If you’re hunting in California, you better start using lead-free ammo. Starting July 1, 2015, “certified” non-lead ammunition will be required when hunting on all California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) lands and for all Nelson bighorn sheep hunts anywhere in the state.
CDFW reminds hunters who plan to hunt bighorn sheep or at any CDFW wildlife area or ecological reserve to acquire nonlead ammunition. California’s bureaucrats also state: “Hunters are also encouraged to practice shooting nonlead ammunition to make sure firearms are sighted-in properly and shoot accurately with nonlead ammunition. Nonlead ammunition for some firearm calibers may be in short supply so hunters should plan accordingly.”
Why is lead-free ammo now required? Thank the California Legislature. In October 2013, Assembly Bill 711 was signed into law requiring the phase-out of lead ammunition for hunting anywhere in the state by July 1, 2019. This is the 2015 phase, which applies to CDFW lands and Bighorn sheep hunts. The restrictions will become tougher each year, with a complete ban going into effect in four years.
Photo shows Bryan Litz (on right) and tester Mitchell Fitzpatrick. Bryan said: “Only 2,445 rounds to go! We’re testing over 50 ammo types in five different twist barrels… science can be exhausting!”
Do you know the actual BC (Ballistic Coefficient) of your rimfire ammunition? Well Applied Ballisitics will soon have answers for you. Bryan Litz and his team of testers have been working on a Herculean project. They’ve been testing over fifty types of .22 LR ammo, using five different twist-rate barrels.
The NSSF has posted a video featuring Bryan Litz of Applied Ballistics. Bryan also serves as Chief Ballistician for Berger Bullets and ABM Ammo. In this short video, Bryan explains the importance of ballistics for precision shooting at long range. Bryan covers key elements — drop, wind drift, angle correction and more. And Bryan also explains the key difference between Accuracy and Precision.
Applied Ballistics has just released a fully upgraded version of its popular Tactical App for Android devices. Bryan Litz tells us: “AB Tactical has received a major overhaul (including a new Bullet Library with over 420 options). The upgrade will require that you uninstall the previous version that you have of the application and then install this new version. This is due to the complete re-write of the internal database handling.” NOTE: You need to record your gun-specific data before you install the new version. Details of the updated AB Tactical App are featured in the new 19-page USER Manual.
NOTE: This upgrade is for the Applied Ballistics Tactical Version only. There is no iPhone version of this App, and this is not the standard app that can be purchased from Google Play, or iTunes.
The new version of AB Tactical has a host of important enhancements:
Nightforce’s Sean Murphy is a member of the American F-Class Squad in Ireland for the Emerald Matches and Creedmoor Cup. This event (which kicked off with a 1100/1200-yard Long Range Match today) is being held at the Midlands National Shooting Centre in Tullamore, west of Dublin. Sean says conditions have been great so far: “[We] spent a great day practicing at the Midlands National Shooting Centre. Got rounds on target from 800 yards to 1200 yards. The weather was exceptionally nice, and quite the heatwave at 70 degrees! Thank you to James E Crofts for the .308 hammer that I’m using.”
Shooting over a peat bog… (Click to Zoom)
The 2015 Creedmoor Team Match takes place June 28th and 29th (Sunday and Monday). The USA and Ireland National Teams will compete for glory and bragging rights. The Course of Fire consists of two sighters and 15 shots for record at 800, 900 and 1000 yards each day.
The original Creedmoor Match pitted an American team vs. an Irish squad on the range at Creedmoor, New York. The match went down to the wire, with the Yanks earning a narrow victory (read more below). The next year, 1875, the Irish team challenged the American team for a repeat match, to be shot in Ireland. The contest took place at Dollymount Beach, near Dublin. According to newspaper accounts at the time, more than 40,000 people turned out to watch the 1875 match. Below are 2015 Irish and American Creedmoor competitors at Dollymount.
V-Bulls not X-Rings
In Ireland, targets have a V-Bull, instead of an X-Ring. Sean reports: “Here’s the target we are using. To put things in perspective, the center V-Bull is not much larger than a man’s fist!”
Blueball in Offaly?
The official address of the Midlands National Shooting Centre is “Derrymore, Blueball, Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland”. Hmm, Blueball sounds kind of painful. We’ll just call it the Tullamore Range. That has a much nicer ring to it…
The Original Creedmoor Cup in 1874 — How the Americans Won
American Team Captain Gen. George Wingate recounted how the host nation’s team won the very first Creedmoor Match: “Col. Bodine was the last to shoot. He had been selected with special reference to his steadiness under excitement and nobly did he justify the confidence that had been placed in him. The Irish score was 931, the American 930. If he struck his target his team would win by one point. If he missed the match was lost. The crowd had pressed inside the ropes, and formed a long V extending for several hundred yards on each side of the firing point and leaving scarcely room enough to make it safe to shoot. All held their breath and fastened their eyes on Col. Bodine. He had been kept in ignorance of the exact condition of the scores, but he knew perfectly well that everything depended upon his shot.
Calm and imperturbable, as if engaged in ordinary practice, with blood dripping from a handkerchief in which he had tied up a cut on his hand received from a broken ginger-ale bottle a few minutes before, Col. Bodine stretched his long form out into his familiar position and taking a long, steady aim fired. Every one of the thousand pairs of eyes present were shifted from the man to the target, a little point half a mile off. Breathless silence prevailed. Then came the spat of the bullet accompanied by a roar from the crowd, ‘He’s on,’ and then came slowly into sight a large white disc which showed that a bullseye had been made and the match had been won. The disc lingered apparently lovingly upon the center of the bullseye, the most charming and welcome sight I think I ever witnessed. America had won by three points!
When the result appeared pandemonium broke loose. The sky was darkened with the hats which were thrown into the air. Men danced and thumped each other on the back and whooped and yelled and acted like crazy people. I remember I found myself standing on a chair behind Bodine waving my hat (which, however, I had sense enough to hold on to) and leading the cheering. But to this day I have not the remotest idea of how I got there from the place where I had been standing behind him watching the wind flag[.]”
Nick Till in 2009 M1A Match. Nick was the 2007 Service Rifle Nat’l Champion. Photo courtesy NRA Blog.
The 2015 NRA National Rifle & Pistol Championships at Camp Perry, Ohio are just a couple weeks away. You can still register for one or more of the matches. Just click the orange “Register” button (below) to register online.
Many of the finest civilian and military marksmen in the United States will square off for weeks of rifle and handgun competition while vying for the NRA’s historic and prestigious trophies. From pistol, to smallbore rifle, high power rifle, and long-range high power rifle, the National Matches have something for just about everybody.
The MOA Long Range Handgun Match was held June 18-20, 2015 near Sundance, Wyoming. This three-day event features handgun shooting at 500, 750, and 1000 yards. Shooters start at 500 on the first day, and then move to 750 on Day 2, and 1000 on Day 3. Sierra Bullets Media Relations Manager Carroll Pilant joined the action this year (as he has every year since the event’s inception). Here is his report…
This year’s Solstice, considered the official start of summer, was celebrated around the world at 12:38 pm on June 21, 2015. We hope you have fun this summer with your friends and family. To help ensure those summer adventures remain safe and trouble-free, the CTD Shooters’ Log has prepared a helpful Essential Summer Survival Guide. This is worth reading before you venture away from civilization.
Here are some highlights of the article with links for MORE INFO:
First Aid Kits for Campers
You should never venture outside without a first aid kit close at hand. While exploring the outdoors, all types of accidents can occur—from cuts, scrapes, and burns to broken limbs and severe allergic reactions.
Basic Survival Skills
Basic survival skills are a necessity if you plan to spend any amount of time outdoors. These five tips, plus a how-to on what to pack in a lightweight, basic survival kit will help if you are ever stuck, lost, stranded or injured in the field.
How to Treat Burns
Fireworks, barbeques and campfires — in the summer we are frequently around fire, which increases our chance of getting burned. A first-degree burn is most likely home treatable, while a third degree burn requires immediate medical attention. Learn how to spot the differences between minor and severe burns.
Camp Perry is coming up very soon. If your shooting jacket has seen better days… consider getting a new Monard coat. Here’s a report from our friend Shawn McKenna, a talented High Power competitor. A few years back Shawn ordered a Monard custom-fitted shooting coat. He liked Monard coats so much he decided to sell them.
By Shawn McKenna, McKenna Shooting Sports
For years and years, like most High Power shooters, I used an “off the rack” shooting jacket and thought I was happy with it. There may have been one or two adjustments the supplier would accommodate during ordering, but by and large it was like wearing a suit that you bought without the benefit of having it tailored.
I’m always looking to improve my scores, and in 2008 I set out to find a better shooting jacket. I happened across Monard during a web search and was surprised to learn that they took an astounding 19 different measurements during the fitting process. I thought, “This has to be much better than an off the rack coat.”
Left-Hand version of Savage Arms Law Enforcement 10 FCP SR Rifle
Savage likes lefties. In fact, Savage Arms now makes left-handed versions of 18 of its most popular rifles. On the Ammoland.com website, Savage Arms Marketing Director Bill Dermody talks about Savage’s commitment to left-handed shooters. Dermody says: “Whether it’s a bigger gun, faster gun or one that fulfills a specific customer need, we strive be the leader in specialty guns”. Here are highlights from the interview:
Why Southpaws Should Shoot Left-Handed Guns
Dermody: Research reports more than 10 percent of Americans are left-handed. For lefties, having a left-handed bolt gun is extremely important because it allows a fast follow-up shot. A shooter’s support hand never has to leave the forend, or their cheek leave the stock, while their trigger hand operates the bolt. Also, having the action open on the left side makes for easier loading with your left hand, and hot spent cases never fly across your face.
Savage’s Left-Handed Product Line
Dermody: [We offer] 18 left-handed rifle models. We have left-handed options available throughout our product line including big game, law enforcement, target competition and predator hunting. We also offer left-handed slug shotguns and bolt-action and semi-auto rimfire rifles. To quickly see all our left-handed options, open the Gun Finder tool on our website (savagearms.com) and select “left” in the search function.
The 2015 Creedmoor Team Match takes place June 28th and 29th (Sunday and Monday). The USA and Ireland National Teams will compete for glory and bragging rights. The Course of Fire consists of two sighters and 15 shots for record at 800, 900 and 1000 yards each day. 
Camp Perry is coming up very soon. If your shooting jacket has seen better days… consider getting a new Monard coat. Here’s a report from our friend Shawn McKenna, a talented High Power competitor. A few years back Shawn ordered a Monard custom-fitted shooting coat. He liked Monard coats so much he decided to sell them.
