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A MERIC A N
SHOOTING JOURNAL
Volume 9 // Issue 11 // August 2020
PUBLISHER James R. Baker
WEBMASTER / INBOUND MARKETING Jon Hines
GENERAL MANAGER John Rusnak
INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER Lois Sanborn
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Andy Walgamott
ADVERTISING INQUIRIES ads@americanshootingjournal.com
OFFICE MANAGER / COPY EDITOR Katie Aumann
ON THE COVER Based in western Ohio, MKS Supply has grown under owner Charlie Brown and now operates out of a 12,000-square-foot warehouse, representing and marketing for Barnaul Ammunition, Hi-Point Firearms and Inland Manufacturing. (MKS SUPPLY)
LEAD CONTRIBUTOR Frank Jardim CONTRIBUTORS Jim Dickson, Scott Haugen, Phil Massaro, Mike Nesbitt, Nick Perna SALES MANAGER Paul Yarnold
DG Gentry Custom, LLC ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mamie Griffin, Jim Klark, Mike Smith
Website: AmericanShootingJournal.com Facebook: Facebook.com/AmericanShootingJournal Twitter: @AmShootingJourn
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American Shooting Journal // August 2020
CONTENTS
VOLUME 9 • ISSUE 11
MORE FEATURES
26
36
CASE (CLEANING) CLOSED Frankford Arsenal’s Rotary Tumbler Lite and stainless-steel tumbling pins made Frank Jardim’s hardest brass cleaning job – refurbishing .30-06 cartridges that had gone through a barn fire – easy. Find out how the system works!
47
BIG MAC ATTACK With its military background and “Cocaine Wars” reputation, the MAC-10 has quite a story and is still a hoot to shoot – “as long as someone else is paying for the ammo.” Nick Perna digs into the history books and takes a turn behind the trigger.
57
BLACK POWDER: GUNNING FOR ENTRY INTO THE BILLY DIXON SOCIETY During a spring long-range competition in central Oregon, Mike Nesbitt fancied his chances to join a “prestigious” circle of shooters by hitting a 1,200yard target that replicated a famous shot made by a buffaloed bison hunter. Did he succeed?
67
EVOLUTION OF CLAY BIRD SPORTS Live pigeons, glass targets, a famous military march composer, the new chicken farm next door, and a $100 gold prize – who knew the origins of trap and skeet shooting were so dang interesting?!? Jim Dickson shares the story of two sports that are not only a part of the Olympics, but pretty dang fun!
75
ROAD HUNTER: BOWHUNTING BULL ELK, WEST VS. EAST It takes different tactics to bag Roosevelt and Rocky Mountain bulls during the rut, and we know just the guy to ask! Scott Haugen steps in with a tutorial on hunting the main elk species of the West.
91
BULLET BULLETIN: AMMUNITION CHOICES FOR BRUIN HUNTERS From brushy coastal Alaska salmon streams to New England’s mountains, Kodiaks and grizzlies to black bears, the best bruin loads vary. Luckily, our professor of all things projectile, Phil Massaro, knows his way around not only North America’s myriad bear woods, but the bullet world as well, and he has some suggestions as fall hunts begin.
(MKS SUPPLY)
DEMAND, MEET MKS SUPPLY
Under owner Charlie Brown’s leadership, this Ohio-based company now markets and distributes for three major firearms and ammo brands. Jim Dickson charts MKS Supply’s rise under a man who was “born into the gun business.”
DEPARTMENTS 19 23
Competition Calendar Gun Show Calendar
AMERICAN SHOOTING JOURNAL is published monthly by Media Index Publishing Group, 14240 Interurban Ave South Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. Display Advertising. Call Media Index Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Index Publishing Group and will not be returned. Copyright © 2020 Media Index Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher. Printed in U.S.A.
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American Shooting Journal // August 2020
PRIMER
COMPETITION C A L E N D A R
August 9
August 15
August 15
August 15
August 7-9
August 21-23
August 28-30
Rocky Mountain Regional Classic XXVI Greeley, Colo.
August 21-23
August 28-30
August 14-16
August 26-30
August 29-30
August 20-23
August 27-30
2020 Minnesota Section Championship Forest Lake, Minn.
August 1-2
August 15-16
August 29-30
August 22-23
August 29-30
2020 MRA Junior Pistol PTO Woburn, Mass. usashooting.org
2020 USAS Men’s Trap PTO Kerrville, Texas Virginia Ballistic Challenge II Bluefield, Va.
August 8-9
uspsa.org
Magic City Glock Challenge V Billings, Mont. Eastern Nebraska Glock Classic V Louisville, Neb. Virginia Ballistic Challenge II Bluefield, Va.
August 8-9 gssfonline.com
Rocky Mountain Regional Classic XXVI Greeley, Colo.
August 8-9
Team Shooting Stars Aug 2020 PTO Carrollton, Texas
2020 Ladies’ Trap PTO Kerrville, Texas Northern California Regional Classic XXVII Richmond, Calif. Midwest Regional Classic XXIX Hallsville, Mo. Twin Tiers Regional Classic VI Pine City, N.Y. Belton Blast I Belton, S.C.
Eastern Nebraska Glock Classic V Louisville, Neb. Northern California Regional Classic XXVII Richmond, Calif.
2020 Battle for the North Coast III Rome, Ohio 2020 Illinois Sectional Havana, Ill.
Twin Tiers Regional Classic VI Pine City, N.Y. Belton Blast I Belton, S.C.
August 22-23
August 7-9
August 8-9
August 22
August 14-15
August 29
Midwest Regional Classic XXIX Hallsville, Mo. Mass State Championship Norfolk, Mass.
Michigan State Shootout Elsie, Mich.
2020 Southeast Regional Championship Perry, Ga.
August 8-9
August 15-16
August 7-8
August 14-16
August 8-9
August 22
August 8
WI State Championship Montfort, Wis. 2020 Potomac Grail Thurmont, Md. idpa.com
August 15-16
Magic City Glock Challenge V Billings, Mont.
North Pacific Regional Championship Warden, Wash.
cmsaevents.com
2020 USAS Ladies’ Skeet PTO Kerrville, Texas
2020 Archangel ProMag Washington State IDPA Championship Onalaska, Wash.
Iowa State Championship Elkhart, Iowa NH State Championship Gilford, N.H.
Ohio State Championship Wooster, Ohio 2020 PA State Championship Bedford, Pa. 2020 Iowa State IDPA Championship Elkhart, Iowa
August 22-23
2020 Rocky Mountain Regional IDPA Championship Palisade, Colo.
August 28-29
2020 Texas State Championship Whitewright, Texas
Note: Due to the coronavirus outbreak, social distancing requirements that states have prescribed, and rapidly changing developments at press time, it is highly advisable to check ahead on the status of individual events via the links in the above organizers’ websites. americanshootingjournal.com 19
20
American Shooting Journal // August 2020
PRS RESOURCE GUIDE Pro Bolt Gun Series Aug. 1 Aug. 8 Aug. 15 Aug. 22 Aug. 29 Sept. 5 Sept. 11 Sept. 19 Sept. 26
Wisconsin Barrel Maker Classic Vapor Trail Bullets Steel Siege MPA Summer Shootout 2020 Big Dog Steel Fall Challenge Okie Showdown VPRC Rifleman’s Revival 2020 Federal Gold Medal Match- Qualifier Great Lakes PRC Reveille Peak Ranch Open
Cascade, Wisconsin Spickard, Missouri Blakey, Georgia Kimbolton, Ohio Ninnekah, Oklahoma Alton, Virginia Carbon Hill, Alabama Lake City, Michigan Burnet, Texas
Note: Due to the coronavirus outbreak, social distancing requirements that states are prescribing and rapidly changing developments at press time, it is highly advisable to check ahead on the status of individual events via the link in the organizer’s website below.
For more information visit www.precisionrifleseries.com
PARTS, ACCESSORIES & GEAR
See our below and on page 82
americanshootingjournal.com 21
PRIMER
GUNSHOW C A L E N D A R
C&E Gun Shows
August 1-2 August 8-9 August 15-16 August 15-16 August 22-23 August 22-23
Columbus, Ohio Dayton, Ohio Harrisburg, Pa. Sharonville, Ohio Fayetteville, N.C. Springfield, Ohio
Westland Mall Montgomery County Event Center PA Farm Show Complex Sharonville Convention Center Crown Expo Center Clark County Fairgrounds
Crossroads Of The West Gun Shows
August 15-16 August 22-23 September 5-6 September 12-13 September 19-20
Prescott, Ariz. Costa Mesa, Calif. St. George, Utah Phoenix, Ariz. Tucson, Ariz.
Findlay Toyota Center OC Fair and Event Center Dixie Center Arizona State Fairgrounds Pima County Fairgrounds
Florida Gun Shows
August 1-2 August 15-16 August 22-23 August 29-30
Fort Myers, Fla. Orlando, Fla. Tampa, Fla. Miami, Fla.
Lee County Civic Center Central Florida Fairgrounds Florida State Fairgrounds The Fair Expo Center
RK Shows
August 1-2 August 1-2 August 8-9 August 8-9 August 15-16 August 22-23 August 22-23 August 29-30 August 29-30
Oklahoma City, Okla. Lebanon, Tenn. Colorado Springs, Colo. Overland Park, Kan. Springfield, Mo. Kansas City, Mo. Southaven, Miss. Lawrenceville, Ga. St. Charles, Mo.
Oklahoma State Fair Park – Expo Hall #2 Wilson County Exposition Center Colorado Springs Event Center Overland Park Convention Center Ozark Empire Fairgrounds KCI Expo Center Landers Center Gwinnett County Fairgrounds St. Charles Convention Center
cegunshows.com
crossroadsgunshows.com
floridagunshows.com
rkshows.com
Real Texas Gun Shows
All 2020 shows cancelled until further notice
Tanner Gun Shows
All 2020 shows cancelled until further notice
therealtexasgunshow.com
tannergunshow.com
Wes Knodel Gun Shows wesknodelgunshows.com
August 29-30 September 12-13 September 12-13
Redmond, Ore. Centralia, Wash. Portland, Ore.
Deschutes County Fairgrounds Expo Center Southwest Washington Fairgrounds Portland Expo Center
Note: Due to the coronavirus outbreak, social distancing requirements that states prescribed, and rapidly changing developments at press time, it is highly advisable to check ahead on the status of individual gun shows via the links in the above organizers’ websites. To have your event highlighted here, send an email to kaumann@media-inc.com.
americanshootingjournal.com 23
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American Shooting Journal // August 2020
DEMAND, MEET MKS M SUPPLY
Under owner Charlie Brown's leadership, the Ohio-based company now markets and distributes for three major firearms and ammo brands. STORY BY JIM DICKSON PHOTOS BY MKS SUPPLY
Charlie Brown, owner of MKS Supply, holds a carbine made by Hi-Point Firearms, one of three gun and ammo manufacturers whose wares his company represents and distributes.
KS Supply is a reliable distributor that represents three important gun and ammo companies. While that portfolio today includes Barnaul Ammunition and Inland Manufacturing, it all began with Hi-Point Firearms back in 1986. That’s when MKS Supply was founded by the three owners of Ashland Shooting Supplies to market the very first Hi-Point 9mm pistol. At that time, Hi-Point was still Stallard Arms. It would be renamed a couple of years later. Hi-Point was built by the late Tom Deeb and this 9mm pistol was their only product at that time, but .380, .40, and .45 ACP pistols were soon added. The guns were all made with an aluminum alloy frame until 1994, when Hi-Point became the first American gun company to make a polymer-frame pistol. In late 1995, they came out with a 9mm carbine. With the Clinton assault weapon ban in place, it had only a 10-round magazine. Over the next few years, the carbine came out in .40 and .45 caliber. Deeb then sold Hi-Point to his chief designer and mold maker, Michael Strassell, in 2014. Meanwhile, Charlie Brown had been managing MKS Supply since 1993 and bought the company in early 2000. In addition to Hi-Point, MKS Supply began distributing Inland Manufacturing’s guns around 2010, and importing and distributing Barnaul ammo in 2017. In 2020, Barnaul ammo imports are expected to be over 50 million rounds. More on Brown later, but first a
Brown, here firing a Hi-Point 9mm, was “born into the gun business,” getting his start at his grandfather and father’s Ohio shooting range.
word on MKS Supply. The company only works with select manufacturers, becoming the sales and marketing side of the companies they work with. They do all the sales, ads, dealer and distributor support, and they work with writers of sporting publications. This allows the manufacturers to invent and make products, free of those worries and distractions.
BROWN WAS BORN into the gun business. In 1953, his grandfather and his father David opened the first outdoor “pay to shoot range” in Ohio. Called the Miami Valley Shooting Grounds, it had a 25-, 50- and 100yard range. They put Brown to work there, sweeping brass, repairing target frames, setting up the trap for the clay bird shooters, and loading boxes of .38 Special for a nickel a box. As he grew older, he worked behind the sales counter and also did some minor gunsmithing. In the early 1970s, the family sold 28
American Shooting Journal // August 2020
the range and gun shop, but after three years they opened another retail shop called The Outdoorsman, but without a range. At 16, Brown ran the shop and set up archery ranges and a camping department during the summer, while his father went to Canada for his annual three-month vacation. Brown went to the University of Cincinnati, where he double-majored in marketing and management. He was in the co-op program and worked for sporting goods distributor Outdoor Sports Headquarters in the telemarketing department. He graduated from college in 1983 and went to work as an outside traveling sales rep for Outdoor Sports and worked there until 1989, when he took a job with Faber Brothers, another sports distributor in Chicago. In 1993, he was approached to run MKS Supply and took the job. Brown is an NRA Life Member and Endowment Member. He shot trap at the Grand American as a
sub-junior and junior shooter. He is one of the founding members of the Heritage Foundation, now known as NSSF, received the Vincent Shiel Sportsmen’s Heritage Award in 2016, participates in local shoots of all disciplines, and is probably one of the last people in the industry who has lived on all sides of the gun business – manufacturing, wholesale and retail. Having known Brown for quite some time, I might also add that he is one of the nicest guys in the gun business. I sure don’t say that about everybody. Under his leadership, MKS Supply has grown to a 12,000-square-foot warehouse with seven attached offices. When Brown is not working at his desk, he can often be found helping load or unload the trucks as they come. MKS Supply will not take on a new company unless they think it is a good fit for them, thus ensuring that they deliver top performance. They are dedicated to the companies they represent and the customers they serve.
Barnaul’s 115-grain FMJ 9mm is one load that works extremely well in Luger pistols. The Luger needs a different recoil impulse than Browningtype automatic pistols, but most 9mm is made for the Browning-type guns today. In addition, many loads are an incorrect overall length for the Luger and won’t feed well through its steeply inclined magazine.
A group of Barnaul’s super-accurate polymer-coated steel-cased ammunition.
THOSE COMPANIES INCLUDE
Russia-based Barnaul, which makes some of the highest-quality ammunition in the world. All of their ammo is expected to shoot inside ½
inch at 100 yards when fired from the 2-inch-diameter test barrels they bought in the Czech Republic. Founded during the reign of the tsar, Barnaul was the first factory to
make the 7.62x54mmR ammo for the Mosin-Nagant rifle in 1891. In World War II, they made 1.8 billion rounds of ammo. That’s more than was shot in the entire war. Today Barnaul has a 4-acre factory under one roof with 5,000 employees. They are fanatical about quality, and they keep the prices down with high volume production and the use of polymer-coated steel cases instead of brass. These are perfectly safe for the gun and the only drawback is that most
Inland Manufacturing makes the World War II M1 carbine to the final MilSpecs. The M1 carbine had the most hits on enemy soldiers per number of rounds fired of any American weapon issued before or since. A true all-around rifle, it works on small, medium and big game without ruining a lot of meat. Incredibly easy to hit with, light and compact, it is the ultimate bug-out and survival rifle.
Inland also makes this highly efficient silencer for .22, .30 and .45 ACP guns.
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American Shooting Journal // August 2020
Inland’s M1911A1 is perhaps the finest M1911A1 in current production. They are extremely accurate yet loose enough to work in combat conditions, unlike many M1911s made today.
The Hi-Point carbine in one of the many camouflage finishes offered. This gun is an effective pistol-caliber semiauto shoulder gun at an affordable price.
folks consider them not reloadable. Barnaul offers 32 different loads in 12 calibers: .223, .30-06, .308, .380, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, 5.45x39mm, 6.5 Grendel, 7.62x39mm, 7.62x54mmR, 9mm Luger, and 9mm Makarov. It should be noted that although Luger pistols do not like all the 9mm loads available today, they do like the Barnaul FMJ 115-grain load. Like the M16 rifle, Lugers are sensitive about their ammo. MKS Supply also distributes the guns of Inland Manufacturing. Inland makes seven variations of the M1 carbine, along with three versions of an M1 carbine as a pistol. In addition, they make a very accurate M1911A1 in three variations, as well as a copy of the Ithaca M37 12-gauge riot gun with a heat shield and bayonet lug. A two-
A heavily accessorized Hi-Point carbine. The company offers more accessories than can be listed here.
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American Shooting Journal // August 2020
The famous Hi-Point 9mm pistol made defense handguns affordable, saving countless families from criminal depredation. Big and bulky but cheap, accurate and reliable, it gets the job done.
Based in the western Ohio city of Dayton, MKS Supply has grown under Brown and now operates out of a 12,000-square-foot warehouse. When the boss isn’t at his desk, “he can often be found helping load or unload the trucks as they come,” writes author Jim Dickson, who also calls Brown “one of the nicest guys in the gun business.”
shot Liberator Derringer and silencers in .22-caliber, .30-caliber and 9mm round out Inland’s product line. All of the Inland products are very well made and accurate. And Hi-Point Firearms are also distributed by MKS Supply. These are noteworthy because they are reliable, quality guns at extremely low prices. The extensive use of plastics and the most inexpensive-to-make designs enable them to provide serviceable, if somewhat big and bulky, guns to people who cannot afford an M1 carbine or an M1911A1 pistol. The extensive use of polymer plastics in their guns’ construction enables them to offer many different camouflage finishes. They make a carbine in 9mm, .40 S&W, 10mm, and .45 ACP. They also make pistols in all these calibers, as well as .380. Their list of options and accessories just grows and grows. Kind of like MKS Supply. Editor’s note: For more information, visit mkssupply.com.
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American Shooting Journal // August 2020
CASE (CLEANING) C
36
American Shooting Journal // August 2020
) CLOSED
Frankford Arsenal's Rotary Tumbler Lite and stainless-steel tumbling pins made my hardest brass cleaning jobs easy. STORY AND PHOTOS BY FRANK JARDIM
I
recently ended up with a pail of .30-06 brass shell cases that were salvaged from a burned down barn. They were grossly discolored from heat and smoke, and in some cases, coated in melted metals and plastics. They were truly a mess and even at a scrap-metal price, capable of inducing almost immediate buyer’s remorse. My expectation was that fire had done a thorough job of annealing them and they were unsafe to use for loading standard ammunition, but they would be fine for making up some dummy ammo for prop machinegun belts or might even be safe for blank ammo. Ever hopeful, I dumped a few hundred in my big vibratory case polisher with some cleaner and crushed walnut shells, and after 24 hours of continuous wiggling and giggling in the media ... they looked only a little less crappy and the media was pretty much spent. Yikes! Back in the pail they went, to be tucked away under my work bench (with many other failed projects) to silently mock my foolishness every time I bumped them with my toe. At least they did until I stumbled upon the perfect solution from Frankford Arsenal at a friend’s house.
Before and after images of dirty and clean .30-06 brass that went through a barn fire.
MY FRIEND IS a serious long-range target shooter and handloader, and, being a bachelor, he has a lot of reloading gear set up in his kitchen, where no married man could. While visiting, I commented on the expensive virgin rifle brass he was prepping to load and was astonished to learn it was military salvage brass he’d cleaned using a little rocktumbler-like affair, water, Dawn dish americanshootingjournal.com 37
Open bag of magnetic stainless-steel pins.
Put filthy brass in Frankford Arsenal brass drum.
Pour in 2 pounds of pins.
soap and, the secret ingredient, tiny 1mm x 7mm stainless-steel pins. The cases looked like new, but he assured me most of them wore a dark brown patina from months on the ground before he cleaned them up, right there on his countertop. The pins themselves were made of 304 magnetic stainless, which allows 38
American Shooting Journal // August 2020
Add Frankford Arsenal soap packet.
them to be separated from the cases, and policed up when they get away, with a convenient magnetic pick-up tool. Unlike the organic corncob or walnut shell media used in vibratory case polishers, the stainless pins are never exhausted and they can be easily washed when they get dirty. He got the whole kit from
Add clean water until full and then screw on drum’s watertight lid.
Frankford Arsenal for less than I paid for my big name-brand vibratory polisher. I was intrigued by the possibilities, to say the least. For every bright, presentable, once-fired shell case I pick up off the ground at the range, I must leave 20 of the dirty brown ones on the ground. The upside potential of this brass cleaning setup
Uncap drum and flush out dirty water.
Roll baby, roll, all night long.
Dump drained brass and pins in Wet Dry Separator.
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American Shooting Journal // August 2020
Install strainer in place of cap for final draining.
OId brass looks new!
Drain out most of the reaming water without losing pins.
americanshootingjournal.com 41
Spin the separator a few times to get the brass fairly dry and to sift out the pins.
looked very promising. It was all made by the Frankford Arsenal company, not to be confused with the 19th century U.S. military facility of the same name. This Frankford Arsenal isn’t that old, but it’s been around for a while now, specializing in providing handloaders with good quality gear at reasonable prices. The products are built in China, but designed here, with an eye toward value. A little research showed they are no fly-by-night outfit. Their parent company is American Outdoor Brands Corporation, which also owns Smith & Wesson, Crimson Trace, Thompson Center and Gemtech Suppressors, to name just a few. Inquiries up the handloading grapevine revealed only satisfied customers. FRANKFORD ARSENAL PRODUCTS can be found at a lot of online and local retailers or ordered off the company’s website (frankfordarsenal.com). The complete stainless-steel brass-cleaning kit I opted for included the Rotary Tumbler Lite (available in 110- or 220-volt models) for $129, a 2-pound box of stainless-steel pins for $22, a Wet-Dry Media Separator (very much like the kitchen gizmo that people who like kitchen gizmos use to get the water off their salad after they wash it) for $50, a Media Transfer Magnet that picks up and releases the little pins en masse for $18, and a very efficient, five-level Brass Dryer that can completely dry 2,000 9mm cases at a time in less than an hour, 42
American Shooting Journal // August 2020
for a paltry $69. The grand total was $288, or about 20 times what I paid for the pail of burnt brass. I was all in on this technology. Spoiler alert: It was a smashing success! I could only fit around 180 of the big rifle cases in the tumbler drum at one time, which made me wish I’d chosen the full-size rotary tumbler that has over three times the capacity of the Lite model. That was my only regret. Adding brass, pins, soap and water to the drum, I left it to quietly rotate for a full 24 hours. The next day, the brass was remarkably cleaner, but I let the machine run another eight hours to see if I could do better. On my second inspection, I found new-looking brass. It even cleaned the inside of the cases and the primer
Collect pins for drying with a magnet.
pockets. Flushing out the filthy water takes a little care, so as not to dump the little pins onto the ground. Frankford Arsenal makes neat little screen covers you can swap out for the lid and drain the brass quite effectively without losing a single pin. Any that get away in the flushing, or later stages, are easily policed up, even when you can’t see them, with a sweep of the Media Transfer Magnet. Draining the majority of the remaining water from the cases, and separating them from the pins, took less than 30 seconds in the Wet/Dry Separator. It works best when you change the direction of the spin with every stroke, throwing the cases back and forth inside the basket forcefully. Water drains off from the unit’s plastic case through a screened hole in the bottom, where the pins collect. I poured the wet pins onto an old terrycloth towel and spread them out to dry in the sun. They can rust. If you aren’t going to reuse them again immediately, they need to be dried before you put them away. You should also rub them around in the towel to remove the surface dirt you can’t see. The towel turned black in my case, even though the pins looked shiny. I also recommend cleaning the pins periodically by running them with soap in the tumbler by themselves if you notice your brass isn’t quite as
Put cleaned shells in the forced air drier for less than an hour and they are ready to load.
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American Shooting Journal // August April 2020 2020
bright as you want it. The final step was evenly distributing my cases on the five tray levels of the electric Brass Dryer. Like the tumbler, it was pretty quiet and had the added benefit of warming up the garage a bit too. In less than an hour, the brass was fully dry inside and out and ready to work with. I intend to use this Frankford Arsenal system for my hardest brass cleaning jobs (range salvage and my black powder cartridge cases), while reserving my old vibratory tumbler for simple maintenance of clean, once-fired brass. The investment in the Frankford Arsenal stainless-steel pin system has already paid for itself with the muddy, tarnished, range salvage brass it’s cleaned inside and out. My vibratory tumbler has never gotten dried mud out of the inside of a cartridge case. With the stainless-steel pin system, who knows how much otherwise abandoned brass can now be easily recycled at the consumer level to the benefit of handloaders and the environment. 
americanshootingjournal.com 45
BIG MAC ATTACK
With its military background and 'Cocaine Wars' reputation, the MAC-10 has quite a history and is still a hoot to shoot – 'as long as someone else is paying for the ammo.' STORY AND PHOTOS BY NICK PERNA
C
ertain guns conjure up images related to the times they were used. The 1894 Winchester leveraction is the classic cowboy gun of the Old West. The M1 Garand is seen as the rifle that won World War II and the M1911A1 as the sidearm of choice for soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen. Not all weapons have a positive image connected to them, though. The MAC-10 submachinegun is most often associated with bad guys, such as drug dealers. Remember the infamous “chainsaw” scene in Scarface? The weapon used by the
You might think “bad-guy gun” of the MAC-10 submachinegun, given its appearance in Scarface, but it has been in service with the U.S. military since 1970.
americanshootingjournal.com 47
Author Nick Perna test-fired this MAC-10 (minus suppressor). Check out the four-mag pouch with cool, retro camo!
Colombian drug dealers is this bulletspitting bruiser. When most people think of MAC-10s, they envision drug dealers and gang members spraying rival criminals. Despite those negative images, the weapon actually predates the “Cocaine Wars” of the 1970s and ’80s in Miami. It dates back to 1964, and was designed by Gordon Ingram and Mitchell WerBell’s Military Armament Corporation. Besides drug dealers, the MAC-10 has been used by Special Operations units in Vietnam, Grenada and elsewhere, along with armies and terrorist groups in other countries. It was also produced in South Africa and saw service in the Rhodesian wars, while variants were made in Brazil and 48
American Shooting Journal // August 2020
the United Kingdom too. I RECENTLY HAD the opportunity to test and evaluate a MAC-10 chambered in .45 caliber. For anyone used to modern firearms built to high tolerances, the initial impression is that the weapon is cheaply produced. It is made mainly from steel stampings. It’s a big chunk of plate steel built around a barrel and firing mechanism. It’s a simple blowback design. It fires from an open bolt and there is no need to cock it. Basically, you insert the exceptionally long magazine (with the bolt in the rear position), take the weapon off safe, and pull the trigger. That’s where things get interesting. The MAC-10 has an extremely
high rate of fire. It spits out .45 slugs at 1,090 rounds per minute. Its smaller cousin, the MAC-11 in .380, fires at a blistering 1,380 rpm! Be forewarned, if you do get a chance to fire one, be prepared for excessive muzzle rise. I was surprised at how quickly the barrel climbs when fired on full-auto. Care has to be taken not to unleash a dozen rounds over a berm at a range. Things that aid in controlling full-auto weapons are longer barrels, a sturdy stock that can be locked into the shoulder, and the weight of the weapon itself. A MAC10 has none of these features. The only other weapon I’ve shot that was harder to control on fullauto was the Beretta 93R, a full-auto version of the Beretta 92 series. With a little practice, though, I was able to keep the gun on target by firing in short bursts. “Short bursts” with a MAC-10 are around eight to 10 rounds, compared to a rifle such as the Colt M4, where the norm is two to three rounds on full-auto. HAVING A SUPPRESSOR helps. I fired the MAC-10 with and without the Sionics suppressor. The Sionics suppressor is over a foot long, providing over a pound of weight. This helps controllability significantly. It also does a good job of keeping it relatively quiet. I also fired the MAC-10 without the suppressor. The gun is a lot less controllable without it. What makes it more difficult is that there is no foregrip to hold onto, only a nylon strap attached to the front of the receiver. The strap does little to help the operator keep rounds on target. It also puts the shooter’s non-firing hand dangerously close to the small portion of the barrel that protrudes past the end of the receiver. The sights are a simple, fixed-metal affair welded to the receiver. Even when the telescoping stock is extended, the sights are of limited value. This is primarily a “point and shoot” weapon that wouldn’t be particularly useful at extended ranges, say, over 25 meters. This is an up-close-and-personal weapon, once described as “fit only for
Multiple casings in the air in a short burst.
MAC-10 spitting fire from the ejection port.
The target after a couple of first-time MAC10 shooters had a go with it. All shots were “aimed” center mass so the high ones around the head were the result of muzzle climb.
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American Shooting Journal // August 2020
combat in a telephone booth.” This weapon predates Picatinny rails and other mounting systems, so add-on optics are pretty much out of the question with a standard MAC-10. Another important note on the suppressor. It gets hot – really hot! It has a thin Nomex sleeve that mitigates some of the heat, but it still gets pretty toasty after a couple of magazines. I wore gloves the majority of the time I tested the weapon. In addition to preventing burns, gloves help keep your hands clean. This weapon spits out carbon and grease from the ejection port like a center fielder chewing on Redman tobacco. Don’t wear your favorite T-shirt to the range on MAC10 day because it will get ruined. The 30-round magazines could be used as an impact weapon if the weapon runs dry! They are made of heavy sheet steel. I recommend wearing gloves when loading them. I sliced my thumb open on the lips of the magazine cramming rounds into it. FOR CIVILIANS, MAC-10s are hard to come by. They were made illegal by the assault weapons ban of 1994. Coupled with the fact that they can only be owned by a person with a Class 3 license, they are pretty rare, so if you have a chance to shoot one, you are very lucky. As I shot the MAC-10, I tried to envision a practical use for it. Given its high rate of fire, which would quickly deplete a soldier’s basic load, coupled with controllability issues, I don’t see it being a suitable long arm for infantry use. Where this weapon would excel is as a personal defense weapon, or PDW, used by an operator in a vehicle where extra magazines are readily accessible. A vehicle-mounted executive protection team could use a couple of MACs to lay down a flurry of suppressive fire when trying to break contact from a threat, as long as accounting for the ultimate destination of fired rounds isn’t a major consideration. Other than that, I’ve got to say it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot. I’d do it again, as long as someone else is paying for the ammo …
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BLACK POWDER
A telephoto image shows 1,200-yard targets, including steel silhouettes of a buffalo and “the Renegade,” set up on a central Oregon range. Author Mike Nesbitt took aim and fired, as a hit would allow entry into a “prestigious” circle of shooters.
a 1,200-yard target replicates GUNNING FOR ENTRY INTO Hitting a legendary long-range shot made THE BILLY DIXON SOCIETY by a buffaloed bison hunter. STORY AND PHOTOS BY MIKE NESBITT
L
ong-range shooting with black powder cartridges is something that is rather widespread and well known, from the black powder silhouette matches of today back to the old Creedmoor matches, which were part of international competition. Those are highly regulated matches, with long lists of rules and qualifications. At the same time, there are other long-
range shooting matches where the qualifications are not as rigid but the match itself is still just as challenging. My own experience in shooting at longrange matches, where the targets are out at 800 yards and further, is still rather limited. I have gotten my feet wet in this type of shooting and all I can say for now is
that I’m certainly not through. Let me tell you about a match I shot in this past spring. THIS WAS ANOTHER match of the Great Basin Sharpshooters and was held at the large range of the Central Oregon Shooting Sports Association (COSSA), which is located about 25 miles east of Bend. In last November’s issue, my story “Going Long With the Great Basin Shooters” was americanshootingjournal.com 57
BLACK POWDER about a previous entry into one of their events, shooting in both longand short-range matches. One big difference between that event and the one in this story is that this match included shooting out to 1,200 yards. It was sure good to be shooting with some of those boys again, especially with Brownie Nash and Butch Eastman. My usual partner, Allen Cunniff, went with me and I can easily say we both learned some good lessons about long-range shooting. At the previous match, I used my heaviest .44-77 Sharps rifle, “Hefty Hannah,” but because that rifle is equipped with a midrange sight, another rifle had to be used this time. That other rifle is my “longest reaching” Sharps, an 1874 Hartford model by C. Sharps Arms with a No. 1½ Heavy barrel and a length of 32 inches, in .44-90 caliber shooting bullets weighing 470 grains. This was
an easy choice because the .44-90 is equipped with a long-range rear sight. The midrange sight had enough elevation to reach 1,000 yards but not a whole lot farther. And, speaking about sight elevation adjustment, 1,200 yards is a lot farther than 1,000 yards, with my rifle needing another 46 “minutes” of sight elevation for that added 200 yards. THERE WAS A specific reason for shooting in this match. The Great Basin Sharpshooters have a special group within their shooters called the Billy Dixon Society. To join that group, a shooter must make a long shot, over 5/8 of a mile, at a rather small target. Anyone who is even slightly familiar with the Second Battle of Adobe Walls in 1874 will know of Billy Dixon. He was the 24-yearold buffalo hunter who tried a very
While standing at the buffalo target, this looks back at the firing line.
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long shot at a group of mounted Comanches, apparently planning their next attack. Dixon fired with a .50-90 Sharps, and after the necessary seconds for the bullet to make the trip, one of the Comanches fell to the ground. The others scattered for safety and then, just minutes later, two of them rushed in to retrieve their fallen warrior. That is regarded as the final shot of the Battle of Adobe Walls. In the Comanches’ version of that story, which I have heard but cannot cite, the man who got shot was wounded and lived for several more years. He was, they say, hit by the ricochet from Dixon’s shot. To the superstitious Comanches, that meant the white man’s bullets could find them on their own and the white man’s medicine was too strong. The distance of Dixon’s famous shot has grown, at least somewhat in
BLACK POWDER The author’s .44-90 rifle by C. Sharps Arms with a heavy 32-inch barrel.
myth, to 1,538 yards. That number did not appear until 1927, over 50 years after the shot was made. Furthermore, the location of the mounted warriors at that time is unknown today and reviews of the site suggest that a distance of 1,200 yards or shorter is much more likely. I do believe the long shot was made. If you want to learn more about Dixon and the battle, I recommend reading The Life of Billy Dixon by Olive K. Dixon and Adobe Walls: The History and Archaeology of the 1874
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Trading Post by T. Lindsay Baker and Billy R. Harrison. BACK AT THE match, the question at hand was not if Billy Dixon could make such a shot, but could I? And I was certainly going to try. So with my .44-90, I nestled down behind the cross-sticks to try getting a sight setting, while fellow shooter Brownie Nash set up his scope so he could “spot” my hits. I had used this rifle for targets at 1,000 yards before, but not with the sight it was wearing now.
So we had to back up to 800 yards, fire a couple of shots to check the sights at that distance, then climb to farther targets. When we finished, I had sight settings for 800, 900, 1,000, 1,100 and 1,200 yards. The target at 1,200 yards was the full-sized buffalo silhouette, and I was making good hits. This, however, was just a sighting-in period and the hits would not be counted for score until the next day. During the sighting-in, I commented to Brownie how I wished the sun was
BLACK POWDER A .44-90 cartridge with a paper-patched bullet under a five-shot, 50-yard group.
shining brighter, which would make the targets easier to see. Brownie replied that we’d shoot the longrange targets first thing the next morning, when the sun should shine very nicely on those distant targets. Mother Nature had her own
agenda for the next morning. No doubt the sun was shining brightly – well above the cloud cover that had wandered in overnight and which was followed by a dandy storm. To qualify for the Billy Dixon Society, the shooter is given two shots at
the 1,200-yard buffalo to be sure the rifle’s sights are cooperating, and then three shots can be taken at a smaller steel silhouette dubbed “the Renegade” by the club. All it takes is one hit on the latter target of a torso, arms and head to become a member of this prestigious group. With the dark skies, I could only try my best. Things were not all bad. The winds were very calm and as I sat behind the heavy .44-90, I could see the white spot on the side of the black steel buffalo. The time of flight for the bullet is at least three “long” seconds. Several shooters will spot their own shots by firing their rifle and watching for the bullet’s impact through their spotting scope. I relied on Brownie, Allen, or a couple of the other shooters to tell me where my bullets had gone. I will say bullet flights do seem like they take a long time. To my delight, I made good hits on the buffalo, one of them almost in
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BLACK POWDER
Brownie Nash (left) and Nesbitt with the 1,200-yard buffalo target.
the middle of the white spot. Then came my shots at the much smaller silhouette and, although I was trying my best, I didn’t hit the Renegade. When I’d miss, I would hold the rifle tighter and squeeze the set trigger more slowly for the next shot, which was also a miss. I have my excuses, but we don’t have room for all of those. And the Great Basin Sharpshooters simply won’t give awards or recognition for close misses. So I’ll just have to try again. Trying to hit that small target at 1,200 yards is certainly a challenge, but that’s a challenge I will eagerly accept. I want to do that again. If such doin’s interests you, go to greatbasinsharpshooters.com for more information. To try duplicating this historic shot, all you need is an iron-sighted long-range black powder rifle. One other nice thing to have is a little bit of luck, just like Billy Dixon had.
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EVOLUTION OF CLAY BIRD SPORTS Pigeons, glass targets, a composer, new chicken farm next door, and a $100 gold prize – who knew the origins of trap and skeet shooting were so dang interesting! STORY BY JIM DICKSON • PHOTOS BY TOM LOWE SHOOTING GROUNDS
S
keet and trap shooting are traditional ways of sharpening your shotgun shooting skills. You may not be able to eat the clay birds that you break, but they sure can help you bag the edible variety come hunting season. You owe it to the game you hunt to make a clean kill and that means offseason practice. That’s where the clay birds come in. TRAP SHOOTING DATES back to the 18th century, when it was well
established in England. Originally it was live pigeon shooting with the birds kept under hats or traps until released for the shooter. Obviously the logistics of setting up a big live pigeon shoot could be enormous. This led to Charles Portlock of Boston inventing the glass ball target. Now it was economically feasible for exhibition shooters to put on a grand show. Men like Buffalo Bill Cody, Captain Adam H. Bogardus, and Doc Carver were the rock stars
of the 1880s. It was Bogardus who did more to popularize the glass ball targets than anyone else, even going so far as to invent his own device to throw them. But the glass balls weren’t that cheap, and between the flying glass broken in the air and folks getting cut trying to clean up the shards after the event, something else was needed. Another exhibition shooter, Fred Kimble, came up with what was to become the modern clay bird in the 1880s. This made trap shooting more
Trap and skeet shooting are popular pastimes that became part of the Summer Olympic Games in 1968, but their origins date back to the 1700s and Roaring Twenties, respectively. americanshootingjournal.com 67
popular than ever, with notables like John Philip Sousa becoming famous at the game. Sousa once said, “Every man should have a hobby. Mine is trap shooting.” Ithaca Gun Company even named one of their highest-grade trap guns, the “Sousa Special,” after him. Sousa’s fame as a trap shooter rivaled his fame as a composer and band leader. It’s hard to say which he was proudest of. A lot of people were shocked when Hollywood made a movie about him and omitted this important aspect of his life. That was like making a movie about Paul Revere’s ride and leaving out the horse. In a period where a man’s worth was still often largely judged by his skill at arms, trap shooting was one of the most popular sports of its day. Unlike spectator sports, this The difference between trap and skeet boils down to the number of traphouses – where the clays are launched from. There’s just one in trap, in front of five shooting stations, while in skeet there are two, a high house and a low house, and eight shooting stations arranged in a semicircle between them.
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was something you were expected to do yourself, as well as watch the great exhibition shooters. That is a lot healthier arrangement than just being a spectator watching someone else play on the boob tube. This popularity paved the way for skeet to take off in the 1920s. Unlike skeet, there is only one trap located in a traphouse downrange at ground level, mimicking the old bird under the hat from the days of live pigeon shooting. There are three categories: singles, doubles and handicap. For singles and doubles, there are five stations located 16 yards behind the trap and the shooter fires at five clays at each station. In order to mimic the flight of a live bird, the trap oscillates from left to right so that the shooter cannot predict the path of the
clay bird. For doubles, the trap does not oscillate but throws two clays at once. Handicap is shot the same as singles but with a longer range. SKEET BEGAN IN 1920, when two dedicated grouse hunters, Charles Davis and William Foster, devised a new game to keep their shooting eye sharp year-round. The course was originally laid out as a full circle, so it was called “Shooting Around the Clock.” The establishment of a chicken farm on the adjacent property in 1923 put a stop to the full-circle shooting, forcing Foster to reduce the course to the current half-circle. This was the middle of the Roaring Twenties and America was keen for any new thing. Shooting was still a revered American tradition and the men knew their new game had the
potential to become the latest fad. To this end, Foster showed the sport off in the February 1926 issues of both National Sportsman and Hunting and Fishing, offering a $100 prize for whoever came up with a name for their new sport; Shooting Around the Clock would not work for the new half-circle design. Note that this was redeemable for five $20 gold pieces, not just paper money. Look up the current price of 5 ounces of gold and you will have the purchasing power of $100 in 1926. It was a princely offer. The Anglicized version of the Norwegian word for shoot, skyte, won and the new name was skeet. Not stopping for a minute, Foster organized the first National Skeet Championship that same year, followed by the National Skeet Shooting Association. A new shooting sport was just what the decade wanted and skeet was off and running. Its ever-increasing popularity led to inclusion in the Olympics in 1968. But skeet was not just for fun. The efficiency of skeet in teaching the art
of wingshooting led to it being used to train anti-aircraft gunners in World War II. Many a Japanese Kamikaze ended up crashing his burning plane ingloriously into the ocean instead of into an American ship, thanks to the skeet training of 20mm Oerlikon gunners on those ships. Skeet is shot at 62 yards typically with open choked guns. Improved cylinder and the even more open skeet choke, which puts a 30-inch pattern at 21 yards, are popular. The field is laid out in a semicircle with a 21-yard radius. There are seven positions with an eighth at the center. There is a house for the skeet trap that throws the clay birds at each end of the semicircle. These targets are launched to a point 18 feet outside of the center station and 8 to 15 feet above ground. The high trap house launches its birds starting 10 feet above the ground and the low trap house launches its birds starting 3 feet above ground. At the first two stations, you shoot at single targets launched from the high house, followed by the low house.
Then comes a double with the high house first again. At stations three, four and five, singles are launched from first the high house and then the low house. This is repeated at stations six and seven, but the singles are followed by a double first from the low house and then the high house. At station eight, there is one high and one low bird. THERE IS ANOTHER clay bird shoot called sporting clays. This started out well enough with 10 to 15 stations spread out over 35 acres or more of natural terrain in an attempt to more closely duplicate game shooting. Unfortunately, someone with a bad case of hoplophobia decided that the shotgun must be swung between two posts out of some misplaced idea of safety. This has resulted in many dented and bent barrels. No true gun lover will needlessly risk his gun under such circumstances and as long as the two posts are there, I will have nothing to do with sporting clays.
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ROAD HUNTER
September elk season is nearly here, and now is the time to put the finishing touches on the preparation process.
BOWHUNTING BULLS, WEST VS. EAST
It takes different tactics to successfully bag Roosevelt and Rocky Mountain elk during the rut. STORY AND PHOTOS BY SCOTT HAUGEN
O
verlooking a timbered bench, the stench of rutting elk hanging heavy in the moist air, I let out a call. A slight crosswind and commanding view through semi-open timber made for the perfect setup, and when a seductive series of cow calls passed my lips, I had the feeling something good was going to happen. When a bull bugled from behind me, high on a ridge, it caught me by surprise; I’d figured any bugle would emanate from the thick draw below. Thirty minutes later, I was still calling and the bull was still answering, but he
wouldn’t budge. As I started moving toward the vocal bull, the distinct sound of feet plowing through a dry forest floor caught my attention. The sound came from below me, and before I knew what was happening, a five-point bull stood staring me in the face. The instant his head passed behind a tree, I reached full-draw and let my arrow fly. At 15 yards, the shot was easy, and the bull toppled over after taking only a few steps. Roosevelt bulls coming silently to calls is the norm. I’ve been fortunate to enjoy many elk hunts throughout the West,
including numerous outings for Roosevelt elk west of the Cascade Mountains in both Oregon and Washington. I’ve also enjoyed the splendor of pursuing Rocky Mountain elk throughout multiple states. If you’re a bowhunter – or hold a prized early season rifle tag – now is the time to get fired-up for the upcoming season, when the elk rut hits full-force. ROOSEVELT TIME The heart-pounding thrill of up-close Roosevelt elk hunting action is a rush, for you never know how, or if, these secretive bulls will respond. americanshootingjournal.com 75
ROAD HUNTER Calling in bulls during September’s general archery season is my favorite way to approach these giants of the forest, and with expansive public land opportunities in both the Coast Range and western slopes of the Cascades in both Washington and Oregon, there’s no shortage of places to hunt. Due to the dense timber and rugged terrain, Roosevelt elk are one of North
Author Scott Haugen was more than pleased with this great Montana bull, one he called in on opening day of the season.
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America’s most challenging big game animals to pursue, especially if it’s a trophy bull you desire. Big bulls often live in the bottom of the thickest, deepest draws, where they are rarely seen by humans. The Coast Range can be every bit as rugged as the Rocky Mountains, and with a jungle-like habitat, it’s one of the toughest settings to hunt in all of North America. If you want to increase your odds of filling a Roosevelt tag, be in shape, be willing to hike miles of vertical ground, and be able to confidently navigate amid terrain with limited visibility.
Logging creates the best habitat for Roosevelt elk, which makes glassing from a distance one of the best ways to locate a herd. Cows and young bulls often hang on the edge of clearcuts, with big bulls routinely lurking in the nearby timber, out of sight. Watch, listen and depend on the best optics you can afford to observe what’s going on. Once located, the next move is dropping into the bottom of the canyon, wind in your face. You’ll never fool the nose of a Roosevelt elk, and in this rugged terrain, in September when it’s usually hot, you’re sweating
ROAD HUNTER profusely within minutes of walking, so always monitor wind direction. A windcheck bottle or two is a must on any Roosevelt hunt. After years of pursuing these grand bulls – and talking with fellow archers who’ve taken way more Rosies than I have – it’s safe to say that more big elk are killed by spot-and-stalk than calling. Big bulls – we’re talking 300 inches and over – simply don’t react to calls like younger bulls or Rocky Mountain bulls do. In an effort to not blow an opportunity, many hunters sneak to within bow range without so much as blowing a call. Play the wind, monitor the herd, move wisely, and you’ll be amazed how close you can get to these, the largest-bodied elk in North America. Once down, be ready to work. A big bull will require multiple pack trips. Bone out the meat, get it cooling in the shade as quickly as possible, and have a good packframe and game bags. The rest comes down to being as physically fit and mentally tough as possible, for that’s what really improves the odds of success when trying to fill a Roosevelt elk tag. ROCKY MOUNTAIN BULLS On one of my most memorable hunts for Rocky Mountain elk, I had a bull firing back at every sound I threw at him on the season opener. The bull was closing in fast, bugling and “glunking” the whole way down the shale mountainside. In a matter of seconds, I saw the bull’s massive antlers dipping and twisting through the thick, young stand of pine trees. When he stopped and bugled at 16 yards, I stared at him for the first time. His massive rack was all of 340 inches, a bull any bowhunter would be proud of. Anchored, all I needed was for the bull to move a foot one way or the other, as a series of small trees blocked his vitals. A minute passed and my bow felt heavy as my arms began to shake with fatigue. Nearly two minutes into it, I couldn’t hold it much longer. That’s when two cows popped out of the brush and the bull quickly turned 78
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No matter where in the West you are, elk hunters eager to fill a tag will want to be in the best shape possible, both mentally and physically.
and took off after them. I was frustrated at having a bull so close and not getting a shot, but no amount of calling was going to pull him off the cows. As I slid my arrow back into the quiver, there, 60 yards away, was a 320-inch bull. He wasn’t worth a second look in the area I hunted, so I kept moving. I hadn’t gone 30 yards when I bumped into a third bull, another that had moved toward my calls. He was also over 300 inches, but again, not worth shooting in this land where truly big bulls roamed. I was in central Montana, amid one of the many wooded mountain ranges that pock the high plains. From a distance, it seems these habitats wouldn’t hold much game, but the closer you get, the more evident becomes the fact these are hotbeds for wildlife. In one place, I stood and glassed elk, mule deer, mountain goats
and a pair of black bears in the hills, and in the lowlands below, pronghorn and whitetails. These are some of the most game-rich habitats I’ve seen anywhere in the West. But on my first day of elk hunting this new spot, the very first bull I saw was all of 380 inches, maybe bigger. That set the standard. The first year hunting this spot, I called in over 20 bulls in seven days, saw three bulls over 340 inches, and could have shot many between 280 and 320 inches, but didn’t. I wanted one of the big bulls or nothing; I went home with a tag in my pocket. Though I didn’t take a shot that season, it was one of the best elk hunts of my life. The following season, I returned to the same place and I killed the first bull I saw, a heavy-racked, 345-inch brute. He came confidently striding into my calls, bugling the whole way. That hunt lasted less than an hour.
ROAD HUNTER The next season, I was in another section of Montana, near the town of White Sulphur Springs. This was a new area for me, so I showed up a few days before the season to get some scouting in. All the sign was old, made during winter. I covered miles, both on foot and with my spotting scope and binoculars, and saw a cow and a calf. In one shaded creek bottom, I found a small wallow and rub, but didn’t see or hear a bull. Two days into the season, I hadn’t seen a single elk. The next day I went to another ridge and was in position to glass, well before daylight. Over a halfmile away, a lone cow fed in a meadow, and hot on her tail was a young bull. It was the first and only bull I’d seen in six days, so I wasted no time closing the distance, setting up, then calling. The bull came on the run to my cow calls, but I couldn’t get a shot as it approached from behind a rocky outcropping. When it stopped for the first time, the bull was 9 yards from
There’s nothing like elk hunting during the peak of the rut. The author caught these two Roosevelt bulls locked in battle in the Coast Range of the Pacific Northwest.
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ROAD HUNTER Once a tag is filled, the work begins. A mature Roosevelt bull is massive, and getting the meat cooling as quickly as possible is vital to maximizing its quality. The author was pleased to see this bull expire in a small opening, which is rarely the case when it comes to Roosevelt elk.
me. It eventually moved off without smelling me, and I let the bull get out of sight before calling. It worked, as the instant I blew on my cow call, the bull circled back into perfect shooting position. The 43-yard shot was simple, and the bull went only a short distance. He was a small six-point, but on this hunt, in this place, was worth taking. As is the case when elk hunting anywhere, be it for Rosies or Rocky Mountain bulls, it’s never certain how the action will unfold. But that’s the beauty of any fair-chase hunt. The uncertainties, challenges and experiences keep us coming back to the woods day after day, season after season. Editor’s note: For signed copies of Scott Haugen’s popular DVD, Field Dressing, Skinning & Caping Big Game, send a check for $20 (free S&H) to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489, or order online at scotthaugen.com.
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BLACK HILLS
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VELOCITY TRIGGERS
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PROLIX
PrOlix is a penetrating solvent/dry lube product that was lab-developed and tested by law enforcement, military and commercial shooters over many years. The citrus-based biodegradable cleaner, pioneered in 1995, is the first successful “all in one” gun care product, now deemed “Bio-Technology.” The solvent “goes on wet, cleans, bonds, and the lube turns dry to the touch.” It removes carbon, copper, lead, shotgun plastic residues and black powder. PrOlix will not damage wood, freeze or flash off, and it can be used for commercial and industrial applications as well.
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THE WOODMAN’S PAL
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BULLET BULLETIN
Author Phil Massaro’s Winchester Model 70 in .300 Winchester Magnum, shown with two excellent bear loads: Federal’s 200-grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw and Massaro’s handloaded 220-grain Hornady InterLock round-nose load.
BULLET CHOICES FOR BRUIN HUNTERS From brushy Alaska to New England’s mountains, brown to black bears, the best loads vary. STORY BY PHIL MASSARO • PHOTOS BY MASSARO MEDIA GROUP
e waited in the elevated stand, counting the mosquitoes we’d killed and watching a pine marten do those things pine martens do. Although it was after 10 p.m., the Alaskan light was still strong, and with tags for both brown and black bears, the suspense was building as the evening deepened. The sounds and sights of the coastal bush were new to me, an upstate New York hunter, but when the birds flittered off and that pine marten beat feet for the safety of a different location, we knew something was approaching. Just seconds later,
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like a shadow floating on a breeze that wasn’t there, the boar took shape between the trees, circling the bait from a downwind position. Bears, like elephants, have the unique ability to walk nearly silently; unless a bear is foraging for beech nuts or the like – when they can make one helluva racket – you will often see a bear before you hear a bear. This black bear was no exception, and using a series of shoulder shrugs and affirmative nods, my partner and I decided that he was a worthy choice. I slipped the safety off the Bansner & Co. .404 Jeffery, and put a 450-grain Woodleigh Weldcore on the point of
his shoulder. That bear squared over 6 feet, and when buddy Dan McDowell turned him into his famous bear jerky, my friends and relatives were begging for more. WHAT MAKES A good bear bullet? How tough are the varying species of bear, and what is required to take them cleanly? Let’s take a look at what makes a decent bear bullet, with some caliber recommendations. Being completely honest, I didn’t get a crack at that Alaskan brown bear, so I can’t give a personal account of the performance of my ammunition of choice, but I’ve loaded for a good americanshootingjournal.com 91
Bullet BULLETIN
Massaro’s chosen rig for Alaskan coastal black/brown bear hunting: A Bansner & Co. custom .404 Jeffery with Leupold VX-5 HD in Talley detachable mounts, and Norma African PH 450-grain Woodleigh Weldcore softpoint ammo.
Massaro and Alaska guide Pat Donelson with a coastal black bear taken near Tyonek, west of Anchorage. The vegetation is thick and shooting distances can be awfully close.
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number of clients headed to the 49th state, and many of my friends have spent decades hunting the big brownies, so I’m pretty confident in my assessments. Black bear, however, are a passion of mine, and I spend a good amount of time hunting them, pretty much wherever I can. The opportunities to hunt polar bear are becoming fewer and fewer, but we’ll cover those as well. Black bears are a popular game animal, as their numbers are growing across the North American continent, and more and more hunters are taking the opportunity to pursue them. All sorts of cartridges have been used to take black bear, and the .404 Jeffery I used in Alaska was certainly a lot of gun, but mind you, I was most definitely in brown bear country, and I’d rather be overgunned than undergunned. Many black bears are taken as a target of opportunity while hunting whitetail deer or other game, and as
Bullet BULLETIN
While certainly smaller than a brown or grizzly bear, a black bear can ruin your day if things go wrong. As the saying goes: Use enough gun.
a result, the deer rifle is the weapon of choice. If you hunt deer with a .270 Winchester, 7mm-08 Remington, 7mm Remington Magnum, .308 Winchester or .30-06 Springfield, you shouldn’t have an issue, so long as you have a bullet with enough sectional density. I like an SD of somewhere between 0.250 and 0.275, depending on caliber and bullet construction. And as a bare minimum, I like 140 grains of bullet weight, as you may need to punch through a bear’s shoulder, and those bones can be very tough.
The Barnes TSX bullet is one tough hombre. Using copper-alloy construction and a deep hollowpoint for expansion, the bullet will give excellent penetration on the biggest bear.
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The author’s battered Ruger 77 MKII in .308 Winchester. When hunting in New York’s Catskill and Adirondack Mountains, he prefers to handload Nosler Partition bullets, as they work perfectly on both deer and bear.
THERE ARE DIFFERING views on the proper bullet construction for hunting a black bear. Some guys – like my pal and near hunting partner Marty Groppi – like a heavier bullet, on the soft side for a quick energy transfer, often a standard cup-and-core. Marty’s a proponent of the 7x57mm Mauser, and both he and his rifle really like the Federal blue box 175-grain load. A simple cup-and-core bullet, but with a healthy SD (0.310), the 175-grain is a great choice in any of the 7mms, but at the distances we shoot here in the Northeast, the moderate
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Bullet BULLETIN The author’s Alaskan spring black bear had a thick, luxuriant hide. All that hair can, however, plug up an entrance wound, leaving little or no blood to trail.
velocity poses no handicap at all. I also like the .300 Winchester Magnum handloaded with 220-grain Hornady round-nosed InterLocks at 2,425 feet per second – sub-MOA in my Winchester Model 70 – as there’s plenty of bullet to handle the job, should a truly large black bear show up. In recent years in the Catskill Mountains, bears weighing as much as 600 pounds have been taken, and while the norm is probably closer to 150 pounds, there’s an incredible difference between the two animals. Other folks tend to lean toward a premium bullet, like the Barnes TSX, Swift A-Frame and others, to guarantee penetration from any angle.
Bears are crafty, and will use trees as a vantage point when scared. This particular sow had just run her twins up the tree for safety.
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I’ve used them as well, with great success. When it comes to fall bear, with their thick coats and fat bodies preparing for winter, I like a bullet to penetrate and actually exit, as I’ve seen entrance wounds plug up with hair and fat, leaving little or no blood at all, yet finding a dead bear 30 to 40 yards away. Perhaps my favorite choice for a black bear bullet is the good old Nosler Partition, as it offers one of the best blends of up-front expansion and deep penetration. My Ruger 77 MKII in .308 Winchester shoots the 165-grain Partitions into three-shot groups measuring just over 1 MOA, so at the woods distances the Catskills and
The .338 Winchester Magnum is the darling of Alaskan bear hunters. Massaro says his guide Donelson’s rifle-mounted cartridge holder carries the 225-grain Barnes TTSX load in that caliber, which alone is enough endorsement.
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bullet bulletin Adirondacks offer, I have no problem with accuracy or terminal ballistics. Being a flat-based spitzer, it gives a ballistic coefficient value good enough for shots out past 300 or 350 yards if I need to, yet “goes to sleep” faster than any of the boattail designs. I would feel equally comfortable recommending the Woodleigh Weldcore or Norma Oryx, as both have a bonded core (the
Bullets like the Nosler AccuBond – shown here in Federal’s 165-grain load – are tough enough to handle a black bear at close range, yet will fly flat enough for longer shots. The core is bonded to the jacket to control expansion and give deep penetration.
Oryx being bonded at the rear of the bullet) and at normal bear distances, their round nose and semispitzer meplats, respectively, are just fine. Is there anything wrong with the wide selection of polymer-tipped bullets for black bear? Well, I’d probably want a bullet with a thick jacket or bonded core, avoiding the more frangible designs like the Nosler Ballistic Tip, which are perfect for deer, but might not be the best choice for bear. The Nosler AccuBond, Hornady InterBond, Swift Scirocco and Federal Trophy Bonded Tip are all excellent choices, as that bonded core will slow expansion and guarantee penetration. SLIDING UP THE scale to the grizzly/ brown bear, I do like a stout bullet, especially if you are using one of the lighter bore diameters. Many hunters will use 7mm and .30-caliber cartridges for a grizzly bear, and while they have been successful in the past, there will be a visible difference between a .300 WSM and a .338 Winchester Magnum, the latter having a greater frontal diameter and more bullet weight. Were I recommending a bullet for the 7s and .30s, I’d definitely suggest the Swift A-Frame, Federal Trophy Bonded Bear Claw, Barnes TSX and the Nosler Partition, and the heavier the better. While a whole lot of grizzly and brown bears have been taken with the .30-06 Springfield, and .300 Winchester and Weatherby Magnums, I respect the multitude of Alaskan guides who embrace the .338 Winchester Magnum, .375 H&H 98
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Bullet BULLETIN Massaro with an average New York bear, taken in the Catskill Mountains with a .300 Winchester Magnum and 220-grain Hornady InterLock handloads.
Massaro checking bear baits in the thick coastal Alaskan terrain. Even the .404 Jeffery can feel small should you encounter a brown bear in that thick stuff.
Magnum, .416 Remington Magnum and (Phil Shoemaker’s “Old Ugly” comes quickly to mind) the .458 Winchester Magnum. Taking a big brown bear is one thing, but digging
a wounded one out of that impossibly thick brush is another – hence the reason for bringing that Bansner .404 Jeffery along with me – and we actually stalked within 10 or 15 yards
Norma’s 300-grain .375 H&H Magnum load is an overlooked and underpraised choice for both brown and grizzly bears. It is accurate and gives excellent terminal ballistics.
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of sleeping black bears while we were checking bait stations; they could’ve easily been a brown bear. For those few people serious about taking polar bear, I’d recommend the same stiff bullets needed for brown bears, but I strongly feel a minimum bore diameter should be .338 inch, with 250-grain bullets. A polar bear is an enormous animal, and one that has no qualms about hunting man. I hope the COVID-19 situation starts to calm around the world, as I’ve already missed a few great hunts that were cancelled due to travel restrictions, lockdown, etc., but as of this writing our New York early fall bear season is just six weeks away. To say that I’m excited for it is an understatement! Best of luck to you all this bear season.
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