Gary's Gun Notes #168

With Christmas out of the way and the elections over, we can settle down to our everyday projects. Our hunting seasons, for the most part are also over, except maybe a few late season doe hunts.

The elections surprised everyone, especially gun owners and gun companies. Gun companies had held their breath and held off introducing any new products that just might be on Clinton’s shitlist. Gun owners were steadily buying things that they might not be able to after January of 2017. But God was watching over this country of ours, even if we really didn’t deserve it. Now we have 4 years to carry on without a lot of concern about gun banning. Trump has been pro gun in the past and his oldest son is a hard core hunter so I don’t think we have too much to worry about over the next 4 years. The gun grabbers will never let up and will continue to do their best to get more laws passed rather than enforcing the 20,000 or so gun laws that are on the books. So we can’t let down our guard just because we have a pro gun president. We have to keep on top of what is going on and fight every day. Many states, especially California and the north eastern states will continue to press for more gun control and they will pass some. We just have to keep fighting to keep that number of laws they pass down to a minimum.

Gun manufacturers will now rush to get prototype guns finished for the SHOT show coming up in a few weeks. Ruger has already released a 3 page list of new products to expect in the coming year. Some of these things may be a few weeks away as they wouldn’t have a ton of these new guns already finished in case they had to eat them should Clinton get into office.

Some of the things Ruger has planned are a 5 shot GP-100 in 44 Special. I know, they have already been available from us and one or two other custom gun guys. But now you can get an off the shelf model that you can customize however you like or use as is. There is a new Mini 30 tactical in the works with all the goodies on it. Back before the Mini 30 came out I was at a dealer show and eavesdropping on Bill Ruger talking to a dealer. The dealer asked Ruger when they were going to come out with a 308 caliber “assault rifle”. Bill Ruger hit the roof, letting this poor soul know that Ruger did not build any “assault rifles”, that the Mini 14 was a ranch rifle for hunting or an all around truck gun. Needless to say the poor dumb dealer slinked away to lick his wounds. Amazingly enough it wasn’t long after that that Ruger introduced the X-GI, which was a larger, beefier Mini 14 chambered in 308. It had some problems including supposedly beating itself to death with the 308 rounds. It went bye bye fairly quick and in it’s place came the Mini 30 in 7.62 X 39. Old Bill caught hell about this from the strong right wing gun folks, saying why in hell did he put out a rifle in a communist caliber. Poor old Bill couldn’t win for losing. Even today the mini 30 isn’t anywhere near as popular as the Mini 14. Hopefully this new Tactical Mini 30 will solve that problem.

There is also a new LC9S coming from Ruger with Hi Vis sights. There is also a new MK 4 22 caliber pistol that is intended for competition. This is a serious looking 22 pistol and should give some of the other competition pistols a run for their money.

Ruger also has a new American pistol in 45 ACP in a compact size. It weighs a mere 28 ounces so it should be a very strong seller for those that need a lightweight carry gun.

Rumor going around the gun distributors is that Glock has the new military handgun contract sewn up. I hope so, but take that with a grain of salt. These things leak out and are seldom true.

In the past few issues of Gun Notes I mentioned a couple of new AR-15 style shotguns coming out in the coming year. Now EAA (European American Armory) is jumping into the field of AR style shotguns. It is their MKA 1919. There are 3 models to choose from. All 3 are 12 gauge and have 3” chambers and all three have 18 ½” barrels and come with 3 choke tubes. Each model comes with 2 magazines. Two of the 3 are match grade guns for the 3 gun matches, while the other is a camo gun for hunting. The guns look good and knowing EAA they will shoot just as good as they look.

On the subject of AR-15s the new FN 15 tactical 2 looks really good. FN has been building guns for our military for years and the gun is one of the finest made. The new models, the Tactical 2, and the DMR 2 are some of the slickest I have seen anywhere.

Again on the AR-15 topic, Springfield Armory has jumped into the pool with their first AR model which they have dubbed The Saint. In the past all of Springfield Armory’s guns, the 1911s and the M-1As have been made in Brazil. I haven’t heard where the new Saint rifles will be made.

For years, since the late 70s Sig has built fine handguns. The down side was they all looked alike. No changes to make them more appealing. Just the same old BLAH. It finally looks like that has changed. Their new P320 RX looks and feels completely different. I haven’t shot one yet but hopefully soon. It comes in 9mm only, at least for now.

I received some info from Thompson Center recently and all they promoted was their Encore rifles. Not a word about their Encore and G-2 handguns. That disappointed me a lot. The Contender handguns are what made Thompson Center famous and they seem to want to ignore them. The same holds true for Burris scopes. The handgun scopes are what made Burris. They came in 1X, 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X, 6X, 7X and 10X for all kinds of handgun hunting plus 2 or 3 variable power handgun scopes. Now it seems Burris has thrown the handgun hunters under the bus. Damn shame. I can understand it from a financial stand point but being a handgun hunter, that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Henry Repeating Arms have never excited me at all. That ugly hump backed look and gaudy finish have really turned me off. Now they have released a new lever gun that looks from 20 feet away like one of the finer classic Marlins, and I like that. There are two versions of the gun and both are built on the blue steel 1895 frames. They really look good. The down side of this (to me) is they are chambered in 410 shotshell. WHY? I am hoping I am wrong about this one and it sells like crazy but several other companies have tried putting the 410 in lever guns and bolt guns and they have all flopped. I hope this one does better.

Sort of on the same soap box, Winchester keeps putting out copies of their 1866 brass frames rifle. Again, WHY?? At a time when people are begging for new lever guns for hunting, Winchester puts out a rifle meant for guarding a whore house in New Orleans. Chambered in 38 special (again why??) and 44-40, it is meant for that one guy in 10,000 that wants to impress his retarded neighbor. I have wondered what ever happened to Bozo the Clown. Now I know. He makes the firearm decisions at Winchester.

At least Navy Arms is putting out a nice lever gun in a decent caliber or two. Their new model 1892 looks really good and comes chambered in 44 Magnum and 45 Long Colt. Congrats to Navy Arms for getting their heads out of …..the sand.

For you reloaders, Starline has introduced rifle brass in quite a few calibers. They have been mainly into producing handgun brass but with a whole new big plant they are now branching out into rifle brass. Good for them. They are good folks.

Also on the reloading subject, Alliant Powder is coming out with their new Sport Pistol powder intended for those in the combat games and such.

With Ruger’s success with their Precision Rifle in the last year or so, expect several new companies to come out with their versions of this great long range rifle. Savage continues it’s success with it’s 338 Lapua in 4 or 5 different models, including their long range target, HS precision Tactical and the newest BA Stealth rifle.

MagPul has been awarded the U.S. Military contract for it magazines, knocking out a company that had been making them for many years. MagPul products are (to me) the best there is and congrats to them for getting the contract.

Lots more to tell you about but I will have to wait until next month.

We do have something to tell you about. That is our first African hunt in 8 years. I said I would never book a hunt out of the country as long as Obama or Clinton were in office. Once Trump was elected and confirmed by the electoral college I got on the phone with good friend John Abraham. John is one of the finest Professional Hunters around today. He has been awarded PH of the year along with International PH of the year more than once. He has been my PH on 11 safaris in Africa and I wouldn’t think about hunting with anyone else. I have been nominated for Handgun Hunter of the year (SCI) several times thanks to John. I have never won the coveted trophy but that was my fault, not John’s. In fact twice I had my butt kicked soundly by a lady handgun hunter. Nevertheless the hunt is scheduled for June 1 thru 7 in South Africa. I booked it in less than a week. I have room for 12 hunters and one opening left and also have a possible full week I have tentatively booked for May 23rd thru 29th. If you would be interested in the one opening or the previous week, get in touch with me at the shop at 928-526-3313. This will be a great hunt as all African hunts are and not expensive at all. For around $6000 plus your airfare you can have a helluva hunt and 7 full hunting days in Africa taking a handful of plains game.

Our HHC (Handgun Hunter’s Challenge) is also slated for this coming spring. It is scheduled for March 23rd thru 26th. It will be at the same lodge, the Wilderness Hunting Lodge in Monterey Tennessee. The camp holds 50 hunters and we have just started booking folks for that hunt and have 20 signed up already. If you want more info on this hunt, our 21st hunt at this lodge, give me a call at the above number.

That’s it for now. Until next time, take a youngster or lady shooting. They are our future.
God bless,

Gary

E-Mail: gary@reedercustomguns.com

Reeder Custom Guns 2601 E. 7th Ave. Flagstaff, AZ 86004	Phone: 928-527-4100 928-526-3313 Fax: 928-527-0840 928-526-1287
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