At the request of our readers, we provide select “Deals of the Week”. Every Monday morning we offer our Best Bargain selections. Here are some of the best deals on firearms, hardware, reloading components, optics, 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. Natchez — Special 5 Reloading Press Kit, $199.99
Looking for a great holiday gift for a family member getting started in metallic cartridge reloading? This RCBS Kit has everything a new reloader needs: single-stage press, powder measure, scale, powder trickler, priming tool, cartridge tray, “rocket” chamfer tool, case lube and more. This is an excellent entry-level reloading kit, on sale for just $199.99 at Natchez Shooters Supplies. We like the relatively compact Special 5 press for most reloading duties. Eventually you may want to add an additional, large heavy press, but this will get the job done. For the combined package, with all the tools one needs to hand-load quality ammo — this is a stunningly good deal at $199.99.
2. Amazon — RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme Press, $112.49
We said this was a good deal when priced around $135.00. Well now the Rock Chucker is just $112.49 at Amazon — matching the lowest price we’ve seen in years. The RCBS Rock Chucker remains a classic — a big, strong, versatile press that can handle most reloading chores with ease. And now you can get a genuine Rock Chucker Supreme for $112.49 — an insanely great deal. The Rock Chucker offers plenty of leverage for case-sizing and the “O” is tall enough for long cartridges. The Rock Chucker has a very strong base and should last a lifetime.
If you’re looking for an ultrasonic cleaning machine — here’s a very good deal. On sale now at MidwayUSA for $104.99, this same unit sells for $139.99 on Amazon. With a powerful 60-watt transducer, this unit can process hundreds of cases at once. The machine boasts a 3.2 quart stainless tank with drain valve, five temp settings, and a 1-to-30 minute timer. There’s even a built-in sensor showing when to change solution. Here’s a verified buyer’s review: “Worth the money… it can heat the solution up to 140° F. The best thing about this cleaner… is that it has a drain port and valve — SO MUCH EASIER to drain compared to [other units].” NOTE: MidwayUSA has been offering free shipping for orders over $99.00 in recent days — check when you order.
4. Whittaker Guns — Howa Lightning 6.5 Creedmoor Rifle, $329.99
With this deal you can get a complete 6.5 Creedmoor Howa 1500 Rifle with HACT 2-Stage Trigger for just $329.99. That’s $80.00 less than the price of a Howa 1500 barreled action by itself! ($409.99 at Brownells). This is a no-frills rifle, but its hard to beat the $299.99 price for a solid, multi-purpose rifle. Use “As-Is” for hunting or drop it into a modular stock for tactical/practical games.
You don’t need to spend big bucks for an effective spotting scope to view mirage. You can get the Kowa TSN-501 Angled Spotting Scope for just $349.00 from B&H Photo. This is a super-compact scope with 50mm objective and built-in 20-40X eyepiece. Though relatively new, the small, light-weight TSN-501 can perform basic spotting tasks effectively. This doesn’t have the resolution of the $1500+ spotters but this is fine for viewing mirage and shot markers. Put the money you save into barrels and bullets.
6. CMP — ELEY .22 LR CMP Standard Ammo, 7 Cents per Round
ELEY, the UK-based rimfire ammo-maker, has teamed up with the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) here in the USA. Now you can purchase quality ELEY-made ammo for just seven cents a round. This new “ELEY CMP Standard” ammunition, available exclusively through the CMP, propels an accurate 40-grain bullet with an average velocity of 1090 fps. These particular paraffin-coated bullets are designed feed reliably through all .22 LR firearm platforms.
ELEY CMP standard will be available exclusively through the CMP. Though budget-priced, it “will still be incredibly accurate compared to other ammo at this price point”. There is a limit of two (2) cases per individual per year, priced at $354.95 for 5000 rounds, with Free Shipping to all contiguous U.S. States. NOTE: To purchase this ammo you must register and provide proof of eligibility.
7. MidwayUSA — Packable Shooting Mat, $19.99
Here’s a heck of a deal on a good light-weight shooting mat. MidwayUSA has slashed the price on its Packable Shooting Mat. Available in Coyote Tan or Olive Drab, this 67″ Long x 31″ Wide padded mat is now just $19.99. This Packable Mat has some nice features, such as 12″ front flap, elbow pads, 0.15″ thick padding, and six staking grommets. It’s easy to transport, rolling up to a 9″ x 4.5″ package, secured with a heavy strap. If you need a low-cost, basic shooting mat, check out this deal. Weighing just 1.5 pounds, this a good, light-weight mat to keep in a vehicle or to use on a “walk-around” varminting hunt.
8. Amazon — Neiko Digital Calipers, $16.85
Even if you have a good set of calipers, you may want to get one of these Neiko 01407A Digital Calipers. The #1 best-selling digital caliper on Amazon.com, this Neiko tool features a large LCD Screen and measures up to 6.0 inches. With over 3000 customer reviews, this product has earned an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars. It’s hard to go wrong for $16.85, even if you just use these as a spare set for measuring group sizes and case trim lengths.
9. Mystery Deal — Big Name Product with Lifetime Guarantee
If you have a hunting rifle, this item will help you spot your game. With a best-in-industry, transferable lifetime warranty, you can put your trust in this product. It doesn’t have all the “bells and whistles” but it has the key features and performance a hunter needs. For shooters looking for quality construction, simple but 100% reliable controls, this unit (from a big Oregon-based manufacturer) will get the job done, and last a lifetime. CLICK HERE to see Mystery Deal of the Week.
Are you a safe hunter? Go through this checklist to find out. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has created a helpful Safety Checklist for hunters. This Hunting Safety Checklist was produced as part of the NSSF’s “Hunt S.A.F.E.” campaign which encourages hunters (and all firearm owners) to secure their firearms when not in use, and to focus on safe firearm handling and storage. The Hunting Safey Checklist helps hunters follow good, safe practices in the field and at home.
“Hunting is a time-honored tradition for many Americans, and the hunting season brings a wave of excitement and activity for all enthusiasts,” said NSSF President and CEO Steve Sanetti. “It’s also a good time of year to remind firearm owners about … safe and responsible gun handling and storage.”
It’s hunting season, and we know many readers will be pursuing a prize buck this fall. But how will your hunting load perform? That depends on shot placement, energy, and terminal ballistics.
You’ve probably heard the term “Terminal Ballistics”. But do you really know what this refers to? Fundamentally, “Terminal Ballistics” describes the behavior of a projectile as it strikes, enters, and penetrates a target. Terminal Ballistics, then, can be said to describe projectile behavior in a target including the transfer of kinetic energy. Contrast this with “External Ballistics” which, generally speaking, describes and predicts how projectiles travel in flight. One way to look at this is that External Ballistics covers bullet behavior before impact, while terminal ballistics covers bullet behavior after impact.
The study of Terminal Ballistics is important for hunters, because it can predict how pellets, bullets, and slugs can perform on game. This NRA Firearm Science video illustrates Terminal Ballistics basics, defining key terms such as Impact Crater, Temporary Cavity, and Primary Cavity.
External Ballistics, also called “exterior ballistics”, is the part of ballistics that deals with the behavior of a non-powered projectile in flight.
Terminal Ballistics, a sub-field of ballistics, is the study of the behavior and effects of a projectile when it hits its target.
National Hunting and Fishing Day (NHF Day) takes place on Saturday, September 23, 2017. The annual celebration serves as a reminder that conservation succeeds because of leadership and funding from hunters, shooters and anglers. National, regional, state and local organizations will run thousands of “open house” hunting- and fishing-related events around the country. Events will include Fishing Derbys, Hunting Expos, Wing-shooting tournaments, and much more. Over four million Americans will participate.
Take the Pledge to take someone hunting or fishing on or before September 23, and you can enter a sweepstakes with valuable prizes. ENTER Contest HERE.
Find Events in Your State
For info on NHF Day, visit www.nhfday.org. To find NHF Day events in your state, click links below:
Hunters Aid Conservation Efforts
The contributions of hunters, in the form of excise taxes paid on firearms, ammunition, and archery equipment, benefit every state. These taxes have generated approximately $5.6 billion for wildlife conservation since 1939.
With hunting season right around the corner, we know that many readers will soon be out in the field — with a set of binoculars. On most game hunts, you’ll speed a lot more time glassing with binocs than looking through your riflescope. With wide field of view and extended low-light capability, a good set of binoculars will be your most important game-finder. And with premium LRF binoculars, such as the new Vortex Fury, one tool serves both for spotting and laser ranging.
In this article, Vortex Optics’ Mark Boardman, an experienced hunter, explains the benefits of using a tripod with high-magnification binoculars. Everybody knows that powerful spotting scopes work best when mounted to a stable tripod or otherwise secured to a steady mount. Yet when most folks use binoculars, they never even think of using a tripod, despite the fact that tripod adapters are available for many premium binoculars.
Outdoorsmans Tripod Adapters Outdoorsmans.com sells tripod adapters for various kinds of binoculars. “Mounting your binoculars to a quality tripod is a must for the serious western hunter. Without the stabilization of your binoculars [by] mounting them to a tripod … you will be missing a majority of the game you are glassing for.”
A serious hunter should learn how to glass with tripod support, using methods outlined here. With binoculars offering more that 8X magnification, you can really benefit from a steady mount. You’ll be amazed at the difference the tripod will make.
Story tip by EdLongrange. We welcome reader submissions.
Hunting season is coming up, so it’s time to get your rifle squared away. You’ll want to zero that rifle before the hunt, and you need to know how your shots will impact with a cold barrel.
Commonly, hunters won’t have the ability to fire one or two fouling shots before heading out on a hunt. Therefore it’s important that a hunter understands how his rifle shoots with a “cold bore shot”. Both the point of impact (and possibly velocity), may be different with a cold bore than with a barrel that has been warmed and fouled with a series of shots. In this video from the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU), you’ll learn how to determine your cold bore point of impact (POI) for a rifle that just been cleaned, as well as the cold bore POI with a barrel that has already been “fouled in”.
SGT Joe Hein of the USAMU shows how to plot cold bore POI with both a clean bore and a fouled bore. Note that the “cold bore” shot from a fouled barrel was closer to the follow-up shots than the cold bore shot from a clean barrel. This is typical of many factory barrels. SGT Hein provides a simple way to understand your rifle’s cold bore performance. Hein’s advice can keep you from missing that long range shot at that big buck on opening day. A little time spent on the range before that critical first shot will help ensure you have meat in the freezer this season.
Hunting season is coming up soon. To help hunters get outfitted with the proper hunting gear and clothing, MidwayUSA is running some big promotions. First, a wide variety of hunting clothing is now priced up to 50% off. Then on Tuesday, September 5, 2017, MidwayUSA conducts its Camo Tuesday One-Day Sale. Pitched as the “Hunters’ Black Friday”, Camo Tuesday will be a major, one-day Sales Event with huge discounts, starting at 12:01 AM on 9/5/2017. There is also a Camo Tuesday Contest with big product give-aways.
The new Side-Shot 90° clamp/lens adapter allows you to record your shooting sessions with your smart-phone mounted on your rifle. The Side-Shot’s smart design allows you to capture the actual POV through-the-scope image without obscuring the shooter’s vision through the optic.
Other smart-phone/camera mounts for rifles exist, but we believe this may be the first that captures video through the scope while still allowing the shooter to look through the scope in normal fashion. The Side-Shot mount does take up about 1″ of available eye-relief, but that should not be a problem with 95% of riflescopes.
Side-Shot was designed to give the individual the ability to record what he was doing without obstructing his view. Side-Shot mounts securely to the side of your scope, then your phone’s camera “looks” through your scope via a reflective lens. There are a variety of apps you can use with Side-Shot. The Side-Shot’s clamps adjust easily so it can secure various size modern smart-phones (e.g. iPhone, LG, and Samsung). The Side-Shot is not cheap — this precision-made adjustable smart-phone mount retails for $269.99 at Side-Shot.com.
WARNING: When attached to a rifle, your smart-phone will be exposed to shock, pressure, and G-forces during firing/recoil. Smart phones have many small internal parts (including accelerometers) that could be harmed by the shock/recoil of a high power rifle. Will your phone break? Probably not, but just understand smart-phones were never designed to be clamped to a rifle during live fire.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ):
What Smart Phones Work with Side-Shot:
Side-Shot: We’ve tested Side-Shot with the iPhone, Android, LG, and Samsung phones. Side-Shot is adjustable to adapt to a wide range of phones so you don’t have to keep buying more phone scope mounts everytime you get a new phone
Can I Use Side-Shot on Any Rifle?
Side-Shot: We’ve tested Side-Shot on pPellet guns all the way up to a.50 BMG. With big bore rifles, we recommend using a good Muzzle Brake for better video quality and overall control of your rifle.
What About Eye Relief — Is That a Problem?
Side-Shot: To make room for our reflective lens so you can get your phone out of your way, Side-Shot uses just over an inch of eye relief. Just as anyone can have their head too close to their scope and have the recoil push their scope into them, you can also have your head too close to Side-Shot and get the same result.
New Product tip from Boyd Allen. We welcome reader submissions.
Written by Sierra Bullets Ballistic Technician Paul Box
Judging by the calls I’ve had through the years, I think some shooters might be placing too much importance on Ballistic Coefficient (B.C.). The best example of this comes from a call I had one day. This shooter called wanting the ballistic coefficient of one of our Sierra bullets. After I told him he seemed a little disappointed, so I ask him what his application was. Long range target, deer hunting in the woods? Talk to me.
As it turned out, he hunted deer in open timber. He very rarely shot beyond 100 yards. I pointed out to him that, under 200 yards, B.C. has little impact. Let’s compare a couple of bullets.
Let’s look at the trajectory of a couple of bullets and see how they compare. The .30 caliber 180 grain Round Nose #2170 RN and the 180 grain Spitzer Boat Tail #2160 SBT. The round nose has a B.C. of .240, while the SBT is .501. Starting both bullets out of the muzzle at 2700 FPS [with a 100-yard ZERO], at 200 yards the #2170 RN impacts 4.46″ low while the #2160 SBT impacts 3.88″ low. That’s a difference of only 0.58″ in spite of a huge difference in Ballistic Coefficient. If we compare out at 500 yards, then we have a [significant drop variance] of 14.27″ between these two bullets. [Editor: That difference could mean a miss at 500 yards.]
Distance to Your Prey is the Key Consideration
In a hunting situation, under 200 yards, having a difference of only .58” isn’t going to make or break us. But when elk hunting in wide open spaces it could mean everything.
The next time you’re choosing a bullet, give some thought about the distances you will be shooting. Sometimes B.C. isn’t everything. If you have any questions, please give the Sierra Bullets technicians a call at 800-233-8799.
Never had a chance to hunt prairie dogs in the American west? Then check out this video. Dan Eigen (aka “Walleye Dan”), host of the We Love It Outdoors Television series, head to South Dakota for some varmint hunting. Dan teams up with Varmint Hunter Association President Jeff Rheborg to patrol some South Dakota Dogtowns where things get serious. In the video, you’ll see p-dog hits at distances from 70 yards to roughly 450 yards. The hunters were shooting from portable, wood-topped swivel rests, using AR-platform rifles on X-type sandbag rest. (Rifle zeroing session is shown at the 5:30+ mark.)
Multiple cameras were employed so you can see both the shooter’s POV and close-ups of the prairie dogs downrange. Watch the shooters having fun with a prairie dog cut-out and some Tannerite at the 9:00-minute mark. This guys are having a grand old time sending critters to Prairie Dog Heaven — we think you’ll enjoy the video.
Prairie Dog Hunting Starts at 2:00 Time-Mark in Video:
NOTE: This video actually covers three sequences: 1) Three-gun training; 2) Prairie Dog Hunting; and 3) Coyote Hunting. We’ve embedded the video so it plays back the Prairie Dog segment from 2:00 to 15:15. If you wish, you can slide the controls forward or back to watch the other segments.
Video found by EdLongrange. We welcome reader submissions.
Outdoorsmans Tripod Adapters
Never had a chance to hunt prairie dogs in the American west? Then check out this video. Dan Eigen (aka “Walleye Dan”), host of the 
