November 23, 2007

"I suppose nothing can be done about the erroneous assumption that hand held fully automatic fire is somehow more efficient than aimed fire. As I used to demonstrate, when I had a teaching job, quick semi-automatic fire is far more likely to produce results than bursts. Thus the preoccupation of the Feds with the idea that is it somehow an offense against God and man to convert a semi-automatic weapon to a fully automatic capacity is simply a manifestation of ignorance. If a man is shooting at me, I would much prefer that he were on full auto than carefully holding and squeezing. The automatic option is the greatest encourager of the spray-and-pray technique, which I have long done my best to discourage."

November 24, 2007

Why Men Fight, Part One
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.

November 25, 2007

Why Men Fight, Part Two
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.

November 26, 2007

July 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.

November 27, 2007

This fashionable buzz word "sensitivity" is beginning to gall. I do not see sensitivity as the necessary attribute of a considerable man. We may search through history for manifestations of sensitivity in the great without particular success. Pericles, Xenophon, Socrates, Caesar, and so on down through Washington, Napoleon, Roosevelt, and Churchill were not distinguished for sensitivity. Thinness of the skin seems to be one of the paramount troubles of the age.

November 28, 2007

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.

November 29, 2007

I have often preached that the proper antidote to fear is anger, and I see no reason to change my opinion on this. However, there is another mental condition that serves as well or possibly better, and that is concentration. I have discussed this matter at great length with people who are in a position to know, and I am not without experience of my own, and I can state positively that when you find yourself facing deadly danger, your ability to concentrate every mental faculty upon doing what needs to be done to save yourself leaves no room for fear. If it happens that return fire is the best solution to your danger, you are fortunate, because if you have organized yourself properly your total preoccupation with your front sight and trigger control will have become automatic; and therefore you cannot fear your enemy's bullet since you are simply too busy concentrating on hitting him. I think this truth is incontrovertible, but we certainly see that large numbers of people who get involved in street fights, on either side of the law, have never heard of it.

November 30, 2007

As hunting season approaches, it is well to remember that it is not necessary to conduct all your rifle practice on the range. All sorts of things may be simulated at home, especially including the acquisition of position, bolt work, and the use of the sling. One particularly good drill is to sit before the televisor with the rifle across your lap and to use the commercials for dry practice. Anytime a zero or an o appears on the screen it is up to you to pick it up in your sights, squeeze off a perfectly delivered simulation, snap the bolt and hit it again before it leaves the screen. This is a very effective way to balance speed against precision, since you must not squeeze off a miss, but you do not know how long that zero is going to stay on the screen. I do not watch a lot of television, but I try to get in a couple of weeks of this every time before I go hunting.

December 1, 2007

Now here we come to October again, which is certainly the finest month of the year, in most of the northern hemisphere. Despite the rather disgusting states of affairs which we observe throughout the world and the nation, hunting season gives us a chance to renew our faith in the grandeur of life. In addition to the joys of the chase, we can look forward to absorbing the snap in the air which comes with the change of seasons, in the turning of leaves, and in setting for ourselves tasks which seem somehow more fundamental and satisfying than those of our daily lives. Let us all thank God for hunting season, one of the endangered aspects of life which may serve to preserve our sanity.

December 2, 2007

I discover in my historical wanderings the curious fact that for people long deprived of table salt, gunpowder may serve as a passable, if not superior, substitute. Upon reflection, this is not so terribly outlandish. The principle ingredient of black gunpowder is KNO3, which is, in itself, a salt. As a matter of fact one way you identify KNO3 - "salt peter" - when searching for ingredients, is to taste it. It is a salt and it tastes salty. When you have done without salt for a long period of time, you may not notice that it does not taste very good. (I guess the minor ingredients of gunpowder, charcoal and sulphur, may be simply disregarded if your need for salt is overwhelming.)

December 3, 2007

Family member Dr. Werner Weissenhofer reports from Vienna. It seems that a felon armed with a 357 revolver robbed a bank. As he left the bank, he was accosted by a policeman whom he murdered with one shot. Great excitement ensued, with the felon taking hostages and racing madly around from one store to another. When the forces of law and order had been mobilized and surrounded the goblin, a policeman volunteered to trade himself to the goblin for two hostages. This offer was accepted, at which time the felon fired at the policeman and seriously wounded him. The forces of law and order opened up with everything they had, which was mostly AUG and Glock fire. Shortly, the goblin killed himself with one round. He had fired three times and achieved three hits. The police, according to their official report, fired 1,261 rounds without drawing blood. At one time, we used to refer to an event of this sort as a "Chinese Fire Drill." Later we came to call if "Father's Day in Harlem." After the interment of the Ayatollah Khomeini, we began to call it "An Iranian Funeral." Now, I guess we can call it "A Viennese Bank Robbery." As I have often stated, if someone wants to shoot at me, I sure hope he does it on full-auto.

December 4, 2007

Doubtless you have heard of the decision of the Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts to abandon the Minutemen logo as the university's symbol. A small but noisy group of protesters seem to have brought this about, maintaining that the American "minuteman" of the revolution was "sexist, racist, and violent." No doubt! And, if our 18th Century ancestors had not been sexist, racist, and violent, our nation would not exist. I guess that we really have met the enemy, and he is us, in Pogo's classic expression. Thanks to God, we Americans do not fit into stereotypical categories. On a poster brought by Dr. Tom Berger to the Gunsite Reunion, we read the following: "Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill because they pissed me off."

December 5, 2007

According to newspapers, Bambi has been having a particularly good season this year. It appears that three moose killed a driver who foolishly rammed them in the dark up in Maine. A 5-point buck muley took after a hunter in Wyoming and put him in a sick bay. And two men fishing in a north Texas lake were run over and scuffed up by a white-tail. I do not know whether the animals are becoming more inspired or whether the newsmen simply find more to talk about. I cannot help regard this development as rather cheerful. If you choose to go hunting, keep your guard up.

December 6, 2007

At Whittington I was asked, quite reasonably, by family member Art Hammer if there was not some inconsistency in my emphasizing stopping power in handguns while favoring medium power in rifles (short of buffalo guns.) Good question! The answer is essentially conceptual. A pistol is a defensive instrument, designed to stop a fight that somebody else starts. It is strictly an emergency device called for in an unpredicted emergency. The shooter has to respond to an action initiated by another, thus he needs all the emphasis he can properly control. The rifle, on the other hand, is normally an offensive instrument with which the shooter has the initiative and is carrying the play to his prey. Hence the rifleman can shoot with great care, placing his bullets properly. He needs only enough power to insure proper penetration into the vitals of his target. Blowing down trees on the far side is an extravagance. The pistolero defends. The rifleman attacks. The problems are different.

December 7, 2007

George F. Will opines in Newsweek that Americans are a nation of cowards and shirkers, observing that we have surrendered our streets - as well as our dignity - to the goblins. He points out that, concerned with street crime, we choose to throw money at it rather than to fight. Money is not the answer. More cops cannot help. They can't be everywhere at once. More prisons cannot help. Modern prisons don't scare the bad guy. The only thing that can help is will - the will to fight back. If we have truly lost that, there is little hope for our civilization.

December 8, 2007

Colonel Coventry was killed in his bed in his house in Harare. His head was beaten in with the butt of one of his own rifles by an intruder who broke into his house in the night. With all due respect to a great man, we must ask ourselves what he was doing with his guard down? All of us, from Harare to Hollywood, have a duty to the God who gave us life to look out for it. The war is never over, and peace is an illusion. Those of you who attended the old Orange Gunsite will remember the Shoshone refrain:

"Over here, over there, everywhere,
today, tomorrow, always:
Bad men there are.
Hate you they do.
Kill you they will.
Watch out you better!"

December 9, 2007

From South Africa we hear of a most curious example of gun theft. In South Africa, as you know, a lost firearm is a serious matter before the law and the bereaved owner must be able to prove to the satisfaction of the authorities that he had manifested no contributory negligence. It turns out that a shooter from Durban many years ago had his P35 stolen. But just last month he was notified by the police that it had been recovered. When he went down to pick up his pistol he first maintained that it was not his, since it was quite a bit different from the piece he had lost. The police insisted that it had to be his because the numbers matched. Upon further examination the man noted that most things about the weapon had been improved, including sights, speed, safety, and stock. It was also cleaner and in better shape than when he had lost it. This is one of the most curious stories I have heard. One certainly does not think of a thief as being a pistolero, but then who knows what the odyssey of that pistol may have been? Somebody along the line had an appreciation of good equipment. One wonders if he will turn up to congratulate the original owner.

December 10, 2007

In this degenerate period in the life of the republic, I most strongly urge all responsible people to find a copy of the Constitution of the United States and to read the Tenth Amendment thereto with great care. I have not yet heard it proposed that legislators and executives who are ignorant of the supreme law of the land may be charged with "political malpractice," but it is high time that someone brought this up.

December 11, 2007

The Nazis may have left us the Volkswagen and the freeway, but they have also handed us a nasty little terminological keepsake in the term "Assault Rifle." As you doubtless know, the Germans decided that they had to have something better for their tank-riders in Russia than either the G98 Mauser or the MP40 Schmeisser, the one being too clumsy and slow to fire, and the other, in 9 mmP, under-powered. So they came up with a sort of hybrid piece splitting the difference. This was first called the MP (for Maschine Pistole) 44, but since it did not take a pistol cartridge but rather a shortened 8 mm rifle cartridge, they changed its name to StG44 for "Sturmgewehr" which is literally translated as "assault rifle." When the Soviets picked over the wreckage of the Third Reich they really cottoned to the idea of the Sturmgewehr and came up with the Kalashnikov family of similar characteristics but using a different cartridge. This, of course, was the AK47. Weapons of this sort have a definite utility in armored warfare, though it is distinctly specialized. However, the Soviets and their satellites produced the AK47 and subsequent clones in such vast numbers that this piece is now world-standard from Beirut to the Bronx. Its tactical characteristics are not as important as its title. "Assault Rifle" is something the hoplophobes can really get hold of and wave around, whether or not they have any idea of what they are talking about - which usually they do not. So I guess we can attribute part of our problem here in the period of Clintomania to German ingenuity - not to the weapon itself, but to its title. Thanks a lot!

December 12, 2007

Family member Mike Cox, who is now stationed in Saudi Arabia, recently took advantage of geography to split down to Africa for a bit of hunting. I understand his reasons for this, but he did make what I consider to be a couple of mistakes. He decided to hunt buffalo on his first venture, and to use a borrowed piece when he got there. He also had not come to rifle school, though presumably he knew how to shoot. His outfitter handed him a 375. Now this cartridge may be world standard and certainly has killed innumerable buffalo, but it is not a proper buffalo gun. Mike's first shot was perfectly placed in the shoulder, but as is not uncommon, the buff took no notice of it and disappeared into thick thorn. Mike then proceeded to short-stroke his rifle and jam it up tight. The PH immediately swapped the jammed 375 for his 458. With the second shot the buff went down and the hunter proceeded to short-stroke that one. The buff then got up and Mike shot him twice more with the 375, concluding the action. The range was about 12 paces and both hunters well and truly had blood on their shoes. Now this was very exciting, and turned out well, but it makes two points. One, work that bolt, in front of your televisor, for at least a month before you take off. And two, use enough gun for buffalo.

December 13, 2007

It has never been clear to me why increased magazine capacity in a defensive pistol is particularly choice. The bigger the magazine the bigger the gun, and the bigger the gun the harder it is to get hold of for people with small hands. And what, pray, does one need all those rounds for? How many lethal antagonists do you think you are going to be able to handle? Once when Bruce Nelson was asked by a suspect if the thirteen-round magazine in the P35 was not a big advantage, Bruce's answer was, "Well, yes, if you plan to miss a lot." The highest score I know of at this time achieved by one man against a group of armed adversaries was recorded in (of all places) the Ivory Coast! There, some years ago, a graduate student of mine laid out five goblins, with four dead and one totaled for the hospital. Of course there is the episode of Alvin York and his eight, but there is some dispute about that tale. (If you read it over very carefully you will see what I mean.) Be that as it may, I see no real need for a double column magazine. It is all the rage, of course, and like dual air bags, it is a popular current sales gimmick.

December 14, 2007

We were amused to hear recently from Alvin Hammer, a rifle graduate from Old Gunsite and a prospective member of the Babamkulu group, that people in his area (at least some people) regard his prospective adventure in Africa as too dangerous. What a curious idea is that! If these people would like to avoid dangers they should take the precaution of not being born. (Might that be a good reason for abortion?). As someone once pointed out, none of us is going to make it alive. True, we might get shot in Africa. We also might get shot in Washington D.C., or struck by lightning, or headed by some drunk in a pickup truck. No one who has lived through a battle will ever let such things bother him. "By my troth I care not. Man owes God a death, and come what way it will, he that dies this day is quit for the next."

December 15, 2007

The run on arms and ammunition has caused shortages here and there throughout the country. In my opinion this phenomenon is a direct result of the passage of the Brady Bill. As everybody knows, that bill will do nothing about anything, but it does indicate that the hoplophobes (people who fear guns) now feel that they are free to go ahead with other and more ruinous action. I have long preached that one should never be caught short in his personal armament, either in regard to the weapons or the ammunition. Keep up your supply, and do not neglect the 22 rimfire, which may well turn into the "ballistic wampum" I have spoken of the past. If you have any loading equipment, stock primers, which may constitute the weakest link in the chain.

December 16, 2007

I am often criticized for not "sticking to my guns" and veering off into politics, sociology and history. That criticism may be valid, but the more I see of it the more I become convinced that history and conflict are synonymous. This seems to be inherent in the nature of man. According to Clausewitz, war is politics carried out by other means, and war, of course, is conducted with weapons, hence weaponry remains fascinating and completely a part of the human story. Whenever I read fiction I reflect that fiction writers are rarely properly grounded in weaponry, and this causes much of their fiction to fall flat. Certain notable exceptions were Rider Haggard, Stewart White and Ernest Hemingway. They may not have got their weaponry sorted out correctly every time, but at least they tried, and that is more than you can say about most current tellers of tales.

December 17, 2007

"What Clinton and his kind want to develop is a population which sees itself as a victim of violent crime, economic injustice, racial and sexual prejudice, and helpless to correct these wrongs without government assistance. People who see themselves as victims look to rescuers, look to those who will help, for a victim is one who is demonstrably incapable of doing things for himself. He wouldn't be a victim otherwise. And under no circumstances must a victim take action on his own to remedy the evil he suffers from. Never. He should call the government to help."
...via Howard McCord in "The Coming Civil War in America."

December 18, 2007

The first day of April, 1993, was the date of the great lynch party and auto da fe at Gunsite. Just one year ago the extent of my folly in selling the body of my life's work was made clear to me by the purchaser, in front of his henchmen assembled. Selling the ranch and the school was not in itself a disaster, but selling it to the wrong man was the greatest mistake of my life. It was entirely my fault, an error in character evaluation that I simply cannot explain nor excuse. It is bitter to be frustrated by enemies, but it is dreadfully more so to be conned by one who posed as a friend. Well, so be it. It was my blunder, and now I pay the price, along with my friends and followers. I have not entirely "plowed the sea," however. There are those who know, and they will continue to preach the word.

December 19, 2007

This is the centennial of the great Model 94 Winchester, one of the outstanding artifacts of modern times. It is unsound to make the claim that any one instrument "won the West," but the 94 was the mainstay of the wilderness during the early years of the twentieth century, and in the days of my youth it was a rare household that did not contain one. This excellent weapon is still with us today, and rendering good service wherever it is found. It you do not own one, you should get one, and not only for the sake of sentiment. If the public scene turns nasty, as some say it may, you will be far better off with an M94 in 30-30 than you will be with an SKS, AK47, or an M16.

December 20, 2007

Amid all the dismal news that we acquire daily about the state of the nation and the world, some dim but promising lights appear. For the first time since the reign of Roosevelt II, people are beginning to notice the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Much as liberals may laugh, that Article is still on the books. It establishes beyond any question that powers not granted to the U.S. government by the U.S. Constitution are specifically unlawful and need not be obeyed. Note this from the Sixteenth American Jurisprudence, Second Edition, Section 177:

"The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having formed in nature of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void and ineffective for any purpose, since unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment and not merely from the date of decision so branding it. An unconstitutional law in legal contemplation is as inoperative as if it had never been passed. Such a statute leaves the question that it purports to settle just as it would be had the statute not been enacted."

"Since an unconstitutional law is void, the general principles follow that it imposes no duties, confers no rights, creates no office, bestows no power or authority on anyone, affords no protection and justifies no acts performed under it."

"No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it."

December 21, 2007

The father of one of the more prominent American pistol shooters has seen fit to whimper in print about my conduct at the shoot-off at Bisley last September. As it happens, the organizers of that event seeded an asymmetrical ladder, and the result was that the two finalists had matching scores, and everything depended upon the outcome of that final bout. At its conclusion, each contestant had lost once, but the winner had beaten the loser in a fair fight. When the bout came up I explained this situation to both contestants, and to the match committee which was standing right behind me. I am quite satisfied with my decision, but I did run it past the committee before it was executed. It is undignified to whimper. It is more undignified to whimper in print. And it is especially undignified to whimper in print when you are wrong. It is, of course, too much to expect dignified behavior in this age of sleaze.

December 22, 2007

After a lifetime of study, it has become apparent to me that the single most important element in the composition of a utility rifle is trigger action. A good trigger makes a rifle easier to hit with than its accuracy, or its sighting system, or its cartridge, or its action. A 2 minute rifle with a perfect trigger is more useful in the field than a 1 minute rifle without one. Today, unfortunately, most manufacturers do not realize this (or possibly they do not care) and since we live in the Age of Litigation, the idea of a delicate trigger out-of-the-box fills industrial directors with horror.

One reason why this matter of poor triggers is not as well appreciated as it might be is our preoccupation with the shooting bench, where a good trigger action is not nearly as important as it is in the field. The more stable the firing position is, the less the trigger matters, and most of our group-testing is done from the bench, which is the most stable position we can get. As the stability of the shooting position decreases, the delicacy of the trigger action becomes more important. It is less important, for example, from the prone position than it is on the snap shot. The "hitability" of a given rifle should always be tested in a field trial, to which few people have access. Thus we are stuck in most modern production with rifles that have many good features, but lack the most important one. (The exceptions to this general rule are Mauser, Mannlicher, and Blaser. Possibly these people are simply not as scared of law suits as the others.)

A good trigger should be light about 40 oz. will do nicely - but more important than weight is an imperceptible let-off. The surprise break of the rifleman must indeed sunrise him, and thus he must not be able to detect any movement at all in the trigger when it releases the striker. Such a trigger should come with the gun over the counter, but with few exceptions it does not, though it did at one time. I have a Model 70 Winchester (dating from 1937!) and its trigger, though never touched by a gunsmith, is perfect. Do not look for any such thing, however, on any of its descendants being produced today.

December 23, 2007

As we have long taught, the rifle and the pistol serve two conceptually different purposes, and while each may be called upon to perform the function of the other, this is not a good practice and best results should not be expected. The essential difference is that the pistol is designed to solve totally unexpected problems, whereas the rifle is taken in hand when the problem is foreseeable. Thus instant readiness is the primary quality of the pistol. As has been well said, "You cannot make an appointment for an emergency." When you know there is going to be an emergency, you pick up your rifle. Now there are all sorts of curious circumstances which may pose specific exceptions to the foregoing principles, but the fact remains that the two instruments fill different tactical niches, and training and practice should be based upon that concept.

December 24, 2007

George F. Will opines in Newsweek that Americans are a nation of cowards and shirkers, observing that we have surrendered our streets - as well as our dignity - to the goblins. He points out that, concerned with street crime, we choose to throw money at it rather than to fight. Money is not the answer. More cops cannot help. They can't be everywhere at once. More prisons cannot help. Modern prisons don't scare the bad guy. The only thing that can help is will - the will to fight back. If we have truly lost that, there is little hope for our civilization.

December 25, 2007

In a recent conversation with an active-duty Marine, we encountered a tale which astonishes almost as much as it discourages. This Marine is a gunnery sergeant of distinguished record, and quite young for his rank. (As is common knowledge, the rank of gunnery sergeant Marine Corps is probably the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a man - certainly better than Senator, Judge or President - and even higher than Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps.) It turns out that this gunny had married happily (he thought) and became the proud father of two children, whereupon his wife left him - on the grounds that as a sniper he had become "a killer." We have not heard the girl's story - perhaps something else was involved - but it is impossible to believe that any woman would not understand that a Marine is essentially a killing machine, and he was a Marine when she married him. Apparently this girl was so completely ignorant that she had never heard of Joshua or David or Julius Caesar or Hannibal or King Arthur - to say nothing of George Washington, Mad Anthony Wayne, Sam Houston, Stonewall Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, Douglas MacArthur or George Patton. She had no conception of what an honor it was to be the wife of a hero. If she is truly that ignorant, it is just as well that she left him. He is better off without her.

December 26, 2007

I now have two first-hand accounts of sportsmen who seem to have been astonished and dismayed to discover that dangerous game may indeed be dangerous. One of these events occurred to a bear hunter, who advanced upon a bear that he thought was dead, but which rolled over with its last breath and caught the hunter back-handed across the face, breaking his nose. This man was horrified. He swore he would never hunt again and sold his rifle at ten cents on the dollar to his partner. In the other instance the hunter socked a lion pretty well in the center of the shoulder with his 375 whereupon it turned and ran right up the gun. In working the bolt he flipped that three-position safety to mid-point, failed to get a round off, and was saved by his PH at arm's length. He, too, was horrified to find that dangerous game is dangerous. Now what do you suppose we have here? The whole point of hunting dangerous game is that the beast may jolly well kill you if you do not conduct yourself properly. That is the idea. The hunting of dangerous game is rarely as hard on the constitution of the hunter as the hunting of mountain sheep, but that is its charm for those of us who are no longer in Olympic condition. Only those in peak athletic condition may know of the joys of hunting the crags, but those of us who may be past our physical prime can still know the thrill of tangling with something deadly at short range. I find it difficult to believe that there are people who do not know that, but there are a lot of things I find it difficult to believe.

December 27, 2007

The Golden Joys, 1994:
The Babamkulu Expedition was an occasion of unexampled magnificence - a broad mosaic of lapidary experiences which became so crowded together as almost to lose their individual characteristics. The exotic, the new, the wonderful, the exciting all happened so quickly and steadily that one's sensitivity circuits sometimes became overloaded. Pliny wrote, "Ex Africa semper aliquid novi," two thousand years ago. It must have been true then, for it is still true today. Babamkulu was an act impossible to follow. This is not to say that one cannot do another African adventure, but only that one cannot step into the same river twice, and what one builds up in his memories may possibly never be approached again. Most members of our gang kept a journal, and I will be enchanted to read as many of them as I can see, since what impresses "A" does not necessarily impress "B." Atop my own recollections, for example, stand the little kIipspringer "Bokkie" who delighted in head-banging with the guests, the baby rhino who wanted to adopt us, the platoon of wild dogs enjoying the comfort of the day-warmed asphalt with no fear of man, the mamba heaving one-third of himself erect as he went to Condition Red, the stately beauty of the mighty kudu, the quite unbelievable giraffe, and the joy of watching our grandchild distinguish herself both by her superb marksmanship and her astonishing physical stamina. I must not forget to mention the evil serenade of the hyena at our bush braai. "Hear me! Out in the dark blond the fire, I wait. Hear me! You will all come to me - in the end." Almost you get up and walk out to meet him. Almost.

December 28, 2007

I find it strange and discouraging to note that the design and production of pistols, which once was the field of the United States industrial establishment, has been relinquished to the rest of the world. For most of my life a handgun was made in the United States or it was essentially inconsequential. Now, of course, we find that the American military service is armed with a weapon of Italian design. This is not to denigrate the Italians, who have indeed designed some wonderful weapons, but the art of the handgun has always been essentially an American concept, and to see us drop the subject in favor of the Europeans is not cheerful. We are by no means chauvinistic in this. We admire German and Italian cars excessively, and we are particularly fond of South African wines and Germanic rifles, but the art of the handgun has always been an almost exclusively American achievement, and it is indeed a pity to see that era vanish.

December 29, 2007

A lot of heated conversation has been flying these days in connection with the word "hero." Research indicates that the word can mean almost anything one wants it to mean. It is really no longer possible to elevate anyone by referring to him as a hero. The most commonplace examples are entertainers. A hired entertainer is worth whatever the lord of the manor wishes to pay him, but the fact that he performs his entertainments well does in no way establish him as a hero. Thus no professional athlete can be correctly termed a hero for doing what he is paid to do excessively well. Expert, possibly. Hero, no. A true hero performs noble purposes of great difficulty at immediate risk of his life. Warriors and fire fighters may indeed be heroic, but hardly simple purveyors of amusement.

December 30, 2007

Quoted by Cooper: "Most of America's assault rifles are in the attics, basements, and closets of patriotic Americans who never fire them and to whom war against their own government would be an unthinkable nightmare...The problem is that millions of such weapons are now being stored in the homes of ordinary Americans, especially in the Western United States. Assault rifles have a military appearance and contribute in a subtle, psychological way to growing resistance to government oppression. Most farmers, ranchers, and loggers who see their lives and families entirely destroyed by Babbitt and retainers will never fire a shot. The existence of these weapons, however, makes resistance, even legal resistance, more thinkable to these victims...The bureaucrats and politicians do not fear armed criminals or armed political zealots so much as they fear peaceful Americans who will probably never use their assault rifles - but whose mental toughness may be enhanced by possession of military weapons...The gun controllers are not deterred by the facts about guns and crime, because their primary fear is not of criminals. They fear ordinary Americans whose lives and freedom their policies are destroying. In this fear and in their world, they are on target...Slavery in the modern world implies the absolute deprivation of the individual's liberty, while possession of weapons and mastery of their use are means to the individual's liberation. We do not perceive how a man may be armed and at the same time bereft of his freedom."

December 31, 2007

On the 50th anniversary of D-Day in Europe, a great deal of editorial comment was submitted honoring and extolling the heroic behavior of the Americans who gave their lives on the beaches of Normandy in order to free Europe. Just among ourselves, I doubt that they did. In truth, I do not know why men fight, except to defend their homelands, but I do know that in the course of two wars and a good many informal conflicts, I have never yet met anyone who died or risked his life for a political ideal. I can tell you why I and my comrades fought in the Pacific, but of course that does not apply to our comrades who fought in Europe. Men fight for all sorts of reasons, but the best reason we have heard so far is simply that men like to fight. (This is a terribly politically incorrect attitude and should not be aired about.)

January 1, 2008

I was recently characterized by a Swedish weapons instructor as a "moss-backed amateur." This causes me no distress. Moss-backed I certainly am, having seen more of life, strife and conflict than this young man as apt to no matter how long he lives. And as to "amateur," I prize the adjective. The amateur does it for love, where a professional does it for money. As we have often asked, who does it better? I have been in love with personal weapons since I was a child. I have used them, trained with them, designed them, and employed them for nearly sixty years, and I did this because I love them. There is no question but what I could not have been paid to do whatever I have done as well.

January 2, 2008

In our recent survey of the African battlefields, we discovered more positively every time that it was not Boer marksmanship that made the difference in those wars so much as Boer gun handling. Contrary to widespread belief, the Boers did not do significant damage at great range, but when they got into a firing position at a reasonable range, they shot carefully in order to hit rather than by volley in order to scare. It seems apparent that these men, while good shots, were not extraordinary shots. What matters is that when they came on to shoot they used their individual weapons purposefully rather than ostentatiously. Carefully aimed rifle fire at short range is overwhelmingly demoralizing. What happens, however, is as the range shortens improperly organized warriors tend to shoot carelessly. The difference is decisive.

January 3, 2008

High Summer, 1994 -- Corn, only minutes off the stalk, and vine-ripened tomatoes from the garden! Summer may be unpleasantly warm, but it does have its compensations - especially now that the summer rains have come to freshen up the landscape. And now is the time to get out there with your rifle and put your annual 200 rounds through it so that you will not be caught by surprise during hunting season. Remember also to stay clear of the bench. Work on quick acquisition of position, instant bolt work, perfect surprise breaks, and do not forget the snap shot. You do not need it often, but when you do, it is awfully nice to have.

January 4, 2008

In a recent article, Layne Simpson tells of the conclusions reached at a symposium of professional hunters which he recorded. These people were Africans, but their observations are pertinent everywhere. He lists the following shortcomings observed by the pros in the field, in the following order:

1. "Bringing more gun than one can shoot accurately." This is especially true of Africa, but it also applies to Alaska. It is a very common and pernicious error to assume that one will achieve better results in the field by the use of more powerful weapons. Power failures, when the bullet is well placed and penetrates fully, are almost unheard of. Bad shooting, on the other hand, is by no means uncommon. Many years ago we noted the inscription in a commercial advertisement which claimed that "Out where ranges are long you need Weatherby power." Mistake. Out where ranges are long (and even when they are not) what you need is to know how to shoot. The random shooter, who does not practice, is ill-advised to buy something bigger than what he is used to, since justifiably or not it may intimidate him. Recoil and blast are not problems with a well-seasoned marksman, but they may indeed upset the 20-round-a-year man. Use what you know you can hit with. Use the proper bullet and you will have no trouble.

Part one of a series of remarks....

January 5, 2008

2. "Poor physical condition." Hunting may not be the kind of activity that calls for entry into a triathlon, but it can be physically demanding, especially in mountainous terrain. We recently noted the conspicuous success of our shooters who were in top shape. Before you take the field find yourself a convenient hill and trot up it three times a week. You will be glad you did.

3. "Inability to spot game in heavy brush." This is a function of "the hunter's eye" and it cannot be learned by wishing. Generally speaking, the more hunting experience you have the better will be your target acquisition, but simple wilderness hiking, for those who can manage it, will sharpen up the skill conspicuously, especially if the individual makes a contest of it and logs his observations regularly on paper.

Part two of a series of remarks...

January 6, 2008

4. "Inability to shoot accurately from the offhand position." At least a third of your shots should be practiced from offhand, and against the clock. The one-and-a-half second interval I use when teaching rifle, from standard ready to hammer fall, is a good test. And you do not need a stop watch. Count to yourself, "one, two, three," at a convenient interval. On "one" you mount the piece to the shoulder. On "two" you acquire the reticle with the shooting eye. And on "three" you gently press the trigger. Clearly you can practice this at home without going to the range, and you certainly should take time to do this before going to the field. Another system I often use is to sit in front of the tube, with my rifle in my lap, and wait for a commercial to come on which displays zeros or "O's." If I can simulate a clean surprise-break every time an "O" appears, I am getting there. If two "O's" appear (as in Coors,) the bolt must be snapped between the two shots. When you get good at this you are well on the way, even without going to the range.

Part three of a series of remarks....

January 7, 2008

5. "Shooting offhand when a natural rest is available." Whenever possible, use a rest, and this is surprisingly possible. On my last trip to Southwest Africa, all four shots I took were from a tree or post rest. The late, great Elmer Keith was fond of using his "ten gallon" hat for this purpose when shooting from prone. And Jack O'Connor was fond of using his binocular case. If a rest is available, use it. Do not try to prove that you are capable of hitting the target from offhand.
6. "Inability to shoot quickly." See paragraph "4" above. Note that this is fully as much a matter of mental conditioning as of marksmanship. I have know several good shots, who had proved they could shoot quickly, go into a sort of paralysis when the Baker Flag was hoisted. This may be a form of buck fever, so inoculate yourself before taking the field.
7. "Choosing a bullet that goes to pieces without penetrating." Proper placement and penetration are the two things that will secure your game most reliably. Placement is the function of anatomical knowledge and marksmanship. Penetration is a function of bullet performance. There are some stout bullets on the market. Use one that is tried and tested.

Part four of a series of remarks....

January 8, 2008

8. "Unsafe gunhandling." This is a terror, and simply establishes that far too many people take to the field without any education at all in the principles of marksmanship. It is not confined to duffers. Too many times we have seen professionals handling their weapons in ways that would bring a stern reprimand from any competent rangemaster. By choice, go to school if you can. With or without school engrave the four principles of safe gun handling in your mind and do not ever let them fade out.

• 1. All guns are always loaded.
• 2. Do not let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
• 3. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target.
• 4. Be sure of your target.

Part five of a series of remarks....

January 9, 2008

9. "Unfamiliarity with animal anatomy." Study your target's anatomy with great care whenever you see a picture of a four-footed beast in a book, a magazine or on the tube. Remember that your target is a three-dimensional object and pay careful attention to "target angle" (zero is coming straight in, 180 is running straight away, and so on in between).

10. "Admiring the first shot rather than continuing to shoot until the animal is down." This one brings pained recollection to me as I lost the best sable I ever saw by calling off the war immediately when the beast dropped to a hit on the spinal flange. Having been overgunned for most of my hunting life in North America, I assumed that when I got a clean surprise-break, my animal was secured. This is not necessarily true, and the bolt should be snapped instantly following a shot regardless of what you see through the glass. The ideal is to get your empty on the ground by the time you pick up your target after recoil.

Part six (and last) of a series of remarks....

January 10, 2008

As we write this, the so-called Crime Bill of the Clinton Administration is still being pushed. The utter hypocrisy of this proposition emphasizes the near total collapse of our political system. This proposed bill can do nothing about crime, and its proponents know that. They insult the intelligence of their constituents by assuming that voting for a bill which is called a "Crime Bill" will gain the votes of innocents who are concerned about crime and admire the antics of those who would "do something about it," whether or not what they propose to do has any relation to reality. Apart from the banning of "assault weapons" (which are almost never used in crime,) this bill promises to fund the employment of 100 thousand more police officers. We have enough police officers, who almost invariably catch the goblins. What is not done with the goblins after they are caught is the root of the crime. Today's criminals know they have little to fear from the police or the law, and that situation is not going to be corrected by throwing money at it, but you good people who read these words know all that. Apparently there are a great many people who do not know all that, and certainly the publicity media are not interested in correcting the situation. It may be that this ridiculous Crime Bill will be shot down, but that will not win the war. Those people will be back with something else, as bad or worse. The struggle will continue, and it is up to each of us to pull his weight. At this time in our history, complacency is a sin.

January 11, 2008

Note that the goblins choose as victims only those they deem to be patsies. Louis Awerbuck and Chris Pollack have recently gleaned the following statement from a restroom wall: "There are no victims, only volunteers. You volunteer by looking uncertain and afraid. You volunteer by being, as grass-eaters invariably are, unprepared to confront the hazards of life." As it used to be emphasized at Orange Gunsite, you are an easy mark in White, but you are a difficult problem in Orange.

January 12, 2008

It is a truism that one does well what he enjoys doing, and going back over some writings of the young Hemingway we discover his insistence that one kills well only if he enjoys killing. Hemingway was speaking of bull fighting, but the idea may be extended beyond that. David is said to be the greatest killer amongst the ancient Jews - shall we assume he enjoyed his work? Both Sulla and Julius Caesar seemed to have enjoyed it, and coming down to modern times we can discover from his writings that Wade Hampton evidently did, as well as Stonewall Jackson and Nathan Forrest. Grant, on the other hand, evidently did not, but to be an effective soldier one does not have to be a recreational killer. I once spent a couple of weeks in a hospital bed adjoining that of a Marine officer of distinguished record who told me, in confidence, that what he enjoyed more than anything else was killing Japs. This attitude may be improper in today's diminished society, but the gentleman concerned is now dead and his reputation is safe. Hemingway goes on to explain this by saying that the act of killing may or may not be difficult in itself (as it is for bird shooting or aerial combat,) but is somehow a howl of defiance - defiance of man's inevitable end. In this sense, to kill is to spit in the face of death, paradoxical as that may sound to some. I think the matter is worth study - though do not tell anybody I said so.

January 13, 2008

National Condition Orange, 1994
These are indeed the times that try men's souls! A majority of both houses of Congress has levied upon the citizens of the United States a ridiculous piece of legislation for the sole reason of appeasing an electorate which is deemed to be incapable of sound political judgment. The Clinton "Crime Bill" is not aimed at crime - the matter a majority of citizens hold to be of utmost importance - it does not even pretend to be aimed at crime. It is a grotesque piece of catastrophically expensive social legislation attempting to persuade the unthinking that Congress has "done something" about crime. Crime is a moral matter and cannot be fought by throwing money at it. The essential element of democracy is public virtue. If that is not present, democracy fails, as indeed it seems to have done. Every member of Congress who voted for the Clinton "Crime Bill" has cause to be bitterly ashamed of his hypocrisy. It is up to the electorate to throw the rascals out, and we have the chance coming up in November. Let us make it an event to be known historically as The November Revolution, and take the power out of the hands of those who despise us by replacing them with candidates who are aware of the reality of public sentiment in this country. Arizona's Congressman Bob Stump was told by the "Washington Establishment" that if he dared to vote against the "Crime Bill," his constituents would reject him in November. He voted against it, and upon his return to his state, his office received just six phone calls condemning him for this and about 700 congratulating him upon it. Behold the mainstream!

January 14, 2008

George Mason, one of our distinguished Founding Fathers, put it very clearly when he said that the militia is constituted of all the people, except for a few public servants. Since the current weapon of personal choice for the armed forces of the United States is the M16, is it not the duty of all the people to own, operate and understand this piece? It would seem so. If this particular weapon is termed by various people as an "assault rifle" it is now forbidden to "all the people." This poses a critical philosophical confrontation in American public life at this time. Our enemies are whooping like hyenas over what they claim to be the corpse of the American shooting public, as represented by the National Rifle Association. As might be expected from such people, they have whooped too soon. The NRA is embattled, as it has been since I first joined back in my adolescence. We win some and we lose some, but we never give up the fight to secure the blessings of liberty upon ourselves and our posterity - as it is put in the Preamble to the Constitution.

January 15, 2008

In Arizona the new concealed carry law is now in effect, providing for the issuance of permits to those citizens who are considered qualified. While there are various things wrong with this law, in my opinion, it is certainly a step forward except for those who feel that any sort of firearms license is an illegal infringement upon personal liberty. A curious characteristic of the law is the requirement of the exposure of the applicant to 16 hours of qualified instruction. (Why 16? Nobody seems to have asked that question. It is quite evident that mere exposure to a training program has no bearing upon subsequent competence. We know of people who have sat through many years of instruction in college English and who cannot write a coherent sentence.) The issue, of course, is that there are not enough people to conduct proper instruction, and the state has had to improvise all sorts of ways of judging an instructor as "qualified." The upshot is that the qualification program is no more than window dressing, but that is not a serious matter. The object is that every man be armed, as Jefferson put it, and this is a step in that direction. By the time all these permits are issued, violent criminals will have no way of knowing whether their prospective victims are armed or not, and this may indeed have some effect in the deterrence of violent crime.

January 16, 2008

In the Middle Ages it was customary to rule that only the good guys could be armed and the bad guys could not. This did not work, for obvious reasons, but today we have reached a stage where, in general, the good guys are unarmed, while only the criminals are armed. This situation is equally intolerable. So now the answer may be to insure that everybody is armed, since it may be assumed that there are a great deal many more good guys than bad guys, the criminals will be heavily outnumbered, and that just may be the answer we are looking for. We thus proceed toward a "polite society."

January 17, 2008

You might check this matter out for yourself. According to the Consolidated Crime Report of the FBI for the year of 1992 (the most recent complete compilation) only one-fourth of the murders committed in this country were committed with firearms of any type, and less than 1 percent were committed with rifles, yet Clinton's triumph specifies the "assault rifle" as the root of all evil. Of course Bill has allies. Here is Senator Metzenbaum of Ohio in the Constitution Subcommittee of February 10, 1989, "No, we are not looking at how to control criminals, we are talking about banning the AK47 and semi-automatic guns!" They cannot make it much clearer than that. Crime is not the issue at all. Your personal weapon is.

January 18, 2008

Note that there is no gender separation in shooting. The popular tendency to have "ladies' classes" in competition is unsound. I am strongly against placing the female of the species in harm's way, but that certainly does not mean that if she picks up a firearm she is under any handicap in competition with the male of the species. It is widely held in training circles that women have a slight advantage over men in learning marksmanship, since they demonstrate a somewhat better attitude about taking instruction. Physical strength is not significant. Osa Johnson backed up her husband with a double 470, and she was a tiny little woman. There is no reason for recoil or blast to affect matters. My middle daughter, Parry, told me when she was seventeen and shooting very well indeed, that she did not flinch because whether she flinched or not she would still get bumped on the shoulder, and she would prefer to get a bump on the shoulder and a hit than to get a bump on the shoulder and a miss. (Parry, of course, was the girl who told me at one time, "Daddy, if I can see it, I can hit it," which should be the motto of every rifleman. I am simply not going to use the term "rifle person." As Churchill, master of the English language, once said, "Man" embraces "Woman," which is exactly as it should be.)

January 19, 2008

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship....The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence:

• * From bondage to spiritual faith
• * From spiritual faith to great courage
• * From courage to liberty
• * From liberty to abundance
• * From abundance to complacency
• * From complacency to apathy
• * From apathy to dependence
• * From dependence back again into bondage.

January 20, 2008

I am interested to learn from a correspondent now on some sort of duty in Mugabestan that current rules in that country forbid the use of any cartridge smaller than 375 on kudu. I have no idea who came up with this ruling, but it does not seem sound to me. The kudu, while large, is not a "hard" animal. The 308 or 30-06 or 7x57 or 270 will all put the largest kudu down in his tracks, if the shot is well-placed. If the shot is not well-placed the 375 will do no better. Besides which, there are some sportsmen who are intimidated by the recoil and blast of a 375, and consequently are less likely to place their shot well than if they are using a 30-caliber. I am certainly not against the use of increased power in big game hunting, but long experience convinces me that proper placement combined with proper bullet design are decisively more important than cartridge power. You don't need higher velocity. You don't need a bigger gun. What you need is full mastery of field marksmanship. I note when looking at the gun magazines that my forthcoming work "The Art of the Rifle" is sorely overdue. I certainly do not presume to know all about rifle shooting, but I know a good deal, and since there is almost no place today where one can learn how to use a rifle properly a textbook is sorely needed, so I am getting on it.

January 21, 2008

A cougar was recently sighted at Gunsite, and we have issued a cougar alert to all joggers. A number of people do not seem to realize that it is in the nature of a predatory carnivore to pursue anything that runs. The fact that it is running away suggests that it may be good to eat. Some of the joggers we have seen on city streets do not look too appetizing, but they still should be aware of the problem.

January 22, 2008

Sales records suggest that the SKS seems to be obtaining the status of "weapon of choice" amongst the oppressed lower classes, who are strapped for cash. I would like to suggest that the newly available Enfield Mark 4, in 303 British, is a much better choice. Both of these pieces seem to be available for less than $200, but the Enfield is a real gun, where the SKS is a sort of hybrid. Of course the Enfield is a bolt-action weapon, where the SKS is semi-automatic. Some people feel that a self-loader is just better in all respects. They are wrong, but they are entitled to their opinion.

January 23, 2008

This is the centennial of the great Model 94 Winchester, one of the outstanding artifacts of modern times. It is unsound to make the claim that any one instrument "won the West," but the 94 was the mainstay of the wilderness during the early years of the twentieth century, and in the days of my youth it was a rare household that did not contain one. This excellent weapon is still with us today, and rendering good service wherever it is found. It you do not own one, you should get one, and not only for the sake of sentiment. If the public scene turns nasty, as some say it may, you will be far better off with an M94 in 30-30 than you will be with an SKS, AK47, or an M16.

January 24, 2008

In this degenerate period in the life of the republic, I most strongly urge all responsible people to find a copy of the Constitution of the United States and to read the Tenth Amendment thereto with great care. I have not yet heard it proposed that legislators and executives who are ignorant of the supreme law of the land may be charged with "political malpractice," but it is high time that someone brought this up. Back in the Dark Ages when I was but a lad, the following advice about the military services was often heard:

"If you want to learn a trade, join the Army.
If you want a clean bunk every night, join the Navy.
If you want to fly, join the Air Force.
If you want to fight, join the Marines."

January 25, 2008

Up in Colorado recently we acquired a pungent suggestion from a family member who must remain nameless because he is a federal agent. It goes thus: Relatively few people have any idea of what their rights are when it comes to discussing official matters with officials. You are not required to say anything when questioned by a government official in the line of duty. This is particularly true of federal agents. The local law enforcement establishment is frequently composed of good citizens, but the feds are another matter. They are not on your side and most of the time they are acting unconstitutionally - without accountability to anyone. These feds who have been shooting up citizens and trashing up private property have no fear of being held responsible for their transgressions. Note that none of the ninja involved at Waco or Idaho have been charged, fired, or even reprimanded! It remains the case, however, that law enforcement establishment can get nowhere without the cooperation of the citizens, and this is true whether the agents are federal or local. If the citizenry just clams up, the system breaks down. I never thought I would live to see the day when I would take a position such as this, but the increasing arrogance and impertinence of Big Brother has made life entirely different from what it was in the recent past.

January 26, 2008

As to my favorite cartridge, this is like asking about a favorite wine, a favorite painting, a favorite song, or a favorite dish. Under torture I would have to say the 30-06, but that would leave all pistol cartridges out, and I would not choose the 06 for buffalo if I had any choice. Also the 308 must get in there somewhere as a more compact, slightly junior version of the "30 U.S." As to favorite load, this spreads matters still more thinly. I can recommend many good loads for both rifles and pistols, but I certainly cannot pick out a favorite.

January 27, 2008

Recently in Washington I was impressed by the length to which people have gone to work up the M16 into a target rifle. The fact that the Ml6 (and its brother, the ARl5) is now illegal does not seem to discourage the gadgeteers. Replacement barrels and replacement sights have come a long way, and that miserable trigger that comes with the gun is now replaceable with something very good indeed. I was treated to much discussion about the accuracy potential of the "poodle-shooter" when it was properly modified and specially loaded. I found this most interesting in comparison to the current state of the art with go-carts. The motor racing fraternity has now developed the go-cart into a pretty ferocious machine that handles like a feather, goes like a shot, and also serves to kill a number of aspiring boy racers. It is an impressive machine, but it is still a go-cart. These new glorified Ml6s are both impressive and expensive, but they are still "poodle-shooters."

January 28, 2008

All this talk about "restoring democracy" to Haiti brings up an interesting point in political philosophy. Democracy, simply stated, is majority rule. No more, no less. Majority rule may be a good thing, but to make a god of it is to be politically simple-minded. Majority rule justifies three people in a lifeboat in killing and eating the other two. Some of the things done in ancient Athens in the name of democracy were frightfully oppressive, and we must remember that the Nazi Party was elected by a wide majority. To me it seems that the aim of government is the optimum balance of liberty and order. Democracy is one way of achieving that, but for democracy to succeed it requires the virtue of the people, as Montesquieu observed. Thus when we cheer for democracy we must remember that it may not be the best, but rather the least of several evils. Saying that we invaded Haiti to "restore democracy" is pretty silly, since the Haitians have never had democracy and would not know what to do with it if they got it. Note that democracy is nowhere mentioned in either the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution. Let us by all means favor it, let us not make a god of it.

January 29, 2008

Why didn't we think of this before? Justice Robert Bork, who in spite of his reputation as a distinguished legal mind has never quite understood about the Second Amendment, has now opined that if we were to observe the Tenth Amendment, as it was written, we would practically wreck our federal system, as it now functions. Exactly! Let us get on with it!

January 30, 2008

Speaking of differences of opinion, we have seen the Waco atrocity characterized in the press as a "mass suicide." We thought it was properly referred to as a "ninja massacre." Clearly there is a broad difference of opinion here. As I understand it, we still have the survivors of the Waco atrocity in jail, though it has never been made very clear just what they are in jail for. I certainly do not maintain that the Branch Davidians were not pretty kooky, but I have read most of the accounts and I still do not know what they did that was evil. I guess I should bear in mind the legal axiom that "being right does not assure victory."

January 31, 2008

I am continually amused at the standard journalistic practice of claiming that "studies have shown" something or other to be the case, when the journalist has no rational reason for making his point. Personally, I prefer reason to statistics every time. With this in mind, I present the following list of things that my own "studies have shown" to be true.

* 78.2% of deer always know about opening day the day before it happens.
* If you obey the speed limit in Southern California on the freeways you will be rear ended 57.3% of the time.
* Large-bore pistols are 59% more reliable fight stoppers than small-bore pistols.
* 83% of Democrats fear liberty.
* 83% of Republicans fear Democrats.
* 68% of street punks do not fear 92% of respectable citizens.
* 71% of feminist agitators tend to be ugly.
* You can get drunk on beer, but you have to work at it.
* Politicians can get drunk on power, and it takes no effort at all.
* 96% of violent criminals just hate being shot.
* Statistics can be used to establish any preconceived conclusions.

February 1, 2008

I was recently scolded by a correspondent who said that I was violating my own principles when I said that it is a good practice before the hunt to sit before the televisor and snap in on all zeros or ohs which appear in the commercials. He said that this violated Rule 2, which states that you are never to allow the muzzle to cover anything that you are not willing to destroy. I take his point, but after my recent stint in the meat locker, during which I was exposed continuously to daytime television, I have lost any affection I might have ever have had for televisors. I have not blown any away as yet, but there may come a day!

February 2, 2008

Self control is obviously the essence of good marksmanship of any sort, but self control under conditions of extreme hazard may more properly be referred to as "stress control." We learn of people who fail to shoot well in the field because they were excited. We hear of people forgetting their basic principles in conflict because they were frozen with fear. These are not acceptable reasons. When you are holding a firearm, you have the power to surmount stress. The killing expression, as those who have seen it know, is one of complete calm. Regardless of what you may see on the screen, one does not grimace when he is shooting for blood - with pistol, rifle, tank gun or fighter plane. Thus it is that a great field shot may or may not be a great target shot. He must be a good target shot, but not necessarily a master. What makes him a master field shot is his ability to control stress so that he can put his targeting abilities to proper use, regardless of his personal hazard or excitement. A good hunter is nearly always a good soldier. Let the bunny-huggers bear that in mind whenever they feel threatened.

February 3, 2008

Reading in a copy of the Journal of the National Rifle Association of the United Kingdom, sent to us by a British correspondent, we discover that for quite a long time aimed fire on the part of soldiers was held to be "illegal, immoral, and probably fattening." In the day of the Brown Bess the infantryman's weapon was employed in mass with an effect rather like that of a giant shotgun. The weapons themselves were so inaccurate that it was almost pointless to fit them with sights at all, but they were not supposed to be fired individually, but rather on command by the entire infantry unit. Blasts of musketry of this sort were quite effective as long as there was a suitable target available, preferably a similar unit of massed infantry standing within range at close order. Victory, of course, would go to that side which got the blast off first. When rifles appeared the capacity of the rifleman to pick out an individual enemy and deck him became apparent. This was considered to be a VBT (Very Bad Thing) in many military circles. Among other things, it placed the lives of officers in particular danger, which was considered to be an antisocial development. During the Peninsular War, for example, the matter came to a head:

"During the Peninsular War the British employed sharpshooters where they were used to great effect. During one seven-day period these marksman killed 500 officers and eight generals. This resulted in the order that rifleman were to be given no quarter if captured on the grounds that their fire was aimed, a practice that was considered unfair."

Thus it was that for a particular set of circumstances if you set about killing your enemy on purpose you were held to be a war criminal, at least by the French Revolutionary Army.

February 4, 2008

We learn from the armed forces publications that the future of military marksmanship is placed increasingly at hazard by the official assumption that troops cannot be taught to shoot well, and that, therefore, the infantry weapon of the future will probably be some sort of shortrange, high-explosive grenade-launcher. No one worries about the problem of ammunition supply anymore since the assumption is that we will always have complete command of the air. This has been happily true in our recent military adventures, but as we look to post cold-war speculation, in which the enemy is no longer the Evil Empire but more probably the liberty loving citizen, two aspects of this debate become apparent. It may come to pass that the weapon of the oppressor will not need the same characteristics as the weapon of the resistor, and vice versa. This may be the reason why rifle marksmanship training, as well as the military rifles themselves, continue on their downward path. As the day of the master marksman follows the day of the master sailor, we are forced to the alarming conclusion that the good shot may eventually become politically unacceptable. Fancy that!

February 5, 2008

The more sinister of the new rulers of South Africa are suggesting that no white man has any need for more than one gun. This does open the interesting discussion about how many guns a citizen of any color actually needs. Well, of course, if a man is not a shooter he does not need any guns, and that takes care of that. But it is interesting to speculate about how many guns a shooter needs. I would like to open the seminar with the proposition that a shooter needs a rifle, a pistol, a shotgun and a 22. Now then, will one center-fire rifle do or must every man have a spare in each category? Does the shooter need a 22 rifle and a 22 pistol? Does the shooter need a fowling piece, an upland bird gun, and a combat shotgun? The subject broadens. Contributions are welcome. (Of course, the citizen's need is none of the government's business. This is a purely theoretical discussion.)

February 6, 2008

It is vital that we must not go limp simply because we won a battle. That was not the whole war, and much fighting remains ahead. In the pursuit of liberty we can never relax. You all noticed that the part played by the NRA in the Revolution of `94 was significant. Some of the losers claim that it was decisive. May it be so! Most of the press, and even some of our own membership, have recently taken the view that the NRA is a paper tiger, unable to make any difference where it counts. This is just not so, and the shooters of this country remain a political force to contend with despite the complaints of the limp left. Sign up a new member every month! Only by doing so can you discharge your duty to the republic.

February 7, 2008

"The Boers knocked us silly at a mile." I am a great admirer of Mr. Rudyard Kipling, but the notion that the Boers were spectacular "long shooters" is without accurate foundation. The Boers were hunters who lived by their rifles. Any hunter knows that the rule is to get closer if you can. The difference between a deadly shot and a lesser man is concentration. When an experienced hunter presses the trigger he knows that he has a clean kill. Too often a soldier shoots only to make noise or to provide "suppressive fire," which, as the saying goes, "doesn't." A spectacular example of this occurred on the summit of Majuba Hill in 1881. The two sides enjoyed no particular difference in efficiency of armament, but where the British fired by volley, the Boers shot to kill. The range varied from 75 to 25 meters (we walked it!), and the effect of carefully delivered fire at short range was simply appalling. The panic that ensued has been minimized in the journalistic accounts written in English, but anyone can go to the site and relive the experience on the ground, if he so wishes.

February 8, 2008

As procedures for implementing the new concealed-carry law in Arizona proceed, we are amused by the provision that the applicant must be exposed to sixteen hours of qualified instruction before being certified. So how do you suppose the good people in the state house came up with sixteen hours? Our guess is that they took the number of days in the shortest month in the year and subtracted from that the number of months in the year. Alternatively they could have taken the number of hoofs on a cow and multiplied it by the number of paws on a dog. It should be obvious even to a legislator that the number of hours one is exposed to instruction has nothing whatever to do with the amount of information imparted. A man can sleep through sixteen hours of instruction just as well as he can sleep through thirty minutes thereof. However this is not important. The important thing is, in the words of Patrick Henry, "That every man be armed." As long as we screen out the loonies, the rest will take care of themselves.

February 9, 2008

We have recently been reading up on the life and times of Nathan Bedford Forrest, CSA, properly termed the "Tiger of Tennessee." This was an amazing man, declared by no less authority than U.S. Grant to be the finest general of the Confederacy. When our Civil War broke out there was a lot of enthusiasm but little organization, and one of the things most notably missing on the Southern side was simply the firearm. This did not bother Forrest very much since he simply stipulated that anyone who wished to join him must furnish his own horse and "gun." The result was that the majority of Forrest's troopers in the early part of the war were armed with double-barreled shotguns. This traditional fowling piece may certainly not be the ideal personal weapon for the infantry, but in the hands of a bunch of howling horsemen attacking suddenly out of the dark it was decisively effective. Always outnumbered, Forrest attacked mainly at night, and at night a shotgun has a great deal to be said for it.

February 10, 2008

We seldom go to the movies anymore, but I have always had a persistent taste for Westerns, and it does not seem to be so very uncommon. During the Thanksgiving festivities, it happens I caught two modern, big budget Westerns largely to see how they had improved over the more traditional examples, if at all. I discovered some interesting things. The first, the weaponcraft has shown no significant improvement. While the directors may be careful to use firearms which are correctly assigned to the period under discussion, they do not understand that Hollywood holsters are a development of the post war world. It is interesting to see a gunfighter of the 1880s portrayed as drawing from a 1955 model holster. The second point which intrudes is language. The conventional obscenity of the 1960s and since was never used in the 19th century, as far as anyone can determine from informal writings and conversation. On the other hand, there are forbidden words today which were commonplace in the 19th century. The result is the portrayal of people whose speech is totally unconvincing. A third point, and probably the most critical, is that Hollywood has now discovered "Post Operational Trauma"(POT.) The notion that a man will get all shook up after he has killed another is a post-Korean War development. Nobody from Little David to George Patton was ever upset after he had killed a man for a good reason. Furthermore, this POT business is not common today, as we can tell by talking to participants in current violence. To have some legendary "gunfighter" of the old West go all to pieces because he has just shot the bad guy is ridiculous, but, like arugula, it is fashionable, so we must not criticize it. One good thing we noted about the Westerns was their demonstration of the principle that Personal Unilateral Disarmament (sometimes referred to as "gun control") is absolutely useless in the suppression of crime. "No guns in town" has always been the first step of the oppressor.

February 11, 2008

I am sometimes asked why I do not do more literary work on the subject of defensive pistolcraft. I hate to say it, but the answer is that I believe that I have discovered what I need to know about defensive pistolcraft. I know what works, and I have proved it. No subject of this sort may ever be considered completely and finally closed, but I have not seen anything written nor heard anything spoken within the last decade which has caused any fundamental change in doctrine or equipment already discovered. The subject of personal defense is far more psychological than technical. As soon as you decide and insist that you will not be victimized, you have done more than any weapon can to provide for your safety.

February 12, 2008

I was even more exasperated than usual with the Billary Team when they declared Pearl Harbor Day to be an official day of mourning - with flags at half-staff. Certainly many good men died on 7 December, 1941, through the treachery of the Japanese, but the mood of Pearl Harbor was never one of sadness - rather one of fury. I was into that war up to my ears from the very beginning, and I never heard a comrade express sorrow about that Pearl Harbor perfidy. To the contrary, that act by the Japanese inspired and unified the American people as nothing else has done since, and possibly as nothing else before. For a while we were all on the same team, and that team was dedicated to the obliteration of the Rising Sun, at whatever cost was necessary. We were not sad, we were mad, and that is what should be remembered on Pearl Harbor Day.

February 13, 2008

For the FBI to investigate Horiuchi is somewhat like Hitler's investigating Himmler. But no matter what Reno and Freeh and Rogers and Horiuchi may say, that case is not closed. Whether Horiuchi committed a procedural error at Ruby Ridge is not important. What he committed was a mortal sin, and that sin will find him out. The only appropriate demise for this man now would seem to be the traditional route of sepukku, with which he should be familiar. If he needs a proper knife I have one, which I will provide to him upon request. It is long been considered doctrine to play dead if you are caught by a grizzly bear. Now it turns out that while this may indeed work for grizzlies, which do not ordinarily kill people for food, it does not work for black bears, who, when they attack people, usually try to eat them.

February 14, 2008

Don't forget that it was Republican `moderates' who sold out Freedom and the 2nd Amendment and handed us the defeat on the Schumer `assault weapons' ban and the Crime Bill by voting with Bill Clinton instead of you. Those `moderate' Republicans are still there! (Marion P. Hammer, First V.P., NRA) Indeed so! Note that our new crop of heroes in Washington seems nobly concerned with taxation and spending, but curiously lax about liberty. Prosperity without liberty is Dead Sea fruit.

February 15, 2008

In our despairing pursuit of precise communication we are continually affronted by the newspaper term "innocent civilians." I am not at all sure what makes a civilian innocent, but when war invades populous places there are going to be non-combatants who will suffer from the efforts of uniformed soldiery. Whether they are innocent or not is a very complex question. Almost by definition guerilleros are "innocent" in that they are not soldiers paid by any military force. Throughout the beastly wars of the late twentieth century, large numbers of unpaid, ununiformed, non-combatants have been caught up in disaster and slaughtered wholesale. This is, of course, tragic, but it does not imply that the innocents have been murdered by the guilty. Sometimes it has been conspicuously to the contrary. Let us watch that!

February 16, 2008

A sociologist group at Harvard has come up with the shocking conclusion that citizens who have received adequate training in smallarms are distinctly more likely to keep their personal weapons at the ready at home. The idea that a ready weapon is automatically a horribly anti-social manifestation seems so obvious to these Harvard types that they published the results of this survey, with a wringing of hands in the New York Times. We of course know that the only proper way to maintain a personally owned weapon in the household is loaded and ready. It would seem obvious even to a Harvard man that an unloaded weapon is totally useless. The interesting thing is that the newspapers who printed this piece and other newspapers who picked it up and reprinted it never seemed to think further about the matter. I would certainly like to think that those people who received weapons training have profited by it, but we are not up against reasoned argument here. Hoplophobia (fear of guns) is after all a true phobia, which means that it is not susceptible to reasoned argument.

February 17, 2008

Having nothing to lose, I am going to climb out on a loose limb and make a horrifying statement. To wit: group size is spinach. Well, wash my mouth out with soap! To a large number of smallarms enthusiasts in the world, group size is everything. If that is the way they want it, that is all right with me, but I must say that these people are devoting a great deal of attention to an essentially trivial matter. Certainly a very accurate rifle - or pistol - is a satisfying instrument to own and use. Whether it makes any difference in practical application is another matter. Consider for a moment that group size is normally measured by group diameter from the impact centers of the two widest shots in the group. Consider further that even if that is a good measure, group radius is of considerably more interest, since group radius measures the distance between the theoretical point of aim and the worst shot in the group. And let us further consider that in any given group the majority of hits is likely to be located in the center of the group, so we can further cut down the "range probable error" to one-quarter of group diameter. In no case do we know of a man who can shoot well enough to appreciate that. I was told recently by a colleague that he was attempting to do some head-size groups at 500 meters coming up summer. I responded that I had once shot an ornamental 500-meter group with an SSG, using 1962 Lake City Match ammunition, but that since I had shot it from a bench it did not really count. I did not wish to hurt his feelings, but I do wish to point out that what the shooter can do from a bench is no measure of how he can shoot.

Webmaster on Vacation No more additions until February 27, 2008

February 27, 2008

Just now we learn of a buffalo fatality occurring up near Arusha back in September of the year just past. The account is written by the professional hunter involved, and as usual he gives us much detail but not quite enough. For example, he does not mention what cartridges were used. Given the general scene as observed in Africa, I would be willing to bet a certain amount that the rifles used were caliber 375. The PH, the client, and an apprentice PH, accompanied by two trackers, followed a shootable bull into some fairly thick cover. In an open space they got a shot at some 60 meters. The buff disappeared, and they followed him into thicker cover. Following a wounded buff into thick cover is one of life's great experiences, and in this case it turned out to be the last experience - for the principal. At ranges of perhaps ten paces, two more shots were fired - one to the head, one to the shoulder. When on the next close-range sighting the buff came straight in, the PH fired one more shot and was runover without serious injury by the buffalo, who, now reduced to crawling, made it to the client, got his horns under him and tossed him aside. The client was not mangled, but received a couple of horn wounds to the thighs, one of which to the inside of the right thigh apparently punctured the femoral artery. All hands did what they could to stop the bleeding, but it had gone too far by the time they got the pressure bandages in place and the client was dead on arrival at the hospital. This is all very grand, as the sportsman died a man's death in his prime in noble adventure. What impresses me most, however, is the iron courage of the buffalo which, though mortally wounded, pressed home his attack and destroyed his tormentor. Old Synceros caffer - the African buffalo - is not very pretty, but he just may be the grandest game animal in the world, regardless of the size of his trophy.

February 28, 2008

The "double-action" self-loading pistol has certainly grabbed the attention of the law enforcement establishment, presumably because it is "safe." Actually, incidents with the U.S. police over the past few years have demonstrated that the trigger-cocking auto is noticeably less safe than the single-action version, as well as less safe than the revolver. Of course, safety is a curious concept when applied to lethal weapons. To the extent that a firearm is safe, it is useless, but in the Age of Litigation everyone seems more concerned about lawsuits than about getting the job done, and since people properly qualified in firearms are rarely found in lawsuits various problems appear. For example, in Lexington, Kentucky, recently the county coroner ruled that when a police officer making an arrest used the hammer-dropper to make the weapon safe, and shot the suspect through the head, the fatality was "unintentional." It is probably true to say that the cop did not intend to kill the suspect, but what he was doing pointing his pistol at the head while he dropped the hammer is another matter. That hammer-dropper does not always work. We thought everybody knew that. Certainly the Walther people, who invented it back in 1935, formally cautioned their users about it in writing. Funny we did not have all this trouble with accidental discharge, either with revolvers or with single-action auto-pistols, in my youth. Apparently nitwittedness is one of the flowers of the Age of the Common Man.

February 29, 2008

As always we delighted in the Perazzi display. Perazzi shotguns are things of beauty, and one can spend hours in simple admiration. The top grade has a sticker price of about $85,000, and it is pleasant to realize that there are people who will manufacture such things, and also people who will purchase them. "It's a great world after all!" I certainly have no intention of ever acquiring a Perazzi, anymore than acquiring a McClaran, or a Stradivarius, but it is nice to know such things exist.

March 1, 2008

Back in the Dark Ages when I was first interested in riflery, I was fascinated with hopping up the 30-06 cartridge. I, along with many others in the shooting world, was sold the notion that "more is better." Early versions were the 30 Newton, the 300 Holland and Holland, and the 30 Halger. It did not occur to us innocents to ask why one would want more than what the 30-06 offers to the riflemen. Well, it shoots flatter. (A bit, and that bit is so small that it makes no difference, since on the back curve of the trajectory differences in drop do not matter as long as they are known in advance.) Well, it hits harder. (Yes, a bit, and to what purpose? If you sock any sort of beast short of buffalo in the proper place with a 30-06, you have him.) A friend, who was demonstrating the Blaser rifle at SHOT, told me that his most popular caliber is the 300 Weatherby Magnum. It turns out that he sells his rifles primarily to rich Texas cowboys who figure that they cannot do it with a 30-06, so they better have a 300 Magnum. Personally I am unconvinced.

March 2, 2008

When it comes to pass that citizens must take up arms against their own government, the results are uniformly dreadful, but the outcome is not necessarily foregone. "When law and morality contradict each other the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his sense of morality or losing his respect for the law." (Frederick Bastiat) The "new criminalization" is perhaps the most disgusting feature of the leviathan state. It results from the criminal enforcement of regulations against citizens who are doing nothing wrong other than violating a regulation of which they had no knowledge. This lets the regulators run wild and gives the citizen no recourse to his representatives because they, the representatives, have nothing direct to do with the regulation. It is time to come down hard on these regulators. I have been waiting for the news that the new boys in Washington are planning to do something about the BATF - so far with no results. I continue to wait. You continue to wait. Let us not wait indefinitely.

March 3, 2008

The following penetrating paragraph is from family member Ed Detrixhe of Clyde, Kansas: "The first thing a conservative notices about leftists is how afraid they are. Any conversation with them soon, no immediately, leads to something they fear, and they fear almost everything. They fear food, tobacco, the sun, clothing, cars, open discussion, life, death, etc. Because of many of these deep fears it is not surprising that they are passionately interested in making life `safe.' Life must be renewed. If something incidental, such as this freedom or that freedom, must be given up in order for life to be `safer,' than so be it. (Perhaps this makes perfect sense because when someone is consumed by fear he is in effect imprisoned. Accordingly, the meaning of freedom changes.)" As the proverbial old Indian said: "The first thing is to overcome fear. When that is accomplished everything takes care of itself."

March 4, 2008

Do you know about the standard 3-shot signal? If you do not, here it is: When you are lost in the wilderness or disabled so that you cannot travel, you break out your watch and fire three shots spaced exactly 60 seconds apart. Then you wait for 15 minutes and repeat the same procedure. Then stop. The idea is that a single shot, or three shots spaced quickly, might be inadvertent, but that three shots spaced precisely apart suggest that communication is being attempted. If anybody hears and heeds, he will note your second series of three and home in on you. If no one hears, it is best to wait a couple of hours until your absence has been noticed and then repeat the procedure. This is why a hunter should carry more ammunition with him in the field than he will probably need to bring home his venison.

March 5, 2008

We have noticed a great deal of journalistic basura on the subject of our using the atomic bomb to end World War II. That is what we used it for and that is what it did. And now we see a whole raft of junior-grade handwringers excoriating the people who fought that war (in their defense) be claiming that the Japanese would have surrendered anyway. Now, nothing in the past can be recouped, but let us get one thing straight - those of us who fought that war and met the Japanese face-to-face, from Guadalcanal to Okinawa, know full well that the Japanese would not have surrendered anyway. I could give you a good number of personal examples of that proposition, but my experience was just that of one man, so I will fall back upon the support of such notables as Douglas MacArthur, Howlin' Mad Smith, Chester Nimitz, and Harry Truman. To cause the Japanese to stop fighting, an inconceivable shock was necessary. The fire bombing of Tokyo would not do it. The destruction of their air fleet would not do it, and the landing on their home islands would not do it. The atomic bomb would do it, and it did do it, and the whimpers of literary rabbit people who were not even born at the time are not worthy of serious consideration.

March 6, 2008

People of good will frequently send one off with the injunction to "Have a safe trip!" There is no such thing as a safe trip. Safety is an illusion. It must always fail in the end. That does not mean that we should not consider safety, but never to cry "Safety first!" Safety, while something we should seek, must always be placed second to getting the job done. One who places safety first is, quite specifically, a coward. We do not go to war to be safe, neither do we climb mountains, or race cars, or hunt buffalo, to be safe. We hear commentators explain that we should not resist violent crime because we may get hurt. This is the advice of the rabbit people who live all their lives in fear and never know the joy of danger. There are people like that, and while we may feel sorry for them, we must never take their advice seriously. Here in Arizona recently a motorist stopped to help a stranded female who was flagging him down. In return he was beaten to death by the woman's accomplices who were lying in wait. Rule: when you do not understand the scene, go to Condition Orange. If you are flagged down on the highway, regardless of how innocent the flagger may appear, get your pistol at the ready.

March 7, 2008

And then there are the snakes. Down in the desert the people are complaining about the unusual proliferation of rattlesnakes, which is being investigated by the media based on the number of phone calls the police are getting. I find this bothersome. It simply does not occur to me that one calls the police when he finds a rattlesnake in his backyard. Why is a rattlesnake the business of the state? And in what way is the state better qualified to handle a rattlesnake than the householder? There are various things to be done about a rattlesnake in one's garden, but I do not see that the cops are in a position to do them. The first thing to do about a rattlesnake is let it alone. Unless there are small children about, or particularly dimwitted pets, a rattlesnake may well be allowed to go about his business. If, on the other hand, it is necessary to get this beast out of your vicinity, he is probably best scooped into a large jar and spirited off to the nearest high school biology lab as a demonstration. If this idea does not take your fancy, he can be beaten on with a stick and dropped into the trash. Better, however, he may be beheaded, skinned, eviscerated, cut into one and a half inch chunks and deep-fat fried. (This works best for pretty big ones.) His skin makes into a nice hat-band, and his rattles into a nifty presentation piece for travelers from abroad. In no case, however, is he a matter for the state. If we truly have got to the point where the citizen's first response to anything he does not understand is to call the police, we are probably too far gone down the road to serfdom.

March 8, 2008

Sometime back we wrote our annoyance at those who did not understand about our use of the atomic bomb. Since that time we have been further annoyed by a group of people who wished to observe the 50th Anniversary of the Battle for Iwo as an occasion for sorrow. Of course any man's death is sorrowful to his family, if not necessarily to him, and a great many good men died on Iwo, but the battle itself was not a tragedy. It was, on the contrary, a triumph. The Marine Corps wrote its name yet again in letters of gold across the pages of history, and the heroes who died there will remain heroes as long as our culture endures. Bob Cushman, my boss on several occasions and later Commandant of the Marine Corps, told me face-to-face that he as a battalion commander went through three sets of lieutenants in the course of that battle. There are upwards of twenty lieutenants in a battalion, and all of those who went ashore with Colonel Cushman were either killed or medevaced - and all of their replacements were either killed or medevaced, and almost all of their replacements were dragged off the field on stretchers. "There was a meat grinder!" the general told me. And so it was, but we accomplished our mission, against what appeared to be insurmountable odds, and that is what should be taught in the schools and celebrated in the parades.

March 9, 2008

One piece of information that the media are not likely to emphasize these days is that the homicide rate in Florida is down 29 percent since the enactment of the concealed weapon permit law. Some people take notice, however, as state after state passes new legislation allowing decent citizens to go armed... Amongst the continuous irritations foisted upon us by government is the impertinent assumption that one must prove to the state his need to be armed. In a recent feature in Time magazine the author found it surprising that in various jurisdictions the applicant for a firearms license was not even asked to establish a need. A free man should not have to show any need for being armed, and a public official is almost never in a position to pass judgment upon any such need. "I want it because I want it." That should be enough.

March 10, 2008

More than two thousand years ago Aristotle opined that most of the human race has essentially the soul of a slave. A recent Associated Press poll recorded that fifty-four percent of those questioned seemed willing to trade liberty for security. The sad fact is that one cannot trade the one for the other. You can surrender your liberty, but what you get in turn is never a significant increase in your security. There are those in Israel who feel that they would like to trade "land for peace." That will not work either.

March 11,2008

A gruesome hunting tale we just extracted from the Safari Club magazine points up yet again the need to "use enough gun," in Ruark's expression. It appears that this sportsman undertook to harass a water buffalo on India's east coast with what he refers to as a "carbine." Various compact rifles have been called carbines over the years, but given the time and place of this episode I conclude that the narrator was referring to the unsatisfactory 30 caliber U.S. carbine of World War II. You would think almost anyone would know better than that! The buff, after having been shot several times, crashed through the group and pinned one of the party to the ground. It was a smallish bull, with a spread between points of some twenty inches, but it succeeded in driving its horns through the body of the victim in two places high in the shoulder and low in the pelvis. This fixed the victim on the horns and the buff ran off into the jungle with the man on his head. The attempted pursuit was not very successful. After four days, when the hunters finally made it, the mortally wounded buffalo was unable to rise, but he still bore on his horns the rotting wreckage of what had once been a man. Ugly! Moral: Don't hunt dangerous game with little guns. How odd that one should have to make that point!

March 12, 2008

We now are led to believe that it is politically incorrect to take the Constitution literally. We knew that the liberals held that view, but it is interesting to see them admit it at last. It would seem that when backlash faces backlash, we have polarization. When we have polarization there is little room for discussion. Much as we might like to reason together, this serves no purpose when our adversary has already made up his mind, with or without reason. Thus the nation faces a crisis unprecedented since 1861. Since there is little point in argument we must fall back on prayer.

March 13, 2008

As we have long known, a man's weapon is less important than the man. Up in Littleton, Colorado, recently some creep went on a rampage and started shooting people. Since no firearm was ready to hand, a local construction worker terminated the action cleanly with a rock. The article did not say what caliber the rock was.

March 14, 2008

Years ago we opined in print that the three great luxuries of life were fresh citrus fruit daily on the breakfast table, a private shooting range on one's own property, and a personal helicopter. Though we have been chided for not putting political liberty on that list, we feel that this is simply a matter of semantics. Liberty is essential - something one is prepared to die for. One does not die for luxuries, he simply seeks them and enjoys them insofar as possible. I have not met anyone who has enjoyed all three of my own idealized delectations simultaneously. Those who enjoy just two of the three are among the most fortunate of men.

March 15, 2008

"In Månchen steht ein Hofbraåhaus!" Yes indeed, there it stands as it has always stood, and it gives one a profound sense of serenity in an uncertain world. The Hofbraåhaus in Munich is exactly the same today as it was when I was a boy, and as it was when my father was a boy, and as it was when Theodore Roosevelt was a boy. The building is the same, the furnishings and decorations are the same, the music is the same, the singing is the same, and, of course, the beer is the same. And customs stay the same. Seating is "ranch style" and you cannot be served a puny beer. A beer in the Hofbraåhaus is a liter, which is something over a quart, and that is the only size stein available. The sausages, the sauerkraut, the salzbrot remain just as always, and in today's world such cultural continuity is almost unique. The yodelling, the Schuhplatler and the Alphorns remain the same, and the squadrons of little camera-clicking Japanese tourists do not detract therefrom. The Bavarians invented Gemåtlich-keit, and they still own it serene and unchanging in an ever darkening civilization.

March 16, 2008

Mind-set is everything, as we have always taught and will continue to teach. You cannot solve a problem if you do not know you have one, and you cannot win a fight if you do not realize that it has started. Recently down in Yuma we had a couple of dreary murders in the law enforcement community evidently attributable to the fact that the two victims simply could not realize that a brother officer could be capable of intradepartmental homicide. The murderer in this case could not even get his little old Mac10 into operation until the victims gave him time to do so. It is fine to be a good shot, and it is fine to master precise gunhandling, but these things do not matter at all without the proper mind-set. If you are in Condition White, you lose.

March 17, 2008

How depressing it is to see the number of people who do not understand at all about the operation of the bolt-action rifle! In a recent feature article I ran across the point that the advantage of the lever gun over the bolt is that the butt need not be taken out of the shoulder to continue the action. This is a dreadful thing to think about for one who spent many nights after taps "snapping-in" in preparation for the following day's record run. We sat on the floor of the barracks in the dim squad light dropping the striker and instantly snapping the bolt until the interval between controlled shots was reduced to that necessary to bounce back from recoil. Watching a man take the butt from his shoulder when he works a bolt strikes a rifleman as an equivalent of watching a pedestrian put the wrong foot in the stirrup and swing himself into the saddle facing aft. Sometimes I cannot avoid the feeling that we are no longer producing serious men. (Maybe that is the reason we put girl pilots in fighter planes.)

March 18, 2008

And now we have a gent who has gone forth and taken his moose with a 50 caliber single-shot BMG rifle. He is quoted as saying that "The only reason I used this gun was to demonstrate that this cartridge has a legitimate purpose." The man's heart is in the right place, but the point he sought to prove was the wrong one. "Legitimate sporting purpose," which has been inserted into law several places, is absolutely irrelevant. The Founding Fathers did not seek to protect our right to hunt moose. I should have thought that everybody would know this by now, but obviously a good many do not.

March 19, 2008

We have a good anecdote from our neighbor and colleague, Colonel Bob Young, who did a stint not long ago in Saudi Arabia. It seems that on this occasion an American aircraft was parked on a runway, and being rather a sensitive item it was given an individual sentry to keep unauthorized personnel at a proper distance. In a demonstration of bad judgement, somebody in charge gave this job to a girl soldier, the idea of which is extremely offensive to a devout Muslim. In Saudi Arabia at this time the purity of the faith is enforced by priestly types who prowl the country on the lookout for violations of doctrine. These characters are armed with long, heavy whips. One of them wandered onto the base and became totally scandalized at the sight of this girl patrolling the aircraft with her M16. Shouting holy imprecations, he endeavored to use his whip on the lass, who quite reasonably shot him six times in the chest with her 223. International Incident! Bob tells us that the Air Force moved with uncharacteristic alacrity and got the girl out of the country in a matter of minutes, and the whole incident was immediately swept under the rug. It is hard to say who won that round, but it recalls the principles of Hastings' Third Law, which reads "Do not throw rocks at people with guns."

March 20, 2008

"The NRA is the reason the Republicans control the Congress." Bill Clinton quoted in the Cleveland Plain Dealer for 13 January. This is the finest compliment that could be paid to our association. We hear that membership is down somewhat, and this is attributed to the rather striking dues increase leveled last year. Money talks, of course, but to opt out of the only organized defender of liberty in this country at this time because membership costs more is rather like deserting from Valley Forge because of the shortage of whiskey. The NRA may not be perfect - nothing is - but still it constitutes our most powerful bastion against tyranny. If it is not doing everything right, according to your likes, get in there and work with it - do not back off from it! In the reported words of Dr. Franklin, "We must all hang together or assuredly we will all hang separately."

March 21, 2008

There are a great many fools among the rabbit people who are hoodwinked into believing that what the media promulgate in regard to our traditional American liberties represents mainstream opinion. As we know, it does not. Once outside the metropolis and its suburban support you encounter the real America, which is not as gullible as our news agencies seem to think. The great majority in rural America may be disinclined to propagandize, but it remains true to its traditions, one of which is the armed citizen. This bothers Senator Feinstein, since she disapproves of the armed citizen and is hard at work trying to abolish the Office of Civilian Marksmanship. Elitists of both the right and the left have always feared the armed citizen, as well they should, for an armed citizenry cannot be tyrannized.

March 22, 2008

The new "weapon of the masses" seems to be the Chinese version of the Kalashnikov. It is not very accurate, nor very powerful, nor very well made - but it is cheap, and this matters very considerably. It is not as good a weapon technically or tactically as a Winchester or Marlin lever action 30-30, but it is a self-loader, and that makes a great difference to a lot of moderns who feel that they must have semi-automatic fire in order to "keep up." Note that Mike Root, our man in Cuchillo, cleaned up the iron sight category at the last Keneyathlon with his 30-30. I do not think anyone is likely to do that with an AK47, or clone thereof.

March 23, 2008

I find it difficult to accept the weeping and wailing that we hear from the media about the possibility of battle casualties. When people fight, there will be casualties. When a man puts on his country's uniform he accepts the distinct possibility of being killed in action. When we whimper that we cannot imagine sending our infantry troops into the Balkans because some of them may be killed we are in effect saying that we need no army. Personally I am more concerned about air operations, because when aircraft are shot down over enemy territory savages on the other side may use the deliberate torment of our fliers as a means of exerting pressure upon us. If we send infantry into the attack we may get some people killed, but we will not have to watch them on television being hung up by their thumbs. People die in war. People also die on the highways and in the hospitals. Death is one thing we can be sure of, and perhaps we should remember that "Dulce et decorum pro patria mori est."

March 24, 2008

The syndicated columnist, Walter Williams, who happens to be a college professor, has recently finished a study of governmental murder and has concluded that in the twentieth century far more people were killed by their own governments than died in war. Statistics are always questionable, but Williams' come out as follows:

• Killed in Warfare: 39 million
• Killed by Lenin and Stalin: 62 million
• Killed by Mao Tse-tung: 35 million
• Killed by Hitler: 21 million

March 25, 2008

One of the unfortunate but noticeable attributes of police organizations is the "us-against-them" obsession. Since cops are in contact in large measure with the complete dregs of society, it is not hard to understand how they may come to place people into the three categories of cops, cops' families, and scum. We must all be aware of this problem and do our best to mitigate it. If it appears that fed rogues are the principal hazard the citizens face today, we must bear in mind that not all federal agents are in truth rogues, and that our local police are most unlikely to be such. I have a friend, now retired from the federal service, who simply will not accept the fact that Horiuchi deliberately killed Vicki Weaver - when he was in no danger and had no legitimate objective in mind. We are all subject to this group loyalty obsession and I notice it in myself when I am reluctant to accept criminal actions on the part of marines, but a sensible man should not be entrapped by stereotypes. If you happen to think - possibly rightly - that fighter pilots are better than other people, you must remember that this does not apply to every possible fighter pilot, only to the majority. Thus the fact that a man is a cop does not in and of itself mean that he is either good or bad. His actions must be evaluated individually. Ideally your local friendly cop should be your neighbor, whose children go to school with yours and who associates with you in your recreational freedom. This is not always possible, but it should be an aim.

March 26, 2008

As we enter upon hunting season I would like to point out again that hunting should not be a competitive exercise, despite the best efforts of the Safari Club to make it so. Except in the rarest circumstances, the hunter has practically nothing to do with the size of his trophy - he takes what is offered, as long as it is presentable. I find the "tape measure hunter" to be bothersome, and tape measures were forbidden on the Babamkulu expedition. A man who shoots game in order to out-do some other hunter has missed the point completely, or so it seems to me. Good trophies are nice to hang upon the wall, but they are there only to remind you of great memories, not to brag about. Speaking personally, I have several record-book trophies, but while they give me pleasure, they do not give me as much pleasure as a number of fairly commonplace heads that resulted from extraordinary moments afield. As Ortega put it, one hunts in order to have hunted, and the hunting experience is essentially inner-directed. This has nothing to do with record books, or the impressions of other people.

March 27, 2008

Family member and Orange range master Mike Waidelich has now become a firm advocate of the Glock pistol. This has puzzled me because I consider that trigger action is the most significant single element in the precision efficiency of any firearm, and the trigger on the Glock is customarily so bad as to be practically unworkable. But Mike does not agree. He explained to me that pistol engagements within the law enforcement establishment customarily occur at such short range that precise bullet placement is not important. He maintains that he can teach anybody to center a human adversary with the Glock trigger at any reasonable range - say 10 meters or less. The other points that recommend the Glock to the police establishment are low cost and readily available modular parts. The Glock people will furnish you with spare parts immediately, where most other manufacturers hem and haw. These points are important. They are not enough to turn me into a Glockenspieler; but then, I am not a police range master.

March 28, 2008

We are informed by a good friend in Sweden that the allowance for private ownership of ammunition in that country is 25,000 rounds per each weapon owned. We found this hard to believe, and checked it further. The figure is correct - 25,000 rounds. Basically, we are opposed to arbitrary limitations on private armament, but somehow we do not find a 25,000 limit all that oppressive.

March 29, 2008

Despite the best efforts of the hoplophobes, the U.S. remains way ahead of most other jurisdictions in the matter of firearms freedom. Recently an English jeweler, whose shop had been raided twenty times in twenty years, repelled borders by seizing the firearm of one of the bandits who broke into his shop. With the captured firearm he shot both of the bandits, though not fatally. This was in England, and, of course, he was immediately in a great deal of trouble. He was fined 2,000 pounds for "illegal use of a firearm," 100 more for possession of ammunition which was related to another weapon, plus 1,050 more pounds for prosecution costs. This whole affair is costing the jeweler over $6,000 in American money, plus his attorney's fee. Just how this sort of idiocy is justified in the eyes of the British courts is unclear, but though we find a lot of domestic jurisprudence pretty bad, such things can get worse.

March 30, 2008

I remain bemused by this fascination for overcapacity magazines manifest in the marketplace. I have never heard of a case in which a participant in a pistol action profited by the ability to shoot again, and again, and again. Certainly, there are occasions in which an individual law enforcement man has had to contend with a group of miscreants, all of whom were equally dangerous, but one can hunt the records long and long without finding good examples. Recently family member Tim Lloyd from Australia handed me an account of a shooting up at Conneston, north of Alice Springs, back in 1928. In this adventure the constable in charge was set upon several times by what is called Downunder a "mob" of aborigines. He was carrying a 6-shot, major-caliber revolver, and on one occasion he got five one-shot stops out of his cylinder. If any of the family run across cases which justify the utility of an overcapacity magazine, I would appreciate being notified.

March 31, 2008

I have had the opportunity now for a couple of years to evaluate the Glock pistol with sufficient care to give me justification in an opinion. I have not used one much myself, but just enough to know that it is not for me. However, I have some good friends in law enforcement who have pretty much set matters straight. My conclusion is that the Glock pistol is a very good choice for hired hands, but not for serious pistoleros. Its proper place lies in the public sector, and the dedicated shottist is rarely found therein. (Note: That is shottist rather than shootist. Look it up.)

April 1, 2008

Sometimes I am convinced that the world is actually getting worse, and it is not just my advanced age which makes it seem so. Consider the case reported in the shooting industry magazine of a customer who bought a rifle only to return it in a matter of days. He claimed that when he fired it and opened the bolt a piece fell out, and he displayed an empty case to prove it. From a recent issue of Tailhook magazine, we discover that Naval pilots going into the Gulf War received no training nor familiarisation whatever with sidearms. Furthermore, they were forbidden to bring their own. As one post-modern bureaucrat sounded off, "This is war! You can't bring your own guns!" Of course it maybe adduced that if a flier loses a 30-million-dollar airplane, the taxpayer really should not be concerned about whether or not he can shoot his way to safety on the ground. It may, of course, be of some concern to him. Many years ago I was invited to a conference at the academy in Colorado Springs on just this point. The colonels sat there and shot the breeze all day without coming up with an answer to the question of what a combat pilot needs a pistol for. One school holds that he should be able to sneak around on the ground and put chickens in the pot. Another says he should stay on top of his hill and threaten the bad guys at the bottom until the chopper can come and pick him up. As many of you know, Gîring's answer in World War II was to supply his combat pilots with beautifully made "drillings," featuring two shotgun barrels and one rifle. I have no authoritative accounts about how good an idea this was, but it is a lot different from those manifest by the Navy in Desert Storm.

April 2, 2008

In re-reading McBride for perhaps the tenth time, we discover again that a heart shot is by no means necessarily a quick stop. A beast shot through the heart will always die, and a man nearly always, unless he is wheeled into thoracic surgery within a couple of minutes, but he will not necessarily drop when hit. An armed antagonist can frequently shoot back, and a charging lion may easily bite you dead between the time the shot is delivered and the victim is no longer able to fight. From the collected writings I conclude that the larger the caliber the more quickly a heart shot will stop the action, and this is a matter of some interest in this day when the governments of the world seem determined to reduce calibers as much as possible.

April 3, 2008

On the occasion of the recent demonstration in Washington, engineered by Louis Farrakhan and others, one of his lieutenants (sporting the unimaginative name of Khalid Mohammed) is quoted in Human Events as shouting, "This is the time of blackman's rise and the whiteman's demise." Being genetically placed on one side of that confrontation, I apparently have no choice but to join the fray. This being the case I am reminded of the statement attributed to John Parker at Lexington on 19 April 1775, to wit: "If they mean to have a war, let it begin here!"

April 4, 2008

All of this "whingeing" (British word) about our termination of the war in the Pacific is interesting in view of McBride's observation about his sniping in World War I. "We killed them when we could and we damned them all to Hell. They started it and by God we finished it!" This calls to mind the advice of Gunsite's Grand Patron Theodore Roosevelt to the effect that you should never start a fight, but once you are in it you should finish it. This is a principle which a series of recent American presidents seem to have missed.

April 5, 2008

This is the time to count our blessings, and despite the degenerate nature of the world at large we still have much to be thankful for. I suppose good health is the greatest gift of God, and those who have it can always place it at the top of the list. As the Spanish toast puts it, "Salud y dinero, y tiempo para gozarlas." (Health and money, and time to enjoy them.) The weather has continued fine here at Gunsite up to the time of writing. It has enabled us to enjoy the countryside to the fullest.

April 6, 2008

It is a considerable annoyance to discover that the paperback edition of "Meditations on Hunting" by Jose Ortega y Gasset has now been discontinued by Simon & Schuster. If you have not got your copy, or even if you have, you must now hunt around for it in gun shows and used-book stores. Ortega's classic has been praised by some as the greatest philosophical work of the 20th century, and it arms all of us solidly and pointedly against the bleatings of the bunny-huggers. No proper home should be without its copy.

April 7, 2008

What does one do when he finds himself inadvertently involved in a bank robbery? We had a family member recently who handled this problem well. When people started shooting next door, he ducked out to the street, produced his piece and took cover behind a parked car. Oddly enough, in this case the police arrived before the bad guys got away. Whereupon our friend simply holstered and cleared out. He did not get involved, yet he did not abandon his duty as a good citizen. He tells me he would have shot if circumstances had called for it. In any event, he was ready, and that's what he learned at school.

April 8, 2008

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.

April 9, 2008

The Cold War may be over, though there is reason to doubt this, but even so, evil has not disappeared from the world simply because of the demise of the evil empire. In some ways we live in even darker times than in the forties, for in those days we could identify the enemy, and during the Cold War he was pretty obvious even though we were not fighting him in major battles. Today, however, we are harassed by enemies of so many forms that it is difficult for us to unite in resistance to them. For example, a recent letter from the NRA staff to a member who was asking about the response of the Association to the Waco atrocity opined that the American people are more afraid of street crime then they are of rampant