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January 15th, 2010
 Some of the nation’s finest shooters, including 8-time National High Power Champion Carl Bernosky, will be at the Hornady booth (#12332) at SHOT Show next week. If you’re attending SHOT Show, don’t miss a chance to meet and chat with Bernosky, Max Michel, Doeg Koening, and other top shooters who have won multiple National Championships. Despite his remarkable competitive record, Carl is a very modest, approachable guy. If you have a chance to talk to him, we guarantee you’ll learn things that can help your shooting.
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Doug Koenig |
Team Hornady® shooters Carl Bernosky, Sean Dexter, Tony Gimmellie, Doug Koenig, Dave Neth, Max Michel, Kelly Neal, Dave Neth, Adam Popplewell, Mike Voigt are all scheduled to appear at the Hornady booth during SHOT Show. (See schedule below). These “top guns” will be on hand to sign autographs, chat about guns, and offer competition tips for their particular disciplines.
January 14th, 2010
We thought we’d seen the upper limit of riflescope magnification with the new 10-50x60mm Sightron SIII, the 12-50x56mm Schmidt & Bender PMII, and the 10-60×52mm March variable. Now March has raised the magnification bar — with a zoom scope boasting Eighty times (80X) magnification at max power.
That’s a lot of magnification for a spotting scope, much less an optic designed to sit on top of a rifle. We wonder how useful the 80X max power will really be. At 80-power the exit pupil is a tiny 0.7 mm — what we consider the very lower range of usability. A very small exit pupil makes the viewer’s head position ultra-critical; you’ll need to get your head aligned just perfectly. Still, the extra power may prove useful for ultra-long-range shooting or at middle distances when conditions are ideal (no mirage).
The new March 8-80x56mm Tactical/Long Range scope features 1/8 MOA clicks, a 34mm maintube, and 60 MOA of elevation. Weight is a reasonable 29.8 ounces (845 grams), while scope length is 16.0″ (shorter than many 40-power scopes). Five (5) different reticles are offered: 1/8 dot, 3/32 dot, 1/16 dot, MTR-1, and MTR-2.
In addition to the new 8-80x56mm, March will offer another tactical scope with a 10 times zoom range. The new March 5-50x56mm also has 1/8 MOA clicks, 60 MOA of travel, and comes with the same five reticle choices. At 15.67″ OAL and 29.3 ounces, the 5-50X is slightly smaller than its 80-power big brother.
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We’ll learn more about the new March ultra-zooms at SHOT Show next week, when we visit the Kelbly’s booth. We’ll try to get a good look at the 8-80×56 and let you know how all that power works in the real world. Stay tuned for our SHOT Show reports staring January 19th.
CLICK HERE for March 8-80x56mm and 5-50x56mm Specifications Sheet.
January 14th, 2010
 If you’re planning on purchasing a tactical rifle soon, consider this FREE Training promotion from McMillan Firearms. Those who place an order for any McMillan TAC-series rifle will receive a FREE 2-day Marksmanship Training Course. The course is taught on McMillan’s own ranges in Arizona and covers firearms operation, maintenance, application of fire, and a basic tactical overview for civilians.
Each class is taught by McMillan instructors, experienced military and/or law enforcement operators with impressive credentials. The course is split between classroom and range time. This promo applies to all rifles in McMillan’s TAC series: Tac-308, Tac-300, Tac-338, and the mighty Tac-50.
For more information or to place an order, visit McMillanusa.com or call (623) 582-0536, M-F 7:00 am – 3:30 pm MST.
January 13th, 2010
 Make no mistake about it, despite the tough economic times, gun sales are still going strong. In 2009, Americans purchased over 14,000,000 firearms, based on NICS Background Check statistics from the FBI. The FBI logged 14,033,824 NICS checks in 2009, a 10% rise from the 12,709,023 checks in 2008.
The raw number of NICS checks may actually under-count the total number of guns sold last year. This is because when a buyer purchases multiple firearms at the same time, a single NICS check can apply to multiple sales.
Shooting Sports Are Big Business
Let’s compare gun sales with other sporting items. According to the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA), Americans spend more on guns than on ski equipment or tennis equipment. Moreover the $5.5 billion shooters and hunters spend each year on guns, ammo, and equipment dwarfs the $3 billion golfers spend on equipment. Given the BILLIONS of dollars that shooters spend, why are shooting sports largely ignored (or trivialized) by the mainstream media? The answer appears to be political/philosophical bias. The general news media simply refuses to acknowledge that sporting use of firearms is a widespread, popular activity in our culture.
The Important Truth Revealed by Gun Sales Statistics
Ironically, while the mainstream news media attempts to marginalize the shooting sports as a “niche” activity by “unprogressive” elements in society, Americans are buying more guns and ammo than ever. What is the message behind verified gun sales statistics? First, gun ownership is hardly a niche activity. Secondly, gun ownership is so widespread that gun owners need not be apologetic about exercising their Second Amendment rights. While the “talking heads” on news networks may mock “gun-totting rednecks”, the reality is that all segments of society own and use firearms for sport, hunting, and self-defense. Be proud to be a gun owner, along with tens of millions of other law-abiding Americans.
January 11th, 2010
 Les Baer Custom (LBC) is a highly respected maker of “semi-custom” 1911 pistols and AR platform rifles. Now Baer moves into the precision bolt-action rifle market with impressive new offerings for 2010. Baer will sell two different bolt-guns, each fitted with a Stiller custom action and a cut-rifled barrel made in-house by LBC. Available chamberings (for both models) are .243 Win, .260 Rem, or .308 Win (later this year LCB will release a .338 Lapua). Remarkably, Baer guarantees these new guns can deliver half-MOA 10-shot groups with match grade ammo.
The new Les Baer Custom bolt-action rifles all feature a Stiller Tac 30 action with Picatinny rail, Wyatt precision floor plate with Wyatt detachable box magazine (DBM), along with a “match grade” 24″ cut-rifled, 5-groove LBC barrel. A Timney match trigger with 2.5-lb pull is fitted, and both action and barrel are coated in a matte-black Dupont S finish.
Two different Bell & Carlson composite stock designs are offered. The LBC Tactical Recon Bolt Action Rifle features a tactical-style stock, similar in appearance to the SAKO TRG stock. It has a vertical pistol grip, undercut toe, plus an adjustable cheekpiece and adjustable buttplate. MSRP for the “Tactical Recon” model is $3560.00.
If you want a lighter rifle with a more conventional stock, the LBC Tactical Varmint Classic features a varmint-style composite stock with a narrower fore-arm, “standard” wrist-grip shape, and a straight comb. There is a small hook in the underside of the buttstock. Like the “Tactical Recon” model, the “Tactical Varmint” features a Stiller action, Wyatt bottom metal/magazine, and 24″ cut-rifled barrel. MSRP for the “Tactical Varmint” is $3410.00.
New Les Baer Bolt-Guns have 10-shot Half-MOA Guarantee
We talked with Les Baer yesterday, and he told us that the prototype Baer tactical rifles have show outstanding accuracy during testing, producing some 1/2″ groups at TWO hundred yards. Accordingly, Baer is offering one of the best guarantees in the business. Both LBC tactical bolt-guns “are guaranteed to shoot 10-shot groups under 1/2 MOA with match grade ammo.”
The new LBC rifles will debut next week at SHOT Show in Las Vegas. We hope to get our hands on one for field testing. It will be interesting to see if the rifles can really put 10 shots inside one-half inch (center to center) at 100 yards.
January 10th, 2010
30-caliber magnums are the chamberings of choice for North American big game hunters. Although the venerable .30-06 and .270 remain popular, Boone and Crockett Club records show that the 30-caliber magnums (of one variety or another) take more North American trophies than any other caliber/chambering. (Note: “30-caliber magnum” includes .300 Win Mag, .300 WSM, .300 Wby. Mag, 300 Ultra mag. Records do not distinguish specific 30-cal magnum chamberings.) Boone and Crockett compiled the data from records-book entries from 2007 through 2009. Surprisingly, the second most popular trophy-taker isn’t a firearm—it’s a bow.
Here are the most commonly used calibers across all Boone and Crockett categories over the past three years, along with percentages of trophy entries credited to each:
30-cal Magnum (all types)—18 percent
Bow/crossbow—16 percent
.270—12 percent
.30-06—11 percent
7mm Magnum—11 percent
Muzzleloader/shotgun—10 percent
6mm—3 percent
.338 Magnum—3 percent
.257—2 percent
.30-30—2 percent
.308—2 percent
.375 Magnum—2 percent
Other—8 percent |
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30-caliber magnum cartridges appear among the top three calibers for 11 of the 15 species recognized in Boone and Crockett trophy records. Species for which records are kept include: Whitetail deer, Coues’ whitetail deer, Blacktail deer, Mule deer, Black bear, Brown Bear/Grizzly, Pronghorn, Elk, Moose, Caribou, Bison, Muskox, Cougar, Rocky Mtn. Goat, Sheep (Bighorn, Dall’s, Desert, Stone’s).
January 9th, 2010
 If you’re planning to attend SHOT Show, or if you just want a preview of the firearm industry’s largest trade show, you’ll want to read the January 2010 edition of Shooting Industry Magazine. For a limited time, an electronic “e-zine” version of the January issue is available for FREE online. This digital edition contains an extensive SHOT Show Special Report, along with a complete SHOT Exhibitors Guide (pp. 72-87) listing ALL participating companies with their booth numbers.
Big 2010 New Product Guide
The entire 116-page issue is now available on the web, in a searchable, flip-page format like a print magazine. This lets you see the large-format, full-page 2010 product introductions from companies such as Hornady (p. 11), SigSauer (p. 23), and Savage (p. 29). Along with these vendor-produced ads, you’ll find an 18-page 2010 New Product Guide featuring new firearams, reloading products, and shooting accessories.
New Hornady Electronic Powder Dispenser and New RCBS Bipod
We found a couple surprises in Shooting Industry’s January New Products report. First, Hornady is bringing out a NEW Digital Powder Scale/Dispenser to compete with the RCBS Chargemaster. Hornady calls its new red dispenser the Lock-N-Load Auto Charge. Hornady claims its new Auto Charge “measures weights to 0.1 grains and has a scale capacity of 1,000 grains.” The unit features automatic and manual dispense options, trickle function, three (3) speed settings, and “over-charge” protection. Hmmm, this is the first powder dispenser to included selectable dispensing speeds — that’s potentially a very useful feature. The brand new Auto Charge is featured as item 050068 on Hornady’s website with a $317.91 MSRP. MidwayUSA says it should have the AutoCharge in next week (1/15/2010), with a retail price of $239.99. If that price holds, the red Auto Charge will cost about $40-$60 less than the green RCBS ChargeMaster.
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RCBS also revealed an interesting new product — a new rail-mounted bipod. The new RCBS “Precision Target Bi-pod” features quick-adjust telescoping legs (7-10″), 25 degress of cant adjustment, large wedge-shaped plastic feet, and “tool-free mounting” to Picatinny rails. According to RCBS, the new bipod is constructed of 6061 T6 Aluminum with Type III Hard Coat Anodizing. RCBS says this new bipod is “suitable for AR-style weapons and can be adapted. to non-Picatinny-style weapons as well. For more info on this new bipod, check our this RCBS 2010 Catalog Update (PDF file). MSRP for the new bipod is a hefty $219.95. Message to RCBS: A Harris Swivel works darn well at half the price!
January 9th, 2010
Are you headed to Vegas to attend the 2010 SHOT Show, Jan. 19-22? To do the show right, you need a plan. Wandering randomly among the 1800 exhibits (on TWO floors this year) wastes time and energy. By the end of each day you’ll be exhausted and you won’t have seen half what you wanted to see.
Here’s what to do — log on to the SHOT Show Planner website. There you’ll find floor-plans for the whole show. You can alpha-search for particular companies, and the interactive planner will automatically plot their locations on the grids. What’s more, you can “mouse-over” booth locations on the grid and the planner will display the company name and booth number. Say, for example, you’ve located RCBS at booth #14638. You can just slide your mouse around the nearby area to find Sierra Bullets at booth #14934 and Nosler at booth #15938.
Log In to Create Customized Exhibitor List and Show Navigation Maps
If you sign up with a name and password, you can save all your search results and even print out highlighted floor-plans with your “targeted” booths. The SHOT Show planner will create (and remember) a customized list of the booths you want to visit. Then you can print-out custom floor-plans with your choices marked on the grids.
Using the SHOT Show Planner, you can quickly identify all the exhibits you want to visit, and then create personalized show maps with your “destinations” marked. When you’re at the show, bring your customized maps and simply “connect the dots” from one pre-marked booth to the next. That lets you proceed efficiently from one location of interest to the next, without backtracking or wasting time.
CLICK HERE to access SHOT Show Planner. (Log-In Required for some features).
January 8th, 2010
While some of the very best rifle shooters in the world are ladies (Such as Sherri and Michelle Gallagher, and Noma Mayo), a large percentage of women, at least in big cities, seem very “gun-averse” and react negatively to men who collect guns or enjoy shooting as a hobby. This can narrow the pool of women suitable as dating partners or potential “soul-mates”.
 If you’re looking for a lady who shares your interest in firearms, and who supports gun ownership by law-abiding citizens, there is a new website you should visit. Second Amendment Singles is a new match-making site design to bring together like-minded, gun-loving men and women. We think that’s a great idea, and we hope the site will successful. Right now the membership is just getting started, and nearly all of the early sign-ups are male. We do hope that, with time, more ladies join the service. Once the word gets out, more lady shooters may sign up.
The founder of the new service, Jared Gollnitz, explains why he set up this new online service: “Gun ownership can be polarizing in a relationship between a man and a woman, but the other dating sites just ignore it as an aspect of compatibility. This site is for the person who … makes NO APOLOGIES for living the armed lifestyle.” Gollnitz adds that his site lets you find “a dating partner who shares the belief that there is nothing as liberating as knowing you can defend yourself.”
January 7th, 2010
It’s a New Year, and a new decade, and that means we need to update our Events Calendar. We need your help compiling our list of events. Our Events Calendar will include major competitions, firearm industry trade shows, important club events, and special interest events such as the Varmint Jamboree. We showcase events in a handy, year-at-a glance format, so you can easily plan for big events months ahead. You can click on each item to see details, such as the 2010 Shot Show info:
Reader Event Submissions Wanted
If you help run a major match, trade show, or event, please send us information to be included in our 2010 Events Calendar. Please include event start and end dates, event weblink (if any), a short description of the event, and a photo or event logo. Email your submissions to: mailbox [at] 6mmbr.com. Thanks!
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