April 12, 2011
With just a few more episodes before revealing the Season Two Top Shot, the producers are shaking things up to bring the best to the top by having the competitors shoot a variety of firearms from unstable positions.
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April 11, 2011
Celebrity endorsements are commonly used to sell everything from wristwatches to coffee pots, but for a variety of reasons (which I’ll discuss in a moment) famous faces rarely appear in promotional roles in the gun industry. A notable exception is R. Lee Ermey, the hard-bitten drill instructor from Full Metal Jacket better known to all of us as "The Gunny."
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April 07, 2011
OK, full disclosure: I love shooting .50 BMGs. Why? They are loud, obnoxious, excessive and very, very American. When I lived in New York, the legislature decided that, despite the fact that the cartridge was conspicuously absent from the roll call of those found at crime scenes, they were going to ban it. Until that point, I had absolutely no interest in the round, but as soon as it was under threat, I knew I had to have one. So, I plunked down my hard-earned cash on a single-shot bolt-action upper for an AR-15. While not the most refined or accurate contraption, it brings a huge grin to the face of anyone who shoots it, and the blast from the muzzle brake removes anything on the bench at the range.
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April 06, 2011
If you watched the first season of "Sons of Guns" on the Discovery Channel you probably realized that it's as much about the personalities that work at Red Jacket Firearms as it is about the guns they create.
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April 06, 2011
‘Splain this to me, Lucy. Hunting license sales in the U.S. have increased slightly in the past two years while hunting rifle sales have plummeted. Hunters bought just shy of 15 million licenses in 2009 compared to just under 14.5 million in 2008, according to a 2011 Industry Report published by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). Less than 1 percent is not a big increase, but it’s still moving up.
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April 05, 2011
On this week's episode of Top Shot, the contestants will face a long-range test that most shooters don't get to experience, the 1000-yard shot. The remaining competitors, who have made it to the individual stage, will be settling in behind the biggest gun ever used on the show—the Barrett 82A1, chambered in .50 BMG.
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April 05, 2011
I understand the reasons why this cartridge was originally designed. But I can't begin to understand why the round took the form that it did. It's called the 5.5 mm Velo Dog and it was designed in France before the 19th Century rolled over into the 20th. Imagine a straight-sided revolver cartridge case about the length of a .38 Spl., with a typical, but rather wide rim. The bullet was a .22, actually measuring about .225 inches in diameter and weighing (I think) about 30 to 35 grains. Fired from several brands of compact French, Belgian or German revolvers, the 5.5 mm Velo Dog delivered performance much like a rimfire .22 Long (not Long Rifle). Bicyclists of that Victorian era were apparently so troubled by pursuing dogs that this cartridge and the guns that fired it were the result. They just couldn't forgive Woofy and his canine indiscretions. And that's where the name came from: “Velo” is an abbreviated form of the French word for bicycle, so it is literally “bicyclist's dog gun.” In view of the annual billions of dollars currently spent on dogs, dog food and dog care, it's hard to envision a time when we deliberately produced a specialized gun/cartridge combo with which to shoot them. But it happened.
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April 01, 2011
The most important element of a self-defense situation is learning when you should, or shouldn’t, draw your handgun. The next most important element is the actual drawing of your gun.
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April 01, 2011
In the long tradition of chatting with Top Shot contestants post-elimination, Rifleman's Reality Shots caught up with Daryl Parker.
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April 01, 2011
What is an ASP? Among other things, it is an exotic custom-made 9 mm pistol developed by the mysterious Paris Theodore, who was reportedly an undercover agent for the U.S. government. It is documented that Theodore, a New Yorker, was the driving force behind Seventrees, a maker of custom holsters of legendary quality. Primarily designed for the concealed carry market of the ‘60s and ‘70s, Seventrees made innovative designs with unusual fasteners and materials. Theodore was also involved with ASP (Armament Systems and Procedures), a specialized equipment company that pioneered restraints, collapsible batons, lighting and other law enforcement equipment. The firm's first products, however, were highly specialized custom handguns that bore the “ASP” designation (with obvious reference to the deadly little snake of biblical lore). One such gun was a five-shot conversion of a Ruger Speed Six to .44 Spl., but relatively few of these were made. A much more common pistol was the ASP 9 mm.
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