Readers may have noticed I was absent the last several days.  It was a good time away.  A very good buddy and neighbor of mine, Robert, and I went hunting courtesy of the fine folks with Williams Hunting in South Carolina.

I was shooting a 6mm ARC rifle with a Grendel Hunter upper, Aero Precision lower, Amend2 magazines, Brownells scope mount, Radian Raptor charging handle, Nikon Black scope, and a Viking Tactics sling.  I have no complaints about the gun.  It’s at least a 1 MOA gun all day long, and it can shoot better than I can.

I managed to tag him right behind the ear, with followup shot to the head.  Meat saved.

We then went quail hunting with Jackson Walling Quail Hunt.  I took half my bag limit in a morning hunt.  I do love quail hunting and shooting 12 gauge shotguns.  It was also a pleasure to meet Jackson and his son.  Jackson is very friendly, an outstanding guide and quail hunter, and makes the experience wonderful.  I did enjoy watching his dog work.  What a pleasure to see such a well-trained dog work so hard!  I hope he was fed well that night.

A special thanks to our fine guides at Williams Hunting, John and Richard.  You couldn’t ask to meet two better guides, nicer men or harder workers.

I’ll go back to do a two or three day deer hunt with these guys and also for a quail hunt with Jackson.  Next time it’ll be an all day quail hunt, or maybe two days.

Oh, and the low country boil was great.

The much anticipated 7mm PRC design by Hornady is in the news.  As if pre-planned, the articles piled up this week.

The Hornady 7 PRC is a new long-range hunting and competition cartridge that slides neatly into the gap that exists between the 6.5 PRC and 300 PRC. The best way to think about this round is as an updated version of the venerable 7mm Rem. Mag. I’ve been hunting and shooting with the 7mm PRC for a couple months now and I think it is going to do extremely well, particularly with Western and open-country big game hunters.

First of all, it fits in between the 6.5 PRC and the 300 PRC, which Hornady wants to be replacements for the 6.5mm Creedmoor and the 300 Win Mag, which they believe leave too much free bore and don’t fit well into the lands, leaving open the potential for bullet deformation when the bullet enters the lands.  So this 7mm PRC design not only fits in between the 6.5 PRC and the 300 PRC, it would fit in between the 6.5 Creedmoor and the 300 Win Mag, which aren’t even mentioned in the article.  He goes into some of the details on what Hornady intends to be available bullet designs, and then let’s pick it up later.  This next bit is interesting and correct if you have wondered about why new cartridge designs are being investigated.

The hallmarks of modern cartridge design include:

• Faster twist rates to stabilize heavy-for-caliber, long ogive, high BC bullets
• Adequate neck length on the case for consistent neck tension
• Headspacing off a steep-angled shoulder
• Minimal case taper
• Fine-tuned throat dimensions and taper (usually 1.5 deg.) in chamber
• Moderate muzzle velocities that deliver consistent shot-to-shot MVs and take advantage of the aeroballistically-efficient bullets the cartridge is designed for. This leads to better precision and longer barrel life

The 7mm PRC incorporates all these elements.

This is why he said this cartridge is an “updated version” of the venerable 7mm Mag.

The author says he got Miles Neville, an engineer with Hornady, to help him with accuracy testing.  I can say with utter confidence, Miles has the greatest engineering job on earth.

Unfortunately, there are two needs for a cartridge to be successful.  Rifles, and ammunition.  The manufacturers are making them now (and some already have), but the ammo may be a bit hard to find, at least initially, and then never if this turns out to be a “flash in a pan.”

Next up, Alloutdoor.com has three articles on current guns in production to shoot the 7mm PRC.

Mossberg Patriot Predator.  At an MSRP $616, this is an entry level rifle.

Savage.  They go the spectrum from their 10 Apex Hunter XP with an MSRP of $709, to their Impulse Mountain Hunter at $2,437.00.  It’s quite a good looking rifle, and certainly not entry level.

Then finally, as one would expect, Gunwerks breaks the bank with the ridiculous price of $9000.  You could have a gunsmith do a custom build for less than that.

It will be interesting to see where the 7mm PRC goes from here.

Source.

Dear Lord.

Somebody named “Coyote Bill” is doing Coyote psychology, and has women blowing horns and waving sticks around.

I have a better idea before her pet gets attacked and eaten.

Buy a pistol or wheel gun, preferably a large bore gun, go to the range and learn to shoot it, always carry it, even to the grocery store, and kill the Coyotes if she sees them.

I’m not a prophet, but I’m 100% certain that killing it will keep it from coming back.

Well, regardless of what he concludes, I don’t think I want to shoot a 45-70 with a muzzle device.  Muzzle brakes throw gas back in your direction, and sound too.  So for a bit of reduced recoil, you pick up sound and gas jets.  If your plan is always to wear electronic hearing protection, then maybe a muzzle brake is for you.

Speaking of electronic hearing protection, for folks who are a bit hard of hearing, like me, not only can it save the rest of your hearing, turning the volume up can introduce you to a world of sound to which you had been unaware.  In fact, amplifying that sound can be to your advantage in the bush if you can rapidly distinguish one sound from another.

I like the idea.  Keep the wood grain, but beef it up in areas where it needs it, making a new concept for chassis rifles.

The same concept, by the way, is used in engineered floor joists, i.e., press wood using glues, and there is no way the historic Southern White Pine floor joists can compete with engineered joists in strength.

Looking on their web site, it doesn’t appear to me that they sell this with the barrel or action – it only comes as a stock.

Oleg Volk:

Reflective optics for artillery have been around since before World War One. With the massive rounds of the Great War, it makes sense – who would want to put their eye next to a scope ocular on a rifle with enough recoil to give shooters a black eye?

At first, these ambient light and half-mirror, “powered” reflex sights were confined to artillery and aircraft. They were simply too bulky and too daylight-dependent for small arms use. After World War Two, reflective optics were offered for sporting guns but were not considered suitable for individual military weapons.

Photo, Oleg Volk

The first “red dot” in relatively wide military use was actually an Armson OEG (occluded eye gunsight), a fiber optic presenting a bright dot to the dominant eye but occluding the target from it. The occlusion guaranteed a high-contrast aiming point, while the non-dominant eye would see the target, and the brain would superimpose the two for a sight picture. Although useful for short-range aiming and quick in use, OEG sights did not gain overwhelming popularity.

Around the end of the 20th century, the battery-operated Aimpoint red dot sight went mainstream with the US military as the M68 Close Combat Optic. Unlike a reflector sight that used a flat half-mirror and a lens-collimated optical source outside the line of sight, the M68 uses a curved semi-reflective mirror to direct the reticle toward the shooter’s eye. The use of a single-wavelength LED permits a long battery life and also allows the passing of all other wavelengths of light through the half-mirror.

There’s some history; read the interesting breakdown of advantages and disadvantages at the link. As always, readers’ insights and experience are welcomed.

Excerpt from Faith Very Simple, by Charles Spurgeon:

“TO MANY, FAITH SEEMS a hard thing. The truth is, it is only hard because it is easy. Naaman [2 Kings 5:1-12] thought it hard that he should have to wash in Jordan; but if it had been some great thing, he would have done it right cheerfully. People think that salvation must be the result of some act or feeling, very mysterious, and very difficult; but God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are his ways our ways. In order that the feeblest and the most ignorant may be saved, he has made the way of salvation as easy as the A, B, C. There is nothing about it to puzzle anyone; only, as everybody expects to be puzzled by it, many are quite bewildered when they find it to be so exceedingly simple.

The fact is, we do not believe that God means what he is saying; we act as if it could not be true.

I have heard of a Sunday-school teacher who performed an experiment which I do not think I shall ever try with children, for it might turn out to be a very expensive one. Indeed, I feel sure that the result in my case would be very different from what I now describe. This teacher had been trying to illustrate what faith was, and, as he could not get it into the minds of his boys, he took his watch, and he said, “Now, I will give you this watch, John. Will you have it?” John fell thinking what the teacher could mean, and did not seize the treasure, but made no answer. The teacher said to the next boy, “Henry, here is the watch. Will you have it?” The boy, with a very proper modesty, replied, “No, thank you, sir.” The teacher tried several of the boys with the same result; till at last a youngster, who was not so wise or so thoughtful as the others, but rather more believing, said in the most natural way, “Thank you, sir,” and put the watch into his pocket. Then the other boys woke up to a startling fact: their companion had received a watch which they had refused. One of the boys quickly asked of the teacher, “Is he to keep it?” “Of course he is,” said the teacher, “I offered it to him, and he accepted it. I would not give a thing and take a thing: that would be very foolish. I put the watch before you, and said that I gave it to you, but none of you would have it.” “Oh!” said the boy, “if I had known you meant it, I would have had it.” Of course he would. He thought it was a piece of acting, and nothing more. All the other boys were in a dreadful state of mind to think that they had lost the watch. Each one cried, “Teacher, I did not know you meant it, but I thought—“No one took the gift; but every one thought. Each one had his theory, except the simple-minded boy who believed what he was told, and got the watch. Now I wish that I could always be such a simple child as literally to believe what the Lord says, and take what he puts before me, resting quite content that he is not playing with me, and that I cannot be wrong in accepting what he sets before me in the gospel. Happy should we be if we would trust, and raise no questions of any sorts. But, alas! we will get thinking and doubting. When the Lord uplifts his dear Son before a sinner, that sinner should take him without hesitation. If you take him, you have him; and none can take him from you. Out with your hand, man, and take him at once!”

“Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” – 1 Peter 1:9

First, Big Banks And Credit Card Giants Just Greenlit A Plan To Track Your Gun-Store Purchases:

Last month, gun control advocates hailed the creation and adoption of a new sales code targeted at identifying purchases made at U.S. gun stores. The code was promoted as a way to help banks and credit card companies identify and “recognize dangerous firearm purchasing trends,” thus improving public safety. It won’t.

If anything, this new system, which is susceptible to widespread abuse, could have dangerous consequences. Thankfully, Republican members of Congress are taking steps to resist its implementation.

We stopped counting on Republicans a long time ago.

Next, EVOLUTION: DECADES OF DEER Looks at the most prominent hunting rifles of each decade since the 1950s.

Big game rifles have evolved continuously with the introduction of new models, new cartridges, new manufacturing methods, changing hunting conditions and methods.

I’ve illustrated some of the changes with hypothetical gun racks from deer camps beginning with the 1950s, both heavy cover whitetail hunting and open country mule deer and antelope hunting, as I did plenty of both.

What will the 2020s show?

Next, Hawaii Court Dismisses Two Firearms Charges Citing Bruen Decision

Next, Retired sheriff: Vote no on [Iowa] gun amendment measure

“Strict scrutiny” requires a court to apply the highest level of scrutiny possible to decide whether a law is unconstitutional. This approach has been used to override the original intent of laws, has led to ivfrolous lawsuits, undermined case law, and jeopardized common sense gun laws.

Some current gun safety laws keep felons and people convicted of certain domestic violence crimes from having firearms. Other laws prohibit guns in schools and restrict possession of machine guns and other offensive weapons.

As a retired career law enforcement official of 36 years, I know the importance of these laws. I am a gun owner. I have had many hours of weapons training during my career. Our forefathers created the Second Amendment. I would favor adding the same wording to the Iowa Constitution instead of the proposed language of “strict scrutiny.”

Gun deaths are the leading cause of death of children in America, and the second leading cause here in Iowa. The gun death rate in Iowa is increasing faster than the national average. We owe it to ourselves, to our communities, and to our children to do better.

I’m a cop. I’m better than you, super more trained than you, and it’s for the children.

But some Iowa sheriffs endorse gun rights constitutional amendment

“Whenever one of my constituents loses a freedom it’s my fault. It’s our job to speak out,” said Cedar County Sheriff Warren Wethington.

Wethington is one of six Iowa sheriffs officially endorsing what he calls the freedom amendment. It says, in part, “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” and is basically creating an Iowa gun rights amendment similar to the second amendment in the federal constitution.

We’re absolutely floored; is that, what’s the quaint and archaic term, personal responsibility?

Full Text: Article I of the Constitution of the State of Iowa is amended by adding the folloing new section: Right to keep and bear arms. Sec. 1A. The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The sovereign state of Iowa affirms and recognizes this right to be a fundamental individual right. Any and all restrictions of this right shall be subject to strict scrutiny.

No scrutiny is better.

Next, Texas Goes Permitless on Guns, and Police Face an Armed Public

Blood in the streets and dead children.

Next, Federal Judge Upholds California ‘Ghost Gun’ Ban, Rules Gun-Making Not Protected by Second Amendment

That’s laughable. More, Analysis: Federal Judge Finds ‘One Weird Trick’ to Uphold Gun Law Despite Bruen

30 Round Self Defense Practice Drill, Ken Hackathorn

With just one IDPA sized target, a sheet of target patches, and the Drills that I will enumerate below, one can now have a decent guide in teaching oneself the finer points of armed self defense. A friend with a competition timer will also come in handy. All Drills involve firing live ammunition and should only be performed in a shooting range or a place where there is no danger of hitting anything other than your target or its backstop. Oh yeah, you’ll also need a gun. The instructions below assume that you are using a semi-auto pistol, for wheel-gunners replace magazine changes with speed loader reloads.

Remember to observe and practice the four rules of gun safety.

1. From 5 yards, allowing 1 ½ seconds, beginning at “low ready” one shot to head. Repeat 3 times.
2. From 5 yards, allowing 2 seconds, beginning with gun holstered, one shot to head. Repeat 3 times.
3. From 5 yards, allowing 2 seconds, beginning at “low ready,” strong hand only, two shots to body. Repeat 2 times.
4. From 7 yards, allowing 2 seconds, facing 90° to left of target, gun holstered, two shots to body. One time only.
5. From 7 yards, allowing 2 seconds, facing 90° to right of target, gun holstered, two shots to body. One time only.
6. From 7 yards, allowing 2 seconds, facing target, gun holstered, two shots to body. One time only.
7. From 7 yards, allowing 4 seconds, while backing to 10-12 yards, three shots to body. Repeat 2 times.
8. From 10 yards, allowing 3 seconds, beginning with gun on target and round in chamber, change magazine and fire one shot to body. Repeat 2 times.
9. From 10 yards, allowing 3 seconds, beginning with gun on target and slide locked back, change magazine and fire one shot to body. One time only.
10. From 15 yards, allowing 2 ½ seconds, draw and fire one shot to body. Repeat 5 times.

Head shots only count if you hit the A zone of the “head” of the target. Body shots count if you hit the A, B, or C zones of the “body” of the target.

It is best to do these exercises with the same sidearm you intend to carry and with the same holster you plan to use. For most of us, this will be a concealed carry sidearm and concealment holster. Also wearing a shirt or vest that properly conceals the weapon is also recommended as the idea is to practice what you will do should you ever need to use your CCW piece in self defense. Assume that all Drills that require starting with a holstered firearm mean a holstered and concealed firearm. Using your star trek mod 1911 and an offset, fast draw holster won’t really teach you much about drawing and presentation which is what these Drills are mostly about. Think real world.

Don’t expect to be able to do all of these within the time required in your first few attempts, few meaning less than fifty. While this is not a substitute for proper training, it sure is a good start for many of us.

This one comes via hand gun law dot us

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