Archive for the 'Guns' Category

From a reader, as reported by Cowboy State Daily.

Early Thursday morning, archery hunter Landon Clement was backed up against a rock in the remote Upper Green River Basin, hoping and praying that the three grizzly bears that were 10 yards away would just walk away.

It was the most intense, terrifying moment he’s experienced in his 31 years, he told Cowboy State Daily.

The bears, a female with two large cubs, had come downhill on his left and turned to cross in front of him.

Although he already had his Glock 10mm semiautomatic drawn and leveled at the bears, all he wanted was for things to end peacefully.

“But that’s not what happened,” he said.

Instead, the mother grizzly charged Clement and sank her teeth into his left thigh, and he ended up shooting the bear to death.

“She lunged right at me,” he said. “I saw nothing but her head and her white teeth coming right at me.”

He described the attack was incredibly fast and violent, as the bear locked her jaws down on his leg and started shaking her head.

He was too pumped full of adrenaline to feel any pain, he said. That came later.

What struck him in that awful moment was the sheer force of the grizzly’s jaws.

“I did not feel the pain in the moment,” he said. “I could feel the force that it put on me. It felt like a freight train. I’ve never felt that much force in my life. It’s unbelievable that something could do that to me, and how fast it happened.”

Clement’s ordeal was the third time this hunting season that grizzlies in the region have attacked archery hunters, and the hunters used handguns to kill the bears in self-defense. The two previous incidents were in Idaho and Montana.

Clement said he considers himself lucky.

He suffered four deep puncture wounds to his thigh. Doctors at the Pinedale Clinic “stitched me up really good,” said Clement, who is from Blue Ridge, Georgia, but frequently hunts in the Upper Green River Basin near Pinedale.

They told him that he hadn’t suffered any permanent damage and should recover fully.

[ … ]

The four of them rode to a remote spot in a side-by-side, and then started hiking. Before long they split up. Clement’s father and cousin decided to keep going farther back in to do some scouting.

Quintrell and Clement selected good spots to set up and wait for elk to come within bow range. The two hunters were about 300 yards apart, with Quintrell downhill from Clement.

Clement found what he thought was the perfect spot, a large boulder with some deadfall timber leaning against it.

Then the bears came into full view.

“I knew right away it was grizzlies,” he said. I could see the shapes of their heads, the shoulder humps, everything.”

At first, it looked as if the bears would just keep going downslope, passing him by and leaving him with nothing but a great story to tell.

Then the grizzlies turned, taking a path that would put them right in front of him.

“When those bears cut down that trail and veered toward me, I knew I was probably going to have an issue,” Clement said.

So he drew his pistol.

“I was still backed up against the rock,” he said. “And when I realized that they were coming my way, I just backed up even further against that rock, I was practically glued to it.”

As the bears came up in front of him, his only hope was that they wouldn’t notice him and would keep going.

But they caught his scent.

“They stopped on a dime. All three of them, with their noses going in the air,” he said.

The mother grizzly locked in on him and silent tension exploded into absolute chaos as the bear charged Clement, and he opened fire.

The cubs bolted and ran off when the shooting started, and Clement and his companions never saw them again.

The mother grizzly’s attack was utterly ferocious, he said.

“She just leaped. She just charged right at me with her mouth wide open,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything move that fast, she covered that 10-12 yards in less than a second.

“When it came at me it was making this noise, not really growling, but more like a ‘huff, huff, huff.’”

Clement fired as fast as he could; he’s still not sure how many rounds.

“It bit into my left thigh, and it would not let go,” he continued. “It just bit into my thigh and starting shaking its head.”

It was then Clement he noticed that, although he was still pulling his pistol’s trigger, nothing was happening.

“As the bear was still clamped onto my leg, I was finally able to look down and see that my gun was jammed,” he said.

Clearing a jam in a semiautomatic pistol can be chore even under the best of circumstances on a shooting range.

Clement managed to do it with a 600-pound grizzly clamped on his leg trying to ragdoll him.

“Once I cleared the jam, I put the gun as close to its head as I could and shot a couple of more times,” he said. “It let go and rolled off me. I knew that I had killed that bear.”

Let’s stop right there. You can read the rest of the horrible story at Cowboy State Daily.

While I don’t like or own Glocks, they certainly have a reputation for being a reliable gun. This isn’t the first instance I’ve read about 10mm guns jamming (FTF, FTE) in all sorts of make and models. And then this happened.

As things started to settle down, “I looked down at my pistol, and it was jammed again,” he said.

“It jammed right after the kill shot,” Clement said. “If it had jammed again before then, I don’t know what I would have done. The Lord was looking out for me.”

I’ve also heard it said that you just have to test it out to find what ammo the gun “likes.” Okay, whatever. You know what? My 1911s like everything. Even the 1911 that I modified with the 22# spring to take 450 SMC will shoot lighter loads without complaints or hiccups.

With the possibility of shooting a .44 magnum wheel gun, or a 1911 shooting 450 SMC, or a modified gun shooting 460 Rowland, I don’t see the attraction of 10mm semiautomatic pistols. You know how to unjam a revolver, right? Pull the trigger again (assuming the cylinder isn’t locked for some reason).

I’m sure some readers will rush to the defense of the 10mm semiauto lineup, especially Glocks, but you have now heard this anecdotal evidence that there was something very wrong with this picture.

If you’re going to be in the bush, choose wisely.

I don’t do that. I don’t care about impressing people. I don’t care what other people think. I like things that work well for the least expensive price I can find.

Sad news concerning Paul Harrell.

It’s especially said that his own brother didn’t know his views and doesn’t know what will become of him.

Make sure to avoid that fate for yourself.

I will miss him. I would like to see him one day in heaven, but who knows?

Outdoor Life.

Of the seven tactical shotguns we tested in the roundup, none could approach the speed with which we were able to accurately shoot the Beretta 1301.

The folding stock from Chisel Machining is an elegant bit of kit. It has a lot of qualities that enhance the operation of the Beretta and, if for some reason you have a 1301 without this stock and feel like splurging, I highly recommend the upgrade.

This is a nice piece of kit, and it will fit any version of the Beretta 1301.

It’s not cheap, but if you want the folding stock to make the gun smaller and lighter, this bit of kit seems to be worth it.

Disclosure. I have been paid nothing for this. Go read the review at OL.

Perhaps so, says John Farnham.

In fact, Benelli is now actively marketing this idea, claiming that their autoloading shotguns, with #4 buckshot, are effective against airborne drones out to 50m, maybe even 100m (although I think 100m is mostly fantasy).

Shotguns are good for and still used in combat anyway. All militaries should be skilled in the use of shotguns. The only thing that gives the individual fighter a chance against drones in the shotgun.

Besides, training with sporting clays will likely improve your defensive shotgun use.

Very interesting video.

Source.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld Maryland’s decade-old ban on military-style firearms commonly referred to as assault weapons.

A majority of 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges rejected gun rights groups’ arguments that Maryland’s 2013 law is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.

Here is Mark Smith on the subject. I still predict the supreme court will find a way to run from the issue. Barrett will side with the women on the court, including Roberts.

Interesting and amusing video, but I would have preferred to see more done on the 1911 designs.

They didn’t seem to know that there is a difference between the Series 70 and Series 80 designs, as one of the comments note.

Frankly, I’m not sure they have the knowledge base to fully answer the question(s) on 1911, carry status, and various designs that keep it safe (e.g., Springfield Armory’s titanium firing pin design).

If any experts/gunsmiths would like to weigh in, please do so. I’d like to know what you think.

So maybe now since there are conflicting opinions on the AWB, the supreme court will take up the issue.

Nah. They’ll keep running from it like screaming little girls.

This note was sent to S&W sales, marketing and engineering.

To whom it may concern,

At my blog we’ve discussed the fact that Smith & Wesson has gotten into the lever action long gun market at long last.

We have noticed that this platform would be ideal for cartridges that are traditionally S&W cartridges, such as the 460 S&W magnum and the 500 S&W magnum.

Besides, at the moment the only way to obtain a rifle chambered in these cartridges is to purchase from Bighorn Armory.

It sure would be nice to see Bighorn Armory get some pricing competition in these calibers.

I would be interested in obtaining a rifle chambered for 460 S&W magnum, and would devote several posts to a review of said rifle.

Thank you for your consideration.