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9
A MERIC A N
SHOOTING JOURNAL Volume 9 // Issue 9 // June 2020 PUBLISHER James R. Baker GENERAL MANAGER John Rusnak EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Andy Walgamott OFFICE MANAGER / COPY EDITOR Katie Aumann LEAD CONTRIBUTOR Frank Jardim CONTRIBUTORS Jim Dickson, Scott Haugen, Phil Massaro, Mike Nesbitt, Rick Theriault SALES MANAGER Paul Yarnold ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mamie Griffin, Jim Klark, Mike Smith DESIGNER Lesley-Anne Slisko-Cooper PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Kelly Baker WEBMASTER / INBOUND MARKETING Jon Hines INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER Lois Sanborn ADVERTISING INQUIRIES ads@americanshootingjournal.com
ON THE COVER Pieter Huebner of Norman, Oklahoma, bagged this Maine moose with a Ruger Alaskan in .375 Ruger while hunting with Rick Theriault, Master Maine Guide and associate broker. (RICK THERIAULT)
Pistol Bullets and Ammunition Zero Bullet Company, Inc.
ZER 8
American Shooting Journal // June 2020
P.O. Box 1188 Cullman, AL 35056 Tel: 256-739-1606 Fax: 256-739-4683 Toll Free: 800-545-9376 www.zerobullets.com
Website: AmericanShootingJournal.com Facebook: Facebook.com/AmericanShootingJournal Twitter: @AmShootingJourn
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americanshootingjournal.com 9
CONTENTS
VOLUME 9 • ISSUE 9
(F.J.G. JARDIM)
18
MOSSBERG 590A1 MAGPUL: WHEN YOU NEED A WAR SHOTGUN Looking for an “apocalypse-grade weapon” for your armory? May we suggest the nine-shot, bayonet-lug-equipped, scatter-everythingwithin-range-and-then-some Mossberg 590A1 Magpul 9-Shot? Frank Jardim has an appreciation for this “sexy beast,” which according to Mossberg is also “the only pump action to be declared Mil-Spec.”
MORE FEATURES 33
QUITE THE RANGE IN NEW SERIES OF SINGLE-SHOTS Take a gander at Dickinson Arms’ recently introduced Ranger family of shotguns, which includes Adult, Youth and Survival models, multiple gauges and more.
39
ROAD HUNTER: SUMMER GUN DOG TRAINING The lazy, hazy dog days of summer are still ahead of us, but upland bird and waterfowl seasons will be here before you know it, making now the time to get your new four-legged hunting partner ready to go. Versatile sportsman Scott Haugen shares how he puts his pooches through their paces in the buildup to fall.
47
TIME TO THIN THE PACK Given their game-, livestock- and pet-killing ways, as well as booming numbers in eastern states, late spring’s prime for hunting coyotes. Jim Dickson sets us up for songdogs.
55 HUNTING MOOSE IN THE PINE TREE STATE Maine is one of less than 10 states in the Lower 48 to offer special permits to harvest North America’s largest deer family member, and should you be so lucky to draw a moose tag there, Master Guide Rick Theriault’s tips on how to bag a big bull are required reading, if a spectacular recent hunting opener he had is any indication.
63 BULLET BULLETIN: BOATTAIL OR FLAT BASE? Does the base of your bullet make a difference at the ranges you hunt? Phil Massaro takes a close look at boattail and flat-based projectiles, and you might be surprised by his conclusions. 73 BLACK POWDER: NEW GRIPS FOR A NO. 3 FRONTIER With new authentic grips from Triple K Manufacturing, Mike Nesbitt’s Smith & Wesson New Model No. 3 replica revolver by Uberti is often mistaken for an original, but the question is, how well did they improve his shooting? 81 A COLT FOR A CAUSE Every year, the Roy Rogers-inspired Happy Trails Children’s Foundation holds a fundraiser to help out abused kids, and 2020’s features a raffle for exquisite firearms and related accoutrements that Buffalo Bill Cody would proudly carry.
DEPARTMENTS 13 17
Competition Calendar Gun Show Calendar
AMERICAN SHOOTING JOURNAL is published monthly by Media Index Publishing Group, 14240 Interurban Ave South Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. Display Advertising. Call Media Index Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Index Publishing Group and will not be returned. Copyright © 2020 Media Index Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher. Printed in U.S.A.
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American Shooting Journal // June 2020
TRAIN - COMPETE DEFEND PROFESSIONAL SHOOTERS USE T1 AMMUNITION
Photos By Jen McCants Photography
PRACT I CE • CO M P E T I TON • S E L F - DE F E N S E 5% OFF FOR FIRST TIME CUSTOMERS CODE: ASJJUNE20 EXPIRES: 6/30/2020
T1Ammo.com
PRIMER
COMPETITION C A L E N D A R
usashooting.org
July 12
July 17-19
July 26
June 12-13
June 19-20
June 27-28
June 12-14
June 19-21
July 8-12
June 13-14
June 26-27
June 13-14
June 27-28
2020 Bay State Games Sport Pistol Finals Woburn, Mass.
2020 Wyoming Sectional Championship Casper, Wy.
uspsa.org
2020 Kentucky Section Championship Wilmore, Ky. SIG Sauer MultiGun Nationals Frostproof, Fla.
Emerald Coast Glock Classic I Holt, Fla.
June 20-21 gssfonline.com
Garden State Regional Classic XXVI Jackson, N.J.
June 27-28
Gem State Classic Boise, Idaho
idpa.com
2020 Treasure State Championship Billings, Mont. 2020 Oklahoma Section Championship Arcadia, Okla.
Rock the Glock I Spencer, Tenn.
2020 Berry’s Bullets Area 1 Championship Puyallup, Wash.
July 18-19
Buckeye State Ballistic Challenge XVIII Marietta, Ohio
Scarborough Fish & Game Annual GSSF Match III Scarborough, Maine
July 11-12
Coeur d’Alene Glock Classic I Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
June 20
June 24-27
June 12-13
June 20
Armed Texans Eight Round Defenders IDPA Championship Mineola, Texas
2020 USPSA Great Plains Section Championship Louisville, Neb.
July 11-12
June 20-21
Oregon State Shoot Prineville, Ore.
2020 Bay State Games Free Pistol Finals Woburn, Mass.
Texas State Open Championship 2020 Rosenberg, Texas
June 11
Oklahoma State Championship Guthrie, Okla. cmsaevents.com
2020 USA Shooting PPP Nationals Colorado Springs, Colo.
Iowa State Championship Iowa Falls, Iowa CMSA Appalachian Mountain Championship Lexington, Va.
2020 Wisconsin IDPA Championship Ripon, Wis.
July 4-5
2020 Central Shootout Pueblo, Colo.
July 9-10
Missouri State Championship Festus, Mo.
June 26-27
Kettlefoot State IDPA Match Bristol, Va.
Note: Due to the coronavirus outbreak, social distancing requirements that states have prescribed, and rapidly changing developments at press time, it is highly advisable to check ahead on the status of individual events via the links in the above organizers’ websites. americanshootingjournal.com 13
PRS RESOURCE GUIDE Pro Bolt Gun Series June 5 June 18 June 20 June 27 July 10 July 11 July 18 July 25
Pigg River Precision H.A.M. Big Medicine PRC Vortex Sandstorm Punisher Positional Hornady Precision Rifle Challenge Canadian Sharpshooter Classic W.A.R. Rifles Shootout PRS New England
Rocky Mount, Virginia Dupuyer, Montana Garrettsville, Ohio Conway Springs, Kansas Evanston, Wyoming Hanna, Alberta Gerrardstown, West Virginia Dalton, New Hampshire
Note: Due to the coronavirus outbreak, social distancing requirements that states are prescribing and rapidly changing developments at press time, it is highly advisable to check ahead on the status of individual events via the link in the organizer’s website below.
For more information visit www.precisionrifleseries.com
PARTS, ACCESSORIES & GEAR
See us on this page
americanshootingjournal.com 15
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American Shooting Journal // June 2020
PRIMER
GUNSHOW C A L E N D A R
C&E Gun Shows
cegunshows.com
Crossroads Of The West Gun Shows crossroadsgunshows.com
Florida Gun Shows
floridagunshows.com
RK Shows rkshows.com
June 6-7
Fayetteville, N.C.
Crown Expo Center
June 13-14
Raleigh, N.C.
NC State Fairgrounds
June 20-21
Columbus, Ohio
Westland Mall
June 20-21
Winston-Salem, N.C.
Winston-Salem Fairgrounds
June 27-28
Dayton, Ohio
Montgomery County Event Center
June 27-28
Hickory, N.C.
Hickory Metro Convention Center
July 18-19
Salem, Va.
Salem Civic Center
July 25-26
Concord, N.C.
Hickory Metro Convention Center
July 11-12
Del Mar, Calif.
Del Mar Fairgrounds
July 18-19
Phoenix, Ariz.
AZ State Fairgrounds
July 25-26
Reno, Nev.
Reno Convention Center
June 6-7
Tampa, Fla.
Florida State Fairgrounds
June 13-14
Fort Myers, Fla.
Lee County Civic Center
July 11-12
Orlando, Fla.
Central Florida Fairgrounds
July 18-19
Miami, Fla.
The Fair Expo Center
July 25-26
Palmetto, Fla.
Bradenton Area Convention Center
June 6-7
Clarksville, Tenn.
Clarksville Speedway & Fairgrounds
June 13-14
Southaven, Miss.
Landers Center
June 13-14
Lawrenceville, Ga.
Gwinnett County Fairgrounds
June 20-21
Atlanta, Ga.
Atlanta Expo Center
June 20-21
Kansas City, Mo.
KCI Expo Center
June 27-28
Knoxville, Tenn.
Knoxville Expo Center
June 27-28
Lexington, Ky.
Kentucky Horse Park
July 3-5
St. Louis, Mo.
Orlando Gardens
Real Texas Gun Shows
All 2020 shows cancelled until further notice
Tanner Gun Shows
All 2020 shows cancelled until further notice
therealtexasgunshow.com
tannergunshow.com
Wes Knodel Gun Shows
July 18-19
Centralia, Wash.
Southwest Washington Fairgrounds
wesknodelgunshows.com Note: Due to the coronavirus outbreak, social distancing requirements that states prescribed, and rapidly changing developments at press time, it is highly advisable to check ahead on the status of individual gun shows via the links in the above organizers’ websites. To have your event highlighted here, send an email to kaumann@media-inc.com.
americanshootingjournal.com 17
MOSSBE 590A1:
FOR WHEN YOU NEED 18
American Shooting Journal // June 2020
Looking for an “apocalypse-grade weapon” for your armory? May we suggest the bayonet-lug-equipped Mossberg 590A1 Magpul 9-Shot 12-gauge?
BERG I
STORY BY FRANK JARDIM • PHOTOS BY F.J.G. JARDIM
f you do your bird hunting with a classic Mossberg 500 shotgun, you might be taken aback when you first handle their tactically oriented, nine-shot, bayonet-lug- and aperture-sight-equipped Magpul series Model 590A1. For starters, the 590A1 is built for war, not sport, and the Magpul series takes it a step beyond with furniture that enhances its tactical function and allows for more user customization than the standard military stock. Whether you’re repelled by it or drawn to it, you have to admit: it’s a sexy beast. At nearly 8.5 pounds empty, I found this model’s weight alone impressive. It’s a load to carry, which means any Marine Corps infantryman issued one will curse it long and loudly, but when it comes time to shoot it, that mass just soaks up the recoil of the heaviest 3-inch magnum loads. This is a gun you can shoot slugs with all day long. I don’t love this gun, but it’s an apocalypse-grade weapon. If I have to go into battle against a rival warlord or endure decades of chaos after the collapse of civilization with just a shotgun, this is the one I’d want.
ED A WAR SHOTGUN americanshootingjournal.com 19
Introduced in 2015, the 590A1 is a member of the now 60-year-old Mossberg 500 family of shotguns – “one of the most successful sporting arms in history” – and according to the company, is “the only pump action to be declared Mil-Spec.”
FOR THOSE UNFAMILIAR with the 590A1, it is the latest, and possibly final, tactical evolution of Mossberg’s 500 series shotgun line introduced in 1960. The 500 series shotgun is one of the most successful sporting arms in history with over 12 million produced in various gauges and configurations. The Mossberg 500 in tactical trappings was also very popular with law enforcement, but its most demanding role was serving in the hands of our military service members in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, the changes that evolved the series 500 into the current 590 and 590A1 tactical shotguns were in response to the military’s requirements. Though non-NFA versions of the 590A1 with barrels 18.5 inches or
With 1.25-inch sling loops and QD sockets on each side, the user-configurable Magpul SGA buttstock is ambidextrous.
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American Shooting Journal // June 2020
longer became available to civilians in 2009, these shotguns are marketed primarily to law enforcement and military agencies. The 590A1 is among the mix of shotgun models and types the military currently uses for interior guard duty, prison security, riot control, door-breaching, boarding hostile naval vessels and front-line combat roles. However, in the big picture, the shotgun is a specialty weapon and makes up a very tiny percentage of our military small arms inventory. Shotguns have served our troops most famously in the trenches of World War I, and the jungle fighting in the Pacific Theater in World War II and the Vietnam War, but always in small numbers. Unlike military service rifles, which are designed as combat arms from
the first blueprint, shotguns and their ammunition were always selected and procured from normal civilian commercial sources, sometimes with no modifications whatsoever, other than the addition of martial markings. For the most part, this worked out fine for the military, though there was a noteworthy problem with the original standard paper-hull shotgun shells in wide civilian use before the Vietnam War. It was found that in wet climates, like the jungle for example, paper hulls absorbed moisture and swelled up to the point that they couldn’t chamber, rendering the shotgun useless, other than as a melee weapon! The solution to this problem was an expensive allbrass shotgun shell. By the 1960s, the plastic-hulled shotgun shells we know today were
replacing the black-powder-era paper hulls. The plastic-hulled shell was the perfect economical solution to the military’s shotgun ammunition spoilage problems in tropical climates. However, one major problem remained and persists to this day. Because of the weight and physical size of shotgun cartridges, military personnel armed with shotguns for combat have always had a hard time carrying enough ammunition to stay in a firefight.
GETTING BACK TO the specific
tactical adaptions of the Mossberg shotguns, the principal difference between the 500 and 590 was the design of the magazine tube and barrel mounting. The former’s magazine tube is closed at the end with a threaded hole in the center to attach the barrel. The latter uses an open-ended magazine tube with exterior threads and holds the barrel in place with a screw-on cap. This
The large-diameter XS Sights ghost ring rear sight, which is combined with a Picatinny receiver rail, “allows for fast target acquisition, but still permits a good degree of precision. Slug hits at 100 yards on man-sized targets aren’t a problem.”
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American Shooting Journal // June 2020
made the 590’s magazine much easier to clean. That wasn’t a big deal for most American hunters, but it was for airmen, soldiers and marines, who tended to get a lot of sand and dust in their guns doing their duty during the Gulf Wars and the Global War on Terrorism. The 590A1 differs from the 590 in the thickness of its barrel and its use of aluminum, rather than polymer, for the triggerguard assembly and safety. It doesn’t take too much to dent a shotgun barrel, and the U.S. Navy requested a heavier barrel that was more resistant to denting after observing guns were sometimes damaged banging into ship hatchways. At the muzzle, you can see a 590A1 barrel is about twice as thick as a standard weight barrel and it’s actually too thick to use the standard 590’s heat shield. By the way, heat shields were originally ordered for military shotguns in World War I, when the use of a bayonet in combat was expected. In bayonet training, the supporting hand grasps the front of the weapon around the barrel and front grip and is subject to burning without some sort of thermal shield.
Today, only the wooden-stocked 590A1 Retrograde is offered with a specially fitted heat shield, though several other 590A1 models have a bayonet-lug/auxiliary-magazinetube support silver-soldered to their barrels. The bayonet setup will fit all bayonets designed for the M16/ M4 series of service rifles up to the present M9 and USMC OKC-3S bayonet. From a reliability standpoint, the 590A1 is as good as or better than its predecessors, and that’s saying it’s very, very good. It features dual extractors on the bolt, positive steel-to-steel lockup between bolt and barrel, twin action bars on the operating slide (a feature once unique to the Remington 870 until their patent expired in 1970), and an anti-jam elevator to ensure smooth operation. Left-handers have always appreciated Mossberg’s safety mounted on top of the wrist for ambidextrous operation. In these respects, all current 500s, 590s and 590A1s are alike. They differ in stocks, sights, barrel lengths, magazine capacity and finish.
THE MOSSBERG MAGPUL series 590A1 has an MSRP of $836 and is fully decked out with Magpul adjustable SGA buttstock, MOE front handguard, forward sling
Close-ups of the six-shell metal loops, overthick heavy-walled barrel, screw-on magazine cap that makes barrel cleaning easier, and AimShot TX890 Wireless Revolution tactical light as mounted by the author to the side of the barrel with a Picatinny rail to demonstrate modularity.
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American Shooting Journal // June 2020
Close-ups of the forend and rail mounted on it (above), and Magpul cast-steel forward hook attachment mount (below).
The “soft recoil pad ... goes a long way toward making this gun pleasant to shoot.”
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American Shooting Journal // June 2020
mounting point, and an XS Sights ghost ring adjustable-aperture rear sight and receiver-mounted Picatinny rail. These upgrades, all Americanmade, have an MSRP over $400 if purchased separately. The Magpul (magpul.com) SGA buttstock is ambidextrous in the sense that it has a 1.25-inch sling loop and QD socket on each side and the steel ring for hook attachment at the stock wrist can be positioned on the right or left side. This user-configurable buttstock is adaptable for use with body armor, optics and shooters of differing stature. Length-of-pull is adjustable from 12.5 to 14.5 inches in half-inch increments with a spacer system. The butt is capped with a soft recoil pad that goes a long way toward making this gun pleasant to shoot. The grip has aggressively
textured side panels, a grooved front strap and, most importantly, improved ergonomics somewhere between a traditional stock and a vertical pistol grip. The effect of this geometry is that it keeps your thumb from painfully banging into your nose during recoil but still permits a full, tight, wrap-around grip. The comb height is also adjustable with optional cheek risers for use with optics and raised sights. All of these adjustments require simple hand tools and aren’t adjustable on the fly. The Magpul MOE M-Lok forend has integral front and rear hand stops and is quite narrow along the top where the M-Lok slots are. This is really good since this is the part of the tactical shotgun that tends to grow exponentially when you add accessories. It’s a little bit longer than
SPECIFICATIONS Gauge 12 Capacity 8+1 Chamber 3-inch Barrel type Heavy-walled Barrel length 20 inches Sight/base XS Ghost Ring Choke Cylinder bore LOP type Adjustable LOP 12.25 to 14.25 inches Barrel finish Parkerized Stock finish Magpul SGA/MOE Weight 7.25 pounds Length 39.5 inches MSRP $836 Close-ups of the adjustable buttstock, front swivel stud QD socket, and safety and trigger mechanisms.
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American Shooting Journal // June 2020
Where other 12-gauge shotguns might put shooters through a “trial-by-recoil” and may not be well suited for all body types, athletic model Santina Warthen “shot it like a champ,” and author Frank Jardim grew to “just enjoy blasting stuff for the sheer fun of blasting stuff.”
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American Shooting Journal // June 2020
standard, but the extra length is to the front so it doesn’t ride over the receiver in the rear and won’t interfere with a sidesaddle ammo holder. The two best features are the M-Lok slots along the top edges and bottom for mounting the accessories of your choice. The Magpul buttstock and forend come in black, flat dark earth, stealth gray and orange. Though any weapon with front mounting space always tempts me to attach a battery-powered, lightup, 1950s-kitsch, miniature dancing Hawaiian hula-girl lamp, I took the mature road and attached an AimShot (aimshot.com) TX890 Wireless Revolution tactical light instead. Other than an aiming laser, a light is the only accessory that makes any sense on a shotgun. The AimShot’s Wireless Revolution light comes with a direct-attach rail mount and a throwlever, quick-release-style adapter, if you want to take it on and off like I do. To mount the light, I attached a section of Picatinny rail on each side of the forend for the light and wireless switch. Alternatively, I could have used AimShot’s quick-release M-Lok mounts instead for a cleaner, slightly lower-profile installation of this tough, compact, waterproof, 550-lumen light. Even though it has a wireless switch, you can still operate it with the tail switch as redundant backup or a primary switch when dismounted from the gun for handheld use. One other advantage of the wireless switch is it allows light output to be adjusted from 5 percent to 100 percent as needed. The MSRP on this unit is $179. The rugged forward sling mount is designed specifically for the heavybarreled 590A1 and features a caststeel hook attachment point on one side and a standard QD socket on the other side. It’s secured to the gun with a pair of wings that grip the barrel and magazine tube. This allows the use of any push-button type QD sling swivel and just about any one-point, clip-instyle attachments (i.e. MS3 Paraclip, the HK hook, ITW MASH hook, etc.). The whole thing is Melonite-treated for wear- and corrosion-resistance and is simply indestructible. The downside is you can’t take the barrel off with it on.
If you must have sights on your shotgun other than a front bead, the XS Sights combination ghost ring rear sight and receiver Picatinny rail is about as fine a choice as you could make. The sight and base are made of stress-proof steel and adjustable for windage and elevation with a screwdriver. The rail section is aluminum and mounts to the receiver through pretapped holes. The sights are at such a height that they can be co-witness with a red-dot optic mounted on the rail portion. The large diameter hole of the ghost ring aperture allows for fast target acquisition, but still permits a good degree of precision. Slug hits at 100 yards on man-sized targets aren’t a problem. The only thing I kind of wish this excellent sight had is the militarystyle wing protectors on each side. That being said, XS Sights are known for being extraordinarily tough. The 590A1 front sight is also drift adjustable for windage if need be.
AFTER SHOOTING IT for a day, I
With a chamber capacity of eight plus one and loops to hold six more shells, the 590A1 can carry more than a box of buckshot shells at a time.
have to admit the 590A1 Magpul series began to grow on me. Every other 12-gauge that I’ve shot a lot of heavy buckshot of slug loads through from the bench put me through a “trial-byrecoil” that usually broke me down by the third box of shells. With the 590A1, I could just enjoy blasting stuff for the sheer fun of blasting stuff. Still, this is not a gun well suited to most women
or any youngster. Santina Warthen, the model who worked with me on the photos for this story, is one of the exceptions. An athletic 5-foot-10, she shot it like a champ. The Mossberg 590A1 is covered by a 10-year limited warranty. For more information on it and other Mossberg products, visit your local gun store or mossberg.com.
americanshootingjournal.com 31
COMPANY SPOTLIGHT
Dickinson Ranger
Dickinson Ranger Youth Model
QUITE THE RANGE IN NEW SERIES OF SINGLE-SHOTS Dickinson Arms’ recently introduced Ranger shotguns includes Adult, Youth and Survival models, multiple gauges, features like ventilated rib barrels and Turkish walnut or synthetic stock options. PHOTOS BY DICKINSON ARMS
D
ickinson Arms has introduced a newfor-2020 family of single-shot shotguns that combines classic good looks, superior craftsmanship, excellent shooting performance and remarkable value. Dickinson’s new Ranger Series includes models designed for the shooting needs of adults and youth, as well as a shortbarreled Survival model – at retail prices starting as low as $144 MSRP. “This is an excellent first shotgun for those getting into the sport, as well as for more experienced shooters looking to add something new and unique to their collections,” said Tim Bailey of Dickinson Arms. “In the Dickinson tradition, this new Ranger Series has a look and feel of quality, despite the fact that it is so affordable. It may be somebody’s first shotgun,
but they will own it and treasure it for years to come, because it is built to last and it’s fun and easy to shoot.” The standard Dickinson Ranger features a simple and reliable breakopen action for easy loading and operation, and comes with a 28-inch barrel in 12-gauge, 20-gauge, 28-gauge and .410 bore. The Ranger’s attractive satin silver receiver is complemented by a choice of available checked Turkish walnut or rugged black synthetic stock. Both versions offer a rubber buttplate for comfortable shooting and a ventilated rib for better sighting and accuracy. The Dickinson Ranger comes with a fixed modified choke for 12-, 20- and 28-gauge models, and with a fixed full choke on the .410 bore. Younger shooters will love the Dickinson Ranger Youth Model
available in 12-gauge, 20-gauge and .410 bore with a 24-inch barrel. Designed to be easy to carry and handle, Dickinson’s Ranger Youth shotgun is a great way to bring new people into the sport. Available with a walnut stock and forend and boasting the same attractive satin silver receiver, this shotgun has an “Old West” appearance that will appeal to shooters young and old. Dickinson will also offer a Ranger Survival Model with a rugged black synthetic stock and 18.5-inch barrel. This model will be offered in 12-gauge, 20-gauge and .410 bore and will include a durable nylon carrying case with shoulder strap as standard equipment. Editor’s note: For more information, visit dickinsonarms.com. americanshootingjournal.com 33
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PISTOL &Gallery RIFLE Volquartsen - Summit 17 WSM The full line of Volquartsen rifles, pistols and parts have become some of the most sought-after in the industry. Trusted by competition shooters, plinkers, hunters and everyone in between, Volquartsen continues to design and engineer firearms to the highest standards using only the best materials and technologies. Made in America since 1974.
Volquartsen.com
CDNN Sports - DPMS AR-15 5.56 16-inch Rifle Build Kit
Now available from CDNN Sports is the DPMS AR-15 5.56 16-inch rifle build kit. The kit ships assembled as shown and includes: a DPMS AR-15 factory lower and upper receivers with forward assist and dust cover door; carbine-length gas on 16-inch 5.56 DPMS 1-in-8-inch twist barrel; A2 flash hider; A2 front sight with sling swivel and bayonet lug; adjustable stock with carbine buffer and spring; Magpul MOE trigger guard; and A2 pistol grip. The kit includes everything except the bolt carrier group, charging handle and lower parts kit.
CDNN.com
Best Of The West - Mountain Scout Package Calibers: 6.5 PRC (as shown), 6.5x284, 7mm Rem. Mag. Barrel: Carbon fiber, 20 (as shown) or 22 inches Overall length: 41.5 (as shown) or 43.5 inches Weight: 7 (as shown) to 7.7 pounds for steel action (weights with optic) Magazine capacity: 3 to 4, depending on configuration (4 for rifle as shown) Stock: BOTW carbon fiber Mountain Hunter stock MSRP: $8,800; includes a Huskemaw 4-16x42 Blue Diamond Scope and Atlas Bipod
LongRangeStore.com
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PISTOL &Gallery RIFLE Volquartsen - The Black Mamba The Black Mamba from Volquartsen Firearms is competition-ready in a push-button takedown configuration. The Black Mamba combines features from the Volquartsen Scorpion .22 LR target pistol along with the push-button takedown functionality of the Ruger MK IV .22/.45 frame. Multiple colors and finishes available.
Volquartsen.com
Gary Reeder Custom Guns
Ultimate Arms- MagnaT5 This is UA/Ultimate Arms’ newest lightweight M1911 Commander, the MagnaT5. It comes in 3.5 Ultra Comp, 4.25 Commander and 5.0 Government models. Weight range from 25 to 28 ounces, making them the ultimate lightweight carry weapons. MAP pricing at $1,995. Comes in .45 ACP, 9mm and .38 Super.
In the business of building full custom guns for 40 years, Gary Reeder does large-caliber rifles, full custom 1911s and Browning high powers and has almost 40 series of full custom revolvers like the El Diablo 2 (shown). For a gun built to your specs, check out their website or give them a call.
ReederCustomGuns.com
UAArms.com
Ultimate Arms - Warmonger .50 BMG Shoulder-fired Sniper Rifle The lightest .50-caliber bolt rifle ever built by Ultimate Arms weighs between 12 and 14.5 pounds, depending on barrel length. Built only for military at present. A new commercial model will be available soon for public consumption. MSRP in the $4,000 to $5,000 range.
UAArms.com
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American Shooting Journal // March 2020
ROAD HUNTER
SUMMER GUN DOG TRAINING The time is now to get your new four-legged hunting partner ready for fall bird seasons. STORY AND PHOTOS BY SCOTT HAUGEN
t the time of this writing, the mandated confinement much of the world has faced is challenging for us, our children, even our dogs. Hunting dogs are active animals that desire to be outdoors as much as possible. A dog’s drive to run, explore and engage innate senses makes it tough for us to deal with at times. But being indoors is a great opportunity to instill some valuable training, and with fall hunting seasons approaching faster than you might think, now’s the time to teach your dog what you want it to do. INSIDE TRAINING TIPS One of the best things you can do right now is simply spend time with your dog. When spending an entire day indoors with your canine companion, you’ll likely be surprised with how much your dog pays attention to your every move. They’ll move when you move, look at your eyes to see what your next action will be, and twist and turn their head when you talk to them, in order to decipher what it is you’re saying. All this exaggerated action is a result of their desire to please you, and they do this by trying to read your mind, or at least anticipate what move you’ll make before you make it. Eye contact is one of the best
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Directional casting – teaching your dog to move in a specific direction through hand signals – can be taught indoors, as well as small spaces outside. americanshootingjournal.com 39
ROAD HUNTER If you want to optimize your gun dog’s behavior and performance in the field, at-home training is the ticket.
training tools there is, and it’s important to be consistent in your looks. Your dog will sense when you’re happy, tired, upset or stressed. Take note of the looks you give your dog, or family members when the dog is in sight, and you’ll see how committed your dog is to pleasing you. This is important because eye contact is a great way to engage your dog, and efficiently communicate with them. If you’ve not paid close attention to it, you’ll be shocked with how much you can communicate with your dog, without saying a word. The same goes for reading your dog’s actions. Dogs can’t talk, though many owners swear they try. Spend day after day with your dog and you’ll soon read its disposition through its eyes, ear position and movement, tail action, even spine 40
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alignment and head angle. These are just some ways your dog communicates with you, and it’s in your best interest to learn to understand what they’re saying. In terms of training a dog, you don’t need much room to teach sit, stay and come. It can all be done in a living room. Using food or treats to get a dog to sit, stay and move in specific directions can be very effective, and above all else, teaches them restraint, which is key to optimizing any dog’s behavior. Teaching a dog directional movement is next. Have your dog sit in the middle of the room. Next, place a couple kibbles of food to the right of it, at what we’ll call first base, if we were on a baseball field. Give an open hand signal to the right, along with a voice command, and the dog will get the food. Command it to sit when
it’s done, then place food to the left of it, then release it to get the food. Once it’s done, have the dog return to the middle, or the pitcher’s mound, and sit. Then put food behind it, on second base. With an outstretched hand overhead, give a firm “back” command. Getting dogs to push back can be challenging, and teaching them this move indoors, with small portions of food in a small area, can be very effective. Once the dog is on to this game, you’ll be impressed with how quickly they respond to your directions. Soon you’ll have the dog sitting on the pitcher’s mound, with food on all three bases, waiting for your commands. If you have a hallway, this can be a great training area. Shut all the doors and pick up anything from the floor.
ROAD HUNTER Create an area free of distractions, then get to training. Here you can teach dogs to fetch, sit, come, lay down, push back, retrieve shed antlers, and much more. STEPPING IT UP A lot of hunters got pups this summer, and now is the time to teach them basic obedience. These things can also be taught to a mature dog, even if it’s just a refresher for them. “Teaching a dog to sit on command is a basic step in obedience,” shares noted gun dog trainer Jess Spradley of Cabin Creek Gun Dogs (541-2192526, cabincreekgundogs.com) in Lakeview, Oregon. “With the pup standing, push its bottom to the ground, and when it sits, say ‘sit.’ You want to give the verbal cue once the dog has achieved the goal, not before, so it learns what it is you want it to do.
Eventually the dog will learn what ‘sit’ means, and will do so on command.” Another important command for your dog to understand is “whoa,” Spradley shares. “The goal of whoa training is to stop the dog on command. You don’t want the dog to stop then sit, or continue to creep forward. You don’t need a bird to teach a dog how to whoa. A good way to teach a dog to whoa is with a leash; you can teach the dog to heel at the same time, by saying ‘heel’ while sharply tugging on the leash to keep the dog close to you when walking.” When whoa training on a leash, you want the dog to stop when you stop. Walk, stop, pull the leash tight and give the verbal command “whoa” once the dog stops. “Deliver the command once the dog stops, not before, as the dog needs to learn what it is you want it to do,” Spradley emphasizes. “Eventually
Play time builds bonds with your dog, which opens the door to many training opportunities. Here, playing with a pup’s paws and mouth ensures these sensitive areas will be easily handled as the dog matures.
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Bring a puppy home at seven weeks and by eight weeks, with proper and consistent training, it will be sitting on command.
you’ll say ‘whoa’ and the dog will stop. Then, when walking the dog, it will stop when you stop, without a verbal demand being given.” Spradley suggests working up to a dog holding in a whoa position, where you lay the leash on the ground and walk in a complete circle around the dog. The dog should not move, and should stay standing the whole time. “Another way to teach a dog to whoa is at the food bowl,” offers Spradley. “During regular feeding times, distance the dog from the bowl of food. When you release the dog to eat, stop it at the bowl and say whoa before it starts to eat. The goal is to stop the dog from moving forward, and oftentimes this is best done when the dog has an urge, or reason to keep moving forward. Teaching whoa on the stairs is also good, as the dog has to make a conscious effort to quickly stop moving.” “Teaching a dog to move backwards can be challenging, so the younger a dog can learn this, the better,” points out Spradley. “A lot of people move a pile of three or more bumpers back farther and farther, but keeping a bumper pile
ROAD HUNTER
Teaching a puppy to heel and whoa are important commands, and the sooner they can learn what’s expected of them, the better for the both of you.
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in the same spot while you and the dog move back, instead, yields fast results. This is because the dog is more likely to quickly move to the bumpers because it knows where they are, versus having to search for them.” Make a pile of bumpers 10 yards behind the dog, and once the dog has retrieved a couple, you and the dog move back another 10 yards. Spradley encourages trainers to continue doing this as far back as you have room for, or as far as the dog will perform. You can start this drill in a hallway of the house, or in the backyard, progressing to bigger areas once the dog achieves consistent success. “Another way to teach a dog to move back – or obediently retrieve – is with what’s called the ladder drill,” Spradley suggests. “Instead of making a pile of bumpers, place them staggered behind the dog, one at a time. Place one bumper 5 feet behind the dog, another at 10, 15, and 20 feet behind
the dog. Have the dog sit, then give the command to fetch the first bumper. Once retrieved to hand, have the dog sit beside you or in front of you, and release it to get the next bumper. This is a fun drill to teach older dogs, too.” Don’t overlook simple, short-distance retrieves, as they are great ways to teach a dog discipline and obedience, and can be done inside the house or a small yard. This is also a great way to build communication with your dog. As we get through these trying times together, don’t neglect your hunting dog. Take advantage of this time to build bonds that will last a lifetime, and result in the best trained dog you could hope for, because before we know it, we’ll be hitting the road for another hunting season. Editor’s note: To watch Scott Haugen’s series of puppy training videos, visit scotthaugen.com. Follow Scott on Instagram and Facebook.
TIME TO THIN THE PACK An alert coyote. (TOM KOERNER/USFWS)
Given their game-, livestock- and pet-killing ways, booming numbers, spring’s prime time to hunt coyotes. STORY BY JIM DICKSON
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oyotes are most prone to prey on pets and livestock in the spring because this is when they are having to feed their pups. They breed around mid-February and have their pups 63 days later in mid-April. At first, the female stays in the den with the pups and the male hunts and brings food back to her in the den. Later, they both hunt
and feeding all those hungry mouths becomes an intense full-time job for both of them. Any farm livestock that they can bring down is on their shopping list. They have been known to snatch small dogs that were on a leash, come up on porches and even go through pet doors to kill pets inside the house.
This is also a very bad time to leave babies and toddlers outside, as coyotes have been known to attack small children. So far the only confirmed fatalities are 3-year-old Kelly Kleen in Glendale, California, and 19-year-old Taylor Mitchell in Nova Scotia, Canada, but it’s important to realize that the coyote is technically a small species of wolf. americanshootingjournal.com 47
BEFORE YOU BEGIN hunting, you need to be aware of how to tell a dog from a coyote, lest you shoot someone’s pet by mistake. There are three coyote identifying features. Their nose is very sharp, narrow, long and pointed for sticking down holes after ground squirrels and other burrowing animals. The tail is bushy like a fox instead of like a dog’s tail. The ears are sharp and pointy, never drooping over like some dogs’ do. Coyote tracks are more oval and compact than a dog’s and they have less prominent claw marks in their
tracks. The tracks will go in more of a straight line than a dog’s will. Coyotes also have a big home range, just like timberwolves, and may only show up in a given area once every several days. While everyone knows they are there when they are howling, they actually don’t howl most of the time. You may not know they are there until they strike and the chicken you had planned for Sunday dinner or your Christmas goose is gone. At all times, there are three types of coyotes out there: territorial adults, this year’s pups, and
Gary Roberson with two Texas coyotes shot with a Ruger M77 .223. (GARY ROBERSON)
A coyote shot with the Savage M10 .223 Predator Hunter that Roberson, owner of Burnham Brothers and an accomplished hunter, helped Savage design. (GARY ROBERSON)
adolescents looking to establish their own territory. In the spring, you can call females up using a pup-in-distress call. The use of a cur dog that the coyotes will chase is very effective, provided the dog will come straight back to you and not head off for the next county. A well-trained dog for this kind of work will hunt for the dens and when the coyotes come after him, he will lead them straight back to you and your waiting gun. When using any kind of call, you need to realize that you may need to stay in one spot longer in the spring than you did in the winter. COYOTES ARE MOST active in the spring when deer fawns are being born. In Georgia, this is from about May 10 until June 21. The pups are weaned about the time this starts, and since a fawn has no scent for the first 10 48
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days, this is the one time the coyotes concentrate their hunting in the daytime. Once the fawns develop a scent, they go back to predominantly night time hunting. During this period of daylight hunting, coyotes can often be seen in fields hunting for the newborn fawns, which are hiding by lying still in the grass, as they have no other defense. The coyote can’t smell them, but he will root them out visually. The coyotes can be incredibly aggressive during this time. One Georgia woman looked out in her field and saw a female coyote hanging from the throat of a black angus heifer trying to choke it out, while the pups stood around watching her. The woman ran the coyote off and called the vet. The injured cow was then put up safely in the barn. The next day, the coyote was back hanging from the throat of another black angus heifer with the pups looking on again! The coyotes do inestimable damage to the deer population by decimating the fawns every year. I have seen many does with no fawns thanks to the coyotes eating them this time of the year. When you don’t see any deer come hunting season, just remember that without a fresh crop of fawns each year, the herd dies out. What they do to the grouse and turkey populations is equally devastating. I used to have flocks of over 200 wild turkey on my farm. Now it’s 10 or 12, the family one old experienced hen raises each year. I used to be able to go out during grouse season and always get a grouse. Now I am down to one or two grouse, so I don’t hunt them on my farm anymore. Spring is also the time of the year when trapping coyotes yields the biggest bags. Georgia has one of the nation’s best coyote trappers, Marty Adams aka “Mister Coyote,” and he has been the Lone Ranger to the rescue for many of the deer hunting club land plots in Georgia. We need more like him. 50
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Roberson with three coyotes he shot with a blackstocked Ruger American .22-250. (GARY ROBERSON)
THE COYOTE IS not native east of the Mississippi River. The bridges spanning the great waterways and the removal of the timberwolf, the coyote’s nemesis, have enabled it to spread outside its former range. The highly adaptable predator definitely needs to be pushed back to its former range and out of the eastern states, where it constitutes an invasive species. It should be noted that some coyotes were introduced to the east by a fox hunting club wanting
something for their hounds to chase. There needs to be heavy penalties for stocking non-indigenous game in the wild, as these well-heeled gents are not deterred by normal fines. Coyotes have been known to interbreed with timberwolves and domestic dogs. The cross with a timberwolf is called a coywolf and the cross with a domestic dog is called a coydog. These can be a lot bigger and more dangerous than the regular coyote, which will normally
scale from 15 to 45 pounds and stand about 2 feet high at the shoulder. This relatively small size makes it easy for them to hide in the brush, and locating one yet being unable to get a shot is one of the classic frustrations of coyote hunting. SINCE COYOTES OFTEN come in packs, I always recommend a semiauto with a high-capacity magazine so you can get all of them. The M1 carbine is the fastest-handling of these, enabling you to get on target with snap shots that you might not have time for with other guns. AR-15s and AK-47s are also effective for dealing with packs of coyotes. Full-power military rifles like the semiauto G3 and FN FAL are also effective. While the intermediate power rounds are powerful enough, there is no such thing as too much power, unless you are worried about spoiling the pelt. Since coyotes normally hunt at night, thermal and night vision devices are a sound investment.
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They also respond to calling. Burnham Brothers in Texas makes a full range of calls for them, including electronic calls. In July, they are coming out with the first electronic call to cover the full range of sounds that coyotes hear. Humans can hear noise up to 22,000 Hertz. Canines hear up to 45,000 Hertz. Burnham Brothers’ revolutionary new call goes from 200 to 47,000 Hertz, covering the full range of sounds a coyote makes. Previous calls fell short and therefore had an unnatural quality about them that coyotes could learn to recognize. The most popular year-round calls are coyote howls and rabbit calls. Wear camouflage and keep still, just as you would turkey hunting. An electronic call on the ground covered by a shooter in a deer tree stand is perfection. Coyotes travel the game trails, so cover them. Have someone drop you off and then keep on driving or park at least a quartermile from your hunting spot, or the
coyotes will take notice of the vehicle and depart. Baiting works well and carrion or a gut pile will draw coyotes as fast as it will buzzards. Carrion is always on the coyote’s grocery list. Glassing open fields with binoculars is especially effective in the spring, as the coyotes are looking for newborn fawns out there. Large fields offer opportunities for longrange shooting. COYOTES ARE AN invasive species in the east and exterminating them is a challenge. Kill them all in an area and more will arrive in a month or two. They breed incredibly fast. It requires killing 90 percent of them to make an impact on the population and that won’t last long if the hunting pressure lets up in the least. These are not game animals to be conserved in the east. They are a major threat to game populations and other wildlife, as well as livestock, pets and even humans.
Author Rick Theriault and his crew took three mature bull moose in Maine over the course of just two days, thanks to preparation and scouting. The state is one of less than 10 in the Lower 48 to offer permits to harvest North America’s largest deer family member. Last year 2,770 tags were available. Deadline to apply is mid-May; 2020’s drawing is June 13.
STORY AND PHOTO BY RICK THERIAULT
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aine is one of the few places in the continental United States to allow moose hunting. However, to hunt moose in Maine you must draw a tag in the annual moose lottery. I have been a licensed Maine Master Guide for 20 years now, and in that time, I have helped many moose hunters who were fortunate enough to draw a tag. I would like to share the story of a 2014 moose hunt. THE ANNUAL MOOSE draw happens in June, and on the day of the draw in 2014, I scanned the list of recipients to see if I recognized anyone I knew. As luck would have it, I did. I saw the name Brant Hall from New Jersey, who had hunted black bear with me a year or two previous. Even more fortuitous was the fact that we both drew tags in the same
HUNTING MOOSE IN MAINE A Master Guide shares north country secrets for successfully bagging a bull.
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zone during the same peak rut week. Having just spoken with Brant about his good fortune, I called my friend Kyle Purington from southern Maine. I hoped to rent his wall tent since the zone Brant and I had drawn was in the North Maine Woods area, and would necessitate setting up a remote camp. We formulated a plan to all hunt together. I contacted my friend Pieter Huebner, who owns Off-Grid Enterprises in Oklahoma, to be my subpermittee and to join us on the hunt. Over the next few months, I worked through the logistics of food and gear that needed to be purchased for this remote hunt. We would be nearly 70 miles from the nearest store as we hunted for our three bull moose. Our hunt would begin on September 21 and we had six days to fill our tags. OVER THE YEARS as an outfitter, I have learned that scouting is absolutely essential to having success during the actual hunt. We decided to head up the week before the moose hunt to find a place to set up our
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remote camp, as well as to scout for bulls in the area we would be hunting. During the early morning and late afternoon hours, I would call bulls, imitating the sound of a cow moose in heat. Sometimes the bulls would run right in; other times they would answer. Either way, I marked that information down in my notebook so that I would have options the following week. After several days of scouting, I had a dozen or so home areas of bull moose identified. We all woke up in the predawn darkness on opening morning and worked our way deep into the woods, calling and listening for responses from willing bulls. The first hour or so, we heard no responding calls from bulls answering the wailing sounds of cow moose I was using to entice the bulls into our field of view. I decided we should head back to the truck and drive a short distance away to an area where I had called a bull out of the woods the week prior. We parked the truck and walked quietly about a mile to where I felt the bull’s core area was. I then
positioned Brant in some brush with a good view of an opening in which I hoped to call the bull. Over the next several minutes, Brant watched the bull emerge from the tree line and slowly close the distance towards the sounds of the cow he could hear. I can still remember as if it were yesterday, the crack of Brant’s rifle followed by two follow-up shots and his joyful whoop when the bull fell to the ground. I left Brant and Piet with the bull and hiked back to my truck so that we could load the bull into it and head back to camp. We arrived back at camp prior to noon, where we met up with Kyle and his crew. They too had taken a nice bull and were back at camp with it. Here we were on the first day of the hunt having filled two of three tags with mature bulls. We were fired up. I loaded both bulls onto a trailer and we headed to the game check station, where the bulls were officially tagged. WE THEN HEADED back to camp, where we arrived around midnight. Piet and I strategized along the ride
on finding a bull for us. At the first location we hunted in the morning, we had a bull answer me, but try as I may, I could not pull him closer to us. I decided we should try to get closer to him. We hunted that bull for the next few hours and just could not get in a position to see him. The week prior, I had hiked back into the woods and let out a couple cow calls and had not one, but two distinct bulls answer. I had hopes that one or both of them would still be in the area. When we got to the area, I positioned Piet for what I hoped would be a shot opportunity. In less than a minute, the distinctive sounds of a large and excited bull was heard by the both of us. I could tell the bull was close, but he stopped in dense cover and was not coming any closer. I then imitated the sounds of another bull and he charged right in to meet that challenger. From my location I could see his antlers, as well as Piet raising his rifle. I watched the bull, then Piet; Piet, then the bull. Then finally the roar of the rifle. The bull
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whirled and dropped to the ground as the .375 Ruger had found its mark. Piet and I approached the bull as it expired. What a bull it was. It had a huge set of antlers with the whole package: points, width and paddles. In two days, our crew had taken three excellent bulls, with Piet’s being the largest of the three. What an incredible hunt and memory for everyone involved. If there is any advice I can leave you with, if you are planning a Maine moose hunt, it is to do your homework. If we had not scouted prior to hunting, I am 100 percent certain that we would not have been successful in our quest. If you are not in a position to do your own scouting, then I would strongly suggest working with a registered Maine guide who does his homework. Editor’s note: Rick Theriault is a Maine Master Guide with Realtree United Country LandPro (realtreeuc.com), the most extensive selection of hunting properties for sale and the largest network of hunting property experts.
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Parts & Accessories
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
BULLET BULLETIN
Boattail bullets on the left and flat-based ones on the right; both designs have fervent fans, but what are the actual performance differences?
BOATTAIL OR FLAT BASE?
Does the base of your bullet make a difference at the ranges you hunt? STORY BY PHIL MASSARO • PHOTOS BY MASSARO MEDIA GROUP
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he Lichtenstein’s hartebeest bull was feeding slowly across the dried pan in the Ikuria block of Tanzania’s Selous Reserve, just over 300 yards from where we stood. Professional hunter Terry Calavrias and I agreed that the shot could be taken if I could get down prone, across a log that was conveniently placed in just such a position as to provide a solid rest. Once situated firmly on the
Tanzanian soil, I raised the crosshairs just over a foot above where I wanted the bullet to strike, and broke the trigger of the Winchester Model 70. The .416 Remington Magnum sent the 400-grain Swift A-Frame exactly where it needed to go, and the solid “whunk” of the bullet striking flesh came back to us on the midday breeze. We soon stood over a handsome kongoni dume, and the celebration began. The heavy, flat-nosed semispitzer bullet did more than its part.
WAIT, A .416 Remington at 300-plus yards? Yes, it can be done, and you’d more than likely be surprised at exactly how accurate those big bores can be at longer distances. But it got me to thinking about the conformation of that bullet, and examining trajectory tables, all in order to determine the effects of bullet shape on trajectory and wind drift. It was an eye-opening experience for me, and some of the older ideas regarding bullet choice were rewritten in my mind. americanshootingjournal.com 63
bullet bulletin
The flat-based Nosler Partition on the left and the boattail AccuBond on the right; both have their attributes, but the performance isn’t radically different inside of 400 yards.
The boattail bullet design is most certainly an excellent choice for retaining velocity and resisting the effects of wind deflection. By changing the profile of the rear of the bullet from a flat-based design to an angled, tapered design, the air flows around the base of the bullet in flight and that projectile will slip through the atmosphere with less drag. Few people would consider using a flat-based bullet to punch a steel target 1,000 yards away, as the velocity will drop off quickly and the wind will wreak havoc with the design. For this application, you see, it all comes down to the ballistic coefficient, that unitless number that compares the characteristics of a given bullet to a model of a particular shape. The higher the ballistic coefficient, the better the bullet will slip through the atmosphere. So for target and other long-range work, a long, sleek ogive – that portion of the bullet that is curved, and tapers down to the pointed nose or meplat – and a boattail make all sorts of sense. But does that fact make the flat-based bullets (and those with a flat or round meplat) obsolete, or even insignificant? It depends entirely upon the application at hand. 64
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TARGET BULLETS, GENERALLY speaking, are designed for precision, and take no care about what happens after the target, whether it may be paper or steel. In order to best serve the target shooters, almost all of the target, or “match,” bullets are of boattail design – with the exception of Sierra’s No. 1400, which my Ruger .22-250 absolutely loves – in order to give the best results at the longest ranges. But does a hunting bullet need the same conformation as a long-range target bullet? Does the highest ballistic coefficient matter to the hunter? Let’s take a long look at this, in order to choose the bullet conformation that will best serve you in your hunting scenario. Before I was able to travel to hunting destinations outside my home state of New York, my big game hunting was limited to whitetail deer and those black bear residing in the Catskill and Adirondack Mountains. I couldn’t afford a dedicated varmint rifle, and there weren’t enough coyotes to speak of, so the majority of my time with a centerfire rifle was spent in the woods, where shots rarely exceeded 100 paces. This is typical of most hunting in the Northeast, and at
that distance, the shape of the bullet matters not, as the time of flight is so short that the effects of atmosphere, wind and other factors just don’t come into play. The lever-action cartridges like the .30-30 Winchester, .32 Winchester Special, .35 Remington and .38-55 Winchester have shined in these scenarios, and all normally use projectiles that have less than desirable ballistic coefficient values. What a world I’d find once I began to travel. Caribou bulls out across the taiga as far as I could discern, pronghorn antelope on distant hillsides, herds of eland better measured in portions of a mile rather than in yards; all presented a unique set of challenges to a kid whose longest shot might have been 175 yards. These experiences caused me to adopt the boattail spitzer as my bullet of choice, yet these came with their unique challenges as well. With the cup-and-core bullets, I have found the jacket and core can, and will, separate during the terminal phase. This phenomenon results in poor penetration, and a long tracking job in some instances. In those rifles that have a less-than-perfect crown, accuracy can be more erratic with
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bullet bulletin
The Federal Terminal Ascent shown in profile, cross section and upset; the bonded core, heavy copper shank and high ballistic coefficient combine to form a bullet worthy of any impact velocity, yet will make a good choice for long-range work.
boattail bullets than with the flat-based choices. Now may be a good time to examine the effects on trajectory and wind deflection at hunting distances. LET’S USE THE .30-06 Springfield and 180-grain bullets as a benchmark in order to compare the trajectory of flat-based and boattail bullets. The loads I will compare are from Federal, and share a muzzle velocity of 2,700 feet per second. I’ve picked three bullets: the classic Nosler Partition, a flat-based spitzer bullet that has an impeccable reputation; the Federal Trophy Bonded Tip, a boattail polymer tip design; and the Nosler AccuBond, similar in profile to the Trophy Bonded Tip. My own personal shooting distance limit while hunting is 400 yards, but I’ll extend the data out to 500 yards for comparative purposes. We’ll also use a 200-yard zero for all three bullets, common in many hunting scenarios, and examine data at 300, 400 and 500 yards. The G1 ballistic coefficients of the trio are .474 for the Partition, .500 for the Trophy Bonded Tip and .507 for the AccuBond. At the 300-yard mark, the three bullets are within 0.2 inch of one another, with the Partition dropping 8.5 inches, the Trophy Bonded Tip dropping 8.4 inches and the AccuBond 8.3 inches. At 400 yards, the separation is just over half an inch, with the Partition dropping 24.4 inches, the Trophy Bonded Tip dropping 23.9 inches and the AccuBond 23.8 inches; 66
American Shooting Journal // June 2020
bullet bulletin
Two Sierra .30-caliber 180-grain bullets: the flat-based ProHunter and the boattail GameKing. The author has used the pair for decades, and finds the ProHunter to be the tougher of the two.
The flat-based Speer Grand Slam is a sound choice within sane hunting distances; it hits hard and holds together.
Hornady’s SST (Super Shock Tip) uses a polymer tip and a boat tail to maintain its high ballistic coefficient values, and the cup-and-core construction delivers a quick energy transfer.
Nosler’s RDF (Reduced Drag Factor) match bullets. Note the boattail and tiny hollowpoint, which will aid in maintaining a high ballistic coefficient for long-range target work.
The Swift Scirocco II has a high ballistic coefficient, thick jacket, polymer tip and boattail. The thick jacket is bonded to the core to prevent the components from separating during the terminal phase.
Nosler’s AccuBond Long Range uses a steeper boattail angle than the AccuBond does, to obtain a higher BC value. Yet, inside of 500 yards, the benefits may not be evident.
Federal’s Trophy Bonded Tip, a stout bonded-core bullet with a polymer tip and moderate boattail, is a great all-around choice for any hunting situation. americanshootingjournal.com 67
bullet bulletin Hornady’s 250-grain .35-caliber InterLock, a strong flat-based bullet, with enough sectional density for even the larger cartridges, like the .350 Rigby Magnum.
Hornady’s InterBond uses a profile similar to the SST, but bonds the core to the jacket to help mitigate the problem of boattail jacket/ core separation.
The Federal Fusion, a bonded-core bullet with the slightest boattail, giving a profile that will perform well inside of sane hunting ranges. The bonding process will assure high weight retention.
Hornady’s ELD-X is a boattail design that obtains match-grade accuracy. It has proven itself in the hunting fields.
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even at 500 yards, the separation is a mere 1.3 inches, with the drop being 48.7, 47.7 and 47.4 inches, respectively. That difference is smaller than most hunting rifles can deliver at 500 yards, especially under field conditions. What about retained energy? At 500 yards, the Partition still carries 1,348 foot-pounds of energy, while the boattail designs retain a bit more at 1,408 and 1,423, respectively. Still not a huge difference. What effect does the wind have on the trio? A 10 mph wind for the 500yard shot will see the Partition drift 20.7 inches, the Trophy Bonded Tip 19.4 inches and the Nosler AccuBond will be blown 19.0 inches off course. Not really a big difference, considering the 500yard distance and the performance of a hunting bullet. Assuming accuracy of one-MOA, there would be a 5-inch group
bullet bulletin For the long shots in the Namib Escarpment, the author chose a .300 Holland & Holland Magnum and 180-grain Trophy Bonded Tip boattail bullets to take this Hartmann’s mountain zebra stallion. The shot measured just shy of 300 yards, so the boattail didn’t play a huge role that day, but the strength of Federal’s bullet did.
The 400-grain Hornady DGX for the .450/400 3-inch Nitro Express. Nearly all the projectiles for the bigbore safari cartridges have a flat base, as the shot distances are on the close side.
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on the target; one might say that the differences between these three bullets may be nullified, depending on which load your rifle shot best. I use quite a few models of both flat-based and boattail bullets, but as the above example goes to show, the difference between the two isn’t quite so large after all. Point is, while there is an advantage to the boattail bullets, there is nothing wrong with using a flat-based spitzer in the hunting fields. Should you find a bullet that works well in your rifle, but is flat-based instead of boattailed, I wouldn’t shy away. Sierra’s ProHunter series, the great Nosler Partition, Speer’s Grand Slam, and Hornady’s InterLock are among the flat-based spitzers I enjoy. Yet, if the boattail designs like the Nosler Ballistic Tip and AccuBond, Sierra GameKing, Hornady ELD-X, and Swift Scirocco II perform well in your rifle, take them to the hunting fields confidently.
americanshootingjournal.com 71
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American Shooting Journal // June 2020
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With new authentic grips from Triple K Manufacturing, author Mike Nesbitt’s Smith & Wesson New Model No. 3 replica revolver by Uberti is often mistaken for an original.
But the question is, how does the replica S&W New Model shoot with Triple K's replacements? STORY AND PHOTOS BY MIKE NESBITT
I
n my story last issue about the new Smith & Wesson No. 3, I was able to tell you why I like that Uberti-made S&W-style gun. There are several reasons and I don’t think I missed any of them. However, there was one little thing that I wanted to change and that was mainly for personal reasons. I favored some original-looking grips, such as what Smith & Wesson
used to have when they were making the New Model No. 3 revolvers, so I ordered some from Triple K Manufacturing. Triple K makes replacement grips for several older pistols and revolvers, and they also make replacement buttplates, so I might call on them again. Just putting new grips on a revolver is almost as good as getting a new gun. Actually, this was an almost new gun because I really hadn’t gotten it too long ago. The wooden grips that Uberti had put on the gun were very serviceable, certainly, but I wanted
something just a little more authentic in appearance and the vintage-style grips from Triple K quickly filled the bill. Those authentic grips were just what I was looking for. Triple K’s grips are made in the shape and style of the old hard rubber grips that Smith & Wesson used to put on their New Model No. 3 revolvers in the late 1870s and later. S&W actually had two colors for these rubber grips. Black was probably the most common, but they also had mottled red rubber grips. I think the red grips (and forearms) were most often used on the americanshootingjournal.com 73
BLACK POWDER Triple K’s grips for the No. 3 come in multiple colors, from black to red, deep red and burnt orange, among others.
The new grips are just a tiny bit small and attaching them to the replica revolver required a little mojoing.
unusual .320 revolving rifles, making them look rather outstanding. Triple K has even more color options, far too many to list here, but they do include both a red and a deep-red color, plus a burnt-orange “flavor.” The black grips are priced at $37.50 and selecting an optional color raises the price by $17.50. There is also an additional cost for the screw and escutcheon kit, which includes three screws of different lengths plus the two brass escutcheons for holding the grips to the gun. That screw kit is priced at $16. These grips made by Triple K are actually made for the original S&W guns, not the reproductions or copies of those guns that are being made today. And in their lineup of S&W grips, they also have grips for the old top-break .44 double-action models, which had a slightly smaller grip when compared to the single-actions. If you 74
American Shooting Journal // June 2020
BLACK POWDER plan to place an order for grips to go on the Uberti New Model No. 3, be sure to look for “SA” instead of “DA” in the description. The grips I bought were Triple K’s part No. 3917G.
A steady grip makes for solid shooting. After 20 consecutive shots with black powder loads, the new grips passed the test!
BECAUSE THESE GRIPS are made for the original S&W guns, there is some slight fitting that needs to be done. I’m guessing that some fitting is needed if putting these new grips on an old Smith & Wesson too. On the grips shown with my .44, the right grip needed to have the lower “shoulder” cut down just a little bit before the “halfmoon” at the top of the grip would fit more closely next to the frame. I’m not saying that was the grip’s fault or the gun’s fault, but in any case, the grip was modified to fit the gun. A bigger problem, if you will allow me to call it that, was that the indexing holes at the bottom of the grips on the inside were not in the right places for the indexing pin in the revolver’s grip
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BLACK POWDER frame. This is most likely a difference between the old S&W guns and the modern replicas. Corrective action was simply to drill a new hole in both of the grips to receive that indexing pin, but drilling those holes is not simple. Drilling the holes in the grips can be tricky because the inside of the grips at that point is on a slant, which will invite the drill to travel by sliding downhill. That is compounded by the fact that the face of the grip is rounded, so getting a properly located hole going straight down without letting the grip “teeter-totter” can be tough. My friend Allen Cunniff had a good solution to that. He removed the indexing pin from the gun’s grip frame, then selected a drill that was just about the same size as the pin. Next, he positioned one of the grips to the gun where it should be and “anchored” both the gun and the single grip in a padded vice. Then, with a hand drill, he drilled through the indexing pin’s hole
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in the gun’s grip frame and into the replacement grip. Once that was done, taking care not to drill through the grip, the same thing was done to the grip for the other side. Attaching the grips was then completed with the installation of the escutcheons and the longest grip screw in the kit. Then it was time to admire the “new gun” look that the new grips made possible. The fit of the grips is not quite perfect; they are a tiny bit small. But not too small. You might notice in the photos that a sliver of the grip frame can be seen around the edge of the grips. To me, that’s OK and it can’t be felt while holding the revolver. Now my .44 revolver looks more like the real thing and I can’t be more pleased. Of course, the replacement grips for this S&W-style revolver are just one of the many vintage pistol grips and rifle buttplates offered by Triple K. They offer a very wide assortment
and the best way to look at their offerings is to visit their website at vintagegungrips.com. THE NEXT THING I did was take the gun shooting, to see if the new grips helped. Well, those new grips certainly didn’t hurt anything. They feel so nice and I do appreciate the checkered grips more than the smooth wooden grips that came on the gun. The checkering simply allows for a firmer grip, due to the “traction” of the checkering. My loads for this gun are now almost exclusively made up using 18 grains of Olde Eynsford 2f black powder in the .44 Russian cases. A very slight change was made in the bullets and now I’m casting the bullet for these loads in my old Lyman mold for their obsolete No. 429184, which is the old original bullet shape for the .44 Russian. These cast at about 255 grains. The original loads used a bit more powder, but most of those were also loaded in balloonhead cases. Today’s solid head cases, by Star Line, are stronger, but their capacity is slightly reduced. While I have not chronographed this loading, it does shoot with a very pleasing performance. On one of my first trips to the shooting range with this revolver after fitting the new grips, a generous target was posted at just 30 feet and I held right on the “X” while holding and aiming the .44 with both hands. The five shots from the first cylinder-full were so good that I just added five more. Then the 10-shot group was good enough to just keep going. I did get two high shots when my shooting partner, who was using full black powder loads in a .44-40 revolver, fired just before I was squeezing off, which surprised me just a bit. Even so, I kept going until I had fired 20 consecutive shoots, all through the 10- and the X-rings. That’s the kind of performance that will keep me reaching for this sixgun for my black powder cartridge shooting.
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americanshootingjournal.com 79
A COLT FOR A CAUSE Annual fundraiser aiding abused kids to raffle off Buffalo Bill Cody tribute engraved Single Action Army revolver, Winchester .30-30, more.
The chance to win exquisite firearms and related accoutrements is one way the Happy Trails Children’s Foundation raises money to help abused boys at a center in Apple Valley, California, where Western actors and singers Roy Rogers and Linda Evans made their home and contributed to charities benefitting kids throughout their lives.
PHOTOS BY HAPPY TRAILS CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION
T
he Happy Trails Children’s Foundation’s annual fundraiser, dubbed Silver Screen Legend, will be dedicated to “Buffalo Bill” Cody and will feature a drawing to win a Buffalo Bill commemorative revolver, among other items. An icon of the American West, William Frederick Cody was born on February 26, 1846 in Le Claire, Iowa Territory. During his lifetime, he was a Pony Express rider, Army scout, ranch hand, wagon teamster, stagecoach driver, town developer, hotel owner and manager, railroad contractor, bison hunter, fur trapper, explorer, Indian fighter, gold prospector, rancher, actor and showman, not necessarily in that order. During his military career, he won the Congressional Medal of Honor. Buffalo Bill’s legend began to spread when he was only 23, after meeting Ned Buntline, who published a story based on Cody’s adventures. Cody later became world famous for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, a touring show featuring cowboys and Indians, horses, wagons, a stagecoach, and a sharpshooting exhibition by none other than Annie Oakley. The show traveled throughout the United States and later England and Europe, performing for kings and queens, men and women, boys and girls. Audiences americanshootingjournal.com 81
This year’s collectibles include a rare Buffalo Bill commemorative Winchester Model 94 .30-30 lever-action, beautifully engraved Colt Single Action Army revolver in .45 Colt and custom handmade Damascus belt knife, along with handmade Native American-style gun belt/holster, and a scabbard.
were thrilled to see a glimpse of the great American West. By 1899, Buffalo Bill Cody was the most popular and recognizable celebrity on Earth. This is the 23rd year that the Happy Trails Children’s Foundation, through the generosity of the renowned Colt’s Manufacturing Co., has used very special guns to raise money for abused children. The firearms in this Tribute to Buffalo Bill include a superb Colt Single Action Army revolver in .45 Colt caliber with a 7½-inch barrel. This gun is beautifully finished in nickel silver and engraved by master engraver Conrad Anderson of Mesa, Arizona, with Buffalo Bill engraved on the left side of the barrel and a likeness of Buffalo Bill on the left recoil shield. His name is engraved below the
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cylinder on the right side of the frame and Happy Trails is engraved on the ejector rod housing. The custom grips by Bob Leskovec of Precision Pro Grips include a magnificent handcarved buffalo head on the right and Colt medallions on both panels. Included is a colorful Native American-style beaded holster, belt
and custom handmade Damascus belt knife with matching scabbard from the shop of noted holster maker John Bianchi of Rancho Mirage, California. The gun belt is filled with dummy .45-caliber cartridges donated by Ten-X Ammunition in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Also included is a rare Buffalo Bill commemorative Winchester Model 94 .30-30 leveraction rifle. Both guns are subject to all federal and state firearm regulations. This is a magnificent set of guns, knife and holsters that anyone would be proud to own. Order your tickets today for this beautiful and unique museum-quality one-of-a-kind cowboy collectible that anyone would be proud to own! Tickets are $10 each, or 11 tickets for $100. Visit happytrails.org to purchase tickets, or call toll-free (855) 7884440 and speak to a live person. The drawing will be held Saturday evening, December 5, 2020. You do not need to be present to win, as the winner will be notified by phone. The total proceeds of this drawing benefit the Happy Trails Children’s Foundation for abused children.
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American Shooting Journal // June 2020
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Introducing the Defender Holster made specially for revolvers. This new design fully covers all barrel lengths and features up to six bullet loops in your choice of caliber, a sweat shield and open muzzle. Made to be worn in the 2 to 3 o’clock position with a 10-degree forward cant for easy holstering. MSRP: $110.
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EZR SPORT
EZR Sport’s grips and gauntlets are perfect for your concealed carry needs. The gauntlets protect skin and fabrics from abrasive stock grips while providing superior comfort and control.
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americanshootingjournal.com 85
STICKY HOLSTERS
The Belly Band and Guard Her Belt are modular bands that secure a Sticky Holster and handgun around the hips/torso or thigh. Both bands have two small accessory pouches for a spare magazine or knife, and the Belly Band has two large accessory pouches for a phone, wallet or other items.
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KIRKPATRICK LEATHER
The K-400 Detective Carry holster is a favorite among plainclothes police. Its open-muzzle design reduces the size of the holster and allows the wearer to carry pistols of different barrel lengths. The shoulder straps are thin enough for concealing with light cover, yet very durable. The wide design of the harness distributes the weight of the firearm, reducing fatigue during extended use. Other features include molded sight rail; soft, durable leather straps; double stitching at stress points; gun-specific hand molding; and thumb break design. MSRP: $140. www.kirkpatrickleather.com
TAP RACK HOLSTERS
Tap Rack Holsters IWB offers function and form with safety and comfort as two principles in their line of handmade holsters. They mold to your specifications for a correct fit. No buckets here. Holsters feature adjustable retention, a 550 corded loop for securing to a belt or belt loop, semiclosed bottom that can be left open for threaded barrels on request, different body shield heights in low, medium and high upon request, and nonbinding smooth edges with no sharp points in their designs for comfort. Different colors and patterns available upon request.
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DARA HOLSTERS
Dara Holsters’ patented Curved Clip is designed to mimic the curve of the waistline, offering 100-percent clip-to-belt contact while carrying, keeping the gun and holster close to the body at all times. Concealed carry has never been so easy.
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