The Gunner's Blog

American Rifleman | 9 Field-Tested Trunk Guns : 9 Field-Tested Trunk Guns by B. Gil Horman  - Tuesday, September 15, 2015 "Anyone who has spent much time wandering the online shooting forums or reading gun magazines has picked up on some of the less formal firearm categories folks like to talk about, such as BUGs (back-up guns), Kit Guns (small .22 handguns) and Perfect Packin' Pistols (for hiking). A Trunk Gun is a sturdy, reliable, and not-too-expensive firearm that can be kept tucked away in a car or boat for plinking, hunting and, in a pinch, self-defense. Here are a few of the guns I've worked with that make good passengers without breaking the bank. Don't forget to check regulations for legal methods of transporting firearms in your area." (Read more at the link.) My remarks: This repeat from last year showed up in my email "American Rifleman Insider" today. The author rounded up the usual suspects, and I recommend the article. But ther...

The shotgun "zones," A, B and C,  describing the shotgun's behavior at varying ranges, are not much emphasized in my practice sessions anymore, because it was always a clumsy teaching. It is easier to tell people that the farther away you are from your target, the more likely you are to pelt the downrange danger zone instead of putting pellets into your target. That is really all the zones have to teach us, and you can demonstrate the same lesson in a few minutes at the range. Here is how the matter was taught, and my critique. Zone A: Very short range. The pattern has hardly spread. All your pellets will hit the combat silhouette target, for they are hitting en masse. (Bad assumption. All your pellets can miss the target too--same reason. But, if you are reasonably proficient, it is quite likely that all of the shot charge hits--and the wad as well.) Zone B The pattern has spread out, but not so widely that you can't still put all your pellets on the target. ...

The PPSh-41 was produced (all sources including postwar China) in about twelve million copies. It is a cheap basic tube gun, like many others originating in the WWII period. Per Wikipedia : The PPSh-41 fires the standard Soviet pistol and submachine gun cartridge, the 7.62×25mm (Tokarev). Weighing approximately 12 pounds (5.45 kg) with a loaded 71-round drum and 9.5 pounds (4.32 kg) with a loaded 35-round box magazine, the PPSh is capable of a rate of about 1000 rounds per minute, a very high rate of fire in comparison to most other military submachine guns of World War II. It is a durable, low-maintenance weapon made of low-cost, easily obtained components, primarily stamped sheet metal and wood. Its job is to throw lots of lead downrange, the bullets arriving approximately where directed. The rate of fire is more than twice as fast as the USA's M3 "Grease Gun." I do not think the high rate of fire was particularly advantageous, but it was an understandable desi...

As regular readers know, keeping a snubnose revolver ready to hand is an essential element in my self-protection plans. This gun from Korth costs a lot for a snubnose, nearly a thousand list price. It has some interesting features including Picatinny rail, is chambered in 9mmP and works without moon clips. It might be of great interest to someone who uses the 9mm in an auto pistol and wants a backup gun of the revolver sort. Heck, it might interest anyone who likes cool guns that are a bit unusual.

For Pearson's web page, click here. I have not yet had a chance to try one of these scout mounts for the great old Winchester 94, but the system looks stronger and more secure than some of the other efforts to make such things. So I thought I'd place the information out there to see if the rest of you are interested. If you've actually used this system, please leave a comment as to your impressions. The lever .30-30 continues to be one of the best light rifles available, despite being an idea from the century before last. Modern optics only make it better, if you can get them mounted solidly on there.

Note the code words! Per Ms. Willy, it's not a city problem. It's not a community, racial or demographic issue. So then, the problem is not big cities and certain demographics within those cities, or even the drug trade, that is driving the shootings. No siree! It's too many guns! We have to do something. What do we need to do something about, per Slick Willy Redux? The guns, of course. We have to do something about guns, because doing something about people  or circumstances is probably a statement of privilege bias. I stand on my privilege. I have never murdered, pillaged or raped anyone, nor even stiffed a taxi driver. My gun, Ms. Willy, is not your problem. It is, further, off limits to you. The evil megalithic gun lobby you refer to is just guys like me, paying dues to organizations that are saying what makes sense to us.

Click for article:  American Rifleman | Combat Shotguns of the Vietnam War : The above is a rerun of a 2002 article. It tells you about the guns the military bought and issued during the Vietnam conflict. The commonly used shotguns were pump guns, a mixed bag of Stevens, Winchester, Ithaca, and Remington. The long history of US combat shotguns underscores what I have claimed all along . There is no better personal weapon than a shotgun when the shooting is at short range. Compared to the select-fire rifle its hit probability is twice as good. Compared to the submachine gun, it is very nearly half again better. To me, this means that if my first choice defensive long gun is not a repeating shotgun of some sort, I am making a mistake and selling short my chances to offer the best defense I can. Nearly all justifiable self-defense shootings are at short range or very short range. Right tool for the job, and all that. . . "Winner and still champeen..." (NRA photo)