On August 2, 2013, the new NRA National Sporting Arms Museum will open its doors at the Bass Pro Shops flagship store in Springfield, Missouri. The new 7500-square-foot Sporting Arms Museum will have over 1000 guns on display, including some of the most historically significant firearms from the NRA Museum Collection. The value of the collection is over $20,000,000!
Exhibits include original prototypes and paintings from the Remington Arms Company, shotguns from the American Trapshooting Association’s Hall of Fame, and the full collection of guns from the Pachmayr Foundation. There are many special displays, including a diorama showing replicas of firearms used on the Lewis & Clark expedition.
“Visitors to the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum are in for a treat. They’ll see firearms that figure significantly in the history of our country and trace the evolution of hunting and conservation,” said Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris. “This museum houses a fantastic collection, from the firearms of Theodore Roosevelt and John Wayne to historic U.S. military pistols and engraved Colt revolvers of the Old West. It has something for every firearms enthusiast.”
“We are thrilled to bring such a wonderful collection of firearms to Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World,” said NRA museum director Jim Supica. “Featuring treasured guns from the NRA collection along with special exhibits from Remington and others, this museum promises to showcase a sporting arms collection the world has never seen.”
Museum Admission is Free
To see this one-of-a-kind collection, come to the grand opening of the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, Missouri on August 2, 2013.
The museum, located at 1935 S. Campbell in Springfield, Missouri, will be open every day from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. with extended hours during Bass Pro’s Fall Hunting Classic. Admission is FREE and parking is free as well. To see a preview of the National Sporting Arms Museum, with many photos of the soon-to-be-opened exhibits, go to www.basspro.com/nramuseum.
The updated Second Edition of the Cartridge Comparison Guide is now available. The Cartridge Comparision Guide is the product of many years of labor by Andrew Chamberlain, a Utah-based hunter. Andrew says his Guide “compares every factory available cartridge from the 17 calibers up to the 50 caliber cartridges”. (Sorry, most wildcat cartridges are not covered.) Chamberlain’s Guide also compiles cartridge data from major ammunition manufacturers such as Barnes, Federal, Hornady, Norma, Nosler, Remington, Sierra, Swift, Weatherby, and Winchester. It shows the optimal velocity achieved for each bullet weight and calculates bullet energy, recoil, and powder efficiency.
The Cartridge Comparison Guide provides data for thousands of cartridge/bullet/velocity combos. Charts provide cartridge ballistics including downrange energy. The Second Edition adds 90 more pages devoted to ballistics. The Cartridge Comparison Guide offers a firearms lexicon, plus Appendices covering Cartridge Selection for Game Animals, Bullet Selection/Design, Bullet Expansion, Wound Channel Characteristics and more. In the Second Edition, there is expanded coverage of factory-loaded hunting ammo. The book now provides “100% coverage of all handgun and rifle cartridges produced in the USA by at least two minor factory load sources or one major factory load source.”
New Content in Second Edition of Cartridge Comparison Guide
The Cartridge Comparison Guide (2nd Edition) costs $32.95 plus shipping and tax. This is more pricey than the $24.99 First Edition (which is still for sale), but the latest Cartridge Comparison guide offers considerably more content. Here’s what’s new in the Second Edition:
Addition of Shotgun Ammunition (Both Slug and Shot loads).
Momentum Calculation for all Rifle, Shotgun and Handgun loads.
Integration of Shotgun Slug Ammunition with Center Fire Rifle Data Tables.
Factory Load Summary Added (Shows manufacturers and loads produced).
One factory load and one hand load for every bullet weight available in each cartridge.
Over 90 pages of additional ballistics content (roughly 35% more than in First Edition).
Award-Winning Content
The Cartridge Comparison Guide has been awarded the POMA Pinnacle Award for Excellence. (POMA, the Professional Outdoor Media Association, is the trade association for outdoor writers).
Great Resource for Hunters
The Cartridge Comparison Guide’s author wanted to help hunters select the “right cartridge for the job.” Chamberlain states: “This started as a personal project to gather information on the more popular cartridges commonly used for hunting. I began comparing cartridge performance, versatility, bullet selection, powder efficiency, recoil generation vs. energy produced, standing ballistic data for different environments, etc.” Chamberlain adds: “I wanted to find the best all-around performing cartridge and rifle that a guy on a budget could shoot.”
Giant Cartridge Poster for Computer Wallpaper (1665×1080 pixels)
Here’s a great illustration of hundreds of cartridges and shotshell types. For dedicated reloaders, this would work great as desktop “wallpaper” for your computer. CLICK HERE for full-size image.
ISSC will soon be shipping its new SPA 22/17 series of rimfire rifles. These rifles all feature a fast, biathlon-style, Straight-Pull Action (SPA). This allows for rapid cycling without having to lift your head off the stock. Watch the video below and you can see how you can easily work the toggle action with thumb and two fingers. ISSC offers the SPA 22/17 in three popular rimfire chamberings: .22 LR, .22 WMR, and 17 HMR. We think the 17 HMR version of this little rifle would be a great “carry-around” varmint rig. And the “Target” model, as chambered in .22 LR, seems ideal for the popular “Rimfire Tactical” game.
The Austrian-made SPA 22/17 is offered in three (3) different stock versions: Wood stock (with raised comb), Polymer sporter stock (with Snabel-style fore-end), and a “Target” model (with a folding, Accuracy International-style thumbhole stock). All variants come with 10-round magazines. The rifles are currently offered in three popular rimfire chamberings: .22 LR, .22 WMR, and .17 HMR. The ISSC SPA 22/17 series of rifles is distributed in the USA through Legacy Sports International.
We’re told that the first shipments of ISSC Spa 22/17 rifles should be arriving by mid-May, with larger shipments scheduled for June, 2013. We expect these rifles to be pretty popular, so you may want to get in line. Here’s a video from Legacy Sports showing how the straight-pull actions work:
ISSC is located in Ried, Austria. The company’s design and engineering work is accomplished at the company’s ESC subsidiary, located in Ulm, Germany.
The NRA has launched a new website designed for female shooters. The new NRA Woman’s Outlook site covers firearms training, hunting, self-defense, shooting gear and much more. It includes photo and video galleries, and it even has a section for wild game recipes. According to the NRA, the site offers an “online presence for … today’s NRA woman as she exercises her Second Amendment rights in pursuit and enjoyment of the American firearms lifestyle.”
The primary sponsor of the new website is Barnes Bullets. “I must extend thanks to Coni Brooks of Barnes Bullets, our site’s first sponsor ” said Ann Smith, Editor-in-Chief of NRA E-Media. “The women in the Brooks family are examples of true pioneers in our industry, who can tell their family’s story about how they used to make bullets in the basement of their small home. Now they are known as one of the most successful and respected bullet companies in the country.”
Hunters and tactical shooters need scopes with good low-light performance. For a scope to perform well at dawn and dusk, it needs good light transmission, plus a reasonably large exit pupil to make maximum use of your eye’s light processing abilty.* And generally speaking, the bigger the front objective, the better the low-light performance, other factors being equal. Given these basic principles, how can we quickly evaluate the low-light performance of different makes and models of scopes?
Here’s the answer: ScopeCalc.com offers a FREE web-based Low-Light Performance Calculator that lets you compare the light gain, perceived brightness, and overall low-light performance of various optics. Using this scope comparison tool is pretty easy — just input the magnification, objective diameter, exit pupil size, and light transmission ratio. If the scope’s manufacturer doesn’t publish an exit pupil size, then divide the objective diameter in millimeters by the magnification level. For example a 20-power scope with a 40mm objective should have a 2mm exit pupil. For most premium scopes, light transmission rates are typically 90% or better (averaged across the visible spectrum). However, not many manufacturers publish this data, so you may have to dig a little.
ScopeCalc.com’s calculator can be used for a single scope, a pair of scopes, or multiple scopes. Once you’ve typed in the needed data, click “Calculate” and the program will produce comparison charts showing Light Gain, Perceived Brightness, and Low-Light Performance. In the example below, we compared a “generic” 5-18×50 Tactical scope with a “generic” 8-32 Benchrest scope.
Though the program is easy to use, and quickly generates comparative data, assessing scope brightness, as perceived by the human eye, is not a simple matter. You’ll want to read the annotations that appear below the generated charts. For example, ScopeCalc’s creators explain that: “Perceived brightness is calculated as the cube root of the light gain, which is the basis for modern computer color space brightness scaling.” In addition, the way ScopeCalc measures Low-Light Performance is pretty sophisticated: “Low Light Performance [is calculated] as the average of light gain and resolution gain through magnification, as a measure of target image acuity gain in low light similar to Twilight Performance specified by scope manufacturers. Low Light Performance calculated here is much more useful than Twilight Performance, as Twilight performance is the average of the just the objective lens diameter times magnification, while Low Light Performance is the average of the actual Perceived Brightness times magnification, which also includes the exit pupil/eye pupil relation, light transmission, approximated diffraction, as well as the perception of relative light gain. Just as with Twilight Performance, this Low Light Performance calculation does not yet include lens resolution and contrast as factors. Therefore lower quality optics will yield relatively less gains at higher magnifications.” Got that?
*In low light, the human eye can typically dilate to 5mm – 7mm. The exact amount of dilation varies with the individual, and typically declines, with increasing age, from 7mm (at age 20) to a dark-adapted pupil of about 5.5mm by age 65. To take full advantage of a scope’s light-gathering capacity, the diameter of an eyepiece exit pupil should be no larger than the max diameter of your eye’s dark-adapted pupil, so that all of the light collected by the scope enters your eye, rather than falling on the iris. A large 8mm exit pupil may seem good, but it would be partly “wasted” on a shooter in his 60s.
Earlier this month we ran a story on the new Sauer 101 rifle. It turns out the Sauer 101 will be distributed in the U.S. by Blaser USA. Here’s more good news for hunters — we’ve learned that Blaser will be bringing another new German hunting rifle to the USA — the Mauser M 12. You’ll find specs and photos of the M 12 below. This is a rifle with a great heritage, superb build quality, plus some innovative features.
Both the Mauser M 12 and Sauer 101 rifles should be available at retailers in late April. To learn more, visit these websites: www.Mauser-m12.com and www.Sauer-101.com. For additional information on the Blaser line of products visit www.Blaser-USA.com.
Mauser M 12 Specifications
Bolt Features: 6-lug bolt, 60° bolt lift, bolt lugs engage directly in barrel, side bolt release, bolt can be disassembled without tools.
Extraction: Dual, spring loaded-ejectors for positive extraction.
When you buy a new Winchester firearm at retail between April 15 and April 30, 2013, you can receive a rebate of up to 8% of the purchase price to reimburse you for the state sales tax. That’s just like putting the sales tax right back in your pocket. See your Winchester dealer for more info. Starting April 15, 2013, you can download Rebate Forms at Winchesterguns.com. This offer is valid only on the consumer retail purchase of a new Winchester firearm purchased between April 15, 2013 and April 30, 2013.
Here’s an example: If you spend $1,000 on a new Winchester rifle or shotgun, and you pay an 8% sales tax, you’ll get an $80 reimbursement from Winchester Repeating Arms. To qualify for your sales tax reimbursement (up to a maximum refund of 8% of the purchase price as determined by the sales tax paid at time of purchase as documented by your dated sales receipt). If you live in a state with no sales tax you should submit your coupon (with valid purchase information) for special consideration.
Here’s the Fine Print: The Sales Tax Rebate Coupon must be filled out completely and returned to Winchester Repeating Arms with the supporting documents as listed, postmarked no later than midnight May 15, 2013.
Winchester Repeating Arms employees, Winchester Repeating Arms sales representatives, authorized Winchester Repeating Arms dealers and their sales staff, and members of their immediate families are not eligible for this promotion. Limited to one offer per person. Offer valid in the United States only. All purchasers must be citizens or legal residents of the United States.
J.P. Sauer & Sohn has released an all-new hunting rifle, the Sauer 101. This new rifle features a six-lug bolt that locks directly into the barrel, along with a new, sophisticated safety system that positively blocks the firing pin. The Sauer 101 also has a patented “Ever-Rest” bedding system featuring a metal block surrounding the front action screw. The Sauer 101 comes with either a black synthetic stock (“Classic XT”), or a quality walnut stock (“Classic”). MSRP has not been revealed, but the Sauer 101 is designed to fall in the “mid-class price range”, making it much more affordable than the Sauer 202. CLICK HERE to visit Sauer 101 dedicated website.
Sauer 101 Features
Smooth-running bolt with 60° lift
6-lug bolt locks directly into the barrel
Dual ejectors provide reliable 90° extraction
Safety system directly blocks firing pin
Crisp 2-lb trigger pull
22″ barrel for standard calibers
24″ barrel for Magnums
Adjustable open sights optional
Sauer 101 Technical Features Video (with Amazing Computer-Generated 3D Animations)
Sauer has provided some fantastic 3D-style cutaway animations that show the features of the new rifle. You can see 3D “exploded” renderings of all the gun’s components. As well, the animation shows the function of the safety system, the six-lug bolt, and the dual-ejector system. Watch this video!
Barrel Attachment Technology
Sauer boasts that the barrel is heat-pressed into the receiver, with the bolt locking up directly into the barrel. That may sound good, but in reality, this engineering solution makes it extremely difficult to fit a new after-market barrel to the gun. We talked with two highly-respected custom gunsmiths. Both agreed that it would be “very difficult to find a smith who would tackle the task of re-barreling this gun (starting with a barrel blank).” One smith observed that “machining the lug recesses directly into the barrel is not a procedure that 95% of gunsmiths are capable of doing.” So, when your Sauer 101 barrel wears out (or if you want to change calibers), presumably you have to send the gun back to the factory.
Chamberings Offered
Standard calibers: 22-250 Rem. .243 Win, 6.5×55, .270 Win, 7×64, .308 Win, .30-06, 8x57IS, 9.3×62
Magnum calibers: 7mm Rem Mag, 300 Win Mag, .338 Win Mag
Sauer 101 Intro Video (1 Minute)
Sauer 101 Pros:
1. The safety system looks very robust and sophisticated. The Sauer 101 features an integral firing pin block that allows firing only after the bolt has been fully locked into battery. That’s smart engineering.
2. Crisp, two-pound trigger pull is very nice for a factory rifle. Sauer claims trigger has “zero creep”.
3. Sauer 101 Accepts Remington 700 long action scope base mounts.
4. Stock is ambidextrous — good for both righties and lefties.
Sauer 101 Cons:
1. The pressed-in “Heat-Lock” barrel attachment system is not “gunsmith friendly”. And, because the lug recesses are inside the barrel, it will be difficult to fit after-market barrels. The machining required is much different than simply drilling a chamber as is done with “pre-fit” threaded barrels.
2. The sling swivel stud is positioned on the front of the Schnabel fore-end. To fit a Harris bipod, the owner will have to add a stud further back, or make an adapter for the forward-facing swivel stud.
3. No factory muzzle brake option.
4. No factory rail option for mounting scope rings.
5. No provision for adjusting length of pull (fixed at 14.4 inches).
Nikon has introduced an all-new line-up of affordable riflescopes for hunters and varmint shooters. The new Nikon ProStaff 5 Series of scopes feature four times zoom range and a bright new optical system. With their fully multi-coated lenses, ProStaff 5 riflescopes provide up to 95% light transmission. That’s great for hunters working at dawn and dusk. (Some ProStaff 5s also have illuminated reticles). All ProStaff 5 scope models are waterproof, fogproof, and shockproof.
The ProStaff 5 line-up of scopes ranges from 2.5-10X to 4.5-18X with a variety of reticle options including NikoPlex, BDC, Fine Crosshair with dot, and Mil-Dot. Some ProStaff 5 scopes have an illuminated reticle with five intensity levels of red or green. A rheostat dimmer is located on the side focus knob for easy adjustment. All ProStaff 5 scopes now offer spring-loaded, instant zero-reset turrets. This makes your return-to-zero fast and foolproof in the field. (To set your zero, just sight-in as usual, then lift the spring-loaded adjustment knob, rotate to “zero,” and re-engage.)
ProStaff 5 series scopes were designed with a constant (and generous) four inches of eye relief. If you’ve ever had to move your head back and forth as you changed magnification levels, you know that constant eye relief is a big deal with very real practical benefits in the field. The new ProStaff 5 scopes also feature a quick-focus eyepiece, to allow any shooter to easily bring the reticle into focus.
Nikon ProStaff 5 Scopes
Part # Model Reticle MSRP
6735 2.5-10×40 Nikoplex $269.95
6736 2.5-10×40 BDC $279.95
6737 2.5-10×40 (silver) BDC $289.95
6738 2.5-10×50 Nikoplex $369.95
6739 2.5-10×50 BDC $379.95
6740 3.5-14×40 SF Nikoplex $349.95
6741 3.5-14×40 SF BDC $359.95
6742 3.5-14×40 SF (silver) BDC $369.95
6743 3.5-14×40 SF Mildot $359.95
6744 3.5-14×50 SF Nikoplex $449.95
Part # Model Reticle MSRP
6745 3.5-14×50 SF BDC $459.95
6750 3.5-14×50 SF Illuminated Nikoplex $569.95
6751 3.5-14×50 SF Illuminated BDC $579.95
6746 4.5-18×40 SF Nikoplex $449.95
6747 4.5-18×40 SF BDC $459.95
6748 4.5-18×40 SF Mildot $459.95
6749 4.5-18×40 SF Fine Crosshair with Dot $459.95
6752 4.5-18×40 SF Illuminated BDC $579.95
6753 4.5-18×40 SF Illuminated Nikoplex $569.95
Mirage shields really do help you hit your targets more reliably. Novice shooters may wonder “Why does that guy have a venetian blind attached to his barrel?” Here’s why. As the barrel gets hot, the heat from the barrel rises up, cooking and distorting the air directly in front of the scope’s front lens. In essense, the rifle creates its own nasty visual mirage, right in the worst possible place. You can have a $4000.00 custom rifle and a $2500.00 scope but if the air in front of your scope is distorted, it can literally move your apparent point of aim on the target relative to your cross-hairs, causing you to miss the shot.
As our friend Boyd Allen observed: “Varminters should use mirage shields. Think about it. You’ve invested thousands of dollars in a fancy varmint rifle and quality scope. You may have spent hundreds of dollars traveling to the varmint fields and spent dozens of hours loading up your ammo. Without a mirage shield on your barrel, once that barrel gets hot, you WILL get mirage effects that can make you miss a shot.”
So, we’ve established you need a mirage shield to shoot your best when the barrel gets hot. You can make your own shield from a scrap blind, or purchase a ready-made plastic or aluminum shield. Sinclair Int’l offers 2″-wide, white mirage shields in 18″ (#06-7200) or 24″ (#06-7300) lengths for $4.95. Shotmaster 10X offers a variety of Patterned Mirage Shields, starting at $6.00. These include a Patriotic theme and even Tiger Stripes:
Camo Mirage Shields for Tactical Shooters and Hunters
Though tactical shooters should use mirage shields for long-distance, slow-fire stages, for the most part, tactical shooters don’t bother. One reason is that mirage shields CAN detach if you’re crawling around in the bush. However, for many tactical shooting situations, a mirage shield IS both practical and recommended. And now, for the first time, tactical shooters can get mirage shields in camo patterns to match their rifles. These camo shields should also be popular with varminters and long-range hunters.
At the request of AccurateShooter.com, Shotmaster 10X created a line of camo-pattern mirage shields (see above). Made of 2″-wide aluminum strips, these are available in 18″, 20″, and 24″ lengths. The camo-pattern shields come complete with Velcro attachments, and start at $8.50 for the 18″ length. The 20″ models are $9.50, while 24″ shields are $11.00.
On August 2, 2013, the new NRA National Sporting Arms Museum will open its doors at the Bass Pro Shops flagship store in Springfield, Missouri. The new 7500-square-foot Sporting Arms Museum will have over 1000 guns on display, including some of the most historically significant firearms from the NRA Museum Collection. The value of the collection is over $20,000,000!
The updated Second Edition of the 
Great Resource for Hunters
ISSC will soon be shipping its new 
Hunters and tactical shooters need scopes with good low-light performance. For a scope to perform well at dawn and dusk, it needs good light transmission, plus a reasonably large exit pupil to make maximum use of your eye’s light processing abilty.* And generally speaking, the bigger the front objective, the better the low-light performance, other factors being equal. Given these basic principles, how can we quickly evaluate the low-light performance of different makes and models of scopes?
*In low light, the human eye can typically dilate to 5mm – 7mm. The exact amount of dilation varies with the individual, and typically declines, with increasing age, from 7mm (at age 20) to a dark-adapted pupil of about 5.5mm by age 65. To take full advantage of a scope’s light-gathering capacity, the diameter of an eyepiece exit pupil should be no larger than the max diameter of your eye’s dark-adapted pupil, so that all of the light collected by the scope enters your eye, rather than falling on the iris. A large 8mm exit pupil may seem good, but it would be partly “wasted” on a shooter in his 60s.
Earlier this month we ran a story on the new 
When you buy a new Winchester firearm at retail between April 15 and April 30, 2013, you can receive a rebate of up to 8% of the purchase price to reimburse you for the state sales tax. That’s just like putting the sales tax right back in your pocket. See your Winchester dealer for more info. Starting April 15, 2013, you can download Rebate Forms at 
Mirage shields really do help you hit your targets more reliably. Novice shooters may wonder “Why does that guy have a venetian blind attached to his barrel?” Here’s why. As the barrel gets hot, the heat from the barrel rises up, cooking and distorting the air directly in front of the scope’s front lens. In essense, the rifle creates its own nasty visual mirage, right in the worst possible place. You can have a $4000.00 custom rifle and a $2500.00 scope but if the air in front of your scope is distorted, it can literally move your apparent point of aim on the target relative to your cross-hairs, causing you to miss the shot.
