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Western Shooting Journal // November 2014
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Western Shooting Journal // November 2014
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Western Shooting Journal // November 2014
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WESTERN
November-December 2014
SHOOTING JOURNAL
Volume 3 // ISSUE 3 // November 2014 PUBLISHER
James R. Baker ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Dick Openshaw EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Helena, MT Oct. 31- Nov. 2 Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds, 98 West Custer Ave.
Andy Walgamott EDITOR
Rachel Alexander
Yakima, WA Yakima State Fairgrounds, 1301 S Fair Ave.
Nov. 8-9
Frank Jardim
Billings, MT Metra Park, 308 6th Ave N
Nov. 28-30
Richland, WA Shilo Inn, 50 Comstock Street
Nov. 29-30
Hamilton, MT Ravalli County Fairgrounds, 100 Old Corvallis Road Coeur D’ Alene, ID Kootenai County Fairgrounds, 4056 North Goverment Way
LEAD CONTRIBUTOR CONTRIBUTORS
Mike Burchett, Larry Case, Tom Claycomb III, Andre’ Dall’au, Scott Haugen, Steve Meyer, Mike Nesbitt, Bob Shell, Keith Sipmann, Larysa Switlyk, Robin Taylor SALES MANAGER
Dec. 5-7
Brian Lull NATIONAL SALES MANAGER
Heidi Witt
Dec. 13-14
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES
Becca Ellingsworth, Mamie Griffin, Steve Joseph Mike Smith, Paul Yarnold DESIGNERS
Dawn Carlson, Beth Harrison, Sonjia Kells PRODUCTION MANAGER
John Rusnak OFFICE MANAGER/ACCOUNTING
Audra Higgins ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Katie Sauro INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER
Lois Sanborn INBOUND MARKETING
Jon Hines CIRCULATION MANAGER
Heidi Belew DISTRIBUTION
Tony Sorrentino, Gary Bickford, Barry Johnston ADVERTISING INQUIRIES
ads@westernshootingjournal.com
ON THE COVER The top national shooting teams include Hornady’s Jessie Duff and USA Shooting Team’s Corey Cogdell, who are both interviewed in this issue. (JESSIE DUFF; COREY COGDELL)
Contact the editor at ralexander@media-inc.com. CORRECTIONS
In the last issue, a cutline snafu on p. 41 led to the checkered grip of a 20-gauge Browning Citori 725 being identified as a Schnabel forend. Get daily updates at westernshootingjournal.com. Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Pinterest.
MEDIA INDEX PUBLISHING GROUP WASHINGTON OFFICE P.O. Box 24365 • Seattle, WA 98124-0365 14240 Interurban Ave. S. Ste. 190 • Tukwila, WA 98168 OREGON OFFICE 8116 SW Durham Rd • Tigard, OR 97224 (206) 382-9220 • (800) 332-1736 • Fax (206) 382-9437 media@media-inc.com • www.media-inc.com
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CONTENTS
VOLUME 3 • ISSUE 3 • NOVEMBER 2014
FEATURES 35
GUN REVIEW: The Hardy Anderson AM-10
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A hunting rifle that never needs oiling?!? Not this new AR in .308, thanks to a nanolayer of calcium, and that wins praise from our gun reviewer up in the rainy Northwest.
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GUN REVIEW: A ‘Rock’ Solid .45
Although Buffalo Arms’ north Idaho warehouse isn’t generally open to the public, our writer got the tour – not to mention, scooped up some plunder while he was at it!
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Looking for an attractive pricepoint, reliability, and don’t need all the bells and whistles in your next handgun? Rock Island’s 1911 fills the bill.
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BLACK POWDER: A Black Powder Shooter’s Dream
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COMPETITIONS: Trijicon’s New World Shooting Championships What happens when you invite top shots from the worlds of five-stand, IDPA, bullseye pistol, long-range “F-class” rifle, sporting clays – even cowboy action – to battle it out for $50,000? Our Robin Taylor reports back from Trijicon’s first-ever combo match!
Honoring Our Veterans With Veterans Day on November 11, we profile three of the most recent Medal of Honor recipients, and check in with a former Navy combat pilot who heads up a veteran-owned company that makes military-themed skateboards.
It’s true: Even famous hunters get skunked. Larysa Switlyk humbly explains five things she will do differently next time she chases wapiti.
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SCATTERGUN TRAIL: 3 Must-Have Waterfowl Guns Our resident quacker whacker reveals his top pump, semi-auto and – surprise – side-by-side to have in the blind.
SHOOTING WITH LARYSA: 5 Lessons From Elk Hunting
GUN REVIEW: Ghost Gun Tennessee Arms has rewritten the book with their ultralight lower receivers for ARs – and they come in see-through too!
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107 BEHIND THE BADGE: Castle Rock, Colo., PD What it takes to keep the peace at the edge of the Great Plains and Rockies.
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ROADHUNTER: 5 Historic Whitetail Destinations History might not be on your mind while hunting, but our Scott Haugen has found that chasing whitetails across the West has led to all sorts of interesting battlefields, museums and destinations to check out while afield.
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What The Heck Do You Learn At A Personal Protection Course? The self-defense course offered at the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club in Bremerton, Wash., goes far beyond the basics, as our editor found out.
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GUNWOMEN Ammo A Am mmo mo ccompanies om mpa p ni nies iess h have aave av ve form ffo formed orm med d ttheir hei h heir he eir ir o own wn sshooting wn hoot ho oti ting iin ng team te teams, ams, ss,, ccomposed om mpo p se sed of sed of ssome omee of om of tthe he b he best estt ma es m marksmen ark ksm smen en en and -women an and -wom -w men en in in the the world. th worl wo rld. ld d.. J Jessie esssi sie ie Duff Du D uff of T Team eam ea m Horn Ho Hornady rnad nad ady dy and and Co an Corey ore rey Cogdell rey Co C ogd gdel ell el ll off the the he W Winchesterinch hes estte terr-tersponso spon sp sponsored onso sore red re ed US U USA SA Sh Shoo Shooting ooti oo ting ting ti gT Team eam ea m ar aare re tw ttwo wo of tthe of he b he best, est, es t aand t, nd d tthey hey re hey he rreveal ev veal ve eal al w what hat it’ hat ha iit it’s t’s ’s like li like ke aatt th tthe he top. tto op p.. (JESSIE (JESSI (JE (J JE ESSIE SSIE DUFF) DUFF D UFF) UFF FF))
Dueling Gun Initiatives In Washington State Evergreen State voters choose this month between I-594, a gun-control measure backed by billionaires, or I-591, a common-sense, pro-Second Amendment initiative. Will Washington continue its tradition of historically friendly gun laws, or follow the path of other blue states?
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ARCHERY: Sharpening Broadheads With Ease You can set up all the trail cams you want, get as scentless as possible, and rattle those antlers like an all-star, but unless your broadhead is razor-sharp, you risk only wounding that trophy. Our archery correspondent has tips on how to get that deadly edge.
WESTERN 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 © 2014 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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CONTENTS ALSO INSIDE 45 55 95 137 145 151 155
Building An AR – Alaskan Style Evergreen Muzzleloaders Fall Harvest Rendezvous The Story Behind Ducks Unlimited New Book: Guns Of Outlaws Holiday Gift Guide KNIVES: Columbia River Knife And Tool’s Kangee Tomahawk RELOADING: The Basics For Beginning Reloaders
DEPARTMENTS 17 19 21 23 25 27 31 33
Editor’s Note Correspondence News: Christian School Arms Staff; Restaurant Offers Shooters Discount Gun Show Calendar Competition Calendar Reader Snapshots Guns Of Our Fathers: A Remington For Young Remington Range Spotlight: Royal Hawaiian Shooters Club
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TEXAS THERMAL HOG HUNTING We go on a night-time feral hog hunt to check out the high-tech weapons being used to rid landowners of these giant, destructive pests.
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EDITOR’S NOTE
N
ovember 11th is Veterans Day, something we revere here at Western Shooting Journal. Some of us are veterans, and others have relatives who served in the military. My dad served in Korea. He had just married my mom, and being assigned to Korea, she moved with him across the world, where they lived among the Korean people instead of on base, and got to fully experience the culture. While there, he served as rifle range officer with the Eighth Army Unit. After he arrived, the Army had a Korean tailor sew his uniform. When Dad was asked what his last name was, to put on the front of the uniform in Korean, he joked “Alexander the Great.” Well, the tailor had a sense of humor too, and went along with it. For
the rest of Dad’s two years stationed there, whenever he met Koreans, they would laugh. His superiors would look at him with confused expressions; they never knew! In this issue is the story of a trip I took to one of the most military- and veteran-friendly ranges in the country, the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club in Washington state. Unlike many ranges, it was started not just for sport, but for national defense. Located next to a Navy/Marine Corps training range and Camp Wesley Harris Naval Reserve, in a military hub of the U.S. west of Seattle, the range not only serves as a training facility for our military, but also designs courses of fire for the Air Force. Every year, there is a 3-gun competition to benefit wounded veterans and more.
SOPHISTICATED
SAFETY
The editor shooting at KRRC.
Sadly, this range has come “under fire” from anti-gun forces who have “targeted” it as one of the first gun ranges they want to put out of business. If they can successfully shut down KRRC, they will boldly move on to other gun ranges. Let’s not allow it to happen.
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CORRESPONDENCE Dear Editor, I have been hunting all my life, reloading starting in 1964, and collector of all things hunting. Found your mag [September 2014 issue] and am disappointed as one article is full of inaccuracies, “Ruger’s new western Blackhawks” page 51 and 52, by Mike Burchett. 1) “Super Blackhawk Bisley in 45 Colt” - this is not offered by Ruger and never has been; 2) “Trap door” - this is a loading gate; 3) “Spring loaded under lug” - this is the ejector rod; 4) “There is a plate that drops out of the way” - this is the transfer bar; 5) And on page 30 of “Reader Top Shots” - a firearm should never be pointed at anything you do not want to destroy! Thank you, Pat Parker, Nevada Our writer Michael Burchett responded: Sir, Thank you for your comments as they are truly valued coming from one of our patrons. I understand your terminology and support your hopes for these terms to be used. Our reviews are not always directed at sportsmen with as much experience as you possess and sometimes more rudimentary terms are used to convey understanding. We strive to provide the most accurate and user friendly information available. This may offend the expert or leave the novice asking, “what?” To your comment of Ruger not manufacturing a Super Blackhawk Bisley in .45 Colt, we used three revolvers during our day shooting. One was a .44 Remington Magnum in a Super Blackhawk configuration. I recorded this information inaccurately in my notes and thus transferred the information into the article. Thank you for your expertise in this area. As to the image of the revolver pointed in the direction of the camera, I agree and support your stance on this topic. Please know my daughters are trained with the utmost attention to detail when it comes to firearms safety. This is a posed photo and could be viewed as controversial. The weapon was cleared, verified clear and verified again by a third party before the image was taken. This image is intended to be viewed as art, and as art is not always true to life, the context and aspect of the photo is its primary purpose. This portrayal is not uncommon in media, including media from the NRA. The article also referenced the need for safety and I am sure you noticed this with your attention to detail. I apologize for any discomfort while reading the article as I too sometimes get frustrated with naïve writers. Editor’s note: There is a reason why even the elite New York Times, with more than 1,000 employees, issues corrections virtually every day. Corrections to Western Shooting Journal can be found on the masthead of each issue. westernshootingjournal.com 19
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PRIMER NEWS // CALENDARS // READER PHOTOS
NEWS
CHRISTIAN SCHOOL ARMS TEACHERS, STAFF BY MORGAN LEE • REPRINTED FROM THE CHRISTIAN POST
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n Arkansas Christian private school has decided to train and arm its staff, and has posted signs around campus to warn wouldbe shooters against stepping onto school grounds. Following the lead of their church affiliate that recently installed armed security for its Sunday services, Arkansas Christian Academy will have one to seven armed staff members on site every day. Signs around campus have been posted that read: “Staff is armed and trained. Any attempt to harm children will be met with deadly force.”
Pastor Perry Black explained that the decision came from a desire to protect students. “I just felt like with what’s going on in many of the public sectors where there seems to be a lot of shootings we need to take the same stance that we do in church on Sunday for our kids Monday through Friday,” Black told a local TV station. Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel recently ruled that state law did not permit arming teachers in public schools. “Simply put, the code in my opinion does not authorize either licensing a school district as a guard company or classifying it as a private business
authorized to employ its own teachers as armed guards,” McDaniel wrote in a legal opinion. Republican gubernatorial Chris Coleman commended Arkansas Christian Academy’s efforts to keep students safe. “I admire the school’s administrator, Perry Black, for recognizing that every moment counts when a gun-toting criminal intent on taking innocent lives is on campus,” he said in a statement. Black felt that he was doing nothing more than his duty to look after students. “We reserve our right as American citizens and as Christians to protect the children on our campus,” said Black.
RESTAURANT OFFERS 10 PERCENT DISCOUNT TO PISTOL PACKERS BY SAMI K. MARTIN • REPRINTED FROM THE CHRISTIAN POST
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restaurant in Louisiana is making headlines for offering a 10 percent discount to customers carrying a gun. “If you have a gun on you, I’m going to give you a discount,” Kevin Cox, owner of Bergeron’s Restaurant, told a local TV station. “My friends and relatives would come in with their guns on their holster. I felt good about that. It made me feel safer that
they were there with their gun, so why not include all citizens with the officers too.” The restaurant generally caters to police and other officials carrying weapons. In most restaurants, though, their guns would have prevented them from eating inside. Cox decided to take a different approach and use a 10 percent discount to encourage the officials, as well as everyday gun-toting people, to dine in his facility.
The Bergeron Restaurant is not the only business to encourage or reward customers with guns. Shiloh Brew & Chew in Maryville, Tennessee, posted signs welcoming those with guns, and All Around Pizza and Deli in Virginia Beach, Virginia, also offers a 15 percent discount for armed customers. And at Shooters Grill in Rifle, Colorado, waitresses carry guns. “It was good for business,” All Around owner Lay Layze said. westernshootingjournal.com 21
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BROUGHT TO YOU BY
1–2
PRIMER
GUNSHOW
Albany Knife & Gun Show, Albany, Ore. Brenham Gun Show, Brenham, Texas Dodge City Gun Show, Dodge City, Kan. Elko Gun Show, Elko, Nev. Hunting and Sportsmen’s Gun Show, Loveland, Colo. McMann’s Roadrunner Ventura Gun Show, Ventura, Calif. Mitchell Gun Show, Mitchell, Neb. Murphy’s Yuma Gun Show, Yuma, Ariz. Houston Pasadena Gun Show, Pasadena, Texas Tucson Gun Show, Tucson, Ariz. Salt Lake City Gun Show, Sandy, Utah San Francisco Gun Show, San Francisco, Calif. Saxet San Antonio Gun Show, San Antonio, Texas Western Collectibles Mesa Gun Show, Mesa, Ariz.
C A L E N D A R
Realistic looking feeding goose decoys for sale at Raahauges Shooting Enterprises Hands-On Show.
ACSWW Gun Show, Vancouver, Wash.
Cedar Rapids Gun Show, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
8–9
15 – 16
Austin Gun Show, Austin, Texas Ballinger Gun, Knife & Hunting Show, Ballinger, Texas Ennis Gun Show, Ennis, Texas Boise Gun Show, Boise, Idaho Centralia Gun Show, Centralia, Wash. Cottonwood Gun Show, Cottonwood, Ariz. Crossroads Sacramento Cali Gun Show, Sacramento, Calif. Ferndale Gun Show, Ferndale, Wash. Hamilton Gun Show, Hamilton, Texas Hillsboro Gun and Knife Show, Hillsboro, Ore. Houston GRB Gun & Knife Show, Houston, Texas Las Vegas South Point Casino Gun Show, Las Vegas, Nev. Leon Boles Gun, Knife & Coin Show, Cisco, Texas Liberty Seguin Gun Show, Seguin, Texas Mesquite Rodeo Gun Show, Mesquite, Texas WAC Monroe Gun Show, Monroe, Wash. New Home 4 Live Oak Show, Schertz, Texas Oklahoma City Gun & Knife Show, Oklahoma City, Okla. Placerville Gun Show, Placerville, Calif. Socorro Lions Craft, Collectable and Gun Show, Socorro, N.M. Tacoma Dome Gun Show, Tacoma, Wash. Wanenmacher’s Tulsa Arms Show, Tulsa, Okla. Yakima Gun Show, Yakima, Wash.
Belton Gun Show, Belton, Texas Brownwood Gun & Blade Show, Brownwood, Texas El Paso Gun Show, El Paso, Texas Ft. Worth Lone Star Gun Show, Ft. Worth, Texas Hallettsville Gun and Knife Show, Hallettsville, Texas Las Vegas Gun Show, Las Vegas, Nev. Liberty Victoria Gun Show, Victoria, Texas Longview Gun Show, Longview, Texas Missoula Gun Show, Missoula, Mont. Pasadena Gun & Knife Show, Pasadena, Texas Peacemaker Tucson Gun Show, Tucson, Ariz. Pocatello Gun Show, Pocatello, Idaho Salem Gun and Knife Show, Salem, Ore. Saxet Corpus Christi Gun Show, Corpus Christi, Texas Victorville Gun Show, Victorville, Calif
Carthage Gun Show, Carthage, Texas Cave City Gun Show, Cave City, Kan. Colorado Springs Gun Show, Colorado Springs, Colo. Conroe Gun & Knife Show, Conroe, Texas Fremont Gun Show, Fremont, Neb. Hobbs Gun & Blade Show, Hobbs, N.M. Houston Area Gun Show, Houston, Texas Ione Gun Show, Ione, Calif. Las Vegas Gun Show, Las Vegas, Nev. Lewiston Gun Show, Lewiston, Idaho Longview Gun & Knife Show, Longview, Wash. McAllen Gun Show, McAllen, Texas Mesa Gun Show, Mesa, Ariz. “Original” Rose City Gun Show, Portland, Ore. Ozark Harrison Shooters Gun Show, Harrison, Ark. Paragould Gun Show, Paragould, Ark. Ponca City Badshot Gun Show, Ponca City, Okla. Poteet Gun & Outdoor Show, Poteet, Texas Salt Lake City Gun Show, Salt Lake City, Utah Southern Arizona Gun Show, Sierra Vista, Ariz. Tanner Loveland Gun Show, Loveland, Colo. Wichita Coliseum Gun Show, Wichita, Kan. WAC Puyallup Gun Show, Puyallup, Wash. Wise County Gun Show, Decatur, Texas
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Big 3-Day Hunting & Sportsmen’s Gun Show, Loveland, Colo. Gillette Arms Show, Gilette, Wyo. Murphy’s Kingman Gun Show, Kingman, Ariz. Ottumwa Gun Show, Ottumwa, Iowa
Oregon Arms Gun Show, Portland, Ore.
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14 – 15 Camp Verde Gun Show, Camp Verde, Ariz.
14 – 16
22 – 23 Bakersfield Gun Show, Bakersfield, Calif.
28 – 29 B & M Gun & Knife Show, Warsaw, Mo. Visit westernshootingjournal.com for more events. Email editor@westernshootingjournal to have your show listed here.
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PRIMER
COMPETITION C A L E N D A R
Cal Eilrich, who has won 17 Overall World Fast Draw Championships, trains Trace Adkins for his role in The Virginian. (COWBOY FAST DRAW ASSOCIATION)
1–2
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15
ZOC Ranch Shootout (cowboy mounted shooting), Monroe, Okla.
Colorado Springs JOAD Tournament (archery), Colorado Springs, Colo. Sadie’s Shootout (sporting clays), San Antonio, Texas Stars and Stripes Regional (pistol), Tulsa, Okla. The Silver Dollar IDPA Championship (pistol), Wichita Falls, Texas
St. Jude 2nd Annual Sporting Clay Tournament, San Antonio, Texas Year End Celebration Shoot (cowboy mounted shooting), Alamagordo, N.M.
5 2014 Rio Salado Desert Classic Area 2 Championship (pistol), Phoenix, Ariz.
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Arizona State Black Powder Championship Smoke in the Valley (single-action shooting), Phoenix, Ariz.
Shootout at Boothill (cowboy mounted shooting), Turlock, Calif.
JOAD Rotational (archery), Fort Collins, Colo. Diamond B Ranch 3 (cowboy mounted shooting), Palestine, Texas Salt Creek Shootout (cowboy mounted shooting), Boyd, Texas
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2014 Space City Challenge (pistol), Belville, Texas USA Archery Indoor Stage 1, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Friday Night Warm Up and Saddle Drawing (cowboy mounted shooting), Boyd, Texas
Gator International Invitational (air gun), Rio Rancho, N.M. NCOWS & SASS Shooting Match (Old West and single-action shooting), Greenville, Texas
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7–8 California State Black Powder Smokin’ Irons in the Valley of the Coyotes (single-action shooting), Morgan Hill, Calif.
8–9
14 – 15 First Chisum Cowboy Wild Bunch Shootout (single-action shooting), Roswell, N.M.
14 – 16 The Great Northfield Raid (single-action shooting), North Hollywood, Calif.
28 – 29 Nevada State Wild Bunch Championship, Pahrump, Nev. Visit westernshootingjournal.com for more events. Email editor@westernshootingjournal to have your show listed here.
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PRIMER
TOP SHOTS
Gina Blancaor is all smiles with the grouping of her .45 Glock 36.
Firearms instructor Matthew Cyr of Levant, Maine, with his custom-built Polish AK-47. It has no serial number, legal because of the way it was put together.
Cade Emerson, age 13 from Lake Tapps, Wash., with his Remington 870 shotgun and fall turkey. His father owns King Salmon Marine, a Honda and Yamaha boat dealership.
Andy Larsson of Skinner Sights in Montana with a Mini Sharps by Chiappa and a mule deer he took with it. A .30-30 Ackley Improved, it is ďŹ tted with his Skinner sights. westernshootingjournal.com 27
PRIMER
READER TOP SHOTS Seventeen-year-old Nicole Hill of Creswell, Ore., filled her youth elk tag this season in Central Oregon with this huge lead cow. It was her first elk, using a .30-06 with just one 150-grain bullet.
Hunter Poire with his 2014 spring bear. He got it in the Wenaha unit of Oregon. The cinnamon bear weighed in at 300 pounds with a skull of 18 6/8 inches.
Dain Symes of Albuquerque, N.M., aims his Spikes Tactical AR-15.
Evie (above) and Courtney Rubens (below) with their Designer Concealed Carry handbag from designerconcealedcarry.com.
PHOTO CONTEST WINNER!
(OLEG VOLK)
Congratulations to Joyce Flora for winning the Readers’ Top Shots contest for September! Each month, the reader who submits the best photo will receive an AmmOMug of their choice from ammomug.com. Submit your best reader photos to us at ralexander@media-inc.com. You can also submit videos for our website.
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guns of our fathers
A REMINGTON FOR REMINGTON ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY BOB SHELL
The author’s Remington Model 514 bolt-action single-shot .22.
I
am a firm believer that a child should be taught gun safety and marksmanship at an early age, which would depend on various factors such as maturity and size. If gun safety was taught to all youngsters, the accident rate would go down considerably. They should have a responsible adult to properly train them, of course. In my opinion, a single-shot .22 rifle is the best option. They are simple and safe. In addition, they are light, and recoil and noise are minimal. That avoids intimidation. Hopefully at some point, .22 ammo will be easier and cheaper to find. I gave a single-shot .22 to my other grandson; which I wrote abour previously in this magazine. With that thought, I have a Remington Model 514, which is a boltaction single-shot .22. There was a fire and the stock was destroyed, although the metal is fine, so with his dad, we are going to get a stock and reblue it. Since there is virtually no pitting, it should turn out nice. His father and I can do those items at home with
standard tools. Doing that work just adds to the interest and history of the gun. When my grandson is old enough, he will learn the basics on that rifle. From 1948 to 1970, 757,624 of these were produced, which makes it relatively popular. There were a couple of models including a boy’s, which is shorter than the adult model. It needs a stock, but one should be fairly easy to find in view of the numbers produced. Prior to the fire, I shot it some, and as with most of these types of guns, it was accurate and fun to shoot. It would make a fine small-game rifle. Since my grandson’s first name is Remington, I thought that this would be the perfect rifle to pass from grandfather to grandson. WSJ Editor’s note: Bob Shell is a writer for international magazines, whose areas of expertise are old guns, reloading and various product reviews and similar topics. He owns a small ammunition business which specializes in hard-to-get and obsolete ammo.
The author, his dog, and precious grandson Remington.
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RANGE SPOTLIGHT
ALOHA, SHOOTERS!
PHOTOS BY ROYAL HAWAIIAN SHOOTERS CLUB
T
his unique shooting range, located on the fourth floor of a high-end mall in downtown Waikiki on the island of O’ahu in Hawaii, proudly displays billboards around town to attract tourists to try out shooting for the first time. It advertises, “You can casually stop by before or after shopping or dinner.” The Royal Hawaiian Shooters Club is completely geared to tourists, featuring gun rental with instruction. A full 80 percent of its customers are first-time shooters. Available firearms include .22s, 9mms, .45s, several Magnum calibers, shotguns, AR-15s,
AK-47s and carbines. Rates for adults to shoot a variety of guns start at $120. RHWC’s customers include visitors from countries all over the world, many from countries with very restrictive gun laws. There is a “Guns & Chopper” package featuring a helicopter ride. The range also offers a pistol safety course and advanced shooting course for state firearms certification. The guns are all tethered to stations to prevent accidents and accidental pointing by brand-new shooters. Most of the staff is fluent in multiple languages, particularly Portuguese and Japanese. When you visit the range’s website, there is a button to change the language to Japanese. The instructors are all NRA certified instructors, with many years of instructor or
shooting experience. Hawaii may have the lowest level of gun violence in the country, but it doesn’t have the lowest overall level of violence; seven states beat it out there, so there is a need for firearms instruction. RHWC would like to eventually open up the range to firearms provided by shooters, although this has been a bit of a challenge so far due to its location in a shopping mall. Unlike most gun ranges, RHSC is open late. Hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mon.-Sat., and 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. Sun. The address is 2201 Kalakaua Avenue Suite #404 Honolulu, Hawaii 96815 (Royal Hawaiian Center). The telephone number is (808) 922-4122, email address is info@rhshooting.com, and the website is rhshooting.com. WSJ
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gun reviews
THE HARDY ANDERSON AM-10 An Outside-The-Box Hunting Rifle ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY MIKE BURCHETT The author’s father testing out the Anderson AM-10.
I
started my journey looking for the ultimate hunting rifle. I looked at bolt actions, single-shot and semi-auto rifles to see what I really needed. I live in the great Northwest and deal with rain, brush, open space and more rain. I could find myself with a 30-yard shot all the way to 300-plus yards and needed accuracy, sufficient power and quick follow-up shot capability. When you are a hunter, you may lean towards a bolt action as this is what you see everyone with. You see blued barrels, stainless and special coatings all around. I don’t always like to conform to the public norm, so I took an outside-the-box approach. I contacted my new friends at Anderson Manufacturing and learned a bit about their company and products. Being an employer with a very high percentage of U.S. veterans, you have to take a stance of instant respect. I was educated on a new process, not coating, called RF-85. This process is used in tooling to reduce friction by up to 85 percent, increasing
the life of said tool. The rifle makers at Anderson had a brilliant idea. Why not put this process into their rifles? When I listened to Tom Steffner, Anderson’s vice president of sales, speak of the process, I found myself thinking of Will Smith in I Robot and the nanobots that destroyed the computer system. You see, a nanolayer of calcium is infused into each piece of metal of the rifle. The bore of the barrel, the action and the outside of the rifle are put through this process. This process results in the first rifle that needs no oil – ever! Another added benefit is the rifle is now corrosion resistant. I dropped this rifle in a tub of water for 24 hours and then wiped it down with a rag. Would you do that with your rifle? Oiled or not? Not even a hint of rust was evident. This would be amazing if this was a bolt gun. But no, this is a semi-automatic rifle. This is an AR-type rifle. The need of no oil is a hard concept to grasp. As a hunter, I have to clean and put a layer of oil both inside and across the entire outside of my rifle to
preserve the finish and bore from the elements. I’ve seen stainless rifles rust out here. The idea I can hunt all day and simply wipe the water and remnants of brush from my rifle without fear of corrosion is priceless. Is the hunting market the primary focus of Anderson? No, they are after active sportsmen, the target shooting community and government contracts alike. With no oil, the rifle will function longer before needing cleaning. The powder will not cake up, which would cause a failure to feed in high-use situations, and there will be faster cycling bolts caused by the reduced friction. I RECEIVED MY SAMPLE IN .308/7.62mm NATO. I was amazed and couldn’t wait to get out and give it a try. Unlike the Armalite AR-10, proprietary magazines are not a way of life. Magpul magazines lock up and function flawlessly. All controls are where you would expect them on an AR and function as normal. The adjustable stock is easily manipulated to fit any user. Optics lock into place on the flat top where you could also place a set of flip-up open sites. I set a Nightforce NXS 2.5-10x42 scope on top, and the rifle of my dreams had come true. Having a 500yard rifle with an optic that allows one to count points in twilight hours is every hunters’ dream. I took my daughters, age 14 and 16 and quite proficient with a rifle, along with my dad to shoot this bad boy. Aside from weighing in at 10 pounds before outfitted, there was nothing but an enamored look on all our faces. We shot both from a rest and free handed at targets placed at 100 yards. With little recoil and anywhere from five to westernshootingjournal.com 35
gun reviews 30 rounds of fire power, we were ready to take to the field in a stalk for elk. The rifle grouped well and naturally came to rest back on target after firing. I asked the question upon receiving the rifle as to the condition it was expected to be returned in. The onesentence response shows confidence. The response was, “Give it hell!” So, that’s what we did. We dropped the rifle in a creek for 10 minutes, magazine included. Pulled it out, chambered a round and emptied the full 20-round magazine. We didn’t shake it out, we simply lifted, released the slide and safety, and fired. We tossed it unloaded on the dirty rock road, where we kicked it around and picked it up, loaded the magazine and fired. Not a single issue. We even dumped some dirt down the ejection port, gave her a shake, then loaded the magazine and fired. In all, we sent about 250 rounds of varied ammo down range without a single issue.
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This thing loved to eat. This rifle truly has multiple personalities. Patrolling the streets overseas, riding around in patrol cars of our law enforcement officers and in the field, we can all be rest assured this
The author’s oldest daughter, Michaela, age 16, shouldering the AM-10.
rifle is going to go bang every time we squeeze the trigger. I will be shedding some tears when it comes time to send this rifle back, as my oldest has asked several times why we can’t keep it. No, not really. It’s because I want to keep it. The day I picked it up, my wife made sure I knew I couldn’t keep it. Of course, it was said with love. Encourage your dealer to get one of these rifles if they don’t already stock them. Anderson makes both 5.56mm/.223 and 7.62mm/.308 rifles. Head over to their website and check them out. If you need a good rifle to fill the freezer, look seriously at this platform. You won’t be disappointed. WSJ Editor’s note: Mike Burchett was born in Washington and was raised in the shooting/outdoor sports. His favorite activities involve anything his family enjoys. From hiking and camping to surfing and shooting, nothing is too big to try.
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gun reviews
A ROCK SOLID .45
Quality, Reliability And Affordability Come Standard In Rock Island’s 1911
ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY BOB SHELL
gun must be 100 percent reliable – otherwise, it is a paperweight. In addition, the gun has to be comfortable to the extent that you have complete faith in it. Not everyone can shoot a full-size .45 well, but that is why Rock Island makes different size models and calibers. Almost anyone can handle a 9mm gun, and with the improvements in ammo today, the 9mm is usually a viable alternative. If you don’t like recoil, Liberty Ammo makes a 50 grain which is launched at almost 2,000 fps and recoil is almost nonexistent. With that bullet design, it should be a good stopper. Other new companies are springing up all the time, and of all people, SIG Sauer has gotten in the act. With the limited testing I have done with it, I
The Rock Island 1911 is one of the better known .45s made in the Philippines.
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t seems that many .45 autos (aka ACP) are made in the Philippines. Most of them are reasonably priced and have good quality. I have tested several brands, and except for one, they were worth the price. There is a good selection of calibers and finishes. One of the better known brands is the Rock Island. I have owned and shot a number of them with satisfaction. They are the 1911 style, which is my personal favorite. The base model usually sells for less than $450 depending on location. With that, you get a basic gun that has basic sights and a trigger. I am not big on gadgets, but I did install a set of Crimson Trace Laser Grips, and they work very well, especially at night. I would
recommend them for a defense gun, as they do aid in the quick shooting that is encountered in those situations. For a buyer looking for a basic gun for self-defense or target shooting, you can’t go wrong. I have shot a lot of .45 ammo, both factory and handloads, and feeding is very reliable. Accuracy at 7 and 15 yards is more than adequate for home defense or target work. The trigger is adequate, breaking from 5 to 6 pounds, depending on which gun I was firing. The models tested were the full-size model with a 5-inch barrel and the usual eight-shot capacity. As I always do, I have other shooters of both genders and varying experiences try and evaluate it. For anyone who owns a gun for self and family defense, the
Crimson Trace grip
like it. So with the choices that Rock Island offers, there is an inexpensive gun out there for anyone. The people who shot my .45s liked them, and the only complaint was one female who has small hands had some difficulty with it. The small models will remedy that situation. As with westernshootingjournal.com 39
gun reviews any gun, you should practice with and determine which ammo performs best. If you shop around a bit, some good deals can be obtained on generic practice ammo, and for social purpose, you don’t have to buy a lot, just enough to be familiar with it and establish that it is 100 percent reliable. I have found that Rock Islands will feed almost anything, but it is wise to establish
that fact with the social ammo. The shooters felt that it was comfortable and the trigger pull was satisfactory as were the sights. When asked, the response was yes, they would buy one if they were looking for that type of gun. That is the bottom line as to how the consumer feels about a product. It doesn’t matter about fancy gadgets or high-priced options; quality and
The 1911 usually comes with eight-shot capacity.
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reliability are much more important and Rock Island measures up. You can buy models with different finishes and calibers. Different sights are also an option, and if you don’t like the .45 there are models in 9mm, .38 Super, .40 S&W, and the powerful 10mm. There are also conversions such as the 22/45 models. The standard model has reasonably good fitting and finish. If you want a sexy and option-filled gun, then look elsewhere. If, on the other hand, a reliable and inexpensive gun suits you, then I can recommend this brand. WSJ Editor’s note: For more information, visit us.armscor.com/products. Bob Shell is a writer for international magazines, whose areas of expertise are old guns, reloading and various product reviews and similar topics. He owns a small ammunition business which specializes in hard-to-get and obsolete ammo.
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gun reviews
GHOST GUN: LIGHTEST AR RECEIVER IN THE WORLD Lower Also Comes In Transparent Finish ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY TENNESSEE ARMS COMPANY, LLC
The Ghost Gun weighs only 3.6 ounces and is completely clear.
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here have been many changes in the AR-15 market and aftermarket lately. Everything is getting lighter and more colorful, while reliability has been increased through the use of high-tech materials and manufacturing techniques. Tennessee Arms Company, LLC, is a veteran-owned manufacturer that is changing the way many view the use of composite materials in an AR-15. Their lightweight lower receivers come in a variety of colors – even transparent. Using experience grounded in automotive-bushing manufacturing, they have combined the use of a high-quality composite material and metallic inserts in a patent-pending design that combines the strength of an aluminum receiver with the lightweight of a composite. Essentially, they have made a polymer-pistol frame for a rifle receiver. Tennessee Arms has made a reliable, lightweight receiver that is still less expensive than a traditional lower. Based in Dyersburg, an hour and a half northeast of Memphis, the
company has been rewriting the book on polymer lowers for a little over a year now. From their first shipments beginning in September 2013 to the improved receivers now, they have quickly answered the problems that were plaguing the world of low-cost, lightweight, and high-strength lower receivers. Using the knowledge they picked up along the way, they plan on launching their version of the DPMS pattern AR-10 lower in the first quarter of 2015, calling it the AR-308. If the past year has been any indication, it will certainly turn a couple heads. The Ghost Gun is the lightest AR receiver in the world. Weighing in at 3.6 ounces and completely clear, you can watch all
the parts moving as the rifle is firing. Paired with a clear magazine, it is becoming a very popular training aid. The business is run by two veteran brothers, Dave and John Roberts, and their father Jerry Roberts. Dave, using his experience as a Recon Marine and private security contractor, saw a need early on for a high-strength, low-weight receiver for the AR platform. Although this need was being met to some degree before Tennessee Arms set up shop, they saw room for improvement. Dave saw early on in the design phase that most of the failures in polymer lowers were coming from the receiver extension and from the “beaver tail” area between the receiver extension and the pistol grip. He chose a high-shelf design for the lower, beefing up the rear of the receiver and immediately curing the cracking at the beaver tail. Brass inserts were used in the receiver extension and pistol grip to add strength to the threads, another problem that all-polymer receivers saw. The thick brass insert also added needed strength to the receiver extension. To date, no Tennessee Arms lowers have failed during regular use. With the high-round counts getting close to the 25,000-round mark, the reliability question has been answered. These hybrid lowers are the real deal. WSJ Despite the low weight, these receivers are incredibly strong.
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The Alaska Defenders of Freedom nonprofit group will host a workshop and allow citizens to build their own AR-15. (STEVE MEYER)
AN ALASKAN-STYLE AR Nonprofit Organizes AR-15 Builds; One For Women BY STEVE MEYER
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n a halibut fishing trip last year, we had the pleasure of Jim Zumbo’s company, a fine gentleman who is down to earth and great fun to be in the outdoors with. For those who perhaps do not know, Zumbo was the hunting editor for Outdoor Life magazine for many years and very well thought of. But on one day he wrote a piece on his blog that essentially condemned the AR15 and similar rifles for hunting. That decision cost him his job. Being a gun guy I couldn’t help asking him about the incident, and he graciously explained that it was one of those cases of “pressing the send button.” He told me after that piece he was contacted by a trainer in the AR-15
system who offered for Zumbo to spend a week learning about the AR-15 system and see if perhaps his opinion might change. Zumbo took him up on his offer, did a weeklong class and followed up with a very complimentary article for SWAT magazine, explaining the things he had learned and admitting that he “ate some crow.” I was one of the folks who were solidly in Zumbo’s corner on this one. I had just never thought that using a “black gun” would be something I would do in the hunting arena. Having carried these guns, either M-16s or HKMP5s for 15 years as a SWAT operator I had no desire to use one for hunting. But the controversy created at the time of Zumbo’s blog did cause me to consider some things and think
past my own opinion. Arms placed into military service virtually since written history have been used in sporting purposed by those who used them in military service. Consider the Springfield 03A3, the mainstay service rifle in World War I and perhaps the most sports-ified service rifle in modern history. Many who served in World War II and the Korean War were endeared to the M1Garand and later, the M1A1. These rifles never caught on in the hunting fields like the Springfield did, perhaps their bulk and weight precluded that. But durable, reliable rifles they were and still are. When the “Stoner” rifle (which ultimately became the M16) was first entered into service during the early days of the Southeast Asian conflicts, westernshootingjournal.com 45
The AR-15 can be an outstanding hunting weapon for predators like wolves in Alaska. (KEN CONGER/NATIONAL PARK SERVICE)
it was met with mixed feelings. It was light and had a large magazine capacity but was not as reliable as its predecessors and for the day, fired a very small caliber cartridge that was not trusted by many. But the system itself was a marvel of ergonomic efficiency that has only improved with time. Given the choice to carry whatever weapon available in harm’s way, there is no question the Colt M-16 or AR-15 gets the nod. They are so user-friendly in terms of access to controls and operation they have no peer in my opinion. The 5.56by-45 or the .223 is a small-caliber cartridge that has more than proved itself on the battlefields of the world. Reliability issues have been worked out over the years and these guns are as reliable as any firearm can reasonably be expected to be. The level of accuracy available in this weapon’s system is nothing short of astonishing. So why not the AR-15 for hunting?
Frankly, I don’t have much of an argument -- provided they are used within reason on a class of game the load chosen can be effective on. For predator hunting – about 90 percent of predator hunting situations – as much as I hate to admit it, these guns have no peer. Fast, accurate, and reliable, they are certainly up to the task for coyotes, foxes, and wolves. A handloader now has the option of loading Nosler partition bullets that make the .223 a much more viable option for even deer-sized game. Truthfully, there are very few situations where my heavy-barreled, single- shot or bolt-action predator rifles have any advantage; in fact, they have some disadvantages. They certainly are not as fast to bring into play and they are not as fast to shoot. So why don’t I go with an AR-15 for predator hunting? Hunting is bound by regulations that true hunters follow. Within those bounds there are individual traditions, believes, upbringing and experience that make each hunting experience different. There is no regulation that prohibits shooting ducks on the water and yet, most waterfowl hunters won’t. There is no regulation prohibiting shooting sitting grouse or ptarmigan with a .22 rifle; many do, but many also do not. How one was raised, what we are exposed to
growing up probably provides most of the foundation that makes us what we are as hunters. I enjoy the look and feel of rubbing down walnut and blued steel at the end of the day. I totally understand why another hunter chooses synthetic stocks and stainless steel. I use wood-stocked, blued-steel over/under shotguns for all of my bird hunting and get why many choose a synthetic-stocked autoloader with three shots. None of us are wrong, just different and in my advancing years I have learned that what really counts in the hunting arena is the common goal of providing food for our tables or fur for our garments and the ways and means can be many and varied. It is a tradition that has evolved for some and is staunchly guarded against evolution by others. So long as the tradition continues the game populations of the world will continue to benefit. So why the title of this article; you might be wondering? A uniquely Alaskan opportunity is being presented by the Alaska Defenders of Freedom a nonprofit group, which was founded by Scott Hamann, a very well known local supporter of the Second Amendment and a tireless fundraiser with a heart of gold. In cooperation of the Valley Armory, they are offering Alaskans the opportunity to build their own
The available options for customizing AR-15’s once you have the basic gun is astonishing. Hunters might be surprised to know how effective they can be. (STEVE MEYER)
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AR-15 and provide a substantial donation to the preservation of Second Amendment rights with all profits going to the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) and get a superb AR-15 for less than most over the counter guns. The first AR-15 build took place on July 4, 2014, and was a resounding success. The second one, also a success, took place on October 11, 2014, and even better, a women’s only AR-15 build is scheduled for November 22, 2014. The component parts of these quality firearms are listed below: BARREL 4140 Nitride-treated, M4-profiled, 16-inch barrel. The nitride treating process creates a surface that is harder than chrome. Because nitride treating is a nonbuilding process, it does not change the dimensions of the barrel like chrome. As a result these are incredibly accurate barrels since they were machined directly to final dimension.
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UPPER RECEIVER 7075 Forged aluminum M4 upper. These are made using an actual M4 print and have the proper T-Marks and M4 feed ramps per the spec. LOWER RECEIVER 7075 forged aluminum AR15 upper; they have been custom logoed for this project. BOLT/CARRIER M16 8620 heat treated carrier; 9310 heat treated, shot peened, and individually magnetic particle inspected bolts; S7 tool steel extractor. FURNITURE standard M4 carbine furniture with collapsible butt-stock on Mil-Spec tube. FRONT/REAR SITES YHM integrated flip up front sight/ gasblock with hooded post, YHM flipup rear sight with dual aperture. All parts are 100 percent made in the USA with 100 percent Americanmade materials. The cost to participate is $1,000. All participants will receive, build and test
fire an A-15 with a specially engraved lower receiver and DPMS Oracle kit. Participants will be guided through the process of building the AR-15 by qualified armorers. Participants must be able to pass a NICS background check. For an additional $500, a participant will also receive a complete Wheeler Engineering AR-15 Armorer’s Professional kit, an 89-piece deluxe Gunsmithing screwdriver set and a 15-piece punch and hammer set. Space is limited to 12 people. If you know a woman in Alaska who has been thinking about an AR15, it is difficult to imagine finding a better opportunity to purchase one at a reasonable price and get to know the system in such an intimate way. One never wants to say never, and this might even change my mind about having one of these black masterpieces again. WSJ Editor’s note: For information on this project, contact Scott Hamann at (907) 776-7676 or Christine Cunningham at (907) 252-5486.
westernshootingjournal.com wes w we eesster te tter ernsh er nssh n sho oot oo ottiing o oting in ng n gjjo jou ou o urnal.c rna rn rna nal. l.ccom l.c om 49 49
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BLACK POWDER
A BLACK POWDER SHOOTER’S DREAM A Tour Of Idaho’s Buffalo Arms ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY MIKE NESBITT
which they form from existing cases – and really much more than I can mention in this brief article.
Dave Gullo, owner of Buffalo Arms seen with a rolling block rifle.
While talking with Dave Gullo and his top assistant Chris Sanders in their tent on Traders’ Row at the Quigley Match in Montana last June, I mentioned my desire to stop in Ponderay, Idaho, for a visit to Buffalo Arms. Dave, the owner of Buffalo Arms, said that I’d be disappointed because their building is more of a warehouse and they have no showroom or sales area. To me that sounded even more interesting, and I said so. That was when we initially hatched the plan for me to visit and spend part of a day at Buffalo Arms. Dave Gullo is an impressive man, he laughs a lot and he’s very easy to like. My only mistake with him, I
suppose, was letting him know when I’d be making that visit, because he took the opportunity to be gone. Actually, I shouldn’t be taking any credit for his absence; at the time of my visit he was busy at a black powder shoot in Canada. But Chris was there, minding the store, and he made me quite welcome. My tour through Buffalo Arms was certainly eye opening. They have aisles of black-powder shooting treasures, for sure. Those treasures include some guns for sale, a very nice array of books that we would all enjoy, reloading gear, their own brand of bullet moulds, shooting accessories, brass-cartridge cases from Jamison and Starline plus their own brass
THE VISIT STARTED OUTSIDE their unmarked building on the outskirts of Ponderay, north of Couer d’Alene. Chris met me in the parking lot, and upon entering the building, the first thing I saw was a large mounted bull-buffalo head, most likely one of Dave’s hunting trophies. From there, we went on a short and almost overwhelming tour of aisles loaded with many of the items mentioned in the preceding paragraph. Those items are simply too many to mention individually, and to mention them all would take a whole new Buffalo Arms catalog! Of course, I did pick up a few of those items along the way, and at a convenient place near the door, those items were “stashed” so I could purchase them just prior to my departure. Some of those things included: an insert organizer (for holding changeable front sight apertures), a silhouette-spotting board, blow tubes for .50-90 and .4070 SS calibers, and a SLM decapping tool for .50-70 and .50-90 cases. In addition to those little things, a case of Olde Eynsford powder in various granulations was prepared for me. That really isn’t a huge amount of
Buffalo Arms’ Chris Sanders amongst the company’s inventory at its North Idaho warehouse.
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Jim Brannon, BACO’s mould maker, showing a newly made bullet mould
plunder which would leave the shop with me, but it is a good thing that I had a truck. Chris was not alone in the shop that day, not at all. Buffalo Arms employs up to 15 people, and when I was there, they were all very busy. Orders come in during every hour of the day by telephone and email, with a few orders arriving by regular mail. Buffalo Arms
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is very well noted for getting those orders filled quickly so the shooters who placed those orders get their goods in a very timely manner. A good crew is necessary for running such a good and smooth operation. One outstanding person who I met at Buffalo Arms is Jim Brannon, their bullet-mould maker. Jim and I talked at length about bullet design and the making of the moulds themselves. I presently have two of the BACO (Buffalo Arms Co.) moulds, one for a .44-caliber, .434-inch diameter, 470-grain paper patched “smoothy,” and the other is their “chicken bullet,” the grease-groove .45-caliber, 435-grain money bullet named for its performance on the chicken silhouettes at 200 meters. More will probably be said about each of those moulds and the bullets they make in the future. And more should be said about Jim Brannon too; I know I’ll be talking with him again. All too soon it was time for me to get my plunder loaded and paid for, then to hit the long trail back to base camp. My visit was a memorable one, most certainly, but I must say that a better look at what Buffalo Arms offers is seen while reviewing their 200-pluspage catalog or by visiting their fully loaded website. The reason for that is because while visiting the Buffalo Arms “warehouse” there are simply too many things to see, especially when you see them all at once! If you haven’t already, check out their web site at buffaloarms.com. WSJ Editor’s note: Mike Nesbitt’s articles about black powder shooting can be found in back issues of certain magazines from nearly 40 years ago, and he’s learned a few things over that span of time. Join him now as newer stories continue in our black powder column. With Mike, you can talk about black powder cartridge shooting, from paper-patched bullets to the famous “collar button,” and we’ll hit on traditional muzzleloading too. For Mike, shooting begins with black powder. westernshootingjournal.com 53
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“Broken Arrow” Bob DeLisle on the rifle trail.
MOUNTAIN MEN FACE OFF WITH ARCHERY, TRADE GUNS, MORE Havin’ A Blast At The Evergreen Muzzloaders’ Fall Harvest Rendezvous his year, the Evergreen Muzzleloaders’ Fall Harvest Rendezvous, which took place September 18-21 at the Evergreen Sportsman’s Club, Olympia, Wash., was so good, to put it very simply, that I really want to tell you all about it. Space won’t allow me to say everything, but I will mention some of the high points. The biggest one is that nearly 80 shooters came out to enjoy some muzzleloading, and that is a great turnout. The fine weather helped very nicely,
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and the traders turned out in very good numbers too. Special thanks must be given to trader Randy Rice for his generous donation of prizes, and the same must be extended to Cash Mfg., and a very special “thank you!” goes to Cabela’s. They all helped very nicely to make the prizes extremely worthy. More thanks need to be extended to all of the crew who helped put on this rendezvous and keep it running smoothly. All of these special ingredients were mixed together to make it superb.
ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY MIKE NESBITT
Some of the doin’s this year were somewhat of a repeat from last year, or from more than just last year. Clark Sherwood was the big winner again (and that was a statement from last year’s report). There is nothing wrong with Clark’s winning again, he really earns his prizes with some outstanding shooting. And we might say that some of the outstanding things about the shooting events were not recorded in the shooting scores. For instance, Mike Moran wanted to try his hand with a westernshootingjournal.com 55
One of a few primitive camps.
trade gun, so he joined Bob DeLisle and me on the trade-gun trail while borrowing one of my short-barreled Northwest guns. To say he liked shooting the gun he used is putting things mildly, and soon we’ll be seeing him with a Northwest gun of his own. While neither Mike nor I could boast of very good scores, while he was beating me, we both got to watch Bob DeLisle shoot his way into second place. Lane Lasher won the WSMA youth rifle.
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OUT ON THE ARCHERY TRAIL, Bob DeLisle enjoyed a strange occurrence,
which I think is worthy of a new camp or rendezvous name. We were most of the way through the archery trail, when Bob drew his arrow back to take his first shot on the second coyote. (That tells you where we were.) When he released the arrow, it broke in a long diagonal split just ahead of the fletching. Strangely, the part of the arrow with the arrowhead still found its way into the 10-point area of the target. Luckily, the back part of the arrow did no harm to Bob, as too often the back of those split or splintered arrows
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Clark Sherwood earned the Top Mountain Man award.
wound the hand that holds the bow. Anyway, now I’ll be calling him “Broken Arrow” Bob. The archery trail saw some hot competition just like the rifle, pistol, and trade-gun trails did. All three of the archers who placed in the archery match had scores over 200 (out of a possible 240), and I’m not sure if that has been done before at one of our rendezvous. Tony Woore was the top archer, and he finished rather well in all events, good enough to take third place for Top Mountain Man. First place for Top Mountain Man
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went to Clark Sherwood again, and he simply shoots too well to be beaten. The Mountain Man awards only go to shooters who compete in every event, which includes rifle, pistol, knife & ’hawk, trade gun, archery, and shotgun matches. Yes, those are busy people. The second place winner for Top Mountain Man was Don Kerr. We can’t forget that the Fall Harvest Rendezvous of the Evergreen Muzzleloaders is also the WSMA (Washington State Muzzleloading Association) Primitive Championships. All of the events were awarded with first, second and third place WSMA medals. The main mission of the WSMA is to encourage black powder shooting for our youth. With assistance of the generous WSMA grants, the Evergreen Muzzleloaders gives away two guns each year. At this event, the youth rifle, a handy sized .32-caliber percussion, was won by Lane Lasher. That rifle was purchased with money from the grant we received from the
WSMA, and, very appropriately, Lane’s name was drawn from the hat by Mike Moran, currently WSMA’s vice president. WSJ Editor’s note: Visit the new WSMA web site at wamuzzleloaders.com. Good shoots with contacts information are listed on the WSMA calendar of events.
Mike Moran holding two Northwest guns.
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M
ost pro shooters nowadays have sponsors in the firearms industry, which provide them with equipment in exchange for publicity. Some companies have even gone so far as to set up their own pro teams. In our April issue earlier this year, we featured Michelle Viscusi of Team Glock and Julie Golob of Team Smith & Wesson. Ammo companies also have their own teams. Team Hornady recently hired world champion shooter Jessie Duff to represent them. Winchester began
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JESSIE DUFF Team Hornady
ARTICLE BY FRANK JARDIM • PHOTOS BY JESSIE DUFF
Jessie Duff is one of the world’s best competitive shooters in the action sports arena. She is also the first woman to hold the title of United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) grand master. So far this year, she has won at the NRA Bianchi Cup, Steel Challenge World Championships, NRA World Action Pistol Championship, USPSA Area 6 Championships, Steel Challenge National Championships and the STI Double Tap Championship. To get a better picture of the intensity of her focus on being the best, consider that she won her first World Championship title in 2005 when she was 20 years old. It was the Cowboy Action Shooting Western 3-Gun World Championships. Since then, she’s won at another 73 major competitions, making her one of the most recognizable faces of the shooting sports world. We were fortunate to be able to talk with her on the business of professional shooting, her contributions to breaking ground for women in what was once almost
exclusively a man’s sport, her television work and what preparations she has made for a zombie apocalypse. FRANK JARDIM You are recognized as being one of the top action shooting competitors in the world, and since you became the captain of the Taurus Shooting Team in 2012 most people have thought of you as the face of Taurus. However, I’ve noticed when you win, which is a lot, there are five other companies (Leopold, Hornady, Weatherby, Uncle Mike’s, Hoppe’s) that also make a point to announce that you are on their team too! In Kentucky, where we only understand college basketball, you can only be on one team at a time. Would it be more accurate to say that you are sponsored or endorsed by these companies rather than on a traditional sports team? JESSIE DUFF I have been very fortunate in my career to be able to partner with the best companies in our industry. And yes, these partnerships are considered “sponsorships” or “endorsement deals.” In the shooting industry, a shooter may acquire
multiple sponsorships for the different types of equipment used, ie, firearms, ammunition, holsters, gun cleaning products, targets, eyewear, etc., as long as the companies don’t conflict with one another. These companies may also contract multiple shooters, and have their own company team. FJ How do you know who you win for? Does Taurus say, “OK, Jessie, go win the Bianchi Cup for us and we’ll keep you in guns,” and Hornady say, “Win the Steel Challenge for us and we’ll keep you knee deep in ammo until the zombie apocalypse,” and so on? JD My championship wins are celebrated by all the companies that I’m partnered with. I choose my match schedule based on the disciplines that I compete in, and the matches that I think would best promote and highlight my sponsors. Then, if I am fortunate enough to win, all of the companies will promote the title based off of the products I use for them. For example, when I won the
sponsoring the Olympics USA Shooting Team, which includes world-record holder Corey Cogdell. There are very few women in the world who can shoot as well as these two ladies, so we talked to both of them about what it’s like being pro shooters with sponsors, competing with the elite of the elites for a career.
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Representing multiple firearms companies, Jessie Duff must carefully balance out their logos on her competition shirts.
NRA Bianchi Cup this year, Hornady promoted their bullets that I used, Leupold’s scope that I chose for the match, and Taurus for the firearms I had made for that competition. FJ Unlike a basketball team, the nature of the shooting sports requires members of a shooting team to compete as individuals. As captain of the Taurus team, what exactly does that entail? JD As captain of Team Taurus, it’s my responsibility to represent Taurus in the shooting sports and the industry. This includes competing with their firearms, attending trade shows, appearances, etc., and promoting the brand off of the range as well. While I’ve been at Taurus, we have started a junior shooting program, Taurus Young Guns. This program was designed to give young up-and-coming shooters an opportunity in the industry, and help them along in the shooting sports. Growing the sport and passing
Jessie Duff competes with custom-built Tauruses.
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on the tradition is important to me and Taurus, and, through this program, we are able to do both. FJ Taurus Young Guns involves scouting and recruiting young raw talent like Alex Larche to develop into the next generation of superstars shooters. Have you found any more promising prospects? JD Alex is our first addition to the team, and he has done extremely well with it, proving that the program is successful. We haven’t added any new shooters yet, but I am always keeping my eyes open at every match I go to. There are so many talented junior shooters coming into the sport, but we aren’t just looking for someone who can shoot well. We are looking for someone who can be a good ambassador of the sport, represent Taurus in the best way possible, and be a good role model for other junior shooters. Even though we haven’t added anyone new since Alex, that doesn’t mean we won’t be scouting and adding in the future! FJ One of the reasons the shooting sports are great is because you don’t have to have great size or brute physical strength to participate. Men and women can compete together equally. In fact, you are a grand master, which puts you among the top competitive shooters in the world. Why do we even have separate ladies’
catagories? Danica Patrick doesn’t compete in a ladies racing division. JD In the shooting sports, there are divisions based on the type of equipment you use. Within those divisions are categories, for ladies, juniors, seniors, military/law enforcement, etc. A shooter is capable of winning their category along with their division. So at a match, I compete in the ladies category and in the open division (open is when an optical sight is used on the firearm). My scores are tallied against all other competitors for an overall standing, but also in my category against the ladies. Should a lady beat all the other competitors, including the men, she would be awarded the overall title, just as Danica Patrick would be if she won a race. FJ Do your foresee a time when ladies’ classifications will disappear? JD No, I don’t think that would happen, nor should it. I think having a category/ division specifically for the ladies recognizes what we do in the sport. I think if the number of women in the shooting sports continues to grow, then it would be great to see the ladies have their own championships, like in tennis or golf. But until then, I don’t mind competing alongside the men! FJ I’m curious if in a male-dominated sport, at least for now, do your fellow professional male competitors consider women shooters as their peers? Since you aren’t in the same catagories, it would be easy for chauvinistic types to say, “Well, she’s good for a girl,” when in reality, if you competed directly against them you would beat them. JD I believe in any sport where both men and women are competing, you will always have some opinions that women can’t compete at the same level. Thankfully in my career, all the men I have competed against have been very respectful of what I’ve done, and encouraging to other women competing as well. FJ In the past few years, women have been participating in shooting
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activities in record numbers for sporting and self-defense reasons. Part of the reason Taurus brought you on board was to cultivate women. What are your thoughts on the trend and the role you have played in it? JD I’m so glad to see more and more women getting involved in with firearms and the shooting sports. I think they are realizing that firearms are not just for men, and that they can have a place in that world as well. With all of the talented women in the
shooting industry, we have shown that women too can come and compete, and enjoy it! With Taurus taking such a stance in promoting women, it’s such an honor for me to have the opportunity they have given me. When I retire from shooting, my hope is that I was able to encourage as many ladies as possible to participate and enjoy firearms, whether for recreation or self defense! FJ To the average shooter, a lot of
Jessie Duff Hosts an NRA TV Show with her husband.
the guns the pros like yourself use in matches look like something you would see in a science fiction movie. I know that in most cases those pro guns, like race cars, are highly tuned and customized, not just for the specific shooter, but also the specific competition. How critical are those custom guns to your success as a competitor? Could you still win with an out-of-the-box Taurus? JD The majority of my guns are, as you mentioned, custom built to me and the events I compete in. While I prefer to compete with a firearm that is fine tuned to my specifications, I can and have competed with out-of-the-box firearms. I spent the early years of my career shooting stock guns, and did well with them. As I progressed into the sport, I wanted to expand the divisions I competed in, which led to custom guns. I still shoot in divisions where the modifications are minimal, like Single Stack and Production. These divisions showcase the Taurus products, and show consumers that
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or a C-96 “broomhandle” Mauser? That would be pretty awesome. JD My shooting career started in cowboy action shooting, so I got plenty of time behind a Ruger Vaquero! Before I started shooting modern firearms, I shot Steel Challenge with my single-action revolvers. That was a challenge within itself!
Jessie Duff is one of the top role models for young girls interesting in shooting.
they are top-shelf firearms even without all the bells and whistles. FJ I know you have some experience with vintage firearms. For fun, have you ever tried those courses of fire you do for the Bianchi Cup or Steel Challenge with something completely old school, like a fixed sight S&W M1917 revolver, an original Colt 1911
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FJ You won quite a few Single Action Shooting Society competitions early in your career. What attracted you to that unique type costumed genre shooting competition? Did your Dad make you watch Gunsmoke reruns when you were a kid? JD I grew up watching Westerns; my dad is a cowboy at heart, which is why he loves SASS. My dad was competing in SASS when I made my way into competition, so naturally that’s what I shot as well. I love the cowboy era, and the costumes you would see at the matches, and shooting firearms that were built hundreds of years ago, that are still functional today. So, it
was a great place for me to start my shooting career. FJ What’s in your sights for next year? Any plans to expand your Outdoor Channel NRA All Access show? JD NRA All Access is continuing on, with season two currently airing, and we are wrapping up season three. It’s been a wonderful journey through the years with Friends of NRA, and transitioning into NRA All Access! Through the show, my husband and I are able to travel the country and meet the people of the NRA. We get to hear their stories of what the Second Amendment means to them, the traditions that they are passing on, and their passions about the outdoors. I’m excited to see the future the show will have, and to continue to be a part of it! WSJ Editor’s note: Readers can keep up with Jessie at jessieduff.net, facebook.com/ jduffshoot and twitter.com/jessie_duff. The author runs the match Zombie Shooters United.
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OLYMPIC TRAP SHOOTER
COREY COGDELL Team Winchester And The USA Shooting Team ARTICLE BY FRANK JARDIM • PHOTOS BY COREY COGDELL
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spiring American Olympic shooters rarely get any significant corporate sponsors, and expect a life of austerity while training in pursuit of world recognition on the winners’ podium. The irony is they are the nation’s finest marksmen in their unique shooting disciplines. I had the chance to discuss the Olympic sponsorship paradox and other details of the games with 2008 Beijing summer games women’s trap bronze medalist Corey Cogdell. A native of Alaska, she developed a love for shooting as a child hunting with her father, and then developing her trap shooting skills in the local 4H club. She joined the Olympic program in 2006 at 20 years of age and has devoted her entire adult life to it. In addition to her win in 2008, she placed a respectable 11th place in women’s trap in the 2012 Olympics in London. FRANK JARDIM What is life like for a
shooter training for the Olympics? COREY COGDELL You need to be all in. Talent alone is not enough. You are ceaselessly training, refining, improving yourself. It requires extreme discipline and personal sacrifice. I train on average five to six hours a day and shoot 100 to 300 rounds each session. I’ve broken 300,000 birds in practice in eight years of shooting. With all that range time, about the only other things you have time for are eating and sleeping. FJ With a training schedule of that intensity, how do Olympic shooters support themselves financially? CC It’s very challenging. Most athletes just scrape by with the help of their families and communities. We get a lot of support from USA Shooting, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that was chartered by the U.S. Olympics Committee as the national governing body for shooting sports in 1995.
Their mission is to get America’s best shooters to the Olympics. The U.S. Olympic Shooting Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., is a tremendous resource for the shooters lucky enough to be chosen to live and train there. It can have up to 25 men and women athletes in residence. I lived there from 2007 until the time I got married last summer. FJ What is it like living at the U.S. Olympic Shooting Center? Do you have to sleep on straw and subsist on a single bowl of thin gruel each day to toughen yourselves up to beat the Russians? CC Much nicer than that actually. More like a college dorm but without the parties and carrying on. It provides athletes with all the facilities and tools to be successful. We have access to sports psychologists, nutritionists, physical trainers … the whole gamut. It’s up to you to take advantage of all of those things. westernshootingjournal.com 71
Unfortunately, if you haven’t been on the podium, most corporations don’t take much of an interest in you. It’s not like the professional shooting world.
It is much more difficult to obtain sponsors in the Olympics than as a professional shooter.
FJ Since you left the center, is your husband now sponsoring your Olympic endeavors? CC No, but he rivals my dad for my biggest fan. I actually got a few sponsors on my own after I earned my first Olympic medal in 2008.
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FJ Speaking of that, the best professional shooters wear jerseys covered with their sponsor logos. I’ve noticed that your Olympic vests have only two small logos on them, Winchester and the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Explain the logo disparity. CC The International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) sets out the rules for Olympic shooters from all nations and they don’t allow us to cover ourselves in advertising. Sponsors want advertising. The result is we aren’t offering something most sponsors want. The Olympics represents excellence for excellence’s sake, not for profit. Another factor is we don’t shoot as many matches annually as our professional peers, so there’s not as much opportunity for brand exposure. Think about it. Our big match is the
Olympics every four years. FJ What is it that attracts sponsors to USA Shooting Team and Olympians then? CC It comes back to excellence. Though we shoot fewer matches than the professionals, the average skill level of the shooters in our competitions is a thing of awe. Our competitions are really like a “battle of giants.” Remember the purpose of all of the pre-Olympic matches is to identify the very best shooters for an Olympic showdown. USA Shooting has some great sponsors who appreciate this, and they support the organization as a whole rather than individual Olympians. For example, Winchester generously provides all our ammunition. That helps the whole team in a huge way. They’ve earned that spot on our vests. FJ Tell me about your personal sponsors and how big a role they play in your success as an athlete.
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CC My personal sponsors give me monetary compensation to offset my living and training expenses in addition to their products. The sum of their collective support has gotten me a long way as an athlete since 2008. The payoff for all the training is that I feel I’m doing the best shooting of my life right now. On the product side of it, you see my Kreighoff shotguns fitted with HiViz sights every time I’m on the trap field. What’s not so apparent are the nutritional supplements from Shaklee that I take to stay healthy and keep my immune system strong, and all the Cabela’s outdoor clothing and gear I use when I’m hunting in the U.S. or in Africa too, thanks to the conservation efforts of Safari Club International. I promote my sponsors through personal appearances, like the ones I do at their booths during SHOT Show, and with my own Internet social media. Since the ISSF rules don’t ban professional competitors from the Olympics, I can and do shoot in non-
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ISSF matches wearing my sponsors’ logos. However, when I’m doing ISSF competitions, about all I can do is spell out Krieghoff on my shotgun barrel in white decal letters and put a few stickers on my buttstock. FJ What can our readers do to support our Olympic shooters? CC The easiest thing to do is to become a member of and donate to USA Shooting. If you want to play a more direct role in the lives of the athletes, get on USA Shooting’s website (usashooting.org/12-the-team/ usashootingteam) and learn about them. Choose someone and ask them what they need. A check made out to your favorite athlete is exactly the kind of support they could use. Their training regimen makes it nearly impossible to hold down an outside job and they need all the support they can get. FJ How can your many new fans keep up with you?
CC I’m active on social media. Use the handle @coreycogdell to follow me on Twitter and Instagram. On Facebook look for “Corey Cogdell Fan Page.” My webpage is CoreyCogdell.com. FJ Finally Corey, after eight years of Olympic training, do you feel that you are adequately prepared mentally and physically to survive in the unlikely event of a zombie apocalypse? CC I’ve actually had this conversation with quite a few of my teammates and friends. We joke around about who to have on your team during a zombie apocalypse, and I have to say I get voted onto the team pretty often. I think I’m going to survive. The great thing about the sport I compete in is that we are really good at moving targets, and shotgun shells have a really big pattern so it’s hard to miss something close up. I think I’d do pretty good with a fully automatic shotgun. FJ Wow. WSJ
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SHOOTING WITH LARYSA
FIVE LESSONS LEARNED WHILE ELK HUNTING Don’t Make These Mistakes
ARTICLE BY LARYSA SWITLYK • PHOTOS BY PATRICK CRAWFORD / LARYSA UNLEASHED LLC
that with their new Endeavor ED II line of binoculars, which gives you the high-quality, low-dispersion glass with edge-to-edge clarity at a really reasonable price. #3 THING I LEARNED: Have a good sharp knife. It definitely comes in handy when you are out in the woods for long periods of time and turns into a survival tool. Also, you need something sharp to field dress your kill. I especially like the Huntspoint wood handle made by SOG knives.
The author had better luck on a mule deer hunt.
One of my best hunts to date was on public lands in Oregon. My then cameraman Brad Cantrell (now producing Heavy Hitters TV) invited me to his hometown outside Hells Canyon to hunt with his family and friends. He grew up hunting that land, so he knew it like the back of his hand. I learned a ton on that hunt, especially what gear I was missing and what hunting was really about. I was still new to hunting and this was my first time hunting out West in the mountains for elk. I flew directly from a fishing tournament in Italy to Oregon, but nine hours of jet lag was not going to stop me from waking up early and hiking between 5 and 10 miles a day.
#1 THING I LEARNED: Make sure you break in your hiking boots before attempting to hike that much! I had to tape up my feet, and got the worst blisters that I had to fight through the rest of the trip and just deal with. Now, I wear the Muck Woodland’s Explorer, which are an all-terrain leather hunting boot, and I will wear them around the house and on my errands before my hunt to make sure they are broken in beforehand. #2 THING I LEARNED: Have a good pair of optics! I felt like everyone around me could see way better than I could with my cheap pair of binoculars, and I felt embarrassed to keep asking to borrow their pair so I could be included with what they were looking at. Vanguard Optics came out with a solution to
#4 THING I LEARNED: Don’t rely on other people to guide you, and get your own GPS. The guys I was with brought me down to a spot and left me. We all set up in different sections of this bowl because the elk funneled down into it. I had a cow come running down the hillside almost running me over until it saw me, and changed directions so quick I couldn’t even bring up my Limbsaver bow in time. It definitely got my heart racing being on the ground that close to such a large animal! When it was time to meet at the bottom of the natural funnel, I started walking in what I felt was the right direction. I walked for 20 to 25 minutes until I started thinking I should have run into one of the other guys I was hunting with by then. Since cell phones didn’t work well, I did have a radio to communicate. Still, it was hard to figure out where I was exactly compared to their location. I got into a little panic mode, especially because I left my snacks back at the truck. After walking through brush for over an hour, screaming, and using the radio, I finally ran into one of the westernshootingjournal.com 77
SHOOTING WITH LARYSA
Hunting is about the full experience, including spending time in the woods with your fellow hunters.
other guys. Luckily we had about six guys in the woods that morning, and they could have found me if it came to it, but it was still a scary situation thinking the directions they gave me were so simple to follow yet I still got lost. Having a GPS tracker where I could have pinned where the truck was parked compared to where I was, at least I could have gotten out by myself without the panic.
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#5 THING I LEARNED: Look before you pee! I went to go pee on a bush and I heard a rattle and quickly jumped away just in time to see the snake I almost just peed on! I was lucky not to have to learn that lesson the hard way! I hunted hard for five days straight, walked and sweated my butt off, and heard some big bulls bugle. I didn’t come away with a kill this hunt, but it ended up being one of my favorite
hunts. Hunting is about the whole experience; the time you spend in the woods with your fellow hunters and the time you spend at the local bar downtown grabbing dinner and telling stories. I pushed myself on that hunt, learned a lot about myself as a hunter and also about how to be more prepared on my next hunt. I have great memories from that hunt and if I killed, it would have been a bonus, but I have never laughed so hard with such a fun group of hunters. That is what it is truly about – the memories you create and being thankful for the experience. WSJ Editor’s note: Larysa Switlyk, host of Larysa Unleashed on the Sportsman Channel and Destination America. Larysa is a CPA turned professional outdoorswoman sharing her passion with her main pursuit to influence and encourage other females and children to get involved in the outdoors.
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COMPETITIONS
THREE-GUN COMPETITORS DOMINATE TRIJICON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Stars Align To Favor Move-and-shoot Participants ARTICLE BY ROBIN TAYLOR • PHOTOS BY PATRICK KELLEY
Training Center in Glengary, W.V., hosted the “Trijicon World Shooting Championships” – winner to take $50,000. Smaller sponsors joined in as well, creating a $100,000 total purse for a three-day, multidiscipline event. Just as a mixed martial arts fighter can’t “just box” or “just wrestle,” Match Director Larry Houck set up the match to test all skills. To win, you had to excel in five-stand, IDPA, bullseye pistol, long range “F-class” rifle, sporting clays, even cowboy action. The match broke down into three phase groups, so if you won your “group” (such as the clay target events), a check for $5,000 was yours – no matter how badly you did in the rest of the tournament. In a different light, the Trijicon match is “Top Shot” taken seriously. If you’re the ranking long-range rifle champion, you’ve probably got that “group” in the bag, but the clay target “group” is another matter. The overall winner is the one who can hold the best AVERAGE performance across all four “groups.”
Patrick Kelley of Moses Lake, Wash., has won multiple 3-gun competitions nationwide.
B
ringing masters of different martial arts together to fight in a grand tournament was film fantasy in 1990 – today it’s the Ultimate Fighting Championship,
watched by millions. In September, the light-aiming systems company Trijicon started much the same thing, inviting national champions of every stripe to compete head to head in a unified national event. Peacemaker National
TRICKY SHOOTING To level the playing field, at every station shooters used supplied guns and ammo. Sponsors Alexander Arms, FN, Armalite, Colt, Beretta, Bianchi and more all had their gear in play. Shooters couldn’t adjust the sights in any way, but you could fire a few sighters. “No wind flags made shooting at 600 yards difficult, but they had an electronic target set up next to us so you could see where your shots hit,” westernshootingjournal.com 83
COMPETITIONS Tony Holmes driving a supplied AR similar to what he normally drives in 3-gun competition. See how Holmes has the rifle cocked to one side? Doing that flips the magnificed Trijicon ACOG to one side, bringing the Trijicon red-dot optic into full view (for close-range work).
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said Natasha Pitre. “The electronic targets – they gave us excellent feedback,” added Patrick Kelley, who frequently places at the top of 3-gun competitions. Pitre ranks among the top female long-range shooters in the world, so I asked her about the rifle events. “My long-range skills didn’t really help, but the basic rifle shooting skills … THAT mattered.” Pitre has a trap-shooting background, and she did better in her strong suits. A lack of pistol skills kept her out of contention for the overall. “I had a great time,” she said. “Getting thrown into competitions that I’ve never done and in some cases never HEARD OF was great.” Among the competitors, Larry Houck got widespread praise as a match director for the sheer SCALE of the event. According to Trijicon officials, the match took a full year to put together.
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COMPETITIONS “This couldn’t have been done if Larry Houck hadn’t been doing this,” said Kelley. Houck has some matchdesign bugs to be worked out (a clay target expert to run that “group” would help), but Houck really is breaking
“new ground” for North America. DIDN’T GET AN INVITATION? ASK FOR ONE! While the top-tier players received personal invitations by Trijicon match staff, the balance applied like anyone Speed demon Mark Hanish sprints for the next shooting position during the cowboy action phase. A hammer double and empty hulls stay behind in the dust.
else hoping to get approved. Threegun phenom Lena (Miculek) Afentul got in by application, and ended up winning the ladies’ title against a starstudded field. “They did a great job, and that’s an extremely hard match to put on. I can’t wait until next year,” she said. The field of potential competitors is far too wide for Trijicon to know them all, so if you’ve got broad skills, you might apply and see if you can get in – win or lose, you’ll stand side by side with the best. RISE OF THE “RENAISSANCE SHOOTER?” Daniel Horner’s victory surprised no one. He’s amazing with rifle, pistol and shotgun – and shoots fulltime for the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit. However, second-place finisher Bruce Piatt has a wider skills base than the younger, more-athletic Horner. That (paradoxically) made Piatt the “multigun” favorite.
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Legendary sharpshooters Taran Butler, Carl Bernosky and Jerry Miculek.
Kelley was another seemingly dark horse. He’s a strong 3-gunner, but unbeknownst to many, he’s a statechampion-level shooter in everything from Steel Challenge to bowling pins to sporting clays and handgun metallic silhouette. “I figured I’d do okay, but then I saw the talent pool. Finishing sixth? I didn’t expect that!” exclaimed a surprised Kelley. Shooting the TWSC revealed a great deal about the histories of some of today’s top shooters. “It’s not quite a secret, but a lot of us [3-gunners] shoot
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sporting clays,” said Kelley. If you’re going to shoot the TWSC, “definitely practice your practical shotgun skills – especially shooting fast at steel targets. I’d never done that before,” said Pitre. Afentul said much the same thing. “I feel sorry for the people who had never done any sort of action shooting sports … The people that came who were just trap shooters, they struggled.” MOVING FORWARD This year’s match favored 3-gun shooters, thanks to setup problems on the ground. The bullseye pistol phase got thrown out when the guns failed. The 3-position smallbore phase had inappropriate guns, and the clay target events weren’t handled well. That tipped the playing field toward the move-and-shoot crowd. Also, because the match overlapped the ISSF match in Europre, the top clay-target shooters and most Olympians just weren’t there. If Houck can avoid the ISSF scheduling problems and sort out the on-the-ground wrinkles with bullseye and the clay target games, he’s got one WHALE of a contest. Horner will still be the odds-on favorite to win the overall, but how will he do when a clay-target master with real pistol skills (like Jethro Dionisio) takes the stage? Trijicon and Houck deserve credit for forging new ground. They’re holding a “grand tournament” for competitors of all styles. If it succeeds, it will encourage all of us to learn each others’ games, and give well-deserved recognition to the “renaissance shooters” among us. Bravo Trijicon, and may the best shooter win! WSJ Editor’s note: For more than 20 years, Robin Taylor has covered the shooting sports from the inside, covering events in more than 20 states and two European nations. His firm, Taylor Freelance, LLC, produces pistol magazine extensions, books on shooting and other accessories for competitive shooting at taylorfreelance.com.
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YOUR NEXT DUCK GUN
Our Resident Waterfowler Reveals His Top Pump, Semi-auto and – Surprise – Side By Side ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY LARRY CASE
“If you have to be crazy to be a duck hunter, I don’t wish to be sane.” Robert Ruark
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think I have told you before that I firmly believe you can never have enough guns, shotguns included. How you reconcile this financially and with your spouse is up to you. I just spoke with a man who has a lot of experience in the firearms industry, and I believe he is a “full disclosure” guy. No matter how many shotguns he drags into the house, he tells his wife about it and even shows her the new acquisition. Personally, I am somewhere between that level and the “sneak the gun into the house and hide it” stage. Again, I will say what a wonderful country we live in to have such a vast array of products to choose from, including firearms. The very fact that it is hard to choose which guns to feature in an article is a testament to this.
Waterfowl shotguns are thought to be in their own class in the scattergun world, with good reason. I can’t think of any other sporting arm that has more potential to receive abuse. Avid duck hunters (unlike normal people) seem to relish the most hateful, nasty, inhospitable (and some other adjectives I can’t think of) weather conditions to be had. You will hear a lot of talk like this: “Man! What a great day! It rained and snowed all day! Colder than a well digger’s posterior! They absolutely swarmed in on us! Charlie’s dog froze to the platform he was lying on, we all ran out of shells, best day we ever had!” And so on. The point is, if you do any serious waterfowl hunting, it is best that you have a shotgun dedicated for that. In this wondrous age we live in, there are several shotguns available that should stand up to the rigors of duck and goose hunting. It goes without saying that a good duck gun should be durable, dependable, and bomb proof when it comes to standing up to the ravages of
water (liquid and frozen), mud, sand, and some very cold temperatures. And now here, for your shotgun browsing pleasure, are some options for your next duck gun: CZ-USA 612 WILDFOWL MAGNUM Pump-action shotguns are a part of American waterfowl history and lore. Many older duck and goose hunters today carry a pump because Dad always used one. When you get right down to the nitty-gritty, a pump shotgun is the most reliable of the repeaters. If there is a problem, they can be cleared more easily than the semiauto. CZ is offering this pump shotgun as a rugged choice for waterfowl hunters. “A duck hunter’s gun can take some major abuse,” Zach Hein with CZ-USA told me. “Banging around in metal boats, with constant exposure to water and mud, the 612 Wildfowl Magnum is up to the task. The stock
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SCATTERGUN TRAIL is a polymer synthetic, and the entire gun is hydro dipped in camo. It would take a very determined effort to disable this shotgun.” This shotgun will shoot 2¾-, 3-, and 3½-inch ammo, it has a cross bolt, behind the trigger safety, 26-inch barrel, and weighs in a hair shy of 7 pounds. I like that it comes with a modified and turkey choke, meaning you can use this gun for duck or turkey hunting. I’m big on the modified choke anyway, and you need it if you are for shooting steel at waterfowl. When you put all this in a pump gun package for the 612 Wildfowl, with a price tag of less than $450, what’s not to like? BENELLI SUPER BLACK EAGLE II The folks at Benelli are proud of this shotgun and rightfully so. Benelli claims this is the lightest, fastest, softest recoil
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shotgun on the market, and that is hard to argue with. Start with Benelli’s trademark Inertia Driven System, which the company developed in 1967, and there are Benelli shotguns that fired over 500,000 rounds without a malfunction. It ought to stand up to your next goose shoot. The stock is Benelli’s signature ComfortTech technology. In essence, the stock flexes to absorb the recoil, and the AirTouch synthetic stock has the checkering molded into the stock. Now, add a gel-molded comb piece and recoil pad, and this can be one comfortable shotgun to shoot. STOEGER UPLANDER LONGFOWLER Alright, I thought I would throw something a little bit different at you, so how about a double-barreled shotgun made with the duck and goose hunter in mind? Stoeger is offering the Longfowler line of shotguns and I like them. There is a side-by-side and over-and-under model, so take
your pick. We have been talking about dependability, and well, you can’t get any simpler than a break-action, double-barreled shotgun. These shotguns shoot 2¾- or 3-inch shells, have a grade-A satin walnut stock, 30-inch barrels, and will be reliable just as sure as death and taxes. The Longfowler shotguns are reminiscent of a time in waterfowl shooting (even before the pump gun era we talked about), when things were simpler. If that appeals to you as it does me, check out this workhorse of a shotgun. This waterfowl season, consider trying out one of these shotguns. You won’t be disappointed. WSJ Editor’s note: The author is a lifelong shotgunner. When he misses, he usually admits it, and when he hits it, he tries not to brag.
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WATERFOWLIN’ WITH DUCKS UNLIMITED Handling Conservation And Droughts In The West
ARTICLE BY LARRY CASE • PHOTOS BY DUCKS UNLIMITED
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ur Scattergun writer and resident duck hunter, Larry Case, recently had a chance to talk to Devin Blankenship, Western Region communications specialist for the well-respected, longtime conservation organization Ducks Unlimited. The Western Region consists of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. Its needs are slightly different than other regions, due to topographical differences, and Larry got right to the bottom of it. LARRY CASE What is the main mission and goals of Ducks Unlimited? DEVIN BLANKENSHIP Ducks Unlimited focuses on the conservation and management of wetlands and other
Ducks Unlimited took part in habitat protection and restoration on the northern shore of San Pablo Bay in Sonoma County, Calif.
similar habitat, so that the skies of North America will be filled with waterfowl for future generations. DU was formed back in 1937 by a group of conscientious sportsmen concerned about plunging duck numbers, and today is the world’s largest nonprofit wetlands conservation organization.
We’ve actually conserved more than 13 million acres of habitat in North America. Most people recognize us by the familiar DU duck head logo on shirts or bumper stickers. LC How are sportsmen’s dollars used if they contribute to DU?
Ducks Unlimited is the largest nonprofit wetlands conservation organization. westernshootingjournal.com 95
DB It’s really amazing how much of the money we get that goes right back to the ducks, which isn’t always the case with some nonprofit groups. Over 80 percent of the money raised by Ducks Unlimited, in fact, goes toward waterfowl and wetlands conservation and education. I believe it’s what really makes DU special. LC Does DU work with state and federal agencies on waterfowl conservation? DB We work heavily with state and federal agencies, as well as local municipalities, other nonprofits, private companies and individuals when it comes to conservation. In a lot of cases, DU will actually leverage the money it receives into larger grants to get the most out of every donated dollar. DU works closely with these groups because we all share the same common goal – making sure there is waterfowl for generations after ours. LC I know that there has been much talk about droughts in the Western
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United States; how has this affected waterfowl in the West, and what do you think the outlook for waterfowl season is for 2014 to 2015? DB That’s the big unknown as we enter the fall, especially in California. It was an above-average breeding year for waterfowl up north, but because there is so little water on the ground in that state, it’s possible their food sources could run out there by December, just when duck numbers are rising. California typically has around 300,000 acres of flooded rice fields in the winter, but due to the lack of water, that number could be as low as 50,000 acres. There is a definite possibility that waterfowl will become overcrowded in their search for suitable habitat, which can lead to the spread of disease. LC What does DU think its main focus and biggest challenges in the next 10 years will be? DB I think Ducks Unlimited will continue to evolve and adapt as the worldwide leader in wetlands conservation. Making sure there is adequate habitat for waterfowl is not an issue that is going to be solved overnight, especially as the planet changes. The drought will continue to be probably the biggest challenge out here in the West, while every other region of the country has its own obstacles, from the prairie potholes up north to the southern Gulf Coast states. LC How do I join and get involved with DU? DB It’s easy to become a member online at ducks.org, which includes a subscription in the DU magazine and a DU decal. Another great way is to attend a local DU dinner, which is a ton of fun. I’ve met so many people who went to a Ducks Unlimited dinner for the first time, got hooked, and became life-long duck hunters and members of the organization, eventually even volunteering their time for conservation. WSJ Editor’s note: Check out the Ducks Unlimited Western Region blog at duwestblog.org. westernshootingjournal.com 97
MEET OUR 2014
MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENTS Three Soldiers Who Served In Afghanistan You Should Know ARTICLE BY FRANK JARDIM • PHOTOS BY U.S. GOVERNMENT
Twelve fighting men earned the nation’s highest honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor, during Operation Enduring Freedom, which targeted al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. You’ve read about nine other recipients of this prestigious award already in the pages of Western Shooting Journal. Here are the stories of the remaining three heroes who have received awards in 2014 so far, drawn from the actual citations.
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UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS LANCE CORPORAL WILLIAM KYLE CARPENTER of Company F, 2d Battalion, 9th Marines, earned his medal for serving in the line of fire in Helmand Province on November 21, 2010. He was 21 years old. According to the official citation: “…a member of a platoon-sized coalition force, comprised of two reinforced Marine rifle squads partnered with an Afghan National Army squad. The platoon had established Patrol Base Dakota two days earlier in a small village in the Marjah District in order to disrupt enemy activity and provide security for the local Afghan population. Lance
Corporal Carpenter and a fellow Marine were manning a rooftop security position on the perimeter of Patrol Base Dakota when the enemy initiated a daylight attack with hand grenades, one of which landed inside their sandbagged position. Without hesitation and with complete disregard for his own safety, Lance Corporal Carpenter moved toward the grenade in an attempt to shield his fellow Marine from the deadly blast. When the grenade detonated, his body absorbed the brunt of the blast, severely wounding him, but saving the life of his fellow Marine.”
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STAFF SERGEANT RYAN M. PITTS, U.S. Army, Company C, 2d Battalion, 503d Infantry Regiment earned his Medal of Honor for serving in the line of fire on July 13, 2008. He was 23 years old. According to the official citation: “Early that morning, while Sergeant Pitts was providing perimeter security at Observation Post Topside, a well-organized Anti-Afghan Force consisting of over 200 members initiated a close proximity sustained and complex assault using accurate and intense rocket-propelled grenade, machine gun and small arms fire on Wanat Vehicle Patrol Base. An immediate wave of rocket-propelled grenade rounds engulfed the observation post wounding Sergeant Pitts and inflicting heavy casualties. Sergeant Pitts had been knocked to the ground and was bleeding heavily from shrapnel wounds to his arm and legs, but with incredible toughness and resolve, he subsequently took control of the observation post and returned fire on the enemy. As the
enemy drew nearer, Sergeant Pitts threw grenades, holding them after the pin was pulled and the safety lever was released to allow a nearly immediate detonation on the hostile forces. Unable to stand on his own and near death because of the severity of his wounds and blood loss, Sergeant Pitts continued to lay suppressive fire until a two-man reinforcement team arrived. Sergeant Pitts quickly assisted them by giving up his main weapon and gathering ammunition all while continually lobbing fragmentary grenades until these were expended. At this point, Sergeant Pitts crawled to the northern position radio and described the situation to the command post as the enemy continued to try and isolate the observation post from the main patrol base. With the enemy close enough for him to hear their voices, and with total disregard for his own life, Sergeant Pitts whispered in radio situation reports and conveyed information that the command post used to provide indirect fire support. Sergeant Pitts’ courage, steadfast commitment to the defense of his unit and ability to fight while seriously westernshootingjournal.com 99
wounded prevented the enemy from overrunning the observation post and capturing fallen American soldiers, and ultimately prevented the enemy from gaining fortified positions on higher ground from which to attack Wanat Vehicle Patrol Base.”
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RADIO OPERATOR SPECIALIST KYLE J. WHITE was in the same company as Staff Sergeant Ryan Pitts. White earned his Medal of
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Honor defending his American and Afghan comrades in a separate battle in Nuristan Province on November 9, 2007, when they were attacked on the way back to their outpost. He was only 20 years old. According to the official citation: “As the soldiers traversed a narrow path surrounded by mountainous, rocky terrain, they were ambushed by enemy forces from elevated positions. Pinned against a steep mountain face, Specialist White and his fellow soldiers were completely exposed to enemy fire. Specialist White returned fire and was briefly knocked unconscious when a rocket-propelled grenade impacted near him. When he regained consciousness, another round impacted near him, embedding small pieces of shrapnel in his face. Shaking off his wounds, Specialist White noticed one of his comrades lying wounded nearby. Without hesitation, Specialist White exposed himself to enemy fire in order to reach the soldier and provide medical
aid. After applying a tourniquet, Specialist White moved to an injured Marine, similarly providing aid and comfort until the Marine succumbed to his wounds. Specialist White then returned to the soldier and discovered that he had been wounded again. Applying his own belt as an additional tourniquet, Specialist White was able to stem the flow of blood and save the soldier’s life. Noticing that his and the other soldier’s radios were inoperative, Specialist White exposed himself to enemy fire yet again in order to secure a radio from a deceased comrade. He then provided information and updates to friendly forces, allowing precision airstrikes to stifle the enemy’s attack and ultimately permitting medical evacuation aircraft to rescue him, his fellow soldiers, Marines and Afghan Army soldiers.” The intrepidity, heroism, and selflessness of these young Americans leaves me awed and moved to tears of pride. Thank you for your service and bravery. WSJ
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THE MILITARY’S
SKATEBOARD Military Aviators Make Longboards To Benefit Veterans
ARTICLE BY FRANK JARDIM • PHOTOS BY KOTA LONGBOARDS
Owner Mike Maloney with the U.S. Flag Nieuport 17 longboard.
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hen Mike Maloney was a kid, he clamped roller-skate wheels to the bottom of a board to make himself a skateboard. Since then, he’s moved on to become a Navy Top Gun fighter pilot and a clean coal company executive. When the economy indicated that his days as an energy infrastructure technology guy were dwindling, he went in a new direction, combining his love for action sports, woodworking and the
spirit of military aviators. He started Knights Of The Air Longboards and reinvented the longboard skateboard, which was first developed in Hawaii for surfers to practice carving the waves on land. KOTA longboards look like a half-size surfboard (44 inches long by 9½ inches wide) on skate wheels. Mike lives near a university, and he recalled to me the first time, several years ago, that he saw someone riding a contemporary longboard.
“The board sagged so low in the center under the rider’s weight that it nearly touched the ground. I made a mental note: ‘If you ever decide to make a longboard, put camber in it!’” That mental note led to a renaissance in longboard technology. KOTA longboards arch upward like an empty flatbed truck trailer, eliminating sag and giving them a natural spring that helps the rider control the board. They are made of extremely strong seven-ply hard rock maple plywood (if you’re over 250 pounds, KOTA will build an eightply board for $15 more). They’re also concave on the upper surface, making them very responsive and allowing the rider to control speed by carving tight turns. In addition, KOTA developed a special high-gloss non-slip coating called KOTAgrip that keeps the rider’s feet from sliding off the longboard and negates the need to cover the art on the top of the longboard with ugly grip tape. Maloney chose the name Knights Of The Air for several reasons. In his years as a military pilot, he experienced the legacy of honor, duty, courage and chivalry embodied by the first airmen who flew primitive warplanes into battle a century ago over the Western Front. He wanted to capture that legacy and convey its spirit in the KOTA brand and the design of his longboards. Maloney flew the F-14A Tomcat between 1986 and 1994, accumulating 26 combat missions and 292 carrier landings. Anyone can longboard, but Maloney sees a demographic trend forming, “Our average customer and rider is 35 to 55 years old. Whether they’ve never ridden a skateboard or gave it up years westernshootingjournal.com 103
KOTA’s female team, described as “a bunch of hams.” Clockwise, Tori, Thuy and Audrey. The deck shown is Tori’s KOTA Escadrille Nieuport 17 Team deck, with an Ardennes body and Guiness stripes.
ago over concern for injury, they’re intrigued by our styling, performance and the KOTA brand – and start riding! We’ve also attracted a lot of adult
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women to the sport who otherwise never would have skateboarded because they didn’t feel welcome in the traditional skateboard culture.” You might ask why these adults would want to ride a KOTA longboard. Maloney says, “The question’s not why, it’s why not? It’s a fun, low-impact, mind-clearing, athletic experience. And the way we ride KOTA boards, you’re not prone to falling off and hurting yourself. The KOTA longboard design gives the rider control of the board through a transfer of weight and balance akin to surfing or skiing. We gladly offer classes for new riders who feel they need some training.” KOTA longboards cost $314 with wheels ready to ride and $214 without wheels for those who want to mount their own. There are four basic KOTA longboard shapes offered in five distinct lines with one line styled just for women. The boards in the KOTA Classics Line are named after British and French warplanes from WWI
(U.S. pilots in WW1 used European planes). The military Line features various military insignia-themed art, and the KOTA Signature Line features a KOTA biplane logo and their cobrands feature various brand partners. One of the WWII aircraft inspired designs is the F4F Corsair of VF-17 which was the highest scoring navy squadron in WWII. Its emblem was the pirate flag. KOTA can also do customized designs, but expect to pay a premium for those. WSJ Editor’s note: To learn more about KOTA longboards and see some videos of them in action, visit their website at kotalongboards.com. KOTA is a veteranowned company that employs veterans. They offer veterans a 10 percent discount on all purchases. KOTA donates $10 from the sale of each Navy SEAL Bone Frog Edition longboard to the Underwater Demolition Team SEAL Association, a non-profit veteran support group for Navy veterans.
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BEHIND THE BADGE
POLICING THE GREAT PLAINS
The Glocks Of Castle Rock Police Department ARTICLE BY ANDRE’ M. DALL’AU • PHOTOS BY CASTLE ROCK POLICE DEPARTMENT
The main street of Castle Rock with the namesake butte in the background.
Nestled on the western edge of the Great Plains, just south of Denver and a bit north of Colorado Springs, is the intersection of the Old West, new technology and well-supported community law enforcement. That location is the Colorado town of Castle Rock, a crossroads of Interstate 25, Colorado State Highway 86 and U.S. Routes 85 and 87, which tens of thousands of motorists use daily to travel throughout southern Colorado. Known for a distinctive butte rising in the center of town, Castle Rock is getting even better known as a progressive and well-led law enforcement department and forward-thinking local government. The town has been repeatedly rated by periodicals like Money, Family Circle and Forbes as a top American place to live. This is evidenced with the recent adoption of the Glock G17 Gen4, chosen based on both the subjective opinion of the Castle Rock PD officers as well as an objective analysis of 17
different service pistols, looking at reliability, accuracy, serviceability, customer support and price. CRPD shows leadership by both scientifically evaluating the most popular service pistols while obtaining real-world input from the officers who will carry the new pistol. The selection of the 9mm Glock G17 for patrol officers and the G19 for detectives was based on a hands-on evaluation of 9mm, .45 ACP and .40 S&W firearms that culminated with obtaining a consensus within the entire department about which pistol they wanted to carry to protect themselves and the people of Colorado. The CRPD is made up of three shifts of approximately 65 sworn officers, and is part of the Douglas County Regional SWAT Team. Knowing that modern bad guys can be anyone from a hardened criminal, violent offender to a domestic or foreign terrorist, the CRPD patrol officers also use the Colt 6943 advanced law enforcement carbine with an 111/2 -inch-barrel, Surefire lights and EoTech sights.
A reserve graduate getting sworn in.
With Castle Rock being easily accessed by a complex of interstates, the town and its large retail mall hosts a huge amount of commuters just driving through or tourists looking for a bargain, a great meal or to visit the landmark mesa that the town is named after. AS PART OF THE CRPD COMMITMENT to thorough and realistic training, the Castle Rock trainers also use the GLOCK G17 T FX, a training model, with the UTM, a plastic-projectile training round. The UTM is similar to other kinds of plastic-projectile marking rounds and uses a primeronly powered cartridge that discharges a small paint-covered plastic pellet. Each UTM round can be accurately
Chief of Police Jack Cawley
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placed on targets at ranges consistent with LE engagements. Although safe to use with recommended protection, the sting of its impact is powerful feedback during a training scenario, alerting both the training staff and the officer that either an error has been made or the tactics used need review. However, why use a training
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system that hurts? Over the years, it has been shown that static shooting training (and annual qualification) is superb to ensure that that the shooter can demonstrate safe operation of a firearm and place rounds on a static target. However, reality-based, forceon-force dynamic firearms training provides the critical element of confrontational stress, needing threedimensional situational awareness as well as the demonstration of reactionary tactical skills to correctly assess address and solve a deadly threat situation. Reality-based training that successfully mimics a realistic gunfight ensures that if the officer does get into a kinetic situation, he or she is better equipped with additional confidence, experience and training to prevail and go home to their families. The G17 T loads the same, has similar recoil, and, most importantly, provides the same sight picture as their duty sidearm. The G17 T ensures
that when officers practice their stance and hold, their actions directly reinforce their existing training, not introduce contrary habits. Why? Because past events have shown that in a gunfight, the first thing a shooter does is unconsciously revert back to their training. There have been recorded incidents where officers discharged two rounds at a
A tribute downtown to Marshall Raymond B. Lewis, who was killed in the line of duty in 1946.
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BEHIND THE BADGE deadly threat and then automatically reholstered because that was they were conditioned to exactly that during inservice training at their range! Overall, the CRPD is exactly what a law enforcement agency needs to be: well supported, well equipped, well trained and staffed with a stable force of officers who enjoy their jobs and the community they protect. The people of Colorado should feel safe with professionals such as the officers of CRPD ensuring that they can live, shop, travel and enjoy the many aspects of Western life that is in abundance where the Great Plains meets the Rockies. WSJ
Due to Castle Rock’s location at the intersection of several highways, it has a heavy flow of visitors.
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Editor’s note: Andre’ M. Dall’au is a contributor to several different publications, magazines and websites, mostly as a gun writer, photographer and videographer specializing in military and LE snipers, special ops and training.
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HISTORICAL WHITETAIL DESTINATIONS Turn That Western Hunt Into A Vacation ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY SCOTT HAUGEN
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attlefields, museums, the Oregon Trail, parks, wineries and countless other tourist destinations. What do these have to do with hunting the West? If it wasn’t for hunting, I wouldn’t be inclined to see these many intriguing places.
Enter the whitetail deer. Whitetail deer hunting throughout the northern half of the eleven Western states is some of the best in the country. And because whitetails aren’t the most respected deer in this part of the U.S. — mule deer and blacktails win that accolade — gaining permission to hunt on private land isn’t
as difficult as one might think. While there are some outstanding public-land whitetail hunting opportunities around the West, some of the best hunting takes place at lower elevations, typically on private land. It’s these same private lands that were once occupied by numerous
Whitetail hunting throughout the West not only leads to good bucks like this one, taken by the author in Idaho, but to historical sites, parks and museums we otherwise might not get to. westernshootingjournal.com 113
ROAD HUNTER
Whitetail hunting throughout the West can lead to some breathtaking places, including spots rich in history that are worth taking the time to visit.
Native American peoples, the same land that was later fought for in ugly battles. It was the fertile land that attracted people, and also attracts whitetail deer today. Whitetail numbers are at alltime highs in many states, and there are some whopper bucks out there. Though lowland hunting isn’t the most physically challenging, there are backcountry hunts that will rival the difficulty felt on any elk adventure. Hunting high-elevation whitetails is a unique experience, and there are big bucks taken every year above the 6,000-foot mark in multiple states. When planning your whitetail hunt,
WESTERN WHITETAIL DESTINATIONS
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WHITE BIRD, IDAHO
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CODY, WYOMING
The best Western whitetail hunting I’ve experienced over the last decade has been around White Bird, Idaho. Not only are there lots of deer here, but some whoppers. The Nez Perce battlefield is here, too, and a trail takes you through the actual sites where the historical battle began. It’s a solemn feeling, knowing the history of this area. Private land dominates the lowland, but public ground east of White Bird holds some bucks, as does land to the north. Grangeville and Riggins are nearby towns worth visiting.
Gaining permission to hunt mule deer on private land in Wyoming is tough, but when it comes to whitetails, that’s a different story. Head in any direction from Cody, and you’ll find whitetails, just be sure to ask permission prior to setting foot on private land. Cody is one of the most historically rich towns in this part of the country, with many museums and sites worth seeing. The Buffalo Bill Center is outstanding, and the Old Trail Town is a family favorite. You can spend days sightseeing in this area – and don’t forget nearby Yellowstone Park.
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NORTHEASTERN OREGON
Whitetail hunting in northeastern Oregon is a diamond in the rough, but there are some great bucks to be had. This is a draw, but it only takes a couple points to pull most tags, and there’s a lot of land to hunt. While in the area, spend a day or two in Pendleton, a town with an amazing history when it comes to settling the West. Be sure and check out the underground tunnels below the city. There’s also some good pheasant hunting in this area, so pack the shotgun.
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SOUTHEASTERN MONTANA
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WEST-CENTRAL OREGON
The southeastern corner of Montana holds some whopper whitetails, especially along the banks of the Yellowstone River. The Missouri River Breaks also have a lot of whitetails. It’s a tranquil feeling, hunting the same lands as did the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Following much of their trail, Don’t forget Mount Rushmore seeing what they saw, located in South Dakota. is a hard feeling to describe. The land is also teaming with Native American history and culture, something worth seeing. Many little historical towns have stories to be told here.
The area around Roseburg, Ore., is the only place in the U.S. where Columbian whitetails can be hunted. Tag numbers continue to increase through the lottery, and landowner tags can also be bought, but the price is hefty. Roseburg and the Umpqua Valley are a growing wine destination, and early in the fall, when Columbian whitetail season runs, is a great time to visit. There’s also some great fishing to be had on the Umpqua River this time of year, all the way from the coastal town of Reedsport, up the North Fork Umpqua, to the little town of Glide.
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ROAD HUNTER do some research prior to hitting the road, to see what tourist sights are worth checking out. On several of my
hunting adventures throughout the West, I’ve actually ended up spending more time traveling and visiting
THERMACELL PROFLEX HEATED INSOLES ThermaCELL has introduced a new heated insole, and it’s the best I’ve ever used. The new ProFLEX Heated Insoles operate by a wireless, batterypowered remote. A removable battery slips into the heel of each insole, and can be removed each day for recharging, leaving the insoles inside the boot. Battery charges last up to five hours, but to extend this, try turning it on only when you’re cold, usually when sitting for extended times. When walking and generating heat, turn them off. If afield all day in the extreme cold, extra batteries can be purchased, charged and simply inserted into the insoles. Batteries are charged through a USB connector, from any standard outlet, even your computer. Charge time is about four hours. The insoles are easy to remove from your hunting boots, and can be placed in other boots or shoes. They’re also great for fishermen. Insoles can be trimmed to fit, and a pad atop the battery ensures comfort when walking.
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historical destinations than actually hunting. These are great places to bring the family, too. Imagine hunting one day, then visiting Jeremiah Johnson’s grave site the next day. Or standing where the infamous Nez Perce battle began, one of the most noted battles on American soil. A drive through Yellowstone is always a joy, as is visiting the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Wild Sheep Foundation headquarters in Cody, Wyo. These are just the tip of the iceberg, sights most hunters like seeing, sights we might not have the luxury of visiting were it not for the hunting that takes us there. WSJ Editor’s note: For signed copies of his popular big game hunting adventure book, Life In The Scope: The West, send $15 (free S&H), to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489 or order online at scotthaugen.com.
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NIGHT SIGHTS AND HOG HUNTING A Wounded Warrior Adventure In Texas
ARTICLE BY RACHEL ALEXANDER • PHOTOS BY MICHAEL SLEE
The hog hunting team from left to right: Clark Osborne, Carl Gerhart, Tony Perales and Wade Anders. The AR-15s from NEMO Arms are always recognizable due to the striping.
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ichael Slee is not one to shy away from danger. A veteran documentarian of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, he was sitting in the back of a humvee when it tripped an IED. Slee has a passion to help other vets who didn’t survive the military unscathed, while honoring all those who serve the nation. Coming from a career of producing reality action TV shows, he transitioned into an independent television producer, starting Zaragoza Pictures in 1991. His programs covered sports, law enforcement ride alongs, military history, and his love of the outdoors and hunting. One of the military events Slee produced was the International Sniper Competition held at Ft. Benning, Ga., where the best in the world from all allied military services come to see who’s
the best of the best. There, he met the winner of the 2010 ISC, SFC Chance Giannelli, Special Forces Sniper. Two years ago, Slee started the American Outdoor Adventure TV series to feature public land hunting around the country, with Giannelli as cohost. Slee and Giannelli thought, why not take our wounded warriors on these hunts? And that’s how AOAHunting.com started. When Slee met Clark Osborne five years ago, he realized he was the perfect person to organize a hog hunt at night for vets, and brought him on the show as another co-host. Osborne is an expert in thermalnight-vision hog hunting, something he has been doing for nearly 30 years, most recently through his business, tacticalhogcontrol.com. He is considered one of four top
hog hunting experts in the country. He also owns Cottonwood Armory, which builds rifles and equips them with night-vision and/or thermal equipment, along with long-range precision rifles. He represents all of the major night-vision and thermaloptic companies and is often asked to field test and evaluate their products to give them feedback. A lifelong Texan, Osborne started in the hog business by necessity, to protect the homestead as hogs invaded and then to support his neighbors. Not able to be every place for everyone, he built rifles and taught farmers and ranchers how to handle the hogs themselves. That progressed to taking people out on hog hunts. Whereas most outfits charge for every pig you shoot, and charge trophy fee for hogs over certain westernshootingjournal.com 119
The thermal nightvision goggles make things appear like the movie Predator.
weights, Oborne’s out to have a good time and ensure his clients do too, no limits on how many you shoot and no trophy fee, the bigger the better. He also believes in truly eradicating the numbers. One flat fee and he provides the equipment and guns. Just show up dressed for the event and bring your coolers for what meat you want to take home. SLEE AND OSBORNE’S FIRST HUNT was featured on American Outdoor Adventure. They went bear hunting in Washington state on the Olympic Peninsula with Tator and Gina of Quinault Bear Commanders. Prior to that hunt, they met with NEMO Arms. NEMO was the first to come out with a .300 Win Mag in an AR platform, the Omen Watchman. The Watchman’s performance has been recognized by Special Operation units, and is going through extensive testing. An AR for hunting was a unique idea. The Omen series is extremely accurate. Punching 12-inch steel targets (gongs) at 900 to 1,200 yards is a daily occurrence. Giannelli, Slee and Osborne are quick to tell you, it’s not just hitting at that range, it’s the consistent repeatable accuracy at that range and farther that gets all the buzz. As if that wasn’t enough, NEMO introduced a patented recoilreduction system on their rifles that is a must see (shoot) to believe. Osborne proves it in a video which is posted on 120
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the Western Shooting Journal website. Additionally, the .308 has extremely low recoil with NEMO’s newly patented low-recoil system, so it is very steady shooting. Consequently, the .308 actually shoots like a .223, and the .300 Win Mag shoots like a .308. The trio went on their first hunt with wounded vets last year. In 2006 to 2007, Slee was embedded with two soldiers in Iraq, Hector Lopez and Enrique Castillo. Lopez was wounded by a sniper. A few months later, Castillo’s vehicle hit an IED incident, resulting in the loss of his right leg. Osborne can be heard saying on any given day, “If it wasn’t for their commitment and sacrifice, we wouldn’t have the lives we do here at home, so it’s the least my wife and I can do for them.” Tactical Hog Control uses a custom-built Ranger Special Operations Vehicle on the hunts. It’s an open-air Land Rover, similar to a jeep. There are three rows of seats, each higher than the one in front of it, so passengers can see the scene in front. A high-tech thermal imager is mounted on the front, which is controlled from the inside. Each row of seats has an 11- to 12-inch screen. The scope can see up to 2,000 meters away. When a hot spot lights up, the scope can zoom in to determine what kind of animal it is. With Castillo’s prosthetic, he wasn’t able to walk the stalks through the fields. The guys were not going to let that stop them
from getting Castillo on the hogs. They started towing a second vehicle on a trailer behind the RSOV, a fourwheel electric cart. When they spotted hogs, they off-loaded the buggy and Castillo would take the lead in the electric cart, with everyone falling in behind him. When they got close enough to the feral hogs, they’d fan out, count down and start swacking hogs. All the participants wear a really light bump helmet with ANVIS-9 (Aviator Night Vision Imaging System) aviation dual night-vision goggles, with not just one lens but two, in order to provide normal depth-perception vision. The quality is excellent. The goggles provide vision when it is so black you can’t see your hand in front of your face. A thermal scope shows an image like in the movie Predator. It shows you a range of heats. Hogs give off more heat than trees and bushes, showing up as white hot and everything else in varying degrees of gray to black, depending on how cold they are compared to the hog, which appears quite black. ADYN SONJU, THE CEO AT NEMO ARMS, is very aware of the growing interest in hog hunting and the use of AR rifles. Sonju wanted Oborne’s opinion on their AR platforms under his hunting conditions. For hog hunting, the guys decided to use NEMO’s new Omen Recon 18 inch, as well as the NEMO Tango 8 .308 on an AR-15 platform. Osborne’s current Omen, the Watchman, is the 22-inch barrel. The 18 inch is easier to carry, especially with a suppressor, since it’s lighter. They use suppressors since it allows them to talk to hunters without using ear protection or risking ear damage. They use supersonic ammo, which sounds like a bullwhip, not quite as quiet as subsonic ammo. The supersonic ammo will echo, which is what the hogs hear, usually bouncing off trees in the opposite direction. So the hog runs the other way, straight towards the hunters. Hogs are tough to take down, they’re powerhouses. Their shoulder blades are like armor. Hunters must shoot them
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behind the blade, it’s not like shooting deer. Participants usually use larger calibers, since not everyone is a good shot. Although they’re big and tough, for the most part they leave people alone. If cornered, they will react, or will lash out if you get between a sow and her babies. In Central Texas, there’s not a lot of the Eurasian influence, known as the Russian boar, which are more aggressive. There is a perception that the hogs are very huge, but that is more the
Film producer Michael Slee, lower left, with wounded warriors Jess and John Rogers and Slee’s co-host Chance Gianelli (lower right).
exception to the rule. There are way more hogs under 200 pounds than hogs over 200 pounds. Since 2009, Osborne has only taken down four hogs that were over 400 pounds. He thought one was a cow at first when he saw it in a scope, it was so huge. He gets flack from animal rights activists when he posts photos of the smaller hogs on the company’s Facebook page. But those smaller hogs are going to grow into larger hogs someday. With the high-tech scope, it is possible to distinguish cows, calves and deer two and a half miles away. The hunters have to be careful not to shoot a cow or the landowner will be upset, so Osborne has an insurance policy. Sometimes deer hunters want the land instead of hog hunters. Osborne can work with them, by texting them when he sees a buck. Deer hunters won’t kill hogs since it will scare the deer if they hear the rifle. If there are hogs in any number, there will not be any deer. Hogs don’t come out during the
day because of the heat. Like dogs, they don’t have sweat glands, so they can’t perspire. They also avoid invading farms during the day because there are people around. Unlike a perception created by some television shows, they avoid people. They will dig holes two and a half feet deep and five to seven feet across, in order to get at roots, insects, and in some cases, a farmer’s seeds. Just 15 to 20 hogs can wipe out a field of seven to 10 acres in one night. Hogs will burrow underneath fences. They have the same vision as humans do at night, so the hunters stay single file coming towards them to make them more difficult to see. Trained pigs are used by some LE agencies as drug dogs since their smell is much more powerful than hounds. If the wind is wrong, even if the hunters are 4,000 yards away, they’ll go away. They can’t see the hunters, they don’t know what it is, but they trust their nose. Not all states permit night vision for hunting, or for all animals. Texas
CHECK US OUT ONLINE WESTERNSHOOTINGJOURNAL.COM
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Enrique Castillo and Hector Lopez were the first Wounded Warriors on the hog hunt.
has pretty easygoing laws when it comes to hog hunting. Visiting hunters either become a designated agent of the property owner in order to get permission to shoot hogs, or, if hunting on state land, buy a five-day temporary hunting license. Every hunter must have a valid license unless a designated agent. Osborne is concerned that the hog infestation is being partially perpetuated by hog hunters themselves, who aren’t trying to destroy them, but leave them around for hunting. Some will catch hogs
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with dogs, castrate and release them. But the problem is, although they can no longer breed, they can still dig up farmers’ fields. Osborne warns people who say they don’t have hogs, “I say ‘yet.’” Taking an invasive species that’s not indigenous to an area generally doesn’t end up well. Consequently, some states are passing laws making it illegal to profit from a hog hunt. Since Osborne had such a good time with Northwest big game in eastern Oregon, he’s taking six Texans back for an elk hunt this November, and he’s decided to do it with the Recon .300 Win Mag, Bushnell XRS 30x scopes with the Horus H59 reticle for the optic. In fact, all seven of them are using the XRS on their rifles and Black Hills ammo. And the guys have decided to invest in the new 511 Tactical Realtree Extreme hunting camp line of cold weather clothing and packs. Osborne’s bottom line on the NEMO Recon testing is this: “It’s just as advertised, accurate as your ability will allow you and the
recoil of the .300 Win Mag is nearly nonexistent. It’s my new favorite rifle.” Due to Osborne’s attitude of destroying the hogs, not keeping them around to hunt as sport, he frequently hears, “you’re gonna kill yourself out of a job.” Osborne doesn’t care. He’s in it for the right reasons. He’d really prefer going back to bowfishing. It’s not about the money. In fact, if he had it his way, he’d just focus on taking veterans hunting for the rest of his life and never worry about anything else. Since Osborne’s first hunt with American Outdoor Adventure, he has since bought a track wheelchair and built a custom electric lift on the back of the RSOV, so he can load and unload a wounded warrior on nearly any terrain. Osborne is living the dream to take U.S. warriors hunting at aoahunting.com. It’s about giving back to those who ensure our freedoms and security. WSJ Editor’s note: For more information, visit aoahunting.com and zaragozapictures.com.
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Each participant had a range officer work one on one with them.
WHAT THE HECK DO YOU LEARN AT A
PERSONAL PROTECTION COURSE? Leading Firearms Instructor Offers More Than The Basics
Instructor Marcus Carter has obtained almost every license the NRA offers.
ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY RACHEL ALEXANDER
L
ast month, I decided to check out a personal protection class at the Kitsap Rifle & Revolver Club in Bremerton, Wash., my hometown. I chose it because the instructor, Marcus Carter, has a reputation for
going well beyond the minimum fundamentals, so even people like me who have been shooting for over 20 years would learn something. The following is an account of some of the more fascinating concepts I gleaned
from his day-long class. The class focused on self-defense, as opposed to competitive shooting. Interestingly, almost everyone in the class was a woman. I counted only two men out of about 20 people.
ABOUT INSTRUCTOR MARCUS CARTER AND KRRC Marcus Carter is a federally licensed ammunition manufacturer, along with his wife Sharon. He has a lethal force instructor’s license from the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission. He has obtained almost every license the NRA offers, including certification to train instructors. He competes regularly, and has won second place twice in his division for 3-gun. He has won over 400 shooting awards. He considers himself a “perpetual student,” and freely admits his training course is compiled from many other training courses. The Kitsap Rifle & Revolver Club was started for both national defense and sports – it is not just a sportsmen’s club. The club trains law enforcement and military in the region, and designs courses of fire for the Air Force.
Marcus and Sharon, who is a range officer, and the rest of his club make women very comfortable. That may be why all their junior champions this year are girls, who will go on to win college scholarships. KRRC offers five levels of its personal protection class. The one I attended was Level 1. Level 2 covers different shooting positions and shooting quickly. Level 3 covers house clearing. Level 4 covers shooting with limited vision or lowlight, or while injured. Level 5 is a final test of all classes.
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My target grouping (right) looked pretty impressive as long as you didn’t realize how close the targets were (seven yards away).
Marcus began with an explanation of what self-defense means, telling us, “Righteous self-defense is not about taking lives – it’s about saving lives.” Next, he went into what to do in an active shooter situation. He asked us where should we hide in a grocery store or parking lot? Did we realize that bullets can go through car doors?
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Not every car door, nor on every part of the door, but generally the metal on car doors is pretty thin. It is best to look for something like a concrete wall to hide behind. Marcus stressed the importance of practice, because in an intense situation you cannot think and “do” at the same time. It is necessary to have practiced
enough that reacting is instinctual – just like how you drive a car and have to hit the brake in an emergency. Dry firing is a great, cheap way to practice at home. But keep in mind, some older guns aren’t suitable for dry firing, as it can destroy their value. When seconds count, a cop is minutes away. Marcus said, “I carry
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Some of the instructor’s large collection of handguns, which the class got to shoot.
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a gun because a cop is too heavy.” He also likes to say, “I carry a .45 because they don’t make a .46.” There is no such thing as a “fair fight,” he told us. The only way to win is to respond back – hard, fast and continuous. Marcus informed us that shooting at the Olympics is actually one of the safest sports – unlike many Olympic sports, it doesn’t require medical personnel on site. As questions arose on where to buy a firearm, he went into the political aspects a bit, noting that under President Obama, the Departments of Justice and Treasury are targeting gun businesses by blocking their access to banks and financial services, including credit-card-processing companies. Called “Operation Choke Point,” companies that sell firearms over the Internet are finding themselves dropped by financial service companies due to government pressure. Firearms companies are being lumped in with illicit businesses like prostitution and
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Instructor Marcus Carter has taught children as young age two, who he teaches to avoid touching guns.
other illegal activities. He gave a comprehensive overview of where you can carry a firearm. He noted that although you can wear your firearm in your own home, and even shoot it outside in your yard in jurisdictions that haven’t banned shooting within that city or location, be careful that you’re not accused of “brandishing” a firearm. While it may
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be legal to carry a weapon, the way you carry it – such as pulling it out in your hand – may be considered brandishing by your neighbors and subject to legal problems. Marcus explained that the debate over whether it is better to carry a 9mm or a .45 may come down to how well you can shoot. He knew a trauma surgeon who took a record black bear with a tiny .243. The reason is because he knew where to shoot the bear in order to take it down instantly. The surgeon actually would prefer to use an even smaller caliber, except the law doesn’t permit it. There is a reason why a small .22 is the No. 1 assassins’ cartridge worldwide. Twenty-twos are actually a great firearm caliber, and fortunately, the .22 ammo shortage is improving. If you are going into Canada to hunt, Marcus warned us, you are not permitted to bring pepper spray (aka OC spray) across the border with you. However, you can easily buy “bear repellant” spray in Canada, which is virtually the same thing.
A company named Choate makes a lot of regular office supplies that can double as impact tools, such as letter openers, ice scrapers, etc. Many of them may be transportable on airplanes. He provided an excellent overview of firearms terminology. Although a “clip” is not the same thing as a “magazine,” and the vast majority of semiautos are reloaded with magazines, there are a few guns out there that only use clips to load ammo. Some revolvers and the M1 Garand are good examples of clip-fed firearms. There is also a distinction between a stock and a grip (a grip encompasses more of the gun), but they’ve become acceptable interchangeable terms in recent years. Although a Glock is not actually completely plastic, as was erroneously reported when it first came out, one nice thing about it is that you can throw it, much less drop it, and it won’t discharge. Marcus has “Tactical Tupperware” engraved on his Glock, and says, “It’s dishwasher safe, but
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New shooters mostly shot .22s.
only in the top rack. Although this class was not about competitive shooting, we learned that competitive shooters become so good they shoot between heartbeats, since a heartbeat will move your gun ever so slightly.
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It is not wise to adjust sights to make up for bad technique like jerking the trigger. The firearms is sighted in, or it is not. Fix your technique and you can shoot any sighted-in firearms accurately. It is more important to lube a semiauto, whereas it is more important
to clean a revolver. Marcus once put 7,000 rounds through his Glock without cleaning it (though not recommended), and it shot fine. We learned a lot about ammo. Some types of guns, such as Glocks, aren’t recommended for use with cheap lead bullets, since they build up residue. If you’re not sure what kind of ammo your gun takes, it is usually imprinted on the barrel of your gun or on the slide/receiver, in the owner’s manual, or contact your local gunsmith. Another advantage to using hollow-point bullets for self-defense ammo, besides the fact it is generally more accurate and expands inside the target, is that there is less danger that it will go through the target and hit innocent bystanders. Finally, Marcus let us in a little secret that only old pros in the industry know about: One way you can spot older shooters from new shooters: new shooters wear hearing protection; older shooters just turn their hearing aids down. WSJ
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Book Review
GUNS OF OUTLAWS: WEAPONS OF THE AMERICAN BAD MAN
F
rom colonial-era rifles carried on the “Owlhoot Trail” to John Dillinger’s Colt pistols, the history of the American outlaw is told in guns – weapons that became each man’s personal signature. Authors Gerry and Janet Souter peer into these criminals’ choices of
derringers, revolvers, shotguns, rifles, machine guns, and curious hybrids, giving us a glimpse into the minds behind the trigger fingers. With over 200 illustrations, Guns of Outlaws gives a unique look at the lives and the hardware of the most infamous outlaws in American history, and of the law enforcement officers who hunted them. As settlers moved further west, away from authority and soft city life, into the Great Plains, the push for survival through the endless prairies and jagged isolating mountain ranges bred ruthless men. Most outlaws were technology freaks who seized upon the latest weapon innovations developed in the industrious East to provide an edge in the life-and-death cosmos of the Wild West. Outlaws tinkered with their guns, creating unique hardware that became their calling cards. Attempts by lawmen to take control sparked a weapons race, pitting gunmen and bandit gangs against home-grown lawmen and
vigilante “posses.” By the late 1930s and early 1940s, outlaws on horseback had given way to marauding bank robbers. Using fast cars and faster guns, they became folk heroes of the Great Depression, even as the law was hard on their tails. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Janet Souter has authored or coauthored more than forty nonfiction books in the areas of history, biography, young adult, art, military history, business, and the Internet. Gerry Souter attended the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago. He has worked as an art teacher, photographer, a security guard, a rifle instructor, and a seaman in the Merchant Marine. He and Janet have authored or coauthored more than forty nonfiction books in the areas of history, biography, young adult, art, military history, business, and the Internet. Janet and Gerry live near Chicago. Visit soutergunsofoutlaws.net for more information. WSJ
THE GUN THAT KILLED BONNIE AND CLYDE Dallas County, Texas, deputy sheriff Ted Hinton, then 29, wielded this Colt Monitor BAR along with six other automatic and semiautomatic weapons at the Bonnie and Clyde ambush site. He knew both Bonnie and Clyde from their days in A Colt Monitor Browning Automatic Rifle like this one was used by a Texas lawman, along with six Dallas, so was the finger man other weapons, at the Bonnie and Clyde ambush site. (AMERICAN HERITAGE MUSEUM) for the shoot-to-kill team. The pair of low-rent desperados were notorious for semi-automatic Winchesters, Krag-Jorgensen rifles and Colt shooting their way out of police confrontations using heavy Model 1911 semi-automatic pistols and various revolvers. firepower collected by Clyde from poorly guarded National Bonnie carried a Colt snub-nose .38 Special taped to her inner Guard armories. His arsenal included automatic Brownings, thigh for a (ouch!) quick draw.
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WILL GUN CONTROL PASS THIS MONTH IN WASHINGTON STATE? ARTICLE BY RACHEL ALEXANDER
T
his month, there is only one state with Second Amendment legislation on the ballot – and there are actually two competing measures. I-594, the Washington Universal Background Checks for Gun Purchases Initiative, is being bankrolled by billionaires on the left in favor of gun control, including former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. The Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility has raised $7.3 million so far, massively outspending the other side. I-594 is an unfunded mandate that would prevent gun owners from transferring – or even loaning – their guns to a private party, a family member (unless a gift), a friend or anyone else. Gun ranges would no longer be able to loan out guns –
of firearms would be required to go through the government, creating a record of every gun owner. I-591, the Washington Gun Rights Measure, was created by Washington’s Second Amendment Foundation as a better alternative to I-594. It is supported by rank-and-file law enforcement, and is the only initiative endorsed by law enforcement organizations such as the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs, which is the oldest and largest lawenforcement group in the state. I-591 would prohibit the government from confiscating guns or firearms from citizens without due process, protecting against illegal search and seizure. It would prevent the government from requiring background checks unless a uniform national standard is required. CURRENTLY, IN WASHINGTON, residents can purchase a pistol, rifle, or shotgun from another private party located within the state without going through a background check, provided the seller is not a firearms dealer. This is about the only way someone can acquire a handgun without having
THE NRA SAYS I-594 IS “IN REALITY A UNIVERSAL HANDGUN REGISTRATION SCHEME.” with only a narrow exception for guns that are stored at the range or youth training. Virtually all transfers
the government become aware of that purchase. It is also useful in the situation where someone urgently
needs a firearm but cannot afford to wait five days for the background check, such as a woman being stalked by a deadly criminal. This ability to quickly obtain a firearm without going through a background check is denigrated as the “gun show loophole” by gun control proponents, since private parties can perform this type of transaction at a gun show. However, once government starts tracking these kinds of sales, it has the potential to create a massive database of gun owners, something that could eventually lead to gun confiscation down the road. The NRA says I-594 is “in reality a universal handgun registration scheme.” The fact is, criminals are going to commit crimes, whether it means obtaining guns illegally or using other dangerous instruments such as knives. Putting more restrictions on law-abiding Americans doesn’t work. Disarming innocent people will lead to more victims, not fewer. What if both initiatives both pass? Since they both negate each other, it is unclear which one would take precedence. Hopefully a judge would not inject his or her own opinion into a decision should this happen. The vote is on November 4th. Polls show I-594 passing by a healthy margin, and I-591 trailing. This will be a big blow to Washington gun owners if I-594 passes. WSJ Editor’s note: For specific, detailed information on all the aspects of how I-594 will affect gun owners, visit washingtonarmscollectors.org/reference/ myths-initiative-594.
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ARCHERY
SHARPENING BROADHEADS WITH EASE Dull Blades Risk Only Wounding Game ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY TOM CLAYCOMB III Left: The author sharpening a broadhead on his Smith’s stone. Right: Smith’s also makes a broadhead sharpener that is lightweight enough to carry in the field.
I
don’t know about you, but every once in a while I miss. I live in Idaho, so that pretty much means my broadhead (BH) is going to hit a rock, stick in a tree or, at best, end in the dirt. That’s not good. An arrow kills your animal by slicing blood veins, not by pushing them aside, which is exactly what will happen if you don’t keep your broadheads razor sharp. When you miss an animal, it’s an automatic dull blade. In case you’ve never noticed, broadheads are a little expensive, so you sure don’t want to throw them away every time you dull one. Or, even if you hit an animal, you’ll want to sharpen it before you use it again. So let’s talk about how to sharpen a BH. Smith Consumer
Products makes a little handheld gizmo for sharpening BHs, but what if the angle on your BH is less or more than their preset angle? And how do you tell if you’re using the correct angle? It’s really pretty simple to determine the angle. Make a black magic-marker mark along the edge of your BH. Run your BH on your sharpener. If all the black is gone, great. If not, you need more angle. Some BHs are ground at, well, I don’t want to say a weird angle, but they may be hard to match. Some manufacturers are smart, though, and grind their angles so that you can lay your BH flat and rub it on a stone and obtain the correct angle. A couple that I can think of off the top of my head are VPA and Montec G-5. Lay them
flat and rub back and forth. They are set at an angle so as to be able to do it in this manner. If yours aren’t, then it will be a little harder. You’d have to do one side at a time, almost as if you’re sharpening a knife. SO LET’S SUPPOSE THAT YOU HAVE AN edge that is pretty boogered up. You’ll want to start with a coarser stone. In extreme instances, you may have to start with a Smith’s coarse diamond stone (yellow), but hopefully their 750-grit diamond stone (orange) will suffice. This will remove the knicks and flat spots. Next you’ll progress to your fine Arkansas stone. Apply honing oil to the surface and rub it back and forth. One good thing about BHs: They’re westernshootingjournal.com 141
ARCHERY flat and don’t have a curvature like knives, so you don’t have to worry about turning the blade to keep the correct angle as you go down the edge like you do on a knife. So in nutshell, you’ll sharpen it pretty much in the same technique as your knife. Start with a coarser stone and work on down to your finer one. Again, it’s imperative to remove all knicks and flat spots. If these hit a blood vessel, they will be pushed aside
When you miss an animal – like the author did with the elk that was otherwise in front of this arrow – it is automatically a dull broadhead, and time to resharpen.
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instead of slicing. A rough edge is not acceptable, which means you must finish up on your smooth stone so you end up with a razor edge. Make sure that you grind the same amount of strokes on each side, or else you’ll end up with a weird angle. When you’re sharpening your knife, you don’t rub two times on one side and four on the other side, do you? Then don’t do it to your BHs. That’s what you’re doing if you rub it for two seconds on one side and four seconds on the other. So, just like when you’re sharpening your knife and you make three slices into the stone, flip the blade and make three on the other side. Rub it back and forth three times and flip to the next edge. When handling your BH, it is easy to get cut, so be careful. It would probably be smart to wear a Whizard Glove. They have thin wires running through them to prevent slices. A BH/ knife can stab through them, but it won’t slice you through them.
You want to end up with a superfine edge, so again, make sure that your last step is to finish on a highquality, smooth Arkansas stone. With a little practice, you should be able to sharpen your BHs. Not only will it save you a lot of money, it will also reduce the amount of animals that you cripple. WSJ Editor’s note: Tom Claycomb writes for Bass Pro Shop and has outdoor columns in newspapers in Alaska, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He freelances for numerous other magazines, newspapers and websites. He teaches 60 outdoor seminars each year and is on prostaff for numerous companies. He likes anything related to the outdoors and has works available on Amazon Kindle. For more on sharpening knives, etc., go to Amazon Kindle and check out the author’s e-article titled Knife Sharpening.
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When 12-year-old Dawson Volker needed money to finish building his go-kart, his father, Arnold, made a deal with his son. He presented the boy with a piece of scrap metal from his business and challenged him to come up with an idea to make something out of it and make money from it Dawson came up with the idea for a metal shooting target. He chose a logo (a zombie) and someone at Arnold’s business, Next Innovations, put the image on the piece of metal. “It was my birthday and I told my dad’s friend that I was looking for a go-kart frame because I wanted to build a go-kart,” Dawson said. “He went to college at (North Dakota State), well he still is right now, and they built a go-kart. They would take everything off the frame and they would scrap the frame. So he grabbed the frame for me and I bought it from him for a $100.” Next Innovations makes wind spinners, so Arnold had plenty of scrap metal left over and a son willing to give it a try. “So one of our wind spinners ... the middle is replaced with a ball,” Arnold Volker said. “So we have 13,000 of these things that are just scrap. They have no color or anything, so I brought one home and said here, ‘You need to figure out how to make this into money.’” The idea for his concept came fairly quickly -- about five seconds, according to Dawson. At first the target was simply a metal cutout with a plain steel color. “I looked online for the (zombie) image, because that was at the time everyone thought the zombie apocalypse was coming and everything,” Dawson said. He found the image on bigstock.com, where he had to pay for use of the image. “So I thought I’d put the (zombie) image and sent it to their (Next Innovations) designer, and he put it on there and added the warnings and the slash marks on.
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He also added a target on the back because we wanted a target on it, but we didn’t know where to put it. So he designed where everything should go,” Dawson said. The process took about a week because Dawson was looking at different designs. “I didn’t want to make one that looked super realistic because it wouldn’t look very good. I looked at it and my father said I had to make money out of it and I said ‘target’ in my head,” Dawson said. “I took it (the piece of metal) outside and and leaned against a tree and shot it with a B.B. gun. That didn’t pierce it, so I took out my .22 and pierced it right away. Shot it with a pellet gun, didn’t pierce it. All the pellet guns do is chip the paint a little.” The target was first made for kids his age to shoot with Nerf, Airsoft or B.B. guns. But with their growing popularity, they soon made thicker steel targets for larger caliber firearms.
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He began selling them in a bar in Leonard, Minn., the Sidetrack Tap. “That was really my first sale, they bought 10 targets. And that was a $50 sale,” Dawson said. “I think he about tipped over. I’ve never laughed so hard when we got to the car. He did his spiel and they said ‘OK, we’ll take 10 of them,”’ Arnold said. “And then I did the math and was like ‘$50!’ and here they hand me my first $50 bill out of the till,” Dawson added. He also created his own company in the process, Shoot N Spin, which has a website, www.shootnspin.com, to promote his products, which his father helped
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him make. Dawson said the “Shoot N Spin” name is self explanatory: “You shoot it, it spins,” he said. He recently trademarked the business name. In order to get the trademark, he had to be in a retail location, so he had to get photos to establish that. So far, three locations carry his products: Reed’s Sporting Goods in Walker, Minn., Scheel’s Sporting Goods in Grand Forks, N.D., and Smokey Hills Outdoor Store in Park Rapids, Minn. To promote the products, Dawson created a YouTube channel, shootnspin. It has been viewed by 60 countries and has about 26,000 views. Three of the videos are divided into youth, military/law enforcement and recreational. They show people firing at the targets with a variety of firearms. Dawson has looked into other images for the targets, notably a deer, but for now he is sticking with the zombie.
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KNIVES
THE TACTICAL TOMAHAWK CRKT’s Kangee T-Hawk For Self Defense ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY KEITH SIPMANN
A tactical tomahawk provides a higher level of protection for situations where a knife may not be enough.
H
ave you ever been in a survival or intense situation where you felt a knife wasn’t going to be enough to get the job done? Well, when things get crazy enough that you need something bigger, like a tactical tomahawk, you can’t afford to buy a cheaply made tool online only to use it and have it fail on you in the heat of the moment. You want a quality-made tool that is designed to do its job well and get you, your team or your family out of harm’s way. Meet the Kangee T-Hawk, a powder-coated tactical tomahawk with a full-tang curved handle, made of single-piece SK5 steel construction, with an ax front and spike back. The
Kangee, is a very versatile tool. It can be used as a breaching, extraction or door-busting tool by the military or law enforcement, it makes a great addition to your bug-out bag as a survival tool, or it can be used as your last line of defense in your home. The SK5 high-carbon steel used by CRKT in the Kangee can be found most abundantly in Japan. It is very high quality. SK5 high-carbon steel is known for being a tough, impactresistant and somewhat shockresistant steel, which makes total sense to use it as a chopping tool. The increased carbon increases abrasion resistance and permits the steel to achieve a perfect balance of very good blade toughness and excellent edge-
holding ability. So overall, SK5 is a pretty impressive steel choice for a tactical tomahawk and is probably one of the best steel choices for the money. For around $185, you really do get more than what you pay for when you buy a CRKT Kangee. The handle or grip of the Kangee is one of the best I’ve seen on the market
The steel head has an ax front and spike back.
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The grip grooves on the handle add addtional grip security when swinging or chopping.
for “tactical tomahawks.” The curved full-tang design is a huge plus too, and the grip groves along the handle really add some additional grip security when swinging or chopping. The overall design and quality of the materials used in this tomahawk is excellent. The Kangee features Ryan Johnson’s “3 Slot Buckle” system for easy attachment to MOLLE gear, and has a form-fitting Kydex sheath that firmly slips over the head and secures with a buckled strap. Tomahawks in general have been a mainstay of utility and self-defense fighting in the military for a long time. The Kangee is a very well-balanced and easily controlled tool; to have one is to know and appreciate its true worth in the field ... especially one this well made. Every serious hiker, camper, survivalist or member of the military should have one of these in their pack. WSJ Editor’s note: Keith Sipmann is a veteran of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division, firearms enthusiast, gun rights activist, self-defense instructor, conservative political writer, publisher/chief editor of Ballistic Media Network and training operations manager of SOCON. 152
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RE loading
SO YOU’RE THINKING ABOUT STARTING TO RELOAD… Here’s What You Need To Know ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY BOB SHELL
squeezing your budget, how can you afford enough ammo to practice with? Keep in mind that practice enables you to hit a game animal properly to ensure success. It’s not much fun going out and missing your trophy – or worse yet, wounding it. You wonder if you can even afford to go on a hunting trip this year. If you shoot competition, you can’t afford factory ammo unless you are wealthy.
Reloading will take away the sticker shock from buying ammo out of the box.
W
ow! You went to the local gun shop to buy some practice ammo, and it went up a couple of dollars since you bought the last box a month or two ago. You have what is known as sticker shock. Gosh, you want to shoot your favorite handgun, but with everything going up, including gas, you wonder how much longer you can afford to shoot. You have a decent 9-to-5 job, but with all the necessities of life going up, you have to do something. Not shooting is not an option in your view. You go home and you want to figure out a way to shoot as much without taking out a second mortgage on the house. With gas and food going through the roof, how can you buy enough ammo to practice before you go off on that hunt? The kids need school clothes, car insurance has to be
paid and your wife needs some new clothes. It just piles up. Recently I went into several large sporting-goods stores to see what the price of ammo was. I got sticker shock. Even the more common non-magnum hunting calibers were well over $20 per box of 20. Quite a few were into the $30s or even higher, not to mention sales taxes. Some of the ammo with premium bullets is going for $60 or more per 20. Ouch! Not much incentive to practice. That’s if it was even available. Compounding the problem, since we have a president who isn’t gun friendly, everyone is buying up ammo and stashing it. That drives up the prices even more because of the demand. Like everything else, market forces frequently determine the price of a product. With everything else
HOW ABOUT RELOADING? You know a guy who does it, but isn’t it complicated and dangerous? Your second cousin blew up a gun once, so you are not sure about doing it, but with ammo prices going crazy, maybe you should take a look at it. You decide to call the guy who does it and ask him a few questions. He talks to you for a few minutes, then invites you over to see how it’s done. He has a blue machine that later you find out is a Dillon, and it is cranking out some .45 autos at an impressive rate. You examine them, and they look fine, and you are beginning to be bit by the reloading bug! “I can do that,” you think. Besides, you have been saving your .45 auto cases just in case. He goes into some detail on how it’s done, but most of it is Greek to you. He does give you a spare reloading manual that he has lying around, and it has a chapter on the basics of reloading. Read it! I can’t emphasize too much the importance of reading various reloading manuals. They all have good information, including “how to” and various problems that might crop up. Believe me when I say this, problems will crop up. Most of westernshootingjournal.com 155
RELOADING them are simple or minor, but if you don’t know what to do, it suddenly becomes a major issue. Companies such as Hornady, Sierra, and Barnes publish great books. It wouldn’t hurt to get them all. They all give you such vital info, such as type and amount of powder and trim length of various cases. As a note, properly assembled reloaded ammo is as reliable as factory fodder. A misfire with either is extremely rare. A manual will go into some detail on what type of equipment to get as well as the basic procedures. Prices vary on the tools required, starting at about $25 for a hand kit to $100s for more sophisticated equipment. You need a press, set of dies, measure and scales to start off. There are a few other things, such as case lube and various gadgets and gizmos that you will acquire. I would advise to buy the best single-stage press you can afford, because it will give you more leverage
and durability than a small press. That is especially important if you load rifle calibers. A larger press has more leverage, which is important in sizing large rifle cases. Some companies, such as Huntington Die and Hornady, offer package deals that include everything needed to load one caliber. I suggest that you give them serious consideration. I advise against starting with a progressive press – while they are faster, there are several things going on at once, and to an inexperienced reloader, that would enhance the possibility of something going wrong and you missing it. Once you have a clear understanding of the processes and problems, then by all means get that progressive if you need it. It’s not a bad idea to get your buddy to help you set it up and show you how to set the dies, which is very critical to the quality of your ammo. You need to pay attention to detail and be
patient. If you lack those qualities, you might want to rethink your position on rolling your own. Sloppy work and shortcuts will get you nothing but inferior ammo. Like most things in life, you get out of it what you put into it. Get a notebook and take notes, and write down the loads both good and bad. Keep your targets for future reference, and perhaps bragging rights. It doesn’t hurt to buy an inexpensive chronograph. That way you can check the velocity and consistency of your loads. Take your time and learn to do it right, and you will have many hours of enjoyable shooting. Once you get going, you will see the advantages. First of all is the cost. You can buy bulk bullets plus powder and primers for a fraction of the cost of a box of factory fodder. Let’s take the .30-06, for instance. If you look around, you can buy 1,000 bullets for about a C note. Powder can be bought in 8-pound kegs, and primers can be
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RELOADING bought in sleeves of 5,000. Add these together and you can load a box of .30-06 for about $4 or $5. Premium bullets will jack up the price, but even if it goes up to $15 or $20 that is still a lot cheaper than factory ammo loaded with premium bullets. You and a couple of your buddies can go in together to share the cost. You should buy as large quantity as possible to keep the costs low. With that savings, you can go out and practice from various positions and get proficient enough to bag your game under reasonable circumstances. Another thought is: Do you have youngsters who want to learn how to hunt and shoot? Most youngsters are eager to learn, and that is true with both genders. Did you ever see how fast a couple of kids can go through ammo? Teach them the basics of reloading and they will appreciate hunting and shooting all the more. Everyone should encourage
youngsters to shoot – after all, they are the future of the sport. Another reason for rolling your own is you can customize your ammo to suit your needs. Honesty compels me to admit that the factory offerings are of superior quality and there is a fairly good variety in some of the calibers. I have obtained very good accuracy and consistency out of factory fodder. However, we are back to square one: cost! If you buy factory ammo loaded with a premium bullet, be prepared to dig deep into your trousers. In fact, you might have to leave them at the store to pay for it. If you have an obsolete caliber and you want to hunt with it, chances are you won’t find the ammo at a typical gun store. You will have to roll your own or hang it up. Such calibers as the .303 Savage and .30 Remington are great woods calibers of yesteryear and will still do the job today – if only you can get ammo for them. Finding the
brass might be a bit more challenging but it does exist. Your grandfather used them, so you think that it would be neat to use them also. There is a lot of interest in historical arms, but obtaining the ammo can be tricky, especially the European varieties. Many of the older military guns and drillings take ammo that has been out of production for many years. If you manage to find original ammo for it, chances are it won’t go off. After many years in storage, the primers go inactive and the powder will deteriorate. Even the cases will corrode and split on occasion. Another upside to reloading is the satisfaction of harvesting a nice trophy with ammo that you crafted. It just adds to the satisfaction, knowing that you crafted something that worked. I never hunt with factory ammo and probably never will. In my experience, wellcrafted reloads are as reliable as the factory offerings. WSJ
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