Gary's Gun Notes #102

As I type this June is a few hours from being history and the “dog days” of summer are getting nearer. That is the time in which the hot sun keeps us inside for the better part of the day. But being hunters most of us find time in the morning and early evening hours to get out and do some shooting and varmint hunting. Our Monsoon season is here and that helps a great deal. Every day around 2PM the clouds roll in and it rains hard for 3 or 4 hours. This cools things off considerably and usually when the rains quit about an hour before dark, it gives us some shooting time in the cool evening air.

Our hunting season is getting closer, in some cases it is only about 6 weeks away. In others a bit over 2 months. And speaking of hunting, our next Handgun Hunter’s Challenge is now 3 months away. It runs from October 1st to the 4th, a Thursday thru Sunday. We have a large group lined up on this hunt. As of right now we have 50 people signed up. Usually we lose 3 or 4 between now and then but in normal times we also gain 3 or 4 at the last minute. This one promises to be a great hunt. The October hunts are always great hunts as the trees still have their leaves and the game is fat and sassy. If you are interested in going with us on this hunt or one of the ones next year feel free to call me at 928-526-3313.

The politicians are really on a binge these days, doing everything in their power to ban every gun and every type of ammo they can. The recent shooting in South Carolina has started a “ban the Confederate flag” binge. Several chain stores, like Wal mart, are kissing the politicians asses and banning anything that has to do with the confederacy, even kid’s toys like the General Lee car. The idiots need to go back and read up on their history. The Confederate flag had nothing to do with slavery, in fact neither did the civil war. It was all about state’s rights. Slavery didn’t even come into the equation until well into the war. And even then it wasn’t Lincoln’s idea to free the slaves. The flag had nothing to do with slavery and wasn’t used by the Ku Klux Klan until well after the war. It is just another way to turn the young people against the South. The South is the gun stronghold of the country and if the young people can be turned totally against the South, it will help the anti gun crowd.

Anyway, to celebrate this idiotic line of thinking, which is typical of the liberal mind, we are putting 2 of our popular hunting revolvers on sale thru July. These two are the Southern Pride and the Southern Comfort. Both are hunting revolvers and feature confederate flags engraved on them, plus other Confederate symbols. The Southern Pride which is built on your base Ruger revolver, is normally $1595 on your Ruger. It is now $1200 on your gun. The Southern Comfort, which is also built on your Ruger, is normally $1395 but is sale priced at $1100 on your gun, now thru July, 2015. https://reedercustomguns.com/revolvers/southern_comfort.htm Give the anti gun politicians a one finger salute and buy a Southern symbol revolver. Maybe it will piss them off.

I normally don’t get too much into our guns on here, mostly just letting you know what is coming down the pike as far as national guns, ammo and such is concerned. But we have quite a few new items just out and I need to go over a few of them with you. First off, if you are not familiar with our forum, by all means check it out. I own it so there are no rules and regulations, no qualifying, no registering and no moderator to slap you on the wrist if you mention something that is not gun related. All the other forums bad mouth us because we don’t have a bunch of rules. They call us Misfits so we adopted that moniker, proudly. Our rules are normal common sense rules. We have a lot of ladies that go to our forum every day so watch your language and no porn. That’s it. Sweet and simple. In the 10 years the forum has been up and running I have had to ban only 3 people, and that is pretty good. Here is the link.. http://www.reedercustomguns.net/forum/

OK, as I said I need to go over some new stuff. So if you don’t like commercials, go get a beer while I go over a few things.

Recently I came up with an idea for a new bullet modification tool. We call it the Flattop Tool. https://reedercustomguns.com/revolvers/flatnose.htm You put a 22 LR round nose bullet in the tool, take a knife or box cutter and slice off .030 of the nose, making it flat. The difference is tremendous. A round nose 22 LR round punches a 3/4” hole in hard media. The same bullet after being flat topped punches a 3” hole in the same media and is as accurate if not more accurate than the normal factory round nose ammo. We have this tool in 22 LR and in 22 short. The Flattop Tool is $50 plus shipping. I guarantee it will work as I just said or your money back, no questions asked.

Our new Hellcat is now part of our line up. This is the new adjustable sighted Bearcat that Ruger just came out with. We take your new Bearcat, convert it from rimfire to centerfire, build a 5 shot cylinder in 32 H&R and a new barrel in 32 caliber in the length of your choice, up to 8”, add the interchangeable blade front sight system with the blade of your choice, make new grips for it, do an action job, Deep Dish Crown and Maxi Throat on it plus the deluxe finish and you have one of the finest trail guns around. We also convert the steel frames fixed sight Bearcat into our Hellcat for the same price... https://reedercustomguns.com/revolvers/hellcat.htm

On the topic of the interchangeable blade front sight system, the red and green fiber optic blades have been back ordered for months now. If you get your custom gun back and it has the gold bead instead of the red or green bead, I apologize. That is the only blade available right now, so we are having to make do with what we have.

Over the last year or so we have built 100 of our Grim Reapers on our own stretch frame in 500 S&W, 411 GNR, 430 GNR, 445 Super Mag, 41 GNR#2, 375 GNR and one or two other calibers. That series is now sold out but we had several folks ask if we were planning a new series of Grim Reapers in normal calibers like 44 Magnum, 429 GNR, 45 Long Colt, 454, 455 GNR, 475 Linebaugh, 500 Linebaugh, 500 GNR and 510 GNR. The answer to that is yes, we are. It is the new Grim Reaper 2 and is built on your base Ruger. The original Grim Reaper was $2500 or a bit more according to how you wanted it built. The new Grim Reaper is $1000 less. .. https://reedercustomguns.com/revolvers/GrimReaper2.htm

Another beauty we just introduced in the last week is our new OUTLAW. This beauty is built on your Vaquero, older model or new model. It has a color cased frame, deluxe Black Chromex on the rest, special sights, Gunfighter grip with custom grips that contrast great with the color case and it comes in the caliber of your choice, up to 45 Long Colt. http://www.reedercustomguns.net/forum/index.php?id=611823

Recently I bought a large batch of Belgium Hi Powers in 9mm that were Israeli issue sidearms. We are refurbishing them, replacing any worn parts, engraving some, doing the deluxe Black Chromex finish on all of them. New custom grips, new night sights and getting them ready for another 50 years..We have finished 2 in the last week and will probably get at least one,and maybe 2 guns out a week until the batch runs out. If you like the classic Hi Power, and I don’t know anyone that doesn’t, watch the forum for these...http://www.reedercustomguns.net/forum/index.php?id=610931 http://www.reedercustomguns.net/forum/index.php?id=610950

We have also located a small supply of the great little Star PD 45s that we also refurbishing and posting on the forum. If you need a great lightweight carry gun that is totally dependable, again watch the forum... http://www.reedercustomguns.net/forum/index.php?id=611159

Sean Harper, who does all our ballistic and pressure testing on new GNR cartridges has recently finished up a couple of them, the new 30 Raptor and the new 400 GNR. The 30 Raptor, which is intended for the Contenders and Encores is based on the 204 case necked up to .308. It will put a 100 grain round nose bullet out of a pistol barrel at almost 2500 fps, a 125 grain JHP at well over 2300 fps, and a cast 165 grain bullet at 2000 fps. This makes a perfect little deer cartridge with no recoil to speak of, and joins the other 3 Raptor cartridges, the 240 Raptor, 257 Raptor, and 6.5 Raptor.

The second cartridge that Sean just finished the testing on is our new 400 GNR. This is a simple one. It is the 30-30 case blown out straight and holding a 40 caliber bullet. The Marlin 336 can be converted to the new 400 GNR easily without spending a lot of money. In the testing in a pistol barrel, the new 400 GNR put out a 185 grain JHP at 2400 fps, a 200 grain JHP at 2400 fps, a 210 grain cast at 2300 fps, a 230 grain cast at 2235 and a 255 grain cast at 2200 fps. This will be even more powerful in a rifle platform like the Marlin 336. This cartridge was designed as a short range heavy brush cartridge and should do very well at that. Plus there are plenty of .400 bullets out there made for the 40 S&W and the 10mm.

Another one that is new but not brand new is our new Black Mamba. If you like the looks of the Colt Python but don’t care for the 357 Magnum, then check out the new Black Mamba... https://reedercustomguns.com/revolvers/BlackMamba.htm It is built on your adjustable sighted Ruger GP-100 and comes in several calibers from 357 Magnum up to 44 Special. It features a full vent rib underlug barrel and beefy 5 shot cylinder.

Another beauty we are bringing back is the Black Widow in a 1911. This pitch black beauty with gold spiders was originally our first successful series in a revolver back in 1987 and we still build it today. Over the last few years we built a few on the 1911 but never made it full series. Well, now we have. The first one will be shown in the next few days on the forum.

We are also in the process of lining up slides and frames to bring back the REKON KOMMANDER 1911. We are a month or so away from showing the prototype but if all goes well, good Lord willing, we will premier it within the next few weeks or so.

I get calls every day asking it parts and such are getting better. Sometimes I think it is getting a bit better but most of the time I don’t think so. Rimfire ammo is still extremely hard to get. Gun powder is still a little here and there but nothing we can depend upon. We have some rifle powder but no pistol powder. Barrel blanks are becoming a bit more available but still 6 to 8 weeks out for most calibers. TC parts are still non existent for the most part. Ruger parts are also spotty with some available here and there. Almost every gun shop will have some of the above, but I don’t know of any that have an unlimited supply of any of those items. All we can do is hang in there and when you see an item you need, don’t run all over town trying to find it cheaper, buy it while you can. Everything is costing the gun shops a lot more than it was 2 or 3 years ago. A standard brick of 22 LR ammo, just the standard stuff, not the high velocity stuff, is costing us almost $40 a brick with shipping, Haz mat etc. So the gun shops, for the most part, are not jacking up the prices playing silly games. I realize some are but most aren’t. Again if you see powder, ammo, parts etc that you need, the price will probably be a bit more than you planned to spend, but better to get it, even at a slightly higher price than do without.

That’s about it for this time. You have probably noticed that more and more ladies are getting into shooting and hunting. That is great. So take a lady, wife or just a friend out shooting soon. Turn a lady on to shooting and the next step is hunting. Then you will have a hunting and shooting partner for life. Get the ladies and youngsters interested. They are our future.

Until next time, God bless.

Gary