Vol. 1, No. 1         June 1994

I suppose it must be accepted that the majority of people who opt for a job in law enforcement are not interested in marksmanship and only people who are interested in marksmanship can be counted on to hit what they shoot at. This is hard for me to accept. I can sympathize with Simon Bolivar, when on his death bed, he sighed, "I have plowed the sea."

I added The Mozambique Drill to the modern doctrine after hearing of an experience of a student of mine up in Mozambique when that country was abandoned. My friend was involved in the fighting that took place around the airport of Laurenco Marquez. At one point, Mike turned a corner was confronted by a terrorist carrying an AK47. The man was advancing toward him at a walk at a range of perhaps 10 paces. Mike, who was a good shot, came up with his P35 and planted two satisfactory hits, one on each side of the wishbone. He expected his adversary to drop, but nothing happened, and the man continued to close the range. At this point, our boy quite sensibly opted to go for the head and tried to do so, but he was a little bit upset by this time and mashed slightly on the trigger, catching the terrorist precisely between the collar bones and severing his spinal cord. This stopped the fight.

Upon analysis, it seemed to me that the pistolero should be accustomed to the idea of placing two shots amidships as fast as he can and then being prepared to change his point of aim if this achieves no results. Two shots amidships can be placed very quickly and very reliably and they will nearly always stop the fight providing a major-caliber pistol is used and the subject is not wearing body armor. However, simply chanting "two in the body, one in the head" oversimplifies matters, since it takes considerably longer to be absolutely sure of a head shot than it does to be quite sure of two shots in the thorax. The problem for the shooter is to change his pace, going just as fast as he can with his first pair, then, pausing to observe results or lack thereof, he must slow down and shoot precisely. This is not easy to do. The beginner tends to fire all three shots at the same speed, which is either too slow for the body shots or too fast for the head shot. This change of pace calls for concentration and coordination which can only be developed through practice.

Mike Rouseau was later killed in action in the Rhodesian War. May he rest in peace!

"Look out, they've guns!"

"Who, the wackos?"

"No, the Feds!"

Lowering the hammer with the thumb is always safe if the operator is safe. Of course, if you must assume that the operator is inept, then decocking with the thumb is not safe. We dinosaurs prefer to put our trust in our own abilities rather than in any reliability of a mechanism which can fail.

"The society of late twentieth century America is perhaps the first in human history where most grown men do not routinely bear arms on their persons and boys are not regularly raised from childhood to learn skill in the use of some kind of weapon, either for community or personal defense - club or spear, broadsword or long bow, rifle or Bowie knife. It also happens to be one of the rudest and crudest societies in history, having jubilantly swept most of the etiquette of speech, table, dress, hospitality, fairness, deference to authority and the relations of male and female and child and elder under the fraying and filthy carpet of politically convenient illusions. With little fear of physical reprisal Americans can be as loud, gross, disrespectful, pushy, and negligent as they please. If more people carried rapiers at their belts, or revolvers on their hips, It is a fair bet you would be able to go to a movie and enjoy the dialogue from the screen without having to endure the small talk, family gossip and assorted bodily noises that many theater audiences these days regularly emit. Today, discourtesy is commonplace precisely because there is no price to pay for it."

Samuel Francis

"An armed society is a polite society."

"The government and Its lap-dogs in the media are naturally focusing everyone's attention on David Koresh. That is a red herring. The attention should be focused on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, as well as on the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

Charley Reese, from the Conservative Chronicle.

Certainly we live in "interesting times."

"From a conservation perspective it can be argued that hunting should be promoted over tourism. While researching a book on conservation in Africa, I discovered that ecologically tourists do more damage than hunters, and not because there are so many more of the camera clickers. They speed across the plains in their minivans tearing up the grass, creating dust bowls and cutting ugly ruts. Then they surround a lion pride or rhino, reducing the animals to fright, boredom or what sometimes seems like tears. In effect, man-as-tourist is taking the "wild" out of the wildlife of Africa."

"The dead take with them to the grave only that which they have given away."

Anonymous

Vol. 1, No. 2         June 11, 1993

Editors note:

Items enclosed by [ ] were editorially removed from the Gunsite Gossip, Vol. XIII, No. 10. To the best of my knowledge this is the last issue of the Commentaries that were published by Gunsite. (Barry)

Summer Solstice, 1993

[There is nothing physical whatsoever to interfere with my continued performance of duty as I have done it for the past seventeen years. The issue in this private war is not physical nor economic nor professional rather it is moral. Time will tell.]

The drawback, of course, is political. We simply do not know what sort of a constitution will define life in South Africa in the immediately forthcoming years. When you see, however, what is being done to the United States' Constitution in Washington even as you read this, it might lead you to consider taking your chance in South Africa.

The only other American expatriate I know who lives in South Africa is Peter Hawthaway Capstick. He may not be a Gunsite family member, but he certainly qualifies for honorary status.

We wish good fortune to all concerned, and we expect to be visiting with him down that way in less than a year's time.

Note that the copyright restriction on the last page of "Gunsite Gossip" does not apply to "Jeff Cooper's Commentaries." I am a preacher, not a tradesman, and the further my word is spread the better I like it.

Guru teach, Guru not sell.]

Militiamen, however, insist that by that way of thought citizens should have their cars impounded each day after work, since many of them drive while drunk.

Let us devoutly hope that reason may eventually pervade the bureaucracies of Eastern Europe. We in the West, however, are not setting them a particularly good example.

I refuse to tell people how to get there. Better they should find out for themselves.

Their address:

Extracts:

"Make no mistake about it; Gun control laws increase the power of government and the criminal element over the average citizen, and serve no other purpose. The Branch Davidians hadn't assaulted anyone. They lived peacefully in the community. Except for the federal gun laws, they would all still be alive."

"FBI Director William Sessions asserted that `the American public expects that law enforcement will deal with those people who have broken the law.' He is right. And that explanation includes - and indeed should begin with - those federal officials who violate both the spirit and the substance of the constitution they are sworn to uphold."

1. Protection of the home. This is probably the best reason, and cannot very well be faulted on either political or religious grounds. Men fight their best when they see strangers invading their native fields, farms and cottages.
2. Religion. Absolute faith in absolute truth is more powerful than self-interest, and when God is on your side you need have no fear of death.
3. Professionalism. Elite units, such as Napoleon's Old Guard, the British Grenadiers, the United States Marine Corps, the Spanish Legion, have always distinguished themselves out of a sense of group superiority. They were taught from the first that they are better than other people, and it is then necessary for them to demonstrate that fact beyond doubt.
4. Loot. Men have always fought for fortune, and as much as it is frowned upon in some circles, the loot motive lead the armies of the steppes to conquer the world.
5. Escape and Excitement. The life "of quiet desperation" which seems the lot of so many can be alleviated by running away to sea or joining the Foreign Legion. Men do not often choose to die for the sheer excitement of it, but once they have fallen into the cauldron they often do very well.
6. Patriotism. The love of country is a difficult thing to identify, especially when one is called upon to fight at vast distances from one's country. Nonetheless, political idealism has often served as a very good motive. The American Expeditionary Force in World War One is a good example. It must have been pretty complicated for a doughboy to explain to a Frenchman or a Belgian just what he was doing in Europe, but he must have had some notion that he owed his life to the Stars and Stripes.
7. Pride. Pride is not quite the same as professionalism since it is an individual matter. The Medieval knight, the Renaissance duelist, and the fighter pilot are examples.
8. "Peer Pressure." This is the lemming instinct, "Everybody is doing it." I do not believe that this motive stands up well in the face of terror, but it can certainly get people in the right place to experience it.

I am thinking of a date on or about Theodore Roosevelt's birthday, which is 27 October. At such time as I have two dozen applicants reasonably firm, I will proceed further.]

The African nations realize, of course, that hunters are a better source of income than tourists, but when you start turning things over to committees it is unreasonable to expect good results.

"No BATman has ever been given a diploma signed by Jeff Cooper."]

According to the story, Sam was backing away from a bunch of cows and calves while escorting his fiancee, and in doing so he practically backed into a bull. According to policy he whirled and tried to fire a frightening shot over the head of the animal, but he was inside critical distance and it just reached out and grabbed him.

Vol. 1 , No. 3        1 July 1993

Independence, 1993

Nonetheless, it is the month in which we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, in which it was set forth unmistakably for posterity that human rights are not granted by man but rather by God, and that when any government or institution threatens those rights it is the duty of the people to abolish it. That is an idea especially pungent at this stage of America's political devolution.

In unforested, high grass country, the portable rest may have some use. I have never hunted such terrain, but the high grass of what is now called Namibia did call for the repeated use of the tree rest when I was there last.

All these matters will be fully considered in "The Art of the Rifle" at such time as I get around to writing it.

"The society of the late 20th century America is perhaps the first in human history where most grown men do not routinely bear arms on their persons, and boys are not regularly raised from childhood to learn skill in the use of some kind of weapon, either for community or personal defense. Ours also happens to be one of the rudest and crudest societies in history, having jubilantly swept most of the etiquette of speech, table, dress, hospitality, regard for fairness, deference to authority, and the relations of male and female and child and elder under the fraying and filthy carpet of politically convenient illusions. With little fear of physical reprisal, Americans can be as loud, gross, disrespectful, pushy, and negligent as they please. If more people carried rapiers at their belts or revolvers on their hips it is a fair bet that you would be able to go to a movie and enjoy the dialogue from the screen without having to endure the small talk, family gossip, and assorted bodily noises that many theater audiences these days regularly emit."

Samuel Francis, in "Chronicles"

The 6.5 started its 120-grain bullet at around three thousand foot-seconds from its abbreviated 18.5" barrel, providing what might be termed "a Pocket 270." One might ask wherein a Pocket 270 is superior to a Regular 270? And the answer would be handiness. The Remington 600 carbine was the immediate ancestor of the modern Scout, and it was the weapon upon which the weight criterion was established at 3 kilograms (6.7 lbs, sights and all). It seems to me that anyone who has climbed after sheep or goats or chamois or ibex would find a Pocket 270 to be the piece ideally suited to his task.

The 350 likewise, with its 250-grain bullet, formed the base for the Super Scout, a medium-bore instrument capable of taking on all heavy game short of buffalo and the pachyderms.

I immediately began experimenting with the 350 and my success was most gratifying. I took a number of large animals with it, including kudu and moose, and while no one man's experience is ever broad enough to establish empirical conclusions, I made contact with enough people who had used the same weapon afield with equal success on elk, bear, and zebra. These conversations, of course, formed the basis for the foundation of the "Fireplug Club," which is still going strong throughout the world. I never cared much for the Remington actions, due to both extraction and ignition problems, so I shifted over to the ZKK 601, which was designed for the 308 cartridge but will take a slightly longer round when desired. John Gannaway thereupon loaded the 250-grain Swift Partition bullet about an eighth of an inch farther forward into the Remington case and this was encouraged to feed into the ZKK action. This combination was the base for the Lion Scout which distinguished itself in Africa just last year.

If the 6.5 Remington Short Magnum may be made up into a "Pocket 270," the 350 Remington Short Magnum may be made up into a Pocket 375, starting its 250-grain bullet at the same velocity as its big brother's 300, but in Scout configuration.

Unfortunately the Pocket Magnums never really caught on, and today they are in effect obsolete. This seems too bad as they really did occupy a tactical niche that is not filled now.

"The essential difference between the American Pistol Institute and its numerous imitators is that we are primarily interested in advancing the art, whereas they are primarily interested in turning a dollar. We are in no sense against the profit motive, but we wish to assure all of our friends and associates that our primary motive is not in their money, but in their peace of mind. Our recorded corporate purpose is now: To conduct research and experiment into the techniques and design of smallarms and to impart our conclusions in training programs and publications."

The Guru

Firepower

Consider the "butcher's bill." At Laing's Nek the British attacked a Boer defensive position at a crest of a saddle (nek is what we would call a saddle in the American West) with about 450 men, following a small but violent artillery preparation. They were repulsed with a loss of 150 dead - against 14 for the Boers. On the occasion immediately following, the British seized Majuba Hill by means of a night march involving something over 500 soldiers. In the morning, they were thrown off the hill by a Boer force of about the same size. In this action the British lost 280 dead, including their commanding general. The Boers lost one man, plus another who died some days later of his wounds.

Now, just what was going on here? This was a rifleman's war, and the people on both sides used personal weapons of about the same character - breech loading single-shots using large-caliber black-powder cartridges rather similar to the American 45-70. In the first instance, the British were attacking and they were smashed. In the second instance, the British were defending and they were also smashed. Wherein lay the advantage? Odd as it may seem, it is my opinion that this tremendous disparity in efficiency derived from the fact that the British were soldiers and the Boers were civilians.

The British troupers were "soldiers of the Queen" from the Kipling period in India. They dressed well, marched well and did not lack for courage. What they did not do was shoot well. They were given pretty good guns and they were taught to load them, shoot them, and maintain them, more or less by the numbers, but being taught to shoot on the range in the military is not the same as being brought up with a rifle.

The Boers were by no means soldiers. They were pioneer farmers and the sons of farmers. They were reluctant to slaughter their own livestock when the countryside provided them with unlimited game. Their ammunition was always scarce and hard to come by. They had learned from childhood to hit what they shot at - every time. They shot to put meat on the table, and they shot on Sunday afternoons for prizes. Across the board, they may have been the finest body of marksmen ever fielded by any nation at any time. Their marksmanship was practical marksmanship, such as I have been endeavoring to teach throughout the latter half of my life. They seemed to have understood fully the basic rule of the rifleman, which is only hits count. (Funny how that principle was brought back to us from Grenada and Panama.)

The British had organization, discipline, resupply, signals and some artillery support. The Boers had their rifles, their horses, their biltong and their skill. They had no uniforms and they had only the vaguest sense of organization. The British regarded them as a bunch of uncouth, ignorant, illiterate peasants who could never stand up to the might of the British Empire.

And see the results! Using approximately equal weapons, the civilians shot the soldiers to pieces - on both offense and defense.

The lessons that ought to be learned here, I think, are three. First, men fight their very best when they fight to defend their homelands against a foreign invader. Second, when it comes to imparting of skill the public sector can never equal the private. Third, marksmanship is an art to be cultivated rather than a commodity to be issued.

And, just think of it, the British never complained to the media about being outgunned!

We are creeping up on the Scout, and we have some excellent individual examples in the field right now. Nonetheless, the search for the "platonic ideal" of Scout Rifle will continue as long as I have anything to say about it.

"Most of our harmless and genuine joys in this life are those which find their source in primitive instincts. A man who follows his natural inclinations, with due deference to common sense and moderation, is usually on the right track. Thus the sport of hunting is one of the most honorable of the primeval instincts of man."

Archibald Rutledge

"Cause public proclamation to be made, that everyone strong in body at leisure time on holidays use in his recreation the bow and arrow and learn and exercise the art of shooting - forbidding all and singular on our behalf that they do not after any manner apply themselves to the throwing of stones, wood, iron, handball, football, bandyball, cambuck, or cock fighting; nor to other such like vain plays which have no profit in them, under pain of imprisonment."

Edward Rex, Westminster, 12th day of June

"Fear of death will not prevent dying - but it may prevent living."

Anonymous

Now then, I have fought through a couple wars and a larger number of fighting situations and I have never yet encountered a man who felt that he was fighting for liberty. That doesn't mean that this cannot be a motive, but I did not list it because it seemed so very unlikely to me. I think we could say that the colonists at Bunker Hill were indeed fighting for liberty. I think the Boers in South Africa were fighting for liberty, but I don't see anyone doing it now. Singhalese are not fighting for liberty. The Iranians are not fighting for liberty. The Somalis are not fighting for liberty. The Serbians are not fighting for liberty. Moreover, no American I ran across in the Pacific war nor in Korea felt he was fighting for liberty, and I don't think that anybody on either side in the Vietnamese affair thought that he was.

Thus it is that I do not regard the idea of liberty as a primary motivating force in man's history of combat.

I did leave out one major consideration and I will hasten to insert it now. That motive is hatred. Hatred is a big one, and it appears more often than the rabbit people would like to admit. In my own limited experience in the Pacific war, hatred was the primary motivating emotion of the American forces.

"I have over the past thirty years been one hundred percent in favor of Gun Control - achieved through proper stance, controlled breathing, and smooth trigger squeeze; applied repeatedly until the threat is neutralized."

Fred D. Haggard, Kansas City

"We have had Ollie's adventures written up before and opened your book with trepidation. To say we were delighted is an understatement indeed. You captured the right amount of spirit and horror. It was as genuine a piece of writing as we could have hoped for and we thank you sincerely. Because of this, we enjoyed the rest of the book immensely, knowing that you would have treated the other stories with respect and truth."

"We have had a week in Zambia again. A week of being sucked into the very juices of Zambia, chewed up and spat out. The very greenness of Zambia was a surprise. The intertropical convergence had whipped up great clouds and hurled them down onto the plains of Zambia, saturating everything. The rivers were distended and spread out into huge wetlands and marshes. The vegetation had responded to some primordial clock and had grown like prehistoric forests. The grass stems were as thick as fingers and stretched up to the telephone poles. They were like fields of bamboo. Everywhere the people have planted mielies, sweet potatoes, yams, pumpkins and summer vegetables. Even on street corners and the road verges. Vines threaded their way through the tree tops like demented serpents. The air was heavy with the scent of vibrantly growing and composting vegetation."

"But what havoc this bumper rainy season has played on the rotting and debilitated fragments of infrastructure left over from the colonial era!"

"The moldering old buildings, windows broken and paint peeling, are strung together like beads by a series of potholes of varying depth. There are no rules of the road as there are almost no roads. The main road, called Cairo Road (by some hugely optimistically minded government expatriate official who refused to believe that he was wasting his time in Africa), is still quite good. Someone is even trying to plant grass under the trees in the middle island. As for the rest, the cars go singly, weaving their way from one side of the road to the other in a futile effort to save the springs and shock absorbers. Sometimes there is nowhere to go but slowly through the potholes. If your car gets too dirty, you can always get it washed at the road side car wash where some blithe spirit has punched a hole in the main water supply and is gaily using up the water free of charge!"

"let your imagination run riot and still you will not imagine Lusaka. It is beyond the scope of the western brain living in order and prosperity. Imagine life in a country where the majority of people do not earn enough in a day to buy a loaf of bread. The country ticks on overseas aid, which is taken grudgingly and then squandered."

"The people, as usual, were friendly but ineffectual, worn out and shabby, with the senior Government Officials as shiny and brilliant as their new Mercedes and Toyota G Wagons bought with donor money given for social welfare or other worthy programs."

"We stayed with friends that have tourist concerns on the Zambezi River. White water rafting on the Zambezi below the Victoria Falls and canoe safaris on the Zambezi river downstream from Kariba. These people are storybook characters, yarns picked out of the books of Hemingway. Lew Games, a reluctant American who has lived in Africa nearly all his life, at 63, is a hunter from the Africa of old, wrapped up in old towel and sweat stained shirt of weeks of wearing. Dale, his wife, forty something, looks like an old leather saddle, well used and comfortable. In ancient shorts and too tight shirts, she is sizzling with energy, barking out orders in colorful language, chain smoking and swilling tea. A marvelous cook, directing the four staff in the kitchen through a haze of sundowner brandy and water. Lew sits in the house at night wrapped up in his whisky and memories. The horizon swells from the house to the Zambezi Valley, miles away, brooding under the heavy clouds, wondering why the clock stopped - why progress and order slipped away? And in our bedroom some Zambian citizen, deprived by the system that he voted for, surreptitiously helps himself to our dirty clothes and takes them away to augment his own wardrobe. We only find this out when we get home and feel cheated by the whole Zambian experience."

"19 April 1993 was the first time since the Spanish Inquisition that people have been burned alive for their religious beliefs."

Alec McCol, in Soldier of Fortune

Vol. 1, No. 4         16 July 1993

The Time of The Lion

That whole adventure last year was marvelous and I still find it hard to believe that everything turned out so well. This was due in large measure to the expert administrative effort of Barry Miller. It is good to know that he will be administering us again next May. We now have eight participants for the Babanikulu adventure. Remember that the cut off date for deposits is 15 September.

Mike Royko's observations on this matter appeared in his column, which has now been copied, paraphrased and widely distributed. Ol' Mike is not our most favorite pundit, but he sure hit the target with this one.

Clint further informs me that smoking is absolutely forbidden in and around any armored vehicle. I take heed, but I have known smoking regulations (as well as other regulations) to be violated from time to time. Keeping people from lighting up when on night watch in the jungles of the South Pacific was a continuous headache. (Which causes us to wonder just how fire proof the new Voere caseless cartridge may be.)

Now, however, the Clay Bird program has been abolished as unsafe by Colonel Bob Young. The old order changes indeed.

We would like to think that the Clay Bird Exercise maybe revived by either Clint Smith or Naish Piazza. It was a feather in our cap and we miss it.

I am told now that all 120mm guns are required to have the following warning on the barrel: a federal law requires this warning. "Do not stand in front while gun is being fired."

If you wish to communicate with me, please use either the telephone or our newly installed personal fax machine in the bedroom of the Sconce. The number in both cases is:

To the various family members who have requested to be put on the select list for "Jeff Cooper's Commentaries" I must point out that I am forbidden to put out bulletins or information for money, and I cannot very well carry the financial load of my own newsletter out-of-pocket. I suggest that all the faithful pass the word freely.

Those of you who were in attendance will remember how much fun we had at our poetry recitation last February. Everyone enjoyed himself so much that the cry went out, "Let's do this again!"

So I will try. First I will try to get Dr. David Kahn to cruise down and help set up a mock up of a Kenayathlon contest so that we will be able to walk through and try our hand with our Scout Rifles. Next I will endeavor to set up some amusing pistol challenges for those who have not taken the rifle course. Next I will endeavor to organize a couple of seminars on such pertinent topics as: "Why men fight."

And then, of course, we will set up the Declamation. Please don't feel intimidated by this. You don't have to write your own poetry. (Most homemade verse is lousy.) Second, you don't have to memorize the entire piece, although it sounds better if you do. We will try to have prizes or recognition for every possible class, even including any liberals who may wish to show up. Larry Larsen has reserved "The Grave of a Hundred Head". Otherwise, the range is clear.

There are good Olympic-type accommodations for $15.00 a night and food maybe catered if we get enough applications.

Before finalizing this enterprise I must be sure of some twenty odd participants. More, of course, would be merrier. Mark the dates - October 30, 31 - and sign right up. I would appreciate a speedy response on this since I have to let the people at Whittington know.

Richard was an Orange Gunsite graduate, a fine shot and a gallant man. We extend our most profound sympathy and condolences to Kate and her two daughters.

"Death comes with a crawl, or it comes with a pounce, but whether he's slow or spry, it's not the fact that you're dead that counts, but only, how did you die?"

Maybe we can have some input on the ideal anti-dinosaur piece up at Whittington. Remember that lizards are not readily susceptible to shock. I know from personal experience that the 44 Magnum is a bad choice for iguanas.

It does seem that generalized rifle marksmanship is almost a lost art. There are people who can shoot off the bench, and there are people who can display area fire at 600 meters with the poodle shooter, but practical rifle marksmanship, which is concerned with first-shot hits rather than volume of fire, appears to be going the way of cultivated conversation.

Bo Grits was recently interviewed on a radio station in Los Angeles covering this subject. This recording seems to have a fairly straight-forward account of the occasion. Nothing as yet has been done with the agent who deliberately shot to death an unarmed woman and her child. As far as I can tell, he has neither been transferred nor fired, but what he deserves is obviously a long jail sentence rather than official disapproval - and he apparently is not even going to get that.

It will certainly be interesting to see how this turns out. Nothing as yet has been done with the narc who shot Dick Scott to death in his home in the Ventura Hills, and no one as yet has been called on the carpet for the Waco atrocity.

How long are the American people going to put up with this sort of thing? It is popular, at this time, to compare the behavior of our uncontrolled federal agents to that of the Nazis in the Third Reich. It may be that this is a valid comparison, but the Nazis are long ago and far away, whereas the ninja in the U.S. are right now in full-cry and apparently without fear of any sort of control. They move mainly at night. They conceal their faces. They use overwhelming firepower and they make almost no effort to identify their targets. They are scarier than the Nazis - who at least never concealed their faces.

The double rifle, indeed, is shorter than any repeating rifle by the length of one cartridge, assuming identical barrel lengths. This can be important when hunting dangerous game in thick cover.

It is true that the double rifle is quicker with the second shot than any manually operated repeater. The difference, however, is slight. A properly operated bolt gun can be back on target and ready by the time the shooter can recover from recoil, if that recoil is severe. When I had occasion to fire two quick shots from a heavy bolt rifle on buffalo in the Tamafuta country in `87, my companions both reported that it sounded like I was using a semi-auto. When my granddaughter, Lisa, laid out her first impala at 162 steps from sitting, she had worked the bolt and was back on target by the time the empty hit the ground.

As I see it, however, the biggest disadvantage of the double gun is its sighting system. The author of the ode just mentioned seemed to feel this didn't matter, since in a dangerous game situation one does not sight anyway, but simply points and pulls the trigger. That's what he said. One should not get too personal in discussions such as this, but I must point out that I have seen buffalo killed at 15, 11 and 9 paces (the last example being my own), and I took the lion at 12. You don't really need good sights at distances such as this, but in every case sights were used. To suggest that one does not use sights on dangerous game is to invite disaster. The fact that strange things have taken place does not repudiate this. If you are not going to use the sights, just make sure the muzzle is touching the target.

"A newspaper told of a family on vacation who stopped at a routine police checkpoint. The father was asked if he had a gun. No, he replied. The officer exclaimed, Why not? and lectured the man on the dangers of traveling unarmed."

"Not long ago at the entrance to a government building I handed my purse to a guard for checking. Your gun is in here?, he asked, with a smile, and returned it without looking inside. There was no gun inside."

"In over 15 years of knocking about in Africa, we have been continually gratified by the intelligent manner in which personal firearms are supervised. Of course this may all change if Mandella's boys get into power."

Kevin Wilmeth

Vol. 1, No. 5              3 August 1993

Dog Days

When our friend showed up for work with his 1911 it was immediately explained to him by the teachers at the school that what he was carrying was obsolete, irrelevant and immaterial. It would handicap him in the conduct of the training. Naturally, being one of the enlightened, he stated that he would try and struggle along. In the final shooting exercises our friend was so far ahead of the rest of the school that he was, in effect, in a different category. This did not endear him to the management.

This is the unexpurgated record of the atrocity at Waco, and while it does not have all the answers, it certainly poses all the questions. To see the federal ninja pouring a torrent of minor-caliber pistol fire into the side of a building with no targets certainly raises one of the questions. To see one of the boys shoot himself in the leg while climbing a ladder asks another. But the big one, of course, is why the United States government, in its majesty, saw fit to declare war upon a group of citizens guilty of no offense.

The only defense that the feds have suggested up to now is that the whole thing is a hoax. When you look at the tape, see if you think that it is.

Now we need the heads of Reno and Higgins. Note that Senator Larry Craig of Idaho is hard at work on that one.

"An incident you might appreciate. Upon my return to the office I found that the BATF, with the assistance of the local SWAT team, broke into a client's home, unannounced, late afternoon, concussion grenades and all. My clients are very reputable folks living in a fine townhome project near their restaurant. After pinning my client to the floor (a 79 year-old lady) they proceeded to extract a daughter from the shower with her children. The son, who was not discovered, and who saw no identifying markings nor any announcements of police, was about to shoot the man who was guarding his mother when the BATman lowered his weapon and he could see the marking on his chest. I can only imagine, with some horror, what would have happened had Jimmy shot him. Needless to say all were emotionally damaged. Response - sorry, we had the wrong address."

[ Editors note: slide-action centrefire rifles are prohibited weapons in the UK - Johnny ]

It seems that on 10 May 1920 Ranger "Kiowa" Jones filled out his scout report. The form called for various things, such as number of miles traveled, arrests made, names and so on. And one of the blanks called for "disposition of prisoner." Jones wrote in long-hand, "Damn bad I had to kill him in a gunfight."

Not that there is anything mysterious here. It would indeed be odd if we were unable to improve upon a concept which was basically a creation of the 19th century. It is certainly true that a dozen or more "modernized" bolt-action rifles have appeared in the last couple of decades, but oddly enough they do not seem to have been designed by people who shoot much.

Let us consider a few of the desiderata which should be available in a bolt-action designed for the 21st century.

A bolt-action should be glassy smooth and instantly operable. The bolt should have a 90 degrees throw, but it should start at 45 degrees below horizontal, as in the Krag, thus obviating the need for a bent bolt handle to stay out of the line of sight. Reduced rotary movement offers illusory advantages in that it increases camming pressure and sacrifices ease of operation.

A modern bolt-action should be instantly convertible from right to left-hand operation. About one customer in six is left-handed, and should not need to put in for special consideration.

The bolt-action should use two, horizontally-opposed locking lugs. Its extractor should not interrupt the circle of the bolt-face, nor should its ejector. (Again, note the Krag bolt-face.)

The modern bolt-action should include a magazine cut-off, a device which I have found eminently useful all my shooting life (which goes back a long way).

The modern bolt-action should feature a rotary box magazine with a shoulder detent to avoid masking soft-point spitzers flat while waiting their turn. (Personally, I would prefer something on the order of Savage 99, but the Mannlicher-type - if made of steel - would do as well.)

The modern bolt-action should permit direct feeding into the chamber without use of the magazine.

The modern bolt-action should feature a strong, simple, single-stage trigger, releasing without apparent motion at 50 oz or a bit less.

While I have certain reservations (along with my good friend and mentor Ian McFarlane of Okavango) about mechanical safety latches, it would be impossible to sell a rifle that did not include one. It should be operable with either hand. It should not extrude from the rifle to catch on things (as is the case with the Winchester three-position safety.) And it should disconnect the trigger and sear from the striker, while at the same time positively locking the striker. (People who count upon a safety latch to render a firearm inoperable are living in a dream world.)

The modern bolt-action should be available in three lengths - short (308), standard (30-06), and long (505 Gibbs).

And last but not least, the modern bolt-action should be factory-fitted with an integral ghost ring aperture sight mounted in the receiver bridge, as was the case with the old ZKK. Telescope sights are here to stay, but they do not invalidate the need for reserve iron sights, and those iron sights should be efficient, as opposed to the V-shaped arrangements now considered factory standard.

There are a couple of extra considerations involving the fitting, bedding and trigger adjustment of the modern bolt-action, but they go into the shop manual.

I don't suppose anyone is going to pay any attention to this sort of thing. Marketing will always be a more important factor to the manufacturers than excellence of design. Besides, the weapons we have been using since the turn of the century have given us excellent service. Still, it is nice to speculate upon the search for excellence, Even if nothing comes of it, it makes good campfire conversation.

"As to the abuses I meet with, I number them among my honors. One cannot behave so as to obtain the esteem of the wise and the good without drawing on oneself at the same time the envy and malice of the foolish and wicked, and the latter is testimony of the former. The best men have always had their share of this treatment, and the more of it in proportion to their different and greater degree of merit. A man, therefore, has some reason to be ashamed of himself when he meets with none of it."

Benjamin Franklin, 1767

It seems that only last June on the "Miracle Mile" (an area that the Countess and I used to frequent in our early days) a goblin attempted to break into an apartment armed with a pistol. He ordered the man to lie down on his face so that he could be bound. I have always wondered how you manage to tie somebody up when you have a firearm ready in your hand. This problem hadn't occurred to the goblin who could think of nothing better to do than to stick the piece in his belt. When he then attempted to proceed with his enterprise, the woman of the couple simply hauled out his pistol and killed him with it.

The dates, again, are: 30 - 31 October.

Vol. 1, No. 6         2 September 1993

KAL 007 Memorial

I do not know who can speak for the "American People " - certainly not I - but street crime I can handle, whereas if I resist the ninja I will almost certainly perish. No reasonably competent man need be afraid of crumby little punks in big cities, but those people in black masks breaking down your doors in the small hours of the morning and backed up by armored vehicles and helicopters are too much for the householder, even if they do tend to be overweight and bad shots.

These are dark times indeed, and we bear up as best we may.

We can but hope that there are plenty of buffalo, and lion, and rhino, wherever he has gone.

"Do you know the advantage of a bolt-action rifle? You do not have to wait for gas to cycle the action."

Ric Wyckoff

"Remember Weaver and Waco. You may be next!"

There are various sociological implications in this tragedy which I will not go into here, but I will only point out that if Miss Biehl had been graduated from Gunsite, she would be alive today. It should be understood that we taught more than just marksmanship in our programs here.

"Only criminals, dictators and democrats fear armed citizens."

Probably we play around too much with cartridge design. This is an acceptable hobby, but rather meaningless in regard to hunting efficiency. Americans are in general overgunned for deer, and thus become used to using extremely flat-shooting, almost explosive bullets which tend to achieve clean kills - and that is good. However, if you take pains to ensure bullet integrity, almost any light or medium caliber will give good service for general shooting in Africa. This is not, of course, to advocate undergunning for dangerous game.

"You only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough."

Fred Allen, via Mark Moritz

Vol. 1, No. 7         21 September 1993

Special Bulletin - World Shoot X

As was expected, the Americans swept the board, taking the first six places overall, the team competition, and first and third places in the real gun category. An American was also highest placed female contestant. Since the game as originally conceived was invented in the United States and since there is a much larger shooting population here, the advantage of the United States in this sort of thing may be expected to continue.

The new Champion of the World is Matthew McLearn, who edged out Rob Latham in the shoot off. In my opinion, the real winner of the occasion was Ted Bonnet, who shot the top score with a perfectly standard service pistol. Practical shooting was originally conceived to be exactly that - practical - but ten years of increasingly unreasonable course design and continued disregard of the power factor in competition equipment has given the field to what some people refer to as rooney guns, which are expensive, unwieldy, and essentially unsuitable for any defensive purpose. They are all fitted with advanced forms of electronic sights, which must be fed from batteries and, which while affording outstanding speed on successive shots, are somewhat of a handicap in acquiring the all-essential first shot out of a leather.

However it is not my intention to denigrate the outstanding performance of the master marksmen who showed up for this occasion. It is true that perhaps the bottom half of the field should not really have endeavored to compete, but the people in the top quadrant must be acknowledged to be very good shots indeed.

In conference assembled, the site selected for the next world champion event will be Brasilia, 600 miles up in the hinterlands of Brazil.

At the conference the distinguished current president of the Confederation, M. Jean-Pierre Denis of Belgium, announced his positive intention of serving only one more year as president. The job of president of lPSC is intimidating, and Jean-Pierre will be very difficult to replace. The Confederation has one year in which to come up with a successor, and as of this moment, I can think of no man who is qualified in every respect to take over the task. Of the half-a-dozen who are possibly technically qualified, there is no one who does not have difficulties with available time, health, wealth, and political acceptability. Clearly such a man will be discovered in due course, but he will be hard-put to follow in Jean-Pierre's footsteps.

The future of the Confederation may be expected to be impeded by various sorts of national and international regulators, who basically object to the concept of practical shooting. The closer practical shooting competition comes to reality the more they object to it.

Personally, I had a fine time. Our accommodations were excellent, and I was able to get in some splendid sightseeing after I had surveyed the courses of fire sufficiently to have an opinion. One thing I discovered to my considerable amusement was the fact that with the heavy, compensated, reduced power, optically sighted instruments in common use, the spray-and-pray technique employed on double stop-plates quite frequently results in stopping the wrong plate. Personally, I feel that the Confederation might well consider going to the 22 rimfire cartridge since there is no attempt at this time to relate the activity to defensive combat. The 22 would be vastly cheaper and even easier to machine-gun.

The top six serious shooters in the contest were: Ted Bonnet of the United States, Brian Enos of the United States, Max Wiegand of Germany, Bob Gates of the United States, Bob Adam of the United Kingdom, and Vidar Nackling of Norway. These people deserve our most serious commendation. Altogether there were 50 competitors who chose to use full-duty sidearms as specified in the Standard Division.

Bob Gates not only used a duty gun, but he used a full-power load, so in a sense he may be considered the moral victor of the tournament.

One thing the British do well is beer. There is plenty of it and it is full-flavored. I saw one competitor - after hours, of course - wander out of the bar with a bottle of Budweiser(!) in his hand. Now Budweiser is all very well in its way, but drinking it in England is like playing croquet in the Olympic Stadium.

Vol. 1, No. 8         29 September 1993

Hunting Season

Let us all thank God for hunting season, one of the endangered aspects of life which may serve to preserve our sanity.

It is certainly not a regular thing for lions to eat tourists, but tourists should remember that it does happen, and there is not much that can be done about it.

"The one absolute certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to be become a tangle of squabbling nationalities."

"Forget 911, dial 1 357."

We are thankful for the policies of Colonel Bob Brown, publisher of Soldier of Fortune, who is determined not to let the matter drop.

We simply must do something about these fat men with face masks and MP5's who shoot down unarmed citizens. Personally, I would not think that the American people would stand for this, but then I am a member of an older generation which took the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution with more than a grain of salt.

In that regard, I advise you to keep your own stocks in good shape. Our enemies may not be able to abrogate the constitution just yet, but there are economic and political means by which they may dry up our ammunition supply.

The Guru

"He did a great job," said Detective Superintendent Albert Patrick.

A great job indeed! One wonders how he would do a bad job.

I note with some dismay that the deputy in question has been exonerated of all suspicion in this occasion.

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and a religious people, it is wholly inadequate for the government of any other."

"If a political solution that everyone can live with can be arranged, the Republic's potential is unbounded. Just think of what South African initiative, technology, know-how and drive can do for the rest of Africa! I would venture that South Africa is black Africa's last, best hope."

Vol. 1, No. 9         October 1993

TR Week '93