Vol. 4, No. 1         January, 1996

Happy New Year!

Be that as it may, we look forward to '96 with cautious optimism. Many excellent things may turn up, so here is to good cheer for the New Year!

The question will arise as to why the hunter should choose a hippo, especially since over the great hunting days of Africa this beast was never considered to be a game animal. He does, however, offer some interesting possibilities. Shooting him in the water is not exciting. While he has been known to attack and destroy a boat, he usually simply sinks and dies under water. On the other hand, if you can insert yourself between a night-grazing hippo and his river, he may afford you as much excitement as you desire - perhaps more. His bulk is enormous and the problem of proper bullet placement is daunting. In his rush for water he is all but unstoppable, and his bite can easily cut a man in two. (We know of two outfitters who will not undertake this operation, believing it to be too dangerous.)

If and when you get your hippo down, various positive features appear. His hide is supposed to make the best leather in the world. His meat is highly prized by the local people, and his rendered fat is considered to be a sovereign remedy for everything from malaria to sprained ankles. His ivory is distinctly superior to that of the elephant for the manufacture of jewelry and accessories, being denser and finer in grain.

Among other things, this adventure will give us one more excuse to take Baby afield. We will use 500-grain solids, and when the opportunity presents itself we will shoot with extreme care.

It is interesting to me that while one cannot yet purchase a production Scout rifle, which ought to be the most useful thing of its kind so far designed, one can now purchase a titanium-plated Anaconda. Food for thought.

(The "Anaconda" I refer to here is the long-barreled Colt revolver in caliber 44-Magnum.)

General Rifle Class	28 April to 3 May
General Pistol Class	14 - 19 July
Gunsite Reunion and Theodore Roosevelt Memorial	18, 19, 20 October	Rich Wyatt - (303) 232-0542
Keneyathlon	17 - 18 June	David Kahn - (303) 697-9495

How about that?

1. The Weaver system. Here the trigger starts back as the weapon starts up, arriving at full-cock exactly as the eye picks up the sight system. This is the system that Jack Weaver used in his mastery of the double-action revolver, and it is the most elegant way of using the DA auto.
2. The point-and-crunch system. This is the least efficient method and the most common. It is practically universal with the unenlightened. To use it the shooter simply points the uncocked weapon at his target and cranks on through. You can hit this way, but not quickly.
3. The thumb-cock system. Here the shooter catches the lowered hammer of his piece with his left thumb as his hands come together in the ready position. He cocks the piece with his thumb as the weapon comes up on target and fires his shot from the fully cocked position. This works. It is as fast as the man can make his hands work, and it affords a precise first shot. Its drawback is that it needs both hands.
4. The shot-cock system. This is not considered politically correct by many departments, but it does work. I have seen it used with startling efficiency on both the range and in the street. With this system the shooter simply flings his first shot down range with no regard for proper stance or sight picture. This cocks the piece and it just may hit the target by accident. However, the pistol is instantly readied for the second shot, which can be placed with precision. I know of no one who teaches this system, but it does work very well, and it is a mistake to pretend it does not exist.

Department of Pretty Arcane Stuff

"As the supernatural world is eternally at work behind events in the natural world, so the world of man-in-nature continues to operate behind the synthetic, abstracted, and unreal world of man outside-of-nature. For that reason alone I shall always hunt elk. (Though, of course, I really don't need any reason.)"

Chilton Williamson, Jr. in Chronicles magazine

Give me a gun,

That's a stout hearted gun,

That sounds off with a soul-stirring roar.

Give me just one,

That's a stout hearted gun,

And I'll soon show you trophies galore, O!

(If it) has a good trigger,

I'll need nothing bigger,

As I load up and step to the fore.

Then, I'll show you man's best friend,

And I'll not ask for more.

One stout hearted gun

Can serve its master evermore.

(Sorry about that!)

The first requirement of a defensive sidearm is stopping power. The shooter must have the best possible chance of terminating the action with one well-directed shot. (It may be pointed out that even more important than stopping power is the need for the weapon to go off when the trigger is pulled. I will have to admit that, but I do not think that failure to fire on the first shot is a problem of any great consequence in current manufacture.)

The second requirement of the defensive pistol is reliability. It must continue to function after the first shot, even though this should not be given great importance.

The third requirement is handiness. If the piece is uncomfortable to wear and to use, it will not be present when needed.

Despite the foregoing, we see a great deal of emphasis placed upon "accuracy." Now certainly a shot which misses its target does no good, but nearly all defensive pistols available today are quite capable of placing all their shots in the center of a man's chest at defensive distances. Correspondents continually write me about systems they might use to increase the accuracy of their defensive pistols, as if they could appreciate the difference between a 3" group and a 5" group at 50 meters! Accuracy increments of this sort are absolutely irrelevant. But the majority of "gun writers" do not seem to see it this way.

And then there is a matter of magazine capacity. "If my piece holds twelve rounds, while yours hold only ten, I win." Here again we are dealing with irrelevance. The highest score I have ever heard of in a pistol fight was five, and that victory was achieved with a 7-round magazine, without reloading. Our late companion Bruce Nelson was once asked in the course of an interview at a police station if it was not a good idea to carry a P35 because of its high capacity magazine. Bruce's response was, "Well, sure, if you plan to miss a lot."

We will see a lot more, of course, at the SHOT Show than a profusion of pistol choices. I will pick out the things which seem most interesting and report back to you in further issues of this Commentary.

" - Sensitivity - makes cowards of us all!"

Florence King

"Yes," one boy said. "They cut off your hands."

"Could that happen here?" Burkett asked, and the students replied with a chorus of "nos."

"Why not?" he said to a girl in the front row.

"Because," she said, "the Constitution gives us the right to keep our arms."

Vol. 4, No. 2         18, January, 1996

Shot Show

It is important to remember that the slimline frame is no disadvantage for a shooter with a large hand, but it is a decisive advantage for a shooter with a small hand.

The project continues underway. Stay tuned!

The objective of the committee is to insure as far as possible that IPSC rifle competition does not go equipment-silly as pistol competition has. The committee could not agree upon a change in the weight ceiling, which now stands at 5 kg. Two members wanted to reduce it, two members wanted to increase it, and one member wanted to have two different limits for the two divisions - self-loading and manually operated rifles.

We did agree upon a new target configuration, which may be displayed either in vertical mode for combat competition or in horizontal mode for hunting competition. This target may be used either in paper or in steel form.

The committee agreed that the largest possible latitude should be permitted the individual region, in view of the various national restrictions imposed upon rifle types. The committee also felt that careful supervision of course design must be enforced to achieve some measure of practicality.

The committee adopted the scoring principle invented by David Kahn for the Keneyathlon, and we will refer to it henceforth as the "K" system. This awards one point for a target shot at and hit with the first shot, no points for a target declined, and deducts two points for a target missed. The "K" system is not to be regarded as exclusive, but rather optional at the choice of the course designer. This is a distinct step forward.

Various other minor points were decided upon, but they are of interest only to those who are to set up IPSC rifle matches.

The report of the rifle committee will be submitted to the world assembly for approval in connection with the world shoot to be held at Brasilia in October of this year.

"Americans, both politicians and voters, may have become corrupted by big government beyond redemption. A virtuous government requires a virtuous people. A frugal government requires a self-reliant people. A free country requires people who value liberty more than money."

Charley Reese

On the good side, the project seems to be well underway and in good hands. Since the new gun will be equipped with flush swivels, we did a certain amount of scurrying around at SHOT to locate a supply for the factory at Steyr. I had thought that they would choose to manufacture these items in their own plant, but due to the low value of the dollar it seems to be more economical for Europeans to purchase parts in the U.S. when they are available. This may also be true of the new rifle.

The new gun will make weight. It will feature the double-detent, and it will take detachable box magazines of either 5 or 10 round capacity with a spare 5 in the butt. As of now it will probably feature the new Leupold scoutscope. It will feature the Ching Sling in combination with an integral bipod.

God speed the day!

On a second point, I now note that there are people referring to any sort of aperture sight as a "ghost-ring". The essential quality of the ghost-ring is a large aperture combined with a thin rim which disappears when looked through, thus a "ghost." This idea was not mine, as both Karamojo Bell and E.C. Crossman mentioned it back in the early twenties. The term "ghost-ring", however, is mine and I wish people would take care to use it correctly.

In my opinion this is a definitive example of a piece which is made to own rather than to shoot. It is not at all clear that it will kill an elephant or a buffalo or a hippo any better than a well placed hit from a 470, and, of course, it will not do anything with a badly placed hit except annoy the recipient. As I see it, this combination should be referred to as the "577 Dundee." You keep it available in your armory so that when people start talking about the power of their rifles you can break yours out and say, "That's not a rifle. THIS is a rifle!"

In the first place, the direction taken by a ricochet has nothing whatever to do with the weapon, cartridge, its design, or its manufacturer. In the second place, being hit by a spent bullet is rather exhilarating. In a long shooting lifetime I have been hit at least half-a-dozen times by spent bullets, none of which drew any blood. In each case I thought the experience rather fun.

The war cry, of course, remains "It's not the principle of the thing, it's the money!"

(He lost.)

In my opinion the best feature of the Blaser (though it offers many excellent features) is its unique trigger action, which operates without a sear. This makes the R93 Blaser the most "hitable" production rifle available today. Triggers on other pieces may be customized to satisfaction, though in the U.S. this introduces liability problems, but the Blaser has only one trigger action and it works only one way.

We were amused by two visiting Swiss shooters who noted loftily that the Swiss service rifle offered a straight-pull action way back before World War I, but a straight-pull per se offers little in the way of speed of operation, and usually exchanges it for complexity. A straight-pull is indeed a little faster than a turn-bolt, but not, in my opinion, enough to offer a serious advantage in the field. It takes a split second for the shooter to recover from recoil and get back on target (assuming he needs a second shot), but in that split second a good man can operate a turn-bolt as quickly as he can deliver his second shot.

This puts me in the way of a difficult decision. I must decide whether to take to Africa in March the Lion Scout, which I dearly love, or the Blaser, with which I am enchanted. Tough choice!

On the shotgun the coaxial floodlight may be a distinct advantage in a police entry through a darkened house. One should not use the light as a means of assuring hits, but simply to illuminate the target, which may be hit in more conventional fashion. On the other hand, the laser seems to me more of a hindrance than a help. We tested coaxial lasers at some length here at Gunsite several years ago and came to the conclusion that they tend to slow down the stroke as the shooter attempts to find where his orange dot is located. For specialized use at mid-range a coaxial laser does pretty well on a rifle, but this calls for some sort of target identification such as a star shell or flare gun operated by somebody else. Also a coaxial laser reveals the shooter in ways which may prove very dangerous upon occasion.

Well, I intend to keep trying.

"Television makes dictatorship impossible, but democracy intolerable."

Shimon Peres

Vol. 4, No. 3         February, 1996

Mid-Winter

I seem to have sprung my right knee in painful fashion, but I refuse to let that interfere with my shooting activities. If I must be forced to let others do all the running and jumping - for the time being - I will be content to move and shoot carefully. In Africa you do not turn your back and run away. Anything that is big enough to kill you can easily outrun you.

I can cite two campaigns which were called off when the beer supply ran out. You may remember that the proprietor of one of the early English exploratory expeditions of the New World was threatened with hanging when he returned to Britain because he did not supply enough beer, and the crew had to make it all the way back to England on nothing but water. The guy who promulgated this order simply "doesn't know where it's at," to use the modern vulgar parlance.

As to personal weapons, to deny a soldier his weapons is to negate his existence as a soldier.

But, of course, these people of ours in the Balkans are not soldiers, they are peacekeepers, according to their Commander-in-Chief, who seems to have had his own difficulties with history.

I have found these points to be generally true, but not exclusively so. While one of my favorite cartridges is the ancient and honorable 30-06, another is what may be called the "350 Remington Magnum, Improved" for which ammunition must be custom made-to-order.

One of the outstanding requirements of the Scout rifle is that it takes the 308 cartridge, which is universally available worldwide, but one wonders in this day of modern transportation methods if there really is any danger of running out of the personal supply carried by the shooter.

One of the things that seems to have been moderately common back in the great hunting days, when distances had to be covered by packstring or porter, was that loads could be lost under rigorous conditions. When the mule carrying the ammunition pack lost his footing and plunged over the lip of the waterfall, there would be little hope of re-supply at the next trading post if the ammunition was not of a standard pattern. These conditions no longer apply, and on hunts shorter than thirty days or less one needs only enough of his particular brand for zeroing and record shots, a number rarely exceeding 20 rounds.

Thus it is that I think the notion of "over-the-counter re-supply" is essentially trivial. Even as World War II fades into the past it is well to remember that "Red Mike" Edson, battalion commander on Guadalcanal and later president of the NRA, opined that under conditions of more or less continuous engagement the trooper could get along very well on 25 rounds a week. This idea would probably cause a modern ordnance specialist to faint dead away.

In any case, my suspicions of the wildcat concept have been allayed with time.

The heart shot is not normally a quick stopper, unless the weapon is of more than adequate power for its task. A heart-shot quadruped normally runs off like the wind, only to drop after a fairly short distance. Likewise the human goblin may be shot through the heart and still have sufficient time in action to take care of the person who fired the shot.

This was a fine performance and hailed as heroism downunder, but it simply corroborates the fact that the human hyenas of the world are astonished and dismayed when their intended victims fight back. The answer to street violence is counterattack rather than more jails.

For a soldier to decide whether the order he receives from his superiors is lawful or not is a very sticky wicket. Theoretically it is not up to the man receiving the order, but the Nuremburg trials set the precedent that it was. Here we have a real can of worms, but I hope that the court finds for Spc New, and that after discharge he runs for Congress.

"For several decades we in law enforcement decried the ineffectiveness of the 38 Special cartridge, as compared to better rounds such as the 357 Magnum and the 45 ACP. It is very hard for us to understand, on a personal level, the great acceptance the 9mm has enjoyed among the American law enforcement community, and to a great extent with the many civilian gunwriters who support it as ideal for personal defense. If, in the real world, a 9mm bullet will do anything a 38 Special bullet will not do, I have not seen any evidence of it. Somewhat tongue in cheek, the only advantage we have seen of a high-capacity 9mm semiautomatic pistol over a simple 38 Special revolver is that it allows the shooter to miss more often."

The great weakness of the Scout concept is that one cannot get one now. You can have one made to order if you find the right source, but it will not be perfect and it will take both time and money. Eventually, God willing, the production scout from Steyr-Mannlicher will be available over the counter. Meanwhile, one is best advised to stay with the rifle he has and try to avoid going grey while waiting.

An interesting parallel.

Pondering these points I see more reason in the use of the lance in recent cavalry actions, as by the British in India and Africa. The lance affords more reach than the saber and it is only at a disadvantage in the melee or mixup after the charge has been delivered, in which I for one would be much happier with a pistol.

"In this country we have no place for hyphenated Americans."

Theodore Roosevelt

"Tell the American people never to lose their guns. As long as they keep their guns in their hands what's happened here will never happen there."

"During the mandatory segment on Post Operational Trauma, as required by the State of Texas, I am compelled to inform the students that if they do 'ice a goblin,' they may need to seek psychiatric counseling to help them deal with the guilt and remorse that often follows. During that whole session, 'Gunny' Gillis kept cocking his ear, raising his hand and croaking, 'What?, What is it?' It seems that Gunny had never heard of P.O.T., it having not been invented by psychologists until after his day. He had known some people with frazzled nerves from living on the edge for weeks at a time, but this was something new to him and he couldn't quite grasp the concept. All he knew was that after he had carried his flame-thrower all over Tarawa, he was just plain relieved and glad that it was over."

Gary L. Swan, Marion, Texas

"God give us men of such a type as the time demands.
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and willing hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking;
Tall men, sun crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty and in private thinking;
For while the rabble with their thumb worn creeds,
Their profession and their little deeds
Mingle in selfish strife; lo; Freedom weeps;
Wrong rules the land, and waiting justice sleeps."

From Zarapath News,
published by the Scottish Rite, Davenport, Iowa

Vol. 4, No. 4         March, 1996

The Ides of March

This year the "Guru's Gold" ring will go to the man placing in the first five who uses the lightest rifle, providing his rifle does not weigh more than 3 kilograms. (Last year the lightest rifle in contention was too heavy.)

On the downside, it comes out of the box with a factory trigger that should not happen to a BATman. (Apparently the people in Anchorage feel that trigger action does not matter in arms-length confrontations. Every man to his own opinion, of course, but I disagree with this. For me a delicate trigger is the single most important feature in the precise placement of the snapshot.) Riflemaster John Gannaway is at work on this, and we may be able to fix it prior to delivery next month in Africa. Despite sandpaper surfaces between hammer and sear, which may be smoothed out, the angle of engagement is such that trigger pressure actually cams the hammer back a tad before releasing it, requiring the trigger finger to work against the mainspring. This arrangement is not unheard of on primitive-type weapons and may properly be termed "the hammercammer trigger." It can be corrected by a good gunsmith, but not all gunsmiths are good. We shall see.

Another negative, if minor feature, is the cross-bolt hammer-block now installed on most lever-guns by the liability agents. This gadget is referred to as a "safety," but on the contrary it could be lethal in a confrontation with anything dangerous. When it is pressed to the right it does not block the trigger nor interfere with hammer fall, it simply prevents the hammer from falling on the primer. In one of Peter Capstick's more memorable observations, "The most terrifying sound in nature is not the roar of a charging lion, nor the whistle of a descending bomb; rather it is a click when you expect a bang." The sort of mishap this invites is not serious in a deer gun, since all it will do is lose you your deer, but in a lion gun it might well get you killed. Fortunately it is easily de-activated.

The butt stock, at 13 inches, is a little too long for the instantaneous gun mount to the shoulder, and the square-cut heel of the butt tends to snag in this sort of action. Both these minor drawbacks are quickly correctable.

I have acquired a butt-cuff for this little piece, which seems to me particularly advisable in view of the side loading system of the lever gun which permits "topping off" without taking eyes off target.

A plus feature is a 6-port muzzle brake, which actually does seem to work. The recoil of a 7 lb 45-70 might be expected to be brisk, but in our piece it was not more noticeable than that of a medium-weight 308. In theory a muzzle brake should not work, since by the time the gasses can work upon the baffles, the rearward impetus of the weapon has already been actuated. The fact is, however, that well-designed muzzle brakes do work, whether or not they should.

All together the Arctocrat strikes us as a nifty little item, and it should prove sensational when we introduce it to the South African Professional Hunters Association.

Regardless of taxation, there are other and much more important issues at stake at the forthcoming presidential election, and I can do without Budweiser.

In my opinion - which is clearly not unanimously held - the 308 or 30-06 will do everything that needs doing, short of buffalo and the pachyderms. Bullet placement, of course, is the key. We cleaned house on the Babamkulu adventure of 1994 using the 308/180. On our forthcoming hunt we expect to depend on the 30-06/180 and anticipate no trouble. (This does not include our projected hippopotamus, on which we intend to use Baby, with 500-grain solids.)

Earlier this year family member Bill O'Connor slew his nilgai in Texas with the 308/180, which apparently confounded a number of observers who insisted that the nilgai is too tough an animal for that.

Galland was undoubtedly one of the dozen or so greatest aviators of all time, and his legendary exploits are too numerous to mention. Among other things, his "The First and the Last" stands as the definitive reference for those who would study World War II from the German side. But more than his outstanding capacities as a warrior, Adolf Galland was distinguished as a gentleman, which is an almost extinct species. In the Age of the Common Man, a gentleman is hard to find. The cause for which Galland fought was lost - fortunately for us - but he acquitted himself beyond reproach, and he well deserves his place in the Hall of Fame.

So here is a case in which the commandment "Front sight, surprise" does not apply.

Moral: "Do not get between an elephant and his booze."

Vol. 4, No. 5         April, 1996

Interim Sitrep

Neither did we actually shoot the renowned G6 field gun, but we did have a chance to explore it thoroughly in person, and we were treated to an excellent promotional film on the subject. Not much was lost, however. I ought to know by now what a canon sounds like when it goes off.

I was able to deliver the Marlin "Co-pilot" from Wild West in Alaska to its new home as a lion-stopper in Africa. This piece, as you know, is a cutdown and customized version of the Marlin Model 95 45-70. It was much admired in the field, and one of its most admired features was a sighting system I proposed, which consists of a brilliant red shrouded bead front and a Steve Wickert ghost-ring rear. This is about the fastest arrangement I have seen, and considering that the weapon will not ordinarily be used beyond a range of 25 meters, it is every bit as precise as the shooter can make it.

The action handled a sock full of 500-grain reloads without a hitch, and the muzzle brake holds recoil down to a surprisingly comfortable level.

Danie intends to use this piece on buffalo - just for experimental purposes. I cannot recommend the 45-70 cartridge as a buffalo gun, but up close and in the hands of a very cool marksman it may do very well. We shall see.

"Hunting is an intense personal experience. It is a conviction at the very core of our being, just as the love of our spouse or parents. Using men as an example, ask for a public testimony from most men about the wife they love, and their brains begin to melt down. They stutter, find themselves at a loss for words and generally are ineffectual, but let them be threatened by the loss of a spouse and suddenly even the most withdrawn husband can be eloquent."

Dr. Bill Morrill, in Safari Times

It was indeed delightful for an old codger, such as I, to watch his offspring deliver perfectly with an action designed in 1903 and a cartridge designed in 1906 - which is even before my time. On the other hand, the new technology was employed in a high-strength, light-weight composition stock from Robbie Barrkman, and the new Leupold scoutscope. This new glass, available only this year, took one extremely hard knock in the course of a wild ride in the hunting car, and when we rechecked the zero we found it had held solid without error of any kind.

This contest is challenging, amusing, and can be hilarious. We did not actually run it at the Founders Reunion, but I commend it to all and sundry. ("Sundry" being those who do not yet have their concealed carry permits.)

Vol. 4, No. 6         May, 1996

Spring is Here

As usual the media did their best to denigrate the Association, partly by ignoring it and partly by malicious rumor. There was no notice of our activities in the Dallas Morning News, and rumors were circulated to the effect that we are losing membership and going broke. We are doing nothing of the kind. Membership is up, and the treasurer's report shows us well in the black.

It was amusing to encounter a small group of anti-gun activists outside the convention center. When approached by various spokesmen for our cause, these people shriveled up and took refuge in misdirected vituperation. It is so easy to destroy the logical position of a hoplophobe that such people do well to avoid debate. They are quite ready to publish their foolishness, but they wisely shrink from debate. Hoplophobia is, after all, not a reasoned position, but rather a mental aberration. Being basically emotional, it is a feeling rather than an examined forensic position.

Since we have already fabricated the Guru's Gold ring as a prize for the best performance in the Keneyathlon, we will undertake to present this to the best performance at the practical rifle match scheduled for 13, 14 July at Whittington Center. This means the best performance by a practical rifle, as opposed to a target rifle. Contact:

Now I note the term "catch and release" hunting applied by the admirable outdoor writer John Barsness. This refers to the act of passing up a viable shot to wait for another day. I have practiced this various times in the past, but never without simulating the shot. When a good rifleman feels the striker snap forward he knows, because of what he sees in his sights, where his shot is going to go. If he does not simulate this, the point is not made. Therefore when I have encountered a situation in which I had the rifle and was unwilling to take the animal, I have always carefully removed the round from the chamber, assumed the best possible firing position, and pressed the trigger. This, I think, is the proper method to use if you like the idea of catch and release hunting.

Now it appears that "the authorities" are attempting to pin something on the victim, on the grounds that while one is entitled to defend himself, he is not entitled to retaliate. This view point, while widely held, strikes a very sour note with those of us who were raised to revere the dignity of the common man. Following this reasoning, if a goblin walks up to you in a mall, sticks you with a stiletto and then flees, you are supposed to burst into tears and call the police. This seems to me a poor idea.

I call your attention to the book "No Duty To Retreat" by Richard Maxwell Brown, published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 1991. In this work the author explores the legal basis for the idea of retaliation, and he concludes that both historically and legally the idea that one should retreat from violence, rather than take preventive action, has no basis in fact. This does not end the argument by any means, as in today's climate of opinion certain social workers seem hell-bent to protect the perpetrator from his prey. The book, however, provides excellent ammunition for those of us who feel that a man is not a rabbit.

It is interesting to note that in South Africa at this time lethal force may be used by the victim of a crime if it is necessary to save his life - or if it is necessary to prevent the escape of the perpetrator. There it is held that a citizen is duty bound to arrest the perpetrator of a violent felony committed in his presence. It must be established that the victim was actually endeavoring to make an arrest. This is most easily accomplished by shouting "You are under arrest. Stop!" at the top of your voice. Since it has been proven that the only thing a violent criminal has to fear is his victim, it would certainly seem that this South African procedure has much merit.

If you want a good rifle trigger out of the box you will have to look for it overseas. As we have mentioned, the trigger on the Blaser is the peak performer in the world at this time, but it is also true that Steyr Mannlicher will put a trigger in a production gun which is so good that the shooter really cannot ask for anything more.

I am pleading with the manufacturer to place the weapon before us in 1997, but as of now the release date is '98.

This item, as now examined and photographed, is not just an improvement, but rather a great leap forward. It should constitute the practical rifle of the 21st century.

I note that the mighty 120 smooth-bore gun of the Abrams tank has no muzzle brake, but then a smooth-bore weapon recoils distinctly less than a rifled piece of the same power. One of these days we will have to set up a lecture program at one of the gun shows on this subject of recoil reduction.

Vol. 4, No. 7         June, 1996

Summer is Icumen In

In this connection I would like to propose the descriptive logo NPC for "Not Politically Correct." This trade mark could then be stamped upon almost everything of value anyone of adequate liberal education should regard as required reading. The list would include, for starters, the Old Testament, the Koran, the Merchant of Venice, the Arthurian Legends, Huckleberry Finn, Jock of the Bushveldt, Denatured Africa, Greenhills of Africa, many of the works of Rudyard Kipling, most of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and (modestly) Another Country - amongst many, many others. If we could bring ourselves to label the good books of the world NPC, we might save a lot of wasted reading time. As far as I can tell when someone is careful to be "politically correct" today he talks like a fool.

In this line a correspondent recently complained to the magazine (not to me) about my mention of the "shot-cock" system as a means of operating the trigger-cocking pistol. This shot-cock system, in case you have not caught the argument, is a firing stroke by which the shooter plants his first round as quickly as he possibly can from the hammer-down position, cocking with the trigger. He pays little attention to precise control of the shot, but concentrates on getting it off as rapidly as possible so that he can place his second shot from the cocked position - with accompanying precision. The correspondent in this case claims that I must be out of my mind in that such a procedure is an invitation to negligent discharge. In the first place it is not, since the shooter fires his first shot in the general direction of his adversary. It may actually hit, though it usually does not, but it is not a negligent discharge. Certainly I do not teach this system, since I consider it a sloppy answer to an unfortunate mechanical contrivance, but to deny that it exists would be foolish. I have seen it work on the range, and I know of a case where it was used on the street in Phoenix with decisive success. On the range I once saw a student place second in the shoot off, though not once did he hit his target with his first shot. I had not taught him this but he had worked it out for himself, and I cannot condemn him for that.

Our critic goes on further to say that the thumb-cocking system, by means of which the pistol is cocked with the left thumb as it comes up on target, is technically unworkable. In class work I always permit any student who is stuck with a trigger-cocking pistol either to thumb-cock or to use the crunch-tick system, whichever seems best to him. Thumb-cocking wins almost every time.

It seems that my correspondent is operating from an unsound base, not having had the experience to see what works in practice, but rather worrying primarily about the deadly danger of negligent discharge. I have taught thousands of pistol shooters, and I cannot remember the last time we had a negligent discharge on the range.

Curiously enough, the hostility I detect expends itself in personal insult rather than attention to the facts. One does not win arguments by casting aspersions at one's opposition, but rather by careful presentation of the pertinent facts, but then we do not teach debating skills in schools anymore, as far as I know.

"Environmentalists do not want to live in or work with nature, they want to manage it from a distance."

Chilton Williamson in Chronicles

Still, one gets nothing free. The drawback of the muzzle-brake is apparent blast as the propelling gases are deflected sidewise, and in some cases rearward toward the shooter. Whether a novice shooter is inclined to flinch more from recoil than from blast is a matter of the individual. I prefer to leave muzzle-brakes off the weapon unless they are definitely needed, and that need can only be really determined by the shooter himself.

Who'd a thunk it!

Just how far this legislation has progressed we are not sure, but apparently this semi-auto ban has passed.

Do you suppose that the dubious social heritage of the Australian people has brought about this situation? When one considers that the previous prime minister was presented with a grandchild permanently addicted to heroin, we might lend support to this theory. Let us remember that "an armed society is a polite society" and a disarmed society is a rude society, as the history of the 20th century forcefully emphasizes.

The Guru

Rather than arguing the point, the president decreed a press conference at dawn the following morning. He arrived promptly, dressed in full flying gear, and told the assembled reporters to pick out a spokesman. When this was done the president escorted the spokesman to the storehouse in which all parachutes were stored and had him pick out any one at random. When this was done the president donned the parachute and climbed aboard a two-seater jet fighter plane, piloting it himself. He circled the field, and when ready, rolled on his back and bailed out. In the parachute he guided himself to a stand-up landing in front of the press corps, whereupon he shrugged out of his harness and said, "Now, let's everybody get back to work."

That was macho. Don't put it down.

"Without freedom there will be no firearms among the people; without firearms among the people there will not long be freedom. Certainly there are examples of countries where the people remain relatively free after the people have been disarmed, but there are no examples of a totalitarian state being created or existing where the people have personal arms."

Neal Knox

But there are people who still push this "post operational trauma" foolishness, and far too many of them are in the police service. As we have sometimes said, "There is nothing wrong with winning a fight. There is a great deal wrong with losing one."

This matter may also affect our view on detachable telescope sights, which in the past have not proved satisfactory. It is possible that modern technology and modern metallurgy have changed this, and while we still think it a poor idea to take the telescope off a rifle without re-zeroing, we will have to study this matter more fully.

A good many of the unenlightened feel that the shooting sling is too slow into operation, apparently never having practiced its quick acquisition. The military loop sling can be locked on in five seconds - the speed slings (C.W. and Ching) in about one. Clearly the shooting sling is of no value in the offhand position, nor from a rest, but in the tundra or the desert it comes on strongly - and often in orchard bush. (I once decked a running buffalo with Baby, shooting from "jackass prone" and using the Ching Sling. This was the longest buffalo shot I know of - 175 paces.)

Modern flush sockets, used with the hammerhead attachments, make a speed sling instantly ready to mount or to remove. "Don't leave home without it."

Vol. 4, No. 8         July, 1996

The Glorious Fourth

Certainly, in terms of physical well-being, we have surpassed any political achievement in history, but whether we have made much progress in our search for personal liberty remains an open question. We can still vote, but sometimes one wonders whether that is enough. No king or emperor from the past ever attempted to heckle, harass and regulate the personal behavior of his subjects the way our bureaucracy does now. On top of the millions of authorized busybodies on the public payroll, we now have seen erected a sort of informal "thought police" which makes a joke of the idea of free speech. Only those who do not hold jobs may now speak their minds without fear of administrative punishment. It was Socrates who was put to death (gently) for speaking too freely in ancient Greece. We have not yet begun to execute the politically incorrect, but the example of Marge Schott certainly gives us cause for alarm.

So let us by all means celebrate our nation's Independence Day (without privately operated fireworks, of course), but while we take pleasure in what we have achieved, we must not forget what we have lost. The handwriting is certainly on the wall. Let us take heed!