As I write this, our country is in a helluva mess. I guess I am naïve but I have never seen so many pure evil people that flagrantly lie, cheat and steal to get their way. I would have never thought this would come to pass in this country of ours. Today a thousand women across our country protested in the streets about Trump separating the kids from their parents and putting them in cages down on the Mexican border. Things that were completely untrue. In fact the separating of the kids was a practice under Obama, but that was OK. But now it is all Trump’s fault. Our media is so corrupt with their lies and fake news, and I see no stop to that. It is simply a very bad time for this country of ours. Will it get any better? Maybe. But there are now groups that say they plan to use weapons against Trump supporters. Where does that leave us? I don’t know. I do know that if you and your wife have not been carrying, now is the time. With a certain black hag from California telling her supporters and anyone that will listen to harass Trump supporters anywhere they see them, this could get mean. My only recommendation is just what I said, carry a gun everywhere you go and have your wife do so also. It is time to stand up and fight back. Groups like Antifa get worse and worse. First just yelling and taunting, then beating Trump supporters, and now they are carrying weapons. Stand up people. Protect your family and way of life. Never give in. If it is not legal in your state to carry a gun, use your better judgement. The police can’t and sometimes won’t help you if Antifa or one of the other groups decide to attack you and your family. Back in colonial days only a small percent of the people supported our plans to separate from England, and they were hassled and in some cases killed. But they stood up for what they believed in, and that is what we need to do, no, that is what we HAVE to do. Give this some thought. I am not suggesting anything violent, absolutely not. I am suggesting you get ready to protect your family. In the last few days I have seen several people come into our gun shop wanting to sell their AR-15s, saying that now that Trump is in office they don’t need them anymore. Unfortunately that is probably far from the truth. Giving up your guns is the first step to giving up completely. And that is exactly what the Democrats want, an unarmed society. So think about it and what you need to do. Your family’s lives are in your hands.

Now that I have ruined your good mood, let’s get into what this Gun Notes is all about. And if I offended you with my post above, I won’t apologize. I believe in every word and if I help even one family to stay safe, it is worth it.

OK, let’s see. The Mossberg Shockwave is selling like the proverbial hotcakes. A lot of ladies are buying the 20 gauge model. And now Mossberg is adding the 410 gauge to the line up. If you are not familiar with this, Mossberg has found a loophole in the law and is taking advantage of it. The new Shockwave is a super small firearm. I can’t call it a shotgun as it is legally not one. It is a firearm, period. And it comes with a 14” barrel and a canted sort of pistol grip along with a strap for your hand to go thru on the forend. It is a great idea and already one other company is copying it. If you need a good truck gun, or just a handy home protection gun check out the Mossberg Shockwave. In 12, 20 and 410 gauge.

This is not brand new but some may not know it. Smith & Wesson is bringing back the classic Model 19 in 357 Magnum. The Model 19 was Bill Jordan’s baby and he promoted it almost to the day he died. Being a law enforcement officer he carried one everywhere. The Model 19 is the mid frame size, the next step down from the newer L frame’s 586 and 686 along with the newer Model 69 in 44 Magnum. I hope it does well as the Model 19 and it’s stainless sister the Model 66 were always classics.

Ruger continues to add more and more new series to their stable. The great GP-100 is now available in a 7 shot 357 Magnum. A person would be hard pressed to find a stronger or more well built 357 than the GP-100.It is also now available in 10mm.

Thompson Center is struggling to get back to their former glory before the acquisition by Smith & Wesson. They have now added a new 22 rifle, the TCR 22. It is a semi auto adorned with Mag Pul stock and it uses Ruger’s magazines. I haven’t had a chance to try one out yet but hopefully soon.

Remington, who has been struggling to keep their heads above water and out of bankruptcy, recently snagged a big loan and is working hard to get back to where they were a few years ago. They have had bad leadership over the last 10 years or so with horrible guns coming off their assembly lines. First the 710 rifle, which was absolutely horrible. That was dropped almost immediately. Then came the 770, just as bad if not worse. Dropped real quick. Then the R1 pistol. Again abysmal. Dropped a couple of times. Then the Model 51 in 380. Another flop. Dropped. And the list went on. Now they have new leadership and from what I have been told they are gun folks, not a bunch of nerds trying to make guns as cheap as possible. They recently bought Para Ordnance and that was a great move on their part as the Para pistols were absolutely some of the very best. So Remington is now putting out a well made 1911 using the Para parts and Para knowledge. Remington has also just announced their new Model 700 Precision Chassis Rifle. In looks it looks just like the fine Ruger Precision Rifle but is based on the fine Model 700 action. Remington is one of about 8 or 9 new Precision rifles coming out this year and that is fine too. There is always room for another well built rifle.

The folks at Sig have sort of gone off the deep end with new products. First the new model 9mm that the army adopted, then a new line of ammo, then a new line of optics and now another new line of ammunition. Everything looks good but sometimes one can do too much too soon. I guess we will see.

Ruger’s 375 Ruger and 416 Ruger were headed for the junk yard until recently. Folks that had been burned by the horrible WSM and WSSM cartridges were very leery of anything that looked or smelled like a short magnum. But the 375 Ruger has new life breathed into it as several gun companies are chambering it in new rifles. The most interesting to me is the new Mossberg Patriot. It is chambered in the 375 Ruger and is doing very well in Africa. By the way, the new Mossberg recently beat another rifle in long range shooting. At 800 yards the Mossberg beat one of the much more expensive Precision Rifles in accuracy. If you are thinking of a new rifle for fall hunting, check out the Mossberg. Colleen bought the very first one we got in the shop, The MVP with the laminated stock, super smooth action and fluted barrel in 223. This one is the proverbial tack driver.

Lots of new bullets coming out for fall hunting. Some I want to try out before I tell you they are great. But one that I will crow about is the new Hornady DGS for Dangerous game solid, and DGX for dangerous game expending. Steve Hornady, a great guy and gentleman to boot, sent me some of both in .458 caliber for my African hunt back in May. I loaded them in my 450 GNR encore as hot as I could tolerate and even pushed to the max (at actually my max) they still performed great, with 3 shots in a bit over an inch at 100 yards on days when I could hold the gun steady. I took both loads with me to Africa hoping for a big Cape Buffalo. When we went out after the buff, professional hunter John Abraham of Madubula Safaris told me to use the DGE, expanding bullet. That sort of surprised me as I have always heard hunters hunting dangerous game put the first round in a buffalo with a solid and followed it with the expanding bullet. No matter, I took John’s advice as he is the professional. We spotted the big bull hiding in some brush watching us. We walked up to about 85 yards of him. John told me to get ready. This would be an offhand shot but that is how I normally shoot a handgun so no problem. Just as John said he would the buffalo came trotting out of the brush to scare away these interlopers. John said he would do a mock charge to about 55 or 60 yards and would stop, huff at us and then would turn to one side or other to show us we weren’t worth of a full on charge. He said when the buff turns to one side or other, hit him on the point of shoulder. Sure enough the buffalo stopped at about 60 yards and turned to his right exposing his left shoulder. I put the Hornady DGX 500 grain bullet just a bit above the point of shoulder. He dropped like a rock but started to stagger to his feet. This time his other side was to me. Reloading quickly I raised the gun as John said hit him again, point of shoulder. I did and that was it. Two rounds and the monster buffalo was down for the count. The Hornady DGX bullets were as good as I figured they would be. John did a preliminary scoring on him and the official scope came a bit later. Safari Club said he was the largest free range Cape Buffalo ever shot with a handgun. There was another buff that was about 2 inches bigger but he was shot in a 2 acre breeding pen. The PH’s are trying to get that one disqualified as he was not free range. Even if he doesn’t get disqualified, I am super happy with my buff, after 13 safaris I finally filled my bucket list.

If you have a very special big game hunt coming up, try the Hornady bullets. I don’t believe you can beat them.

Some more info on new cartridges. Speer has a new Gold Dot round in 10mm. I have been a fan of the 10mm for many years, starting with the Bren Ten way back in the early 80s. Kase and I have both hunted game such as smaller bodied deer and hogs with our Ultimate 10 and the newer 10mm Hog Hunter pistols. For medium size game if you want to hunt with a semi auto, it would be hard to beat the 10mm. Browning is also into ammunition. Their new BXP Personal Defense X-Point round is supposed to be one of the best on the market. The round has a black plated case for improved reliability and feeding. Hopefully the black case won’t offend some overly sensitive folks (AKA cry babies). Winchester learned a bad lesson a few years back with their Black Talon handgun bullet.

A few years back the FBI and a lot of federal agencies jumped on the new 40 S&W. It didn’t take long for them to realize it wasn’t the wonder-round as it was hyped up to be. Now most of them, including the FBI have transitioned back to the 9mm. The 9mm has come so far in the last few years with great bullets and a lot more power that one doesn’t give up anything to the 40 caliber. Plus it is a lot less recoil so the second or third shots if needed can be taken a lot quicker. One of those new rounds is simply a renovated older round. It is the Federal Hydra Shok. It has been the law enforcement round of choice since 1989 and has recently changed for the better. It is now the Hydra Shok Deep. With it’s 135 grain bullet and hotter load is said to deliver as much as 50% deeper penetration.

Our next HHC (handgun Hunter’s Challenge) is coming up in 3 months. It will be at the Wilderness Hunting Lodge in Monterey Tennessee. Again we have booked the entire lodge and have room for 50 hunters. If you want to join us on a great weekend October 4 thru 7, call Sandy at the lodge at 931-979-4050 and sign up. Bring a friend, wife or youngster as everyone is welcome. There are probably 30 different species of game there from the exotic deer and sheep to wild hogs, to elk and red stag, plus Bison, Watusi bulls, Yak and a lot more. Join us for a great weekend.

That is it for this time. Next time I will try to stick with gun news and shy away from the bad news. In the meantime on your next shooting excursion, take a lady or youngster along. They are out future.

Til next time, God bless,

Gary