Gary's Gun Notes #101

May is quickly drawing to an end and the long summer awaits us. Fall is just a distant glimmer on the horizon but a lot of us are already thinking ahead to this coming fall’s hunting prospects. Here in Arizona we have to get drawn to hunt deer, elk, Bighorn, Bison, and most of the other critters that are huntable. That is unfortunate for many in that if you don’t get drawn you simply don’t hunt. Kase, Colleen and I didn’t get drawn at all so we don’t hunt here in Arizona this year. And more and more western states are going to a drawing for their big game, and in some instances the small game too. The liberals that moved in here have pretty much stopped our prairie dog hunting and are trying to stop the coyote hunting. Unfortunately we didn’t take them seriously enough when they started whining about the poor coyotes and prairie dogs and in the end we lost. Those of you in states where you still can hunt them or groundhogs or rock chucks, be wary. Don’t let the liberals whine and moan and end up taking your rights away from you.

On a brighter note, we still can hunt small game, and rabbits, both cottontail and Jackrabbits are huntable year around plus we have a fairly liberal squirrel hunting season. So we can still take the Jack Russells out and do some rabbit hunting and this fall we can hunt squirrels.

On an even better note, our October HHC (Handgun Hunting Challenge) is now scheduled. It is a week earlier than it normally is, this year actually beginning on September 29 and running thru Oct. 2. It is again at the Wilderness Hunting Lodge in Monterey Tennessee. Those that fly will fly into Nashville and either rent a car or ride out with one of the other Misfits that will be flying in or driving by the airport. We arrive around noon or early afternoon on Thursday the 29th, hunt that afternoon, hunt all day Friday and Saturday and Sunday morning if you like and head out Sunday afternoon. If you are thinking about going on this hunt, I highly recommend it. It is a great hunt with some good companionship and you get to see, and shoot a lot of new guns and calibers and hunt with them if you like. The prices are about 1/3 of what everyone else charges and there are no hidden charges like the other places try to slip in. Alan Wilson, the owner, always has many hundreds of head of huntable game and on many thousands of acres. If you want to see more about the hunt check out www.wildernesshuntinglodge.com. If you decide to go, call Sherry, Alan’s wife, at 931-839-2091 and put down your $250 deposit. If you do, make sure and let me know so I can add you to the list of people that are going. So far after less than a week, here are the hunters that are scheduled to go...

and several other species that I can’t think of off the top of my head. I talked to Alan Thursday and he had just gone thru his back pastures and did a head count and mentioned that if you have ever wanted a really nice Axis Deer, he has some monsters. Also some really big Red Stag. He also has Zebra back there and all the other normal critters. Bob Denning is planning to let his daughter Tiffany hunt a big Zebra stallion. That should be a great hunt to watch as Zebra are extremely hard to put down. Last October several of the Misfits, including Kase, took big 6x6 and 7x7 bull elk. And they were priced at about 1/4 of what you would pay out here for the same elk. I will get current prices in the next few days and will post them on the forum. Join us. You won’t regret it.

Well, let’s see, what new goodies are out and on dealer’s shelves? We got several of the new guns in over the past week or two. The new S&W Bodyguard in 380 is out and a neat little pistol it is. It has a built in laser which operates in standard mode or in a strobe laser mode, and it surprisingly is decent priced. We are selling them for well under $400. The new Ruger LC9, which is a very small, compact 9mm, not much bigger than their little LCP 380 is out. It feels extremely good in the hand. Very compact and probably less than 3/4 of an inch thick. Nice little gun. The Taurus 732 TCP in 32 auto is a neat little gun. Like all the rest, small and compact. For some strange reason I have always liked the 32 auto. Many years ago I carried the Mauser HSC as my carry gun. It was a bit heavy compared to today’s compact carry guns but it functioned very well and fit my hand. Speaking of Taurus, they have completely revamped their small pistol line up. Their TP-22 and TP-25 have been totally redesigned and have a whole new look. These little flip up barrel guns have been around forever and have a very good reputation. Now they have gone to a polymer frame, enlargened trigger guard and are slimmer and lighter than before. At a hair over 10 ounces they make a great little last ditch pocket gun.

The Ruger 1911 is out and I noticed at a local gun show, some dealers were gouging buyers because they had one of the first ones out. Be patient and wait a week or two and get one at a decent price. Retail is, if I remember right, at a hair under $800 and they were priced at $950 or so at the gun show.

I mentioned the new S&W with a built in laser above. It seems everyone is putting out something with a built in laser. How about a broadhead with built in laser? A company called Clean Shot Archery has a new broadhead that has a built in laser. It is activated when the arrow comes to full draw by a magnet in the handle of the bow. It works off batteries which can be charged in your vehicle. You can learn more at www.clean-shot.com.

For years the 22 magnum has been popular as a self defense revolver or semi auto but in the short barrels you normally don’t get full 22 magnum power, usually getting just a bit above normal 22 LR power. Speer has come up with a new 22 magnum round designed to burn the powder in a short barrel. it is the Speer Gold Rush. It is part of their Gold Dot Short barrel Personal Protection offering. It uses the Gold Dot hollow point designed to open up at velocities obtainable in a short barreled revolver.

For many years we have had the option of shooting 22 LR or 22 magnum in single action revolvers that come with dual cylinders. This hasn’t been true with double action revolvers. Until now. Taurus has come out with a dual cylinder Tracker model 992 that has 2 cylinders, one in 22 LR and one in 22 magnum. They are interchangeable by pushing a button on the side of the revolver. Both cylinders are 9 shot. The new model 992 comes in blue or stainless and in a 4” barrel or 6 1/2” barrel.

Several months ago I mentioned that Lyman was bringing back their Sharps rifles. They are now finally out. The nice thing is they have a scaled down model called the Ideal that is chambered in 22 Hornet and 38-55. This scaled down beauty boasts Lyman’s tang sight and globe front sight, double set triggers and special engraving.

There is a new thing going on now that I am not sure I really like. It is hunting at night with thermal imaging scopes. They say it is designed to rid the area hunted of feral hogs that feed mostly at night and it apparently does a very good job of it. Some of the hunters are also using suppressed rifles to hunt with. But I detest poachers and it seems that with the advent of thermal night vision scopes this just gives poachers more of a chance to “hunt” at night. Plus with a suppressed rifle that makes it even more appealing to the poacher crowd. It is currently being used in Georgia but is sure to spread to other states with a large hog population.

There is a new movie out where the “good guy” uses the Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan snubbie to waylay the bad guys. Since the movie’s release the Alaskans are almost non existent unless you want to pay well over retail. The gun he uses is a 454/45 and he uses 45 LC for removing bad guys. I know several people that have been looking for one for a couple of months but can’t find one without taking out a mortgage on their house. By the way, movies do sell guns, a lot of guns. look at the S&W model 29 during the Dirty Harry timeframe. They were running 2 and 3 times retail, if you could find one. Well, if you are looking for a snubbie 454/45 LC, check out the Taurus Raging Bull. It is 2 1/4” in barrel length, comes in stainless and has the soft rubber grips already on it and the gun comes ported from the factory. Plus the price is reasonable too. And like the Ruger, it has a lifetime warranty.

Speaking of Taurus, they now have a 22 LR conversion kit for their series 800 pistols. Like most conversion units it consists of barrel, slide and 2 10 round magazines. 22 conversion units are really popular these days. back a year ago when 22 LR ammo was about all we could find, and in some cases even it was hard to get, more and more people were picking up one of the various 22 conversion kits to adapt their 9mm or 45 pistol to 22 caliber. I have several of the older Colt conversion units that I have permanently fitted to 1911 frames. One of my favorite, if not my favorite is a Peters Stahl long slide conversion kit. It is extremely accurate and is all steel. Most of the conversion kits these days are aluminum slides and parts but heavier or not, I prefer the older all steel conversion units.

In the something unusual category, one of the hottest things going these days is a sawed off shotgun. Not really like the gangsters used in the 1920s and 1930s but professionally built short barreled shotguns. They come in the traditional side X side and in Over/Under form too. They come in pump and semi auto. They require a special license which is $200 but for a great home defense gun a little 10” or 12” double barreled shotgun with pistol grip sure would get the bad guy’s attention.

We have about 50 people coming over this evening for a steak cook out. I pulled out 62 Water Buffalo, Bison and Yak steaks last night and let them thaw out overnight. This morning I got them unwrapped and got the knives out to trim the fat and waste off the sides of the steaks. looking at some of Colleen’s high dollar kitchen knives ($400 for a set, on sale) I started looking for some other way to do this. Those expensive kitchen knives never cut well, constantly get dull after trimming 2 steaks and are, to me, totally useless. Why women buy them is a mystery to me. While thinking about it, I thought about my little Mini Skinner that I came out with a few months back. I had never used it but knew it was extremely sharp. I got it off my desk, cleaned the packing grease off it and proceeded to trim the steaks. I trimmed 62 steaks in less than an hour and never needed to touch up the blade on that little knife. If you need a great little skinner or all around knife, check out our Mini Skinner. That is a great little knife.