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March 4th, 2016

Gun Industry Greats — When They Were Young

Bill Ruger, Joyce Hornady
CAPTION: LB Bar Ranch — South Fork, Cody, Wyoming. Photo circa 1953-1955, by Les Bowman.

Imagine having multiple “founding fathers” of the modern American gun industry all on the same hunting trip. Well it really happened. A few years back, the cover of the Huntington Die Specialties Catalog featured a wonderful vintage photo, taken in the early 1950s. You can see (left to right): Norm Williams, Bill Ruger, Warren Page, Joyce Hornady, and Claude Willey. Of course you’ve heard of Joyce Hornady, co-founder, with Vernon Speer, of Hornady Manufacturing. Bill Ruger co-founded Sturm, Ruger & Co. with Alexander Sturm in 1949. After Sturm died in 1951, Bill Ruger ran the company for five decades, before passing in 2002. Warren Page was a famous cartridge wildcatter, and Gun Editor of Field & Stream magazine. We couldn’t find information on Clyde Wiley or Norm Williams, and we certainly don’t know why Norm is wearing a bow-tie and top coat! Perhaps our readers can tell us more about Wiley or Williams.

Background of Hornady Manufacturing
Joyce Hornady was an ardent shooter who needed a steady supply of accurate bullets. While the bullets available in the late 1940s were usable, Joyce felt that better bullets could be made. During World War II, Joyce had taken a job in a guard training unit at the Grand Island Army Ammunition Plant. Following the war, shooters and hunters used some of the vast surplus of military ammunition for their sport shooting. This surplus ammunition however, did not offer the accuracy or performance needed for target shooting, big game or varmint hunting.

Joyce realized the need for better bullets and he responded to it. In 1949, he and his original partner Vernon Speer built a machine that converted spent .22 rimfire cases into bullet jackets, and then into bullets. These bullets sold well all over the country. Using a surplus bullet assembly press, he also began to produce a .30-caliber bullet that became a mainstay of Hornady’s bullet line. In 1958, the company moved to a larger 8,000-square-foot plant with a 200-yard underground testing facility. Before that underground range was completed, Joyce Hornady would drive to the Grand Island Rifle Range, winter and summer, rain or shine, to test each individual lot of bullets.

Story sourced by Edlongrange
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December 17th, 2015

Top Ten Holiday Gift Books for Precision Shooters

AccurateShooter Christmas Book List recommended shooting books

Christmas Day is just a week away. Books have always been popular holiday gifts. If you haven’t completed your holiday shopping, here are some recommended titles that should please the serious shooters and firearms enthusiasts on your shopping list. For shooting clubs, books also make great end-of-season member awards. Most of us would rather have a useful book than one more piece of wood to toss in a box in the closet.

Here Are TEN TITLES Recommended for Serious Shooters:

Modern Advancements in LR Shooting
by Bryan Litz, $27.99 (Kindle), $43.95 (Hardcover)

If you’re a serious long-range shooter, consider adding this book to your library. Relying on extensive ballistics testing, Modern Advancements contains some fascinating research results, including the effects of twist rate on muzzle velocity, BC, and precision. Other sections detail the evolution of modern rifle, bullet, and optics designs. And there is an important comparison test of chronographs. Laser rangefinders and wind measurement devices are explained in detail by contributing author Nick Vitalbo. This book is a valuable resource for anyone who wants to understand the current “state of the art” in today’s shooting world. There is a ton of “hard science” in this book — not just opinions.

mike ratigan book Extreme Rifle Accuracy
by Mike Ratigan, $35.65 (Softcover)

This book should be on the shelf of every short-range benchrest shooter. (Shooters in other disciplines will find the book helpful as well.) Butch Lambert says Mike’s book is “far and away the best Benchrest book written. Very comprehensive, it touches on every aspect of our game.” Mike’s 368-page book is dedicated to getting the most from modern rifle accuracy equipment with an emphasis on shooting 100-200-300 yard group benchrest tournaments. This book covers the most popular hardware plus new equipment offerings are covered, including external mount scopes, actions, triggers, stocks, wind flags, and more. Also covered are rifle handling techniques, note taking, tuning, bullet selection, goals, and match strategies. Mike provides many tips that will help active competitors update their own competitive program.

Nancy Tompkins Long Range book Prone and Long-Range Rifle Shooting
by Nancy Tompkins, $45.00, (Hardcover, 2d Edition).

Nancy Tompkins is one of the greatest long-range shooters in American history. She has won five National Long-range Championships. Tompkins’ treatise is a must-read for serious Palma, F-Class, and High Power shooters. The revised Second edition includes F-Class equipment and techniques, and newly updated information. Color pictures. Topics include Mental & Physical training, Reading Wind & Mirage Shooting Fundamentals, International Competition, and Loading for Long Range. Nancy Tompkins is a 4-time winner of the National Long Range Championships, and has won countless other major events. Nancy has been on six Palma Teams (as both a shooter and a coach).

Tony Boyer Book rifle accuracy benchrest The Book of Rifle Accuracy
by Tony Boyer, $34.50 (Softcover); $42.50 (Hardcover).

Tony Boyer, the most successful shooter in the history of short-range benchrest competition, shares many of his match-winning tips in this 323-page book. The book covers all aspect of the benchrest discipline: loading, windflags, rest set-up, addressing the rifle, and match strategies. This is a high-quality publication, filled with valuable insights. Every serious benchrest shooter should read Tony’s book. Boyer has dominated registered benchrest in a fashion that will never be duplicated, having amassed 142 U.S. Benchrest Hall of Fame points. The next closest shooter, Allie Euber, has 47 Hall of Fame points. This handsome, full-color book is 323 pages long, with color photos or color illustrations on nearly every page.

David Tubb High Power Rifle The Rifle Shooter
by G. David Tubb, $34.95 (Softcover)

This book by 11-time National High Power Champion David Tubb focuses on position shooting and High Power disciplines. Section One covers fundamentals: position points, natural point of aim, breathing, triggering mechanics and follow-through, sling selection and use, getting started, getting better, avoiding obstacles. Section Two covers mechanics of offhand, sitting, and prone positions. Section Three covers shooting skills, including wind reading and mental preparation. Section Four covers the technical side of shooting, with extensive disuctions of rifle design, load development, reloading barrel maintenance, and rifle fitting. We consider this book a “must-read” for any sling shooter, and there is plenty of good advice for F-Class shooters too.

Miller Cunningham Wind Book The Wind Book for Rifle Shooters
by Linda Miller and Keith Cunningham, $21.58 (Softcover).

Many of our Forum members have recommended The Wind Book for Rifle Shooters by Linda Miller and Keith Cunningham. This 146-page book, published in 2007, is a very informative resource. But you don’t have to take our word for it. If you click this link, you can read book excerpts on Amazon.com. This lets you preview the first few chapters, and see some illustrations. Other books cover wind reading in a broader discussion of ballistics or long-range shooting. But the Miller & Cunningham book is ALL about wind reading from cover to cover, and that is its strength. The book focuses on real world skills that can help you accurately gauge wind angle, wind velocity, and wind cycles.

Harold Vaughn Accuracy Book Rifle Accuracy Facts
by Harold R. Vaughn, (Softcover and Hardcover, Used Price Varies)

Decades after it was written, Vaughn’s work remains a seminal treatise on accuracy. Vaughn was a serious scientist, working for the Sandia National Laboratories. Many “gun writers” toss out hunches about rifle accuracy. Vaughn, by contrast, did serious empirical testing and statistical analysis. Vaughn wondered why some guns shot well while seemingly identical rifles did not. Rifle Accuracy Facts covers a wide variety of topics, including internal ballistics, chamber design, barrel vibration, bullet imbalance, external ballistics, scope design and more. Writer Boyd Allen notes: “If you are serious about precision shooting, Vaughn’s book belongs in your library.”

Warren Page Book the AccurateRifle The Accurate Rifle
by Warren Page, $14.95 (Softcover), $20.99 (Hardcover)

We include this book in our list because it is an older classic that has been out of print for a while. Warren Page was the shooting Editor of Field & Stream magazine for 24 years. Long out of print, this seminal work on rifle accuracy was republished in 1996 with an updating chapter by Dave Brennan, long-time Editor of Precision Shooting magazine. If you are interested in the progress of rifle accuracy, it is worth reading this book to see how technology has developed over time (and what older methods still work today). This would make a great gift for an older shooter who grew up reading Warren Page articles in Field & Stream.

Boelter Book Rimfire Rifleman’s Guide to Rimfire Ammunition
by Steven Boelter, $29.95 (Softcover)

Steven Boelter’s 352-page book is a comprehensive study of all types of rimfire ammunition (including 17s and 22 mags), with over 600 photos. In a remarkable undertaking, Steven Boelter fired every brand and sample of rimfire ammo he could acquire (including .22 LR, 17 Mach 2, 17 HMR and .22 WMR), and recorded all the results. In all, Steven tested 11 brands and 137 different rimfire rounds, firing over 32,000 test rounds.

The Art of Rimfire Accuracy
by Bill Calfee, $9.99 (Kindle), $41.82 (Softcover)

Always controversial, Bill Calfee is nonetheless a major player in the world of rimfire accuracy. Calfee-built rimfire rifles have set many records and won many titles. He harbors strong opinions about what works and what doesn’t, but if you are involved in rimfire competition you should read this book. This work covers all aspects of rimfire gunsmithing and accurizing: barrels, tuners, chambering, triggers, stock design, bedding, action design and much more. He examines each aspect of rimfire accuracy discussing all of the components and their contribution to the improved accuracy. We don’t agree with all of Calfee’s theories about accuracy, but this book still remains a “must-read” for those serious about precision rimfire shooting.

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