Sebastian (“Seb”) Lambang has been working overtime at his SEB COAX production facility in Indonesia. That’s good news for benchrest and F-Class shooters. Seb is finishing up a large shipment of coaxial front rests for customers around the globe. Dozens of new NEOs (is that an oxymoron?) have been completed and are ready to be sent to customers. Seb tells us: “We are progressing. Here are some NEOs ready to be packed and shipped”.
Click image to see full-screen photo:
CNC Machines Speed Production
After acquiring new CNC machines, Seb has been able to increase production in response to high demand: “Though they are only 3-Axis, my new CNC equipment sure helps to make the components.” However, even with the new CNC units, Seb says: “I think I will need more space, employees, and more equipment in the near future.” Whatever it takes Seb, keep those NEOs coming.
Today is the 179th birthday of the revolver, as invented by Samuel Colt of Hartford, Connecticut. On February 25, 1836, Samuel Colt was granted a United States patent for an “Improvement in Fire-Arms”, specifically the “Revolving Gun”. The rest is history. Colt’s original patent drawings, along with the text of his application, are available online.
A reader recently asked: “Where can I get an RCBS ChargeMaster Combo at the lowest price?” We’ll we scanned the web, checking a dozen vendors. Most vendors are well over three hundred, into the $320-$340 range. Right now the best deal we found was at Natchez Shooters Supply, which sells the ChargeMaster scale/dispenser combo for just $289.99 (item RC98923).
Handy Scale Pan Funnel from RCBS
If you purchase a ChargeMaster, we recommend you add an inexpensive accessory — the handy RCBS Scale Pan with integrated Funnel (RCBS item 9090). This unique combo product allows you to transfer the powder charge directly to your cases. Now you don’t have to pick up a separate funnel, put that on the case, and then take the powder pan off the machine and pour powder in the funnel. The RCBS Scale Pan Funnel can save time. And, you avoid the possibility of a spill (or tip-over) when you pour from a normal scale pan into a separate funnel. The hood on the Scale Pan Funnel also helps to keep kernels from bouncing out of the pan when dispensing.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is seeking to ban commonly-used 5.56 M855 “green tip” ball ammunition as “armor piercing ammunition” and is seeking public comment on the proposal. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) urges target shooters and gun owners to contact ATF to oppose this proposed ban.
For decades, under the “sporting purposes” doctrine, commonly-available “green tip” M855 and SS109 rifle ammunition has been exempt from federal law banning armor-piercing ammunition. There is no question that this 5.56 ball ammo has been widely used by law-abiding American citizens for sporting purposes.
Winchester-brand 5.56X45 62gr NATO M855 FMJ Ammunition
The NSSF has an online form that makes it easy to voice your opinion on the proposed ban on 5.56 ball ammo. This form will direct your comments to Congress and/or the ATF. Click the button at right to navigate to the NSSF online form.
Commentary by Jim Shepherd, The Shooting Wire
Should the ATF reclassify surplus (and widely used) M855 and SS109 ammunition as armor-piercing, it would then be illegal for consumer consumption. This weekend, we received word that apparently many gun owners didn’t find this to be a compelling reason to record their objections with the federal government. With only a few days remaining in the ATF’s solicitation of comments, fewer than 6,000 shooters have registered their displeasure with the proposal.That, as one of my least-favorite instructors used to say, is simply unacceptable.”
Here’s your chance to own the guns of an American legend, Elmer Merrifield Keith, one of the best-known gun writers of the 20th Century. Keith’s firearms, including his much-modified Colt SAA “Number 5″, will be auctioned March 15-16 through James D. Julia Auctioneers. “The importance of the Elmer Keith Estate Collection cannot be overstated,” the auction house announced. “This truly represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a piece of firearms history.”
Born in Missouri, Elmer Keith was raised in Montana, Idaho, and eastern Oregon. He had a ranch on the North Fork of the Salmon River (in Idaho), and was active as a hunting guide. His first article appeared in the American Rifleman in 1924. Over his career he wrote ten books, beginning with Sixgun Cartridges and Loads (1936) and ending with his autobiography Hell I Was There! in 1979. During his long writing career, Keith’s stories appeared in The Outdoorsman, American Rifleman, Western Sportsman, Gun, and Guns & Ammo. Called the “voice of big bore six-gunning”, Keith pioneered handgun hunting and he was instrumental in the development of the first magnum revolver cartridge, the .357 Magnum, as well as the later .44 Magnum and .41 Magnum cartridges.
A Very Unique Colt — the “Number Five”
If you know much about Colts, you’ll immediately recognize that the “Number Five” in the photo above is no ordinary Single Action Army (SAA). This famous revolver started as a Colt SAA in .44 Special, but then was heavily modified. The top strap of the frame was welded up into a flat-top target configuration, with an adjustable rear sight added. The front sight was changed on the 5 ½” barrel to a hi-visibility Patridge style. The hammer was modified with a Bisley-type target spur, and the trigger was curved and moved closer to the back of the trigger guard. The unique grip of the Number Five was created by marrying a modified Bisley backstrap to a Single Action Army trigger guard. Add contoured ivory grips and the resulting is probably the most comfortable-to-shoot revolver grip ever designed. Keith called this handgun “The last word in fine six-guns.”
Dangerous Game Rifles in Collection
Along with famous handguns, the Elmer Keith collection at auction includes prized long guns, including the legendary “Corbett Tiger Rifle”, a Jeffery boxlock .450/400 used by famed hunter Edward James “Jim” Corbett. This rifle was featured in Corbett’s book Man-Eaters of Kumaon. Two of the man-eating tigers Corbett hunted were believed to have killed over 800 humans in the Kumaon Hills of India. Other valuable long guns in the collection include English Best Quality stopping rifles from Westley Richards and Holland & Holland.
Earlier this month, the Ben Avery Range in Phoenix hosted America’s top long-range shooters at the Berger SW Nationals. This week cowboys and cowgirls take over Ben Avery during Winter Range, the SASS National Championship for Cowboy Action Shooting. Winter Range, which runs February 23 through March 1, is the second largest Cowboy Action event of the year, after End of Trail, the annual Single Action Shooting Society World Championship held each year in Edgewood, New Mexico.
Hundreds of cowboy action shooters, ages 12-80, will compete in multiple classifications based on age, and type/caliber of firearms. In addition, this year the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association and the SASS Mounted Shooters will run an exciting 3-day mounted shooting event. This is expected to draw more than 100 competitors mounted on horses. You’ll see this kind of action:
Cowboy Action Shooting requires that contestants compete with firearms typical of those used in the taming of the Old West: single-action revolvers, lever-action rifles, and period shotguns. Participants each have a registered cowboy shooting alias (such as “Deadeye Dave”), used in SASS events. Competitors, organized in “Posses”, shoot a series of multi-gun stages. This is a fun shooting sport that draws multiple generations of the same family. In addition to the primary competitions, Winter Range 2015 will feature displays of period militaria, exhibitions of western skills and crafts, a fast-draw contest, and nearly 100 vendors selling vintage-style clothing and “sundries”.
How would you like to “reach out and touch” someone 110 nautical miles away? Well America’s Navy may soon be able to do exactly that with an amazing new, high-tech weapon system. BAE Systems has developed (and successfully test-fired) an electro-magnetic rail gun that fires a 23-lb projectile at Mach 7 — (about 5300 mph or 7800 fps). This futuristic weapon can send its projectile 110 nautical miles (126 mi / 203 km), five times the range of the big 16″ guns on WWII-era battleships. This railgun has serious “knock-down” power — at Mach 7, that projectile carries a whopping 32 megajoules of energy. BreakingDefense.com says: “23 pounds ain’t heavy. But it sure hurts when it hits you going at seven times the speed of sound.”
Watch Video to See Navy Rail-Gun in Action:
The latest prototype of the railgun developed by defense contractor BAE, in conjunction with the Office of Naval Research, can accelerate a projectile up to Mach 7 within 10 milliseconds. The gun uses no gunpowder to generate propelling force. Compared to an item on a smaller scale, the railgun projectiles resemble crossbow darts, except they deliver such massive Kinetic Energy they don’t need to carry explosive ordnance. The railgun can strike targets 110 nautical miles away.
To prepare a charge, the ship stores electricity in the pulsed power system. Next, an electric pulse is sent to the railgun, creating an electromagnetic force accelerating the projectile. Because of its extreme speed, the projectile eliminates the hazards of storing high explosives in the ship. Each shot costs about $25,000 — but that’s cheap compared to the price of a missile.
“It’s like a flux capacitor,” chief of Naval research Rear Admiral Mathias Winter said in a video posted by Reuters Friday. “You’re sitting here thinking about these next generation and futuristic ideas, and we’ve got scientists who have designed these, and it’s coming to life.”
The Electromagnetic Railgun Innovative Naval Prototype (INP) was initiated in 2005. The goal during Phase I was to produce a proof-of-concept demonstration at 32 mega-joule muzzle energy, develop launcher technology with adequate service life, develop reliable pulsed power technology, and assess component risk reduction for the projectile.
Phase II, which started in 2012, advanced the technology to demonstrate a repeatable-rate fire capability. Thermal-management techniques required for sustained firing rates will be developed for both the launcher system and the pulsed power system. The railgun will begin testing at sea in 2016.
Getting tutored by Olympic-class experts — now that’s a rare opportunity in the shooting world. ELEY Ltd., makers of precision rimfire ammo, has announced a special contest. Two lucky marksmen (one pistol shooter and one rifle shooter) will win the chance to train with the U.S. National Team at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. All ammunition for the one-day training session (in June, 2015) will be supplied by ELEY. (The winners must supply their own firearm.) The lucky winners will even be able to use the elite Olympic Training Center strength/conditioning facilities.
Training day sessions will be conducted by top coaches/atheletes from the U.S. National squad. Rifle coaches may include: Bryant Wallizer, Thomas Csenge, Michael Liuzza, Justin Tracy (2013 Prone National Champion), Dempster Christenson, Sarah Beard, Sarah Scherer, Emily Holsopple, Amy Sowash, Reya Kempley, and former National Rifle Coach Dave Johnson.
Pistol coaches may include: Keith Sanderson, Nick Mowrer, Jason Turner, Teresa Chambers, Morgan Wallizer (2004 rifle Olympian now training pistol), National Pistol Coach Sergey Luzov.
How to Enter Contest
For more information, or to enter the Training Day Contest, visit ELEY’s Training Contest Page on Facebook. NOTE — the deadline for contest entries is March 16, 2015.
Trijicon is out, and Magpul is in (as lead sponsor), so the much-ballyhooed NRA World Shooting Championship (WSC) will continue — at least for one more season. Held at the Peacemaker Nat’l Training Center in West Virginia, the inaugural 2014 “World Shooting Championship” left some folks shaking their heads after match directors made a few puzzling rule changes on the fly. In addition, it was hard to call last year’s NRA event a true “World Championship”. In 2014, almost all the WSC shooters were American, and, what’s more, a real ISSF World Championship was staged at the very same time last year in Granada, Spain. That important ISSF event in Spain had shooters from 40+ countries and many Olympic medalists.
Nonetheless, we’ll see more WSC action this fall. The 2015 NRA World Shooting Championship will be held September 24 – 26, 2015 at Peacemaker in WV. This will once again be a “big money” event, with a $200,000 prize table and $50,000 in cash awards. With a quarter-million dollars worth of cash and hardware prizes up for grabs, this is probably the richest shooting event in the world. And, as before, the match organizers will provide all the guns and all the ammo.
Competitors at the 2015 NRA World Shooting Championship will compete in three divisions: Pro, Amateur, and Junior. The event will feature twelve (12) stages drawing from a variety of firearm disciplines, such as Cowboy Action, F-Class, and Smallbore standing.
“We’ve created the NRA World Shooting Championship to be the top competitive shooting event in the world,” said NRA General Operations Executive Director Kyle Weaver. “Not only will providing all firearms and ammunition help level the playing field, but it will alleviate competitors needing to buy new equipment and simplify international and domestic travel.”
The 2015 Berger Southwest Nationals are now history. It was a remarkable event, one of the best-run matches in the country. Over 350 shooters enjoyed generally fine conditions, with sunny skies and warm temps. Records were set, and there were some remarkable performances. The talk of the tournament was Derek Rodgers’s stunning F-TR score. Derek served notice that F-TR rifles can run with the F-Open rigs (at least when piloted by a wizard). Rodgers shot superbly to finish at 1234-56X, just two points shy of F-Open winner Bob Sebold, who shot 1236-63X. In fact, Derek’s score would have placed him third overall in the F-Open division, one point behind Christine Harris (1235-45X). In sling division, shooting a Palma rifle, Trudie Fay won with 1242-64X. Two points back (at 1238-66X) was last year’s sling winner Bryan Litz.
Brilliant F-TR performance by Derek Rodgers shocked some F-Open shooters…
F-Open Winner Bob Sebold loved the bling, but for Sling winner Trudie Fay, “Cash was King”.
The Harris Clan — Top Shots
Christine Harris was one of four talented Harris family members shooting at the event. Husband Scott Harris (1220-46X) took second in F-TR, and son Devon Harris (1203-29X) was F-TR High Junior. Twelve-year-old Adrian Harris also shot well, piloting a .223 Rem in F-TR. Adrian did great in the mid-range match, beating most of the adults. Dad Scott Harris says Adrian may have set an Age Group record during the SWN.
The Harris Clan: Scott Harris (2d Place F-TR), Christine (2d Place F-Open), and Adrian (600-yd High Junior)
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
F-OPEN
F-TR
SLING
Bob Sebold – 1236-63X
Christine Harris – 1235-45X HW
Dan Bramley – 1230-54X
David Mann – 1229-57X HSR
William Wittman – 1227-48X
Derek Rodgers – 1234-56X
Scott Harris – 1220-46X
Matt Schwartzkopf – 1216-38X
Jade Delcambre – 1214-44X
Daniel Lentz – 1213-35X
Trudi Fay – 1242-64X P
Bryan Litz – 1238-66X
John Whidden – 1237-76X
Justin Skaret – 1235-63X P
Phil Hayes – 1234-56X
FINAL TEAM RESULTS
F-OPEN
F-TR
SLING
Third Gen. Shooting – 2551-100X
Lapua/Brux – 2544-108X
Spindle Shooters -2544-90X
Team Berger – 2542-92X
U.S. F-TR Team Blue – 2513-67X
Mich. Rifle Team F-TR – 2498-60X
Team Savage – 2492-68X
U.S. F-TR Development -2487-67X
U.S. Nat’l Tompkins – 2563-127X
Team Phoenix -2562 -122X
Team Challenger – 2555-112X
Two Worlds – 2550- 113X
The Guns of the Southwest Nationals
We saw some serious hardware on display at Ben Avery. Here is a beautiful maple-stocked F-Open rig. We believe this belongs to David Mann of Texas. This gun shoots as good as it looks. David Mann scored 1229-57X to finish fourth overall (and High Senior) in F-Open Division.
Click Photo to View Full-screen Version
Stunning Phoenix sunset after Sunday’s awards ceremony…
NOTE: Scores listed may be subject to final correction.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is seeking to ban commonly-used 5.56 M855 “green tip” ball ammunition as “armor piercing ammunition” and is seeking public comment on the proposal. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) urges target shooters and gun owners to contact ATF to oppose this proposed ban.
Here’s your chance to own the guns of an American legend, Elmer Merrifield Keith, one of the best-known gun writers of the 20th Century. Keith’s firearms, including his much-modified Colt SAA “Number 5″, will be auctioned March 15-16 through 
