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laska Elite Outfitters (AEO) was started by Mike Vanstrom, who is an experienced hunting guide and fisherman. Born and raised on a farm in Southeast Minnesota near Rochester, he grew up on the farm, spending his summers fishing and his falls bow and rifle hunting whitetail deer throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. After moving to Alaska in 2002, he began packing that same year and began guiding in Alaska in 2004. Michael is an avid rifle and bow hunter and has guided in Alaska for many years, where he has led hundreds of hunters and fishermen through the Alaskan wilderness for their adventure of a lifetime. Taking his lifelong passion for hunting and fishing, he specializes in trophy brown bear, moose, and king and silver salmon adventures. Past clients that continue to come back can vouch for Michael’s expertise, knowledge of the area, and the guarantee of a great Alaskan experience.

Alaska Brown Bear Hunt AEO utilizes various hunting methods to harvest Alaska brown bears. Besides hunting moose carcasses, spot-and-stalk hunting, and floating the river where they travel, they also utilize several calling methods to bring big bears in close. AEO also utilizes vantage points for spot-and-stalk hunts as these bears move from denning areas to the river drainage. Hunting by jet boat, they travel up and down the river corridors. Hunts are conducted in Southwest Alaska in the Game Management Unit 17 near Bristol Bay. Their bear hunting season is open for over nine months per year. As a result, AEO offers four months (April, May, Au-

In addition to that, they set you up with all the gear, bait and freezer boxes, as well as fish cleaning and packaging, for your fully guided fishing trip.

gust and September) of prime bear hunting opportunity. They hunt brown bears in the spring and fall every year with a limit of two bears per year. Their historical success rate is 75 to 80 percent, depending on the year and weather. Alaska Moose Hunting AEO offers a fully guided top quality moose hunting experience. By taking a limited number of hunters into their vast area, they keep the quality high. AEO efficiently uses jet boats for hunting the trophy bull moose in the area. Cow calling, bull grunts and brush thrashing are the primary methods of getting big bulls within gun and bow range. Moose hunts are held in early September during the pre-rut, when the bulls are very receptive to calling. Alaska King Salmon Fishing Alaska Elite Outfitters provides its clients with a fantastic opportunity to fish on the famous Nushagak River for the most massive Alaska king salmon (Chinook) run in the world. King salmon fishing packages are all-inclusive once you arrive in the main camp, 20 miles downriver from Ekwok, Alaska. In the field, AEO provides three meals a day plus snacks for all their guests.

Hunting and Fishing Camp Alaska Elite Outfitters is located overlooking the Nushagak River. There is a wooden cooking lodge at the hunting and fishing camp, with a stove, freezer, refrigerator and icemaker, where meals are prepared and served. The field has showers with hot running water and electricity for clients to clean up at the end of the day. Their main hunting camp is a wooden cabin with kitchen, steam bath and outhouses. The other main hunting camps are tents with wood stoves or propane heaters. Contact Mike Vanstrom, owner-operator, at 218-434-0068 or email mike@ alaskaeliteoutfitters.com to reserve your adventure. For more information, visit alaskaeliteoutfitters.com.

A M ERIC AN

SHOOTING JOURNAL Volume 11 // Issue 9 // June 2022 PUBLISHER James R. Baker GENERAL MANAGER John Rusnak EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Andy Walgamott OFFICE MANAGER / COPY EDITOR Katie Aumann LEAD CONTRIBUTOR Frank Jardim CONTRIBUTORS Jason Brooks, Larry Case, Scott Haugen, Phil Massaro, Mike Nesbitt, Paul Pawela, Nick Perna SALES MANAGER Paul Yarnold ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mamie Griffin, Kelley Miller, Riland Risden, Mike Smith DESIGNER Lesley-Anne Slisko-Cooper PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Kelly Baker WEBMASTER / INBOUND MARKETING Jon Hines, Jon Ekse INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER Lois Sanborn ADVERTISING INQUIRIES ads@americanshootingjournal.com

ON THE COVER David Maulsby is the executive director of the PTSD Foundation of America, and his Camp Hope in Houston focuses on treating veterans affected by post-traumatic stress disorder, a major suicide risk factor for service members. (CAMP HOPE)

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American Shooting Journal // June 2022

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Website: AmericanShootingJournal.com Facebook: Facebook.com/AmericanShootingJournal Twitter: @AmShootingJourn

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CONTENTS

VOLUME 11 • ISSUE 9

FEATURES

CAMP HOPE

COVER STORY

SAVING VETERANS’ LIVES

Suicide claimed four times as many American soldiers, sailors and other service members as died from active duty the past 20 years, per a 2021 report, but David Maulsby of the PTSD Foundation of America is working to stop the loss. He sat down with Frank Jardim to talk about Camp Hope and how it helps our veterans.

PRS PROFILE: COMPETING IS HIS THING Call Robert Brantley the long-range Louisianian. We check in with the longtime multidiscipline precision rifle shooter to find out what makes him tick.

SHOOTING MAXIMUM POINTBLANK RANGE Shot opportunities at big game are often fleeting, meaning you’ll have little to no time to calculate all of the variables needed to adjust a scope. Fortunately, elk and deer hunter Jason Brooks knows another way to be on target and not miss your chance at filling the freezer.

BULLET BULLETIN: A TIP OF THE HAT TO NEW FAMILY MEMBER Core-Lokt bullets have been around since 1939 and generations of hunters have taken the field with them, but now they’re available in a new polymer Tipped version. Phil Massaro makes the introductions to this newest member of a classic Remington family line.

SCATTERGUN ALLEY: TAKING TURKEYS, NEAR AND FAR You may remember the name David Miller from these pages for his shotgunning world records, but did you also know he had a hand in developing CZ-USA’s Magnum Reaper, an over-and-under that gives turkey hunters options for birds that are either hung-up or close-in?

ROADHUNTER: VERSATILE HUNTING DOGS Scott Haugen had a pretty long list of boxes to check when he went looking for an all-around hunting dog – handle winter waterfowling, scour the hills for antler sheds, track down upland birds, sit patiently for doves – and he just might have found it in these three breeds.

SELFDEFENSE TRAINING: OLD WEST AURA AROUND NEW SHOTGUN You could say Paul Pawela felt a certain amount of nostalgia for the Old West as he put Mossberg’s short-barreled 590A1 Special through its paces. It might have been the Arizona desert setting, or perhaps the descendant of a fabled figure he was testing it with.

105 LAW ENFORCEMENT SPOTLIGHT: OFFICER GETS STUDENT ROLLING Heroism is more than braving gunfire. It’s human kindness and compassion, like what Arkansas School Resource Officer Jeff Shirley demonstrated when he realized one of his high schoolers was walking 6 miles roundtrip to class and back and did something to ease the teen’s journey. Nick Perna shares their touching story.

AMERICAN SHOOTING JOURNAL is published monthly by Media Index Publishing Group, 941 Powell Ave SW, Suite 120, Renton, WA 98057. 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 © 2022 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.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

CONTENTS ALSO INSIDE 107 BLACK POWDER: SHOOTING THE 1866 WINCHESTER Fair warning, we’re going to be reading more from Mike Nesbitt about the used Uberti replica 1866 Winchester Short Rifle he picked up! Not only did this .44-40 prove authentic but also accurate for our black powder cartridge shooter. Mike shares details on what just might be his new favorite “camp gun.”

Company SpotlightS 51 69 99

Timber King Outfitting, guiding big game hunts in Alberta, Mexico High Adventure Ranch, offering hunts for 30 species in Missouri’s Ozarks Handleitgrips, can-do couple has handgun hold market gripped

DEPARTMENTS

107

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17 19 37

Gun Show Calendar Competition Calendar Precision Rifle Series Calendar, Recent Match Results 103 Concealed Carry Gallery MIKE NESBITT

americanshootingjournal.com 15

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

Real Texas Gun Shows therealtexasgunshow.com

Tanner Gun Shows tannergunshow.com

Wes Knodel Gun Shows wesknodelgunshows.com

June 4-5 June 11-12 June 11-12 June 18-19 June 18-19 June 25-26 June 25-26

Fayetteville, N.C. Hickory, N.C. Sharonville, Ohio Columbus, Ohio Raleigh, N.C. Concord, N.C. Dayton, Ohio

Crown Expo Center Hickory Metro Convention Center Sharonville Convention Center Westland Mall NC State Fairgrounds Cabarrus Arena & Events Center Montgomery County Event Center

June 4-5 June 11-12 June 25-26

San Bernardino, Calif. Queen Creek, Ariz. Mesa, Ariz.

National Orange Show Grounds Barney Family Sports Complex Centennial Hall

June 4-5 June 11-12 July 9-10 July 16-17 July 23-24

Tampa, Fla. Fort Myers, Fla. Orlando, Fla. Miami, Fla. Palmetto, Fla.

Florida State Fairgrounds Lee Civic Center Central Florida Fair Grounds Miami-Dade Fairgrounds Bradenton Convention Center

June 4-5 June 11-12 June 11-12 June 18-19 June 18-19 June 25-26 July 2-3 July 9-10

Clarksville, Tenn. Lawrenceville, Ga. Murfreesboro, Tenn. Kansas City, Mo. Lexington, Ky. Springfield, Mo. East Ridge, Tenn. Gainesville, Ga.

Clarksville Speedway & Fairgrounds Gwinnett County Fairgrounds Mid-TN Expo Center KCI Expo Center Kentucky Horse Park Ozark Empire Fairgrounds Camp Jordan Arena Salon El Imperial

June 4-5 June 11-12 June 18-19 July 2-3 July 16-17

Harker Heights, Texas Taylor, Texas Port Arthur, Texas Belton, Texas Brenham, Texas

Harker Heights Event Center Williamson County Expo Center Bowers Civic Center Bell County Expo Center Brenham Fire Dept. Training Center

July 22-24

Colorado Springs, Colo.

Colorado Springs Event Center

June 4-5 June 18-19

Redmond, Ore. Centralia, Wash.

Deschutes County Fairgrounds Expo Center Southwest Washington Fairgrounds

Note: Covid-19 restrictions have largely been eased across the country, but always confirm events before attending. To have your event highlighted here, send an email to kaumann@media-inc.com.

americanshootingjournal.com 17

PRIMER

COMPETITION C A L E N D A R

June 3-12 2022 Pistol National Championships Colorado Springs, Colo. usashooting.org

uspsa.org

gssfonline.com

cmsaevents.com

idpa.com

June 11 USA 3-P and Prone MRC Elk River, Minn.

June 20-23 2022 Rifle National Championships - Men’s & Women’s Air Rifle Colorado Springs, Colo.

June 10-12 Jim Clawson Memorial 2022 Missoula, Mont.

June 16-20 2022 Rifle National Championships - Men’s Smallbore Colorado Springs, Colo.

June 3-4 The Staten Island Championship Staten Island, N.Y.

June 10-12 2022 Ohio State Buckeye Blast Zanesville, Ohio

June 23-26 2022 Oregon State Championship Millican, Ore.

June 9-12 USPSA 2 Gun PCC/Pistol Nationals Palisades, Colo.

June 17-18 2022 Treasure State Championship Billings, Mont.

June 24-26 2022 Alaska USPSA Section Championship Chugiak, Alaska

June 10-11 2022 Oklahoma Section Championship Tulsa, Okla.

June 17-19 2022 Kentucky Section Championship Wilmore, Ky.

June 24-26 Maryland State Championship Thurmont, Md.

June 4-5 Montana Glock Classic XVII Missoula, Mont.

June 11-12 Beaver State Ballistic Challenge XXVII Dundee, Ore.

June 25-26 Bourbon Country Classic I Lawrenceburg, Ky.

June 11-12 Glock Fire on the Mountain VIII Johnstown, Pa.

June 18-19 Garden State Regional Classic XXVIII Jackson Township, N.J.

June 23-26 2022 Rifle National Championships - Women’s Smallbore Colorado Springs, Colo.

June 25-26 Rocky Mountain Regional Classic XXVIII Eaton, Colo.

June 4-5 Maryland State Championship Dillsburg, Pa.

June 11-12 Virginia State Championship Doswell, Va.

June 18-19 North Pacific Regional Shoot Prineville, Ore.

June 10-12 2022 Washington State Championship Cashmere, Wash.

June 15-19 Appalachian Mountain Championship Lexington, Va.

June 25-26 Minnesota State Shoot Grand Rapids, Minn.

June 3-5 Rust Belt Regional Championship Wampum, Pa.

June 10-11 2022 Pineywoods Shootout Pollok, Texas

June 23-25 2022 Illinois State IDPA Championship Sparta, Ill.

June 4-5 2022 Wisconsin State IDPA Championship West Bend, Wis.

June 11-12 2022 Mass. State IDPA Championship Bedford, Mass.

June 24-26 2022 Washington State IDPA South Hill, Wash.

Note: Covid-19 restrictions have largely been eased across the country, but always confirm events before attending. americanshootingjournal.com 19

Flags of the United States Armed Forces stand in the multipurpose room of Camp Hope, a treatment center for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

SAVING VETERANS’ LIVES An interview with David Maulsby, executive director of the PTSD Foundation of America and driving force behind creation of Camp Hope. STORY BY FRANK JARDIM PHOTOS BY CAMP HOPE

s a kid, seeing the old men at the Memorial Day parade with the sleeve of their coat or the leg of their suit pants pinned up because they were missing an arm or leg made a powerful impression on me. As I got older, I realized they were veterans of the First World War, the youngest of whom were in their late 70s in 1975. When I saw them, honoring their dead comrades whose names were cast into a bronze plaque on a monument in our town, it made me sad thinking how much harder their lives were because of those terrible wounds. The experience helped me begin to see the real cost of war in the sacrifices that were made by real people. It was obvious even to a kid. As obvious as a veteran’s empty coat sleeve or wheelchair.

Located in Houston and operated by the PTSD Foundation of America, Camp Hope focuses on preventing vets from taking their own lives. “No veteran is too far gone from their PTSD to be saved. There is a way back and we’ll show you,” says executive director David Maulsby. americanshootingjournal.com 21

American flags are set out (right) for Memorial Day, the federal holiday that honors soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen and others who died fighting in the country’s wars. Some of those who return suffer from what was once known as “shell shock” or “combat fatigue” but is now classified as PTSD and talked about far more openly. Camp Hope offers free treatment.

It wasn’t until I was an adult that I began to understand that many veterans suffered from grievous wounds that never earned them a Purple Heart like those whose bodies were torn by bullets and explosions from shells and bombs. Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is estimated to effect up to 30 percent of military personnel to some degree. The American Psychiatric Association defines PTSD as, “a psychiatric disorder that may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a serious accident, a terrorist act, war/combat, or rape or who have been threatened with death, sexual violence or serious injury.” PTSD doesn’t just affect veterans. People suffering from PTSD often have intense, disturbing thoughts and feelings related to their experiences that last long after those traumatic experiences have ended. Reliving the experiences through flashbacks or nightmares is common, as are feelings of sadness, fear and anger. The symptoms can leave the sufferer feeling 22

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

detached or estranged from family and friends, and isolated from people in general. People with PTSD often try to avoid situations or people that remind them of their traumatic experiences, and they may have strong negative reactions to something as ordinary as a loud noise or an unexpected touch. While PTSD among combat veterans is nothing new to the military medical community, the treatment of it outside of active duty is a rather recent development. In World War I, PTSD symptoms were grouped under the term “shell shock,” and in World War II it was called “combat fatigue.” Its immediate debilitating effects were recognized and treatments attempted to restore the mentally injured soldier to combat effectiveness so he could be returned to his unit and resume his military duties. Whatever mental troubles he may carry home with him after discharge were apparently seen by the military as a private, personal matter outside the interest or responsibility of the government. The proliferation of Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion clubs

across America after the world wars may have been a grass-roots, private sector solution for veterans to at least partially mitigate their PTSD. While the understanding company of fellow veterans probably helped, the fact that all these clubs were essentially private bars certainly hurt those vets inclined to self-medicate with alcohol. My uncle was one of the latter. An infantryman in Europe in WWII, he came home in 1945 a different man. PTSD derailed his promising prewar future. He never married, had trouble holding down a job, lived in poverty and ultimately drank himself to death alone in a rundown apartment. What happened to my uncle was a terrible waste. He loved his kin, and at least they loved him back. They clearly thought more of him than he did of himself. As I got older, I started to recognize my uncle in other veterans. Jumping to the present, the cost of failing to adequately treat PTSD among service members and veterans is becoming shockingly apparent to more and more Americans. For me

americanshootingjournal.com 23

Camp Hope and the PTSD Foundation of America are situated on a 5-acre campus. Ybarra House (left) houses up to 55 veteran residents.

it happened a few years ago, when an acquaintance who worked for the Department of Defense at Fort Knox (a man in a position to know) told me that active-duty military personnel were committing suicide in increasing numbers. To my disbelief, he informed me that every day, some soldier, sailor, marine or airman killed themselves. Just that week, a young soldier, recently returned from a deployment in Afghanistan and living in the pleasant, suburban-like on-post housing, got into a seemingly inconsequential argument with his wife and afterwards walked out the door, put a gun to his head and killed himself in the front yard. By the end of 2018, the official reporting showed 321 active-duty military suicides for the year, but when the Reserve and National Guard components were added in, the deaths rose to 584. Since then, the reported suicide deaths indicate things haven’t really improved. They’ve actually gotten worse overall. Suicides weren’t tracked before 2001, so we don’t have a concise picture of how things were in pre-9/11 wars, but the fact is the increasing suicide rate has alarmed leadership in the military and Department of Veterans Affairs. As heartbreaking as this trend is, it pales in comparison to the rising suicide rate of post-9/11 discharged veterans. Last September, an official study reported that in the 20 years from 2001 to 2021, 30,177 activeduty personnel and Iraq/Afghanistan veterans died by suicide. In the same period, only 7,057 service members 24

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

were killed in combat. You read that right! Four times as many active-duty and veteran military personnel who served in Iraq and Afghanistan died by their own hand than were killed by the enemy in combat operations. This epidemic of suicide is a tragedy that can be halted and reversed, but it seems unlikely the Veterans Administration is up to the enormity – and complexity – of the task. Fortunately, many private charities have emerged to reach out to veterans suffering from PTSD and help them get the treatment they need to get their lives back. However, the reality of limited resources means that often the vets suffering the worst cases of PTSD are the least likely to be treated. Camp Hope was established in 2012 as a rescue beacon for those veterans who need help the most. My interview this month is with David Maulsby, the executive director of the PTSD Foundation of America (ptsdusa. org), and the driving force behind the creation of Camp Hope.

American Shooting Journal Tell me about Camp Hope. David Maulsby Camp Hope is focused on saving those veterans most at risk for suicide, the hopeless ones who feel the world has given up on them. Our goal is to reduce veteran suicide to zero. No veteran is too far gone from their PTSD to be saved. There is a way back and we’ll show you. We don’t get the easy cases. We get the hardest ones. Typically, our veterans stay with us from six

months to a year at Camp Hope’s interim housing and treatment facility. We usually have 60 to 75 vets in residence on the 5-acre campus under the care and supervision of our staff. We work with them and their families to help them heal from the effects of combat-related posttraumatic stress. We aren’t drugging them up and sending them out the door like the VA. They are with us to get their heads right again. We take a whole-person approach to healing. Many veterans struggle with their sense of purpose, identity and self-worth when transitioning back to civilian life. They often carry tremendous anger and guilt associated with what they saw and experienced. Camp Hope offers a safe space for veterans from across the country to heal through group lessons and support sessions, individual mentoring and life-skills training needed to transition back to civilian society. The veterans in our program pay nothing to participate in it. All our funding comes from the donations of private citizens and our corporate sponsors. We’ll even get them here if they have no means of transportation. Nobody comes to Camp Hope riding a winning streak. Most of the people we accept are at rock bottom and not getting much sympathy from society as a whole because of their anti-social behaviors. In addition to their PTSD, most of them have addiction problems, which often result in legal actions against them, civil and criminal. They can’t hold a job, pay their bills, or relate to people in the

Residents gather around the center’s fire pit. Stays last from six months to a year.

civilian world in a normal, positive way. Commonly, they are estranged from their family and friends who can’t understand or deal with their seemingly erratic, sometimes violent and frightening behavior. They’ve abused drugs and alcohol, been fired, evicted, divorced, failed as parents, lived on the street, and sometimes committed crimes and been arrested. It’s heartbreaking, how often they’ll say something like, “My family is better off with me dead.” The symptoms of their PTSD isolates them and about 66 percent have already attempted suicide at least once. It’s the untreated mental health issues caused or aggravated by PTSD that are driving the bulk of this suicide stuff. It’s human nature to fight to live. To want to destroy yourself is against human nature. You have to ask yourself, “What happened to this person to make them want to destroy themselves?” Remember, these veterans once proudly served their country in time of war. Supposedly, our society holds that among its highest honors, but that isn’t how these veterans at risk of suicide feel. 26

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ASJ What is the Camp Hope experience like for vets? DM It becomes their temporary home. Vets are assigned a private room in one of our townhouses and they live, eat and sleep here. For the first month they stay on campus, blocked out from the outside world, to focus on their recovery, which in most cases involves addressing drug addiction, or alcoholism, or both. You can’t be drunk or high and recover from your PTSD. If they were getting any treatment from the VA, our staff nurse and pharmacist will carefully review all the medications they were prescribed there. A vet might start the program on 10 to 15 VA-prescribed medicines, and almost every time we find that several are working against each other. We work with them to help them make good decisions about the best prescription plan for them. The guy that starts the program on 10 to 15 meds often leaves needing only a few or none. That’s not a benchmark of success for the Camp Hope program. It’s just the natural outcome of caring about our vets and treating the health of the whole person. They finish with

us not needing so many meds because they’re leaving healthier people. The heart of the treatment program is the peer-to-peer mentorship our staff provides. They are veterans themselves who have gone through combat, suffered with PTSD and recovered in our program. They get weekly training from professional psychologists and psychiatrists to learn to counsel and mentor others and lead support groups. In addition, helping others helps the mentors cope with their own challenges, especially sobriety. They can teach it because they’ve lived it. It’s a fight for them, just like it is for anyone. We aren’t a substance abuse rehab program, but it’s part of what we need to do to treat PTSD. Our success rates are actually better than addiction rehab programs. One of the big reasons guys stay on with us as mentors is that they’ve suffered the experience of returning home and not being understood, and they know how it leads to some dark circumstances. Our society says it values veterans but doesn’t understand them. When vets become mentors in our program, it gives them a new

americanshootingjournal.com 27

sense of purpose. Remember, military personnel dedicate themselves to serving their country when they sign up. That’s their guiding purpose. When they are discharged, their duties to the nation are discharged too, but you can’t discharge a person’s heart and soul and purpose for being with a document. The last phase of the program is about transitioning the veteran to return to society. We serve both the vets and their families. The last month is when we work on reintegrating the recovering veteran with their family. Sometimes it’s been years since they were together as a family. In many cases the family has adjusted to working without them, and maybe works better. The reintegration with family is a delicate step. We teach the family members about boundaries, coping skills and safety plans to help them understand and deal with what’s ahead. In the last month vets can go home on weekends to ease their way back into their place within the family. Think of how wonderful it is for those family members when the person they loved and feared lost forever comes back to them ready to be a responsible husband, parent and valued member of the workforce again. ASJ What do the vets admitted for treatment learn at Camp Hope?

Maulsby reports that an official study released last fall found that from 2001 to 2021, four times as many Iraq and Afghanistan vets and other active-duty personnel died by suicide than were killed in combat.

DM We teach them what PTSD is, coping skills, personal and peer accountability, breathing exercises, and how to manage their emotions. They are taught to set aside their emotions and anger so they can think through the things that happened to them. Since our vets are formally diagnosed with PTSD on entering the program, they are seeing licensed professional counselors on a weekly basis. What we’ve learned from this is, it is not uncommon for vets in our

A family message on the back of a car offers an incoming resident encouragement.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

program to have other underlying traumas unrelated to their combat experience. I’ve mentioned substance abuse already, but in addition to that, we’re finding trauma from child abuse and sexual abuse that took place long before they ever put on a uniform. Any of those traumas alone can result in PTSD, and then you add the horror of war on top of it … from a mental health standpoint, this type of thing isn’t going to be a quick fix. It’s no wonder the VA failed so many of these veterans most in need. I’ll say point-blank, in many of these cases, what the VA is doing to our veterans is damaging and not helpful at all. We hired a full-time psychiatrist to be Camp Hope’s clinical director to help us work with the VA. He watches what the VA is doing to our 70 sick veterans. The VA is watching over thousands of sick veterans, so you can see why it’s important for us to monitor them. I already mentioned our full-time nurse/pharmacist. ASJ How do you find the vets? DM Sometimes they find us, but mostly it’s through referrals. Sometimes it’s a family member reaching out to us on the vet’s behalf, or a fellow veteran who knows about us, or someone at the VA, or the veteran courts. Texas, like many states, has a jail-aversion program for veterans that allows them

Residents gather for a group photo. Camp Hope takes in all service members who have seen combat and have a formal PTSD diagnosis. Korean and Vietnam War vets have been treated.

to expunge their criminal record in certain cases if they can straighten their lives out. The Texas program lasts two years, and the veterans must check in with their case supervisor regularly, but it surely beats the alternative of going to jail. They are supervised for a two-year period to make sure they aren’t relapsing into substance abuse or crime. Camp Hope can’t sweep a veteran’s crimes under the rug, of course. Part of recovery from PTSD is taking personal accountability for your life. We’ve had vets in the program with warrants against them. When they recovered, they had to answer to the court. Some guys went to jail, but they were ready to take responsibility, pay their debt and get on with a healthy life. ASJ There are clearly a lot more veterans in serious trouble with PTSD than you have the space and resources to help at Camp Hope. How do you decide who gets accepted to the program? DM It’s tough. We do screening, including a review of their DD214 military records to determine that they were in the military and had combat experiences. We will accept veterans in need from all branches of service, and all eras. We had a Korean War veteran, and many Vietnam vets come through Camp Hope. To participate, vets also need to have a formal PTSD diagnosis. 30

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If they don’t, we arrange for them to see a doctor to get it. Veteran women are not currently in our Camp Hope residential program, but they are involved in our outside warrior and first responder therapy groups. ASJ The Korean War ended in 1953, and combat operations in Vietnam ended in 1975. Is there evidence that veterans from those conflicts that have lived this long are committing suicide from PTSD? DM Yes. There’s anecdotal evidence that many returning vets suffered PTSD in earlier wars, but either you got over it yourself, or it got you. Those were the days when the military sent you home expecting you to work out your mental health issues on your own time. Data on veteran suicides wasn’t systematically collected before 2001. You can understand why a veteran’s family wouldn’t want a suicide reported too. But take a look at the 2021 VA report on suicides and you’ll see there were between 5,500 and 6,800 a year every year for the last decade. That’s about 60,000 suicides. They reported the largest segment of that, around 38 percent (approximately 23,000), was in veterans aged 55 to 74. War is a young man’s work, so I believe that 23,000 figure could include a lot of Vietnam veterans. I’ve seen unofficial

estimates that 300,000 Vietnam veterans have died by suicide over the past 50 years, which is four times the combat deaths in that war. The ratio is similar to what’s going on today with Iraq and Afghanistan veteran suicides … but it took 50 years to get to that number! It seems the suicide problem is worse with Iraq/Afghanistan vets than it was with the Vietnam generation. ASJ How big a role does faith in God play in recovery? DM I didn’t mention this before because I didn’t want anybody who is struggling with their relationship with God to be turned off from seeking help at Camp Hope. I am a Baptist pastor, so it’s actually my job to bring the message of God’s love to those who need it. There is nothing that God can’t heal within us, and a lot of veterans suffering from PTSD have benefitted from sorting out their relationship with Him. It’s a big boost to a person’s sense of selfworth when they recognize that God loves them and would never give up on them. We are a faith-based program, but nobody has to agree to any faith to be treated and there is no discrimination. We can and will help you if you are an atheist. The VA is scared to death to talk about faith. I am not. For believers, faith gives purpose to life … does it

not? Damaged faith has to be repaired too for the whole person to recover from their PTSD. We’ll ask our vets, “Where was God when the traumas that caused your PTSD happened?” I’ll tell you something I learned while counseling them for 10 years. Not one veteran that has come through Camp Hope would have said they were an atheist before they went to war. They became an atheist because of what they saw in war. They usually say, “There cannot be a God with this horrible stuff happening.” They claim to be atheists, but then they say how angry they are with God for letting the horrors they witnessed happen. Well, how can they be angry with God when they don’t believe God exists? Obviously, they do believe God exists. When they think that through, they’ll admit there is a God, but they hate him because of the terrible suffering and evil they have witnessed. “Well, get in line,” is what I tell them, and we think and talk it through. War is what men do to each other, not what God does to man. Our hope is that after they work through everything they can with us, we can help reconnect them with their faith system.

ASJ How many vets has Camp Hope helped? DM Over 1,600 vets came through since 2012. We have 70 vets currently. Our recovery rate is excellent. We can’t confirm some outcomes because we’ve lost touch with some of them, but I know of only 10 who we have since lost to suicide. Those lives were precious to us. You don’t spend six to 12 months with a person and not connect to them as human beings. ASJ What other programs does PTSD Foundation of America have for veterans who need help but maybe don’t need the magnitude of care you provide at Camp Hope? DM We still do what we did before we built Camp Hope. We operate veteran support groups across the country where vets can talk peer-to-peer to work through their PTSD. When Covid-mandated lockdowns made face-to-face support groups very hard to organize, we added Zoom support group options so those vets that couldn’t participate in person could at least be there online with each other and our counselors. We operate a free PTSD veteran crisis line 24/7. We are

Funding for Camp Hope comes from private donations and corporations like local Tex-Mex chains Jimmy Changas and Gringo’s, which contributed $52,000 with this 2019 check. Per Maulsby, the facility’s annual administrative and operations budget is $7 million, of which up to 20 percent is eaten by electricity bills.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

there for you anytime of the day or night, and a phone call or text away. The number is (877) 717-PTSD (877717-7873). I also host the Road to Hope live radio program Sunday nights at 2 p.m. on AM 950 KPRC in Houston. When we are live, we take questions from our audience through our Facebook page at facebook.com/ptsdusa. Each week we feature the story of a veteran’s journey to recovery. We have five years of stories online. The same episodes are recorded and available online as a podcast for people outside the local listening area. (Go to spreaker.com/ show/road-to-hope-radio to find episodes online.) Through the Road to Hope broadcast, I reach out to those currently serving and military veterans and their families, with real, practical help. We understand that when a person serves in the military, their family serves along with them. Our show is designed to be both informational and inspirational. ASJ What are the obstacles PTSD Foundation of America faces to achieving their mission? DM Our society honors veterans in

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Maulsby (far left) gathers with fellow staffers. “Our recovery rate is excellent,” he states, noting that more than 1,600 vets have been treated since 2012.

principle, but when they come home, more often than not, they come home to a society that’s basically forgotten about the fact that we even had people at war. A lot of civilians still don’t understand what PTSD is. It may be that our relatively easy 21st century lifestyle and humanitarian values has made Americans more vulnerable to PTSD in the last 22 years. Historically, it was probably less prevalent in harder times and among people who lived with life and death traumas all the time. But there’s no doubt that PTSD has always been with us. If you read the Psalms of David in the Bible, you’ll find David described as suffering from symptoms that PTSD vets are suffering today. I’m talking David the shepherd boy, who fought and killed the Philistine Goliath and saved the Israelites. That wasn’t all he did. The text says he killed tens of thousands in subsequent battles. To do combat stuff all day every day like military personnel in a war zone, your brain has to rewire itself to do what you have to do to survive. The PTSD is when the brain can’t rewire itself back to normal civilian life. On patrol in Afghanistan, the soldier comes to see every plastic bag left by the road as a potential deadly IED. Back home in the shopping mall parking lot, it’s probably just somebody’s garbage they didn’t 34

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bother to throw out. In Afghanistan, children might be strapped with bombs for suicide attacks. At the playground in the city park in your hometown, that is certainly not going to be the case. In Kabul, a crowd of people could easily conceal Taliban gunmen waiting for the right moment to ambush you. Outside the movie theater in your hometown, that crowd of people are just hanging out waiting for their show. In war, the mind becomes hyperaware. Paranoia and fear of crowds are survival mechanisms, but they are anti-social behavior in peacetime. People who suffer from PTSD often relive the experience through nightmares and flashbacks, have difficulty sleeping and feel detached or estranged, and these symptoms can be severe enough and last long enough to significantly impair the person’s daily social and family life. Unfortunately, to the uninformed civilian, the PTSD symptoms make the veteran look like a jerk or a nut-case, and naturally, they are shunned, which further aggravates the veteran’s feeling of isolation and depression. When PTSD veterans try to self-medicate with alcohol and drugs, things always get worse for everyone involved. ASJ Camp Hope is free for the veteran, so where does the money to run it come from?

DM We get the $7 million general and administrative operating budget we need annually from private donors, both individual and corporate. Our annual electric bill alone is 18 to 20 percent of that G&A budget. Some of our major sponsors include Comcast Cable, iHeartRadio, and Greystar, which is the world’s largest apartment management company. We couldn’t have even gotten Camp Hope off the ground without the expertise and generosity of Greystar. On the individual level, it’s lots of small donations from caring people that make a big difference. Recently, we became part of the AmazonSmile program (smile.amazon.com) and started to see about $12,000 per quarter from it. People who shop at smile. amazon.com can help fund us at no cost to themselves just by buying the things they would normally buy. Amazon will donate 0.5 percent of eligible purchases to your favorite charitable organization. We appreciate everyone who chose PTSD Foundation of America as their AmazonSmile charity. We are a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible. Anyone who wants to get involved by making cash or in-kind donations can reach us directly at (832) 912-4429 or info@ptsdusa .org. Our website (ptsdusa.org) has a lot of information about how people can volunteer with us too. 

SCHEDULE Pro Bolt Gun Series June 18

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2022 Hodgdon Punisher Positional

Conway Springs, Kansas

July 8

Hornady Precision Rifle Challenge

Evanston, Wyoming

July 16

AlderBrook Brawl Pro Series 2 Days

Littleton, New Hampshire

July 30

Wisconsin Barrel Maker Classic

Cascade, Wisconsin

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The Lead Farm Barrel Burner

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August 6

RCBS Rumble

Pleasant Hill, Missouri

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Peterson Cartridge Challenge

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Okie Summer Showdown

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For more information visit www.precisionrifleseries.com

RECENT RESULTS (continued)

FEDERAL KING OF COAL CANYON

PARMA PRECISION RIFLE RUMBLE

K&M KAHLES PRECISION RIFLE COMPETITION

1st Place MORGUN KING Open Div. 168.000/100.000 2nd Place AUSTIN BUSCHMAN Open Div. 158.000/94.048 3rd Place (tie) TATE STREATER, RUBEN QUIJADA Open Div. 157.000/93.452

1st Place JAKE VIBBERT Open Div. 179.000/100.000 2nd Place MORGUN KING Open Div. 173.000/96.648 3rd Place NICK GADARZI Open Div. 171.000/95.531

1st Place FRANCIS COLON Open Div. 181.000/100.000 2nd Place DEREK WEBSTER Open Div. 180.000/99.448 3rd Place (tie) CHAD HECKLER, KYLE MCCORMACK, CHRIS KUTALEK Open Div. 179.000/98.895 PRECISION RIFLE SERIES

Raton, New Mexico May 14, 2022

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

Parma, Idaho May 21, 2022

Finger, Tennessee May 28, 2022

Why has Robert Brantley competed in so many matches across so many formats for so long? “My personal goal is to become the best I can be with a rifle,” he says simply.

COMPETING IS HIS THING Longtime multidiscipline precision rifle shooter Robert Brantley on what makes him tick. PHOTOS BY ROBERT BRANTLEY

aving competed in precision shooting matches for nearly 14 years – including the Precision Rifle Series, among other competitions – Robert Brantley has become “king of the road” in the longrange shooting world. “I probably shoot more divisions than anyone else,” he explains. “My main game I’d say is PRS Open, but most still associate me with ELR (Extreme Long Range). This year I will shoot PRS Open, Tactical Division, AG Cup, as well as Rimfire. I will compete at both the national level as well as regional.” Brantley typically shoots in around

40 matches a year, 20-plus of which will be PRS matches. Another 12 or so will be national-level two-day events, and he will also shoot field matches and NRL Hunter matches. “This year we’ll shoot King of 1 Mile and King of 2 Mile matches,” says Brantley of the annual extreme long-range shooting competitions. “I’ll shoot consecutive weekends for eight weeks straight sometimes, with every single event being a long ways from home.” By way of explanation, he says, simply, “My personal goal is to become the best I can be with a rifle.” But there’s a reason Brantley

This year, Brantley hopes to build on his two podium finishes at King of 2 Mile, including first place in 2018.

americanshootingjournal.com 39

When the Louisiana native isn’t competing, he works for Manners Composite Stocks and has a part-time role at a reloading and optic company.

Even with all his awards and accomplishments, Brantley is humble, saying anyone can compete in long-range shooting and it isn’t as difficult as many probably think.

maintains such a hectic schedule – which also includes his job at Manners Composite Stocks, a brand he uses extensively in competition, as well as his part-time role with a reloading and optic company. His experiences over the past 14 years of competition would be enough to keep any passionate shooter coming back. “I have several memories and shots I think about,” he says, reflecting on his career thus far. “I currently have the longest shot in rifle competition (2.45 miles), (I was) the first to have a first-round impact at 2 miles in a match, as well as the highest King of 2 Mile score prior to them changing the format. I’m also the only person with multiple podium finishes at King of 2 Mile.” He continues, “My process is pretty much the same for both my PRS and rimfire rifles. I’ve placed second in the AG Cup, gotten a PRS bullet, made many podium finishes, and placed in the top 10 in multiple PRS finales.” Though he’s earned many awards and accomplishments over the years, Brantley remains humble. “I like to tell the stories of how anyone can do this sport and (it) probably isn’t as hard as most think it is,” he says. “I run a very simple process and use minimal gear. I enjoy going into the various communities and learning different things from each to keep trying to better myself.”  Editor’s note: For more information on the Precision Rifle Series, visit precisionrifleseries.com.

“I run a very simple process and use minimal gear,” says the precision shooter.

ROBERT BRANTLEY’S RIFLE & GEAR Brantley shoots for Team GA Precision and runs the following rig for his PRS rifle: • Templar V2 (Defiance Deviant) action • Manners TCS (Tunable Competition Stock) • Bartlein Barrel in 6GT or .308 • Bushnell XRS3 in Badger hardware

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

• • • •

Triggertech Diamond Atlas Bipod Armageddon Gear Bags Brantley shoots for Hornady for ammo and components • Brantley shoots for RCBS on the reloading side

americanshootingjournal.com 41

SHOOTING MAXIMUM POINT-BLANK RANGE Subhead here

Learning this method can be advantageous for big game hunters – especially ifSTORY thereANDisPHOTOS no time to calculate BY JASON BROOKS all of the variables needed to adjust the scope. STORY AND PHOTOS BY JASON BROOKS

s I lay prone on the ground, squinting at the target only 100 meters away, the training instructor began shouting orders. I was a young airman basic in the United States Air Force and, unlike other branches of the US military, we only got to spend one day at the firing range. Using an M-16 shooting 5.56 NATO ball ammo, we were told to aim for “center mass.” The target was a miniature silhouette of a person that resembled the average height and size of a soldier at 200 meters. The idea was that if you presented a smaller target at 100 meters, it would replicate the size of the target at the further distance. This I understood, but I was a bit perplexed at the aiming point. Why center mass and not try to hit the target where it would kill the enemy? Soon we found out how aiming at center mass would lead to aiming for “point-blank range.” This means that if you aim for the center of the target and misjudge the distance, then the ballistics should compensate for any errors made and still hit the target. Though often taught in the military, shooting point-blank range is a technique that hunters can use afield. With all of the modern shooting tools out there today helping shooters and hunters make long-distance shots, the one variable that cannot be calculated is time. Using MOA scopes, laser rangefinders, wind speed calculators, barometric pressure and relative humidity readers to set up for the perfect ballistics calculations, the shooter can make incredible far-distance shots – but only if the animal allows for such time to use all of these tools. All hunters know that this is not always the case.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

For the hunter, using maximum point-blank range means no need to dial scopes or use holdover to fill their tags. americanshootingjournal.com 43

Then there is the “Kentucky windage” solution where you sight-in your rifle for 100 or 200 yards and if the animal is further than that, you raise the sights and hope you hit the target. Judging a 12-inch drop at 400 yards is hard to do, as that drop is at 400 yards, not at the rifle itself. This means you need to pick out a spot that is 12 inches above where you are intending to hit the animal. And if it is 450 yards, it is now 13 or 14 or even more inches, depending on your rifle. SIGHTING-IN FOR POINT-BLANK range, or more precisely “maximum pointblank range,” is where you can use the ballistics of your rifle and make a humane kill shot by simply putting the crosshairs where you want the bullet to go, knowing you will hit somewhere in the kill zone. This is a simple explanation of maximum point-blank range, but there are a lot of factors to make this work. The term maximum point-blank range means the farthest shot that can hit a certain size target without raising the sights. For the hunter, it all depends on the game you are chasing. The deer hunter has about a 6-inch circle to hit in the heart-

Practicing maximum point-blank range means shooting at various targets at long distances and learning how your rifle hits.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

lung broadside shot. Of course there is room for error even here, such as hitting too far back and still taking out the liver, which will cause fatal bleeding, or hitting too high and striking the backbone, causing incapacitation or death. But for the hunter, the target is that 6-inch circle that will take out the heart or the lungs. For the elk hunter, this is an 8-inch circle, and for the antelope hunter, it can be as small as a 5- or even 4-inch circle. Coyote hunters have a 4-inch circle, but also often use smaller and faster calibers. If you aim at the center of the circle, you can be off, high or low, and still be successful. For the elk hunter with an 8-inch kill zone, you can be off by 4 inches, maybe even a little bit more, depending on the size of the elk. More importantly, this is an 8-inch path of travel; 4 high and 4 low, and still hit the vitals. KNOWING HOW BIG of a target you have is the starting point for the hunter, but the rifle ballistics is what establishes the maximum point-blank range. To maximize the distance, the faster- and flatter-shooting the rifle is, the further you can shoot it without moving

the sights. But a fast and light bullet often means a smaller caliber, which might not be ideal for the game being pursued. Elk, for example, would need a heavier and harder-hitting bullet than an antelope or coyote. This means a larger caliber, but with today’s improvements on calibers, powders and bullet designs, hunters can find a cartridge that will hit hard while flying fast and flat. But of course it comes at the price of felt recoil. Knowing how to calculate ballistics is the key to learning how to shoot maximum point-blank range. The ballistic coefficient, or bullet “drag,” is how easily the bullet cuts through the air, and overcomes the pull of gravity. Well, it’s a little bit more complex than that, but it is the basic principle of ballistic coefficient. Add in the speed and weight of the bullet and you get a trajectory or bullet flight path. This is how high the bullet crosses above the line of sight and then drops below the line of sight until it hits the ground. Since some barrels are set with a slight rise, or with the scope being offset or raised above the barrel, this causes the shooter to tilt the rifle upward, and the bullet climbs after leaving the barrel. It will climb or rise

It is essential to spend time at the shooting range to figure out the maximum drop of your rifle and bullet combo and still hit your target.

A steady rest is needed so the shooter is accurate and will get a sense of how their rifle shoots at long distances. americanshootingjournal.com 45

Using a rest in the field is not always possible, so it’s important to learn to create and shoot from stable shooting positions. This seated hunter is using their knees to steady their rifle.

until it hits the apex, which is where the speed slows enough that it cannot compensate for the pull of gravity and the bullet starts to fall or “drop.” Luckily for the hunter who doesn’t reload and needs a quick way to figure out the trajectory of their commercial round, there are several ballistic calculators found on the internet with a simple search. Be sure to check with the ammunition manufacturer first to see if they offer such a calculator, as this will be the most accurate. For those who reload, they will need a chronograph to get the muzzle velocity of the bullet since different powders have different burn rates and create different pressures when the round is fired. You will need to know a few factors when using one of these calculators, including the bullet’s weight and coefficient. The cartridge speed or muzzle velocity will also need to be known. Other factors such as average temperature, elevation, wind and barometric pressure are needed for precision, but since these are only known at the exact time and location of 46

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the shot, they can be averaged out. For example, if you know the area you are planning on hunting and the elevation, then you can input that variable. For temperature, you can find the average for the time of year and location where you are hunting, and for wind, it is best to sight-in for zero wind and keep in mind when you are hunting that it might need to be compensated for. Once you know the ballistic coefficient, bullet weight and muzzle velocity, you can input this into the calculator. Most will give you a “sightin” distance, which is where the bullet path is equal to the barrel height, or “zero.” If your target has an 8-inch kill zone, then you can adjust the calculator until you have a 4-inch rise and a 4-inch drop, which should then tell you the zero, or the distance you need to sight-in your rifle for. A FEW YEARS ago, I decided to set up an “elk rifle,” which was a firearm that I would dedicate to hunting elk. I chose the .280 Ackley Improved as a compromise of fast and light and still hard-hitting with enough “gun”

to take down an elk. This cartridge shoots a 150-grain Nosler Accubond Long Range bullet at 2,930 feet per second. The ballistic coefficient for this bullet is 0.546; by plugging that data into a ballistic calculator, it turns out that I can sight the rifle in for a zero at 300 yards. This means hitting the bull’s-eye dead-center at 300 yards, which will give me a maximum point-blank range of 360 yards without needing to worry about holding over or missing too low. The calculator puts the maximum rise at 4.77 inches at 175 yards; this is a little high, but for an elk it is still in the kill zone. At 375 yards, the bullet drops 7.17 inches, which is a little low but more than likely will still get the job done. To hit somewhere in the 8-inch kill zone, the elk would need to be no farther than 360 yards, and all I have to do is put the crosshairs in the middle of the chest and the bullet will do its job. This technique does take some time to get used to, only because most hunters are so used to sighting-in at 100 or 200 yards and then using holdover. Several years ago I was hunting mule

americanshootingjournal.com 47

deer in Idaho and came upon a nice buck. It ranged at 305 yards and my 7mm-08 only had a 3-inch drop at that range, so I held 3 inches over and shot right over the deer. Being so used to holdover, my brain froze in the heat of the moment and I forgot that 3 inches of margin is negligible when it comes to hunting. This is why practicing is so important, not only on things like trigger control, holding steady and shooting from different positions, but also training our brain into having confidence in our rifle and aimpoint. Just put the crosshairs on the kill zone of the animal and pull the trigger. Sounds easy but unless you practice

this, it can be hard to remember when shooting beyond where your rifle is sighted-in for. Last winter, my son and I were hunting elk on a late cow hunt in southern Idaho. He was carrying my .280 Ackley Improved, sighted-in for 300 yards. Finding a group of elk in a small depression out of the wind, he crawled into position. A quick blow into the cow call and all of the elk stood up, providing a broadside shot. I was halfway down the ridge, watching through binoculars, when I saw the cow fall and then heard the report of the shot. He hit high but killed her with that one shot.

When I finally got up to my son and his elk, I asked him how far the shot was and his reply was simply, “Not sure, but I knew she was within range.” He didn’t need all of the gadgets and gizmos to figure out how many clicks he needed or if the angle of the shot would cause the bullet to rise, but instead put the crosshairs in the kill zone and pulled the trigger. For the hunter, learning how to sight-in and shoot maximum pointblank range can be advantageous – especially if there is no time to calculate all of the variables needed to adjust the scope – and is a skill that hunters should utilize. 

The author’s teenage son Ryan prefers to use the maximum point-blank range method and took this cow elk in Idaho, where the terrain lent itself to long-distance shooting.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

COMPANY SPOTLIGHT

Moose are the biggest big game that Timber King Outfitting guides for, but whitetails, mule deer and more are available for sportsmen looking for “an unforgettable and successful experience.”

BE ALBERTA-BOUND, AND BEYOND

Timber King Outfitting guides moose, wolf hunts in Canadian province, and desert bighorn, deer in Mexico. PHOTOS BY TIMBER KING OUTFITTING

lberta, Canada, is home to many big game species, and is an ideal hunting destination for nonresidents looking to bag a trophy. Mule deer, whitetail and moose abound, as do wolf and bighorn sheep, and hunting opportunities are plentiful. Local outfitter Rob Brown has been guiding from a young age and has more than 15 years of experience

The Alberta-based company got its start guiding for wolves, filling a hunting niche in a province that hosts an abundant population of the predators. americanshootingjournal.com 51

Company SPOTLIGHT in the business, so he knows what it takes to not only pursue these animals, but to give his clients the adventure of a lifetime. Initially, Timber King Outfitting started as a small wolf hunting outfit – “I had seen the demand for nonresident hunters wanting to harvest a wolf and the abundance of wolves we had in Alberta,” he explains – but things took off quickly from there. “We started small, and with success in mind, we had created a unique experience hunting wolves in the depth of winter that snowballed into a rather large business,” says Brown. “From there, we started to acquire permits for deer and moose.” Mule deer and moose have since become Timber King Outfitting’s most popular hunts. Brown explains, “With limited harvest opportunity stateside, it creates a demand in hunters not wanting to wait until they’re successful in drawing a tag – which in some states is a lifetime, depending on the tags – making our guaranteed tags very attractive to a citizen of the USA.” Each all-inclusive package is tailored to the client’s individual

Mule deer are among the Canadian company’s most popular hunts these days, thanks to guaranteed tags that contrast with draw-only opportunities in some American states home to the iconic species.

needs, and every hunt is led by one of the company’s knowledgeable, experienced guides.

In Sonora, Mexico, Timber King Outfitting guides for Coues and mule deer, and desert bighorn sheep.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

“The majority of our clients repeat after their first hunt with us and have told us that they specifically like our company because of the knowledgeable and professional team we have built,” adds Brown. “It’s easy to have fun while hunting with us and let the hunt play out because our clients feel they are in the best position for success due to our extensive scouting and preparation for the hunt. We don’t sit on game, waiting for the hunters to show up; we scout to get an idea of where we need to be in order to achieve the best odds of a harvest and then return with the clients and give them an honest hunt in a prime area while giving them the full experience.” And if that wasn’t enough, Timber King Outfitting has expanded their business south to Sonora, Mexico, offering guided hunts for a variety of species. “I had been guiding in Mexico for a number of years before a decision to start taking hunters myself into old Mexico,” says Brown. “I had some very good friends that owned ranches down

Hasn't been hunted since 2013 Camp upgrades in progress Offering group discounts! Chitek Lake, Saskatchewan 306-883-7214 www.spiritwoodoutﬁtters.com

americanshootingjournal.com 53

Company SPOTLIGHT “Our mission is to provide every client with an unforgettable and successful experience,” says outfitter-owner Rob Brown. A happy hunter smiles over a nice bighorn ram.

there that were looking for someone to work with to provide hunting trips for desert bighorn, muley and Coues deer. We started slow and with a few clients, and it quickly became busy with hunters from all over the globe reaching out in hopes to hunt with us for free-ranging game in Mexico.” Whatever your destination and whatever your targeted species, you’ll be well taken care of at Timber King Outfitting. “Our mission is to provide every client with an unforgettable and successful experience,” says Brown. “Whether success is measured from a harvest of a mature specimen or an adventure leaving you with lifelong memories and new friends, you can rest assured that our professional staff will tailor a service to your specific and individual needs.”  Editor’s note: For more information, visit timberkingoutfitting.com.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

BULLET BULLETIN

With us since 1939, the Core-Lokt has received a facelift in the guise of the Core-Lokt Tipped line of bullets.

A TIP OF THE HAT TO NEW FAMILY MEMBER Take note, long-range hunters: Remington’s classic Core-Lokt now available in polymer Tipped version. STORY BY PHIL MASSARO • PHOTOS BY MASSARO MEDIA GROUP

lack Friday – the day after Thanksgiving – might be a shopper’s holiday, but to my family and friends, it is a day off work solely dedicated to deer hunting. Black Friday of 2006 dawned with me sitting in one of my favorite deer haunts: a finger of land adjoining a hogsback, where the hardwoods drift downslope into the brushy swamp. I’d taken a good number of bucks and

does from that general area, and I was feeling lucky that morning. But with the exception of a spastic gray squirrel, there was nothing moving. And I mean nothing. With temps starting in the low 30s at dawn, and only barely cracking the 40-degree mark by 11:30 a.m., my dad had seen enough, and messaged me that he was leaving for lunch. I told him I intended to stay for the day. It wasn’t 10 minutes later that I heard his shrill whistle, a couple hundred yards over the hogsback. Looking in that direction, I saw a doe

crest the ridge and immediately knew Dad had jumped deer on his way back to his truck. Another doe appeared, a bit more motivated than the first, and the buck followed. In the noon light, puffing like a thoroughbred in the home stretch, came the mature eight-point buck with really vibrant antlers. I swung the Winchester Model 70 – a Classic Stainless version, chambered in .300 Winchester Magnum – and broke the crisp trigger. No reaction from the running buck whatsoever. I sent americanshootingjournal.com 55

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BULLET BULLETIN

How many hunters have gone afield armed with Remington CoreLokt ammunition? Generations have relied on the simple yet effective softpoint. (REMINGTON)

The Remington Core-Lokt in .30-30 Winchester, shown here in roundnose hollowpoint and roundnose softpoint. (REMINGTON)

The Remington Core-Lokt Tipped is the latest iteration of the Remington softpoint, offered as an alternative to the classic design, not to replace it.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

a second at him, but it was hasty and didn’t feel anywhere as good as the first. My phone rang shortly after the last shot stopped ringing in my ears. It was Dad, wondering if the buck was down. “I’m certain I hit him with the first shot, but he didn’t go down,” I answered. He told me to stay put, and that he’d circle around toward that swamp to see if he could find blood. The phone rang again just a few minutes later. “Found him,” Dad said. “Looks like the Manson Family came over; there’s a blood trail a foot wide.” There were two bullet holes, 3 inches apart, with one through the heart. The bullet? A 180-grain Remington Core-Lokt, one of America’s classic softpoint bullets. “THE DEADLIEST MUSHROOM in the woods.” Such was the advertising slogan for the Remington Core-Lokt, a bullet that might be considered Grandpa’s technology today, but remains a highly effective choice for the deer hunter. It is a cup-and-core design, with the copper jacket “lokt” into the lead core via a cannelure or crimping groove.

he 10MM cartridge is more than 30 years old, but its popularity has not waned. It’s one of the top three self-defense cartridg-es in America, as well as hunting. But most 10MM loads are designed for personal protection using bullets weighing between 100 and 220 grains. They work well, with a very deep wound and penetration channels. Underwood Ammunition is well-known for innovative ammunition offerings. In 2022, Underwood is featuring a lightweight, high-velocity round

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BULLET BULLETIN

The Remington Core-Lokt pointed softpoint, shown here in .300 Winchester Magnum. (REMINGTON)

This reduces the chance of jacket/ core separation, and slows expansion to increase penetration. I’ve used the Core-Lokt in a good number of different cartridges, and in addition to the Black Friday buck, I’ve used it to take my fair share of deer in my native New York. This includes my very first deer – a spike taken cleanly with my Winchester 94 .30-30 lever gun – and a dozen or more with the 165-grain CoreLokt flat-based spitzer from my .308 Winchester. Introduced in 1939, the Remington Core-Lokt offered a solution to a problem that most hunters in the modern era have yet to experience: true bullet failure. The velocity increases brought on by the use of smokeless powder at the end of the 19th century showed the limits of pure lead bullets, as they would smear down the barrel, creating all sorts of accuracy and fouling issues. Using a jacket of copper or copper alloy – harder than lead, yet still soft enough to allow the rifling to engrave the bullet – solved the velocity issue, all the while keeping things relatively clean. Yet, swaging a lead core and copper jacket doesn’t guarantee that the bullet will hold together in the terminal phase. Quite often, and especially when

hitting big bones, the copper jacket and lead core would separate, resulting in superficial wounds and lost game animals. Remington used a cannelure, or crimping groove, to mechanically lock the jacket to the core and thus greatly enhance bullet stability during the terminal phase, i.e. when the bullet strikes flesh and bone. Again, this may easily be taken for granted in the modern era of chemically bonded and monometal designs, but consider the fact that bullet failure was the impetus for guys like John Nosler to design his revolutionary Partition bullet. For over 80 years, the Core-Lokt has been filling freezers and working wonderfully on deer, black bear, hogs and similar game. Is it a dangerous game bullet? Well, it has been used in that capacity, but I’d much prefer one of the premium designs for that job. But it is a sound choice for the deer woods. BY NOW, I’M sure you’re aware of the financial debacle that Remington experienced over the last couple of years, resulting in the bankruptcy and breaking up of the Freedom Group, which owned Remington and a good number of other brands. As a result, Remington was divided into two separate entities: the firearms division,

Remington continues to offer factory-loaded ammunition for the cartridges it brought to light, like the .35 Whelen shown here. (REMINGTON)

This box of Remington Core-Lokt .35 Whelen ammunition dated back to 1988, when the cartridge was introduced commercially in the Model 700 Classic.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

BULLET BULLETIN

The 150-grain Core-Lokt Tipped in the .30-06 Springfield, a perfect choice for those who hunt deer at longer ranges.

The 130-grain expanded Core-Lokt Tipped in .270 Winchester; note the large diameter of the upset bullets. (REMINGTON)

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

which remains in Ilion, New York, and the ammunition and accessories division. The latter was purchased by Vista Outdoor, which also owns Federal Premium, CCI, Speer, Bushnell and more. The ammunition is still manufactured in the same Lonoke, Arkansas, plant that Remington has occupied for the last half-century, and the new management plans to offer the same great ammo that Remington lovers have grown accustomed to. However, the Core-Lokt brand has a new family member. Remington’s new Core-Lokt Tipped is the younger brother of the classic design, equipped with a polymer tip – it’s green, of course – to improve the ballistic coefficient and to initiate expansion. Couple the proven polymertip concept with a boattail design, and you’ve got a Remington bullet with the same terminal characteristics

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BULLET BULLETIN

Author Phil Massaro has long relied on the Remington Core-Lokt component bullets to feed his .308 Winchester rifles.

A younger version of our Bullet Bulletin columnist, photographed with a New York whitetail buck taken with his .300 Winchester and a 180-grain Core-Lokt bullet.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

of the original Core-Lokt, yet with a conformation better suited to Western or mountain hunting, where longer shots are the norm. With the sleeker ogive and boattail, the center of gravity has moved slightly rearward, but all reports indicate that this increases accuracy. I found the new Core-Lokt Tipped to be plenty accurate, with my .308 Winchester printing three-shot

BULLET BULLETIN Unfired and recovered Core-Lokt Tipped bullets; note the boattail and pronounced crimping groove.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

groups just under an inch with the 165-grain load at 2,700 feet per second. Chatting with Remington’s Joel Hodgdon, he was extremely animated about the Core-Lokt Tipped, having used it last season to take whitetail deer, feral hogs and even a bobcat. He indicated that the company has every intention of continuing to produce the original design that has been pleasing hunters for generations, but was excited to see the Core-Lokt family expand, while keeping the same principle that was released back in ’39. I can’t disagree with him at all. I handloaded Core-Lokt bullets for deer hunting for a good number of years, and searching the Remington website, I see that the component bullets are listed there but are currently unavailable. Hopefully that will change soon, as the Core-Lokt represents a good value for the hunter on a budget; the handloader can fill the freezer for a fraction of the cost of factory stuff. Big Green currently offers the Core-Lokt in all the usual suspects, in addition to some cartridges that can be difficult to feed, like the .32 Winchester Special, 7x64 Brenneke, .35 Whelen, .264 Winchester Magnum, .338 Remington Ultra Magnum, and .250 Savage. The new Core-Lokt Tipped ammunition is currently offered in .243 Winchester (95 grains), 6.5 Creedmoor (129 grains), .270 Winchester (130 grains), .280 Remington (140 grains), 7mm Remington Magnum (150 grains), .308 Winchester (150, 165 and 180 grains), .30-06 Springfield (150, 165 and 180 grains), .300 WSM (150 grains), and .300 Winchester Magnum (180 grains). All are loaded in brass R-P cases, and primed with the appropriate Remington primers. Hop on over to remington.com to shop around for your favorite cartridge, and maybe you’ll enjoy taking a classic design into the deer woods this year, or maybe you’ll give the new Core-Lokt Tipped an audition. I’m not quite so sure the deer will be equally excited, though. 

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COMPANY SPOTLIGHT

HIGH ADVENTURE IN THE OZARKS

Missouri free-range big game ranch offers hunts for more than 30 species, plus lodging, fishing and more. STORY BY JASON BROOKS PHOTOS BY HIGH ADVENTURE RANCH

here comes a time in every hunter’s life when they start to think of hunting something new. Maybe a trip to Africa for kudu, impala and springbok, or an adventure to New Zealand for red stag. These hunts are often “once in a lifetime” for most hunters, who save up and plan for a trip to a far-off land. In recent years, excursions like this have been difficult with the current climate of Covid and travel restrictions. But what if I told you there was a place right here in the United States that you could drive to and hunt those same animals, along with many other African, South American and even big game animals of the Rocky Mountains, all in a mild climate and complete with a hunting lodge that serves great food? All of this is found at High Adventure Ranch, located in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri. I RECENTLY HAD the opportunity to talk with Charles Puff, founder and ranch owner, and our conversation quickly turned to why he established his ranch back in 1983 with so many game animals. Puff admitted that, like most hunters, his passion for the outdoors started when he was young. At age 9, his neighbor took him out hunting and by age 12, “There were only three things I wanted: to learn how to dance, how to swim and to kill a 100-pound elephant.” Puff explained that a “100-pound” elephant meant taking a bull that had tusks weighing 100 pounds each. For me, it was a

International travel restrictions have made it hard to get to New Zealand and its huge-antlered red stag, but the species has been available all along right here in the US at Missouri’s High Adventure Ranch.

As befitting the Ozarks, the ranch’s “most popular deer hunt” is for whitetails, and the place is “loaded” with eight-pluspointers. americanshootingjournal.com 69

Company SPOTLIGHT

If horned critters are more your style, High Adventure Ranch features mouflon, Hawaiian and Corsican rams, along with Jacob’s four-horn sheep – sure to make a killer European mount.

quick lesson in African hunting; for Puff, it was reminiscing about his life and the hunts he has been on. He did eventually do all three things, and the elephant drove his passion for hunting. Wanting to bring those kinds of experiences to hunters in the US at Axis deer are considered by some to offer the best-tasting venison to be had, and they too can be hunted on this free-range operation that encompasses over 2,000 acres in rolling hills two hours southwest of St. Louis.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

an affordable price, Puff planned and formed High Adventure Ranch. Since then, the ranch has grown to over 30 big game species with an estimated population of 2,000 animals. Hunters from all over the world are now traveling to Missouri to hunt here,

whether they are looking to go on an exotic hunting adventure or just want to hunt a game species not offered in their home state. While enjoying the ranch, hunters dine together in a large dining hall that serves the same game they will be hunting, such as buffalo chili, elk meatloaf and wild boar sausage. Cabins and a main lodge offer modern accommodations, and the hunts are all free-range on the ranch’s massive acreage which covers 3 square miles of open land. Along with the hunt, there are several ponds and lakes that family members can fish if they don’t want to pursue game. And once your hunt is over, the ranch offers full-service meat cutting, including vacuum-sealing the meat and keeping it in a walk-in cooler until it’s time to head back home. During the early and late summer months, High Adventure Ranch offers family vacations that include a tour of the ranch where you can see some of the animals that call this place home, all in a free-range environment. Axis

Company SPOTLIGHT and sika deer, blackbuck, wild boar, nyla, kudu, eland and many more animals are often seen in the early morning or late evening hours heading to water at the many lakes, all of which are stocked with fish and no fishing license is needed. They do close during the very hot summer months of midJune to mid-July for maintenance on the ranch. IT IS THE hunting that Puff really prides himself on, especially the hunts that are donated to the Wounded Warrior Project, along with other hunts offered to military veterans and disabled hunters. As we chatted about these hunts, Puff’s voice cracked a bit, explaining how helping wounded vets is something he is very passionate about. “My brother was a marine and killed

over there in Vietnam,” he said. “That’s the reason why I started donating hunts to vets; he was always foremost on my mind.” It was his dedication to honoring his brother that led High Adventure Ranch to offer hunts to disabled veterans, but Puff admits that now it is the hunt and seeing how it helps the veterans that really gets to him. “When those hunts are over, you never forget them,” he added. High Adventure Ranch has been around for nearly 40 years, and is established with top-notch guides and staff. “One of my ranch managers has been working here for 39 years,” Puff explained, and added that many of the staff have worked at the ranch for a very long time. When he started the ranch in 1983, he knew of only one other ranch in

Hunters enjoy very high success rates, with trophy whitetail typically taking two days or less, but High Adventure Ranch also has a “no game, no pay” guarantee. Should you not harvest or wound an animal, the trophy fee is waived and you only pay for lodging, food, guide, license and sales tax.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

Nearby Arkansas is home to the Razorbacks, but the ranch has the huntable kind.

Texas with the kind of hunts that High Adventure Ranch offers. A very unique thing that this ranch promises is the “no game, no pay” guarantee. If you book a hunt with High Adventure Ranch and you don’t fill your tag, then you don’t pay the trophy fee. Not many other places offer that kind of promise. Along with the fact that the ranch is CWD-free – unlike many states – there is no worry of a draw or a license and tag being sold out. Puff explained that many hunters head out West for elk, only to find little public access, highpriced over-the-counter tags or a draw system where you might not even get a tag, and a low overall success rate. High Adventure Ranch offers world-class elk hunting or a cow “meat” hunt – and again, if you don’t fill your tag, you don’t pay – but they also boast a 100-percent success rate on their elk hunts for the past 37 years. It all started when Charles Puff was 12 and he had three wishes: learning to dance, swim and kill a 100-pound elephant. Now he offers hunts to those looking for an adventure or to finally harvest a 200-inch whitetail. Maybe take the family for a vacation or to honor our veterans. You will find it all at High Adventure Ranch in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri.  Editor’s note: For more information, visit highadventureranch.com.

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SHOTGUN ALLEY

A CZ-USA Magnum Reaper lies on turkey patterning targets.

TAKING TURKEYS, NEAR AND FAR

A gobbler hunting trip with CZ-USA’s David Miller provides insights on company’s O/U Magnum Reaper. STORY AND PHOTOS BY LARRY CASE

avid Miller made me an offer I could not refuse. Once again he had invited me to the great state of Missouri to pursue spring turkeys. How can you turn that down? Maybe you have heard me talk about Mr. Miller before. He hails from Grain Valley, Missouri, and is the shotgun product manager and pro shooter at CZ-USA, a

gun company based in Kansas City. To say that Miller knows about shotguns and does some shotgun shooting would be like saying the Pyramids are a bunch of rocks piled up in Egypt. Not once but twice, Miller has set Guinness World Records involving shotguns and breaking clay targets. The first time was in 2015 when he shattered 3,653 clays in one hour. The next was in 2019 when Miller, along with four young team members, shot for 12 hours (that’s right, 12 hours) and broke 14,167 clay targets. Both of

these feats are in the Guinness World Records book; you can look it up. I was there for both events, saw the whole thing, and it was a sight to behold. Maybe I have made my point: I shoot shotguns, you shoot shotguns, but we don’t shoot shotguns like David Miller. I have no trouble believing that he dreams about shotguns at night, rises in the morning and spends the day shooting shotguns, thinking about shotguns, or planning the next shotgun that CZ-USA will bring to the market. But this trip, as with others in americanshootingjournal.com 75

SCATTERGUN ALLEY

Mike Benneka, a friend of CZ’s Dave Miller, crawls while attempting to “fan” a Kansas turkey, a tactic known as reaping and which led to the development of the aforementioned over-and-under shotgun.

the spring with Miller, involved the locating, calling in and subsequent shooting of big, burly, long-bearded, sharp-spurred turkey gobblers. It is a hard job that involves a lot of work and physical endurance, but someone has to do it. This trip went well, and two

hefty Missouri gobblers were collected, but I think a little discussion on the shotgun we used is in order. CLOSE AND FAR, THE DILEMMA OF THE MODERN TURKEY HUNTER Several years ago, the turkey hunting

Gobblers didn’t stand much of a chance against author Larry Case and Miller, if these targets are any indication.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

world went all in for the tight, extratight, and double-extra-tight chokes on a turkey gun. The thinking has always been “tighter chokes, tighter patterns,” and this gives us more pellets in a gobbler’s head and neck at longer ranges. Well, that is true to a point, but some of us need to remember that tighter (more constricted) shotgun chokes do not necessarily give us the best patterns. Only a lot of testing on paper with different choke, shell and gun combinations will tell us what gives the best results. All of that is a discussion for another day, but the point is that turkey hunters have gone down the “tighter is better” road. That is all well and good when the turkey in question is at the 35- to 40yard line and beyond; yes, at these distances and more, the tighter choke is our friend. But the problem has always been those encounters where the turkey somehow appears at a much shorter range, like 20 steps or

SCATTERGUN ALLEY CZ-USA REAPER MAGNUM SPECIFICATIONS • Chambering: 12-gauge • Max shell length: 3½ inches • Barrel length: 26 inches • Chokes: Extended black • Stock: Camouflage polymer • Length of pull: 14½ inches • Receiver finish: Black • Barrel finish: Camouflage • Ejector extractor: Ejectors • Rib: 8mm flat vent • Overall length: 44¼ inches • Weight: 7 pounds • Comb: 1 3/8 inches • Heel: 2½ inches • Trigger: Mechanical, selectable for barrel • Safety: Manual tang safety

An extra-full choke in the bottom barrel and an improved cylinder in the top gives a turkey hunter options for hung-up and close-in birds.

less. What then? Those of you who have been there know this brings on something quite different. Our extratight pattern at 45 yards now becomes something like a softball-sized wad at 18. If you don’t take what my chums call a “rifle bead” (meaning aim very carefully), you are likely to go home with no meat; you will miss. The herkyjerky motion of a turkey’s head is hard enough to hit when you have a nicesized pattern, but one the size of a large Folgers coffee can really makes it dicey. So obviously a much more open choke would help with the close-range shots. Most turkey guns these days tend to be pump guns or semiautos; you have a one-barrel, one-choke option. But what if you had another barrel available to you with another choke, like maybe on

an over-and-under shotgun? Miller worked on this situation some years ago and his answer was the CZUSA Reaper Magnum. “Reaping” is a term used when the hunter shows a gobbler a turkey fan, mimicking a turkey in full strut. Often the gobbler does not like this and advances on the hunter to pick a fight. Turkeys can often come within very close range with this method and Miller wanted to make the open choke available for such situations. The Reaper is a fully camoed 12-gauge shotgun with sling studs and a specially designed Picatinny rail installed. The rail is thinner where it mounts to the top of the gun, making it sit with a lower profile, always a good idea on turkey shotguns with optics. The 26-inch barrels make it

A closeup of the Magnum Reaper’s receiver shows the “Grim Reaper” turkey logo.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

americanshootingjournal.com 79

SCATTERGUN ALLEY more maneuverable in the woods or blind. Polymer stocks clad in camo help it blend in, and adding a sling is simplified with QD swivels front and back. The Reaper Magnum ships with five extended interchangeable chokes, including an extra-full, and it has 3½-inch chambers for those who want to go nuclear with what they are shooting. MSRP is $1,079. For more, visit cz-usa.com. 

Success! Benneka trots off with a Kansas turkey taken with the Reaper.

Miller hoists a CZ 1012 semiauto, used when he and four high school students set a new world record by breaking 14,176 clays in 12 hours.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

Editor’s note: Larry Case has been a devoted outdoorsman since he was a child. He will admit to an addiction to turkey hunting (spring and fall), but refuses any treatment. He enjoys the company of gobblers and cur dogs that are loud and people who speak the truth softly. Case served 36 years as a game warden in West Virginia and retired with the rank of district captain. You can check out his podcast and other stories at gunsandcornbred.com.

LOADED FOR BIRD

ave Miller and I opted for Remington’s new Premier TSS shotgun ammunition this hunting trip. The 3-inch 12-gauge loads weigh in with 1¾ ounces of No. 9 tungsten shot. With a muzzle velocity of 1,200 feet per second, that is screaming, especially for TSS (tungsten super shot) loads. Remington also offers this load in No. 7 size shot. Visit remington.com for more. Miller’s turkey was downed at 55 yards and mine was shot at a rangefinder-measured 63 yards; both went down as if struck by lightning. Miller takes his ammo choice to another level by opting for a different load for his close-range, open-choked barrel. If your shots are going to be 30 yards or less, why go for a magnum turkey load? Miller uses the Aguila Pichon Plus (Pigeon) load. The 1,400 fps on 1¼ ounces of 7½ shot is really moving, and it’s all you need to hammer a gobbler at close range. For more information, visit aguilaammo.com.

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ROAD HUNTER

Versatile gun dogs have the build and stamina to shed hunt in rugged terrain for many hours and in tough conditions. This pudelpointer is bringing in an elk shed from a creek bottom.

VERSATILE HUNTING DOGS

If you’re in the market for a do-it-all four-legged companion, these three breeds rate highly. STORY AND PHOTOS BY SCOTT HAUGEN

ike many of you, I love to hunt and have all my life. I also appreciate a good dog that’s trainable, obedient, driven, and at the end of the day will curl up by my side and watch a movie, or voluntarily go in the kennel as I work in my office, where both of my pudelpointers are as I write these words. When the time came for me to get a new hunting companion, I searched for two years. In addition to a dog

that could hunt ducks and geese from September into March throughout the West, I wanted one that would run the rugged mountains all day in the spring and early summer in search of deer and elk sheds, pound the ground for an array of upland birds from mountain quail to ptarmigan, sit for doves and band-tailed pigeons, track and flush fall turkeys, tree gray squirrels and retrieve ground squirrels along with cottontails. I wanted a breed of dog that could handle the places I like to hunt – from Alaska to California and into the Rocky Mountain states – and amid an array of terrain. I also wanted a good

family dog, one that was considered hypoallergenic, or close to it. I wanted one dog to do it all. That’s why I chose a pudelpointer, and two years after I got Echo, a brown female, I got a black male, Kona. They’ve changed my life. GETTING STARTED I’ve been fortunate to hunt with a range of versatile dogs in many parts of the world and I could never see myself owning anything but a pudelpointer; OK, maybe a griffon or drahthaar. My intent here is not to change minds, as Labs will always rule the waterfowling world, and other breeds, americanshootingjournal.com 83

ROAD HUNTER

An undercoat with a wiry outer coat is what allows breeds like pudelpointers, griffons and drahthaars, like Eudor, to hunt in cold, wet, icy conditions.

the upland ranks. My goal is to share with hunters who might be looking to hunt upland birds, fall turkey, antler sheds, furry animals and even wild mushrooms with one dog. “They always get people talking or at least shooting questioning glances your way when you let ’em out of the truck in the public duck hunting parking lot or on the training grounds,” shares Josh Powell, who lives outside LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Powell is the proud owner of Eudor, an impressive drahthaar I’ve had the honor of hunting with many times. “What continues to amaze me is how well these dogs mark,” adds Powell, who is an aspiring full-time trainer and breeder of drahthaars. “Eudor will sit all day in cold, harsh conditions, marking and retrieving ducks and geese, and that would surprise a lot of folks.” I hunted with Eudor and Powell 84

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

in Cold Bay, Alaska, one November. I held an emperor goose tag and Eudor made a heckuva retrieve on a prized bird in heavy winds, blowing snow and chilling temperatures in the whitecapped Pacific Ocean. “Quality bloodlines and proper training are essential in getting the most out of your versatile dog,” shares Desiree Stormont, a North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA) judge and passionate waterfowl hunter. “We duckhunted a lot with our German shorthair pointer in Wisconsin, but it got pretty cold up there, plus that breed can get overexcited when sitting in a blind. I’d been around a lot of griffons in the duck blind and loved their demeanor, so four years ago I got one; he’s incredible in so many ways. Now that we live in Nebraska, we waterfowl hunt with our griff all season long, and sometimes our GSP joins us on shorter hunts.”

Stormont says that the drive a griffon has to perform in water and its ability to mark birds would surprise a lot of folks. “Rupert is my eyes in the sky. I think my favorite part of hunting ducks and geese with him is watching his eyes constantly searching for ducks. Just by watching Rupert I can tell where the birds are approaching from. He does an incredible job on retrieves too, and if one dives, sails, or hits the timber or brush, he’s not coming back until he finds it. It’s nothing for him to push back 500 yards and be gone for 10 minutes or more, and he takes signals very well.” When asked what folks should consider when looking to get a versatile gun dog, noted trainer and breeder of one of the most elite lines of pudelpointers in the country, Jess Spradley of Cabin Creek Gun Dogs (cabincreekgundogs.com) in Lakeview, Oregon, notes, “If you want a versatile

ROAD HUNTER water in winter can cause training challenges.” “The great thing about pudelpointers, drahths and griffs is their wiry, thick coat,” points out Powell. “That, along with a quality neoprene vest, and it’s surprising the conditions these dogs can endure, and I’m not talking just for a few hours; I’m talking all day for days on end.” It can be a challenge finding a neoprene vest that fits thin-waisted, deep-chested dogs like drahths and pudelpointers. My favorite vest for my pudelpointers is made by Browning, while Powell has been pleased with Tanglefree for his drahthaar.

Desiree Stormont and her griffon, Rupert, enjoy a duck hunt, just one of many different outings they share.

dog that loves water and waterfowl hunting, two things are important. First, you’ve got to have the best genetics you can find, as that’s going to bring out the top performance of the dog. If you want a pudelpointer or griff or any other versatile gun dog for waterfowl hunting, make sure the breeder knows that so they can get you a pup that has parents and

grandparents that tested well in water. Another important thing is the timing of getting a pup. If you’re going to get a versatile pup and you live in a cold climate much of the year, get it in late spring or early summer, so you can introduce it to water at a young age and regularly train it. Forcing a sensitive pup into cold

Quality genetics and dedicated, consistent training will see a versatile dog performing perfectly in a range of conditions and situations for an array of species. Here, a pudelpointer brings in a cackler.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

THE HUNT One January I took a buddy on a duck hunt. He’s a police officer who’s used to working with well-trained canines. “Will they sit like that all day?” he asked, nodding to my dogs on the platform. It was pouring rain, windy and 36 degrees and my dogs hadn’t moved for six hours, other than to retrieve birds and relieve themselves. I assured him they would, and would do so multiple times a week, all season long. He was surprised pudelpointers had that much discipline. He made another key observation, one I had noticed right away when hunting with Powell in Alaska, and

ROAD HUNTER

Author Scott Haugen and his two pudelpointers, Kona (left) and Echo, have enjoyed hundreds of hunts together over the years in a range of habitats for a variety of birds and small game. Here, they’re heading home with a limit of valley quail.

one that Stormont confirmed with her griff. “Watching your dogs watch birds, they even know the difference between ducks and all the other birds, don’t they?” He was right. On days when wind and rain are hammering my face, I might not look over the decoys much. I’ll just hunker down and watch my dogs and they’ll tell me if ducks are coming, from what direction, and even how fast they’re approaching. The following morning I took Kona into the rolling foothills of the Cascade Range on a fall turkey hunt. It was our seventh day over the course of the past two weeks trying to find turkeys. Finally, he cut a track, promptly followed it, then held a pair of jakes in heavy brush on the edge of a Douglas fir forest. When I caught up to Kona on solid point, the birds flushed and I dropped one, which he retrieved. The biggest fall tom Kona has ever retrieved weighed 21 pounds. Two days later we were hunting 88

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

honkers in a field, followed by a wood duck hunt in a brushy creek the day after that. Then our late-goose season kicked off and Kona racked up the retrieves on cacklers as our groups dropped hundreds of birds before the season culminated in March; this was a depredation hunt. The second to last hunt of the goose season was the most memorable. A flock of more than 3,000 cacklers funneled into the decoys and a couple buddies and I dropped five from the fringe of the flock, finishing our limits. One bird nearly hit me, which I grabbed. Looking up, I saw Kona with a cackler already in his mouth, which he quickly delivered to hand. Next, he was after another goose he saw drop behind the blind. Then I directed him by hand over 150 yards through the foot-tall, green rye grass to where a goose had drifted. He couldn’t see it, but once he started cutting wedges into the wind, it didn’t take long to pick up the scent.

“That dog’s more like a horse than any dog I’ve seen,” claimed one buddy, eyes fixed on Kona. “Man, he covers ground!” I failed to see the last bird go down, so got a line on it from my buddy. “It’s a quarter-mile across that field, and the fog is another 100 yards beyond that, and who knows how far the bird is past that by now. Last I saw, it was still going but getting low,” he pressed. “I’ll just go get it; I need the exercise anyway.” He started across the field as I sent Kona out, but the dog got distracted with all the fresh scent from the morning hunt. I called Kona back, started him on a new line, then pushed him back about 100 yards before he stopped and looked to me for direction. Raising an open hand overhead, I hollered “back” and Kona took off. Another 150 yards later, I stopped him with a buzz of his collar, directing him to the right with a hand signal. He took off at his usual powerful and steady gate. At the edge of the fog line, Kona paused, stretching his big black nose as high as he could. He slowly inched forward, not on point, but rather getting a bead on the direction of the smell he’d just detected. His back legs loaded and then thrust his deep chest over the lush green grass. He was in high gear and was quickly consumed by fog. My buddy, who was now 100 yards into the field, just kept walking toward the goose, unbelieving of Kona’s ability. A few minutes later, Kona emerged from the fog – still more than 500 yards away – and proudly pranced past my buddy, goose in mouth. He didn’t slow until he was by my side. Kona slept well that night, and when my alarm went off at 3:45 the next morning, I could hear him stand, shake and start wagging his tail in his kennel. Echo did the same. It was time to go hunting and they both knew it.  Editor’s note: Scott Haugen is a fulltime author. Learn more about his line of books and booking service at scotthaugen.com. Follow his adventures on Instagram and Facebook.

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Self-Defense TRAINING

OLD WEST AURA AROUND NEW SHOTGUN Testing Mossberg’s impressive short-barreled 590A1 Special in Arizona with gunfighter’s kin.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY PAUL PAWELA

rizona: what a wonderfully rich history the state has that still conjures the memories of the Old West to this very day. It is hard to talk about Arizona without talking about the country’s most famous recorded gunfight, the shootout in Tombstone, also known as the Gunfight at the OK Corral, between a group of lawmen and a group of outlaws known as the Cowboys. Representing the law, Doc Holliday was carrying the most formidable weapon, a 10-gauge sawed-off shotgun. It held 18 big pellets of buckshot, each bigger than a .32-caliber bullet. In the ensuing 30-second gunfight, Holliday used the shotgun to fell outlaw Tom McLaury with 12 buckshot pellets, which ripped him into pieces and rendered him out of the fight permanently. Over the following months, vengeance reigned as the lawmen and Cowboys took aim at one another. The shotgun was a favorite weapon of choice, used on both sides of the war. In a fitting end – a shotgun shootout – Wyatt Earp ended the life of Curly Bill Brocius, the leader of the outlaw gang, and thus ended the Cowboys. There were many reasons for the popularity of the shotgun in the Old West: its power at short range, its versatility and its ease of pointing; a person didn’t have to practice for hours to hit a bandit at 30 feet away. The homesteader, rancher and farmer used the shotgun for many purposes. Loaded with birdshot, a shotgun could be used for hunting prairie chicken or

Fred Mastison of Force Options Training holds Mossberg’s 590A1 Special shotgun during recent testing in the Arizona desert with the author. americanshootingjournal.com 91

SELF-DEFENSE TRAINING

Closeups of the 590A1’s trigger, safety and ejection port; muzzle and accessories; and view of the left side.

quail. Loaded with slugs, a shotgun could drop a deer at 75 yards. And loaded with buckshot, a shotgun turned a house or cabin into a wellarmed fortress. All three reasons are just as valid for citizens to own a good shotgun today.

The 12-gauge is chambered for 3-inch shells and has a capacity of five plus one. With its 14-inch barrel, the shotgun is subject to the National Firearms Act and $200 tax stamp.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

RECENTLY I WAS invited to Arizona to go shooting in the desert by not only one of the best tactical firearms/selfdefense instructors in the country but also one of the top gun writers in the industry – who happens to be a direct descendant of one of the Old West’s greatest lawmen, Bat Masterson. Who could say no to Fred Mastison of Force Options Training? I was looking to write an article on Mossberg’s new 590A1 Special shotgun and what a coincidence, Mastison was testing the short-barreled shotgun. Life does not get much better. For several decades, the Mossberg 590 has been the go-to gun for homeowners, law enforcement and soldiers alike. So it was very appropriate to not only shoot the Mossberg 590A1 in the desert, but to put it to the test under the extreme conditions that only a desert environment can produce. The Mossberg 590A1 did not

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SELF-DEFENSE TRAINING disappoint either. As technology has progressed, we now have a higher round count in the pump-action shotgun than the standard two rounds in the double-barreled sawed-off shotgun of the Old West. For the record, in regards to the increased shotgun round count, when it comes to human beings vs. shotguns, if the latter has appropriate ammunition and if rounds are on-target and inrange, rarely if ever have I seen the need for more than two rounds to end the threat. When famed firearms instructor Tom Givens investigated shootings, he stated that if a handgun was used, he would ask, “Which way did they run off to?” If a shotgun was used, he would ask, “Where is the body?” It was very nostalgic shooting the short-barreled 590A1 reminiscent of the Old West. Of course, a civilian today would be required to have a class 3 SOT tax stamp to own one, but depending on where one lives, they are not as hard to get as one might think. THE MOSSBERG BRAND has been around for some time now and has proven itself to be one of the leading gun manufacturers in the country. Of special note, Mossberg is the only manufacturer to pass military Mil-Spec testing for pump shotguns, and when

Author Paul Pawela felt a certain amount of nostalgia for the Old West as he put the Mossberg through its paces with a descendant of gunfighter, sheriff and gambler Bat Masterson.

it comes to testing weapons systems, no one can ever come close to testing a weapon system better than the military. Right out of the gate, the Mossberg brand is rock-solid! Shooting high volumes of shotgun

The shotgun features a heavywalled barrel, metal safety positioned on top of the receiver and a protective parkerized finish.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

slugs and 00 buck through a shotgun can take its toll on the barrel rather quickly. I once went through a two-day shotgun course with Mas Ayoob where we shot 1,000 rounds of slugs one day and 1,000 rounds of 00 buck the next day, and you would be surprised at some of the big-name shotguns that did not hold up. For this reason, I was very impressed that the Mossberg 590A1 uses a heavy-walled barrel. For those who don’t practice with their weapons system, the pump-action shotgun can become problematic quickly if you short-stroke the shotgun. This means the bolt did not fully return to the rear, so it misses the shell on the lifter and closes on an empty chamber. The biggest fix to that problem is to practice with your gun and bring the gun into battery with forceful purpose. To avoid problems, especially with short shotgun shells from Aguila and Federal, Mossberg modified their elevator and the bolt for better control. The Mossberg 590A1 is parkerized,

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SELF-DEFENSE TRAINING Special short-barrel shotgun: Was it compatible to comfortably carry in a regular vehicle? Check. Was the shotgun easy to get into battery? Check. Did the shotgun eat all types of different ammo without problems? Check. Did the shotgun survive the harsh elements? Check. Was the shotgun easy to shoot? Check! Had Doc Holliday had the 590A1 on that fateful day of October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona, the gunfight would not have gone 30 rounds in 30 seconds. More than likely, it would have gone three rounds in three seconds with no one else firing a shot! I can make no better endorsement than this: I would trust my life in a gunfight with any Mossberg 590 shotgun series and a great gunfighter like Fred Mastison by my side. That’s my two cents!  The short-barreled 590A1 earned a thumbs up from Pawela. Shooting it with fellow tactical/self-defense instructor and gun writer Mastison wasn’t so bad either.

which helps prevent rust from getting on a weapon. In Florida, where I live, salt has made many a gun run foul if it was not protected. With all weapons systems, safety is always paramount, and one of the standout features I have always liked about the Mossberg shotgun is the location of the safety. The safety is on A pair of 590A1 variants sit next to Mossberg’s Shockwave 590 Nightstick.

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

the top of the shotgun, strategically located and positioned by the grip, allowing the thumb to easily access on and off mode. Mossberg also replaced their plastic safeties with metal ones, a very smart move for both durability and dependability issues. FINAL THOUGHTS ON the 590A1

Author’s note: I want to thank Fred Mastison for all his help in making this article possible. For information on Force Options Training, go to forceoptionstraining.com. For more on Mossberg, go to mossberg.com. Editor’s note: For realistic self-defense training, see assaultcountertactics. com. Author Paul Pawela is a nationally recognized firearms and self-defense expert.

COMPANY SPOTLIGHT

CAN-DO COUPLE HAS MARKET GRIPPED Keith and Cristy Myers share Handleitgrips’ story, latest products, trends they’re seeing, company’s move to Texas and more.

Handleitgrips offers high-quality lasercut custom grips for the gun owner who wants more from their firearm.

PHOTOS BY HANDLEITGRIPS

everal years ago, Keith Myers bought a firearm featuring a grip that had been cut with an X-Acto knife. An unusual but intriguing enhancement, to be sure. But after a few uses, he soon discovered that the grip didn’t quite feel right. So he set out to customize his own. “I thought I could make it better,” explains Keith, a US Navy veteran who also worked for a defense contractor most of his career. “So I bought some material, and it was a big learning process, but that’s where it started. We started slow, selling a few on eBay. Then a couple grew to 10, then to 20, and now, six years later, we sell roughly 1,600 to 1,800 a week.” The company, dubbed Handleitgrips, now sells on several different platforms, exporting their products all over the world. A true multi-generational family business, Handleitgrips is owned and operated by Keith and his wife Cristy,

with help from their son, daughter-in-law, and younger daughter. “Even my in-laws will chime in,” says Keith. Together, the family works to constantly churn out innovative products to satisfy their growing customer base, with Keith running the analytical/business side and Cristy taking charge of the creative side. “I think that’s what makes us a stronger company,” says Cristy. “We all sit down at the table and throw new ideas around and uncover them from beginning to end. We want to make sure we are doing what our customers want and, more importantly, need.” Handleitgrips also ensures each

product will stand up to wear and tear by putting it through a rigorous testing process. “We’ll set it in water for two days to see if it will stay on,” explains Cristy. “We freeze it. Get it dirty. We put it through the wringer before it comes out. We don’t want to sell junk; americanshootingjournal.com 99

Company SPOTLIGHT

The company’s grips come in an assortment of materials, textures and colors, and there are products designed specifically for the female market.

we want to sell a quality product.” The company prides itself on providing a vast array of laser-cut grips in an assortment of materials and textures – including sandpaper, rubber and vinyl – as well as colors. This variety, Keith says, is what sets their company apart. And the team is always looking to utilize new materials and processes so that shooters can have exactly what they want. For example, as the number of female gun owners continues to grow, the Myerses have expanded the business to now include Handlehergrips, with products designed specifically for women. Their glitter sandpaper grip has become quite popular with novice and professional shooters alike, including competitive shooter Lena Miculek, who uses the black glitter sandpaper grip on her firearm. “Who would have thought someone 100

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

would want black glitter sandpaper on their gun?” asks Keith. “It’s a really neat thing.” More so today than ever before, gun owners want to customize and accessorize their firearm with the latest and greatest. “On social media, you’ll see people upgrading their triggers, or adding holographic sights,” says Keith. “People are looking to accessorize. The firearm is an accessory to a person, just like a cell phone.” Speaking of social media, the Myerses explain that there is a whole new subset of gun owners out there that wouldn’t necessarily be classified as “shooters,” but they are still a customer base worth targeting. “Many new gun owners in America will never shoot their gun; they just want to take pictures,” says Cristy, referencing the numerous social media celebrities and influencers who pose with custom firearms for their

Company SPOTLIGHT thousands, if not millions, of followers. “Every year we sell thousands of our honeycomb vinyl grips, which don’t improve the guns’ grip, but they look cool. There is a market for that.” “Competition shooters don’t understand that,” she adds. “But we like to have a conversation with both sides to see what they want.” Handleitgrips originated in California, but the company is in the process of relocating to Ennis, Texas, south of Dallas. “California has been good to us, but it’s not the easiest place to have a firearms business,” says Keith. “We’ve had to work smarter to overcome a lot of those obstructions and things are changing rapidly. We look forward to being in Texas, where there aren’t those limitations.” “We’re not badmouthing the people of California or the relationships we’ve made,” adds Cristy. “But the politics are very tough.”

Handleitgrips’ honeycomb vinyl grips won’t actually improve handgunners’ hold on their firearm, “but they look cool. There is a market for that,” notes Cristy Myers, the family company’s creative brains.

“If it wasn’t for the politics, we wouldn’t be leaving,” agrees Keith. “But it was what God wanted for us,” concludes Cristy. “That’s how we made our decision. It was chosen for us.” “For six years we have been very, very blessed,” says Keith of their journey thus far. And from their new

S R’ R E L LE UMMB THTU

Texas location, Handleitgrips will continue to do what they do best: create high-quality laser-cut custom grips for the gun owner who wants more from their firearm.  Editor’s note: For more information, visit handleitgrips.com.

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L.E. SPOTLIGHT

OFFICER GETS STUDENT ROLLING

Bike given to high schooler who walked 6 miles to class and back an example of soft but critical police impact. STORY BY NICK PERNA • PHOTOS COURTESY OF PARAGOULD SCHOOL DISTRICT

n every job there is a certain level of activity expected from you. Projects are assigned and, if someone is doing their job correctly, should get finished within a timely manner. Police work is no different. Detectives are expected to clear cases, motor officers are required to issue citations, and so forth. As with most jobs, as long as you do what’s required of you on a daily basis, you will stay fully employed for as long as you want. Routinely, though, we see officers do things well above and beyond what is detailed in their job description. The heroic episodes garner the most attention: running into burning buildings, braving gunfire to rescue someone, and so on. Admittedly, most of the exploits I choose to highlight in this monthly column are those “action and adventure” type stories. They appeal to me and, I’m guessing if you’re reading this right now, they appeal to you as well. However, to be honest, it’s often the “kinder and gentler” things cops do that really make an impact. Spending a few moments to talk to someone going through a psychological episode, giving a child a sticker, or giving someone a warning instead of a ticket. The effects of these interactions are not as immediate (or exciting) as great acts of heroism but, in the long-term, they are just as important.

CORPORAL JEFF SHIRLEY is a school resource officer in Jonesboro,

Corporal Jeff Shirley and Zander pose for a picture (left) after the officer presented the Arkansas high school student with a brand-new bicycle. Heroism is more than running into burning buildings or braving gunfire. It’s the human kindness and compassion (right) that officers like Shirley demonstrate daily.

Arkansas. The SRO position has been much maligned in recent years. When the liberal politicians and media went on the “Defund the Police” rant, one of the early casualties was SRO programs. Misguided and misinformed parents, educators and school administrators eliminated SRO positions, believing that less law and order in schools would be a good idea. Not surprisingly, many are now quietly asking police departments to reinstate them. Corporal Shirley noticed that every day, while driving to work, he would see the same young man walking to school. One day he offered the student, Zander, a ride. He found out that Zander walked 3 miles each way to get to school every day. One day, after giving Zander a ride home from football practice, Corporal Shirley had an idea. When he got home from work that night, he talked it over with his wife and they decided to use their own money to buy Zander a bicycle.

The next day at school, he presented Zander with a brand-new bike. Shirley said that seeing Zander’s smile made his day, adding, “That look is why I do what I do.” Nowhere in Corporal Shirley’s job description does it say that he needs to spend his own hard-earned money to help out the less fortunate. He did it because it was the right thing to do. In the hallway of the school that Corporal Shirley patrols, there is a sign that states, “Human. Kind. Be Both.” Corporal Shirley is both, and more.  Editor’s note: Author Nick Perna is a sergeant with the Redwood City Police Department in northern California. He previously served as a paratrooper in the US Army and is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He also has a master’s degree from the University of San Francisco. He is a frequent contributor to multiple print and online forums on topics related to law enforcement, firearms, tactics and veterans issues. americanshootingjournal.com 105

BLACK POWDER

An 1866 Winchester by Uberti shown with a replica .44-40 cartridge box.

SHOOTING THE 1866 WINCHESTER

Used Uberti replica Short Rifle in .44-40 proves authentic, accurate for black powder cartridge shooter. STORY AND PHOTOS BY MIKE NESBITT

etting one of the Uberti copies of the 1866 Winchester was something I wanted to do for quite a while, and after looking at several used versions of this gun, I finally scored. Like the original Winchester ’66s, there are copies made today, or at least in recent years, that have almost every option that was available then. These include rifles and carbines, as well as different sights. Most of the variations are authentic, or they seem to be; authenticity is an important

factor to me. The gun I have now is one of the 1866 Short Rifles, a rifle with an octagon barrel that is only 20 inches long. Original Model 1866 Short Rifles are rather few, according to George Madis, the Winchester historian, as only 850 of these rifles were made. It is quite likely that the modern copies of those Short Rifles outnumber the originals. At least I do have a good copy of a rather rare rifle. And I’ve learned some interesting things about the old 1866 Winchesters, which were the first Winchesters. When production was started, they

continued with the serial numbers of the Henry rifles. So serial numbers for the 1866s began in the 12,000 area. For the first year of production, the ’66s and the Henrys were made almost side by side and they both were numbered in the same sequence, which means those two rifle models have overlapping serial numbers. But production of the Henrys was stopped toward the end of 1866, while the production of the ’66s really climbed. By the end of 1872, nearly 100,000 of the 1866 rifles had been made. Then in 1873, when the famous Winchester ’73 was first introduced, americanshootingjournal.com 107

BLACK POWDER

Author Mike Nesbitt takes a shot while kneeling in the timber, and it was a hit.

production of the ’66 kept climbing because the ’73s got off to a slow start. While the ’73 is referred to as “the rifle that won the West,” if a cowboy or buffalo skinner wanted a repeating rifle before 1876, it would most likely have been a ’66 rather than a ’73. Sales of the 1866 rifles continued until 1898, although very slowly in those later years, and total production of the ’66 came to just over 170,000. WHILE I DID mention how I appreciate authenticity, we can’t overlook the fact that new versions of the ’66 are made in .44-40, plus a few other calibers. Personally, I’d love it if the new copies of this famous rifle were made in .44 Henry rimfire caliber, providing that new ammo could also be made available. But we can’t expect that to happen. And I did consider finding one of these new rifles in .44 Special caliber, mainly because I would load and shoot it with black powder loads 108

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in .44 Colt cases, which would be fairly close to the old .44 Henry loading. That loading used 28 grains of black powder under the 200-grain pointed or flat bullet. However, getting the Short Rifle in .44-40 was a good opportunity for me and it does please me. The load I favor for my .44-40 rifles uses 34½ grains of GOEX Olde Eynsford 2F powder. (Perhaps this is a good time to mention that GOEX was acquired this January by Estes Energetics, which says that neither production nor delivery of their black powder will be interrupted.) That much powder requires compression when loading and I’ll admit that I compress the powder charge simply when seating the bullets. Doing so does not deform the bullets in this case, but handloaders must be careful while seating bullets over noncompressed charges of black powder because deformed bullets are often the result. The 34½-grain loading under

The Model 1866 Short Rifle comes with a 20-inch barrel.

BLACK POWDER

This is the second five-shot group Nesbitt fired over open sights from the bench at a 25-yard paper target.

a 205-grain bullet, cast from Accurate Molds’ No. 43-205C mold, gives just over 1,300 feet per second in my 1873 rifle with a 30-inch barrel. Shots through the 1866 Short Rifle’s 20-inch barrel have not been chronographed as yet, but they can be expected to shoot perhaps 50 feet per second slower. This new-to-me rifle was first shot on the black powder trailwalk at our range. In anticipation of getting this rifle, I had purchased one of Marble Arms’ new tang sights. But before mounting that peep sight, I wanted to try the rifle with the open sights that it was supplied with. To my honest surprise as well as delight, I could shoot the gun rather well with the open sight. That was a surprise because most open sights can’t be seen clearly with my eye; so for now, the open sight will remain on the barrel. My shots on the trail resulted in good hits on the hanging and “clanging” gongs. The shooting was so enjoyable that I had to stop myself before I shot up all of my loaded ammo. There was other shooting to be done, including getting 110

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

to a bench and actually sighting the rifle in. So, with all of the self-control I could muster, I stopped my shooting for the day. Cleaning the gun after that first shooting session was a bit of a chore. It was certainly dirty and the barrel took four cleaning patches anointed with Three Rivers Black Powder Solvent from The Gun Works (thegunworks.com) before coming clean. After more shooting and more cleanings, I expect the barrel to come clean with just two patches. That’s after the bore is broken in, when the barrel has gotten used to black powder loads and bullets with black powder lubes. Following the cleaning, the bore was wiped with a high-quality gun oil; I used Old West Snake Oil (oldwestsnakeoil.com) for that job. Keeping ’em clean is just one of the “secrets” of good black powder shooting. MY FIRST SHOOTING session with this Short Rifle was a good one but it didn’t include any paper targets. So I needed to shoot a couple of paper targets just to see for sure where this

gun was sending its bullets and to see if it would group well. For the target, I selected one of our club’s small bull’seye targets that we commonly use at just 25 yards. The “black” on this little target is only 2¼ inches across, so shooting at 25 yards would tell me all I wanted to know. Like I said, my initial idea for this gun was to put a tang sight on it and I actually got the sight before I got the gun. But after trying the rifle with the open sight, I have delayed installing the peep sight until I find that it is actually needed. For some reason, I can see this open sight better than I had expected and if it will let me hit things, I’ll keep using it. The paper targets were the real test. Two targets were posted at 25 yards on our black powder range. Shooting was done from a benchrest. Five shots were taken at the first target and those grouped well but were slightly high and to the left. The gun’s rear sight was already all the way down and I was holding at 6 o’clock on the target. An easy way to get this gun to hit right-on for elevation would be to pick a target with a larger bull’s-eye. But the windage was a different matter. For that, the rear sight was moved just slightly to the right, using a Wyoming Sight Drifter. Five more shots were then fired at the second target and that one held a group that I liked. This group was actually wider by a little bit than the first one, but was centered much better. I considered this .44-40 rifle to be sighted-in; to confirm that, some offhand shots were taken at gongs out to 100 yards, with a hit for every shot. Cleaning after that second shooting session was easier; it took only three patches. That’s all the shooting that has been done so far with this rifle, but I must warn you: I do expect you’ll be hearing more about it. Let me just say that the rifle shoots like it should and I’ll be looking for more places to use it. As a “camp gun” at our Buffalo Camp might easily be one of those places. I’m already looking forward to it. 

American Shooting Journal - June 2022

Articles inside

BLACK POWDER: SHOOTING THE 1866 WINCHESTER

Concealed Carry Gallery

Timber King Outfitting, guiding big game hunts in Alberta, Mexico

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

American Shooting Journal // June 2022

ROADHUNTER: VERSATILE HUNTING DOGS

BULLET BULLETIN: A TIP OF THE HAT TO NEW FAMILY MEMBER

SCATTERGUN ALLEY: TAKING TURKEYS, NEAR AND FAR

SHOOTING MAXIMUM POINTBLANK RANGE

PRS PROFILE: COMPETING IS HIS THING