.

This could arguably be one of the best jobs on earth.  I’m not sure who’s job to admire the most – this one, or Ron Spomer’s job as a pro hunter.

But then, jealousy is a sin, so I better leave it at admiration for a job well done.  And that DT11 starts at $10,000.