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Updated: 1 week 1 day ago

Name this cartridge and win.

Tue, 05/20/2014 - 15:37
  The first to comment and name this cartridge correctly wins a copy of my book, Shooters Guide to the AR.

Magic Magnet

Tue, 05/20/2014 - 08:59
Here is a neat piece of kit from a Viridian. Unlike Crimson Trace who has the patented instant activation, Viridian has to use a push button located on the laser device. No, this is not as intuitive but, by installing a magnet in the holster the Viridian laser can be activated on the draw. To show how this magnetic activation works, Viridian develoepd a counter mat with a magnet inside it so when you pick the handgun up off the mat at the dealer, the laser comes on. Then, some smart guy suggested that a mat like this would be a perfect addition to a home gun safe so that when a person grabs there handgun from the safe, the laser comes on. So, Viridian will soon be offering these storage mats for folks with Viridian lasers. You just turn the Viridian laser on your handgun on and place it on the mat and it shuts off. When you pick your handgun up, the laser comes on and is ready to use. Simple but innovative.

You may not want to look at this photo.

Mon, 05/19/2014 - 15:56
What could be better than an AR? Stop, before you bombard me with comments that a good lever gun is better than an AR or heaven forbid, some sort of shotgun, today I had the opportunity to handle the Gilboa Snake. This is a short barreled, siamese version of an AR 15; two ARs hooked together at birth. It has everything you would expect from some sort of gun that had been exposed to Chernobyl like radiation. Two barrels, two magazines, two gas systems and two triggers. What’s it good for? The answer should be obvious; it can waste twice the ammo of a standard AR at twice the speed. The cost of admission will be about three grand and the good news is that even though this is two guns in one, you only need one optic. Some folks will have to have one. I have had all I want of it and if you live in New York, Connecticut or California, and if you are reading this, you have probably already committed some sort of heinous felony that requires you to forfeit your first born and then donate your basement to homeless zombies. Please don’t blame me if you look at the photo below and the thought police show up at your door. Remember, you are being watched.

Return of Marlin’s 1894

Sun, 05/18/2014 - 21:10
When Remington purchased Marlin Firearms and moved the company from New Haven, Connecticut to Ilion, New York, many gun owners worried that Marlin would be swallowed up and lost. Many also worried that quality would suffer. The former did not happen, the latter did. it was not because Remington intended to diminish the quality of guns with Marlin roll marked on the side, it was because building Marlin lever action rifles was not as easy as they thought. The machinery at Marlin was old and worn and each and every gun required a bit of handwork to get it out the door. When all that was attempted at Ilion, it just did not work and the rifle that probably suffered the most was the 1894. For that reason, pre Ilion 1894 rifles have been bringing a premium; I’ve seen them go for as much as $ 1500! And no, I’m not talking about old 1894s. Efforts were rededicated and just the other day when I went by my local gun shop to pick up some test rifles, a brand new 1894 was among the group. I’d like to tell you that I have been pulling the trigger on that rifle endlessly but the very next day – today – I had to load up and drive to Norfolk to participate in a round table with a variety of manufacturers. What I will tell you is that after handling that rifle I can say without hesitation it might be the best...

Test

Wed, 05/14/2014 - 20:49

Remington’s Black Belt Bullet (Guns & Ammo Teaser)

Tue, 05/13/2014 - 08:35
A few months back, back when winter would not leave us, I spent several days testing a new handgun bullet from Remington. The bullet or ammunition is called Black Belt and it is an appropriate name since the bullet has a Black Belt around it. My tests exposed the bullet to a reasonably intense evaluation and the full report can be read in what will be my first contribution to Guns & Ammo magazine (August Issue.) The Black Belt is a defensive handgun bullet that delivers bonded bullet performance at non-bonded prices. This video will give you a glimpse of what you will see in the article.   Additionally, this post deserves two sidebars. The first deals with terminal performance testing bullets and 10% ordnance gelatin. I’ve had some readers criticize my use of gel blocks that do not meet FBI requirements. I’ve also had them question whether the gel blocks I use have been calculated. It seems there has been so much written about 10% ordnance gelatin that it, and the FBI’s test protocol, have become the last word with regard a bullet’s terminal performance and wound analysis. The reason I do not use FBI size blocks is because I do not work for the FBI and the reason I do not calibrate my blocks with a BB gun is because I do not work with the FBI. I also do not do the calibration exercise because...

Book Give-A-Way

Fri, 05/09/2014 - 13:58
Staring today, anyone who purchases a copy of my new book, Shooter’s Guide to the AR, will be entered for a chance to win a copy of the new Berger Bullet load manual that has been autographed by Walt Berger. Contest ends next Friday, May 17 and only one Berger Bullet manual will be given away. Only purchases direct from Empty Cases qualify. you can order below or click HERE to learn more about the Shooter’s Guide to the AR. ORDER YOUR COPY NOW ONLY 75 AUTOGRAPHED COPIES AVAILABLE (If you would like your copy personalized, e-mail specific instructions after you place your order.) Choose Shipping Book Rate Postage $20.00 USDPriority Mail $25.00 USD

Upside Down Confirmation

Fri, 05/09/2014 - 12:54
Back in March we posted here about my concept, upside down, post reticle. I know that to many shooters the concept is foreign but its kind of like French Fries dipped in milkshake; you cannot appreciate the idea until you try it. My friends at Nightforce Optics apparently did not think the notion ludicrous, they read that post and then offered to install their International Hunting Reticle in a 1-4X Nightforce Compact riflescope and let me give it a try. Its nice to have friends in low (the right) places. As a side note, the IHR reticle is an illuminated reticle but without serious re-engineering, Nightforce could not illuminate my upside down sample.) I mounted this scope on my MVP CUR in .25-45 Sharps and I’ve been shooting this rifle/scope combo a good deal. While engaging targets at point blank range the reticle seems to work similarly to any other reticle, at longer ranges is where it shines. To simulate this, I zeroed the scope so that the bullet struck eight inches low at 100 yards, which is about like it would strike at 200 yards with a 100 yard zero. (This is with the 117 grain Core-Lokt RN at 2300 fps.) By shooting at a five inch circle target at 100 yards form the seated position, I found that my engagements times were just slightly faster with the upside down post than with a standard duplex style reticle. And,...

Magazine Stock

Fri, 05/09/2014 - 12:04
I’ve been spending a lot of time on the range with my CUR in .25-45 Sharps. It has become the rifle that is most available around the house here at Shadowland and there will soon be a rack on the Ranger where it will spend a lot of time. And, while I’m a guy that believes an unloaded gun is somewhat pointless, there are times when I like to have a gun unloaded with ammo readily available. In West Virginia, like in many states, you cannot be hunting and have a loaded firearm in a vehicle. (In WV this does not apply to personal protection handguns.) What I needed was a way to keep a loaded magazine close to and available for the CUR. Stumbling around on the Internet I found a unique stock accessory from Blackhawk. It straps on to the butt stock and will hold one 20 or 30 round or two 5 or 10 round AR 15 magazines. Originally designed for AR 15s, it works perfectly for the Mossberg MVP. If you have an MVP chambered for the 5.56 NATO or the .300 Blackout or, if you plan on converting one to .25-45 Sharps, this is almost a must have. Now I can store the rifle unloaded in a vehicle or anywhere else I desire and a fully loaded magazine or two are readily available. At $ 25.99 each, I ordered two of them. After all, I do have two CURs built on MVPs.

Absolutely Certain

Thu, 05/08/2014 - 13:12
The mosquitos kept their distance because of the mopane wood smoke from the fire. That hadn’t been the case when we were in the swamp. Sitting by the fire, alone, I mulled over the course of events and calculated what I’d done wrong. It wasn’t that I’d made a bad shot that bothered me so much; we all make bad shots from time to time. It was that I had shot at all. Africa will test you in many ways. With four safaris under my belt, I’d known that. Still, sometimes we get caught up in the moment. This can lead to bad decisions you make all on your own and it can also cause you to follow instructions that have been given by someone else who is caught up in the moment, like your professional hunter. If hunting weren’t exciting, it would not be worth doing. The thing is, sometimes we have to experience lots of hunting to learn things about hunting, and about ourselves. The 125-yard shot was doable with the lever gun but it was not prudent. Buffalo were everywhere and I had five more days to hunt them. However, after having sit in the hot sun, within 50 yards of a heard of more than a hundred, for three hours, maybe it was the hot sun that mad altered my state of mind. No, I’m not making excuses; I’m simply relating what can happen. It had been a long day, I was tired and so was my PH. We should have backed off and given it...

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

Tue, 05/06/2014 - 08:35
On June 12, 2013 Empty Cases announced a give-a-way in conjunction with Gunsite Academy. The prize was a tuition free week of training at Gunsite and all you had to do to qualify was order a copy of my book, Handgun Training for Personal Protection, from the Gunsite Pro Shop. A winner has been selected at random and it is Chad Cross from Montgomery, Alabama. Now, all Chad has to do is decide which one of the many excellent Gunsite Academy courses he wants to attend. (I’m secretly hoping Chad is not a shotgun kind of guy.) As a bonus I’m going to send Chad a copy of my new book, The Gun Digest Shooter’s Guide to the AR 15. We’d like to offer a special thanks to Gunsite for making this give-a-way possible. Gunsite Academy was founded by COL Jeff Cooper in 1976 and quickly became, and has remained, the premier firearms training location in the world. My wife, son and I have all graduated from Gunsite and I hope both of my daughters will too. For more information on Gunsite and why it matters, click HERE.

The CUR and the Core-Lokt

Mon, 05/05/2014 - 16:41
If you have been following along here, you know I have been excited about the semi-custom MVP rifles I’ve been working with. I call them CURs (conditional Utility Rifles) and you can read more about them HERE. You’ll also know, as it should be clear in THIS POST, that I’m a fan of Remington’s Core-Lokt bullet. CUR # 2 is chambered for the .25-45 Sharps and I’ve been struggling to find a bullet that would increase its terminal performance. (I don’t need reach with this rifle, I need effectiveness.) Working against the overall cartridge length mandated by the AR 15 magazine, limits heavy bullet options but I got to thinking and that can be a dangerous thing for a gun writer and doubly dangerous when the gun writer is a hillbilly. I puled some 117 grain round nose Core-Lokt bullets from Remington 257 Roberts ammo and found that when crimped at the cannelure they worked perfect in the AR 15 magazines. I convinced Remington to send me a handful of these bullets and loaded them up with some AA 2200 powder, which is the best powder I’ve found for the .25-45 Sharps. Muzzle velocity was only about 2300 fps but this did not worry me except with regards to bullet expansion. I spent most of today doing research for another article by shooting some new Winchester handgun ammo into 10% ordnance...

Red Jacket MVP

Mon, 05/05/2014 - 08:02
While I was working on building two CURs, using the Mossberg MVP as a base platform, Mossberg was secretly teaming with Red Jacket to offer their own updated version of the MVP. No, the Red Jacket branded MVP is not a CUR but it is an upgraded version of the MVP. The most notable upgrade is the synthetic stock with a push button adjustable comb and the soft touch Mosscote finish. Two Red Jacket MVPs will be offered on the compact action and one on the short action. Available chamberings will be .223 Remington, .300 Blackout and .308 Winchester. All three come with a threaded barrel and suppressor ready muzzle brakes. And, all three rifles come with fast twist barrels for shooting either high BC long range or suppressed bullets. I got to handle one of the compact Red Jacket MVPs at the NRA Annual Meetings and I really liked the stock. It allows for precise shooter eye to sight alignment and the soft touch stock was, pardon the pun, a nice touch. The MVP has made Mossberg a serious player in the hunting / tactical rifle arena and the new Red Jacket rifles are further evidence that Mossberg is going to continue to innovate.  Something tells me there is more to come just around the corner. Do I like the Red Jacket MVP as much as my CUR? Nope, but that’s the great thing about the CUR concept, with a little hillbilly...

Turkey Hunting is Stupid Part III – Calling in the Expert

Thu, 05/01/2014 - 13:48
Not being a professional turkey hunter and seeing how my son wanted to shoot a turkey bird with his grandfather’s old model 12, 16 gauge, I called one in. Calling in a professional turkey hunter seemed much easier than calling in a turkey; this is probably because there are more professional turkey hunters than turkeys. On the specified day the expert showed up. I was a bit surprised to discover his camo pants did not match his camo shirt or even his camo turkey vest. But, when he spread that vest open, like a big gobbler shaking the morning dew from his wings, my eyes caught a glimpse of what looked to be a dozen, hand crafted slate call strikers. Impressive! Figuring the birds would not stand a chance with a real professional in tow, Bat and I headed out to the woods with the expert. I also knew he was an expert because he talked of things like putts and purrs, grand slams and spurs. A real turkey talker he was. Course, that fancy Remington VersaMax shotgun he was carrying – which might have cost as much as his turkey calls – served as final confirmation this man was the real deal; a feathered warrior. It was foggy and when our expert caller hit his first note, the hens went to chattering and a gobbler sounded like he yelled at them and told them to stop. They didn’t. Well, that’s until they flew down from the roost. Then...

Grandpa’s Lesson

Wed, 04/30/2014 - 13:13
He dropped out of school in third grade and worked the family farm until he was old enough to get a job at a coalmine. Before he reached voting age, he fell off a rail car and it ran over his leg. He’d wear a prosthetic the rest of his life. During prohibition he realized running moonshine was more profitable than farm work and that drinking moonshine was more fun than selling it. He didn’t get rich but was never short on cash. When liquor became legal again, he invested his money in various endeavors and his family did well. When I met him his outlaw and drinking days were behind him and he’d become a pillar of the community. He even served a term on the local Board of Education. Everyone he met called him Mr. Walker, I just called him Pa; he was my grandfather. Pa grew up and matured in a time when guns were as common as a hammer. For the few years I got to spend with him before he passed, he kept a revolver in his nightstand and a rifle in the closet. They were both loaded. I only saw him mad only once. My cousin had become engaged in a disagreement with an uncle. Pa found out his son in law had failed to pay my cousin for some work and he told us boys to get in the truck. We did. A few minutes later Pa came out of the house and tossed his Smith & Wesson on the dash. We pulled up to my uncle’s front door, the revolver...

Turkey Hunting is Stupid Part II – I Missed

Mon, 04/28/2014 - 16:28
He was gobbling while I was putting out my decoys. A professional turkey hunter would have said I was late. I’m not a professional turkey hunter. I put my back against a tree, which was at the top of a rock cliff, unholstered my Blackhawk and cocked it. I hit a few licks on the call and three turkey birds gobbled. I hit another lick and lost count of how many were gobbling but I did pick up a gobble that sounded more like a pit bull growling than a 25 pound bird. I said to myself, “This is going to be good.” and hit the call again…I couldn’t stop. The reward was like the gratification of eating one Oreo right after another. There was a pause in the action as the birds flew down under the canopy of the tall pines and then I heard hens clucking and working up to the right. The gobblers were pounding their chests over to my left. Since the hens were calling, I just shut up figuring they would bring the boys right to my decoys and my gun barrel. The first to show up were more hens; they arrived from the East and paused momentarily to gander at the pathetic foam like ornaments meant to look just like them. I could hear the gobblers following them so I picked up the Ruger and tried to relax. First to arrive was an ostrich like gobbler with all his attention focused on one hen. They locked up at 40 yards and continued to flirt...

Tactical, Zombies and the Modern Sporting Rifle

Thu, 04/24/2014 - 09:41
Here we are on the eve of the 143rd Annual Meetings of the National Rifle Association. Those in attendance will be prowling the show floor looking for anything related to zombies, the modern sporting rifle (MSR) or that has tactical as an adjective. While products and gear that fall into these categories can be useful, to many their perceived practicality is diminished through their association with these politically correct (PC) terms. Those who know me understand and accept that I am not a PC individual. I view political correctness as the cure for common sense. It is simply a delusional notion, perpetuated by the weak, that suggests feelings should never be hurt. The word tactical, as it relates to weaponry, is a combat or battlefield term. Its use as an adjective to describe present day guns, ammunition and accessories is nothing more than a PC way of identifying these items as tools of a fighter. A tactical rifle, pistol, knife or even clothing is a rifle, pistol, knife or clothing made for fighting. If that hurts someone’s feelings, squirt guns are still readily available. A zombie is a mythical being but gun owners and gun writers speak of them like they are as real and as evil as politicians. The zombie craze is real but it is not driven by fear of the undead. It is nothing more than a PC way of celebrating the fact...

Good Decisions

Wed, 04/23/2014 - 13:19
There was a time when hunting was not all about the latest high tech camo clothing, ballistic reticles and trail cameras. The smell of woodsmoke, wet wool and gun grease would fill your nostrils and a plaid shirt and OD green field pants seems to hide you from whitetails just fine. It wasn’t all that long ago that the rifle you carried had scars given to it by your grandfather and the walnut and steel seemed to be a part of the chilly, pre-dawn woods you longed to roam. Back then the bullet hunters trusted was the Remington Core-Lokt and this year marks its 75th anniversary. Bullet wise, a lot has changed over the last 75 years. John Nosler has given us the Partition, Barnes an all-copper X bullet and today it seems like plastic tips on bullets are as prevalent as tattoos. None of this changes the fact that the Core-Lokt has probably killed more deer than any other bullet or that it works as well today as it did three-quarters of a century ago. Choosing a Core-Loke in 1939 was a good decision and it still is today. The Remington Core-Lokt is a cup and core bullet featuring a drawn, gilding metal jacket and a lead core. This is the way bullets have been made for a long time because for one, its effective and two, its affordable. (A box of Core-Lokts will not make your fingernails dig into your credit card as you hand it...

Lasers and the Right Sights Make a Difference

Tue, 04/22/2014 - 13:20
A few years ago while conducting research for my book, Handgun Training for Personal Protection, I helped put together a shooting match at my local gun club. One of the drills in the match was the Forty-Five Drill, which is a drill I use constantly when testing firearms, holsters and ammo. It was also a drill I used as a test when I was a police firearms instructor. The Forty-Five Drill is made up of four elements of five, which is how it got its name. The goal is to draw from concealment and put five shots, into a five-inch circle, at five yards, in less than five seconds. For the match, each competitor was required to perform the drill, from concealment, with their gun and then they had to switch to a S&W M&P in .40 S&W. The M&P was fitted with a Crimson Trace Laser and a XS Big Dot Sights. Each shooter had to perform the drill again, from concealment, using the M&P; first with the laser and then with the XS Sights. The results were telling and interesting. Out of 26 shooters the best score was 2.99 seconds and it was fired with the M&P using the Crimson Trace Laser. The next best score was 3.17 seconds and it was fired with the M&P using the XS Sights. The third best score was fired with a competitor’s own handgun and it was 4.3 seconds. (Scores were calculated by adding penalties to the actual...

Hillbilly Writes New Book on the AR

Mon, 04/21/2014 - 11:53
After finishing Handgun Training for Personal Protection I did not intend to write another book. But, when Gun Digest offered me an opportunity to write a beginner’s book on the AR, I thought that this would be a great opportunity to give all the new AR owners some basic guidance on what has become the most popular and politically abused firearm in the world. I also thought it would be a good way to illustrate to current gun owners and even non gun owners why the AR is the most popular and versatile firearm in the world. The Shooter’s Guide to the AR is not intended for the well versed AR owner, this book was purpose written with the new or new to be AR owner in mind. That’s not to say there is nothing in this book for anyone who is an old hand at the AR, its just that it has been complied – cover to cover – as an introduction to this weapon system. If you have never fired an AR or if you have fired less than 1000 rounds through an AR, The Shooter’s Guide to the AR should be just about right for you. It would also be a great gift for the new AR owner, particularly one you might have to share a range with. This book is dedicated to a departed friend, James Guthrie. If Guthrie were still with us, he should have written this book instead of me! I only have 75 copies on hand and they can be...

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