Gary's Gun Notes #142

We are only a couple of days away from November and my favorite time of year. Besides hunting season it is also cooler weather and snow. I happen to be very fond of both so this is my time of year. A couple of years ago after shoulder surgery and having 5 screws placed in my right shoulder, I sold all my 12 gauge hunting over/unders and side/sides and switched to 28 gauge. In fact I sort of went overboard and bought 5 28 gauge over/unders....they were on sale...sort of. Well, at least that is the excuse I use. Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to use them over the last 2 hunting seasons due to a heavy work load, but I have told myself that this year I will finally get out and use these guns. I have patterned them and I was very surprised how well they pattern. At 25 yards nothing but a mouse on steroids could get thru the pattern and that was the modified choke. Good friend Larry Farley told me they did just as good as a 20 gauge and I sure believe it. So this year, I’m going to hit the fields a lot more often....hopefully.

It seems like only a month or so ago I was boring you to tears with info from the SHOT SHOW. and now the 2015 SHOT SHOW it is only 3 months away. Again this year I probably won’t make the show as it has turned into a concept show over the past few years. It seems that about half of the guns, ammo, and hunting accessories they show there never see the light of day. They build one or two of a special item and if they don’t get a lot of orders for it, they quietly destroy the concept gun (which I think is a damn shame) and deny that it ever was built in the first place. If they do get a lot of calls and orders for it then they produce it, which means it will be another year before we see it. The only company that I know of that doesn’t do this is Ruger. Usually if they show it, that means they have them in stock ready to ship.

The only thing various makers are already promoting are the new color schemes of camo for the coming year. I have always thought women were the silliest people for having to make sure they wear the “in style” clothes, the clothing that some gay guy in Paris has decided that they should wear for the next 2 or 3 years. Now though hunters are letting a couple of companies tell them what color scheme of camo they should wear for the next year or so. One company has 7 different colors of camo to choose from. This would be great if deer saw colors like we do. But they don’t. Scientists who specialize in this say that deer are not color blind but are color phase blind. They do not have the color receptors in their eyes that humans do. They rely more on seeing movement than they do seeing colors. If they did see colors as we do, no hunter wearing bright orange would ever get his deer. I have few really pet peeves that get me started but besides barrel twist, headspace, and ATVs, camo is fast becoming one of my favorite dislikes. As I tell guys every week that come into our gun shop, don’t buy the newest style of camo. Spend that money on ammo or a new gun. But most of the time they just look at me as if I just uttered blasphemy, which I guess I just did.

John Taffin had his Appreciation Dinner and his very special handgun hunt over the past couple of weeks. He got a great bull elk, 7X7 if I remember right, and also a bison cow and an exotic sheep (and he didn’t wear any camo either). The dinner was a great one, held in Boise. I drove up and got to see a lot of old friends that I hadn’t seen in years. Friends like Kelly Brost former owner of Cast Performance Bullets, Kelye Schlep, owner of Belt Mountain Base Pins, John Linebaugh of Linebaugh Custom Sixguns, Roy Fishpaw, custom gun grip maker, Bob Baker, head honcho of Freedom Arms, and several others that I can’t bring to mind right now (and none of them wore any camo). Several new friends were there also like James Simpson, Irv Coutts, Rob Leahy owner of Simply Rugged holsters, Jeff Johns (editor of GUNS magazine) and Ben Forkin, custom lever gun maker. Of course John Taffin was there as the special guest. He was presented a brand new adjustable sighted Bearcat by Ruger. It will hopefully be out to the public before Christmas. It was a great time and over 250 people showed up to honor John Taffin, (and none of them wore camo, although in his bright yellow shirt and even brighter yellow cowboy boots, Kelly Brost came pretty close). Several guns and lots of other items were given away as special prizes. John Linebaugh gave away one of his very special guns and we gave away one of our John Taffin Classic revolvers. After the dinner John Linebaugh, Roy Fishpaw and I decided to stick around for a couple extra days and the next 48 hours were a time I will never forget. Two greater friends will never be found in my lifetime.


coutts gnr linebaugh	gnr and gun winner	gnr, linebaugh, tyler harris, ben forkin	irv coutts roy fishpaw	linebaugh getting advice

linebaugh	new bearcat	rob leahy irv coutts bob baker	taffin with bearcat	kelye schlep

It looks like 2015 will be a year of carry guns and their accessories. A lot of this will depend upon who gets elected in the senate and House the first week of November. I know this has been said time and time again, but it is still extremely important and true...this year’s elections are the most important elections in America’s history. Remember George Bush beat Al Gore by something like 500 votes, so your vote does count. By not voting, you are letting all gun owners and yourself down. Vote. Your vote does count.

For the last several months we have been working on a series of custom Ruger Old Army black powder revolvers. I showed one recently on my forum. It is still a ways out yet as we still have to do all the actual testing of the guns. I have to find which barrel twist works best for round balls and do the final design and finish work. I hope to have the prototypes finished by the first of the year but we shall see.

A lot of interest in our next HHC slated for sometime in March 2015. I talked to Alan Wilson of Wilderness Hunting Lodge in Monterey Tennessee, where we hold the HHC, Handgun Hunting Challenge, recently and he already has 3 people signed up for it and we haven’t even set a date yet. I have to see what dates I have open and then get with Alan to see what dates he has available. As soon as we set the date it will be posted here.

We have mentioned over the past year that several gun companies are relocating in the South, away from all the anti gun atmosphere and union problems. We received one of the new FNH pistols recently that was made in Columbia South Carolina and what a nice pistol it was. FN, the owners of Browning and Winchester are making all their new FN pistols in South Carolina and by looking at this pistol, that was a great decision. Glock pistols, with the exception of one or two models, are all being made in Georgia now. The other two models are still being made in Austria.

There are strong rumors going around that Taurus is thinking of buying the Freedom Group. The Freedom Group is owned by a hard core gun person but has been for sale for a year or so. They own Remington, Marlin, H&R, New England Firearms, Dakota Arms, DPMS, Bushmaster, and a couple of others plus several accessory companies. I think it would be great if Taurus does buy them. They have the capital and have been known to be extremely innovative in coming up with new guns.

A couple of other new items coming soon. Carlson Choke Tubes has a new tactical choke tube/muzzle brake out that will significantly reduce shotgun recoil. Hornady, always on the cutting edge of introducing new products, has several things coming for 2015. These include the American Gunner ammunition, which is said to be ammunition for the average shooter, hunter and for self defense. They also have the new Full Boar ammo out for the hog hunters. They are joining Winchester in making the new 17 Super Mag ammo, which boasts a 20 grain bullet at 3000 fps. They also have a new 12 gauge slug called the American Whitetail featuring a 1 oz. slug and reduced recoil. Also look for a new 9mm Critical Defense Lite load with less recoil. They also have a new 357 Magnum Critical Duty round coming out. It is good to see the 357 Magnum headed back to where it started with the lighter weight, faster bullets. This one is a 135 grain bullet. Hornady is also bringing out lots of reloading accessories. More on all these a bit later.

Some calibers of ammo and some powders are being shipped to help ease up the severe shortages we have experienced for the last year or so. We are still way behind on the 22 LR ammo with a few boxes coming in every few days but going back out even quicker. Some powders are available in limited numbers, some not at all. I think it will still be early spring before the supply meets the demand, if then. If the elections don’t go our way and Obama pushes for more gun control, the rush will start again and we will be back at square one.