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October 19th, 2007
Team Glock’s Jessie Abbate is the new Ladies USPSA Multi-Gun National Champion. Bringing a new level of grace, speed, and accuracy to the Multi-Gun discipline, Jessie took top honors among women in the recent USPSA Multi-Gun National Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The three-gun match consisted of 12 stages. 3 stages were shot with a pistol, 3 with a rifle, 3 utilized a shotgun, and 3 were multi-gun. Each stage presented different levels of difficulty such as swinging shotgun and rifle targets, multiple moving pistol targets and long range rifle shots past 300 yards. Other stages were designed for speed which allowed shooters to employ all three of their guns. Jessie used an MSTN AR-15 type carbine in the rifle stages, a 12 gauge for the shotgun segments, and a Glock 34 for the pistol stages.
Jessie reports: “I started the match off Friday morning with a great shotgun stage followed by exceptional rifle and pistol stages. But as I was shooting with multiple guns, I began to tire and made small mistakes that cost me some points. With the long-range rifle stage at the end of the day, I just wanted to survive it so I could move on and put it behind me.” Jessie began the second day with a fresh outlook and shot smoothly and consistently. Abbate wrapped up the last day of competition with a 200-point victory and the Ladies Multi-Gun National Championship.
 The lovely Jessie is now one of America’s top action shooters. Jessie began shooting by going to the range with her father. With the training she received from her father, a world champion cowboy action shooter, and help from her husband Billy, a USPSA Grandmaster, Jessie’s pistol shooting skills continue to grow. She now competes in practical and steel shooting sports with Glock pistols. Jessie was welcomed to Team Glock in the summer of 2006. Jessie balances a busy schedule with her job in the family business in Georgia, going to school for a business degree and training on the shooting range.
Photos courtesy Glock Inc., and Team Glock.
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October 19th, 2007
 In cooperation with Tom Meyers, Whidden Gunworks is now the North American source for the Davies triggers, providing both trigger sales and installation. Crafted in Australia, Davies triggers are popular with long-range Highpower and Palma shooters, and these triggers are also well-suited for F-Class. The Davies trigger adjusts for pull weight, and the mounting of the trigger shoe allows the shooter to adjust both length of pull and trigger shoe angle.
The Davies regular weight trigger adjusts from 1 lb, 2 oz. to 3.5 pounds pull weight. Davies’ F-Class triggers will adjust from 4 oz. to 1 pound. Both Regular and F-Class triggers should fit all actions that will accept Remington-pattern triggers. If a Jewell trigger can work with your gun, so should a Davies. Price of the triggers is $275 plus shipping. If you don’t wish to install the trigger yourself, Whidden Gunworks can install both regular pull weight and F-Class triggers. For more info, visit WhiddenGunworks.net or call (229) 686-1911. John Whidden will add Davies trigger photos/specs to his website soon.
Davies trigger photo courtesy Warner Tool Company.
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October 19th, 2007
Here’s a nice do-it-yourself project for the winter. Simpson, maker of Strong-Tie fasteners, offers FREE Workbench Plans for a sturdy, 48″-wide bench with a pegboard backing and both upper and lower shelves. A complete list of fasteners and cut lengths is provided. For use as a loading bench with mounted presses, you can double-up the bench-top for extra ridigity. Without much difficulty, the plans can be adapted to build a wider bench if you prefer.
The same downloadable document also contains plans for an 80″-high 6-shelf unit, a 72″-high heavy-duty shelving unit (with 4 shelves), and a 48″-wide heavy-duty table.
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October 18th, 2007
Manners Stocks has released its new “T4″ series of tactical stocks. The new design features flats on the bottom of the fore-end and buttstock so the stock performs well from sandbag rests as well as from bipod. With outer shells composed of 35% aircraft-grade carbon fiber and 65% fiberglass, the Manners T4/T4A stocks are very light and very stiff. The T4 weighs just 2.7 pounds, while the T4A (with adjustable checkpiece) is 4.1 pounds.
 Tom Manners tells us: “The T4A comes standard with an adjustable cheek using Terry Cross’s hardware. Both the T4 and T4A come standard with a fixed 1″ Pachmyer Decelerator pad. They can also be ordered with the optional butt spacer system and a Decel pad. The fore-end is about 2.50″ wide and will take barrels up to 1.350″ in diameter. The sides and bottom of the fore-end and the bottom of the butt behind the hook are parallel with the bore. This allows the stock to ride very straight and true if you want to use bags. We lengthened the pistol grip about 1/4″ longer compared to the Manners T2 stock.”
Manners stocks are built to a very high standard compared to most fiberglass stocks on the market. The geometry is consistent and the shells are free from voids and flaws. Manners stocks are all hand-laid with high-temp epoxy resins, placed under a vacuum, and heat cured for optimal resin to fabric weight ratio. Standard configuration stocks come fullly-inletted with a pillar set ready to install at time of bedding. Tactical stocks come painted with a durable, polyurethane enamel in black, OD green, coyote brown, dessert tan, or sand. A variety of camouflage patterns from Larson Tactical are also available at extra cost. The T4 costs $425.00, while the T4A (with Terry Cross adjustable cheek hardware) is $595.00.
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October 18th, 2007
Berger recently introduced a new, high-BC 22-caliber bullet with a forgiving non-VLD design. This new bullet is designed for long-range use, single-loaded in an AR15 service rifle or cross the course rifle. It will also be ideal for use in a .223 Remington F-TR class rifle.
 The new 82gr Berger has been somewhat hard to find, but Powder Valley has received a shipment. Powder Valley’s owner Bryan tells us: “The Berger .224 82 gr BT is in stock and ready to ship. Only a limited supply is available. The 82gr BT has performed exceptionally well in all tests. The G1 BC is .450 and we are recommending a 1:8″ twist or faster. This bullet is perfect for those who shoot heavy 22 cal but do not like the sensitive nature of the VLD-type bullets. All tests show that this bullet shoots very well at any OAL and with most loads. At Camp Perry, Shawn McKenna used this bullet on his way to a 2nd place in the NRA Civilian Service Rifle National Championship.” Bryan added: “If you mention this Bulletin notice, you will receive an additional 5% discount.” Call Bryan at (800) 227-4299 to order.
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October 17th, 2007
Over the past year, your editor has discussed optics quality control with dozens of very successful shooters. There was widespread agreement that too many scopes are leaving the factory with canted reticles, i.e. cross-hairs that are not plumb with the turrets. In fact, to my surprise, most of the top shooters I polled said, yes they have, at least once, purchased a $700+ scope from a major manufacturer that arrived with a canted reticle. The amount of cant ranged from an estimated one to three degrees. Three degrees happens to be one major domestic scope-maker’s production tolerance. We all agreed that this was unacceptable in a high-dollar scope. (Note: here we are talking about an INTERNAL scope assembly problem that results in reticles being off-axis relative to the turrets. Don’t confuse this with the canting which occurs if you don’t level your rifle. A canted reticle is a production defect requiring factory repair.)
 
Three degrees may not sound like much–after all it is less than 1% of a 360-degree circle. Nonetheless, as the diagrams show, three degrees of cant is VERY noticeable in a scope. In fact, most people will be bothered by a reticle that is just one degree off-axis. Canted reticles are not just annoying to look at, but off-axis reticles cause a number of problems with sighting and accuracy. For example, if you set up your rifle so the vertical cross-hair is straight up and down, your turrets will be slightly tilted. This means that when you click elevation you will change windage slightly, and vice-versa. If, on the other hand, you cant (or tilt) the whole rifle to make the turrets square, this throws off the bullet trajectory–causing bullet impact that is low and displaced horizontally*.
Now, all manufacturers can have a production flaw now and then. Yet we’ve never heard a complaint about canted reticles in Nightforce or Schmidt & Bender scopes. So, it IS possible for the better manufacturers to get it right. Our point here is that it is time for the major scope-makers to address this problem and improve their quality control. That will happen sooner if consumers pay greater attention to reticle alignment during the purchasing process. If you have a scope with a canted reticle, send it back to the maker and ask for the problem to be fixed. If enough shooters do that, we expect the scope-makers will take notice and improve their products.
*CLICK HERE to read a very thorough technical article that explains the effect of rifle canting on bullet trajectory. CLICK HERE to see targets shot with canted rifles showing bullet displacement. The diagram below shows how this occurs.
Illustration courtesy Long Shot Products, Ltd.
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October 17th, 2007
Based on reports from Quantcast, the AccurateShooter Daily Bulletin reaches nearly 36,000 unique readers worldwide every month. Many of our readers have asked how they can help support the site. First, we are always looking for good videos and interesting news items to put in our Bulletin and BLOG. Send your info and video clips to mailbox [@] 6mmBR.com. Keep Video clips under 4 megabytes if possible. Video clips can be edited using the Windows “MovieMaker” software that’s probably already on your computer.
User donations are also important to the site. As the website audience grows, so do our expenses. You can make a donation (via PayPal), using the “DONATION” buttons found on our Home Page and on our Shooters’ Forum (at bottom of page). You do NOT need to have a PayPal account, so long as you have a credit card.
DONATION Button on Home Page:
If you don’t wish to use the PayPal system, we also accept checks sent via the U.S. Mail. Jason Baney handles the mailed-in contributions. Please include a short note with your name and Forum “nickname” (if any). Make the check payable to “Jason Baney” and mail your check to:
Jason Baney
P.O. Box 308
Douglassville, PA 19518
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October 16th, 2007
People have already started asking about the U.S. Optics scope on Rob Hunter’s “BriTactical” rifle featured as the current Gun of the Week. This is no ordinary optic. It is a special “supersized” version of U.S. Optics SN3 T-PAL series, custom-built for Robert. The SN3 is offered with 30mm, 34mm, or 35mm main tubes. This is the big boy, 35mm, with matching U.S. Optics anodized rings. The front objective is upsized from the standard 44mm to a whopping 58mm. This provides enhanced low-light and twilight performance. The reticle is U.S. Optics’ own Mil Scale, allowing Robert to range-find targets reliably to 1000 yards and beyond. This is very critical because Robert will be using the scope in a Police/Military competition where he must engage multiple targets at unknown distances–and no laser rangefinders are allowed.
The big knob on top is one of U.S. Optics’ signature features. This is the EREK elevation turret. It allows Robert to run through his entire range of 1/4-MOA clicks in just two turns. If that’s not handy enough, a one-turn EREK knob is also available, but with wider click values. Like most U.S. Optics scopes, this unit is ruggedized and highly weatherproof. It features an illuminated reticle, handy side-focus parallax adjustment, and beefy metal construction. How much does one of these 5-25 power SN3 T-PALs cost? Well if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it. Complete, with all the upgrades, the scope costs over $2800.00.
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October 16th, 2007
 When neck-turning cases, it’s a good idea to extend the cut slightly below the neck-shoulder junction. This helps keep neck tension more uniform after repeated firings, by preventing a build-up of brass where the neck meets the shoulder. One of our Forum members, Craig from Ireland, a self-declared “neck-turning novice”, was having some problems turning brass for his 20 Tactical cases. He was correctly attempting to continue the cut slightly past the neck-shoulder junction, but he was concerned that brass was being removed too far down the shoulder.
Craig writes: “Everywhere I have read about neck turning, [it says] you need to cut slightly into the neck/shoulder junction to stop doughnutting. I completely understand this but I cant seem to get my neck-turning tool set-up to just touch the neck/shoulder junction. It either just doesn’t touch [the shoulder] or cuts nearly the whole shoulder and that just looks very messy. No matter how I adjust the mandrel to set how far down the neck it cuts, it either doesn’t touch it or it cuts far too much. I think it may relate to the bevel on the cutter in my neck-turing tool…”
Looking at Craig’s pictures, we’d agree that he didn’t need to cut so far down into the shoulder. There is a simple solution for this situation. Craig is using a neck-turning tool with a rather shallow cutter bevel angle. This 20-degree angle is set up as “universal geometry” that will work with any shoulder angle. Unfortunately, as you work the cutter down the neck, a shallow angled-cutter tip such as this will remove brass fairly far down. You only want to extend the cut about 1/32 of an inch past the neck-shoulder junction. This is enough to eliminate brass build-up at the base of the neck that can cause doughnuts to form.
The answer here is simply to use a cutter tip with a wider angle — 30 to 40 degrees. The cutter for the K&M neck-turning tool (above) has a shorter bevel that better matches a 30° shoulder. There is also a 40° tip available. WalkerTexasRanger reports: “I went to a 40-degree cutter head just to address this same issue, and I have been much happier with the results. The 40-degree heads are available from Sinclair Int’l for $13 or so.” Forum Member CBonner concurs: “I had the same problem with my 7WSM… The 40-degree cutter was the answer.” Below is Sinclair’s 40° cutter for its NT1000 neck-turning tool. Item NT3140, it sells for $12.95. There is also a slightly more expensive 40° cutter for the NT3000 tool, item NT3340.
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October 15th, 2007
On October 13th, California Gov. Swarzenegger signed a bill requiring that all semi-automatic pistols sold in California have internal parts that “micro-stamp” shell casings with identifying codes. Under the terms of the new law, semi-auto pistols sold after 1/1/2010 would have to stamp shell casings in at least two places. Typically, this means the firing pin and the ejector will be embossed with characters that are transferred to the primer and case rim on firing.
The micro-stamping law is a very bad piece of legislation for a variety of reasons. Hopefully this misguided concept will not spread to other states. Key problems with the micro-stamping technology include:
1. The raised markers on the end of the firing pin and ejector can easily be removed or altered with a simple file, or even sandpaper.
 2. Independent tests show that current micro-stamping technology does NOT produce reliable results: “George G. Krivosta, of the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory in New York, did some research on the firearm microstamping technology offered by NanoTag [the sole approved micro-stamping system in California]. In his research, using tagged firing pins in a .22 Long Rifle rifle and a .45 ACP pistol, he found that very few firing pin strikes actually resulted in legible marks, as it was very common for the firing pin to bounce on impact and strike the case more than once, with successive strikes landing slightly off of the original position and obscuring the original strike impression. Out of the first 100 rounds fired using an 8-character alphanumeric code, 54 provided satisfactory markings, while the remaining 46 had at least one illegible character. Smaller print, encoding the make, model, and serial number for a total of 45 characters, resulted in far less clear markings which were difficult to decipher even under ideal circumstances.” Source: Wikipedia, summarizing AFTE Journal Article.
NOTE: This article contains numerous photos illustrating “failed” micro-stamp primer markings. The article also shows how the firing pin embossing wears out quickly. You should download the article and view for yourself.
3. Would-be law-breakers can collect spent brass from shooting ranges, and “throw down” micro-stamped brass at crime scenes, creating the possibility that innocent gun-owners will be implicated in crimes. Worse yet, the presence of micro-stamped brass belonging to someone else creates “reasonable doubt”, so the real criminal can’t be convicted.
4. The law does not apply to revolvers (so far at least). Word will quickly get out “on the street” on how to defeat the law by using revolvers or altered firing pins.
5. The law may make it difficult, if not impossible (from a practical standpoint), to replace broken or damaged firing pins, ejectors, and extractors. All such components will have to be strictly regulated.
Click the image below for a recent news report on the new California law. As one might expect, the news report did not disclose the technological shortcomings of the micro-stamping process, nor does the report explain how this could backfire, resulting in law-abiding citizens being arrested if their spent brass is found at crime scenes:
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October 15th, 2007
The Swarovski 8×30 Laser Guide was the top performer in our Laser RangeFinder Comparison Test. The typical “street price” for these units is a hefty $889.00. SWFA.com obtained a number of “demo model” Swaro Laser Guides. These are “like new” units with full factory warranty. Most are priced at just $749.95. There are still a few left, but they could sell out quickly. You’ll find them in SWFA’s “Sample List”, www.SampleList.com.
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October 14th, 2007
Late-breaking news: The stars aligned on Saturday at the Piedmont Range in Rutherfordton, North Carolina. With many of the best shooters in the 600-yard game on the firing line, multiple IBS 600-yard records were set. We still don’t have all the details, but we’re told that at least four IBS records were set, maybe more.
Mark Schronce (below), shooting a 6mm BRX with Berger 105gr VLDs, set a new Light Gun 5-shot group record of 0.749″. We believe this is the smallest group ever shot, in any class, with any gun, in registered 600-yard competition. Great job Mark.
Mark noted: “this is a great group of guys to shoot with, and most can ‘Clean your Clock’ in any given match. I have shot a lot of small four-shot clusters with one out this year. I finely got one to come together.” Larry Isenhour (who finished 4th for both LG and HG Score on Saturday) reports: “I was shooting beside Mark all day and when he shot that group it wasn’t the best of times to shoot. He shot fast and and we looked at each other and gave a ‘thumbs-up’ and neither of us knew what the target looked like.”
Terry Brady was on fire in Heavy Gun Class, ending up with a 1.5708″ Heavy Gun 20-shot group Aggregate. That is second only to Terry’s own 1.505″ Agg shot earlier this July, also at Piedmont. Both Aggs by Brady have been submitted to the IBS for certification. One way or the other, he’s going to have that record.
Sam Hall had an impressive 1.8053″ Agg. in Heavy Gun class and broke a couple of 2006 records in the process. Larry Isenhour reports: “Samuel Hall ended up being the Piedmont ‘Shooter of the Year’. He had almost twice as many points as Buster Long who finished second. Sam has had a great year of shooting and is very much in the mix for IBS Shooter of the Year. [Sam] has broken several records this year.”
Tommy Willliams and his crew at Piedmont Gun Club did a great job running the match. To indicate the quality of competition at this match, the top five Heavy Gun Aggs were all under 2.6 inches:
1) Terry Brady 1.570
2) Samuel Hall 1.805
3) Rodney Wagner 2.058
4) Jim Morgan 2.533
5) Paul Wagner (R) JR 2.585
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