Gary's Gun Notes #119

For many of us it has been a dark time in American history. The election was so crooked with tampered voting machines in all the major states, along with promises of violence to anyone that voted conservative. The election has been over for nearly a month and I have to force myself to get on Fox News' web site. It is almost like extremely bad news is awaiting me and I don't want to see it. What bothers me most I think is even if the voting was manipulated almost half of the people in America voted for Obama and for his “free stuff”. America was sold down the river for a free cell phone. The outlook isn't good for many of our freedoms. including our right to keep and bear arms. The buying public is doing what they do best...buying guns and ammunition in the hope that if our crooked leaders pass more anti gun bills, they will grandfather in the guns already owned.

On a brighter note, the gun makers are optimistic about our future and have promised many new guns to be revealed at the SHOT SHOW coming up shortly after the first of the year. Ruger, Beretta, Taurus and many more companies have new guns in the wings ready to introduce them to us at the show. I will keep you posted as I hear about them. Strangely enough there are 7 or 8 companies bringing out brand new AR-15s. With ARs being a glut on the market you would think that would be the last thing a company would bring out, but apparently not. The folks at L.A.R., that made the Grizzly 45 Winchester Magnum pistol and have been making their 50 Browning rifles for several years have announced a new version of the AR-15. So has ATI, the folks that make the very reasonably priced and well made 1911 pistols, and a company called DTI Evolution plus several more. And many other companies that already make their versions of the AR-15 are coming out with these guns in different calibers aimed at the hunting crowd. The AR-15 has taken a good while to be accepted by the hunting fraternity but now seems firmly rooted in the hunting field. Even air rifle companies are coming out with their versions of the AR-15 in .177 and .22 calibers. Kase has introduced several full custom AR-15s with all the bells and whistles on them. Along with his custom 1911s he stays extremely busy building his full custom AR-15s. He just finished up a special AR with a red upper and lower with black furniture and contrasting small parts. When he told me he was going to build it I was a bit apprehensive but it really looks good. It is not as flashy as the hot pink AR-15 he built for Bob Denning but is just as nice. By the way, Bob says it was for his daughter but we know better.

Ammunition buying in “bulk” is in full swing. And by “in bulk” I mean what they can find. These days if you can find 5 or 6 boxes of the ammo you are looking for that is about as “in bulk” as we are going to get with the shortages also being in full swing. Some unusual ammo has been back ordered at our gun shop for months on end and no sign of light at the end of that tunnel. I haven't seen the buying and hoarding of primers and powder like we had a couple of years back but my gut feeling is it is just down the road.

Walther has announced that some of their PK380 pistols may have a safety problem and may fire with the safety on. For more info on this you can call their toll free number at 800-713-0356 to find out more and if your pistol is among those being recalled, they will get a call tag out to you. Another recall is from Fiocchi Ammunition. Some of their 22-250 and 243 ammunition seems to have had 2 bullets loaded in the case, which obviously can cause extremely high pressures. You can find out if your ammo is among the ones recalled by calling 417-449-1039. I never let recalls bother me as it tells me that the company is standing behind their products. Any company can have a problem product, that happens. But some would rather forget it and deny it ever happened if someone calls them on it. A company that puts out a recall to me is more respected than those that don't.

A couple of rifle companies have some new items coming out. Browning has it's first 375 H&H rifle in the X-Bolt platform. There are two versions of it, the Hunter and the Medallion versions. Retail is just a bit over $1000. Marlin has a first for them too, a police rifle. They have their X7 Tactical rifle coming out in 308 caliber and with an 18” heavy barrel and threaded for a suppressor.

Norma Ammunition of Sweden is going all out to get their ammunition and brass popular again in the U.S. For years they were well known for their extremely well made ammunition, brass and gun powder. During the 80s and 90s they disappeared from the firearm scene. There are now back with several calibers of ammunition and now have their fine brass coming out in 25 round boxes. Back in the early 70s I bought a lot of 44 Auto Mag ammo and brass made by Norma. In fact my best loads were using Norma brass.

The Savage AXIS rifle that I have mentioned on here several times has now been awarded the “Best-In-Class, Entry Level rifle”. That is quite an honor and is due to the fine workmanship found in the rifle and the extremely affordable price. We sell the rifle in standard calibers with a 3 X 9 Bushnell scope on it for under $350. That is hard to beat. And it has Savage's guarantee of accuracy and the lifetime warranty. That is hard to beat too.

For the last 2 years I have been working on my second handgun hunting book. It was delivered yesterday, 2800 lbs of them. The book is almost twice the size of my first handgun hunting book and I went all out on this one. It has laminated front and back covers in color, deluxe color pictures inside and over 1000 hunting pictures in 25 chapters. Plus the pages are sewn in to counter the problem we had with a few of my first book's pages coming loose. Good friend John Taffin again did the foreword for me. The book is titled HUNTING HANDGUNS AND THEIR CARTRIDGES. In the first book I spent some time going over the handguns and the hunts we made with them. In the new book I spent more time discussing the handguns and the cartridges that have been used in handgun hunting thru the years. With over 1000 pictures pretty much every hunting handgun has been covered from the Gyro Jet, to the Wildey, to the Auto Mag, to all the single shot hunting pistols to today's finest revolvers. Even with all the special features of the new book it is still moderately priced at $40 delivered. I still have almost 100 of the first book left, HANDGUN HUNTING AND HUNTING HANDGUNS and I have special priced them for those that want both books. They are priced at $50 delivered as long as the supply of the first book lasts. Those wanting the new book or both of the books can order one by calling Colleen at 928-527-4100. Just in one day and a half we have shipped out almost 100 books.

Our Christmas knife special is in full swing again this year. The knife is the Kershaw Leek that has the little button you push and the blade swings out almost as fast as the old switch blades. It is an all stainless knife and is priced at $69 plus shipping and we put the owner's name or scroll work or an animal on it at no extra charge. We have already sold and shipped about 3 dozen of them and have orders for well over that many more. We never have too many knives and this Kershaw knife is an extremely well made and extremely sharp folder with a pocket clip. If you are interested call Colleen at the above number.

I have had several folks ask me when the March HHC is planned. I don't have a date yet and will probably wait until around the first of the year to announce it. This will be the 76th handgun hunt we have booked since 1987. It will again be at the Wilderness Hunting Lodge in Monterey Tennessee. I may have the date by the next Gun Notes. The March hunt is always a neat hunt as quite often we have some snow on the ground. I enjoy hunting in the snow and for some it is the only chance they get to see snow.