Gary's Gun Notes #147

As I type this we are exactly one week away from heading out to the next HHC. We will be leaving around 8PM, next Tuesday evening, the 31st. This hunt will be a bit smaller than the ones in the past and it is pretty much all my fault. The weekends were booked up in March. Colleen had a Jack Russell field trial in Texas and she had a hunt also in Texas, and I had things planned the other 2 weekends, so that left the first weekend in April. I didn’t realize that that weekend was Easter. Some folks, who are much better Christians than I will ever be, don’t miss church on Easter, so that has hurt our attendance. Right now we have about 25 Misfits going and that is fine. Several are bringing a son or daughter. Hobbit has been working trying to bribe his wife into letting him bring his 14 year old daughter. It would be a great experience for he and her, a time to bond. Spending time hunting with a son or daughter makes some great memories. I started taking Kase on our hunts when he was 10 or 11, and he spent the next 50 to 60 hunts with me. This hunt, by the way, is the 82nd handgun hunt since 1987. If I were to fall over dead tomorrow I would have no regrets. I have been blessed beyond counting with friends and hunting experiences. What more could a man ask, especially when he is surrounded by his best friends and family. Hopefully Hobbit will convince the wife that his daughter should make it.

I was looking at some group pics recently of some of the handgun hunts thru the years and realized that I haven’t seen or talked to most of those old friends in 20 years or more. And that is not good. As we get older we lose touch with old friends and keep saying that we will get in touch with them soon. Unfortunately that “soon” never comes. I was fortunate this week in talking to an old friend that I hadn’t seen since the early 90s. After that I started checking on some of my old buddies and unfortunately several were already dead. I thought about getting in touch with them a few years back but put it off. Hopefully you can learn from my screw up. If you have an old buddy or two that you haven’t seen or talked to in years, give them a call soon. You may not have a second chance.

A year or so ago I was talking to John Taffin and we talked about this. He mentioned that he, Jim Taylor and I probably wouldn’t see each other again on this side of the river. Thinking about that later, I thought, that is bull and I won’t accept that. I did some working with dates and talking to Jim Taylor, who was in the states for a month or so and checked with John and all the pieces began to fall into place and the 3 of us spent 3 great days together the first week of January, 2014. Three days I will never forget and thank God for. Life is short. Don’t waste it putting things off until tomorrow. None of us are promised tomorrow. And this comes back to the hunt next week. If you have been planning on coming to one of the HHCs, do it. Life is way too short to put things off.

I guess everyone in the United States now knows that Glock is building a short compact single stack 9mm, the model 43. Probably the best kept secret ever. A lot of folks are waiting with cash in hand. First they put out the little Model 42, the compact 380, and now the Model 43, the compact 9mm. Colleen has a Model 42 but wants the 43, so I guess the Reeder Clan will soon own another Glock. We have several already, so one more won’t hurt. I personally think the Glock is the finest self defense pistol on the market, but I don’t carry one. I was brought up with 1911s and the Star PD on my hip, and am too old and too set in my ways to change. The only small caliber gun I ever carried was at a gun shop in Tennessee, a gun shop I eventually bought out. The owner wouldn’t let us carry large caliber guns so I carried a Mauser HSC in 32 ACP. I felt perfectly heeled with that little 32. Today things have changed. If it weren’t so heavy I would be carrying a 44 Auto Mag or Grizzly in 45 Winchester Mag under my arm. And maybe something else in an ankle holster. I have mentioned this before but in case there is someone that hasn’t heard this I will repeat it. If you have already heard this story, go get a beer. It won’t take long.

When I spent the 3 days up in Boise with John Taffin and Jim Taylor, the first day or so was with just John as Jim hadn’t flown in yet. John took me to several restaurants for dinner, or breakfast, or lunch, or a midday snack (we spent a lot of time sitting around a table talking and drinking coffee). That is something old friends do, and enjoy it. Anyway, as we started getting out of John’s truck to go in this restaurant I remembered I had the Star PD Mexican carry in the small of my back. I hesitated and asked John if he was carrying a gun. He said no. Then looked over at me and said “I am carrying 2”, or maybe it was 3. Either way, he was well heeled. I felt a bit undergunned with only one 45 ACP on me.

On the topic of carrying a gun. If your state allows it, carry one, always. Arizona is a very open state. We can carry concealed or in the open, pretty much anywhere. I always carry that Star PD 45 and Colleen usually has 2 or 3 more smaller pistols in her purse. I even carry in restaurants that have signs saying NO GUNS. I figure what are they going to do? The worst they can do is ask me to leave. And if they are that type restaurant I probably wouldn’t like it anyway. But if you can, always carry, even if it is a little piss ant gun like a Jennings or Raven. The one time you don’t have it is when you will need it. I have several “clunkers” that I stash away in inconspicuous places. Little guns,like the old FIE 25 auto, a Jennings or two and some others. I have a little baby Browning that hides in small places. I have a nickel Colt 25 auto. I even have a 2 shot High Standard 22 Magnum derringer in one of the little wallet holsters made just for it. What all this adds up to is you don’t have to carry a 6” S&W Model 29, 44 Magnum like Dirty Harry to be armed. All of these little plinkers are reliable and I know they will work if I have to pull them. Anything is better than a baseball bat as most restaurants frown on your bringing in a baseball bat.

A couple of other things to watch for in the next little bit. Ruger is coming out with an economical version of their great SR9. This one is the 9E. It is about $100 cheaper than the standard SR9 but has all the necessary features to make a fine carry gun. A couple of small things have been deleted like the loaded chamber indicator, and a large section of cocking serrations on the slide. They have added a plain black magazine bottom, it comes in a plain black finish and comes in a plain cardboard box. So no necessary items have been left out. You still get a great 9mm and save about $100. Check it out if you get a chance.

One thing that has come about in the last month or so that I have reservations about is Remington buying out Para Ordnance, or just Para these days. For the last year or two Kase and I both have considered Para the finest and most dependable 1911 on the market. It has all the bells and whistles and to make it even better it is utterably reliable. We have been using their slides and frames for our custom 1911s for several years and never ever had even one single problem. I can’t say that about the Remington R-1. It has had it’s ups and downs in the few years it has been out. Now Remington says they will absorb the Para into the R-1 line up. I guess we shall see how that works out.

With almost 70 series of custom guns, from cowboy guns, to custom 1911s to big bore dangerous game rifles to hunting handguns, we have pretty much covered the spectrum of guns. So there is absolutely no reason to add more, right? Well, maybe. I have been called a gun nympho. I can’t seem to get enough series of guns developed nor can I seem to stop developing new cartridges. I keep a pad of paper and pen by my side of the bed and on many an occasion I have found myself sitting at my desk at 3AM writing down notes to myself on a new series of custom gun or a new cartridge. Colleen is used to it by now and pays no attention to it. Back in the fall I had someone call to ask about one of our series. He asked if we still did a certain feature on this series. I started to say “no, we haven’t done that in years” but wisely kept my big mouth shut. I quickly looked the series up and sure enough there it was, still listed among the features. I told the fellow he could have it any way he liked and when I was off the phone with him, I started looking at some of the older series, some dating back to our days in Florida and that was 21 years ago. I sat down and started re-designing several of these older series. In the last couple of months we have re-worked the design and features of several of our older series. We have a new Black Widow, a new Montana Hunter, a new Wyoming Hunter, a new Ultimate Back Up, a new Brute, a new African Hunter and have added several brand new series, including the new Silverhawk, a new full custom 5 shot Redhawk with octagonal full underlug barrel, completely redesigned gripframe, special sights and a lot more. We have a new American Classic, the first black powder revolver we have ever come out with. We build it on the Ruger Old Army in an expanded more powerful 45 caliber, a true 475 caliber and a new 50 caliber, which is actually a 51 caliber as we are using .511 caliber balls and bullets furnished by Todd Corder. The 475 and 50 caliber are both 5 shot revolvers and sport full octagonal barrels, new sights, new gripframes and a lot more.

Another unusual new series is our Classic Magnum. The first two in this series are a Smith & Wesson Model 29 44 Magnum and a Model 66 357 Magnum. Both are fancied up end to end the way a classic revolver should be. This new series will mostly be concerned with Smith & Wesson classic revolvers but I have had one fellow with a ragged Colt Python who is sending that one to us. Another one I have been wanting to build for a long time is our Black Mamba. This one is a Python lookalike, except a bit beefier. it is built on the customer’s base gun, which is a Ruger GP-100. It has a full ventilated rib barrel and heavy underlug and a 5 shot cylinder. As one of the folks on the forum said, “It’s a grown up Python”. This one will be chambered in 41 Magnum and 44 Special and some smaller calibers if one wants that.

We are continuing our flattop series with a new Flattop Hunter in several calibers. We have a new Kodiak Hunter in 455 GNR, a new Bad Medicine in 410 GNR, and being from Tennessee I have a new Southern Pride revolver. Mine is chambered in 41 GNR but it comes however one would want it. As another tribute to John Taffin we have an new Perfect Packin’ Pistol built however the customer likes. And we have a couple of new 1911s that have been released recently. One is our new Patriot and the other the Texas Ranger Classic. Both are available in 10mm and in 45 ACP. There are 4 more new series on the drawing board and hopefully I will have them finished and premiered at the HHC next week.

I also have a couple of new cartridges coming out. I know, WHY? I really don’t have to have a good reason. When that little bug starts buzzing in my head, I do what the voices in my head tell me to do. One is our new 250 GNR. This is actually a cartridge I developed about 3 years ago but set it aside to work on some others. I recently brought it back. It is the 32 H&R brass necked down to 25 caliber. We are taking standard rimfire Single Six revolvers and converting them to centerfire and chambering them in the 250 GNR. Great accuracy with a 75 grain JHP. Nate, my main man in the shop, plans to try his revolver in 250 GNR out on a big hog next week.