While federal laws surely do impact Second Amendment rights, including our ability to buy, sell, and own firearms, state and local issues are of no less importance. In the recent Supreme Court ruling on Heller, for example, the Second Amendment as an individual right was affirmed. Yet, the justices also noted that lawmakers on all levels could place numerous restrictions on firearms and their ownership.
That means that state and local governments are, in many ways, where the actual, “on the ground” interpretations of the Second Amendment occur. And so we take a quick look at some of the state races of note, as well as states where gun rights look to be at stake, in 2008 and beyond.
For easy reference “pro” means a candidate with a pro-gun record, while “anti” refers to someone on the other side of the fence, as determined by groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA) and Gun Owners of America (GOA). “So-so” reflects a mixed record, while “??” means no records or statements have been found.
Governor Races:
Delaware: An Open Seat, where State Treasurer Jack Markell, D (anti) versus William “Bill” Lee, R, (pro). Lee is a retired superior court judge, and a former officer in the Marine Corps, who fully supports the Supreme Court’s recent affirmation of the Second Amendment in Heller.
Indiana: Incumbent Mitch Daniels, R (pro) takes on former Congresswoman Jill Long Thompson, D (anti). Thompson received a “D” in the past from the NRA, while Daniels has supported and signed pro-gun legislation more than once.
Missouri is an Open Seat, as incumbent Matt Blunt, R, is not running. That has pitted state Attorney General Jay Nixon, D (anti) against Congressman Kenny Hulshof, R (pro). Hulshof got an “A” grade from the NRA in the past, and signed the amicus brief in support of Heller.
Montana is one of those rare states where two pro-gun candidates are vying for the top office: Incumbent Brian Schweitzer, D (pro) taking on State Senator Roy Brown, R (pro) New Hampshire has incumbent John Lynch, D (anti), against State Senator Joseph D. Kenney, R (pro). Kenny gets an “A” from Gun Owners of New Hampshire.
North Carolina is another Open Seat state. Here, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, D (pro), and supported by the NRA, against Pat McCrory, R (??).
North Dakota incumbent John Hoeven, R (pro), who has signed a number of pro-gun and pro-hunting measures, against State Senator Tim Mathern, D (??).
Utah incumbent Jon Huntsman, R (pro), got an “A” from the NRA, versus Bob Springmeyer, D (??).
Vermont incumbent Jim Douglas, R (pro), with an “A” from the NRA, goes up against State Representative Gaye Symington, D (??). Washington State has incumbent Christine Gregoire, D (anti) vying with Dino Rossi, R (pro). Of note, in 2004, Gregoire did not answer an NRA questionnaire on Second Amendment issues. A businessman today, Rossi was a state Senator, and in 2004 received an “A” from the NRA. West Virginia is another win-win state for the Second Amendment, as incumbent Joe Manchin, D (pro) competes against Russ Weeks, R (pro) States To Watch
California: Anti-gunners in the state houses keep going after ammunition, trying to pass bills to mandate expensive and unproven bullet serialization, plus ammo sales restrictions. Moves afoot to expand bans on lead bullets, too.
Illinois: Cook County supervisors going after gun stores, while legislature mulls bullet serialization, banning high-capacity magazines, and more gun show regulations. Governor and Chicago mayor both anti-gun.
New York: When’s New York City Mayor Bloomberg going to stop his attacks on gun shops and firearms industry? Apparently, never. Recent discussions in the state house about firearms microstamping, another unproven and very expensive technology.
Pennsylvania: Add one anti-gun governor plus one anti-gun mayor of Philadelphia, and you get: attempted “assault weapon” bans, one-per month handgun buy limits, and cities illegally trying to make a host of their own gun laws. The NRA and others have Philly in court over many anti-gun regs the city has approved.
Washington State: Legislature keeps going after gun show “loophole.” Meanwhile, Seattle mayor is definitely anti-handguns, and is trying to keep concealed carry permitees from carrying on city property.
To read Part 1 of this special election series, The Senator from Illinois, Click Here. To read Part 2, McCain and Gun Owners, A Strained Relationship, Click Here. To read Part 3, Key Federal Races, Click Here
My father always used to say, “Buckshot makes a mess.” I've adopted that philosophy when it comes to self-defense with a shotgun. When it comes to stopping the threat, and I mean “right now,” I'll happily make a mess. Bad guys deserve it.
The problem with buckshot is that old first law of physics; When something hits hard, that means it hits back hard, too. People shooting buckshot sometimes fear the recoil.
So Remington took out some of the recoil and left behind enough punch to make a mess of the bad guys. You gotta love that. With less felt recoil than full velocity loads, Remington's Managed-Recoil Buckshot is an ideal close-range performer.
Less recoil means second shot recovery is quicker, allowing the user to get back on target more easily. These new loads are built just like the standard eight-pellet 00 Buckshot loads and are buffered for dense patterns, allowing for highly effective performance up to 40 yards.
I shot the Managed-Recoil loads at 25 yards with a cylinder-bore tactical shotgun and was able to regularly put all eight pellets into a 19-inch human silhouette, even with a fancy rapid-fire shooting drill.
This is good stuff that will make the bad guys stop doing bad things. To get your hands on Remington Managed-Recoil buckshot, check out www.remington.com
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The flashlight of tomorrow is here today. In early 2009, tactical clothing and gear leader 5.11 Tactical Series® will launch an extraordinary rechargeable flashlight that is faster, more cost effective and friendlier to the environment than any other flashlight in history.
The Ultimate Convenience and Performance
Powered by a sophisticated energy management system, 5.11’s Light for Life™ UC3.400™ Flashlight fully charges in 90 seconds and delivers up to 23.5 hours of total runtime (98% uptime) in a 24-hour period. This revolutionary performance compares with charge times ranging from four to 12 hours, and runtime rates ranging from 9% to 25% for duty flashlights currently on the market.
The UC3.400 contains no batteries, but rather a sophisticated energy management system called FlashPoint? Power Technology. This technology utilizes environmentally friendly ultracapacitors that work together with revolutionary computer circuitry to efficiently manage how energy is loaded into the flashlight, and then optimizes how the energy is dispersed to maximize both performance and runtime.
Unlike costly batteries that need to be replaced, ultracapacitors quickly load and unload energy without a chemical reaction. The UC3.400 is rated for 50,000 charge/discharge cycles with virtually no degradation and no memory ¬– even in severe temperature conditions. That’s one charge a day for more than 135 years! Current rechargeable flashlights begin to lose the ability to hold a full charge after the first use, are highly susceptible to temperature fluctuations, and have an expected life of 500 to 1,000 charge/discharge cycles (one to three years expected for a professional user) before the battery must be replaced at a substantial cost.
The high-performance Light for Life UC3.400 produces 270 peak lumens in bright mode, 90 lumens in standard mode, and has a 270-lumen tactical strobe. The three LED bulbs on the flashlight are rated for 50,000 hours and never have to be replaced. At about 16 oz., the flashlight weighs approximately half as much as competitors’ full-size duty flashlights.
Return on Investment
Because the flashlight runs on ultracapacitors instead of batteries and utilizes 3 LEDs that are rated for 50,000 hours each, and it has no replaceable parts to buy or dispose of, it’s incredibly economical and environmentally friendly.
The Light for Life UC3.400 is constructed of top-quality materials to 5.11’s exacting specifications, and is precision engineered to offer at least a decade of maintenance-free operation under typical conditions. It’s also backed by a generous limited lifetime warranty covering normal on-duty/off-duty wear. In addition, with the ability to fully recharge in 90 seconds and no batteries, there’s a reduced need for professionals to carry multiple flashlights for security and safety.
When you factor in the price of the flashlight, zero maintenance or outlay for batteries and bulbs, and reduced electricity costs, you’re looking at an impressive return on investment. At a retail price starting at $169.99 with nothing to replace over the course of 10 years, the Light for Life UC3.400 has the lowest operating cost of any duty flashlight on the market. You can expect a minimum overall operational cost savings of at least 40% – making this flashlight a fiscally responsible move for you and your organization.
Rugged and Environmentally Friendly
Made of a firearm-grade high-strength polymer, the 11.5” UC3.400 casing is fully sealed against the elements. It’s abrasion, crack and bend-resistant. The temperature-tolerant ultracapacitors are rated at -40° F to 149° F (-40° C to 65° C). Also, the water-resistant, ruggedly built UC3.400 flashlight features solid-state construction.
Because the ultracapacitors are made of mostly carbon and aluminum, the UC3.400 contains no heavy metals. Since there are no batteries to replace, there is not only savings in the cost of the batteries, but also for the environment, as heavy metals in traditional batteries are extremely harmful to the ecosystem. Also, batteries can leak and are potentially explosive. The UC3.400 is also RoHS compliant. The fact is, the Light for Life UC3.400 is one of the most “green” tactical light sources on the planet. It generates minimal waste and uses less energy, thereby making it a responsible use of resources.
The Light for Life UC3.400 comes with a 12V DC charging base that plugs into a car, as well as a mounting plate and a belt ring. A full line of accessories will also be available including lens filters, flare cones, holsters and an AC adapter.
“This marks the beginning of a bold new era in flashlight technology,” says 5.11 Tactical CEO Dan Costa. “The ingeniously designed Light for Life UC3.400 is so superior and innovative that it actually renders all others obsolete. It literally revolutionizes and transforms the portable rechargeable lighting industry.”
Costa continues, “Ten years from now, after tens of thousands of charges, you’ll still be able to depend on the Light for Life flashlight to get out there and work for you every day.”
Now Accepting Preorders
The Light for Life UC3.400 is the first product of its kind in the world. Priced from $169.99, the flashlight will be available in early 2009. For a limited time only, 5.11 is offering free “Light for Life” t-shirts by mail-in postcard. 5.11 Tactical is currently taking individual and department flashlight preorders. Please visit www.511tactical.com today to locate your nearest 5.11 Dealer and secure your Light for Life UC3.400 flashlight.
About 5.11 Tactical Series®
Located in Modesto, California, 5.11 Tactical Series creates innovative, user-required products that enhance the safety, speed and performance of law enforcement, military and fire/EMS professionals. Built on a foundation of durability, quality and value, 5.11 Tactical’s team of more than 200 employees leads the industry in delivering functionally innovative gear, head to toe. The company was ranked #211 on the 2007 Inc. 500 list. Learn more about 5.11’s best-selling tactical clothing, station wear, uniforms, outerwear, footwear and accessories at www.511tactical.com.
(Editor’s note: This is the third in a four-part series on the 2008 elections and the Second Amendment. The next and last installment will examine state and local elections of note.)
While the 2008 election for president has dominated much of the gun rights debate, there are many other federal seats up for grabs this November. The gun rights records and beliefs of the winning candidates will go a long way to forming Second Amendment issues in the years to come.
With all U.S. House of Representative seats up for grabs, and a third of the U.S. Senate being decided, what follows is only a sampling. For easy reference “pro” means a candidate with a pro-gun record, while “anti” refers to someone on the other side of the fence, as determined by groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA) and Gun Owners of America (GOA). “So-so” reflects a mixed record, while “??” means no records or statements have been found.
Senate:
In Alabama, incumbent Senator Jeff Sessions, R (pro), squares off against State Senator Vivian Davis Figures, D (pro).
Alaska’s senatorial race pits long-time incumbent Ted Stevens, R (pro), against Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, D (pro). The wild card in this race is Stevens current trial, where is defending himself against corruption charges.
In Arkansas, incumbent Mark Pryor, D (anti), got a grade of “D” by the NRA. Yet he is running against Green Party candidate Rebekah Kennedy, whose website does not even mention the Second Amendment.
An interesting race in Colorado, for an open seat. Contenders are U.S. Congressman Mark Udall, D (anti) versus former Congressman Bob Schaffer, R (pro).
The Illinois Senate race pits long-time anti-gun incumbent Dick Durbin, D, against Steve Sauerberg, R (pro).
In Louisiana, incumbent Mary Landrieu, D has a “so-so” rating on gun rights. She’s up against State Treasurer John Kennedy, R (pro).
Maine senate incumbent Susan Collins, R (pro) takes on State Representative Tom Allen, D (anti).
Michigan’s long-time incumbent, and long-time anti, Senator Carl Levin, D, is opposed by State Representative Jack Hoogendyk, R (pro)
Sounds like a bad joke, but in Minnesota incumbent Norm Coleman, R (pro) takes on comedian Al Franken, D (anti).
Two win-win situations in Mississippi: for one seat, incumbent Thad Cochran, R (pro) versus State Representative Erik Fleming, D (pro); for the other seat, incumbent Roger Wicker, R (pro) against former Governor Ronnie Musgrove D (pro).
An open seat in Nebraska has NRA-endorsed Mike Johanns, R (pro), a former secretary of agriculture against political newcomer Scott Kleeb, D, who’s views on the Second Amendment are not found on his campaign website.
Looks like a loss either way in New Jersey, with incumbent Frank Lautenberg, D (anti), taking on former Representative Rep Dick Zimmer, R (anti)
But it is a win either way in South Carolina, with NRA-endorsed incumbent Lindsey Graham, R (pro) versus Bob Conley, D (pro), NRA and GOA life member.
South Dakota race features incumbent Tim Johnson, D (so-so) against State Representative Joel Dykstra, R (pro).
Another open seat in Virginia, with former governor Mark Warner, D (so-so), versus former governor Jim Gilmore, R (pro).
House of Representatives:
CO: 1st Dist. Inc. Diana DeGette, D (anti) vs George Lilly, R (??)
CO: 6th Dist. OPEN Ted Harvey, R (pro) vs Hank Eng, D (??)
GA: 10th Dist. Inc. Paul Broun, R (pro) vs Bobby Saxon, D (pro)
IN: 5th Dist. Inc. Dan Burton, R (pro) vs Mary Etta Ruley, D (??)
IA: 3rd Dist. Inc. Leonard Boswell, D (pro) vs Kim Schmett, R (??)
MD: 6th Dist. Inc. Roscoe Bartlett, R (pro) vs Jennifer Dougherty, D (??)
MI: 2nd Dist. Inc. Pete Hoekstra, R (pro) vs Fred Johnson, D (??)
NJ: 5th Dist. Inc. Scott Garrett, R (pro) vs Dr. Dennis Shulman, D (anti)
NY: 4th Dist. Inc. Carolyn McCarthy, D (anti) vs Jack Martins R (??)
NC; 10th Dist. Inc. Patrick McHenry, R (pro) vs Daniel Johnson, D (??)
OH: 5th Dist. Inc. Bob Latta, R (pro) vs George Mays, D (??)
PA: 12th Dist. Inc. John P. Murtha, D (pro) vs Terry Ronzio, I (??)
SC: 2nd Dist. Inc. Joe Wilson, R, (pro) vs Rob Miller, D (??)
TX: 18th Dist. Inc. Sheila Jackson Lee, D (anti) vs John Faulk, R (pro)
VA: 8th Dist. Inc. Jim Moran, D (anti) vs Mark Ellmore, R (pro)
WI: 2nd Dist. Inc. Tammy Baldwin, D (anti) vs Peter Theron, R: (pro)
To read Part 1 of this special election series, The Senator from Illinois, Click Here. To read Part 2, McCain and Gun Owners, A Strained Relationship, Click Here. To read Part 4, Local & State Issues, Click Here
Hello, my name is Rich Pearson and I have been active in the firearm rights movement for over 40 years. For the past 15 years, I have served in the Illinois state capitol as the chief lobbyist for the Illinois State Rifle Association.
I lobbied Barack Obama extensively while he was an Illinois State Senator. As a result of that experience, I know Obama’s attitudes toward guns and gun owners better than anyone. The truth be told, in all my years in the Capitol I have never met a legislator who harbors more contempt for the law-abiding firearm owner than Barack Obama.
Although Obama claims to be an advocate for the 2nd Amendment, his voting record in the Illinois Senate paints a very different picture. While a state senator, Obama voted for a bill that would ban nearly every hunting rifle, shotgun and target rifle owned by Illinois citizens.
That same bill would authorize the state police to raid homes of gun owners and forcibly confiscate banned guns. Obama supported a bill that would shut down law-abiding firearm manufacturers including Springfield Armory, Armalite, Rock River Arms and Les Baer.
Obama also voted for a bill that would prohibit law-abiding citizens from purchasing more than one gun per month.
Without a doubt, Barack Obama has proven himself to be an enemy of the law abiding firearm owner.
At the same time, Obama has proven himself to be a friend to the hardened criminal. While a state senator, Obama voted 4 times against legislation that would allow a homeowner to use a firearm in defense of home and family.
Does Barack Obama still sound to you like a “friend” of the law-abiding gun owner?
And speaking of friends, you can always tell a person by the company they keep. Obama counts among his friends the Rev. Michael Pfleger — a renegade Chicago priest who has openly called for the murder of gun shop owners and pro-gun legislators.
Then there is his buddy Richard Daley, the mayor of Chicago who has declared that if it were up to him, nobody would be allowed to own a gun. And let’s not forget Obama’s pal George Soros — the guy who has pumped millions of dollars into the UN’s international effort to disarm law-abiding citizens.
Obama has shown that he is more than willing to use other people’s money to fund his campaign to take your guns away from you. While a board member of the leftist Joyce Foundation, Barack Obama wrote checks for tens of millions of dollars to extremist gun control organizations such as the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence and the Violence Policy Center.
Does Barack Obama still sound to you like a “friend” of the law-abiding gun owner?
By now, I’m sure that many of you have received mailings from an organization called “American Hunters and Shooters Association(AHSA)” talking about what a swell fellow Obama is and how he honors the 2nd Amendment and how you will never have to worry about Obama coming to take your guns.
Let me make it perfectly clear — everything the AHSA says about Obama is pure hogwash. The AHSA is headed by a group of left-wing elitists who subscribe to the British view of hunting and shooting.
That is, a state of affairs where hunting and shooting are reserved for the wealthy upper-crust who can afford guided hunts on exclusive private reserves.
The AHSA is not your friend, never will be.
In closing, I’d like to remind you that I’m a guy who has actually gone nose to nose with Obama on gun rights issues.
The Obama I know cannot even begin to identify with this nation’s outdoor traditions.
The Obama I know sees you, the law abiding gun owner, as nothing but a low-class lummox who is easily swayed by the flash of a smile and a ration of rosy rhetoric.
The Obama I know is a stony-faced liar who has honed his skill at getting what he wants — so long as people are willing to give it to him.
That’s the Barack Obama I know.
Sincerely,
(original signed) Richard A. Pearson Executive Director Illinois State Rifle Association
Editor's Note: To learn more about Barack Obama's record on guns, read Brian McCombie's article, 2008 Elections: The Senator from Illinois.
Mostly praised for its features and functionality, the new Smith & Wesson M&P may be notable for something even more important: a manufacturer's willingness to listen to the end users of its product.
Officially introduced at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas in first quarter of 2006, the Smith & Wesson Military & Police semiautomatic service pistol became widely accepted in law enforcement, combat pistol competition, and the armed citizen sector in less than a year. Articles in the firearms and law enforcement press, and on the Internet, have concentrated on its mechanical features and its “shootability,” both of which have much to recommend them.
However, there is another story hidden within. It is the story of a rapidly changing old-line company that has found within itself the courage to break not just one mold, but two. Smith & Wesson found the courage to step past its old products and develop something dramatically new. The firm also found the courage to take a new approach to handling consumer complaints and responding to end-user needs.
Background: the Smith & Wesson M&P Pistol
Joe Bergeron, head of autoloading pistol production at S&W, led the development of the M&P pistol. Something of a child prodigy as a young engineer at Colt’s, Bergeron came to Smith & Wesson with a deep understanding of how semiautomatic pistols work, and of how they are designed, and of how they are manufactured. These are three different things entirely, and they made Bergeron a triple threat in the industry, and the logical man to spearhead the M&P project.
Bergeron and his people came up with a new design that didn’t look derivative. It was the first time Smith & Wesson had done so with a semiautomatic service pistol design in 50 or more years. This is not to say that it didn’t incorporate features from other designs. However, those features were add-ons, not whole design concepts that defined the pistol.
From Heckler and Koch came three concepts, two now almost universally adopted and the third worthy of the same acceptance. The polymer frame, first seen in the 1970s on the HK P9S and that company’s semiautomatic adaptation of its machine pistol, the VP70Z, has now become the new standard platform for police duty sidearms.
Another now-ubiquitous feature is the attachment rail molded into the frame’s dust cover. Appearing first in the early 1990s on HK’s USP, it was originally proprietary to HK’s own UTL (Universal Tactical Light, built for them by InSight in New Hampshire), but this feature was soon standardized into a Picatinny rail format by the industry.
Even later incarnations of HK service pistols now use the Pic rail specifications. The third feature was the ambidextrous slide release, first seen on major brand service pistols in HK’s 2000 line.
From Glock, which picked up the polymer-frame ball that HK dropped, ran with it, and popularized it, came the multi-part trigger incorporating a safety device. On the Smith the trigger differs from the original Glock in execution, however.
From Walther came the widely copied concept of interchangeable backstraps to adjust grip frame size to fit a broad variety of hand sizes.
Smith & Wesson had a tool in its toolbox that the competitors did not: an extensive, scientific study of hand size done in the early 1990s for their Sigma project. With this, plus updated knowledge of ergonomics gleaned from the rapid advance of that science as applied to pistols in the last decade, S&W’s M&P team leaped ahead of the competition with a series of grip inserts that offered not only different trigger reach, but alternate sizes and shapes of grip width to more appropriately fill the shooter’s palm. The result is probably state-of-the-art in the interchangeable auto pistol backstrap today.
No SmIG, Smock, or Smalther
The M&P ends a long history (and, for S&W fans, a somewhat sad one) of derivative firearms design. Let’s go back about twenty years…
In the late 1980s, under then-CEO Steve Melvin, Smith & Wesson inaugurated its AIP (Automatic Improvement Program). The result was that its standard double-action service autos, dating back to the Model 39 of 1954, were updated into a third generation that appeared in 1988. Mechanical defects in the originals had been pretty much cleared up in the second-generation guns of the late 1970s and early 1980s, which bore three-digit model numbers (Model 459, Model 645, etc.).
The big changes in the third generation were ergonomic. Trigger pulls were smoothed out considerably, and grip profile was changed completely, causing these four-digit model number pistols (Model 5906, Model 4506, etc.) to bear a remarkable resemblance to the popular SIG- Sauer. Perhaps inevitably, these Gen Three Smiths were nicknamed “SmIGs” by the cognoscenti.
1993 saw the debut of the Sigma, S&W’s answer to the market-dominating Glock. It was like a Glock in its shape, construction, and takedown, and in .40 S&W caliber, there was even one-way interchangeability of barrels between the brands. Glock sued Smith and won a substantial settlement.
The Sigma did not take hold in the law enforcement market, though it would become a bestseller when S&W cut the price and reinvented it as an entry-level auto pistol for the armed citizen market. By then, gun buffs were derisively calling the Sigma a “Smock.”
As the end of the century approached, S&W entered what would be an ever-tightening relationship with Walther. The collaboration led to an “Americanized” version of the German Walther P99, dubbed the SW99.
It got off to a rocky start when, in a highly publicized move, the New Jersey State Police adopted the SW99 in 9mm, and then cancelled the contract due to claims of repeated malfunctions. Some of this gun’s European design features did not work well with American law enforcement handgun doctrine.
The decocker, a push button flush-fitted on the upper left portion of the slide, was extremely awkward to operate, and the gun could be holstered cocked without that condition being visible to officer, instructor, or supervisor. These features did not endear the SW99 to the U.S. law enforcement establishment, and it too languished in the wake of ever-increasing Glock dominance of the American police market. Meanwhile, predictably, the SW99 had become known as the “Smalther.”
By contrast, no such cute nickname has attached itself to the S&W M&P, nor is that likely to happen. It does not resemble any other popular gun. Its “sculpturing” is distinctly Smith & Wesson, with slide lines that hearken back to the S&W Model 41 target pistol of the late 1950s. Grasping grooves on the slide are cut in a distinctive wavy format popularized by Smith & Wesson’s Performance Center several years before. The grip tang sweeps backward in a sleek and functional style reminiscent of nothing so much as a Robar grip re-shaping on a Glock. The Military & Police has its own design, and it has its own look.
Imperfection and Correction
No new design ever survives its “beta testing” in the field without unexpected glitches cropping up. The first guns that get into the field are the ones that endure rough currents on the final “shakedown cruise” before the product sets sail on the turbulent seas of a competitive marketplace.
Let’s take a quick look at handgun history. The Colt of 1911 did not come under scrutiny for design improvement needs until the early 1920s, and the recommendations of the Army Ordnance Board did not go into effect, creating the 1911A1 pistol, until the latter part of that decade. Making this classic gun “drop-safe” took much longer still. The 1911 design continues to evolve.
In Smith & Wesson’s own yard, the imperfections in the basic Model 39 design lay dormant from its introduction in 1954 until 1967, when the Illinois State Police became the first large police department to adopt the gun en masse. With some 1,700 troopers qualifying with them regularly and carrying them in the field, problems with extraction, feeding, and breakage now immediately became apparent.
Design changes were implemented rather quickly in the 39-2 series, but some core problems were not substantively addressed until the second-generation guns emerged more than a decade later. It took most of another decade for the refinements of the third-generation guns to at last fulfill the promise of the original S&W service automatics. The process had taken some thirty plus years.
And therein lies a tale, perhaps the most interesting part of the short S&W M&P auto pistol saga. Within less than a year, Smith & Wesson has identified shortcomings in the M&P design, and has moved immediately and substantively to correct them. This backstory is one of the most encouraging selling points of the M&P, yet has gone virtually unnoticed.
The Backstory
From the early stages of the M&P project, Bergeron had sought end-user input. Gun-wise cops and police instructors such as Dave Spaulding were flown to the Springfield, Massachusetts plant and solicited for input as they worked with the prototypes. Bergeron listened, and implemented recommendations.
Example One: The Iowa State Patrol, looking to trade in their tired S&W 4046 pistols, wanted a more modern polymer handgun firing the same .40 S&W round. They acquired three test samples of the M&P. One suffered repeated feed failures.
The matter was reported to Bergeron, who set about tweaking the design. The problem was cured. ISP adopted the .40 M&P and is in the process of phasing them onto the street at this writing. The author has heard of no such feed problems with M&Ps since.
Example Two: Aware that a straight-thumbs grasp of the duty pistol had made the jump from IPSC competition into law enforcement training, and likewise aware that with some pistols (such as the Beretta and the SIG-Sauer) this grasp over-rode and deactivated the slide stop, Bergeron and his crew originally designed the ambi slide stops of the M&P in a low-profile configuration which, to boot, was shielded by a small outcropping of polymer.
Unfortunately, the part had now become so small and deeply hidden that it was no longer accessible to a thumb that was trying to use it to close the slide.
This writer and others noticed it immediately and brought it to Bergeron’s attention. This was one of the first “fixes” to be incorporated into the ongoing design. By summer of 2006, M&Ps were coming through with fully functional ambidextrous slide stop/slide release levers. The current units seem to be, like Mama Bear’s porridge, “just right.” The straight thumbs hold does not over-ride, yet right-handers and lefties alike can easily and deftly lock the slide open for inspection, or thumb the slide release lever down to achieve the fastest possible speed reload.
Example Three: This writer’s initial T&E sample M&P was one of the first .40s to leave the factory. It functioned perfectly when properly grasped, but when deliberately “limp-wristed” as by an officer with an arm injury, it would constantly malfunction with chamber misfeeds. The writer left a voicemail for Bergeron on the matter, and others doubtless touched bases with him on it as well. Before long, a colleague received another test sample, deliberately fired it with limp, relaxed hold, and was unable to induce a stoppage. This seems to be the way all of the M&Ps have come through since, in both 9mm and .40 S&W.
Example Four: Early test samples of the M&P exhibited inconsistent trigger pulls. Shot One would have a crisp break, Shot Two might feel heavier, and on Shot Three the trigger might feel as if it was dragging. This appears to have been, no pun intended, smoothed out at the S&W factory. The last several M&Ps inspected by this writer have all shown consistent trigger pulls.
Example Five: Smith & Wesson originally announced that the new pistol would be available in four calibers: 9mm Luger, .40 S&W, .357 SIG, and .45 ACP. The .40 was the first to be offered to the market, and as noted above, problems were addressed and cured as soon as they reared their heads. By the time the 9mm came out, the platform had been thoroughly tested for the smaller caliber.
The 9mm M&P has been winning IDPA matches for S&W factory team members Ernest Langdon and Julie Goloski, both former national champions in the game. David McDonald of Team Blackhawk is kicking butt with his .40 M&P in competition. Other shooters are also doing well with the Military & Police autos, usually in 9mm. This speaks well of the engineering and beta testing that went into the 9mm version before it “hit the street.” A major Ohio police department has adopted the 9mm M&P as standard issue, having placed an order for guns numbering in four figures, and also reports no problems.
Beta testing is now taking place with the .357 SIG version. It is something of an oversimplification to state that this cartridge is simply a .40 S&W necked down to 9mm. Some manufacturers who produced multiple models in .40 have decided not to market the same guns in .357 SIG. S&W produced the Sigma briefly in the caliber, then discontinued it, returning to 9mm Luger and .40 S&W as calibers of choice. Homeland Security testing resulted in the approval of the HK pistol in 9mm, .40, and .357 SIG, but of SIG’s own models in 9mm and .40 only. Joe Bergeron tells me that, so far, testing of the .357 M&P is progressing with excellent results.
The .45 ACP version of the Military & Police exists only in prototype at this writing. It will probably be slightly thicker through the slide than the other three chamberings, but otherwise will differ little in appearance. Having proven to “shoot soft” in its first two calibers, there is no reason to believe that the combination of impact-absorbing polymer frame and low bore axis will not likewise tame the powerful .45 ACP cartridge when it is offered on this platform. Again, it’s proof that S&W is going carefully with each new variation of the M&P, and acting immediately upon any shortcomings found in factory experimentation or field-testing.
With a large US military contract for .45 ACP pistols coming up, S&W will keep a particular eye on the development of their newest .45. At least one version of the contract reportedly calls for a manual safety. As witness the Taurus Millennium and 24/7 pistols, it should be no problem to incorporate an ergonomic frame-mounted thumb safety on a striker-fired, polymer-frame pistol such as the S&W Military & Police.
Perfection is Hard to Attain
As diligently as S&W has pursued the ideal of perfect function with their new pistol, it has still eluded the M&P design in some small ways. The wavy, sharp-edged grasping grooves on the slide made operation quick and positive when the gun is in hand. However, at least one user found that when the gun was carried in deep concealment in a belly band next to bare skin, the sharp edges of the slide cuts abraded him unmercifully. He told this writer that two hours into a day shift, he called home to his wife to bring him a Glock in the same caliber at work.
The M&P is clearly chasing the Glock pistol, and one of the Glock’s strongest points in the field has proven to be the virtual invulnerability of its TeniferTM finish. Tenifer cannot be applied to pistols in the United States, and the S&W M&P is a “made in USA” product. Therefore, S&W finishes it with MeloniteTM, which has been called an American analog to Tenifer.
This claim has not yet been definitively established. I know one purchaser of a .40 M&P who wore his new Smith next to his bare skin in an inside the waistband holster that did not shield the rear of the slide from body contact, and in one day of hot Southern summer produced rust in the slide grooves.
Summary
The Smith & Wesson Military & Police semiautomatic pistol is a very young gun, but the maturity and functionality of its design has been greatly hastened by a company policy of closely monitoring field reports and immediately acting upon any genuine shortcoming in design or execution. This is an extremely positive sign from the manufacturer. It bodes well for this particular new product, and for future offerings from Smith & Wesson.
When Taurus originally came out with the 24/7 line, everyone talked about the ergonomics, light weight and wonderful grip. Now the Taurus 24/7 OSS DS offers all these features plus a longer barrel and sight radius – and the new double strike feature lets you simply pull the trigger again on a misfire.
When Taurus originally came out with the 24/7 line, everyone talked about the ergonomics, light weight and wonderful grip. Now we have some more to talk about. The 24/7 OSS DS, offers all these features plus a longer barrel and sight radius and the new double strike feature lets you simply pull the trigger again on a misfire.
Now there are two schools of thought on this: One is that any misfire should be immediately met with a malfunction drill. The other is if you can quickly pull the trigger once more and make the gun go “bang” you've just saved that three-quarters of a second it takes to “tap, rack and roll.” I'll go for the double-strike option any time. If the firing pin hits the primer twice without a result, I'll look for cover and run the malfunction drill.
But there was something else I liked about the Taurus: The orange magazine follower. Yes, that's right, ORANGE. And I now think all magazine followers on all fighting pistols should be orange. This visual indicator of an empty magazine is outstanding. It is especially good in a training situations when you are checking or clearing a weapon.
Getting on with the real meat of a gun test, the OSS was a dream to shoot. With 15 rounds of .40 S&W on top of that orange follower, there was lots of shooting to be done. The long slide and comfortable design of the OSS made rapid fire accurate and fun.
When I moved over to the .45 ACP model, I noticed the magazine followers were not orange and therefore should be fixed, but I also noticed that the guns came with a magazine-loading tool for a reason. Even though the .45 ACP holds 12 rounds and the .40 S&W holds 15, getting that final round of .45 in the magazine was something of a chore. The loading tool really helped.
Shooting the .45 was every bit as comfortable and enjoyable as the .40 S&W, though I tended to shoot the .45 quite a bit low. I'll chalk that up to my 6 o'clock hold on the target. A dead-center hold seemed to work better.
All in all, both guns are worth a look if you want a long-slide model with plenty of firepower.
If you want to get your hands on a Taurus PT24/7 OSS DS, check out www.taurususa.com.
You might have assumed that the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) recent endorsement of Arizona Senator John McCain ( R ) for president was a slam dunk, especially given the anti-gun record of his opponent, Illinois Senator Barack Obama (D). Yet, while the NRA is definitely opposed to Obama, its relationship with McCain has been a difficult one, even with the endorsement.
Speaking about McCain’s record, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre told the Associated Press, “He's cast more than 60 votes in the Senate in support of the Second Amendment.”
In a prepared statement, LaPierre added, “John McCain has more than two decades of pro-gun and pro-hunting votes in Congress. He has stood time and again to preserve our Second Amendment freedom and our rich hunting heritage.”
All good. So why the friction? Well, as the National Journal reported in September, “One of the biggest battles McCain has had was with the National Rifle Association. He sponsored legislation requiring background checks at guns shows and a bill to tighten campaign finance laws, including restrictions on issue ads by third-party groups in the waning days of an election. Those stances earned McCain a ‘C+’ rating from the group in his 2004 re-election race after previously consistent ‘A’ grades in past races.”
“We have had two disagreements with John McCain on gun shows and campaign finance. However, we like to examine everyone's record in its entirety,” NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told the National Journal.
Certainly, McCain helped his cause when he picked Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate.
As Newsweek reported, “Like many Alaskans…Palin is a lifelong hunter and strong proponent of Second Amendment rights. A longtime member of the National Rifle Association, she told USA Today when she was running for governor as a Republican in 2006 that, ‘We hunt as much as we can, and I'm proud to say our freezer is full of wild game we harvested here in Alaska.’”
In addition, “Palin publicly applauded the Supreme Court's recent 5-4 ruling in District of Columbia vs. Heller that struck down the District's 32-year-old ban on handguns.”
So, too, did McCain, who used the Court’s decision to publicly affirm that the Second Amendment was an individual civil right.
Yet, that did not sway the Montana Shooting Sports Association, which endorsed Ron Paul over John McCain and Barack Obama. McCain, though, received a backhanded sort of endorsement.
According to the Associated Press, “The group gave Republican John McCain a D in its scorecard. [Democrat] Obama got an F. Paul, on the ballot under the Constitution Party banner in Montana, got a A from the group. But the MSSA says ‘pragmatic’ voters should choose McCain, because he is not as bad on gun issues as Obama.”
Meanwhile, Gun Owners of America (GOA) remained unconvinced on McCain. As John Velleco, GOA’s Director of Federal Affairs, wrote, McCain flip-flopped on gun control during his 2000 presidential run, when he spoke in favor of banning so-called “Saturday Night Special” handguns.
In addition, McCain, “entertained the idea of supporting the ‘assault weapons' ban. His flirtation with anti-Second Amendment legislation quickly led to a political marriage of convenience with [the anti-gun group Americans for Gun Safety.] Within months of the formation of AGS, McCain was featured in radio and television ads in Colorado and Oregon supporting initiatives to severely regulate gun shows and register gun buyers. Anti-gunners were ecstatic to get McCain on board.”
According to Velleco, “In fact, as recently as 2004, McCain was able to force a vote on a gun show amendment…John McCain tried running for president in 2000 as an anti-gunner. This year it appears he is seeking to ‘come home’ to the pro-gun community, but the wounds are deep and memories long.”
Yet, no presidential election is run in a vacuum. McCain, after all, is running against someone.
As NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told the National Journal. “McCain has a solid pro-gun voting record. There are two disagreements. You [have to] contrast that with Barack Obama's record, which is a consistent record of voting against gun rights, hunting rights and even self defense.”
To read Part 1 of this special election series The Senator from Illinois, Click Here. To read Part 3, Key Federal Races, Click Here To read Part 4, State & Local Issues, Click Here
SOURCES:
McCain NRA AP 10/9/08: https://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gNHyi-Dusche-SUEbzEpf4fY9JtQD93MVT5G0
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in the Heller case, that the Second Amendment was an individual right, Illinois senator and Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama was quick to voice his support for the ruling. Throughout his campaign, in fact, Obama has maintained his support for gun owners and their right to keep and bear arms. Yet there’s a troubling pattern when it comes to Obama and his views on guns and gun control; a pattern that has alarmed gun owners and groups such as the National Rifle Association.
For example, when he was running for the Illinois State Senate in 1996, Obama filled out a questionnaire distributed by the Independent Voters of Illinois–Independent Precinct Organization. Among the questions asked, according to the New York Sun, was one about gun control.
“It asked candidates if they ‘support state legislation to … ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns,’” the Sun reported. “Mr. Obama's typed response was, ‘Yes.’ His [presidential] campaign later said a staffer filled out the form and unintentionally misrepresented Mr. Obama's position.”
“I have never favored an all-out ban on handguns,” Obama said when confronted with the questionnaire.
Yet Lois and Alan Dobry, board members of Independent Voters of Illinois, remembered it all differently. They actually “interviewed Obama when he submitted the questionnaire,” Bloomberg reported. “It is inconceivable, they said, that he was unaware of the answers, which he defended.”
“He was unequivocal,” Alan Dobry said of Obama’s support for a handgun ban.
More recently, Obama was asked about his views on concealed carry. At the time, Obama was campaigning in Pennsylvania, soon before that state’s presidential primary. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Obama’s response to that question was, “I am not in favor of concealed weapons. I think that creates a potential atmosphere where more innocent people could (get shot during) altercations.”
Then there’s Obama’s now-infamous quote, uttered at a fund-raising event. While describing small towns and rural areas of the country that have experienced difficult economic times, Obama said, “And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion, or antipathy to people who aren't like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
That supposed “bitterness” of gun owners has become a campaign issue. According to ABC News, The National Rifle Association has “announced it is firing away at the Democratic presidential candidate with a cache of TV and radio ads.”
Two of the ads focused on votes Obama took previously or positions the senator has said he supports. They included a vote for a federal bill that “would have expanded the definition of ‘armor-piercing’” ammunition, and in the process banned nearly all big-game hunting ammunition. Also, there’s Obama’s assertion, in a 2004 Senate debate, that the Clinton-era assault weapons ban should be renewed.
A third ad, “Way of Life,” featured Scott Siefert, a Michigan farmer, who referred to Obama’s line from that fund-raiser.
“Because I believe in traditional American values, go to church and exercise my right to own a firearm,” Siefert said, “Barack Obama says I'm bitter. Well I'm not bitter, I'm blessed.”
Last, Obama’s choice for a vice-presidential running mate was not one to curry favor with gun owners: Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.
“The Delaware senator's grade from the NRA is a big, fat ‘F,’ based on votes to retain the ‘assault weapons’ ban, impose background checks on private sales by individuals at gun shows and [for voting against easing] … lawsuits against gun manufacturers,” the Examiner noted. “This is not a guy who's enthusiastic about the individual right to self-defense.”
At a Charleston, S.C., debate in July, when Biden was vying for the presidential race, a video clip from a Michigan man asked this question: “To all the candidates, tell me your position on gun control, as myself and other Americans really want to know if our babies are safe.”
According to Politico, the man then “picked up what appeared to be a semiautomatic assault rifle” and said, “This is my baby, purchased under the 1994 gun ban. Please tell me your views. Thank you.”
Biden’s response?
“I’ll tell you what, if that is his baby, he needs help,” Biden said. “I don’t know that he is mentally qualified to own that gun.”
To read Part 2 of this special election series McCain and Gun Owners, A Strained Relationship, Click Here. To read Part 3, Key Federal Races, Click Here To read Part 4, State & Local Issues, Click Here
Gun Digest is the national bi-weekly source for firearms news, pricing and guns for sale. Our in-depth editorial, exclusive price guide and new product features, brings valuable information to our high profile subscribers. Subscribe Now!
Vickie Gardner, vice president of Alpen Outdoor Corporation, often tells people, “If you don’t want to throw your binoculars to someone else, you paid too much for them.”
Well, Gardner has good news for those who carry binoculars in hunting trucks, police cruisers, DNR trucks and on water patrols. The Alpen APEX binos, Model 495 offer 10×42 magnification in an amazingly small and tough package and the BAK4 glass and prism design bring startling clarity for a binocular that retails for about $350. The folks at www.binoculars.com have this to say about Alpen products: “Alpen products feature the latest ergonomic designs, finest-quality glass and optical coatings, and cutting-edge technological advancements. Add Alpen's exceptional customer service and lifetime product warranty, and it's clear why Alpen products are all the rage in sports optics.”
All the rage? That’s likely because these are compact binoculars that provide bright, clear images and take the kind of punishment people other than birdwatchers dish out to their gear. The Apex binoculars weigh in at just 24 ounces and are waterproof and fogproof. The roof-prism design makes for a slim profile and the 304-foot field of view at 1,000 yards gives you a good look at distant objects. These binoculars provide all the durability and clarity of glass that costs twice the price. They will serve your needs.
If you want to get your hands on a pair of Alpen binoculars, check out www.alpenoutdoor.com.
Gun Digest is the national bi-weekly source for firearms news, pricing and guns for sale. Our in-depth editorial, exclusive price guide and new product features, brings valuable information to our high profile subscribers. Subscribe Now!
A brief primer on cowboy action shooting, partner. The gun writer with no name gives today's gun fighters a run for their money.
Spring is when I get the cowboy shooting stuff in order.
The cowboys around here shoot all year, but the challenges of winter wind and sub-freezing temperatures make me think about more pleasant shooting in spring. Plus, cowboy shoots have more participants as the weather warms, and people are one of the biggest pleasures of cowboy action shooting.
You will have a difficult time finding a better caliber (pun intended) of people than cowboy shooters, and I look forward to shooting with these folks as much as I like levering rounds through my favorite Winchester.
Here’s a brief primer on cowboy action shooting.
The Cowboy Scene
Cowboy action shooting is governed by the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS), which has sanctioned shoots divided into many categories. Aside from various shooting styles, there’s a division between black-powder shooters and smokeless-powder participants.
According to the SASS handbook, 12th edition, smokeless categories include Traditional, Modern, Duelist and Gunfighter. Black-powder categories are Frontier Cartridge, Frontiersman and Classic Cowboy/Cowgirl. The B Western Category is like the open division, with flashy and fancy costumes.
There are also age divisions in cowboy action shooting. Juniors are 16 or younger, and are divided into Young Guns, 14 to 16, and Buckaroos, 13 and younger. Forty-Niners are 49 and older, seniors 60 and older, and Elder Statesmen/Grand Dames are 70 and older. There are also divisions for women.
Costuming is important at a cowboy match, and competitors must wear authentic garb throughout the shoot and ceremonies. It’s unique to the sport and part of the fun. No Cordura or nylon — only natural materials like cotton and lots of leather.
Get Your Six-Guns!
To get started in cowboy action shooting, you need two pistols, a rifle and a shotgun. The pistols must be single-action six shooters, and the type of sights will decide whether you shoot traditional or modern.
According to the rulebook, pistols with adjustable sights place you in the modern category. The Traditional category requires the blade for a front sight and a notch or slit in the frame or hammer for a rear sight.
Revolvers must be centerfire from .32 to .45 caliber and in common revolver calibers. Participants in the Buckaroo Category, for the youngest shooters, can use .22 rimfire calibers.
The rulebook lists the legal revolver for each shooting category, so if you’re just getting into the sport, that can help you decide which gun to choose. I’ve always liked traditional-type revolvers, which have fixed rear sights. I shoot in the Gunfighter category, and a traditional revolver is required for that.
The main revolver emulated in cowboy matches is the Colt Peacemaker Model 1873. Many shooters use Remington or Paterson conversions, but Colts are the one. A new-model Colt will easily cost you $1,300 or more, and you need two to compete.
Most shooters rely on modern replicas for match guns. Ruger remade the single-action-type revolver in the 1950s, and in the mad rush of cowboy shooting, the gun evolved into the Vaquero. The first Vaquero — now classified as the Old Vaquero — was replaced a few years ago by the New Vaquero.
Although it looks like a Colt Single Actions, the New Vaquero is profiled more like the Colt. The biggest difference is the grip size. The New Vaquero has a narrower grip, like the original Colt. The New Vaquero comes from the factory with a smooth trigger and opens to a chamber for reload stages.
The Vaquero differs from Colts in that the flat springs have been redesigned with coil springs, and the hammer is protected with a transfer bar. I have shot two Old Model Vaqueros with 4.625-inch barrels for about 10 years, and they are still going strong.
The transfer bar makes the revolver safe for six-shot carry. SASS rules dictate that only five rounds can be loaded in the revolver, and the hammer must rest on an empty chamber. That is for safety, as some shooters use original Colts and replicas that are not safe with six rounds. You can recognize the transfer bar by the profile of the hammer, because it doesn’t have the firing pin attached. Many modern replica manufacturers are switching to the transfer bar. Examples include Taurus’ Gaucho and Beretta’s Stampede.
The Italians gave us Spaghetti Westerns and excellent-quality old West replica handguns. Uberti and Pedersoli make excellent rifles and handguns, and several companies import these guns and then add special features to them. Cimarron, EMF Co., Taylor and Sons and Navy Arms import several varieties of revolvers that mimic old Colts but are much less expensive.
They also produce Schofield-type revolvers and replicas of some early conversions. Many cap-and-ball revolvers of yesteryear were converted to cartridges so folks could use existing parts and frames to meet the new technology. You might check out replicas of those guns if you wanted to emulate that time period.
Holstering revolvers in period-correct or B-Western style is also important. Leather will make or break your look. You can find leather in all price ranges, and it doesn’t hurt to start with less-expensive stuff until you determine your style and shooting category.
If you shoot Traditional or Duelist, you might want to go with a cross-draw for your second revolver, unless you plan to use a border-shift technique (drawing your weak-hand gun with your weak hand, shifting it to your strong hand to shoot and then returning it in reverse order).
If you shoot Gunfighter events, you will likely want a right-and-left holster, with the top of the gun forward on both. When I shoot a Traditional or Duelist match, I border-shift my weak hand gun.
Rifles at the Ready
The rifle is probably the most romantic weapon of the old West. The lever gun is the symbol of the West and is still a tactically sound defensive rifle. With a little practice, you can fire a lever carbine as quickly as you can line up the next target. Some shooters are so fast that their brass lines up on the side of the rifle just like with a semiautomatic.
Rifle selection depends on the category you intend to shoot. In general, a rifle must be a lever- or slide-action manufactured about 1860 to 1899, with a tube magazine and an exposed hammer. The calibers must be a pistol caliber for main-match shooting. The .25-20 and .56-50 are exceptions. It’s wise to have your competition pistol and rifles be the same caliber. That comes in handy when reloading ammo, as all your supplies are the same.
Experienced cowboy competitors have several favorite rifles. Early Winchesters had a toggle-action operation system, which still makes for a smooth, fast lever gun. The 1860, 1866 and 1873 Henry rifles are period correct, and the lever is as fast as on newer models. I like the 1873 iron-frame. Many shooters are putting short-stroke kits in these to decrease the travel of the lever to chamber a round. They are SASS-legal within certain specifications.
The Marlin and Winchester 1894 models are great cowboy guns. Even though the Winchester is out of production, you’ll always see a few at every shoot. It has a smooth action and is a great shooter. The Marlin is still in production, and you can’t go wrong with one of the company’s cowboy series rifles.
My club has an SASS-sanctioned Black-Powder Blow Out every spring. I normally don’t shoot black powder, but I like this match. For this, I prefer toggle models, such as the 1873, because they are simple to take apart.
In black-powder matches, there’s a good chance you will have to hose out the action between stages, as it might foul up and make the lever difficult to work. Also, this makes cleaning the gun after the match easier, as complete disassembly is easy.
I shoot smokeless and black powder in my 1873, but you must not use smokeless loads with pressures that are too high. I shoot the same smokeless load in my rifle as my pistol, which produces about 750 feet per second with Hogdgon TiteGroup. Shotguns, Too
Shotguns are also category-specific for some shooters. Generally, folks use any side-by-side or single-barrel shotgun from 1860 to 1899 without automatic ejectors. Guns can be box-lock or external-hammer guns with single or double triggers.
Lever-action, single-barrel, tube-feed exposed-hammer guns of the period are OK, but the only slide-action allowed is the 1897 Winchester original or replica. Various categories require that only certain shotguns can be used. For example, the Frontiersman category requires a side-by-side or lever-action shotgun. All guns are shot with black powder.
Until recently, you could find an original shotgun for a good price. I just found a smoking deal on GunBroker.com for an original 1897 from 1905. I had to remove a poly choke and reface the barrel, but it was well worth the time. It’s very cool to shoot matches with an original gun. (That goes for pistols and rifles, too.)
Stoeger is still a good choice for double-barreled shotguns, and the Chinese make 1897 replicas that are a less expensive option than originals. Remington markets some inexpensive doubles that are good for cowboys.
Shotguns can only be loaded with two rounds at a time. That keeps pumps equal with doubles. Also, it’s wise to have a spare shotgun, especially if you travel far to shoot. Some originals are finicky and can break down. The same goes for the newer replicas.
One thing about cowboys is there will always be folks that let you borrow a gun to finish a match, even if you shoot better than they do. It’s the cowboy way.
Cowboy Practice
I have always shot in the Gunfighter class, except when I just wanted to do something different. My mentors always told me to practice with my weak hand, and I stress this to my students, too.
Shooting as a gunfighter has made me do that. Plus, it’s cool to shoot like gunfighters in the movies. The biggest problem I had is lining up the sights. Now, no matter the type of gun I’m shooting, my scores are better with both hands because I’ve trained my eye to go from gun to gun.
I live pretty far from any practice matches, so I don’t get to practice as much as I’d like. However, Action Targets makes some high-quality steel targets suitable for cowboy shooting. Cut them in round or cowboy configurations.
DS Welding also makes targets, including the Original Bird/Can Thrower, which is a shotgun target. I missed a similar pop-up target during a match once. By practicing more, the pop-up is dead meat.
Having a few targets around keeps me in shape when I can’t make it to practice matches. Action Target also has a new hostage target that’s a silhouette plate with a 4- or 5-inch rotating target that goes back and forth when hit in the disc of the head. That gives a cowboy shooter a big, fast, precision target. It’s a fun, challenging addition to a cowboy shoot.
All cowboy matches require all-lead bullets. You can mold your own, but with companies such as LaserCast and Meister around, I don’t bother. It gives me more time to pour lead for my buffalo gun.
Give it a Try
Cowboy shooting is one of the fastest-growing shooting sports, and it’s easy to see why. It’s more fun than a tree full of young hoot owls. Shooting guns has been a part of my work for years, and to get dressed up like a cowboy, mountain man or B-Western hero and shoot guns in old West scenarios with like-minded grown-up adolescents is just plain fun. In fact, that’s the whole idea behind cowboy shooting — having fun.
The Smith & Wesson AirLite achieves its remarkable 9.9-oz. weight through a combination of carbon steel, aluminum and Titanium alloys. The author says the gun feels like it's made of molded styrofoam.
Innovations in firearms — real innovations — almost seem to be a thing of the past, don’t they?
I mean, imagine for a moment this is 1910. In the past five years, you would have witnessed the introduction of the Browning Auto-5, the first successful semiauto shotgun; the Remington Model 8, the first successful semiauto high-power rifle; and the Standard Model G, the first gas-operated autoloading rifle. What’s more, the Colt Model 1911 pistol and Winchester Model 12 pump shotgun would be just around the corner.
What a great time to be a shooter. Every day, it seemed, one of the big companies came out with something truly new and extraordinary.
It’s different today, of course. Today we work ourselves into a lather about this new cartridge, that new frame alloy, this new camo pattern or that new laser sight. Nothing wrong with that; these are improvements, and we’re properly appreciative of them. But true innovations — that kind that make you go all squishy inside — are few indeed.
My last squishy moment came in Fall 1997 at the old Bristol Sporting Goods store in northern Indiana. My mother had just died, and I was looking for a little trifle to distract my father from his troubles. All of a sudden, there it was in front of me: a brand-new Smith & Wesson Model 317 AirLite .22 snubbie.
Feeling Squishy
I had heard Smith & Wesson had introduced some new super-lightweight revolver but hadn’t actually seen one yet. I suppose I was expecting something like the old 15-ounce Colt Cobra, but when the guy behind the counter handed the AirLite to me, my first reaction was, “You gotta be kidding.”
This couldn’t possibly be a real gun — it was more like those super-loud Wasp capguns we had when I was a child; the ones that took plastic caps molded in a round, red little ringlet.
That little J-frame has now passed from my father back to me. In fact, it’s sitting on my desk as I write this, and my reaction is the same as when I first laid eyes on it: You gotta be kidding. It’s an early one with a serial number lower than 2,000, and it pretty much matches its description that appeared in the catalog section of the 1999 Gun Digest:
Smith & Wesson Model 317 AirLite, 317 LadySmith Revolvers. Caliber: .22 LR, eight-shot. Barrel: 1-7/8 inches. Weight: 9.9 ounces. Length: 6-3/16 inches overall. Stock: Dymondwood Boot or Uncle Mike’s Boot. Sights: serrated ramp front, fixed notch rear. Features: aluminum alloy, carbon and stainless steels, and titanium construction. Short spur hammer, smooth combat trigger. Clear Cote finish. Introduced 1997. Made in U.S. by Smith & Wesson. Price: With Uncle Mike’s Boot grip: $451. Price: With Dymondwood Boot grip: $484. Price: Model 317 LadySmith (Dymondwood only, comes with display case): $505.
I still have the receipt for my Model 317, and it says I paid $449 for it — nearly full retail. I never buy guns for anything near the manufacturer's suggested retail price, so I must have been very impressed with the AirLite. I still am, come to think of it.
Remarkable Combination
Many have rightfully questioned the usefulness of an 8-shot .22 LR revolver. Aside from their effectiveness as a self-defense gun, the author sees value for the savvy collector.
Gun Digest must have been asleep at the switch in 1996 and 1997. It didn’t get around to mentioning the AirLite in print until the 1999 edition, and that was limited to a single sentence in the “Handguns Today” section by Hal Swiggett:
“[At the SHOT Show], the one that caught my eye was the Model 317 AirLite, an eight-shot .22 with 2-inch barrel, weighing only 9.9 ounces.”
In my opinion, the AirLite rated much more of a hullabaloo than that; maybe something on the order of a 72-point banner headline screaming: “S&W INTRODUCES LIGHTEST DA REVOLVER EVER!”
That’s pretty much what the AirLite was. Its most similar predecessor was the old aluminum-framed, nine-shot Hi-Standard Sentinel .22 snubby, which came in at around 16 ounces with a 2-inch barrel.
The Sentinel was a great gun (notwithstanding its tendency to shoot high at almost any distance), but compared to the AirLite, it was a bloated heavyweight.
The AirLite achieved its remarkable weight by a combination of carbon steel (barrel, hammer and trigger) and aluminum or titanium alloys (everything else), plus strategically placed milled-out areas (grip strap and trigger guard). In all, it adds up — or subtracts down — to a revolver that feels like it’s made of molded Styrofoam.
Early as it is, my M317 didn’t come from the first production run. According to Supica & Nahas in Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson (Krause Publications, naturally), the earliest Model 317s carried a serial number prefix of “ULT,” which was followed quickly by the “LGT” prefix. The Model 317-1 designation was used for the still-later adjustable-sight versions and a very rare 2-inch snubby with a stainless-steel barrel manufactured in 2000. Only 120 of those were made, so it’s the rarest of the AirLites. (If you find one, buy it. Better yet, tell me where I can buy it.)
Mixed Reviews
Current opinion of the M317 AirLite is mixed. It’s one of those love-it-or-hate-it things. I love it, of course. Others find fault with its sleeved barrel; plastic-looking Clear Cote finish; short, sharp hammer spur, which makes single-action operation uncomfortable at best; and its stippled serial and model number on the crane recess and butt.
Still others say the Model 317 AirLite is a gun without a purpose.
“What good is an eight-shot, fixed-sight .22 snubby?” they ask.
That’s a pretty good question, one for which I have no ready answer. The AirLite is a descendant of the original Model 34 Kit Gun, which in my opinion is probably the finest, most gracefully economical .22 revolver ever built. The original Kit Gun, as you will recall, had an adjustable rear sight, even in its 2-inch version — quite a desirable feature if you shoot a variety of .22 ammo and really like to dial 'em in there.
Smith & Wesson must have recognized that right off the bat, because in 1998, it introduced the Model 317 AirLite Kit Gun, an adjustable-sight version of the original AirLite with a 3-inch barrel. So where does that leave the plain old M317 AirLite?
The only possible answer is that it was intended as a supremely portable self-defense bellygun. This supposition is supported by the AirLite’s combat grips and bobbed hammer spur. It even has a crosspin for a lanyard concealed in the outline of its grip frame, I suppose if you literally wanted to tie one on.
Shideler would prefer a .32, .38 or .45 ACP for personal defense, but if he had to use the S&W AirLite .22 LR he would grab some Aguila 60-grain .22 SSS, or Sniper Sub-Sonic (left).
Regrettably, any discussion of the AirLite as a self-defense gun begins and ends with its .22 LR chambering. I’m a big believer in the .22 LR, but if I knew I’d need a defense gun in the next two minutes, I’d reach for a .38 Special or, at a minimum, a .32 ACP (and that’s assuming a .45 Colt is out of reach). The AirLite must have been intended for a consumer who prefers revolvers, believes in the stopping power of eight .22 LRs, will be shooting only at combat distances or puts light weight above any other characteristic. That’s a pretty skinny demographic.
If I were to carry the AirLite as a defense gun, I’d probably stoke it full of the Aguila 60-grain (that’s right, 60-grain) .22 SSS Sniper Sub-Sonic .22 LR ammo rather than something like a CCI stinger. I don’t really trust any of the hyper-velocity .22s to expand reliably out of a 2-inch barrel, but I’m pretty sure that Aguila’s 60-grainer would burrow in pretty deep.
Or maybe S&W introduced the AirLite just to show the world only it could build a 9.9-ounce revolver. If that was the case, well all right then. It's a good enough reason for me, but the fact remains that I don’t see many first-generation Model 317 Airlites, new or used, floating around out there. To me, that’s one earmark of a sleeper-in-waiting.
How does the AirLite shoot? Who cares? It’s a belly gun, so you’re pretty sure to hit any belly you’re aiming at, especially if that belly, like mine, resembles something that blew up in Lakehurst, N.J., in 1937. Oh, the humanity.
The Current Scene
The Model 317 AirLite still exists in the S&W lineup in the form of the original 2-inch, fixed-sight bellygun, and as an updated kit gun with a 3-inch barrel, adjustable rear sight and HI-VIZ front sight. Both versions have the now-familiar-but-nevertheless-ugly S&W safety lock just above the cylinder release. Suggested retail is $672 and $735, respectively (ouch). Street pricing runs from five to six big bills. (Ouch again.)
I’m the last person to suggest that you should run out and buy a brand-new AirLite for $500 or $600. But if you’re offered a good deal on one, you might consider it. If nothing else, it’s the finest cap gun ever made.
Who loves the M-1 Carbine? Everyone. And for lots of different reasons.
Now, The M-1 Carbine Paratrooper Model is back. The Auto-Ordinance division of Kahr Arms began production of a M-1 Carbine replica in 2005 and thanks to consumer demand has worked diligently to recreate the Paratrooper Model. It is now ready for the public.
This .30 caliber rifle with a walnut stock and folding buttstock is as true a reproduction of the original as can be made.
With an overall open length of 35-3/4 inches and an 18-inch barrel, the AOM150 folds down to 25 ¾ inches. It comes equipped with a blade front sight and flip-style rear sight. The AOM150 weighs in at only 5 pounds, 6 ounces and retails for $965. Guns are shipping now.
And right, they may not be the perfect man-stopper and the folding stock means they won't be tack-drivers, but they are fun to shoot and reflect a piece of American history that should not be forgotten.
More than 5 million M-1 Carbines were made during WWII and the gun is still very popular with shooters and collectors, but prices for original model paratrooper guns have skyrocketed.
The AOM150 will fill that niche for collectors who love to shoot the little rifle and shooters who want to add an interesting piece of American history to their collections.
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A few years ago, I was shooting a basic pistol course at Gunsite with a Sig P 220 ST. The course lasted a week, and instructors recommended that each student bring at least 1,000 rounds of ammo. Some students actually shot more (I fired about 1,100 rounds). The Sig is an extremely reliable pistol, so I figured the course provided a good chance to see how long the gun would last without cleaning before it started to malfunction.
The test wasn’t very scientific, but about halfway through the course, I started to experience failures in extraction and the slide closing. It was nothing major — just enough to make you nervous. Actually, that was perfect, because we worked on clearing jams, and my problems provided good training. That night, a good cleaning solved all the problems.
A dirty gun will eventually start to affect reliability. Because you don’t know when you’ll need your weapon, it’s imperative to keep it cleaned and lubricated after each shooting session.
I once read that Wild Bill Hickok used to shoot the loads out of his Navy revolvers every morning, clean them and reload the guns for the day. That’s a bit paradoxical, because the only reason he had to clean the guns is because he shot them to unload them. Wild Bill believed that his equipment should be ready in case of an unexpected assault.
We must take care of our guns so they can take care of us. With modern products, that’s not a time-consuming process, and it can be done in minutes after shooting.
Break Them Down, Clean Them Up
The first thing I do with my pistols is break them down to the manufacturer’s recommended cleaning condition. That usually means removing the slide, barrel and spring from the frame. With a single-action revolver, the cylinder comes out of the frame. Of course, that’s unnecessary with a double-action revolver. I don’t dismantle the entire frame every cleaning unless something happened to warrant it, like dropping the gun in water or sand. Don’t laugh — it happens. I like the fact that you can take the barrel out of a pistol to clean it. I think that lets me do a better job.
A gun bore is extremely sensitive to mistreatment. I like to clean every bore with the same care as I would a sniper rifle. Many people use bore snakes nowadays, and those do a good job cleaning bores. I’m a bit old-fashioned and like to scrub out the bore with a brush and patches. Also, I shoot lead bullets in my .45 and 10 mm, and even though lead is really hard these days, it usually leaves some fouling you must remove. In my cowboy guns, through which I frequently shoot lead, there comes a point when accuracy goes out the window because of lead build-up. Therefore, those guns get a quality scrub after every shooting session.
My semiautos shoot copper and lead, as I shoot defensive ammo. However, I don’t depend on the copper to push out all the lead because I don’t believe it does. Besides, copper also leaves deposits that must be removed.
I give the barrel a good soaking with Shooter’s Choice, which I have been using for many years. The company makes solvents for lead and copper. Hoppe’s has been around since I can remember, and I still use No. 9 and other products. I like Bench Rest 9 copper solvent when I use jacketed bullets.
Regardless of which solvent I use, I’ll wet a patch, spread it out in the barrel and then set the barrel aside to soak. Then, I work on the frame of a pistol or cylinder of a single-action. While that’s soaking, I spread solvent on other parts that need to soak. I believe solvent works better the longer it’s on fouling.
For many years, I’ve worn surgical gloves when using solvents. These substances are notorious for permeating skin, and as much as I use the stuff, I think gloves are a wise precaution. A box of 100 gloves costs about $6 bucks and lasts a long time. The ones without powder and are a little thicker work great. They are really useful around the shop to keep junk off your hands.
I use brass brushes exclusively, even on my pistols. If fouling won’t come off with brass, it won’t come off with stainless steel. The trick is to be persistent and keep scrubbing. Brass wears easier on the bore, too. I also use brass toothbrush-type brushes on the frame and around the cylinder and forcing cone. Nylon is OK, too, but hammered-on fouling around the forcing cone of a single-action will come off faster with a brass bristle brush.
After a good scrubbing with brass, I send another wet patch down the barrel and around the frame and other areas and then brush it again. Usually, I make 10 to 15 strokes in the barrel and make sure the other spots are visibly clean. Then, I run a few dry patches down the barrel and wipe off the external spots. I look down the barrel with a light. Usually, you can see lead deposits along the edge of the rifling. Copper deposits will show up as green stains on the patches. When the green disappears, the copper is pretty much cleaned up. I repeat these steps the patch comes out of the barrel clean.
After I’m happy with the barrel and other spots, I run some JB Non-Embedding Bore Cleaning Compound down the barrel. I get it from Brownell’s, and it’s amazing stuff. Even if my patches are coming out of the bore clean, I can run some of this through the barrel on a patch, and the patch comes out black.
When selecting a cleaning rod, it’s wise to use a material that is softer than steel. Many are made of aluminum or polymers. The idea is to have something that will yield to the steel of the bore if you accidentally bump the crown. The rod should be relatively stiff so it doesn’t bend and rub the inside of the bore. Brownell’s catalog has too many bore and chamber guides to list here. Most are very inexpensive and should be used during every cleaning job.
Rifles should be cleaned from the chamber side, if possible, and a chamber guide will help you avoid damage to the throat. If you’re cleaning a lever gun or revolver you must enter through the muzzle, a cleaning rod with a guide will keep the rod lined up and protect the crown.
Make sure your other disassembly tools don’t damage gun parts. A good hollow-ground screwdriver set is a must. These sets are so inexpensive nowadays that every gun owner should have one.
The Versa Tool by Wilson Combat is one tool I always keep in my 1911 bag. It’s a pocket-sized tool kit with everything to dismantle a 1911. It’s great for quick repairs on the line or quick cleanings during a hunting trip or other mission. As a 1911 fan, I’m never without one.
Down to Parts
When it’s time to break the gun down to a pile of parts, I still clean the aforementioned parts the same way. I use solvent to clean all the small trigger parts and springs. If you don’t like the smell of solvents, you can also remove dried oil and crud with Simple Green. It does a good job but removes all the oil, so the metal will have to be relubed to avoid rust.
If you’re not familiar with the full disassembly of your pistol, take it to a good gunsmith for this cleaning. Some guns will go back together several ways, but only one will let it function.
When I take an action down completely, I clean each part and lightly oil it with Break Free oil. I rub the oil into each part so it gets into the metal, keeping it slippery and protected. I use Brownell’s Moly Paste on the sear and trigger surfaces because it’s a dry lubricant. It will not collect grime and dust like oil does, and it works its way into the metal and decreases wear to make the trigger feel better.
After I reassemble the gun, I rub a rag impregnated with Break Free over the outer surfaces. This leaves a very light protective coat on the finish of the gun but doesn’t feel oily. This is important to protect the surface of a carry gun, especially one with a blue finish. Sweat from carrying in warm climates will attack a finish like saltwater.
If you plan to store the gun, place it in a case that will protect it. Boyt makes Tactical cases that protect against corrosion. The copper-infused lining was developed to protect vehicles being shipped overseas against salty ocean winds. I have a pistol case that holds my Springfields, six magazines, a Versa Tool and some cleaning supplies. Also, I can carry it in a bigger Tactical Bag. For a SWAT operator, this is a great case for call-outs.
During warmer months, I shoot at least once a week and clean my carry pistols relatively often. Remember to keep an eye on a carry pistol you don’t shoot often. During winter, lint and dust from clothing builds up around the trigger and hammer areas. I’ve even found it in the mechanism during complete cleanings. Usually, I blow lint out with compressed air, and if I have a lot of lint, I’ll pull it down and wipe everything off. If I carry my pistol in dusty conditions in an external holster, I clean it up occasionally, even though I haven’t fired it. I was really fussy with my duty pistol and touched it up often.
There’s a faster way to clean the complex parts of a gun without tearing it apart: gun-blaster-type products. These do not replace full disassembly and cleaning, but they help you in a pinch. Hoppe’s makes one, as do Tetra and Birchwood-Casey. These have cleaning fluids in pressurized spray cans, and melt crud and blow it out of the action. When it dries, it leaves a dry action with no oil, so the action requires some lubrication. The trick is to lubricate action parts lightly, without gobbing on too much oil. Too much of even the best lubricant will attract dirt and grit and cause problems.
You can also clean handguns with a solvent tank and compressed air. At the police firearms range, we had a huge parts washer filled with Hoppes No. 9. We field-stripped our guns after qualifying and soaked them down. We had to remove the grips from the gun, but the solvent saturated all the parts. Then, we brushed out fouling with brass bore brushes and toothbrush-type brushes. Excess solvent was then blown out with compressed air and dried off with a cloth. We lightly oiled our guns, and they were ready for duty.
A small parts washer is very inexpensive. I use a tabletop model in my shop for cleaning gun parts. These can be used in lieu of spray-can blasters. Be careful where the solvent blows, and make sure there’s adequate ventilation. If vapor odor is a problem, you can fill the parts washer with Simple Green.
Shooters often forget about magazines, but they also require frequent care. Faulty magazines cause most semiauto malfunctions. Wipe mags clean of dust, and remove fouling from the feed ramp. Most magazines can be taken apart and cleaned. It’s amazing how much dust collects inside them. Be careful not to bend the feed lips when taking them apart. Occasionally, I shoot carry ammo in the magazines and replace it with fresh rounds. That gives me practice with my carry stuff and rotates ammo on which I might have to depend.
Keep Them Running
Maintenance is the key to reliability and weapon longevity. Guns are machines that are prone to malfunction. Design has relieved many flaws, but proper maintenance will keep a defensive tool running when you need it most.
Learn how to ask the right questions when purchasing your 1911 pistol, and make an informed, intelligent decision with the wealth of information provided in The Custom 1911 by Bill Loëb. Because this ever-popular pistol has been produced by more companies than any other firearm in history, the available options may at first seem intimidating. Wade through the vast availability of the 1911 pistol, and grow in your understanding of the main differences between the abundance of custom shops.
While there is a bit of debate concerning the role of the shotgun in police work, there is no debate about the fight-stopping power that comes through a 12-gauge bore. And if there is one universal sound that signals things are getting really serious, it is the sound of someone racking the slide on a combat shotgun.
So, with that in mind, if you need a shotgun for self-defense, police work or military operations, you want something that will never fail you. Get your hands on a Wilson Combat Standard Model.
The Standard Model incorporates the features most shooters look for in defensive shotguns. The 18-inch cylinder-bore barrel with a 3-inch magnum chamber will handle any ammunition, including less-lethal rounds if you go that route. The magazine tube holds seven rounds and comes complete with an extra-power heavy-duty stainless magazine spring for sure shell feeding in any situation, and a high-visibility, non-binding follower to indicate an empty-magazine tube at a glance. You can also get a four- or six- round receiver-mounted Sidesaddle shell carrier
For sure grip and target illumination, the Standard model offers a synthetic butt stock and fore-grip. The fore-grip includes a 6-volt SureFire Tactical Light with 11,000 candlepower. Wilson offers a standard buttstock length, with an optional shorter buttstock – or your choice of an optional Knoxx SpecOps Stock or AR collapsible stock.
Other included features are a jumbo-head safety, multi-purpose tactical sling, buttstock sling swivel and a rigid magazine tube front sling mount. Wilson's adjustable TRAK-LOCK. Ghost Ring rear sight is paired with a ramp-type front sight with a tritium self-luminous insert for fast and accurate aiming.
We started shooting this gun offhand at 25 yards, but it was so smooth and accurate, we started backing up and when it was still on target out to 200 yards, we figured that would be “acceptable combat accuracy.” The cylinder bore consistently put all the pellets from 00 buck into a 19-inch wide target and the pistol grip made control a dream.
Retail prices start in the $1200 range. To get your hands on a Wilson Combat Standard Model, check out www.wilsoncombat.com.
Gun Digest is the national bi-weekly source for firearms news, pricing and guns for sale. Our in-depth editorial, exclusive price guide and new product features, brings valuable information to our high profile subscribers. Subscribe Now!
February 28, 1997 changed the way law enforcement officers and more importantly, their administrators, viewed the deployment of rifles in the field.
A Wake Up Call
That was the date of the Great Los Angeles Bank Robbery. Using fully automatic 7.62 x 39 caliber rifles, two heavily armored and armed robbers shot it out with members of the L.A.P.D. 200 officers responded to the robbery with 9mm pistols and 12 gauge shotguns loaded with 00 buckshot.
As we all know, the officer’s weapons were almost totally ineffective against the robbers. While awaiting the arrival of SWAT, two officers borrowed AR-15’s graciously loaned to them by an area gun shop. Unfortunately one of the officers wasn’t familiar with the AR-15 weapons system, and was unable to use the rifle. The other rifle didn’t have an effect on the final outcome, but the tactical thinking was quite correct-buckshot and handgun rounds are ineffective against armored suspects!
Prior to the LAPD incident, there was a gradual movement towards arming officers with pistol caliber carbines of either 9mm, .40 Smith and Wesson, or .45 ACP calibers. While these weapons found favor because they offered more accuracy than a handgun and reduced recoil compared to a shotgun, they offered no serious ballistic advantage.
Even if LAPD officers were armed with these carbines, they still would have been ineffective against the armor worn by the robbers. The shootout made it clear that pistol caliber carbines were not the solution to a heavily armed criminal element.
In a big ceremony and news conference after the shootout, the LAPD that received a donation of some 200 surplus M-16’s from the military. These full auto weapons were received with fanfare but not immediately deployed due to policy considerations (L.A. certainly didn’t need street officers spraying full-auto weapons around town). This was a watershed moment, because it made the M-16 an acceptable and necessary police tool, and caused it to become the pre-eminent law-enforcement rifle system.
While the AR-15 hasn’t supplanted the shotgun in the patrol car, it certainly has supplemented it. Prior to the L.A. shootout, it was thought by administrations that the 5.56 mm caliber was too powerful and penetrative for urban/suburban use. However advances in controlled-expansion ammunition and ballistic testing proved that the 9mm fired from a carbine-length barrel provided MORE risk of over-penetration than the 5.56 mm with the right bullet, eliminating liability concerns.
Not only is the AR-15 being issued in the field as a general-duty patrol rifle, but in the shortened M-4 versions, has gained favor over previously utilized entry weapons like the venerable HK-MP5.
In addition to the superiority of 5.56 mm over the 9mm, the AR-15 operating system is much more familiar to the new and welcome influx of combat veterans from Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan into the police ranks. The only thing holding most agencies back from widespread issuance of the AR system has been cost.
For the price of one quality AR-Rifle from the major manufacturers, a department can purchase two to four police shotguns, depending on make. They also could purchase two (or more) pistol-caliber carbines. In this day of ever-decreasing budgets, what can a department do to equip its officer’s with the AR-15 system for either patrol or tactical use when the cost is so high? The answer is the Department of Defense 1033 Weapons Program.
Outfitting Your Agency
The DOD through your individual state Law Enforcement Support Office, (which can be found by typing in DOD 1033 Program on an internet search engine), will provide your agency with a quantity of M-16 A1 full-auto rifles in an amount commensurate with your department’s number of sworn officers and the population of your jurisdiction.
The total cost is approximately $24 per rifle in shipping from the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois. The only condition to this donation is that the M-16s remain DOD property. They cannot be sold by your agency or traded in since they are not technically yours. If your agency no longer needs them, they are required to be returned to the DOD in originally issued condition.
This doesn’t mean that you cannot modify them; it means that when you return them, they have to be in original condition.
My agency, the Union County Sheriff’s Office in Marysville, Ohio, decided to make application for a grant of M-16s. Newly elected Sheriff Rocky Nelson recognized the fact that while our patrol area is still mostly rural, our deputies are beginning to encounter urban type threats and approved the application. We applied for 15 rifles and were granted 10.
Although our policy is not complete as of this writing, we envision the rifles being deployed for both tactical team and patrol use, and converted to fire in semi-auto mode only.
The ordering process was relatively simple. The rifles were shipped directly to our office a short time after application was made. The rifles came packaged in individual cardboard boxes and were separated into their upper and lower receiver halves. Each half was wrapped in what appeared to be a Mylar type silver wrapping paper. Included in the box was a new sling and a 30-round magazine, each wrapped packaged in clear plastic.
The rifle itself is the A1 model. This means that it has the triangular Vietnam-era handguards, simple but rugged A-1 rear sight adjustable for windage only, forward assist with no case deflector, birdcage type flash suppressor, shorter than current issue buttstock (which is great for the smaller-stature officer or tactical officer wearing heavy body armor), and the original light 6.5 lb weight afforded by the skinny A-1 barrel configuration. Rate of twist is 1 in 12.
The condition of the rifle was very good to excellent for a military weapon this old. Stored since approximately 1975, there was some minor exterior rust and white aluminum oxidation on the receiver that was easily wiped off. Interior parts were in very good shape showing little sign of wear. The weapon was bone dry from lack of lubrication in storage, but showed no signs of abuse or neglect.
After the rifles arrived, the question was how can turn this basic weapon into a more modern tactical weapon in the most economical way, especially with the condition of not permanently modifying it? Also, what needed to be done to it to optimize it for patrol?
Testing the Weapons
In our opinion, all we needed to do was to add a high intensity flashlight and a red-dot type optical system. To accomplish the mounting of these systems, I turned to Troy Storch at Midwest Industries. He sent me their MCTAR-15-04 Tactical Light Mount and their MCT-A2C A2 Adjustable Cantilever Optics Mounts.
The Tactical Light Mount is a solid, well engineered system that mounts on any AR-15 with a standard front sight. The mount provides a Picatinny mounting surface on either side of the front sight, and lists at only $34.99. A Surefire G-2 Nitrolon 65 lumen light was attached by single scope ring to the mount. Using the G-2 in this position requires no separate pressure switch; it is operated with the support hand thumb. The G-2 is priced at $34.99. The Cantilever Optics Mount is billet machined from 6061aluminum and is hard coat anodized. It is adjustable and allows co-witnessing between the optics and iron sights. It mounts via a single bolt through the hole in the AR’s carry handle, and is secured by a wide, flat nut designed for easy hand tightening. Price is $116.95.
For testing purposes a personally owned Leatherwood Hi-Lux Red Dot sight from Bushmaster was mounted. This excellent red-dot sight is only $79.95. Total for this basic tactical weapons system? About $280. Of course with the myriad of options available for AR’s these days, even more customization can be done to it if desired.
After a thorough cleaning, (which made the rifle look as good as new) by Cpl. Matt Warden, we took one of the M-16’s to the range on a very cold March morning and mounted all the hardware. We had a limited test time, and purposes of the testing were three-fold.
First, we wanted to determine the functionality and reliability of these M-16’s, second, to select the most accurate duty load for the M-16 and third, to test that load against an automobile to determine effectiveness against hard targets.
We had only limited time for all three tests. As the M-16’s would be configured to semi-auto only for issuance to deputies in the field we started with some very basic accuracy testing. Full auto fun time, er, testing, would wait until later.
Checking of basic accuracy was important because there was no way of knowing how many rounds have been sent downrange from any of these weapons. The bores look reasonably good but there are no accuracy guarantees. Speaking of bores, as I mentioned earlier, the twist rate is the old 1 in 12 inch rate rather than the 1 in 7 or 1 in 9. This means that the bore can only stabilize bullets with weights of 55 grains or less. While heavier bullet weights for police and military use seem to be a must these days, one is absolutely limited to a weight of 55 grains or less in these rifles. This lack of stabilization of heavy bullets by a 1 in 12 twist barrel was borne out when firing some 62-grain NATO green tip ammo during testing against the automobile. Out of 30 rounds fired, 10 hit the car door exactly sideways, leaving a perfect cookie-cutter outline of the bullet in the door. Not exactly what one wants in terms of accuracy or ballistic performance.
Being limited to 55-grain projectiles is really no problem. Since our law enforcement rifle engagement distances average less than 50 yards, using bullets in the heavier weight ranges that may perform well to 400 yards really aren’t necessary. Nor should our officers be firing at anyone with open-sighted rifles at those distances anyway!
We tested two of the best 55-grain duty loads available-Hornady’s TAP and Winchester’s Ballistic Silvertip, along with Winchester 55-grain FMJ rounds. Five-shot groups were fired. Accuracy of all loads tested was adequate, but not stellar. Several factors affected testing that day. Cold weather with light snow compounded firing prone unsupported. We also used plain brown IPSC cardboard targets against the same colored backstop, and it was hard to maintain a consistent point of aim. Groups ended up hovering around 2 to 3 inches at 50 yards using either the open sights or the Hi-Lux Red-Dot.
I am certain that with a sandbagged bench and better weather conditions and target, groups would improve. One other thing to keep in mind; the M-16A1 was never a tack driver. That is why the A2 was introduced, to improve accuracy at extended range. You simply cannot get sniper rifle accuracy from these rifles but you certainly will get accuracy on par with that of the Ruger Mini-14 for example, which is more than adequate for patrol or close quarters entry use.
In terms of ballistic performance the TAP and Ballistic Silvertip rounds did very well against the auto, a Pontiac Grand AM. Fired through the windshield, each round penetrated front and rear seats, and came to rest denting the inside of the trunk. They did as well on shots through the driver’s door, passing through it and into the passenger door, causing a dimple on the exterior sheet metal of the passenger door. Ideal performance, in our opinion.
This offer from the DOD is one of the best ever made to law enforcement. Every agency interested in 5.56 caliber patrol or tactical rifles should apply for these weapons.
Out of several hundred rounds of practice and duty ammo fired (much of it with FMJ ammo in full-auto mode), there was not one malfunction, even when the weapon became very hot to the touch. If you never handled an M-16 in the A1 configuration, you will be pleasantly surprised. Its light weight allows it to swing into action quickly, and we didn’t find its 4 inches of additional barrel length over the M-4 to be a hindrance in clearing rooms. It might not be quite as maneuverable as an M-4 with the stock collapsed, but is certainly is a capable performer If you choose, you can even keep it in the full-auto configuration, which after the test firing, was tempting but for us out of the question and really not necessary. Don’t miss out, contact your State Law Enforcement Support Agency today.
— Scott Wagner is a Professor and Police Academy Commander at Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio. A 26-year law enforcement veteran, he is a Special Deputy at the Union County Sheriff’s Office in Marysville, Ohio where he works in patrol and training, and is a member of the SRT Team. He welcomes your comments at [email protected].
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.
While federal laws surely do impact Second Amendment rights, including our ability to buy, sell, and own firearms, state and local issues are of no less importance. In the recent Supreme Court ruling on Heller, for example, the Second Amendment as an individual right was affirmed. Yet, the justices also noted that lawmakers on all levels could place numerous restrictions on firearms and their ownership.
My father always used to say, “Buckshot makes a mess.” I've adopted that philosophy when it comes to self-defense with a shotgun. When it comes to stopping the threat, and I mean “right now,” I'll happily make a mess. Bad guys deserve it.
Less recoil means second shot recovery is quicker, allowing the user to get back on target more easily. These new loads are built just like the standard eight-pellet 00 Buckshot loads and are buffered for dense patterns, allowing for highly effective performance up to 40 yards.
