As I type this we are waiting for a hurricane to hit Arizona. Now that sounds about as normal as a snow storm in Miami. We have been out here for 25 years now and this is the first time I have even heard the word Hurricane mentioned in our weather forecasts. Apparently Hurricane Rosa has decided to take a different course instead of running up California’s west coast into oblivion. Instead it has decided to venture over into Arizona and see what’s happening over our way. Now all this could change, plus we know how often the weather man is right in his projections. Being a weather man is one of only two jobs I know of where you can be wrong 100% of the time and still keep your job. The other is a Democratic politician. But right now they are calling for hurricane force winds and as much as 10” of rain to hit the Phoenix and Flagstaff area. Now I won’t say this is unheard of as some old timers are saying we had a hurricane to hit Arizona back in the ‘50s and dumped buckets of rain on us.

Now having lived in south Florida for several years and watching folks get organized and get ready for a hurricane, I am surprised that there is none of that here. Folks here just shrug their shoulders and say “it won’t be a big deal”. And they are probably right. One concern I have is it is supposed to hit us sometime early Monday and continue thru Thursday morning with high winds and flash flood warnings. Now agreeably that is no real big deal, except during that time several of us will be leaving here for Tennessee and the Handgun Hunter’s Challenge (HHC). We need to be there by mid day Thursday. We have 2 truckloads of handgun hunters heading out sometime about midday Tuesday, which is about middle of the coming “hurricane”. I will keep you posted on my forum on this as we go along.

OK, back to gun stuff. Lots of new stuff coming out these days. Things are getting back to where we were before that wacko Kenyan took over and things went to hell in the proverbial hand basket. All of a sudden, (actually in the last 18 months or so) gun companies are not hesitant to develop and release new products. Can you imagine us being able to buy over the counter the Sig Arm Brace to put on our short barreled semi auto AR pistols to actually convert them into the kissing cousin of a SBR (“short barreled rifle”) which takes lots of money and a year to get OK’d if then. Or how about all the suppressors. Do you think the swamp creatures in DC during the Kenya Kingdom would have allowed us to have those? The times they are a’changin’.

The main problem we are having right now is many companies during 2016 were afraid that the Wicked Witch was going to win the election and their business would fade out like a rumor of an honest lawyer. So these businesses, making gun parts, barrels, stocks and so on built just enough to keep the wolf away from the door. Now that the sun is shining again, all of a sudden they are way behind. Even small gun parts or common caliber barrel blanks that normally would take 2 weeks to get are taking 2 months.

But all this is good. As these companies catch up they are making money which makes them stronger and this is a strength we need right now. I have never seen as much pure evil in our government as we have today. The evil is destroying the Democratic party and as they say, what goes around comes around. All this blatant lying and evil is going to come back and bite them in the ass. But we have to continue to back Trump and be strong. We can beat this evil but only if we stick together and fight it. But there is a bright shining light at the end of the tunnel.

Did I say, back to the guns? I sorta slipped up there and jumped on my podium. Things are a bit scattered right now as I am running a large batch of guns in the bluing tanks and going thru my guns for the HHC while I am typing this. I think I have my choices narrowed down to 3 guns. They are my old stand by 9” 41 GNR on a G-2 frame, a one of a kind S&W model 629 in 410 GNR and my old back up gun, the Alaskan Hunter in 429 GNR. Those 3 should handle anything I happen to come across at the HHC.

Anyway, new stuff. The Glock 19X is now old news. It is the gun that was offered to the U.S. military which they turned down for some silly reason. So it was offered to the public and we grabbed it up like candy. The 19X is simply a Glock 17 bottom and Glock 19 top done up in a sand tan color and coming with lots of extra features. Now, the Glock 45 has been announced and never let it be said that Glock sits around on their arses ( that is a gentlemanly way of saying “their asses”). The Glock 45 is pretty much the same as the 19X except for a few new features. The first feature is the higher muckety mucks in law enforcement agencies that make the decisions didn’t like the sand colored pistols. Apparently they thought it would make their cops look like limp wristed, light in the loafers, silly savages. I thought that was a bit much. They wanted black. Another difference was the forward slide serrations. And like the 19X it has the absence of finger grooves. And lastly the Glock 45 has a different and stronger finish on the metal parts. So there you have it.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t tease you about the new Glock 46. So far it is designed for the German law enforcement types. It may or may not be released here in the states. It has a beavertail on the back of the slide. Not really sure why that is. Normally a beavertail is to keep the hammer from coming back and biting you in the web of the hand. Obviously this isn’t possible as the Glock doesn’t have a hammer. But, not for me to say. The new Glock 46 is ambi in most features. It has a bigger wider trigger housing for easier use with gloved hands. It has a rotating barrel, unlike the current design. Beretta came out with what I thought was a great idea in a rotating barrel in their model 8000. And it flopped, probably because I liked it. Not sure if the new Glock rotating barrel is similar in any way to the Beretta but it is said to dampen the recoil impulse. They also changed the internals in that to disassemble it, you don’t have to pull the trigger first. That has always been a thorn in their side and a bullet hole in their foot if it is not checked good before pulling the trigger. The internals are complex enough that I won’t go into and make it obvious I am a little on the slow side.

Anyway, Glock says if they bring the model 46 into the states it will kill the model 19 and possibly the model 17 and those are two of their best sellers. So maybe so and maybe no. We shall see.

Got a call this past week from Patrick Henry. And no, not THE Patrick Henry, the one that said “give me death or the blonde in room 17”, but one with the same name. This gentleman is the new owner of the company working to bring back the Auto Mag. He was trying to get me a non-working Auto Mag to take to the HHC to show the handgunners there what the new Auto Mag looks like. Right now it doesn’t look like he will be able to as they got a minor flood from Hurricane Florence and had to move a lot of their CNC machines out of the water. But he said he was going to get me a working model of the new Auto Mag to test and see if it excites me. More on that later, but being a hard core fan of the Auto Mag, I am looking forward to it.

Savage has a new Modern Sporting Rifle, or MSR (that is the cowardly way of saying AR-15) chambered in 6mm that is based on the AR-10 design. It is said to be able to kick the 6.5 Creedmore butt. Let’s hope so. It is called the 6mm Long Rang. Cute but not terribly original.

Colt continues to bring back their snubbie revolvers. The most recent is the Cobra. It looks good and feels good with a more than decent action. Colt is not my favorite gun company after all their crap in the past, but I really hope the re-issue of some of their most popular short barreled revolvers is a success. And no, I don’t think they will re-issue the Python. Personally if they did, I believe it would flop. There are way too many 357 magnum revolvers on the market these days and it would have to be even better than the old Pythons were to survive. I hope I am wrong. Colt also has a new 1911 called the CCO (no idea what it stands for), but it is basically the Commander barrel and slide on a lightweight Officer’s frame.

Smith & Wesson is riding a new wave of “old guns”, sorta. They have released the model 19 in 357 Magnum again and it is doing very well. They also have a 3” model of the model 19 with a ported barrel. Years ago every serious person that carried a concealed gun carried a 4” model 19 or the stainless brother, the model 66 in the 2½” version. Even today wheel gun lovers carry the magnum snubbies and the new 3” Model 19 should be an instant hit.

A while back Bass Pro bought out Cabela’s for mega bucks and fired all the head honchos. They had a non competing agreement for a certain amount of years, that these folks could not open new stores doing business like the old Cabelas did. Well, golly dang, guess what they did. Two groups are bringing out their own businesses that they were not supposed to do and both groups are being sued. It is a cut throat business folks.

Kel-Tec, the company that makes some of the ugliest guns but guns that always work, are getting into the Flashlight business. Knowing Kel Tec they will make a flashlight that will be as good as Surefire and be one third the price. Kel Tec is also bringing out their revised KSG shotgun, a bullpup design shotgun that has 2 magazine tubes under the barrel holding 6 rounds each of 3” magnum plus one in the chamber. This is a redesign of their older model and is said to function flawlessly.

Another flashlight company, Streamlight, has a new flashlight that uses a battery that has a USB port on the side of it to recharge it simply by plugging it in. Crazy how the simple stuff takes so long to actually see the light of day.

Apparently a lot of folks don’t see the red dot in a reflex sight (red dot sight), so one company, Holosun has come out with a new red dot reflex sight that has no red dot. It has a bright green dot. This one should do well for those folks that see red as a pale grey.

Good friend and a real gentleman, Steve Hornady, obviously of Hornady dies, presses etc, was awarded the 2018 Business of the Year recently. I can’t think of anyone that deserves it more. When I was heading out to Africa this spring with Cape Buffalo in mind, Steve sent me a batch of his new .458 caliber 500 grain soft point bullets and the 500 grain solids for the hunt. I loaded both and when the big bull strutted out of some brush looking to run these interlopers off, John Abraham, my PH, told me to use the 500 grain soft point at about 2100 out of my Encore handgun. The first bullet on point of the shoulder knocked the bull down and a second one kept him down. A great bullet and it did exactly what it was supposed to do. Thank you Steve Hornady. And thanks to Steve, Safari Club says that bull is the largest free range Cape Buffalo ever taken with a handgun.

Good old Sierra bullet company is still hanging in there after many many years and with so much competition. Personally my bullet choices are Hornady and Sierra. The new whoop de do stuff doesn’t light my fire at all. I have taken more game with my handguns using Sierra and Hornady bullets than should be allowed. Sierra has their new Gamechanger bullet. It incorporates all the fine features of the whizz bang bullet companies with their own top of the line quality. If you are looking for a good hunting bullet with long range capabilities, check out the new Sierra Gamechanger. It comes in quite a few calibers.

There is a new pistol out from a company called Trailblazer and the new pistol is called the Lifecard. It is about the same size as a credit card but thicker, about ½” thick. It is a single shot pistol that shoots a 22 LR round. It unfolds out into a handle and barrel with extended trigger. It is all aluminum except for the barrel. It is a bit over 3” in length and a bit over 2” in height and ½” thick. It has a storage space in the handle for an extra 4 rounds. It is small enough to go anywhere a flip top phone will go. This one will sell, if only because it is unique. Run that 22 LR bullet thru our Flattop Tool and you have the power of a 22 Magnum.

Those of you that like the new Glock 19X in the sand color and design, check out the new FN 509 Tactical. It has just about every feature a gun person would want and has one of the finest gun companies ever as it’s maker. It is a great looking and even better feeling 9mm that is compatible with almost every red dot sight. It also has a 17 round and 24 round magazine. Check this one out. You’ll like it.

Winchester just got the FBI contract for 9mm ammo. It is for a 147 grain 9mm bullet with lots of special features including glass penetration, reliable expansion, and uses a special powder that gives very little flash to hamper night vision.

We mentioned a while back that Inland was back in business and making the original M1 carbines in 30 Carbine. At the time I was doubtful they would sell enough to stay in business. But I was wrong. They are doing extremely well and have added an extra production line. I am not sure what group of folks are buying this little carbine but I wish them luck. Sort of like S&W bringing back the Model 19, it is neat to see some older guns brought back to life.

Nosler has a new handgun out. It is sort of a big brother to the Remington XP-100. It is the model 48 Custom handgun. At first glance it looks like someone cut one of the Precision Rifles in half as it has the same look. It has the mid grip stock. They are building them custom and you have your choice of calibers, barrel length, stock colors, brake or not, and fluted or non fluted barrel. It is full custom all the way. You also might have to break into the piggy bank for this one.

There is a lot more to tell you about but it will have to wait until next month. At that time I will have news about the HHC and if we survived the Arizona hurricane. I hope some of you are in the group going to the HHC. It is always good to meet the new folks there.

Until next month, remember, when you go shooting or hunting, take a lady or youngster with you. They are our future.

God bless,

Gary