GARY'S GUN NOTES

And the beat goes on. What little changes have come about are nothing good by any means. The anti gun crap continues with 2 mass shootings. The Boulder Colorado and the Virginia Beach shootings all within a weeks time. Now I suppose it is coincidence that the liberals are pushing gun control and we have 2 mass shootings within a couple of days. They want to take away any “assault guns” and another coincidence….the shootings are done with an assault rifle. Amazing how these coincidences happen at the right time for their adjenda.

Enough of the conspiracy theories. The gun manufacturers are really promoting their new guns for 2021 even though very few are actually available. With a couple million of their standard concealed carry guns back ordered I doubt they will be putting out many of the new guns this year.

The primer and powder shortage continues and promises to be even worse by early summer and not ease up for another year. I am not sure how they figure these things as the deluge of ammo buying (and ammo wanting) customers hasn’t slowed down even a slight bit. This morning (Saturday the 27th) we had 11 cars sitting in the parking lot at opening time. Several were from Phoenix as they say nothing is available in Phoenix at even a reasonable price. Several spoke of $85 for a box of 9mm FMJ and $125 for the box of JHPs in Phoenix. One couple was from Logan Utah driving around looking for ammo. Folks from southern California were there too looking for magazines and ammo. I think there may have been a few Flagstaff folks there too. But it was wall to wall people for the first few hours buying ammo, and the Arizona folks were buying handguns and the occasional AR-15 that we might get in and that never lasts more than 24 hours. So the buying frenzy hasn’t eased up a bit.

If and when the new products do begin to show up hopefully we will see one of the new Taurus Raging Hunters in 460 S&W or the new FN 509 Compact just released. If you shoot shotgun and want something with a lot less kick check out the new Mossberg 410 Turkey, a full camo 410 gauge with extended choke and has a drilled and tapped receiver for a red dot or scope. With today’s highly improved 410 gauge turkey shotshells the gun is much more powerful than our single shot 410 gauge shotguns of the past. If you want to go up a bit in power but stay in the light recoil department the EAA (European American Armory) model 228 Field in 28 gauge is one to check out. It is a semi auto with all the bells and whistles featuring light recoil and usually runs a bit under $400.

Turkey hunters this year have an extreme amount of choices in guns, ammo, optics, decoys and a lot more. Unfortunately most of them are not available or are in very short supply. So the turkey hunter will have to really search around to find the accessories he is looking for. Some seasons are already over with others just starting and with more and more turkey hunters every year that makes the availability a lot less than in years past.

One trend I really don’t like is many are taking the nice wood stock off their rifles and shotguns and replacing it with synthetic stocks. I know this just makes sense as the synthetic stocks are much more durable and lighter in weight but being of the old school way of thinking, I just really like to see a nice grained wood shotgun or rifle stock. But if you want the best in synthetic stocks then check out the new Bell & Carlson stocks. We have been fitting them to custom rifles since the late 80s and they are by far the best I have seen. They have just released the new stocks for the Ruger M-77 MK 2 and the Hawkeye Sporter. They have a free float magnum barrel channel and comes with the 1” Decelerator pad along with front and read sling swivel studs. They have a full length aluminum bedding system for strength and accuracy. Right now they are set up for right hand long action but others will be available later.

This is just a very small list of new offerings but I really hate to promote something I don’t think will be available for a good while. The old SHOT Show was noted for that. The manufacturers would show a new product and take orders and if they got enough orders they would build the product, usually a year or so down the road. If they didn’t get enough good response or orders they quietly drop the idea and refund any money taken. So as I begin to see any new products come in the door I will tell you about them and let you know the good and bad point. Howzat?

This weekend I am trying to get my gear together for my next (and probably last) African hunt. This will be African hunt #15 so I can’t bitch about it being my last. I have been blessed with way more than I deserve and I am really looking forward to this hunt. The hunt has not come without it’s own hoops to jump thru and problems to suffer through. There will be 10 of us on this hunt. There were 12 but 2 dropped out due to so much hassle from the airlines and governing countries we have to go thru. The 10 hunters are…

Erik Stenberg

Nick Stenberg

Alcorn Russell

Doug Faith

Ray Shepard

Danielle Shepard

Stuart Marshall

Dave Manson

And me.

The old way to get to South Africa was Atlanta to Joburg. Simple. Not any more. My first flight itinerary was Phoenix to Salt Lake to Minneapolis to Amsterdam to Joburg. Thank the Lord that was changed. Now it is Flagstaff to Dallas to Qatar to Joburg. Now for those (including me) that can’t point to Qatar on the map, it is on the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia. The flight is a long one with all these plane changes and I just hope our guns will make it.

Two years ago I was lucky enough to take the largest free range Cape Buffalo ever taken with a handgun, taken with my custom encore in 450 GNR. I was beaten later and ended up in the #2 spot and maybe by now in the #3 spot, but that is no big deal. The head, horns and hide were delivered to the taxidermist there in South Africa and somehow mysteriously turned up missing a while later, probably walking out the back door late one night. Obviously some rich dude has my buffalo on his wall telling all his buddies that he shot it. Anyway the taxidermist is doing the right thing and paying for me to hunt another Cape Buffalo. So that is what I am looking forward to. As a side note, John Abraham, our Professional Hunter has arranged for a cull elephant hunt for me. The game rangers cull out a couple of old old bulls not in the breeding herd each year. All the meat goes to the villagers and will feed them for a couple of months. That being said I am not sure I want to do this. I have always wanted to take an elephant with my handgun but as I get older life gets a bit more precious and killing that elephant just to feed a village has it upsides and downsides. So I am waffling on this. I may change my mind when I get there as John always manages to talk me into things I might not have done without that gouging. Thru the years he has put me on 31 animals that all ranked #1 in the world so I am grateful for that even though several hunters have kicked my butt since then including a couple of lady handgun hunters. I still have 10 or 12 #1 critters and I owe that to John Abraham of Madubula Safaris. Without him I wouldn’t have any. But I am looking forward to another big Cape Buffalo bull, so on the elephant we shall see. My battery of guns this year as in the past are the 450 GNR, 310 GNR and 416 GNR. I think it is the way it should be with my 450 GNR. My first African safari in ’92 was with the 450 GNR and my last one will hopefully also be with the 450 GNR.

I will be leaving on the safari this coming Friday April 2nd and back on the 15th. So in the meantime, if you can scrounge up enough ammo to go out shooting, take a lady or youngster with you. These days more than ever, they are our future.

God bless,

Gary