GARY'S GUN NOTES

 Looks like the Dog Days are here. Normally the hottest time of the summer is the last couple of weeks in July and the first 2 weeks in August, normally called Dog Days and I am not really sure why but it has been so as long as I can remember. Around here this time of year is our Monsoon season. In a good year it rains like crazy every day from mid July thru Labor Day, normally clouding up by mid morning and then the rains begin usually running all afternoon and evening and well into the night. This year we have really been getting heavy rain for the last 2 weeks, to the extent that the city has been handing out sand bags for the businesses that are in low lying areas of town. It is not unusual to see 4 feet of sandbags around businesses to keep the heavy rains at bay. The weather folks have been issuing heavy rain and flash flood warnings for the last week or so. The good thing about the monsoon season is it pretty much wipes out the forest fire danger in this area.

Usually when we have a really heavy rain monsoon season our snow season is heavy too. We haven’t had a good snow season in a few years and it will be neat to have the heavy snows back again this year. And by a good snow season I mean 20 to 25 FEET of snow, sometimes 6 to 8 feet at a time. The last few years we have had maybe at best 8 to 10 feet of snow a year which is not much more than a dusting out here. I love rabbit hunting in the snow so hopefully I will get a chance to get my 28 gauge O/U out and do some bunny shooting.

This time of year is normally a dull time of year. Guys that get drawn for elk and deer are excited for a couple of weeks in late June but by late July that excitement has worn off and the Dog Days have us all in a ho hum sort of time frame. To perk up the gun buyers many of the manufacturers have announced special deals on their various guns. Here are a couple of special deals and to get these deals you have to go to your local gun shop and buy the gun thru them, no borrowing your brother-in-laws FFL and doing it yourself. But here are some of the new deals…

Springfield Armory (not my favorite gun company but I won’t go into that right now). Their Hellcat is on sale and with it you get a range bag and 5 free mags, 9mm only.

One of the fastest up and coming companies is Canik. Great guns and great prices. With the buy of one of their 9mms they give you 3 free 18 round mags.

Ruger’s Max 9 is one of the most popular medium size 9mms on the market and now Ruger is giving away a really nice range bag with the purchase of the Max-9.

There are a lot of other specials and I will try to cover them for you on next month’s edition.

The ammo situation is slowly easing up. Standard calibers like 308, 30-06 and 270 are readily available but the other less standard ammo like the magnums, 7-08, 303, 30-40, even 30-30 and so on are still few and far between. If you got drawn for hunting deer or elk this fall or if you live in a state where you don’t have to get drawn (lucky you) you might start stocking up now. The tight ammo situation could come back on us if Biden does his thing again.

I talk to folks all the time about hunting out west. Think would be great to live out here so you can hunt deer and elk. It tell them tain’t so. You guys back east can walk in your local Walmart and buy your license over the counter that enables you to take as many deer as you feel you need to fill up the freezer. That license also lets you hunt quite a few other critters and fish too. Out here we have to put in for the various hunts and if we don’t get drawn (which is the most common thing that can happen) then we don’t hunt. We can hunt squirrels and rabbits but that is it. Our rabbit season is open year round but that is still a far stretch from deer hunting. Colleen and I both have been drawn for elk once in the past 10 years. That is why I try to go to Africa every year or two. As long as I can get out there I can’t and won’t give up hunting totally.

Speaking of hunting the HHC (Handgun Hunter’s Challenge) is coming up the second weekend in October. It is being held at the same place as always, that being the Wilderness Hunting Lodge in Monterey Tennessee. I hosted that hunt for 15 years but have handed it over to Alcorn Russell. If you want a great hunt and spend 3 days with good friends you can’t beat it. Call Sandy at 931-979-4050 to sign up while there is still room. The lodge holds 55 hunters but it usually fills up pretty quick. Bring a youngster or wife and make it even better.

Here is some more new info for you. Ruger has a new 10-22 in left hand, with full left hand operation. Anderson Mfg. has a new AR pistol in 308 called the Breacher. We sell a lot of the Anderson guns and they are top of the line.

Kalashnikov USA is finally shipping their KP-104 which is their pistol version in 7.62X39. Girsan, another excellent gun company has added several new handguns to their line up to go along with their version of the Browning Hi Power.

Kel-Tec who have had a monster couple of years with several new releases like their new P-50 pistol, This pistol holds 50 rounds of 5.7X28 and is not much bigger than a full size Beretta 92. To keep up with demands they have a new building just finished in Rock Springs Wyoming. The Kel Tec is a gun you can always depend upon.

There is a new company by the name of Tisas who have several new G.I. 1911s in 45. The guns are not fancy but sure feel good. They have forged slide, frame and barrel and have a lifetime warranty.

Savage’s new Stance 9mm is doing well and they plan on several new versions of this neat little 10 round 9mm.

Walther has done something for the first time that I know of. They have released a new handgun especially for ladies. It is their PDP F series of pistol. It has been totally re-engineered to fit a ladies hand with reduced trigger reach, reduced grip circumference, and has a lighter slide spring for those with less than strong wrists. It comes with 2 15 round magazines. This one should be a real winner for Walther.

Almost every day I have folks ask me what Marlin is Ruger putting out next. First I tell them I don’t know but one of Ruger’s techs told me the model 336 in 30-30 was next. Well, I was wrong. The next Marlin is the new 1895 Trapper, a short compact 45-70. The new Trapper has a 16 inch barrel and satin finish on the metal with a black laminated stork and forend. This one is sure to be a winner for Ruger, and maybe the next one will be the model 336 in 30-30.

I recently bought a heavy barrel Savage model 10 with the special Accutrigger, chambered in 22-250. I had an extra Burris 8X32X40 scope that I put on it and sighted it in at 300 yards. I got it for some prairie dog shooting this summer. If anyone ever tells you the Savage M-10 is not one of the top rifles made today you can call him some nasty names and tell him they came from me. That trigger is perfect with about a 1 ½ lb let off and the accuracy has been perfect. I had planned on rechambering it to 22-250 Improved but so far I don’t see a need to do so. My eyesight is not that of a 25 year old, or for that matter not that of a 45 year old so running it out to 22-250 Improved and sighting it in for 400 yards seems to be an effort in silliness. Kase and I have gone out the first 2 weekends of this month and most of my shots at the furry little pests have been in the 150 to 200 yards with quite a few at less than 100 yards. And with a rifle sighted in at 300 yards it is a real joke trying to estimate the point of impact at 75 yards. I will admit to missing more than I hit. The second weekend I re-sighted it in at 150 yards and found my point of impact at ranges a bit under and a bit over that range. I carried along my heavy barrel Browning Buckmark Bullseye pistol with a scope on it and have taken several of the prairie poodles with that at ranges of 25 to around 40 yards.

I was talking to an older fellow in the gun shop recently and mentioned that Kase and I had shot quite a few of the little pasture poodles . A blue haired old lady in the shop with her husband immediately started threatening my life for shooting poodles. I told her that was just a name for Prairie dogs. Well, the “dogs” part of that comment draw even more of her ire. Finally I convinced her that we were just shooting Coke bottle size varmints, not any kind of dog. She finally calmed down before she got to talking about my ancestry but still gave me a “go to hell” look every couple of minutes. As they left her husband turned back and laughingly said “keep up shooting those poodles, they are just sissy dogs and there are too many of them”. I hope he caught hell in the car ride home.

A few years back the Auto Ordnance 1911 was a pistol to have if there were no other pistols available. It was pretty crude at best. Over the past few years the Auto Ordnance was bought out by the Kahr Arms folks and they have really improved the gun is every way. If you have a chance to buy a 1911 check the Auto Ordnance . It is a 1911 I highly recommend.

On a serious note the anti gunners in power in the House have passed a really bad gun control law and now it goes to the Senate and then to bumbling Biden. This new anti gun law is a really bad one. It outlaws almost every semi auto made and bans any gun that has a magazine over 10 rounds, a threaded muzzle, a pistol grip, and more. It is a terrible law and would wipe out probably 80% of the rifle and handgun manufacturers. Call your representative and let him know what you think of this horrible bill.

That is about it for this time. Hopefully by next month I will have some good news on that gun control bill. In the meantime, get out and do some shooting. Ammo is becoming a bit more available so you can replace the ammo you shoot up. But if you do get out to shoot or do some varmint hunting, take a lady or youngster with you. They are our future.

God bless,

Gary