After four decades in the U.S. Senate, Ted Kennedy’s life ended, as all lives do, in death. In his time in the Senate, he sponsored or pushed to make law virtually every piece of anti-gun legislation possible.
Anti-gunners have already started to seize upon his death and demand that various pieces of anti-gun, anti-freedom legislation be passed to “honor Ted Kennedy.” I expect a major anti-gun legislative push as soon as Congress re-convenes in September.
Gun owners must not fall victim to a nostalgia surrounding a celebrity’s death that glosses over the harm done to the values we hold dear, and that our opponents ghoulishly seize upon to promote their agenda.
We must guard against the normal tendency to overdose on compassion when our enemies die; to search for the silver lining around a cloud of acid rain. He was no friend to gun owners, the Constitution or American Liberty.
Ted Kennedy’s anti-gun, anti-freedom legacy may live on. But we have the opportunity to control just how much his specter haunts us from the grave. Read more
Attending a concealed carry class can dramatically change your outlook on armed defense — not to mention give you vital insights into criminal behavior.
I have uploaded a lot of reasons for law-abiding citizens to be armed at all times to gundigest.com. But this article was different.
The story spelled out how an 82-year-old gun collector was led at gunpoint into his upstairs bedroom and smothered to death by two thugs. After snuffing out his life, the murderers went about stealing their victim’s lifetime gun collection.
The tragedy taught a grim lesson: Being a gun owner isn’t enough. You need the gun on you, and you need to be prepared to use it. Do You Really Need a CCW Class?
Personal Protection Academy students qualify on the indoor range and get expert “hands on” instruction to improve stance, grip and trigger control.
Attending a concealed carry class can dramatically change your outlook on armed defense — not to mention give you vital insights into criminal behavior. You’ll learn how to shoot and train to thwart an attack directed at you or your family. But the shooting is only part of the training. In my case, I was amazed at how much I didn’t know.
The staff of Gun Digest and a few select guests recently attended a one-day self-defense handgun class taught by Michael and Jennifer Bender of the Wisconsin-based Personal Protection Academy. I was left with a renewed appreciation for just how serious this arm-bearing responsibility truly is.
Bender — a Certified Permit to Carry Pistol Instructor with the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification and an NRA Distinguished Expert Marksman (Handgun) — is one intense dude. Some people you never want to mess with. Bender is one of those people.
I’ve been shooting handguns for many years. And while I thought I knew everything there was to know about firearm safety, I was wrong. The basic rules of firearm safety from the hunter education safety courses of my youth —which served me well in the hunting field — were fine starting points, but things get serious in the world of tactical handgun.
Differences in safe revolver handling, for instance, vary dramatically from those of semi-automatics. The details seem at first minute; but the results could be life-changing if you fail to learn them.
Do you know why you should always clear your auto-loader three times? Or how long you should wait if you experience a hang-fire? A good instructor can teach you handling techniques to deal with these contingencies — tips that could prevent a future negligent discharge.
A Sobering Reality Check
Bender outlined the speed armed attackers can unleash their violence upon their intended victims (hint: it’s a matter of seconds, on average), driving home the need to have a gun within easy reach, on your person.
But simply carrying the gun isn’t enough: You learn about the human reaction — that is, stress — one experiences when facing a lethal force situation. Stance, grip, target acquisition, holster and firearm/ammunition choices are all made ahead of time — cemented into place with serious training — such that the adrenaline rush you will experience in the moment of truth doesn’t render you incapable of functioning when you lose basic fine motor skills.
Perhaps most striking are the raw statistics Bender pointed out. For example, you learn where an attack is most likely to occur, what the average distance is between attacker and “victim” and how many shots are typically fired in defensive gun uses (DGUs). All of these facts help when adopting a training regimen, gun and gear, and when preparing mentally. Dual Threat from Perpetrators and Prosecutors
Too many gun owners think self-defensive uses of firearms are a straightforward affair: Kill the attacker. Become a hero. Go home.
Such a notion is pure fantasy. As a long-time reader of Gun Digest author Massad Ayoob, I was well aware that the legal maneuvers of criminal prosecutors and the anti-gun media might be just as dangerous to your freedom as a perp with intent.
Concealed Carry Guns: Semi-Auto Pistols for Self-Defense This 54-page download covers all the newest and most advanced semi-auto pistols for concealed carry that are available on the market today, as reviewed in the Gun Digest annual book. It also includes a 44-page autoloader pistol catalog featuring concealed carry handguns from all the major manufacturers with photos, specs and MSRPs. For those with a CCW permit it’s truly the ultimate shopping guide for finding the best concealed carry pistols for you.
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There really are two battles one must prepare for (arguably three if you consider the personal emotional toll shootings have on survivors): the battles on the street and in court.
Experienced tacticians understand they must know what conditions a prosecutor will later exploit. The events leading up to a shooting are just as important as those that occur during and after. Can you articulate to a jury that you spent every possible effort to meet these conditions?
A good instructor will make these considerations a central part of the curriculum and drive them home with strong words.
Consider a post-shooting scenario: Your attempts to avoid a confrontation with evil have failed, and your gun training has paid off — your shots found their mark. The bad guy is on the ground. A crowd is gathering. Now what?
Despite the shock that is beginning to set in, you now need to keep your wits about you and consider some questions. How much should you tell the police when they arrive on the scene? If you’re still holding your gun, will the police mistake you for the shooter? Will you be arrested and what rights should you assert? Should you call the police first? Should you call your attorney?
Michael Bender demonstrates proper stance and operation of a semi-automatic handgun.
Bender answered all of these questions and more. He gave practical advice that was easy to remember — and even this was by design. In fact, it has to be easy to remember. That’s because in the excitement involved in a shooting, your ability to handle the aftermath of a violent encounter has to be as second nature as your ability to draw and fire your handgun accurately.
Under stress, you will do what you trained to do. If you don’t train, you’ll likely freeze; if you train wrong, you’ll act wrong. If you act wrong, by-standers are wounded, crippled or killed and you will likely be killed. And even if you do survive, not knowing any different you could make one well-meaning yet utterly fatal statement to the police that an anti-gun prosecutor could use to put you away for the rest of your days.
Conclusion
Whether you carry a self-defense handgun openly or concealed, you owe it to yourself and those around you to take the time to get properly trained. A concealed carry handgun class represents the best opportunity to tap into the expert tactical knowledge historically taught only to peace officers. If you do, be prepared to be shocked at what you don’t know. If you don’t take this advice, don’t be surprised if you under-perform when faced with a violent criminal—or a savvy prosecutor.
To learn more about the Personal Protection Academy, Click here.
Defend Yourself by Rob Pincus is the most complete and practical guide to home defense available today. Drawing from experience helping law enforcement, military, private security and people just like you understand how to protect themselves or others, Rob Pincus presents detailed information about planning for, training for and, ultimately, defending yourself and your family from a violent predator inside your home
The dust jacket of the 1955 Bonanza edition, the one most familiar to collectors.
Some of my books are sentimental favorites, volumes I cut my teeth on when I was a kid: Pistols: A Modern Encyclopedia by Henry Stebbins. A History of the Colt Revolver by Haven and Belden. The Gun and Its Development by Greener. But of all my gun books, the one that brings a smile to my face more quickly than any other is Firearms Curiosa by Lewis Winant. Though out of print, this book is an affordable classic, well worth the time it takes to track down a copy.
If you've ever read my columns, you're aware that I'm fascinated by oddball firearms. Perhaps you are, too. If so, Winant's Firearms Curiosa is a must-have.
Lewis Winant was one of those gentlemen collectors who flourished during what we might call the Golden Age of Gun Collecting. This period ran roughly from 1946 and 1960, when many firearms that had been “liberated” from European and Asian collections began filtering out into the American consumer market. As fellow Gun Digest Magazine columnist Phillip Peterson can tell you, hundreds of thousands of collectible firearms made the long trek across the Atlantic after World War II, and they weren't all Lugers and P-38s. It was a time when men like Robert Abels, Herb Glass, Joseph Kindig, Jr., George R. Numrich, Jr., and James Serven really came into their own.
Gun collecting had existed as a hobby before World War II (the greatest of these organizations, the Ohio Gun Collectors Association, was founded in 1937), but it was the second world war that pumped new life into the hobby, both in the form of vintage guns as well as gun-conscious hobbyists, many of whom had just returned from service abroad.
As far as we know, Lewis Winant's first book was Pepperbox Firearms, the first American book-length treatment of the subject. It was published in 1952 by Greenberg Publishing of New York City (not to be confused with today's Greenberg Publishing Company, which specializes in literature about toy trains). I have read this book, though I don't currently own a copy of it, and as I recall it contains everything you might care to know about pepperboxes, and likely a good deal more than you'd care to know.
Bonanza Books of New York published Firearms Curiosa in 1955, and it remains the best-known of Winant's books. The book was simultaneously published in a limited first edition of 1,000 hand-numbered copies by Greenberg, and the blurb copy of the dust jacket of my copy (copy #902) gives little doubt that it's the kind of book that appeals to me: “[This book deals with] pistols in knives and canes; pistols in flashlights, purses, ploughs, whips, bicycle handlebars, stirrups, keys, pipes, belts, sundials, and other contrivances. In addition, there are other types classified as oddities, such as squeezers, knuckledusters, alarm and trap.
The dust jacket of the 1955 Greenberg limited edition bears this illustration of an automatic dog-mounted fowling piece.
There are combination weapons, turret, chain and harmonica pistols, guns using superposed loads and other variations from the norm. These remarkable firearms come from more than fifty collections. Some of the most interesting rarities have never before been illustrated in any publication, and their existence is unknown to most collectors.”
You've just got to love the illustration on the dust jacket of my copy of Firearms Curiosa. It shows an actual patent application archived in the Smithsonian Institution. The patent is titled “NEW AND INGENIOUS READY-ACTING DOG-TAIL AND GUN-BARREL ATTACHMENT FOR SPORTING PURPOSES,” and the picture shows a fowling piece that is attached to the back of a pointer and automatically fires when the dog goes on point. That's my kind of gun! That's my kind of book!
Winant's choice of cover illustration for this edition is whimsical, but the book's content isn't. The contents, in order, are Combination Weapons; Miniature Firearms; Two-Barrel Revolvers; Two-Cylinder Revolvers; Squeezers and Knuckledusters; Alarm and Trap Guns; Knife Pistols and Cane Guns; Other Disguised Guns; Superposed Loads; Turret and Chain Guns; and Miscellaneous.
Winant writes in a casual, extremely readable style that's neither stuffy nor overly professorial. More than 300 black and white photos augment the text, which deals not only with one-of-a-kind museum pieces but with mass-produced items such as the WWII-vintage Liberator single-shot .45 made by GM's Guide Lamp division.
I eat this stuff up. I doubt that I'd ever have a use for an armored vest with 19 pistol barrels sticking out of it, a 24-shot revolver, or a pistol that's actually a functional tobacco pipe (hmmmmm. . .) — but if I did, I'd know where to find out about it: in the 281 pages of this little book.
Firearms Curiosa has been reprinted numerous times, and a quick search of Amazon (www.amazon.com), AuctionArms (www.auctionarms.com), Gunbroker (www.gunbroker.com), or Ray Riling Arms Books (www.rayrilingarmsbooks.com) will certainly fetch you a copy in your price range. On Amazon, I found the 1996 Odysseus Editions reprint for as little as $10 a copy, while on the Ray Riling site I found, for $100, what has to be the rarest of the rare: an autographed, inscribed copy of the Arco first edition published in London in 1956. All editions of Firearms Curiosa that I have seen are hardcovers; I doubt that a paperback edition was ever printed.
In 1959, Lewis Winant hit the big time, as far as publishing is concerned, with his classic Early Percussion Firearms: A History of Early Percussion Firearms Ignition — from Forsyth to Winchester .44/40. (I hope Winant got paid separately for the title; it must have been a day's work in itself.) This book was published by the high-profile firm of William Morrow and is now available in used-original and reprint form from some of the above-mentioned merchants from between $10 and $75.
The Antique and Collectible Firearms and Militaria Headquarters at www.oldguns.net has this to say about Firearms Curiosa: “This is a great book for the collector who is tired of looking at ads for greasy surplus rifles and beginning to wonder if there was something really interesting in the gun field to justify another trip to a museum, or gun show, or auction or website. Really cool stuff!” (If you've never visited oldguns.net, my advice is: do. It's worth it.)
I might note that if you're ever passing through northern Indiana, you might want to pay a visit to the LaPorte County Historical Society Museum (www.laportecountyhistory.org). This museum houses the William A. Jones Collection of Antique Weapons, which contains nearly 1,000 of just the sort of guns that Winant deals with in Firearms Curiosa. For $5 you can see volley guns, trap guns, squeezer pistols, pepperboxes, cane guns, and many other freaky firearms that'll make you look twice and shake your head.
If you do a lot of bathroom reading, hunt down a copy of Firearms Curiosa. You might never come out.
That is illegal and isn't being done. Brandishing is defined as “to shake or wave (as a weapon) menacingly”, (originally a sword, or brand in the Old English). The law in all the states I checked specifically forbid menacing with a weapon, whether you have a concealed carry permit or not.
The charge is generally called brandishing a weapon or they could be charged with felony menacing. None of the demonstrators was arrested for any misconduct. They were not brandishing anything.
It is hard for the pioneers of any movement. It is hard to recover rights that have been covered over with layers of Political Correctness and years of exaggerated accusations by the anti-gun left. These men were legally exercising what has become an obscure right, and the left has been trying to distort their actions and vilify them so that others will be dissuaded from doing the same thing.
For example, Bonnie Erbe writing at US News and World Report imply's that anyone openly carrying a gun is a crazy waiting to go off on a mass killing spree, saying the danger to society was “tantamount to allowing children to play with live hand grenades.” The Sun in England ran a headline: A MAN with a 9mm pistol waits for Barack Obama to appear at a meeting – after cops said they could not arrest him.
After mentioning that Obama has gotten many death threats, they mentioned in the fourth paragraph that the man caused no trouble to anyone. On Time's website Joseph Petro says “They're intimidating people like it's a western saloon..”
No crimes were committed, no harm was done. These men peaceably assembled for redress of grievance and carried weapons. Those are covered by Amendment 1 and Amendment 2 to the United States Constitution.
Let's hold the national press and the blogoshere to task to report accurately on the news of the day, and not impute criminal intent or make up actions that cast a negative light on people who carry guns simply because they are legally carrying them. Read more
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is likely to decide whether the Second Amendment's guarantee of a right to “keep and bear arms” restricts only the federal government — the current state of affairs — or whether it can be used to strike down intrusive state and local laws too.
A three-judge panel ruled that the Second Amendment does apply to the states. But now a larger Ninth Circuit panel will rehear the case, a procedure reserved only for issues of exceptional importance, which means the earlier decision could be upheld or overruled.
Two other circuits have said the Second Amendment does not apply to the states, a legal term known as “incorporation.” If the Ninth Circuit's en banc panel continues to disagree with its peers, the Supreme Court almost certainly would step in.
The Ninth Circuit case involves Russell and Sallie Nordyke, who run a gun show business that would like to rent Alameda County's fairgrounds (the county includes Oakland and is across the bay from San Francisco). After being blocked, they sued. The author of the ordinance in question, then-county supervisor Mary King, actually claimed such shows are nothing but “a place for people to display guns for worship as deities for the collectors who treat them as icons of patriotism.”
The hearing is set for 10 a.m. PT in the federal courthouse at 95 Seventh Street in San Francisco.
A few other items:
California Update: I wrote an article three months ago about a lawsuit filed by the Second Amendment Foundation and the Calguns Foundation saying routine denials of concealed carry permits violate the Second Amendment's right to bear arms. Oral arguments on a preliminary motion in that case are scheduled for the same day — September 24 — at 2 p.m. in Sacramento.
In a brief filed on Monday, Sacramento (one of the counties sued) says it wants more time to question the gun owners who filed the case to verify that they're in a position to sue. “Defendants seek to depose the individual plaintiffs on these issues to determine the basis of their alleged ‘undisputed facts,' what process each plaintiff has engaged in to the end of obtaining a carry concealed permit in Sacramento County,” it says.
Some Guns Are More Equal Than Others: Nobody has been hurt by the protesters who have legally carried guns to events where the president has been speaking, and I know of no evidence that they were even close enough to see the man.
Nevertheless, Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's non-voting Democratic rep in the U.S. House of Representatives, wants mandatory “gun-free zones around the president, his cabinet and other top federal officials,” according to a report by the local Fox affiliate. Similarly, the Brady Campaign toldCBS News that guns have no place at such an event.
It's Official: Congratulations to the Calguns Foundation for being awarded non-profit status by the IRS. Gene Hoffman, chairman of the Calguns Foundation, told me on Monday evening that the group is now officially a 501(c)(3) non-profit; previously, the non-profit status had been pending.
Montana Update: You may remember that a Montana state law seeks to challenge the federal government on the manufacture and sale of guns made entirely within the state. It takes effect on October 1. As soon that happens, according to Montana Shooting Sports Association president Gary Marbut, gun-rights types will have a lawsuit ready to file to prevent federal prosecution of local would-be gunsmiths.
“We have some strong arguments to make, including some that have never been argued before about the (U.S. Constitution's) Commerce Clause and the Tenth Amendment, as far as I know,” Marbut told me on Monday.
Paging The Ninth Circuit: I just noticed yet another case in which a judge has declined to extend the Second Amendment to state or local laws. The case is called Slough v. Telb and arose out of a gun seizure in Ohio.
U.S. District Judge David Katz ruled on August 14: “The United States Supreme Court has never held that the Second Amendment is enforceable against the states by incorporation into the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Courts in other circuits have held that Second Amendment rights are not enforceable against the states under (civil rights laws). As the weight of authority holds that the individual right to bear arms may not be enforceable against the states, the constitutional right to do so is anything but clearly established.” Read more
The Montana Shooting Sports Association, headquartered in Missoula, and the Second Amendment Foundation, of Bellevue, Wash., announced Monday they intend to file suit on Oct. 1 to prevent federal gun control laws from being enforced in Montana for guns made and used within the state's boundaries.
“If a gun is made in Montana and stays in Montana, it isn't engaging in interstate commerce,” said Alan Gottlieb, of the Second Amendment Foundation. “The federal government really should bug out.”
At issue is the Montana Firearms Freedom Act, which passed the 2009 Legislature and was signed into law by Gov. Brian Schweitzer. That law states that guns, ammunition and certain gun parts manufactured and used in Montana are not subject to federal gun laws.
The law goes into effect Oct. 1. Several other states are considering identical legislation, although so far only Tennessee has passed a similar measure.
Currently, individuals and businesses that sell or manufacture most guns must have a federal license.
Missoula resident Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, said that licensure is about control.
“Whenever there is licensure, there is control. That's the purpose of licensure,” he said. “We don't think the source of those items that are essential to our Second Amendment freedoms should be controlled by the federal government.”
Scot Thomasson, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, declined to comment for this story.
However, the agency sent letters to all federal gun license holders in the state last month. That letter stated that the Montana Firearms Freedom Act did not nullify federal gun regulations.
“All provisions of the Gun Control Act and the National Firearms Act and their corresponding regulations continue to apply,” according to the letter, which was signed by Carson Carroll, assistant director of the ATF in Washington, D.C. “These, as well as other federal requirements and prohibitions, continue to apply whether or not the firearms or ammunition has crossed state lines.”
That the guns and ammo not be used outside Montana is important, Gottlieb said. So far, the federal government has justified federal control over guns by citing the “interstate commerce clause,” which states that the federal government can regulate commerce between the states.
But if a gun will not be leaving Montana, there is no “interstate commerce” and the federal government has no standing to enforce its laws, Gottlieb said.
Marbut said he'll planning to file suit in Montana federal court the day the law goes into effect. He said he's received letters from Montanans interested in making their own guns, but who aren't sure the new law will protect them from federal prison time.
Those people, Marbut said, are the “test case.” He's anticipating the suit will seek to prevent the ATF from enforcing federal laws. Marbut said he didn't want any Montanans to have to go to federal prison in order to test the legal arguments behind the Firearms Freedom Act.
In the meantime, he said, please don't make a gun.
“We are continuing to highly recommend to Montana people that nobody make one of these Montana devices until we can clarify these legal issues in court,” he said. “We don't want some Montana citizens to face potential federal prison time.”
The law states that the gun must be machined in Montana; people couldn't simply assemble a gun here from parts they bought out of state.
Marbut said gun laws ought to be made and enforced by the states.
“We would prefer that if there's going to be regulation (of guns) that it done at the state level in a way that is consistent with our people and our culture in Montana,” he said. “We don't need the kinds of regulation that New Jersey may need or that California may need.” Read more
The M1A was developed during the Vietnam era, yet is still in use by the military in campaigns around the world.
Many of these items are highly regulated, with stiff penalties for failure to comply with national and local laws. This adds to the “mystique” of many ordnance items, notably machine guns, artillery pieces and tanks. Compliance with some of these laws is costly, and this further drives up pricing.
US soldiers walking the fields of Vietnam.
The pricing found in the firearms portion of this book is different than that found in the remainder of the book. For the most part, collectors shun reproductions or fakes; however, an exception seems to exist in this regard when it comes to weapons. A firearm is a key part of many Vietnam displays, exhibits and mannequin dressing.
In many areas, regulation has made this difficult, particularly if items are displayed publicly, especially at schools. Hence, a legitimate market has developed for demilitarized or dummy weapons, as well as automatic weapon replicas capable of firing as semi-automatics. Hence, pricing is given for live, fully automatic, legally transferable weapons, semi-automatic variants, and demilitarized or dummy weapons.
Similarly, grenades and rockets listed in the Warman’s Vietnam Collectibles book are either demilitarized or expended. This is NOT the same thing as an inert or dummy grenade—the latter being much more common and much less valuable or desirable.
Armored fighting vehicles and self-propelled weapons are also listed. Collecting this equipment is a hobby unto itself; however, many vehicle collectors completely outfit their vehicles with period gear and wear authentic clothing while operating them. Private ownership of these vehicles is legal in the United States, although some localities have imposed restrictions.
If you can readily identify a piece, make sure you get an appraisal so you know what you are getting into.
Many of the armored vehicles used in the Vietnam War are still being used by U.S. soldiers today, and hence are not readily available on the market. Also, the Department of Defense has severely curtailed the sales of such vehicles domestically, while the State Department is not currently allowing any such vehicles to be repatriated. Cannon ownership, whether mounted on a vehicle or towed, is also legal.
However, if the cannon is capable of firing, its breech must be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) as a destructive device. The values indicated for these items assume a non-firing gun.
Be aware that the army considers most tanks, armored vehicles and cannons on display at VFW’s, American Legions and city parks to still be federal property. Do not consider buying or trading for such an item without an irrefutable chain of title, including a release from the federal government. This article is an excerpt from Warman's Vietnam War Collectibles by David Doyle.
Author's first gun is this Remington rolling block in 7mm Mauser, bought mail order from Ye Old Hunter for under $10. After a lot of elbow grease and emery cloth the ol' gun shined up well and shot pretty good.
I SUPPOSE THERE are times in a collector's life when he should consider cleaning out the accumulated “stuff” he has scrounged over the years. Maybe even more than once. The true and dedicated collector, no matter how narrowly focused he is, always acquires gear that really doesn't fit his tidy plan to own an example of every variation of, say, the Trapdoor Springfield or the Broomhandle Mauser.
There is the unfocused collector — better termed a gatherer — who just buys neat stuff because it tickles his fancy at the moment. It's tough to keep on the straight and narrow when there are fantastic deals to be had.
Read more from the 65-year archive at Gun Digest Research.
However, when first smitten by the gun bug, and until one realizes he really wants to be a collector, our subspecies gathers a variety of pieces just because we like them. We are, at first, the unfocused collector. There is nothing wrong with this. Until you know just what it is you want to pursue, you should try to examine as many types and makes of guns as possible. Automatic pistols, for instance, is a pretty broad field. It's wise to narrow it down and we all try to do that but somehow get sidetracked.
So, there really are times when a housecleaning is in order, sometimes under duress, sometimes just to begin again in another direction. Equally there are those guns we simply can't part with because they have great sentimental value. That's what I'm confessing here.
I have five guns I will never sell. I may someday decide to present them to a loved one, but never will I simply trade them for cash or other guns. I'm a sentimental kind of guy who has gotten a lot of enjoyment from these guns, the kind of memories that can't be replaced. So I'm keeping them, and I'm also going to tell you about them.
The Rolling Block
I don't know how many folks can claim to still have their very first real firearm, but I can. There's nothing real special about it except it is the first one I ever owned and that's good enough reason to be proud of it.
In my growing up years we had a neighbor, a very quiet and gentle man who made Kentuckys and Pennsylvania long rifles and was immensely proud of what he crafted. Sometimes he'd let my brother and me see a just-finished gun. We thought that was pretty neat, but what really got us bunched up were the World War II Mausers and a 1903 Springfield he had squirreled away in a corner.
We also spent a lot of time with a monthly wish book, The American Rifleman, the neighbor passed on to us. Just about that time, the war surplus ads began running in profusion and they drove me nuts. Here was a genuine “U.S. Army Model 1917 – Cal. 30-06” rifle that had just arrived at Ye Old Hunter's place “Virtually unfired. Fresh from Government Cases.” Holy Cow! But they cost $27.95 and that was more than I could muster. However, down the page a little farther was something more my speed, the “Pancho Villa Specials,” 7mm Remington rolling blocks, and the advertising hype was enough to get my blood boiling.
“Yes, here it is, the original ‘gun crank condition' [whatever that was!] 7mm Remington. You can almost see the finger prints which the former fanatical owners pressed into the wood as they realized the jig was up. All guns practically complete. Pre-oiled and ready to clean up.”
I was hooked. Especially since they were affordable — even for me —at the same price of hamburger then — 92 cents per pound. That came to $8.28.
Well, I sold a lot of newspaper subscriptions that summer and did every thing I could to earn a couple of cents toward that rifle. I had to have it. Somehow I did manage to scrape together enough to order it, and waiting for the Railway Express truck to drop it at the door was sheer torture. When it did arrive I was in ecstasy – my very own real gun with an intriguing history. Why, Pancho Villa himself probably held this very gun while riding through the desert with Black Jack Pershing hot on his tail.
I spent hours cleaning that gun and must have gone through 100 yards of emery cloth to get the rust and pitting to disappear. The ad copy writers didn't lie – it was “ready to clean up.” And I hadn't even noticed that line about the guns being “practically complete.” Fortunately, my own artifact seemed to have every part it was made with still firmly attached. The wood was nearly black from dirt and oil, but somehow I managed to get it light brown again, and filled in the worm holes and deeper gouges with Plastic Wood. A can of walnut wood stain served to even the color out, and what better thing to top it all off with than spar varnish! After all, those fancy new rifles were all shiny, so why not my newly restored prize?
Along the way I shot the old Remington quite a lot with penny-a-round, cracked-neck UMC ammo of uncertain vintage. I didn't know any better and most of it went “Bang!” with authority. Those that didn't gave interesting pauses between the time the hammer fell and the gun went off. I spent many an hour cleaning and oiling the neat old gun, and rode many a trail with Pancho and his gang. This rifle is an old friend.
The Marlin Golden 39A
Marlin's Golden 39A was a lot of gun for about $60, even 40 years ago. Thousands of rounds have been fired through this one and the action is butter smooth.
A year or two down the road, my thoughts turned to a 22, but not just any one would do, because now I was reading Boys Life magazine and in there spotted the Marlin Golden 39A lever-action rifle with a tube magazine. I was cutting grass for the neighborhood and earning a pretty good buck, so I figured I'd go for the Cadillac of 22s. I talked my Dad into buying it for me with my money – about $60 – and, since the catalog house selling it was in Chicago, he brought it home on the train one evening.
What a prize I had, and it was brand spanking new! I cleaned and oiled that Marlin and worked the action until I knew all there was to know about the gun. A few months later, we spent a weekend at my great-grandmother's farm in Michigan and I got to take the Golden 39A with me. My Dad bought some Long Rifles and, boy, did we have fun shooting at tin cans and other targets of opportunity! The smell of that much burned powder was intoxicating and one I'll never forget.
I shot my first game with that rifle on that same farm later that year. Now proficient with the gun, I was allowed to take it out to scout the sand dunes for Indians. I saw no Native Americans that afternoon, and the settlement seemed secure for a while longer. I did see a large mole running from hole to hole in the sandy soil. I waited for him to sit still long enough, and he did, and I touched one off and nailed him.
The Marlin was missing something and that was a scope, so I tried selling greeting cards because the Marlin-brand scope was a premium you could earn. It was amazing how many neighbors had just come from the drugstore where they'd bought cards just like those I was selling. And my parents and relatives didn't need any because there weren't any birthdays or holidays coming up soon.
In the end, my mother took pity on me after a few sale-less weeks and bought all the cards, bless her heart, and I was able to get my scope. And that near-50-year-old Marlin won't be leaving this gun room. Check back soon for Part 2 of this article.
The McMillan Rifle Co. A-5 stock is made with an adjustable cheek hood that can be easily manipulated in the field.
Your stock's fit can make the split-second difference that matters when it comes to long-range shooting and your precision rifle.
A properly fit stock is paramount to precision shooting. The stock is the foundation in which the rifle action and barrel become one with the shooter. The more precisely the stock fits the shooter, especially in the length and cheek area, the better eye relief and alignment with the scope will be achieved.
An improperly fit stock is immediately noticeable because the shooter wiggles his head around to get a full picture in the scope. Unless the stock of your rifle is custom made to fit you, or you get lucky and get one off the rack that fits perfectly, some adjustment might be needed to get a proper fit.
Rifles are made to fit average-sized shooters with some variations in the length of the stock and the angle in which it drops from the line of sight. They will work for a wide variety of shooters. The more the stock is customized to fit the shooter, the more precisely and quickly the shooter will be able to shoulder and get a good sight picture in the scope.
Although the wood-stocked rifle is more than adequate for hunting, the professional marksman should have as precise a rifle as he can.
There is no other choice. Get a rifle with a custom-built stock or fit the rifle with a stock that can be adjusted to fit perfectly. Actually, the adjustable stock has merit over the custom stock in that it can be adjusted in the field for slight modifications to account for heavier clothing or awkward shooting positions.
Butt length can be adjusted with spacers, recoil pads, or by cutting off a section and re-fitting the butt plate. Sniper or precision-grade stocks from H.S. Precision are designed with adjustment devices built right in. The stock can be adjusted to length and locked out in position.
The stock is built heavier in the cheek area, the grip, and the forearm to better suit the precision rifleman’s needs. It is machined to fit the action of the rifle and the barrel taper. It can be purchased in whatever color or camo that fits the use or mission. I have one of these stocks on a .308 I built from a Remington 700 action. The stock needed a bit more height in the cheek area for me and I accomplished it with a cheek pad from Blackhawk. I didn’t need much and the soft pad did the trick.
H.S. also produces stocks with adjustable cheek areas that can be lowered or raised to precisely fit the shooter. Precision stocks are usually a bit heavier than sportsman’s stocks — a favorable feature if it doesn’t go overboard, especially if it is to be carried much in a sniper’s role.
McMillan Rifle Co. also makes custom stocks. They manufacture complete precision rifles and stocks in a wide variety of configurations. One of their most popular, because it addresses most of the shooter’s concerns, is the A-5. It has a wider and flatter beavertail forearm and the action and barrel fit lower in the stock.
The A-3 pistol grip and dual-purpose butt hook help stabilize the rifle whether shooting on sand bags or controlling the butt with the off hand. The length is adjustable with aluminum plates that can be added or removed, and the cheek weld is made with an adjustable hood that can be easily manipulated in the field. It also comes in many colors and camo.
The above stocks — although they are part of the Army’s M-24 sniping system — look much like a regular hunting stock in basic shape. Skeletonized stocks, like the Choate Ultimate Sniper Stock designed by Maj. John Plaster, have all the ergonomic features a precision rifleman could need in a stock. It is highly adjustable in the cheek and length department and has hollow areas that can be filled with lead and epoxy to add weight.
The butt bottom is flat with a height adjustment screw for laying on surfaces or sandbags. The front of the forearm is angled to adjust the height of the rifle by moving it back and forth on the rest. It is built from high quality composite materials and machined to fit specific actions. This stock is well thought out and deserves a look for anyone putting together a precision rifle.
Weight is an important feature of the precision rifle. The heavier barrel and stock steady the rifle and reduce felt recoil. I like a police marksman rifle around 10 to 12 pounds. Usually these are .308 Winchester, which is not a shoulder-buster, but the extra weight keeps the scope on target during the shot.
The Choate Ultimate Sniper Stock is highly adjustable in the cheek and length department and has hollow areas that can be filled with lead and epoxy to add weight.
It isn’t so heavy that it can’t be packed to a hide easily or carried on a longer rural set up. Most hunters don’t like the heavier rifles because they are going to pack it around all day, but I like a happy medium in my hunting rifles. The number five contour on a barrel is heavier than a hunting barrel but not a full target or sniper weight. I like a stock that fits me properly and has an action that is bedded solidly and correctly and is lighter than a sniper grade stock.
Fiberglass and composite materials have replaced wood for stock construction and are far superior in rock solid bedding, which is also an important function of the stock. The composite stock is impervious to weather and will not warp, swell or cause different pressures on the barrel that affect accuracy. Also, aluminum blocks that have been machined to fit the particular action of a rifle can be secured with epoxy into the composite stock to get consistent bedding when torqued back together after cleaning.
The solid bedding of the action in the stock cannot be overemphasized. The aluminum block is now becoming the standard for bedding the action because it is a super-solid way of attaching the action to the stock. The rear of the receiver and the barrel must also fit perfectly. The rear of the action should also be a tight fit in the stock and not move during recoil, and the barrel should be floated, that is free from any contact with the stock.
When I fitted the .308 rifle to the H.S. Precision stock, the only modification I needed to do was mill out some aluminum for an after-market precision trigger. The stock was machined for the factory equipment. I epoxy bedded the receiver for a more solid fit, but it was really not necessary, just me being a little fussy.
The aluminum bedding is so superior, many manufacturers and gunsmiths are pillar-bedding actions in composite stocks that didn’t come with an aluminum block welded in. This entails drilling out the holes where the screws fit through the stock to accommodate an aluminum pillar and welding it into place with a high-quality bonding epoxy. This aluminum pillar will contact the action and the trigger guard assembly precisely so when the action screws are tightened, the action, stock and pillars become one.
In some cases wood is still an acceptable material for a stock and can be modified to improve performance. Pillar bedding can also be used to improve a wood stock. The old method was to bed the action in an epoxy/Fiberglas mix inside the stock that would strengthen the wood-to-metal bond. The barrel channel was either bedded out to the end in glass or floated out with bedding material in the channel to keep it from warping and contacting the barrel. This was and still is one great way to improve the wood stock. The pillars take it a bit further and the aluminum gives even more strength. This gives the utility of a light wood stock for hunting and a good solid bedding job.
The action and barrel fit lower in the A-5 stock. The pistol grip and the dual-purpose butt hook help stabilize the rifle.
I re-barreled a Winchester Model 70 short action in .308 thinking to make a lightweight medium sized game-hunting rifle. When it came to the stock, I didn’t want to make it unduly heavy with a tactical stock. The wood was in good shape so I just machined out a couple pillars from some T6 aluminum stock and installed them with Acra-glas.
Brownells carries the pillars already made and all the resins to do the job; and it all comes with detailed instructions. The length of the stock was already fit to me and the scope mount I used was the perfect height for proper cheek weld.Some cheek adjustment can be made in mounting the scope.
Using higher or lower mounts can help and are worth looking into, especially on a non-adjustable cheek stock. This is quickly apparent with the AR-type rifles. With all the scope attachments on carry handles or flat tops, getting the correct cheek height is tough, especially if the rifle is set up for more precise shooting.
I like the Magpul adjustable stock for the AR.I mounted a Leupold Varmint scope to the flat top and couldn’t get my face low enough to see a proper sight picture. By raising the scope with a quick mount block and using the adjustable cheek piece on the Magpul, it now shoulders quickly with a good sight picture.
Although rifles may differ slightly because of the preferred utility of the tool, there are some factors that can be beneficial to the shooter’s performance.
I like my rifles to be as accurate as possible no matter what the purpose, and with all the options to choose from, proper fit and solid bedding are going to be my first concerns. As far as color and finish, unless it is for a specific purpose, I leave fashion to my wife.
The resolution was introduced by Belleview resident Donny Barber. As written, it encouraged, “all law abiding citizens to own a handgun, rifle or shotgun and receive adequate training to become proficient in the use of and safe handling of the weapon so they are prepared to protect themselves and their families.”
Additionally, the resolution called on homeowners to, “maintain a firearm, together with ammunition” in order “to provide for the emergency management” of the city, as well as “to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare” of the community.
Going from a resolution to an actual law will require two steps. This week “Commissioners would have to vote to direct staff to draft the document in the city's official format,” the Star-Banner noted. “If they agree to that, the resolution would come back a second time in September for final adoption.”
This is a three-shot group fired at 100 yards though a windshield into a target three-feet behind the class. It's clear the Shoot-N-C target provides lots of immediate feedback.
The sniper exists to provide protection. Because of that the sniper must be counted upon to make the shot. It is that simple: First shot. Cold Bore. Every time.
Equipment provides the technological advantage but training provides an even more vital element: confidence. Snipers need to know what they can do and what they can't and also what their equipment can and can't do.
That explains why I spent nearly five hours on the range recently with snipers from the Waupaca County, Wisconsin SWAT team. We had a plan, but the long and short of it was that this time on the range would provide confidence in both ability and hardware.
Here's the backstory. Correspondence between the Sheriff's Department and the maker of the chosen ammunition for departmental snipers revealed that the current ammo was not suitable for use against commonly encountered barriers. Specifically, the ammo maker said the round currently in use by the department was not recommended for use against glass; auto glass in particular.
“They told us they wouldn't stand behind the round if we had to fire through glass. They wouldn't testify in court and they wouldn't claim that it was effective at all against glass,” said one of the snipers as we gathered at the range to make some decisions.
You see, in most cases where a police sniper is deployed in a rural setting like Waupaca County, the subject is likely to be inside a house or vehicle in some sort of standoff scenario.
Snipers Nick Kamba (left) and Cameron Durrant assess the exit holes on the back of a 100-yard target and wonder aloud if the case separation or glass particles caused the extra damage. Either way, it was decided that the round would do its job.
The snipers needed to be confident they could shoot through glass and neutralize a target efficiently. So that's what we did.
For the grand total of $12 in lumber and screws we built a rack to hold scrap windshields and discarded windows from area remodeling projects. Then we grabbed some of Birchwood Casey's Shoot-N-C targets and commenced the testing.
As an aside, should you wish to duplicate this experiment, do not attempt it without the Shoot-N-C targets. The green backing not only made tracking hits fast and easy, but it also showed the extent and intensity of the glass fragmentation… an important consideration if the standoff includes a hostage.
The final tabulations not yet done, but I can tell you this: Two rounds provided amazing performance against all the glass barriers we put between shooter and target. They are Hornady's 165-grain TAP Barrier and Black Hills Ammunition's Bonded 180-grain ammo.
For their part, the snipers learned that auto windshields, storm windows and even double-paned insulated windows are not a hindrance when using the proper ammo fired from a well-maintained .308 rifle.
When the snipers complete their reports watch for the findings in an upcoming issue of Tactical Gear Magazine.
Obama has deliberately and repeatedly lied to America's 90 million gun owners across the country when he insisted that he would not try to take away anyone's firearms. Now Obama's silence endorses Lautenberg's latest attempt at banning guns.
Dem. Senator Lautenberg (D-NJ) proposes “Extraordinary Powers” be given to the U.S. Attorney General to limit gun sales.
Lautenberg has now introduced bill S. 1317 that would give the attorney general the discretion to block gun sales to people on terror watch lists. One must wonder, when did the U.S. Attorney General become the “Gun Czar”? This appears to be yet another bill requiring an effort by concerned Americans to defeat. If passed this bill will give extraordinary powers to limit gun sales exclusively to the U.S. Attorney General.
Lautenberg To Reveal Names on Secret List
The names of the people on the watch list are secret, and Lautenberg said he was frustrated by the F.B.I.'s refusal to disclose to investigators details and specific cases of gun purchases beyond the aggregate data.
Sen. Lautenberg requested the gun grab study from the Government Accountability Office. He is using statistics, compiled in the report that is scheduled for public release next week to invade US citizen's privacy and put more restrictions on the Second Amendment.
Sen. Lautenberg said he wanted “a better understanding of who is being allowed to buy guns.” Riiiight.
How you ask? Trial by innuendo and misinformation that has put 1,000,000 Americans and maybe even you on a terrorist watch list without your knowledge by saying: people placed on this government's terrorist watch list can be stopped from getting on a plane or getting a visa, and will also be stopped from buying a gun.
It is decidedly convenient to have had DHS give justification for placing anyone who disagrees with Obama or the Marxist-style administration he runs into the category of potential “terrorist”. With the DHS memo leaked earlier this year, remember, Napolitano only apologized to and removed the veterans, she left, in tact, the groundless accusations of all the rest of the Americans who hold dissenting opinions. This makes way for any one of those “right-wing extremists” to be placed on the government's terrorist watch list. Or, possibly, anyone “flagged” as “fishy” on the “Spy on your neighbor” white house website?
Sen. Lautenberg wants gun purchases stopped for just being on the list. Current law states federal officials must find some other disqualification of a would-be gun buyer, like being a felon, an illegal alien or a drug addict.
Is your name on the list and can you get it removed? Read more
Norton, who sits on the Homeland Security Committee, made the request after numerous news reports have shown groups of people brandishing firearms while outside of events held by Obama over the past several weeks.
“It is clear that if the Secret Service can temporarily clear all aircraft from air space when the president is in the vicinity, the agency has the authority to clear guns on the ground that are even closer to the President,” Norton said.
But the Secret Service says that Obama was never in danger when a group of about a dozen protesters brandished their firearms outside the Phoenix convention center earlier this week where he was speaking.
One man carried an AR-15 assault rifle, but Arizona law allows people to carry unconcealed guns and police made no arrests.
“This doesn’t change what already exists for Secret Service,” said Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley of Norton’s request.
“Whenever the Secret Service travels somewhere in the country, we are able to determine what the security parameters will be for any particular site and anything within those parameters fall under federal law as far as being able to control what happens there.”
“So even if the state law says that you can have a gun as long as it’s not concealed, it doesn’t mean that you can bring a gun into a protected site.”
Norton has been battling with gun rights supporters for years because of the District’s former ban on handguns, which was struck down by the Supreme Court last year. More recently, a bill to grant the District a representational vote in Congress has stalled in the House because of an amendment that would make it easier to own a gun in D.C.
The Arizona event followed a similar instance in New Hampshire – which has open-carry laws – last week when police arrested a man for having a loaded, unlicensed gun in his car near where Obama was set to hold a healthcare-related forum. Another man outside of that event had a licensed handgun strapped to his leg and held a sign that read: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
“In both instances, those guys were outside of the outer-most perimeter of security, so what would apply is state law,” said Wiley. “They never had any proximity to the president at any time. They weren’t trying to gain access to the event and they weren’t in a position outside the event where they could have affected the president.”
But the Brady Campaign, a gun control group, said that these increasing instances of brandishing firearms in public could lead to escalated scenarios in the future that put the president at risk because it stretches law enforcement thin.
“Law enforcement has to keep an eye on these people,” said Paul Helmke, president of the group. “So the more people [who] carry guns, the more people you need to keep an eye on them, which stretches limited resources further. You get an event like in Phoenix with maybe 12 or 13 people, what if at the next event there are 100? And when you take the law enforcement resources away, that makes the president more vulnerable.” Read more
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals said that, even after the Supreme Court's high-profile gun rights decision last year, the Second Amendment is no obstacle to mandatory gun registration.
The case arose out of the Chicago-area town of Cicero's mandatory registration requirement for firearms. A local man named John Justice was raided by the Cicero police on suspicion of violating business ordinances including improper storage of chemicals; the police discovered six unregistered handguns during the raid.
Justice runs the Microcosm laminating company on 55th Ave., which sells special adhesives and does custom coatings for customers, and argued in a civil lawsuit that the local ordinance violated the Second Amendment. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
In a 3-0 opinion published last Friday, the judges said that this was a different situation from the District of Columbia v. Hellercase, which led the Supreme Court to strike down D.C.'s law effectively prohibiting the ownership of handguns.
“There is a critical distinction between the D.C. ordinance struck down in Heller and the Cicero ordinance,” the court said in an opinion written by Judge Diane Wood, a Clinton appointee. “Cicero has not prohibited gun possession in the town. Instead, it has merely regulated gun possession under Section 62-260 of its ordinance.”
If the court had merely written that the Second Amendment doesn't apply to the states (a concept called incorporation), this would not have been especially newsworthy. After all, a different three-judge panel from the 7th Circuit already has rejected the incorporation argument.
What's unusual — and makes this case remarkable — is that Wood went out of her way to say that even if the Second Amendment does apply to states, mandatory gun registration would be perfectly constitutional. “The town does prohibit the registration of some weapons, but there is no suggestion in the complaint or the record that Justice's guns fall within the group that may not be registered,” she wrote. “Nor does Heller purport to invalidate any and every regulation on gun use.” Read more
A jeweler spent the rest of his life wishing he had never chased after two men who robbed his Brooklyn store. He told his family that he meant only to wound them when he pulled the trigger. Insurance, he lamented, would have covered the theft.
For as long as there have been stickup men, there have been shopkeepers who fought back. Shooting the robbers was in some ways the simplest part, requiring only the reflexes of a survivor, and a gun — though more than a few store owners have been prosecuted for using unlicensed firearms.
The real pain came in the weeks and years that followed. The proprietors replayed the violence that had marched into their cramped bodegas, restaurants or jewelry stores, cursing the career criminals or desperate men who had threatened their livelihoods — their lives, even — and their sanity.
The deep regret such violence can create was hinted at last week when the owner of a restaurant supply store in Harlem killed two robbers with a pump-action shotgun. The owner, Charles Augusto Jr., expressed sympathy for the families of the dead men, and said he wished they had just left his store.
His emotions echoed those of Peter Giron, the co-owner of a South Bronx dry cleaning establishment who shot and killed a 17-year-old gunman in 1978. Mr. Giron collapsed and had to be sedated after the 17-year-old’s father visited his store and politely asked about the shooting.
A few owners said the shootings in their pasts, even those from decades ago, were still too painful to talk about. One, who would speak only anonymously, said, “I’ve been trying to forget about this since it happened.”
Ivan Blume, who wrested a gun away from a robber and killed both him and his accomplice at his store, Quality Canines, in Brooklyn, in 2003, would say only, “It’s a chapter in my life I’d rather close.” Read more
Looking to go armed, but are stuck in the weeds as to what to arm yourself with? Here are 20 excellent concealed carry gun options that will keep you on the defensive.
After four decades in the U.S. Senate, Ted Kennedy’s life ended, as all lives do, in death. In his time in the Senate, he sponsored or pushed to make law virtually every piece of anti-gun legislation possible.
