Today is May 5, aka “Cinco De Mayo”. This day is celebrated as a notable day in Mexican history when Mexican forces scored a major victory over French military forces. To help celebrate Cinco De Mayo in 2026, Midsouth Shooters is running a major sale on Aguila ammunition components, many of which were manufactured in Mexico.
The sale includes rimfire ammo, centerfire rifle and pistol ammo, shotgun ammunition and primers. Here are some of the dozens of Aguila items on sale this week:
Rifle ammo on sale includes: .22 LR, .223 Rem, 6.5 Creedmoor, .30 Carbine, 7.62×51 (.308 Win)
Pistol ammo on sale includes: .22 LR, .32 Auto, .32 S&W, 9mm Luger, .38 Super, .38 SPL, .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, .45 ACP, .45 Colt
Cinco De Mayo History Cinco de Mayo, observed on May 5th, commemorates the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla. Led by General Ignacio Zaragoza, outnumbered Mexican troops defeated a superior European army, providing a major morale boost. The History of War notes: “On this day in 1862, a small force of locals – many of whom were ill-equipped and not trained soldiers – fought back against thousands of French troops at Puebla, a small town in central Mexico. The battle lasted all day and resulted in a victory for the Mexicans after the French army retreated.”
While not a federal holiday in Mexico, Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a widespread celebration of Mexican culture, heritage, and identity. Often mistaken for Mexican Independence Day (September 16), Cinco de Mayo (as a day of celebration) gained prominence in the U.S. during the 1960s and 70s.
Dennis DeMille shows a young competitor at the CMP Western Games how to adjust his leather sling.
If you want to learn more about setting up your sling properly for position shooting, here are some tips from Dennis DeMille, a past Service Rifle Champion who worked for Creedmoor Sports for many years. Dennis explains how to choose a sling, and how to adjust it to fit properly.
The Benefits of Dry-Fire Training
Once you know how to set up your sling properly, you’ll want to practice. Dennis DeMille stresses the importance of dry-fire practice with sling and shooting coat. Dry-Fire training is essential to the sling disciplines. Dennis DeMille, a national Service Rifle Champion, told us that, for every minute he spent in actual competition, he would spend hours practicing without ammunition. While in the USMC, Dennis would practice in the barracks, working on his hold and dry-firing:
“The most important thing is to spend time off the range practicing. Most of what I learned as a High Power shooter I learned without ammunition — just spending time dry firing and doing holding exercises. Holding exercises will really identify the weak parts of your position. The primary purpose of dry firing is to get you used to shooting an empty rifle. If you can shoot a loaded rifle the same way you shoot an empty rifle then eventually you will become a High Master.”
Here is Brandon Green, 3-Time Nat’l High Power Champion, when he was with the USAMU. Brandon, one of the nation’s best “hard-holders”, demonstrates proper use of sling in prone position.
Setting-Up a Leather Service Rifle Sling for Competition
So you made the mistake of disassembling your leather service rifle sling, or are intimidated about how to use one? In this Creedmoor Sports InfoZone video, former Creedmoor G.M. Dennis DeMille explains how to set up and use a sling. The covers the basics — Dennis starts with a totally disassembled leather service rifle sling and shows you how to set it up properly.
Tip: “Many shooters shy away from using a leather sling because they have never been taught how to use one. That’s unfortunate. In my opinion a leather sling offers more support than a web sling, which is important when competing with the heavier than normal rifles.”
Configuring the Sling for the Standing (Offhand) Position
In this second in a series of Creedmoor InfoZone videos on the setup and use of the leather service rifle sling, Dennis DeMille details how to configure and best utilize the leather service rifle sling while shooting from the standing position.
Tip: “Putting the Frogs in different hole will change the amount of added elevation a sling provides.”
Looking at Sling Types — Comparing the Features
In this video Dennis showcases a large variety of shooting slings. He explains the strong points of each type so you can choose the sling best suited to your discipline and shooting style.
Want to improve your understanding of Ballistics, Bullet Design, Bullet Pointing, and other shooting-related tech topics? Well here’s a treasure trove of gun expertise. Applied Ballistics offers dozens of FREE tech articles on its website. Curious about Coriolis? — You’ll find answers. Want to understand the difference between G1 and G7 BC? — There’s an article about that.
“Doc” Beech, technical support specialist at Applied Ballistics says these articles can help shooters working with ballistics programs: “One of the biggest issues I have seen is the misunderstanding… about a bullet’s ballistic coefficient (BC) and what it really means. Several papers on ballistic coefficient are available for shooters to review on the website.”
Credit Shooting Sports USA Editor John Parker for finding this great resource. John writes: “Our friends at Applied Ballistics have a real gold mine of articles on the science of accurate shooting on their website. This is a fantastic source for precision shooting information[.] Topics presented are wide-ranging — from ballistic coefficients to bullet analysis.”
Here are five (5) of our favorite Applied Ballistics articles, available for FREE to read online. There are dozens more, all available on the Applied Ballistics Education Webpage. After Clicking link, select Plus (+) Symbol for “White Papers”, then find the article(s) you want in the list. For each selection, then click “Download” in the right column. This will send a PDF version to your device.
by Sierra Bullets Ballistic Technician Philip Mahin for Sierra Bullets Blog
A lot of calls that come into the Sierra Customer Service Center are made by shooters [of retirement age]. Most of the time the shooter used to reload back when they were [younger] and stopped in order to raise a family, pursue a career, or both. Maybe their father or grandfather taught them back in the day and they are looking for an answer to the new whatchamacallit they found on the internet. The point is they are coming back to it because it was fun.
Reloading Can Provide Stress Relief
As a father of three, a husband, a brother, a son and son-in-law, and a friend and neighbor, I get pulled in a lot of directions. In all honesty, reloading and shooting has become a stress relief for me even though I work in the shooting industry.
Sometimes, the shooting gets put on hold for other more important things but there will always be another project or repair to accomplish. There are a lot out there that have found a way to balance the work life, the family life, and the play life. I would like to applaud you on your efforts because it is a hard thing to accomplish.
Remember to take time and relieve that stress. Do something fun, especially if it is shooting that special hand-load you just made.
AccurateShooter Comment — Hand-Loading and the Creative Process
Reloading your own precise ammo can be rewarding in many ways. First it allows you a temporary escape from work pressures, “Honey-Dos”, filing your taxes — whatever. It’s just you and Mr. Rockchucker spending quality time in the loading room. Second, hand-loading is a creative process that engages the mind. During load development, you are like an inventor, selecting a powder charge, choosing the bushing size, experimenting with seating depths, working to perfect your load.
Lastly, the process of hand-loading is rewarding because you are building something start to finish. You begin with components — bullets, brass, and powder, and end up with a finished product that (hopefully) is better than the best factory ammo you could buy. It is enormously satisfying to start with piles of bullets and brass and end up with beautiful hand-loads that can deliver great accuracy.
Cinco de Mayo, observed on May 5th, commemorates the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla. Led by General Ignacio Zaragoza, outnumbered Mexican troops defeated a superior European army, providing a major morale boost. The History of War notes: “On this day in 1862, a small force of locals – many of whom were ill-equipped and not trained soldiers – fought back against thousands of French troops at Puebla, a small town in central Mexico. The battle lasted all day and resulted in a victory for the Mexicans after the French army retreated.”
The Benefits of Dry-Fire Training
