With only a few days before the election apprehensive is the closest I can come to how I feel. As one of the Misfits on my forum said “you can vote your way into socialism but you will have to shoot your way out of it”. And truer words have never been spoken. I really can’t believe enough people in this country of ours would be gullible enough to vote Biden in, and a vote for Biden is a vote for Kamala Harris and she is one pure evil person. Everything we hold dear in this country of ours will be down the drain is she gets in office. All we can do is vote and pray, not necessarily in that order.

For the last couple of Gun Notes we have concentrated mostly on negative stuff. Mainly the possible results of a bad election.  I hate negative news and reports so I will try to stay away from any more negative stuff…hopefully.

There are a lot of new guns being advertised but it is very doubtful they will be out for this year’s hunting season. Many of the ammo and gun manufacturers are still either shutdown or working with a skeleton crew (thanks to the liberals in the North East who shut everything down at the first sign of the corona virus.) And I wonder about the mentality of someone who names a virus after a bottle of beer.

OK, I almost slipped into some negative stuff again. Sorry. Good stuff, Ruger’s 57 has been voted handgun of the year by one group, best firearm of the year by another and best in several other categories. .  And they deserve it. The 57 (pronounced Five Seven not fifty seven) is a very well made pistol. I have shot several and have yet to have one jam with either of the 2 brands of 5.7 ammo I had on hand.

Another new handgun for you handgun hunters is the new Taurus Raging Hunter Hunting Pack. This includes the Raging Hunter revolver in 44 Magnum, a Leupold 4X handgun scope, and various accessories. The gun comes in a military green Cerakote finish.

Years ago Smith & Wesson came out with a Model 629 Hunter revolver set up for a scope and in a carrying case. Colt did the same with their Python Hunter. This one was also scope mounted and came in a nice carrying case.  But it has been a while since one of the major handgun manufacturers have come up with a new gun specifically set up for hunters.

By now if you haven’t heard that Remington is no more, you would have to have been living in a cave. Recently Remington filed for bankruptcy again. The bankruptcy judge apparently said no and split Remington up into several pieces and they were bid on. Here is how the winners ended up.

Ruger got Marlin (Marlin was one of the companies owned by Remington) and all lever guns down the road will be built by Ruger and you can bet they will be done right.

 Sierra Bullets got Barnes bullets

Palmetto State Armory got DPMS, H&R, Stormlake, AAC Suppressor Company, and Parker Firearms

Franklin Armory got Bushmaster

And Sportsman’s Warehouse got Tapco.

Vista Outdoors got the big ammunition plant in Lonoke Arkansas and the Remington accessory company and also got the Remington name and trademarks.

Finally a real surprise. At first nobody bid on the actual guns with the Remington name on them. This was not unexpected as Remington’s quality for the last few years has been solely lacking. The guns and parts were worth many millions but a surprise popped up in the form of Roundhill Group. This never before heard of company bought all the guns and parts. Their bid of a mere $13 million got them the guns and parts, the big Remington plant in Ilion NY, the Remington Museum and a barrel making factory in Lenore City Tennessee. Not really sure what they plan as they got the guns and gun making equipment but not the name or trademarks. Actually Remington has had such a bad name for the last few years that it may be a blessing that Roundhill didn’t get the names or trademarks. They say they will start out by revamping the Model 700, Model 1100, Model 1187, and the R1 1911. They will have a big hurdle to leap over to get the bad taste out of gun buyers mouths after several years of lackluster guns with the Remington name on them.

Hornady’s 6.5 Creedmoor has pretty much reached it’s peak and is being overcome by Hornady’s newest the 6mm PRC. We are getting quite a few calls per day for the 6mm PRC. But even as the PRC comes into it’s own another Hornady cartridge is quickly catching up. It is the new 6mm ARC. The ARC stands for Advanced Rifle Cartridge and it is really showing it’s stuff.  The 6mm ARC is based on a modified 7.62 X 39 case. The 6.8 Grendel is also based on the 7.62 X 39 case but Hornady has tweaked it a bit more for added accuracy. Apparently a military unit is running some tests on the 6mm ARC. It will be a while before we hear the results of that.

Recently FN America was awarded the contract for the military 249 SAW (squad automatic weapon). The contract was for several years running thru 2025. FN America is based in Virginia and the guns will be built in their new South Carolina plant.

One of FN America’s new handguns is their new FN 509 Compact Tactical. The gun is very well made and feels just right in the hand.. It comes shipped with 12, 15 and 24 round magazines.

The 2 most popular handguns in our shop these days are the S&W Shield EZ. This handgun comes in 380 and 9mm and features an extremely EZ slide function. It is smooth and like the name says the slide is easy to pull back and this makes it popular with the ladies, especially the elderly. The second most popular gun is the Taurus G3C. This little jewel in 9mm is very popular mainly for a couple of reasons. First it’s frame seems to fit everyone’s hand and the nylon frame seems to absorb much of the recoil. Another reason is it comes with 3 magazines. That in itself will sell a lot of guns. Like their earlier G2C this one will be one of the best sellers of 2020.

Glock, always ready to try something new, has the G43X pistol just released. Now this is not the 43X. It is the G43X, a totally different pistol. It features a compact slimline frame, a black slide with the nDLC finish that looks almost like a slide that changes colors, a 10 round mag, and a built in beavertail. This feature is not to keep the hammer from biting the web of your hand like that in the 1911, as it doesn’t have a hammer. It is meant for a better more comfortable feel in the hand. It has a reversible magazine catch and a match grade barrel. It is also set up for a red dot sight.

OK, now a slight bit of negative stuff concerning the shortages. Folks ask me every day when is this crap going to end. I wish I knew. If Trump wins the election and good Lord willing he will, the Antifa/BLM groups will probably cause a lot of trouble and that will set the shortage situation back even more. The way it is going now is a few gun and ammo manufacturers are putting a small amount of guns out. Gun shops have to buy thru distributors and the manufacturers ship the few guns they get made to the distributors. The distributors call us every morning and tell us what they got in overnight. They tell us what guns they can let the gun shops have, usually one or two guns and a few rounds of ammo. Gun shops ordering guns is, at least for now, a thing of the past. So don’t get pissed at your local gun shop when he tells you he can’t order that gun you have been wanting. Normally we get one or two guns a day and sometimes a small case of ammo, maybe 10 boxes. So when is it going to end? Nobody knows. This situation has never happened before so nobody knows exactly what is going to happen down the road. My recommendation is try to work with your local dealer and stay away from the gougers on the internet. These guys are selling ammo at 3 or 4 times retail and in some case you pay for it and 2 or 3 days later they say they are currently out of stock but will have some in soon. Don’t fall for this. It is a common ploy to get your money and maybe down the road months later you might get the ammo you ordered. My suggestion is try to get the ammo you feel you need to protect your home and family and don’t hoard. Leave some for the person that really needs it.

Our last HHC is now history and it was a good one. We normally have 50 to 55 hunters there but this one, due to the virus scare, was smaller with about 30 hunters. This was our last HHC, unless things change in the near future. We shall see. But I thank all the Misfits that  made almost 30 HHCs a lot of fun. It was great getting to meet many of you and spend 3 or 4 days with good friends. A handgun hunt and good friends go very well together. And for the past 13 years of the HHC I thank all of you that made those hunts very special to me and Kase.

God bless you and God bless America,

Gary