Our spring and summer have been unusual to say the least and this may well mess with our hunting seasons. We had frost up thru the first week of June, then the Monsoon was due to start around July 4th, and now we are in the last day or so of July and still no monsoon.  Then you have the severe storms in the east and south and even a tornado or two. I am not real sure how this might effect our hunting seasons coming up in about a month, but the weather is under no rules to perform by a certain date so I guess we will find out in the next month.  Our next HHC (Handgun Hunter’s Challenge) is coming up in 2 months and hopefully the weather will cooperate for that. The hunt is October 3 thru 6th. The HHC is always a good hunt. As a good friend said a while back, the HHC isn’t really a hunt. It is a gathering of friends. And that it is. There is nothing at the HHC that I haven’t shot at least 2 or 3 of, but I look forward to spending time with old friends and making new ones.  In case you are not familiar with the HHC, it is held at the Wilderness Hunting Lodge in Monterey Tennessee and the hunting area encompasses 4 or 5 areas and  almost 15,000 acres. It is loaded with Elk, Red Stag, exotic deer and sheep, Bison, Water Buffalo, Watusi bulls, yak, hundreds of wild hogs and much more. The prices are right and they treat us right. If you would like to join us, consider this your invitation. Call Sandy at the lodge to sign up. She can be reached at 931-979-4050.
 
Manufacturers are working hard to get the guns out that they promised at the SHOT show and some might even make it. Some changes announced in the last month or so. Savage has been bought out for 170 million and the new owners said they are looking to buy some other gun industry businesses. I had hoped that it wasn’t just a bunch of investors like those that bought out Colt and other businesses thru the years. They would buy them, cheapen them, try to sell out a lot of product to get their money back and then dump it again. The new folks at Savage seem to be totally different as the are looking to add new product to the rifle line up. They are talking about changing some of the Savage rifles and improving their looks and function. I guess we shall see.
 
I guess the two toned model 43X and 48 didn’t do quite as well as the head men at Glock thought. They say now they are thinking about dropping the two toned look and going back to all black. Personally I thought it was a good idea, a brisk change from the all black they have had since the beginning so many years ago. My gut feeling is they will leave the two toned guns and just add the all black to give a person a choice. As I have said since it’s first offering, I think the Glock 48 is one of the best carry guns a person could want. It is slim, lightweight and carries plenty of ammo for concealed carry. The chance of a person getting into a prolonged gunfight is about that of winning the lottery. A slim, lightweight carry gun in 9mm carrying 8 to 10 rounds is all a person ever should need.
 
Every time I mention that a 9mm is plenty enough gun for a carry gun, I get people looking at as if I just passed gas. The 9mm, thru the years, has progressed much farther than the poor little bastard child 40 S&W or the age old 45 ACP.  The 40 and 45 have both stumbled along giving us not really much in the way of a new disabling bullet for a sense of well being while carrying them. I haven’t turned my back on the 45 I have carried since 1977 but I have changed the ammo I carry. After the bear incident I mentioned a while back where 3 hollow points didn’t do squat to a 250 lb bear, I have gone back to totally FMJ ammo in my 45. The 40 S&W was expected to be the wonder cartridge to solve all problems. Alas, it failed miserably and many of the law enforcement agencies are dumping it and going back to the 9mm.  I remember the agency during King Obama’s reign that bought multi million rounds of 40 S&W thinking it would be all they ever needed for whatever purpose came up. Now I hear they are trying to sell it to some third world country.
 
During all this the folks that load the new 9mm rounds have gone to extremes designing new bullets that actually work at putting the bad guys down. Now whether some companies come up with new special loads for the 45 ACP and bring it back to the limelight is yet to be seen. I kinda hope so as I like the 45 but for now it will be FMJ only in my 45.
 
With new guns being lined up to introduce for this fall’s hunting season it is good to go back a few weeks and see exactly what the manufacturers have actually introduced so far this summer.  In the category of “Who cares” there are 7 or 8 new companies that have released their new AR-15s. With the market flooded with about 30 different makes of AR-15s and AR-10s there sure doesn’t seem to be anything the new makers can do that hasn’t been done by a dozen other makers already.
 
Marlin came out of the Dark Side with their new Dark series of lever rifles. The stocks are painted black and the guns are done in a black parkerized finish. They top it all off with the XS Lever rail with ghost ring peep sight. The widened up loop rounds out a good looking gun. I sorta like the satin black look as we have been building custom Marlins for a couple of years now with the all black look.
 
Mossberg has revised their Patriot rifle with the new Night Train in 308 and 300 Win Mag. Some folks scoff at Mossberg rifles but the new Patriot has been beating a lot of long range rifles costing 3 and 4 times what the Patriot costs. Mossberg has also come up with their first handgun in many years. The only thing holding this little jewel back is the name they gave it. Whatever happened to giving a gun a real name, like Python, or Challenger or Hi Power or Fugginmuffin. These days the names are extremely hard to remember and if you don’t come out with the real name it makes you look at nutty as Ocasio Cortez. The new Mossberg pistol is the MC1sc. And remember the MC has to be in upper case letters and the sc in lower case letters. The 1 in the middle is just a 1 in the middle.  So practice that in the mirror tonight before you go to your local gun shop and ask for it. Lord knows you don’t want to embarrass yourself by stumbling over the letters. On the subject of the Mossberg patriot, they introduced it in 450 Bushmaster in a walnut or nylon stock. This one should be the perfect Black Bear rifle or close range cow elk.
 
Earlier this year Ruger went in the opposite direction of most companies and came out with a neat little single action at an affordable price. It is their new Wrangler. It is an ugly little beast but sells like the proverbial hotcakes. It is a little 6 shot 22 Long Rile single action. It comes in 3 colors, black, silver and bronze and you real quick grow to like this little revolver. Like all Rugers it works and works every time. And priced under $250 helps a lot too.
 
Let’s see, what else came out this summer. Taurus continues to kick butt with several of their little carry guns. Our best selling semi auto is the Taurus G2C (there is another of those guns with a letter and number name). This little gun comes in several color combinations and like all of Taurus’ guns it works every time.  At under $250 we have people coming into the shop and buying 3 and 4 at a time to give family members.
 
Another Taurus to premier earlier this summer is the Spectrum. This little beauty is chambered in 380 and the ladies love it. It is small, lightweight, has very little recoil and costs under $250. What is not to like? And it comes in a couple of different colors. One lady came in the shop recently dragging a much older lady behind her. It was obvious the old lady would rather have been at home sitting in her rocking chair watching one of the Chuck Norris movies. When she was shown the little Spectrum you would have thought someone opened up the centerfold of the newest Playgirl magazine. She was all smiles from one wrinkle to another. Needless to say she bought it and walked out with it in her hand, probably hoping some gangbanger looked at her wrong.
 
Charter Arms has been around since before dirt and has gone thru several owners. They recently added their new Professional to their line up. It is a little 7 shot revolver chambered in 32 H&R and comes in a black Nitride finish. The Charter Arms guns aren’t the prettiest guns out there but they work and that is all that matters. 
 
Oh yeah, Ford revealed some new pictures of the new Bronco earlier this summer. Actually they say it is still under wraps for introduction later this year but somehow there is always some sneaked out pictures of it. One version was used on a new movie The Rock is in and either the truck is real small of Dwayne what’s his name had gotten bigger. Didn’t impress me at all. I think it is a game Ford is playing. They let sneak some pictures and if people upchuck when they see the pictures, they quickly say that isn’t really the new Bronco, we are still working on it. Now another version has been filtered out and it looks like something the mayor of San Francisco would drive. This one I expect the interior to be pink velour. The bronco is one of my favorite trucks. I sure hope Ford gets their act together and come out with a man’s truck and not just another soccer mom vehicle.
 
Sorry for that. It just slipped out. Back to the guns that were released earlier this summer. Ruger announced several new competition rifles on the 10-22. I like the 10-22 and have a couple but I liked the high grade 10-22 they had for years with the nice walnut stock with the checkered forend.
 
Heritage Arms, the makers of those little inexpensive single actions came out with a two toned version of their little Rough Rider. It looks much like the Ruger Wrangler revolver. They are all USA made and that is another point in their favor.
 
Also earlier this summer Marlin introduced a new model 336 with a bright yellow Maple stock. I don’t care for light colored wood on a gun but the one I saw looked pretty good.
 
Taurus brought out their Raging Hunter and it looks pretty good. A stainless frame with satin black  heavy underlug barrel with piccatinny rail on top makes this 44 Magnum almost perfect for a hunting revolver. It had several port holes on the top sides of the barrel and an expansion chamber to actually make use of the porting. The only downside is it weighs 55 ounces which will turn some folks off.
 
For years Federal’s Hydra Shok ammo was considered the best there was in self defense ammo. Recently they announced they would sell the Hydra Shok bullets by themselves for handloaders. I think this was a good idea from Federal and should do well for them especially with the older crowd that remembers the original ammo.
 
Earlier this summer Smith & Wesson re-introduced their model 610 revolver chambered in 10mm. This is the second or third time they have re-introduced the gun and I am no sure why. The Smith & Wesson revolver is hard to beat and the 10mm stands alone as a small to medium size game cartridge. I expect this one to do well for S&W again.
 
There has been a lot of comments lately on the ATF’s changing their minds on some of the arm braces on AR-15 pistols lately. It seems from the info I get from the ATF that the problem is some of the newer arm braces have not been OK’d by the ATF and have some features they don’t like. As far as I can tell if your AR pistol has one of the original arm braces you are OK. Another thing they don’t approve is the vertical forend that some companies are making for the AR-15 rifles but some folks are putting on the AR pistol. So stay away from the vertical forend and the newer arm braces and you should be fine.
 
I mentioned the Taurus G2C pistol above and the new Ruger LCP2 is another very popular little carry pistol. If you are looking for a small compact carry gun with plenty of punch check out either of these 2, the Taurus G2C or the Ruger LCP2. It would be hard to beat either of them.
 
Speaking of the AR-15 pistol with the arm brace, if you have held off buying an AR pistol and then having the arm brace put on and the neat other features that we have to have, then check out the Franklin Armory Reformation. It has it all right from the manufacturer. The only thing I would delete is the vertical forend grip. Dump that and you have everything you need in a neat little AR pistol.
 
I mentioned our next HHC up above and I hope to see some new faces at the hunt. I already have about $2000 in door prizes to give away. Everybody gets something.  But if you can, join us and have a great weekend. We get there on Thursday afternoon October 3rd, hunt that afternoon, hunt all day Friday and Saturday and leave out on Sunday. There should be several tables full of guns for you to see and handle and shoot if you like. It is a good time for all. Gather up a wife, youngster or good friend and join us. Call Sandy at 931-979-4050 and sign up.
 
That’s it for this time. Hopefully next month the weather will have settled in and we should have a good hunting season. Until then, go shooting and take a lady or youngster with you. They are our future.

God bless,
Gary