Outdoor Life - Semi-auto RSS

Bloomberg Anti-Gun Commercial To Air During Super Bowl

OL Editor — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:59:23 -0500

Keep the remote handy during Sunday's Super Bowl telecast because you'll want to mute the volume when Big Nanny himself--New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg--and Boston Mayor Thomas Merino share a couch and lecture unsuspecting football fans about the evils of firearms and, by extension, the dangers posed by the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Bloomberg and Menino filmed a 30-second gun-control commercial Tuesday in New York that will air in the Northeast, not nationally, during Sunday’s big game between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.

The commercial will show the two mayors sitting on a couch, wearing Giants and Patriots jerseys over their shirts and ties, ribbing each other about New York-Boston sports rivalries, pretending to watch the game, before declaring that one thing they agree on is the need for stricter federal gun control laws.

Both mayors are founding members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which is pushing for a stronger federal background check system on firearms purchases.

With billionaire Bloomberg footing the bill from pocket change, the group had no problem purchasing air time during TV's most watched event. According to TNS Media Intelligence, 30-second commercials during the Super Bowl on CBS are selling for between $2.5 million and $2.8 million.

The lecture-mercial is already drawing criticism from divergent sources, including Boston Herald columnist Michael Graham, whose Feb. 3 column noted a disconnect between the mayors' message and reality.

"The ad will reportedly talk about gun laws and the need for the presidential candidates to address the issue," Graham wrote. "What the ad most assuredly won’t talk about is gun violence itself. Because the last thing these two big-government grannies want you to know is that gun violence is plummeting, even as gun ownership has skyrocketed."

For more, go to:

Bloomberg Appears With Boston Mayor In Super Bowl Commercial Urging Gun Control

Mike Bloomberg, Tom Menino to Star in Anti-Gun Super Bowl Ad

During Super Bowl, for 30 Seconds, 2 Mayors Will Be on Same Side

Mayor Bloomberg Has His Own Super Bowl Ad This Year

NYC, Boston mayors in Super Bowl gun-control ad

Mayors wide of mark

Anti-Gun Protestors Target Starbucks for Upholding the Second Amendment

E-mail Submission — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:01:48 -0500

A nationwide boycott of Starbucks stores and its products will be launched on Valentine's Day to eliminate "the risk of guns in public places and ultimately to bring sane gun laws to the U.S."

This boycott is being called by the National Gun Victim's Action Council (NGAC), a network of 14 million gun victims, and is targeting Starbucks because it allows guns and assault weapons to be openly carried in its stores in 43 states, and concealed and carried in its stores in 49 states.

"Starbucks has the legal right to ban guns but despite having been petitioned by thousands, asked at a shareholder meeting, and a direct appeal made to their Board, Starbucks clings to this policy that puts millions of Americans at risk every day and encourages the spread of guns being carried in public," said NGAC CEO Elliot Fineman in a Jan. 23 press release circulated by the group.

Of course, such reasoning is sheer idiocy, said Seattle Guns Rights Examiner Dave Workman in a Jan. 23 Examiner.com column.

"Starbucks’ sin is that the coffee giant caters to everybody, including legally-armed citizens, whether they carry openly or concealed," Workman wrote. "Starbucks made it plain in 2010 when the Brady Campaign, assisted locally by Washington CeaseFire, that it abides by local state laws and does not discriminate against a certain class of customers. Starbucks has the legal right to serve any customer it pleases, including someone exercising his or her right to bear arms. Fineman evidently doesn’t grasp that."

For more, go to:

Starbucks' "Pro-Gun" Policy Prompts Gun Victims' Advocate Group to Launch Nationwide Boycott on Valentine's Day 2012

More DOJ embarrassment; more Starbucks stupidity; Oly hearings re-scheduled

Call for Boycott of Starbucks on Valentine's Day Over Gun Policy

Starbucks boycott: National Gun Victim's Council boycotts Starbucks on Feb 14

Where Do Romney and Santorum Stand on the 2nd Amendment?

OL Editor — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:51:52 -0500

Since the 2012 Presidential campaign began the day after Barack Obama was elected in November 2008, we've avoided discussing Republican candidates' views on the Second Amendment here on the Gun Shots blog.

There were better uses of your time and this space, especially since some candidates -- Herb Cain, Michelle Bachmann, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul -- were never more than marginal hopefuls while others, such as Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry, peaked and paled even before the primaries began.

And there was also this: Whoever gets the GOP nod will be far friendlier to the Second Amendment than the incumbent liberal seeking a second term in the White House -- a second term in which he is expected pursue an anti-gun agenda that has been simmering on the backburner since 2009.

But, alas -- and finally -- the primary season did begin on Jan. 3 with the Iowa caucuses. If results there prove prognostic, the race for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination could shape up to be a contest between former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania (even though Santorum was recently trounced in the New Hampshire primary).

As the links below indicate, there is a great deal of chatter and contention regarding where Romney and Santorum stand on defending your Second Amendment rights.

One alarming note raised by the National Association for Gun Rights Executive Director, Dudley Brown, is that neither Romney or Santorum -- nor Gingrich, for that matter -- have returned a survey seeking answers to questions important to gun owners.

Among questions the survey asks is, as President, if the candidate would: Repeal the Brady Gun Owner Registration Scheme? Oppose the UN "Small Arms Treaty"? Call for a repeal of the Lautenberg Gun Ban and the Criminal Safezones Act?

"My experience shows me that candidates who refuse to return gun rights surveys and answer important Second Amendment questions are almost always hiding something. Hiding anti-gun political views," Brown said.

Demand that Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich respond to the survey by contacting their campaign offices in your state.

Meanwhile, in the coming weeks, and especially before the GOP's Aug. 27 National Convention, we will explore each Republican hopefuls' views on the Second Amendment in depth.

For more, go to:

Rick Santorum’s Anti-Gun History

Santorum Favors Gun Control Candidates

RICK SANTORUM ON SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS

Mitt Romney - The Second Amendment

Santorum says 11th-hour robo calls falsely claim he’s anti-gun

Mitt Romney on the Second Amendment

NEWT GINGRICH Defending Second Amendment Rights

Ron Paul Iowa Team Welcomes New ‘Gun Owners for Ron Paul

Mitt Romney Gets Owned on The Second Amendment

December Firearms Sales Shatter Retail Records

E-mail Submission — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:38:31 -0500

Gun sales shattered records on Black Friday and that pace continued through the holiday shopping season as more than 1.5 million instant criminal background checks for firearms purchases were conducted in December, according to the FBI.

In the six days before Christmas, gun dealers submitted nearly half-a-million names for checks on criminal records and mental health issues, with 20 percent coming on Dec. 23, according to the AP. That was the second-busiest gun-buying day in history, topped only by firearm purchases on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

“The firearms industry is one that hasn’t suffered in this economy,” Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, told CNBC. “Everyone else is hurting, but not firearms.”

With another presidential election cycle under way, Pratt said 2012 could be a replay of the last election cycle. “I think the same dynamics that we saw in 2008 will come up again.” Pratt points to the fact that gun sales increased strongly after the election of President Barack Obama in 2008, continuing throughout 2009 and into 2010. After a slight dip, sales have been picking up, notably with a record day on Black Friday, which saw the largest single day of FBI background checks.

Final tallies for all of December haven't been released, but the month's gun purchases will eclipse November. As of Dec. 28, 1,534,414 names had been sent to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, The New York Times reported in an editorial.

For the first 11 months of 2011, the FBI did a record 14.6 million checks, an increase of more than 70 percent from the 8.5 million in 2003.

Kentucky led the nation, with more than two-million background checks conducted through November; double the No. 2 gun-check state, Texas. The Bluegrass State, with a population of about 4.3 million, has been tops in background checks the past five years and has the most checks of any state since 1998 -- more than 12.6 million.

For more, go to:

Total NCIS background checks by state Nov. 1998 to Nov. 2011 (pdf)

FBI's state-by-state breakdown through November (pdf)

Firearms Sales Ring in 2012 With a Bang

Retailers surprised but pleased by record gun sales

Record gun checks, sales for Christmas

Happiness is … a warm gun for Christmas

Gun sales break records before Christmas, as FBI reports gun dealers ordered 1.5M background checks in December

FBI: Gun sales up in 2011

Guns a popular Christmas gift in Idaho

Gun sales boom in Kentucky for Christmas

December Gun Sales Break Single-Month Record

All I Want For Christmas Is A Shotgun! Record Gun Sales This Christmas

Bang! Bang! We know what you got for Christmas

Obama spurring one aspect of economy?... December gun sales set all-time record

FBI data indicates gun sales in New Mexico will reach record numbers in 2011

Lock & Load

In Smith and Wesson We Trust (and it looks like Santa does, too)

Video: Death to the Angry Birds

E-mail Submission — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:53:40 -0500

To build up a stronger online community, we've been trying here at Outdoor Life to boost our presence on Facebook. With that in mind, we bring you our first Facebook exclusive video. Click the photo, become a fan and watch this Angry Bird get smoked by a 12 gauge.

Take two cutting-edge high-speed cameras, a dozen rifles, shotguns and muzzleloaders, a truck bed of ammo, a Wal-Mart shopping spree, a 200-yard shooting range, and what do you get? The first Outdoor Life/Field & Stream high-speed video shoot.

We shot .223s, .308s, broadheads and every kind of shotgun shell imaginable at steel targets, paper targets, golf balls, tennis ball and basketballs. We shot PowerBait, glitter tubes, a sleeve of paintballs, apples, and, yes, Angry Birds.

We were the pigs. The pigs had guns. The pigs won. Sort of... As you’ll see in the video (just click the image above) the plush red Angry Bird actually held up pretty well against our volley of Black Cloud No. 2 and a home-defense slug.

This trip to the range, however, wasn’t all about shooting things we thought would look cool. No, there was some editorial intent. So for the next few weeks we’re going to show you, among other things, exactly how a compound bow works and how a muzzleloader fires in super slow motion.

We couldn’t have done any of this without the help of Vision Research. They provided two Phantom high-speed cameras, the v1610 and v711, for our three-day shoot. The $100,000 v1610 captured bullet impacts at 43,400 frames per second. (Digital video and television, for comparison, usually runs around 30 frames per second.) We captured targets exploding, muzzle flash and other fun stuff in color at 19,300 frames per second with the v711.

Now, you may be wonder why sworn enemies OL and F&S are teaming up. Well, the opportunity to use such high-end cameras was so sweet niether brand could pass it up.

Special thanks to Winchester, Federal and Winchester Ammo.

Help Us Pick The Prize for Our Next Caption Contest!

Alex Robinson — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:33:47 -0500

So Outdoor Life is part of a cool contest operated by Crown Royal, sponsor of Field & Stream’s Hook Shots show and maker of the whiskey that comes in a purple bag. The contest is called “Pass the Crown,” and it’s a variation on the Secret Santa gift exchange anyone who’s ever worked in an office is familiar with. Are you lucky enough to have never worked in an office? Then here’s how this works:

Each day from now until Dec. 15 Crown Royal is giving away a prize to a different web site to pass along to its readers. Today is Outdoor Life’s turn, but here’s the catch. Crown’s not telling us which prize they’re giving us right away. Instead, we get a clue, embroidered on one of their famous purple bags,* and we have to guess what prize the clue refers to. Based on that guess, we then get to decide whether to keep the prize in our bag or steal one of the prizes that have already been opened by a different site. Here’s a list of the prizes that have already been opened.

This is where we need your help. Do we keep our prize, or steal one from somebody else? You’ve got until 4 PM this afternoon to weigh in. Check out our clue (below), then post your best argument for keeping the prize in our bag or for stealing a specific prize from another site in the comments section here or on our Facebook post about the contest over at facebook.com/outdoorlife. If you can convince us your argument is best, we’ll go with your suggestion. If you’re not convincing enough, we’ll make the decision ourselves.

We’ll post an update here tomorrow telling you what prize was in our bag, and whether we decided to keep it or not. Keep in mind that any of the five sites who come after us can steal our gift, so don’t get too attached to whatever we end up with!

And last, of course; how will we determine which of our readers wins the prize we end up with at the end of the contest? It’ll be a caption contest, photo and date TBD. Stay tuned!

*Crown is running this contest is to get the word out about the custom-embroidered Crown bags ($9.95), and the free personalized Crown Royal bottle labels (21 and over, only) available at CrownRoyal.com. If you’ve got a Crown-lover in your family, this would make a great gift.

20 Versatile Semi-Automatic Rifles

Alex Robinson — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:43:58 -0500

Gun Shots Blogger John Haughey puts together his list of the 20 best semi-automatic hunting rifles. And yea, there's a lot of ARs on the list.

New SIG SAUER M400 in 5.56 is a Great Bargain AR

Alex Robinson — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 11:24:43 -0400

Over the last three years there has been a huge demand for AR-style rifles, and that demand has jacked up prices. So it’s newsworthy that SIG SAUER’s new SIG M400™ has a suggested retail price of just over $1,000—and can be had for less.

The SIG M400™ uses a “direct impingement” gas system, where some of the gases escaping from the fired cartridge drive back the bolt and cycle your next shot. To increase accuracy over some mil-spec carbines, the SIG M400™ was built with a tensioning device in the lower receiver that eliminates accuracy-robbing play between the upper and lower receivers.

The lower receiver is essentially the same one found on the very popular SIG 516™, complete with an ambidextrous magazine release and rear quick-detach sling mount. Upper and lower are machined from 7075-T6 aircraft-grade aluminum forgings and coated with a durable phosphate finish.

Chambered in 5.56 NATO, the rifle features a 16-inch chrome moly steel barrel with a chrome-lined chamber and bore; up top there’s rail for mounting optics and other accessories. A six-position collapsible polymer stock, too, as well as a muzzle threaded to accept a variety of flash hiders, compensators or suppressor mounts (an M16A2 flash compensator is included). Removable sight assembly, carry handle, 30-round magazine and hard case are standard.

There’s also an “Enhanced” version of the M400 that features Magpul® hardware. Some dealers are offering the SIG M400 for just $899. One on-line merchant even ships it for free. With so many AR’s starting in the $1,200 to $1300 range, the M400 looks like a real bargain.

Gun Test: Rock River Arms Varmint A4

OL Editor — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:41:59 -0400

When it comes to versatility, ARs rule the roost. The rifles and pistols built on Eugene Stoner’s platform are the most diverse in the firearms world. What first took form in our popular imagination as the M-16 infantry rifle has, over the last half century, morphed into a cornucopia of guns of every size, caliber, configuration and color. Some ARs are even blessed with a great sense of humor. You would have to be a cranky stiff not to appreciate the charms of a pink Hello Kitty entry carbine.

The modular design of ARs is the key to their adaptability. They are like Lego kits for gun nuts, thanks to their mix-and-match design. A shooter can swap barrels, stocks, handguards, optics, triggers and other components as quickly as a pit crew changes tires at Daytona. When it comes to ARs, if you can dream it up, chances are you can build it.

Good for Varmints

That’s not to say that ARs are flawless. They still have a ways to go before they can replace my bolt-actions as go-to guns for big-game hunting, for instance. Compared with an elegant turn-bolt, the current crop of production ARs are heavy for their caliber, make too much noise when being loaded and are clunky and can be damned uncomfortable to carry. But dress up an AR for varmint shooting, as Rock River Arms has done with the new Varmint A4, and these drawbacks either fade in relevance or transform into assets. An AR’s weight, which can be excessive in a deer-hunting rig, helps control recoil, mitigates barrel heating and lets the shooter spot hits on target.The small cartridges the AR-15-sized action favors are ideal for varmint duty. And the high-capacity magazines and an ability to make multiple, fast follow-up shots are just what you’re looking for when facing a field full of ground squirrels on the move.

AR Accuracy
But these qualities don’t amount to much if the rifle doing the shooting isn’t accurate. Varmints are challenging targets—for every prairie dog that stands on its mound like a cigar-store Indian, there are 10 wary rodents who poke their heads out of their burrows just enough to give you the evil eye while barking warnings to their pals. If your rifle can’t hit these puny targets, then those varmints are safe.The AR platform can deliver the accuracy required. Some of the most common methods used to improve AR performance and shrink groups include free-floating the barrel so that it doesn’t contact the handguard, and going with a high-quality, heavy barrel. Both of these are features of the Varmint A4, which is now available in .204 Ruger.

The A4 is a stout beast, weighing nearly 10 pounds unscoped. Much of that heft is in the rifle’s 24-inch stainless-steel bull barrel and in the long aluminum handguard, giving the rifle an extreme weight-forward balance. If the rifle were to be shot from any position other than prone or off bags for support, this would be a problem. But this rifle is meant for use with a bipod, which can be attached to the swivel stud in the handguard, or some other type of solid support.

The Varmint A4 delivered its .204 bullets into satisfyingly small groups both at the range and while I used it to thin the ground-squirrel population near my home. The rifle showed a preference for the 32-grain loads from Hornady and Federal, which consistently grouped under an inch with five shots. The smallest group was .581 inches with Hornady’s 32-grain V-Max.

Balanced .204

There’s no shortage of great varmint cartridges out on the market—everything from the venerable .220 Swift down to the .17 HMR. In this crowded field, which includes such stalwarts as the .223 Rem. and .22-250 Rem., the fact that the .204 has thrived is a testament to its balanced design. It drives its bullets astoundingly fast—up to 4,400 fps—and yet because the projectiles are so tiny, they generate little recoil and don’t overly heat up the barrel. And the terminal performance of the cartridge on varmints is explosive.

Another benefit of the .204 Ruger is that it feeds perfectly in AR magazines for 5.56/.223 rounds, meaning any extra AR mags you might have lying around can do double duty in this rifle. The rifle operates on a direct-impingement gas system and functioned reliably with every load I tested it with.

Excellent Ergonomics

The Varmint A4 comes with a flat-top upper with a Picatinny rail for mounting optics. However, in order to get a proper varmint scope on the rifle, you’ll need a base that will position the scope forward enough for adequate eye relief.

The stock on my sample came with a standard A2 configuration, which works fine for shooting prone, though the integral sling loop just gets in the way and should be removed (which is simple to do) so that the stock will ride a rear bag more smoothly.

The ergonomics of the rifle are no different from those of any other AR, which is to say they are quite good. The pistol grip positions the trigger finger nicely within the A4’s oversize trigger guard, and the safety lever, bolt-release tab and charging handle all worked smoothly and were easy to operate.

The finish and metalwork on the Varmint A4 were also excellent. The textured surface on the handguard is particularly comfortable.

The base price on the rifle I tested was $1,115. Given the modular nature of ARs, Rock River Arms makes it easy to mix and match accessories, so if there is a component or feature you don’t care for, chances are you’ll be able to swap it out.

As delivered, the A4 is an accurate, reliable rifle in a caliber that is perfect for both varmints and the AR platform.

Shooting Handguns Underwater

Alex Robinson — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:43:23 -0400

Go ahead and say it's for science—after all, who has done a side-by-side analysis of high-speed video to compare the differences between shooting a revolver and semi-auto pistol underwater?

In truth, this is just a cool experiment that I wish I had thought to do. After watching the video I had a couple questions that could only be answered by more experimentation. Do the bullets upset the same way as they would when shooting them into a pool of water? What cool footage would we get from shooting an AK-47, an AR-15 or a Perazzi over-and-under submerged in a tank? And what on earth is that finish on the revolver? It looks like a sample from Pimps-R-Us.

Is there a gun in your safe would you be willing to soak and shoot in the name of science? List ‘em here. I’d be willing to pop off a round from my Smith & Wesson 500 just to see the waterspout thrown by the muzzle break.

Sunstein on Hunting and Animal Rights

Brian Lynn — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:01:24 -0400

In the Gun Shots blog, John Haughey, and by proxy, Alan Clemons, does a great job outlining the danger Cass Sunstein, Obama's pick to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (for which he might be confirmed as early as today), poses to hunting and how/why hunting and firearm organizations oppose his nomination.

I thought I'd take it a step farther and provide you with the source material, straight from the horse's mouth, and some of the highlights from his University of Chicago White Paper (along with some of my own comments), entitled "The Rights of Animals: A Very Short Primer".

We can build on existing law to define a simple, minimal position in favor of animal rights: The law should prevent acts of cruelty to animals.

My 2 cents: This is what makes "smart" AR folks so dangerous. Unlike the "dumb" ones (PETA), the "smart" ones (think: HSUS) work the system and establish society's first step on a slippery slope. Pass one law or use ambiguous language in a bill upon which to build a future case for your position.

If the suffering of animals matters—and every reasonable person seems to think that it does—we should be greatly troubled by these limitations. The least controversial response would be to narrow the “enforcement gap,” by allowing private suits to be brought in cases of cruelty and neglect. Reforms might be adopted with the limited purpose of stopping conduct that is already against the law, so that the law actually means, in practice, what it says on paper. Here, then, we can find a slightly less minimal understanding of animal rights. On this view, representatives of animals should be able to bring private suits to ensure that anticruelty and related laws are actually enforced.

My 2 cents: So now you build the law upon the minimal position to "prevent cruelty to animals" and jump to allowing animals to bring personal lawsuits. 1. The ambiguousness of "cruelty" opens the door to all manner of regulation; what's pampering to one person is cruelty to another 2. In theory it's absurd, in practice it's been abused and has made a mockery of the Endangered Species List. "Representatives" can and do already bring suit on behalf of animals (see Andrew McKean's blog on wolf hunting and note the list of plaintiffs).

The very idea might seem absurd. But it is simpler and more conventional than it appears. Of course any animals would be represented by human beings, just like any other litigant who lacks ordinary (human) competence; for example, the interests of children are protected by prosecutors, and also by trustees and guardians in private litigation brought on children’s behalf.

My 2 cents: Might seem absurd? It is absurd. And dangerous. Power is being given to a radical group of people upon which judicial law will be written and common sense eroded. Comparing animals to children is also a favored tactic of AR people. I like Carl Cohen's rebuttal to this approach when he writes that the test for moral judgment "is not a test to be administered to humans one by one,"but should be applied to the capacity of members of the species in general."

We might ban hunting altogether, at least if its sole purpose is human recreation. (Should animals be hunted and killed simply because people enjoy hunting and killing them? The issue might be different if hunting and killing could be justified as having important functions, such as control of populations or protection of human beings against animal violence.)

My 2 cents:And there it is. Although posed as a hypothetical ("we might"), taken in context with his other statements and writings, it's obvious Sunstein is anti-hunting. To his second point, hunting isused to control game populations and protect human beings; take a look at the number of cougar attacks in California since lion hunting was banned for proof. Additionally, his use of the word "justified" is scary in that it suggests some type of judicial sanctioning and approval/proof of populations needing control and/or human protection; upon which hunters would run into judicial precedent written in favor of animal rights/protection. Of course, targeted game species would be represented in court by humans and the whole mess is tangled in the judicial system (per the wolf debate, et al), becoming costly, time consuming and ultimately unsustainable for hunters.

In his conclusion, Sunstein makes this statement:

There is no good reason to give public officials a monopoly on enforcement; that monopoly is a recipe for continued illegality.

My 2 cents: Sunstein is advocating that the government and our legal system is ill-equipped and unable to handle the enforcement of current laws and therefore private citizens should be able to file suit on behalf animals in order to keep them safe from harm. At this point I'm going to take the AR approach: put this in terms of humans. When George W. Bush brought about the Patriot Act after 9/11, one section of it caused an outcry and was removed (and rightly, so, in my opinion). That section charged and gave individuals certain powers of state and would promote spying upon neighbors/clients, promoted false allegations and a whole string of other complications. Now, Sunstein believes we should give similar powers to the public, and by proxy aggressive, radical groups, in the interest of animal rights? That's not just a recipe for the end of hunting, but a quagmire for society in general.

SHOT Show 2009: New Rifles

Brian Lynn — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 09:11:31 -0500

Here's a sneak peek at this year's hottest new rifles!

AR Rifles in the Hunting Woods

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:40 -0400

In truth, I came late to the black-rifle party, but it wasn't as if I didn't get a heads-up. In the late 1970s, like so many other shooters, I'd fallen under the sway of Colonel Jeff Cooper, the cult of the 1911 and the idea-or perhaps the ideal-of practical shooting. But the sport had just been born, matches were few and far between, and the only "custom" 1911s I'd ever seen were in the pages of Guns & Ammo.

That's when I met Jimmy Q, an explosive ordnance-disposal expert back from Vietnam. Jimmy was typically seen in a cut-off gray sweatshirt and mirrored aviator shades and lived in a one-room apartment over his gun store. He was also the first for-real "combat shooter" (that's what we called it back then, combat shooting) I'd actually met. He had one of those 1911s just like in G&A, and he was amazing with it. I knew a lot about hunting guns and not much else. Growing up in Tennessee, I'd had a lever-action .30-30 put in my hands about the time I said my first word, which I believe was "deer." I'd done a lot of shooting with Ruger Blackhawks, owned a 1930s vintage S&W double-action .38 for"self-defense" and purchased, for a deal that was definitely too good to be true, a first-generation S&W M59 9mm that worked only occasionally.

So I hocked the 9mm and a hunting rifle and put the money into a Colt Combat Commander 1911 .45 and a custom set of S&W revolver sights that cost me more than the gun, and off I went. Jimmy Q towed me along like the ice trail on the butt end of a comet, through competition, into police training, military special-forces training, simulations and role-playing-the whole world of what we now call tactical shooting.

At lunch one day in his apartment-he and his girlfriend had been teaching a bunch of us to rappel Australian-style off the top of his building-I opined with great conviction that the 1911 was by far the single greatest fighting machine created by man since the Scottish claymore, bar none, period, exclamation point, so there! Jimmy Q listened for a while, then cut me off.

"Hell, Michael," he said. "You're wrong."

He pointed at his beat-up AR-15 leaning against the wall, complete with two 30-round magazines duct-taped together for a quick reload. "That is the best gun in the world," he said with finality. "A gun just like it got me out of the jungle and back to the world, and I'll never be without one." I started the usual litany against the M-16/AR-15-unreliable, inaccurate, plastic, under-powered "poodle shooter," butt-ugly-until Jimmy Q stopped me again.

"Wrong on all counts," he said. "That is the Swiss Army knife of firearms. It'll do just about anything, and do it well." Then, pointing to the beautiful 1911 by his bed, he added, "The only reason I need that is to get me to my rifle."

Well, it took me 25 years to come around, but I have to admit that, yes, Jimmy Q was right all along. The AR-15 carbine, the bastard child of a nasty jungle war halfway around the world, is indeed the Swiss Army knife of firearms. The butt-ugly poodle shooter has morphed into not only the longest-lived battle rifle in history, but in civilian hands a mainstay for competition, self-defense and, most recently, many flavors of hunting. In fact, walking the miles and miles of aisles at the 2007 SHOT (Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade) Show made it clear that "black rifles"-rifles derived from military platforms, like the M-4/M-16, the AK-47, the M-14 and the FN-FAL-not only are the best-selling rifles in America, but are the unequivocal driving force in the industry today.

The numbers are staggering. AR-platform guns are approaching handgun-level sales and may soon surpass even Jeff Cooper's mighty 1911, which has ruled the sales roost in the firearms world for the last two decades.

What's the best-selling ammo in America? Try the .223/5.56, standard fodder for the AR-platform guns. Other top performers? Well there's the 7.62X39, food for the AK-47 and its hundreds of variants, and, of course, the .308/7.62 NATO, feeding the more traditional "battle rifles" like the M-1A, a hot seller, and the reborn FN-FAL. Last I heard, the best-selling "traditional" hunting caliber on the list was the .45/70, of all things

Why AR's Shoot So Well

It's fair to ask, What happened? How did ARs get to be the most popular guns in America?

Actually, lots of things happened, and, as usual, they happened a little at a time. First and foremost, AR-platform guns got better...incredibly better. From being the Vietnam War albatross, the AR has matured into one of the most versatile, accurate and easy-to-shoot platforms in the world. ARs own Camp Perry and 600-yard competition; they've helped fuel the huge boom in 3-Gun practical shooting and carbine-precision rifle shoots. Just last year precision-rifle instructor and ace gunsmith Dave Lauck achieved Col. Cooper's equivalent of running the 3-minute mile-the 20-20-20 Challenge. That's putting 20 shots into a 20-inch circle in 20 seconds or less...at 1,000 yards. Lauck achieved this amazing milestone with his own custom-built AR.

There is, of course, a lag time between reality and perception. I mean, I sort of knew that ARs had improved, but it wasn't until I hooked up with John Paul at JP Enterprises a few years ago that I realized how good "good" actually was. Don't spread this around, but John traveled the world as a rock-and-roll keyboardist before he found his true calling, building what might be called the ultimate AR-platform rifles. In fact, his personal "trajectory" is very similar to that of a lot of other people. He comes from a hunting and competitive shooting background and sold his house to open his own gun shop.

"Like many of my contemporaries, I had no time for the M-15/16-type rifles and considered them uncouth, inaccurate and socially unacceptable," he says. "One day, against my better judgment, I took an old AR-15 A-1 by Colt's Mfg. in on trade just to satisfy my personal curiosity. I soon realized that this so-called black rifle was really a diamond in the rough."

The first time I shot one of John's top-end competition guns, it was a revelation. The balance was perfect, the trigger was perfect, it made little bitty groups at long distances seem ridiculously easy-and it came in colors. John's CTR-02s, which use his custom-machined upper/lower receiver sets, can deliver 1â„4 MOA at 100 yards in the right hands. (Not mine, I assure you!)

Part of the reason for the AR as a born-again target rifle is that military guns are designed from the ground up to be quick to learn and easy to shoot. After all, some hard-as-nails drill instructors are going to have to beat marksmanship into yet another generation of 18-year-olds, and it makes sense that the guns used be as easy to learn as possible. Those ergonomics, coupled with ease of operation, light weight and the negligible recoil from the 5.56 cartridge, make AR-platform guns a blast to shoot. As an instructor, I used to use a Winchester 94 .44 Magnum "Trapper" loaded with .44 Specials for totally new shooters, and I've introduced a lot of newbies to the sport with that gun. No longer. Now I use an AR, one of my three. Newbies take to it like ducks to water. I usually have to pry it out of their hands at the end of the day.

Yes, But What Do You DO With One?

ARs (and other black rifles) are increasingly seen as an important part of not just the law-enforcement battery, but the civilian self-defense arsenal as well. I will readily admit I was a little skeptical of this trend. I had become, after all, a pistol guy. I taught self-defense with a handgun and carried one on a daily basis; I competed with handguns. I even hunted with a handgun.

What turned me around was taking a Gunsite carbine course, in which I learned just how efficient the carbine was in close quarters. The advantage of having a weapon in long use by military special forces and police special teams is that the top tactical minds of our generation have figured out the best ways to use AR-platform guns in all sorts of scenarios. In its usual 161â„2-inch barrel configuration, the AR is almost as handy as a handgun, but with a huge increase in firepower. I know what you're thinking-those little .22-inch-diameter bullets zipping right through walls-but ammunition technology has kept pace with the evolution of firearms. There are a host of low-penetration 5.56mm/.223 rounds for law-enforcement use and civilian self-defense, including my own choice, Hornady 55-grain TAPs.

"The AR is also adaptable to a wide variety of applications," says Dave Lauck, the 20-20-20 man, a former law-enforcement officer and a long-distance marksman. "It can be short and light with a fast-action optic and backup iron sights,â€‘for close-quarters battle (CQB) or home-defense applications. The AR can also be customized into a precision rifle, capable ofâ€‘accuracy out to a thousand yards,â€‘with correct barrel twist rates and sleek long-range heavy bullets. Competition, combat or home-defense, the AR platform can be set up to suit the need."

If you're uncomfortable with the .223/5.56, you can get carbines in 9mm or .45 ACP, no problem.

The more I've worked with the carbine, the more I've found myself "defaulting" to the AR for a self-defense role. There's an AR in the bedroom closet now, a Smith & Wesson M&P15A-yes, S&W makes ARs!-fitted with an Aimpoint red-dot sight and a SureFire light and loaded with 29 rounds of Hornady TAPs. I now find myself thinking that the function of my SIG 226 beside my bed is to "buy" me the six steps to the AR. Jimmy Q would laugh, I suspect.

Oh, the most popular classes at shooting schools and training academies across the country? Carbine classes.

Yes, But Can You Build It Yourself?

There's also a tremendously powerful "gadget driver" in our culture. Back in the 1950s and early '60s, when I was growing up in Tennessee, my father and other male relatives, all veterans of WWII and Korea, were obsessed with converting military surplus rifles into hunting arms. The "red book," Frank De Haas's manual on converting military rifles, was second only to the Bible, and the house was always full of Mausers of different stripes-German, Swedish, Turkish-in various stages of conversion. Eventually, though, the industry caught up with my dad, and he painfully admitted that the new Sako or Remington was every bit the gun his converted Swede 6.5X55 was. Almost...

But the gadget driver never goes away. And AR-platform guns are the ultimate "gadget" guns; they're Legos for grown-ups, a way to mix and match lowers, uppers, barrels, rail systeficient the carbine was in close quarters. The advantage of having a weapon in long use by military special forces and police special teams is that the top tactical minds of our generation have figured out the best ways to use AR-platform guns in all sorts of scenarios. In its usual 161â„2-inch barrel configuration, the AR is almost as handy as a handgun, but with a huge increase in firepower. I know what you're thinking-those little .22-inch-diameter bullets zipping right through walls-but ammunition technology has kept pace with the evolution of firearms. There are a host of low-penetration 5.56mm/.223 rounds for law-enforcement use and civilian self-defense, including my own choice, Hornady 55-grain TAPs.

If you're uncomfortable with the .223/5.56, you can get carbines in 9mm or .45 ACP, no problem.

Oh, the most popular classes at shooting schools and training academies across the country? Carbine classes.

Shoot Like You Mean It

outdoorlife-editor — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 20:00:00 -0400

A civilian version of the CheyTac Intervention M200 in the .408 CheyTac caliber, a gun reputedly "known and feared throughout the world of Special Operations," can now be yours. According to the company that makes the rifle, a Marine shooter set an all-distance, best-ever group with the military model in 2004 when he fired a 3-shot group that measured 16 5/8 inches (roughly the size of the vital zone of an elk) at a distance of 2,321 yards. The civilian version boasts a free-floating barrel, five-round detachable magazine, retractable stock, tactical bipod and an optional suppressor. It weighs more than 25 pounds, so don't expect to tote one around in the woods. However, even if those fallen arches or a bum knee kept you out of the military, you can at least look the part at the range.

"When we finished [his will] he said, 'Don't tell any... women or lawyers about this. 'He didn't trust either one." —Jim McDermand, of the Montana Wildlife Federation, describing LeRoy Beckman's bequest of $3 million to be used to buy public hunting land that would benefit mule deer and hunters.