At the request of our readers, we have launched a “Deals of the Week” feature. Every Monday morning we offer our Bargain selections. Here are some of the best deals on hardware, reloading components, and shooting accessories. Be aware that sale prices are subject to change, and once clearance inventory is sold, it’s gone for good. You snooze you lose.
1. Amazon — Howard Leight Electronic Muffs (Best Seller)
Every shooter should own a pair of Electronic muffs — they are great when you are doing spotting duties or are working near the firing line. They allow you to hear ordinary conversations while still providing vital hearing protection. Right now Amazon.com has the Howard Leight Impact Sport Electronic Muffs on sale for just $36.30. These NRR 22 muffs are currently Amazon’s #1 seller in the category. NOTE: For regular, sustained shooting we recommend muffs and/or earplugs with a higher NRR rating.
2. Grafs.com — Magnetospeed Sporter $179.99
If you have been waiting to get a Magnetospeed… wait no longer. Priced at just $179.99 at Grafs.com, the Magnetospeed Sporter model costs less than half as much as Magnetospeed’s V3 models. This chronograph attaches directly to your barrel so you don’t have to go downrange to position tripods and set up skyscreens. For most people the Sporter Model contains all the features they need. Using Magnetspeed’s XFR adapter (sold separately), data can be transferred easily from the display module to your mobile device. READ Magnetospeed Sporter Review.
3. Cabelas.com — Rock Chucker Supreme Reloading Kit
Everything you see above can be yours for just $225.00, after manufacturer’s rebate. Right now, Cabela’s is selling the Rock Chucker Supreme Master Reloading Kit for $300.00. That’s a good deal as this Reloading Kit sells elsewhere for up to $360.00. But he’s the real incentive — if you spend $300.00 on RCBS products in 2016, RCBS will send you a $75.00 rebate. That reduces your net cost to just $225.00 for the entire Kit.
4. Brownells — Hornady 17 HMR Ammo, $12.79 per box
If you have ever shopped for 17 HMR ammunition, you know it rarely goes on sale (it’s the law of supply and demand). Right now, as part of its “Red, White and Boom” ammo promo, Brownells.com is offering first-quality Hornady brand 17 HMR ammo for $12.79 per 50-count box. We’ve seen ammo this sell in gunshops for $16.50 per box. Stock up now for the spring varmint season.
5. CDNN Sports — Savage 93R17 for $219.99
No more excuses — you can add a 17 HMR to your collection for under $220.00. We think everyone should own a 17 HMR rifle. The 17 HMR is the perfect cartridge for dispatching ground squirrels and other small varmints. The round shoots faster and flatter than a .22 LR, and delivers more energy. This week CDNN Sports is offering the Savage 93R17 for just $219.99. This little rifle can provide years of service in the varmint fields, and the 93R17 is also a good youth training rifle.
6. Natchez — CCI Blazer 9mm ammo, $9.99 for 50 Rounds
This is the best price we’ve found this week on newly-manufactured 9mm pistol ammunition. And this is quality, CCI made-in-USA ammo with reloadable, brass casings. We have used this CCI-made Blazer 9mm ammo in Sig, HK, and Glock pistols and it performed very well. This stuff won’t last long at this price (less than $0.20 per round). If you need 9mm practice ammo, order soon.
7. Walmart — 48-gun Stack-on Gun Safe
If you need a big safe to hold lots of guns, here’s a large-capacity Stack-On Safe that’s rated for 48 long-guns. Measuring 59″ high and a full 43″ wide, this safe is much bigger than the typical safes you find at CostCo and Sam’s Club. This safe is discounted $202 right now with “Rollback” pricing. One verified safe purchaser states: “The safe interior is nice for the price. Outside finish is great. All in all this is a GREAT value after looking at safes twice this price.”
Yes, you can get a name-brand Ultrasonic cleaning machine for under fifty bucks. This Hornady Lock-N-Load Sonic Cleaner, which sells elsewhere for $75-$85, is available at Brownells.com this week for just $49.99. This cleaning machine holds up to 200 .223 Remington cases, or 100 .308 Winchester cases.
At the request of our readers, we have launched a “Deals of the Week” feature. Every Monday morning we offer our Bargain selections. Here are some of the best deals on hardware, reloading components, and shooting accessories. Be aware that sale prices are subject to change, and once clearance inventory is sold, it’s gone for good. You snooze you lose.
1. Cabelas.com — Rock Chucker Supreme Reloading Kit
Everything you see above can be yours for just $225.00, after manufacturer’s rebate. Right now, Cabela’s is selling the Rock Chucker Supreme Master Reloading Kit for $300.00. That’s a good deal as this Reloading Kit sells elsewhere for up to $360.00. But he’s the real incentive — if you spend $300.00 on RCBS products in 2016, RCBS will send you a $75.00 rebate. That reduces your net cost to just $225.00 for the entire Kit.
2. Bullets.com — Bald Eagle Rest with Windage Top
Bullets.com is offering aluminum-base front rests, with flex-shaft remote windage adjustment, for just $165.00! These front rests originally retailed for over $400.00 (with windage drive). But Bullets.com is having an “overstock” sale so you can get blow-out pricing on these rests.
Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to spotting scopes. For hunters, compact size and light weight are advantages. This little Minox MD 50 has sharp lenses yet weighs just 22 ounces. The max 30X magnification is plenty for seeing shot markers or watching mirage. Right now this compact Minox is on sale at Amazon.com for just $250.00. No it won’t match a $2300.00 Kowa Prominar, but for basic viewing tasks (and hunting duties) it will do a good job. It’s also an excellent choice for bullseye pistol shooters who need a lightweight, affordable spotting scope.
4. Hornady — 500 Free Bullets with Gear Purchase
Hornady has announced its “Get Loaded” Promotion for 2016. If you buy any of the qualifying products (listed above), you get 500 free bullets. We’ve taken advantage of these promos in the past. It’s a pretty good deal if need a reloading press, case prep center, or large ultrasonic cleaning machine. We’re impressed with the new pyramid-frame, open front iron press. 500 bullets is a nice incentive.
5. CDNN Sports — Remington .22 LR Bulk Ammo
Chose from a 525-round box for $54.88 or a jumbo 1400-round “bucket ‘o ammo” for $139.88. Both offerings feature 36-grain hollowpoint bullets. With the big bucket you get ammo for under ten cents ($0.10) per round. Yes we’d say that’s affordable .22 LR plinking ammo!
6. Brownells — Hornady V-Max Bullets on Sale
Here’s a super deal on plastic-tipped V-Max bullets — a favorite for varmint hunters. V-Max bullets are accurate and deliver plenty of “pop” on ground squirrels, prairie dogs and other small varmints. Brownells has clearance pricing on many types of V-Max bullets. For example, for just $14.98 per hundred, you can get the excellent 40-grain, .20-caliber V-Max or the equally good 50gr or 53gr, 22-cal V-Max. That’s a great price.
7. Natchez — CCI Blazer 9mm ammo, $9.99 for 50 Rounds
This is the best price we’ve found this week on newly-manufactured 9mm pistol ammunition. And this is quality, CCI made-in-USA ammo with reloadable, brass casings. We have used this CCI-made Blazer 9mm ammo in Sig, HK, and Glock pistols and it performed very well. This stuff won’t last long at this price (less than $0.20 per round). If you need 9mm practice ammo, order soon.
8. Amazon — Best-Selling Nano LED Mini-Flashlight
This handy Nano Keychain Light, an Amazon BEST SELLER, has a super-bright 5mm LED with a 100,000 hour lifetime. Verified purchasers say the Nano is “well-constructed” and “super-bright for its size”. Weighing just 0.36 ounces and measuring 1.47″ long, the Nano stows easily. A handy snap hook is included. Streamlight offers a limited lifetime warranty. Read the Amazon Reviews — people love this keychain Nano Light. It’s great for campers, and it’s a smart addition to a house emergency kit.
Story based on report in the Midsouth Shot Report Blog, MSSBlog.com.
Ruger (aka Sturm, Ruger & Co.) has just announced the new, full-size Ruger American Pistol (RAP), available in 9mm Luger and .45 ACP. The new RAP handgun is an well-thought-out, ergonomic design with many advanced features. Yet this new handgun is very affordable — both 9mm and .45 ACP models list for $579.00 MSRP. (Guns should be available at retailers very soon, with “street price” around $530.)
The new Ruger American Pistol features a pre-tensioned striker system, which allows for a short takeup trigger with positive reset.
The Ruger American Pistol is built on a one-piece, stainless-steel chassis with integral frame rails. It features a stainless slide with black-nitrided finish, Novak LoMount Carry three-dot sights, and a one-piece, glass-filled nylon grip frame with interchangeable backstraps. Up front is a mil-standard 1913 rail. Controls are fully ambidextrous. Importantly, unlike the Glock, you can field strip the Ruger American Pistol without pulling the trigger.
“The Ruger American Pistol is the most advanced semi-auto pistol we have ever produced,” noted Ruger CEO Mike Fifer. See other comments from Ruger’s CEO in this NRA-produced Video:
Ruger CEO Demonstrates New Ruger American Pistol:
The 9mm weighs in at 30 ounces with a 4.2-inch barrel and the .45 weighs in at 31.5 ounces with a 4.50-inch barrel. Both ship in a hard case with replaceable grip modules and two, nickel-Teflon plated steel magazines. Capacities are 17+1 rounds for 9mm and 10+1 rounds for .45 Auto. (There is also a 10-round version of the 9mm for states which restrict magazine capacity).
While developing RAP prototypes, Ruger polled law enforcement and military trainers throughout the country. Based on feedback from these LEO/military trainers, Ruger’s engineers worked to tame perceived recoil and reduce muzzle flip. The new pistol employs a barrel cam to spread recoil over time, a low-mass slide, and a low bore axis. All these elements work together to control muzzle rise and lessen felt recoil. The trigger is pretty smooth reports one early tester, who measured pull weight at just under six (6) pounds.
Ruger American Pistol Quick Review
One of the nice features of the Ruger American Pistol is the modular grip system. Three interchangeable wrap-around backstraps allow the RAP to fit a wide range of hand sizes.
Glock just released a new single-stack 9mm pistol, the Glock 43 (G43). Why did it take Glock so long to bring a single-stack 9x19mm handgun to market? Better late than never we suppose. Given the large market for concealable handguns, this IS an important product introduction. In fact, Glock says: “The G43 is the most highly desired and anticipated release in Glock’s history”.
The key question for potential buyers is “How thin is it?” If this pistol is not significantly thinner or lighter than a double-stack 9mm handgun, then there really isn’t much reason for it to exist. Here are some dimensional comparisons. We included the G43, the double-stack 9mm Glock 19, along with single-stack 9mm carry pistols from Smith & Wesson, Ruger, and Kahr:
You can see that the G43 is about 1/10″ thicker than some of its rivals, but it is 0.16″ thinner (and 7.46 oz. lighter) than its bigger brother, the G19. That’s significant. On the other hand, at 26mm, the G43 is 2mm thicker than Glock’s .380 ACP G42 compact pistol. That gun was a big hit — Glock sold nearly 200,000 G42s last year. Will the G43 be as popular even though it is slightly thicker? Probably. All the pundits predict the G43 will be a big seller for Glock.
6+1 Capacity Now with 7+1 in Future
The G43 comes with a six-shot magazine. According to the CTD Shooter’s Log: “Glock has promised to deliver a magazine in the near future that will bump the capacity by one additional round and add a pinky extension.”
G43 Shines in Reliability Testing
Absolute reliability is ultra-important in a carry pistol. We don’t particularly like Glock ergonomics, Glock sights, or the Glock trigger, but Glock pistols have proven to be very reliable. It looks like the G43 lives up to the Glock reputation for reliability. During intial media testing, the G43 was tested with CCI Blazer and Winchester white box FMJ. The only failure to fire was a bad round. The G43s performed flawlessly with low-dollar ammo. Source: Shooter’s Log.
Here’s something you don’t see every day — pistol-caliber Lapua brass. We shoot superior Lapua brass in our rifles, and now you can get the “good stuff” for your 9mm pistols too. It’s nice to know that Lapua 9mm brass is available for those guys who accept “nothing but the best”. Grafs.com received a special order of 9mm Luger (aka 9x19mm or 9mm NATO) pistol brass made by Lapua. It is available right now for $19.99 per 100-count bag or $179.99 per 1000-count box. That’s 38% off the regular 1K box price.
When It Pays to Shoot Premium Pistol Brass
Is this Lapua 9mm brass worth the price compared to the cheaper alternatives (such as once-fired police range pickups)? We think the answer depends on your application. If you shoot a 9mm pistol in Bullseye competition, yes it makes sense to get the Lapua. Or, if you have a 9mm revolver that carries the shells in a moon clip, the Lapua brass may be worth getting. With a 9mm revolver, your brass is not marred by an extractor claw and then ejected on to the ground. If we had the impressive new 8-shot, Miculek Edition Smith & Wesson model 929 9mm revolver (below), we’d definitely shoot Lapua brass.
Are you feeling lucky on this last day of 2014? Well Cheaper Than Dirt is giving away a very unique (and very patriotic) rifle. The Just Right Carbine is a simple, blowback-action semi-auto rifle that can be configured to shoot three different pistol cartridges: 9mm, .40 SW, and .45 ACP. The Just Right Carbine bridges the power gap between long guns chambered for rimfire cartridges and those using full-power rifle rounds. With caliber conversion kits, this modular carbine can shoot the three most popular semi-auto pistol cartridges: 9mm, .40 SW, and .45 ACP. The give-away rifle is configured to shoot one caliber, the 9mm Luger (9mm parabellum).
This special-release Stars and Strips Edition carbine is finished in an American Flag camouflage. American Rifleman magazine says this rifle is versatile and easy to operate:
“At first glance, the JR Carbine is just another AR variant. Though it shares numerous parts and an outward appearance with the ubiquitous AR platform, the JR is actually of a totally different design. Unlike the AR’s gas-operated action, the JR Carbine uses a simple blowback system similar to that of the Ruger 10/22. The bolt is held forward by spring pressure and is cycled by the energy of the fired round; there are no gas tubes or pistons involved. While it doesn’t use the AR’s operating system, the JR Carbine does share with the AR its modularity and some parts commonality, so many of the myriad of AR accessories can be used on the JR. The carbine uses a standard commercial diameter AR buffer tube so any buttstock compatible with a commercial AR can be fitted to the JR. Mil-spec and commercial AR parts are also interchangeable with the carbine’s AR-style trigger, grip, and safety[.]”
How to Enter Contest: For a chance to win this rifle, visit the Cheaper Than Dirt Contest Registration Page and complete the online entry form. Limit one entry per person and e-mail address during the Sweepstakes Period.
How fast can a human shoot a revolver? The legendary Jerry Miculek answers that question in this video. Using his new, 9mm model 929 revolver, Jerry shoots 16 shots in 4.01 seconds, with a reload*. His splits between shots were running 0.16-0.17 seconds. That works out to a peak rate of fire of 353 rounds per minute, faster than some early-era machine guns. Even counting his reloads, his sustained rate of fire would be 239 rounds per minute, faster than a 19th-century Gatling gun. Note: If you are attending the NRA Annual Meetings in Indianapolis this weekend, you can meet Jerry Miculek at the Hornady booth (#6361) on Friday or Saturday at 4:00 PM.
16 shots w reload
Split Times
Peak Rate of Fire
Sustained Rate of Fire
4.01 seconds
0.16-0.17 seconds
353 rds per min
239 rds per min
Smith & Wesson 929 Eight-shot Revolver, Jerry Miculek Edition
Jerry really likes his JM Signature Edition model 629 revolver. Produced by the S&W Custom Shop, this 9mm handgun features a ported, broach-cut barrel plus a titanium cylinder. Jerry says the low-mass titanium cylinder reciprocates very fast, making for a responsive rapid-fire revolver.
*This was time on target. Total time including initial reaction time was 4.88 seconds.
Here’s a smart product from MTM Case-Gard, new for 2014. You get a rugged, polypropylene plastic ammo carrier, complete with a matched set of 100-round ammo boxes for a particular caliber (e.g. 9mm, 45 ACP, or .223 Rem). This is a slick, intelligent way to transport ammo to the range.
We like these new MTM plastic ammo carriers better than military surplus metal ammo cans, which have sharp edges, finger-pinching clasps, and rust far too easily. MTM’s ammo carriers are much lighter than milsurp ammo cans, and they have an enhanced O-Ring seal system for a superior water-resistant seal. All plastic, the MTM ammo carriers can never rust. They have easy-to-shut dual latches, double locking tabs for padlocks, and convenient built-in stacking ridges molded into the lids. Overall, the MTM ammo carrier is a superior, more user-friendly design compared to conventional metal ammo cans. And the combo set, with fitted 100-round boxes, gives double protection to your precious ammunition.
The 35th Annual Bianchi Cup is happening soon. The 2013 MidwayUSA/NRA Bianchi Cup Championship will take place in Columbia, MO, May 22-25. This major event draws shooters from all over the world. Along with the USA, competitors have come from Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Netherlands, and Switzerland. Firearm categories include: Open Division, Metallic Sights, Service Pistol, and Revolver. In addition there be awards for the top shooters in specific classes: Law enforcement, Women, Junior, International, Newcomer, Senior, Grand Senior.
One of the favorites this year is Jessie Duff, shown below competing with one of her Bianchi Cup custom rigs. Jessie’s pistol sports special brackets to help align and steady the gun during the barricade shots.
Slick Modified 9mm Model 1911 for Jessie
If you’re curious about the hardware used by top shooters in other action pistol events, here is Jessie Duff’s new Taurus PT1911 9mm single-stack, set up for Open Division. Note the extended, tri-port compensator attached up-front, and the large cut-out on top of the forward part of the slide. That cut-out is for weight reduction and improved balance. Interestingly, the rear of the slide is milled flat where the rear sight would be on a conventional model 1911. Jessie relies on her Leupold DeltaPoint red dot sight to get on target, so the pistol doesn’t need front or rear iron sights.
Reloading components are in short supply right now — bullets, brass, powder, primers — you name it. But here’s some good news. Powder Valley Inc. (PVI) has received a huge shipment of Berry’s Mfg. plated bullets. PVI’s president Bryan Richardson said his company now has seven (7) tons of Berry’s bullets in stock, mostly copper-plated pistol bullets. PVI now has Berry’s bullets in all the popular pistol calibers, including: .32 (0.312), .380 (0.356), 9mm, .38/357, .40/10mm, .44 (0.429), and .45 (0.452). PVI also has some Berry’s rifle bullets in stock for: .30 carbine, 7.62×39, and 45-70.
