Texas: Right to Hunt and Fish Constitutional Amendment will Appear as Proposition 6 on the November 2015 Ballot!

This morning, the Texas Secretary of State's office held a drawing to determine the ballot position of constitutional amendments that will be considered by voters on November 3, 2015.  We are pleased to announce that NRA-backed Senate Joint Resolution 22, sponsored by state Representative Trent Ashby (R-Lufkin) and state Senator Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe), will appear as Proposition 6 on the ballot this fall.
Proposition 6 proposes an amendment to the Texas Constitution that establishes an individual right to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife in the Lone Star State.  It would ensure that wildlife conservation and management decisions continue to be based on sound science in order to preserve Texas' hunting heritage for generations to come and to protect it against future attacks from well-funded, anti-hunting organizations.  Not only are hunting and fishing deep-rooted in Texas culture, they have a major economic impact on the state.  According to the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, the Lone Star State's hunters and anglers spend $4.1 billion annually and support 65,993 jobs.

Del-ton AR-15 Mid Length Rifle Kit Flat Top Mid Length 16" HBAR Barrel 1:9 Twist 5.56 NATO M4 Stock

Brand: Del-Ton RKT104
Item: ARR-706
UPC: 848456000959

Del-Ton 16" mid-length rifle kit contains everything you need to build your own .223/5.56NATO AR-15 except for the stripped lower. Kit includes upper receiver, lower parts kit, buttstock, grip, trigger assembly and more.

Specifications:
Manufacturer: Del-ton
Manufacturer Number: RKT104

Barrel:
•Chrome Moly Vanadium
•M4 Feed Ramps
•16" Length
•1x9 Twist
•A2 Flash Hider
•Manganese Phosphated
•Phosphated under Front Sight Base
•Taper Pins in F-marked Front Sight Base
•Threaded Muzzle
•Mid Length Heavy Barrel

Chamber:
•5.56 X 45 mm

Handguards:
•Mid Length
•Aluminum Delta Ring
•Single Heat Shield

Upper Receiver:
•Forged 7075 T6 Aluminum
•A3 Flat Top with M4 Feed Ramps
•Hard Coat Anodized
•Mil-Spec
•Ejection Port Cover and Round Forward Assist
•Right Hand Ejection
•Bore's surface is coated with dry film lube, over the anodized surface

Buttstock:
•M4 5 Position
•Reinforced Fiber
•Mil-Spec Sized Tube

1,000 Yards with a Stock .308 AR-15 Style M&P Model 10?

Will this stock Smith & Wesson M&P 10 .308 shoot consistently at 1,000 yards?

Smith & Wesson M&P 10: http://www.smith-wesson.com/M&P 10
Buy one at GunsAmerica: http://www.gunsamerica.com/Smith-Wesson-Rifles.htm
Can You Shoot 1,000 Yards with a .308 caliber AR-15 style rifle? Well, can you? Conventional wisdom says no. After all, AR’s are semi-automatic designs, with hot burning gas of doom smothering all the important parts like gravy over Cracker Barrel’s Chicken Fried Chicken. Heck, the upper and lower receivers are stuck together with simple push pins. AR-type rifles can’t be all that accurate, can they?
To find out, the folks from Smith & Wesson, NRA Outdoors, Sub-MOA Firearms, Hornady, Huskemaw Optics, Magpul, Blackhawk!, Battenfeld, Champion, SportEar, and Brownells put together a long range shooting school. The rifle of choice? Smith & Wesson’s M&P 10 LE .308. The baker’s dozen of identical guns present were off-the-rack models with no customization other than the addition of a Magpul PRS Precision Adjustable Stock. These were added just so each shooter could customize the length of pull and comb height. AFor optics, all rifles were equipped with Huskemaw Optics 3-12×42 with RFBC Custom Turrets. If you send specific data on the load, rifle, actual velocity and average atmospheric conditions for your area, they’ll print a custom turret with yardages and wind holds marked.

See that shrub out there? That’s the 1,000 yard target berm.

A Smith & Wesson M&P 10 LE Model facing targets at 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900 and 1,000 targets down range.

Even the Smith & Wesson folks didn’t quite know what to expect from this outing. Sure, they’ve tested the M&P 10 at ranges appropriate for the intended use. It would be hard to imagine the LE model being used in the field for shots over 200 yards. Of course, these rifles have been tested for accuracy at 100, 200 and 300-yard ranges. They were fairly confident we’d be able to reach out to 800 yards with some success, considering the design of the rifle and ballistic profile of the 168 grain .308 round, but even that wasn’t a sure thing.
Over two days, our instructors taught theory, technique, position and lots of math, which enabled us to nail consistently targets at long distance. On day one, we started shooting in a structured environment – the SubMOA Firearms range. It’s got a beautiful shoot house on a mountain peak, equipped with benches, Caldwell Flite Control Front Rests and a passel of Swarovski spotting scopes.

Smith & Wesson designed their own flash hider for the M&P 10 LE. It’s intended to suppress both primary and secondary flash. It’s also got ports that provide muzzle brake function.

A high-quality spotting scope makes all the difference. When you need to read wind 1,000 yards out, it helps to be able to clearly see blades of grass. This Swarovski model fit the bill.

The SubMOA range stretches 1,000 yards towards 9,000-foot high natural backstops. None the less, some insurance genius made them install 12-foot high berms at each target area. Based on the volume of continuous gunfire, the neighbors have taken to calling this area Little Beirut. Once the shooting started, I completely understood that.
On day one, we used the stable shooting positions and predictable ranges to develop dope books for our individual rifles and the Hornady .308 168 grain A-Max load. Starting at 400 yards, which was easy, we quickly stretched out to 500, 600, 700 and then 800 yards to capture exact elevation adjustments required to get on target given the current atmospheric conditions.

On day two, we moved to more scenic and natural environments. These two targets were 650 and 775 yards away.

While it looks close through the Swarovski spotting scope, these targets are 400 yards down range.

The wind was fairly calm in the morning but got interesting in the afternoon. At times, it was blowing 15 to 17 in our face. That was broken up by occasional left to right and right to left shifts. The 90-degree wind vector rarely exceeded five mph, so it was a good day to test the capabilities of the rifles. Even with the relatively light crosswinds, it quickly became apparent that the biggest variable in long range success is accurate reading and doping for the wind.

The Smith & Wesson M&P 10 at 1,000 Yards

Once we got the hang of shooting the 800-yard target from the bench, we decided to stretch things all the way out to 1,000 yards. The 168 grain .308 is not the ideal 1,000-yard cartridge, but with a consistent load and accurate gun, it’s completely doable.
Just to put things in perspective at what happened to our Hornady 168 grain A-Max bullets, consider this. At 1,000 yards, the bullet drop is a whopping 353 inches. That’s 5.19117 Ryan Seacrest’s stacked on top of each other, but we can just round down to five since he’s not easily divisible. Flight time was 1.77 seconds. That was more than enough time to recover from recoil, leisurely require the target, and still wait to watch the impact. That’s pretty darn cool.
Once we got the wind figured out results were surprisingly repeatable. Initially, we shot from a solid shooting bench with a front rest and a rear sand bag supporting the stock. As expected, this was a solid position, and we were able to knock the 15-inch square steel plate with ease. The only reason for misses was bad wind calls. See what I did there? I just blamed my spotter!

Here’s our 1,000 yard target. My shooter/spotter partner and I plugged this 15-inch square target pretty good from 1,000 yards. I’m claiming the one in the center.

We did a lot of prone position shooting using this Blackhawk! Pro-Shooters Mat. It made all the difference on rocky terrain.

Next, we moved to prone and sitting positions, still working the 1,000 yard, 15-inch steel plates. For prone, we attached Caldwell AR Bipods to the front Magpul rail, dropped into position on a Blackhawk! Pro Shooters Mat and got busy. Even applying lots of forward pressure on the bipods for stability, we experienced the same accuracy as from the bench. Keep in mind that the hand guard on this rifle is not free floated, so we thought we might find significant point of impact variance. While we didn’t do scientific group testing to identify a small point of impact shift, we were still hitting that small plate at 1,000 yards with the same dope. If there was any point of impact change, it wasn’t significant.
Next, we moved to a sitting position using Double Crossed Shooting Sticks. Like regular sticks, there are only two points of contact with the ground, but they are split, so there is support at the front and rear of the rifle. Your body serves as an additional ground contact point. Once I got settled, I hit three in a row from a sitting position using the sticks. Yes, shooting sticks. Our NRA Outdoor instruction team knew their long range shooting techniques and taught me an incredibly stable way to use these supports. I know you professional snipers out there can do this with one leg tied behind your back, but for a regular shooter guy like me, I was blown away at this kind of result.

Note the Double Crossed shooting sticks being used by my shooter/spotter partner. He’s got an incredibly stable hold from a field sitting position. That’s our instructor Dusty on the spotting scope.

Just a few of the rifles used. They’re all stock models, with the exception of the Magpul PRS Precision-Adjustable Stocks.

We got consistent results until the barrel heated up. But come on! The Smith & Wesson M&P 10 LE is a pencil barrel rifle, so that’s gonna happen. While I didn’t do scientific testing, it appeared that accuracy stayed consistent for somewhere between 10 and 20 shots in close proximity. Then, if shooting at extreme distance, you’d want to let it cool down for a few minutes. At shorter ranges of less than 400 yards, this overheating would be largely irrelevant. That’s absolutely consistent with the original design goals of this rifle.

Over ¾ of a Mile?

After hitting 1,000 targets with regularity using the Smith & Wesson M&P 10 LE, we got bored and decided to stretch things out a bit more. Just for kicks, we took aim at some large rocks in a sand pit 1,400 yards down range. That’s .8 miles. The sand pit made it easier to spot impacts while we got the range dialed in.

Note the fully ambidextrous controls on the M&P 10 LE.

I lost count after 57 billion rounds of Hornady .308 ammo sent down range.

The first challenge to overcome was that the trajectory of the .308 round at that distance exceeded the scopes ability to adjust, even using full elevation adjustment and adding holdover with the reticle. Fortunately, a number of the rifles were equipped with some new RAMP mounts from Warne. These have a 20 minute of angle adjustment built in, so the scopes we were using could be adjusted a full 60 minutes of angle in elevation. When using an angled mount, you adjust the scope’s zero much higher in the scopes vertical adjustment range, allowing more elevation adjustment. Our reticle had vertical hash marks at 2, 4, 8 and 10 minutes of angle, so we had wiggle room around our estimated requirement of 65 minutes of angle elevation required. Yep, we had to use all available scope adjustment, plus holdover to get on target.

The barrel on the Smith M&P 10 LE is not free-floated, yet applying lots of pressure to the bipod didn’t seem to matter.

A new trial for me was the Huskemaw Optics. We used 3-12×42, and that was plenty of magnification to reach 1,000 yards.

65 minutes at 1,400 yards is one heckuva drop. That’s about 946.4 inches, or 14.339 Ryan Seacrest’s. Put another way, the vertical drop is nearly 2 ½ of those scary high dives your childhood friends dared you to jump from. While falling from the high dive might have seemed an eternity, the flight time of the Hornady 168 grain .308 projectile was even longer. We calculated that the bullet was in the air for 2.54 seconds, give or take. While I didn’t time it, I figured it took about a week for the sound of a hit to travel back to the firing line.
While I wouldn’t want to trust my life to a first shot hit in this scenario at 1,400 yards, we managed to get on target and could reliably put bullets in the vicinity of a few feet. I did notice that Hornady Marketing head Neal Emery dipped into his secret stash of 175-grain rounds and was having even better success at the 1,400-yard game. It pays to have connections, right?

One of the upgrades on the M&P 10 LE model is the Magpul hand guard.

The Magpul PRS Precision-Adjustable Stock allows adjustment of length of pull and comb height.

Shocked Face

Consider me shocked. I wouldn’t have expected to be able to make consistent and repeatable hits from 1,000 yards with a stock AR-10. Certainly, those results stem from a combination of quality gun, great ammo, and most importantly excellent long range shooting instruction. If you’re interested in learning long range shooting techniques, keep an eye on the NRA Outdoors website. While the current classes are out west, they’re opening up additional ones on the east coast, so matter where you live, classes will be within range. See what I did there?

REDNECKS,TANNERITE,SHOOTING ,hot brass to balls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMOUaXQevas

Senate Bill: ‘Must Retrofit’ Handgun with Smart Gun Tech Before Sale

Armatix Smart Gun (AP photo)

(CNSNews.com) - Democratic Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have put forth a bill that could drastically impact gun sales in America.
Last week Markey and Warren introduced The “Handgun Trigger Safety Act”. It would mandate that in 10 years “anyone selling a handgun must retrofit it with personalization technology before that sale can be completed.”
It would also ban the “manufacture in the United States a handgun that is not a personalized handgun” within 5 years of the measure being enacted.
Smart gun technology allows a handgun to only be operated by an authorized user. It generally works through finger or palm print recognition, electronic password or coded lock, or a gun that needs to be in proximity to a specific watch or bracelet in order to operate.
Currently smart gun technology is pricey. The Armatix iP1 is the first smart handgun to be sold in the U.S. with a reported price of $1,800.
In a press release Markey says, the measure would also “authorize grants to develop and improve ‘personalized’ handgun technology to increase efficacy and decrease costs.”
It would also “provide reimbursement to manufacturers for the costs of retrofitting handguns through the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund.” 

CZ82 and CZ83 Pistols Military surplus suitable for defense

CZ82 and CZ83 Pistols Military surplus suitable for defense? CZ83 (380ACP, left) and CZ82 (9x18Mak, right) with their full combat loads of 12+1. CZ83 (380ACP, left) and CZ82 (9x18Mak, right) with their full combat loads of 12+1. My familiarity with 9×18 began with a Makarov pistol in the late 1990s. Cheap surplus ammunition and low cost pistol combination were irresistible to me, and I ended up with a gun that was stone-cold reliable, shot what seemed like a decent defensive round accurately, and was smaller than my other centerfire pistol, Glock 17. The pistol eventually got sold when the novelty and the price wore off. The recoil of the blowback design, heel magazine release, looooong and heavy double action trigger, and the stiff safety all made it less than ideal for my use, and the Makarov was happily replaced by more expensive but far more useful Kahr P9. The only other relatively common 9×18 pistol was the Polish P64, a truly wretched lump of bad trigger and sharp edges that amplified felt recoil. While I’ve seen photos of CZ82 in CZ-USA catalog of 2000, the pistol wasn’t readily available to buy or even to try out at the range. On paper, it looked pretty good: 12+1 capacity, cocked and locked capability along with double action, button magazine release, and decent sights. A similar CZ83 model was available in 380ACP (12+1) and 32ACP (15+1), the latter catching my interest as a possible pistol for the recoil-sensitive. While all of these guns are blowback designs, their thick grips should have helped to absorb the recoil. Although they look heavier, CZ83 weighs the same and CZ82 is only a couple of ounces more than the single-stack Makarov. Recently, I had a chance to take the 380 and the 9×18 models to the range to try them side-by-side. The ergonomics are pretty decent, but the imperfect fit of the grip panels and the resulting seams on the back were felt on recoil. The kick was less than with Makarov but not by enough to make it comfortable. Sights are clear in good light, all-black on the 9×18 and black with three white dots on the 380. The pistols are easy to hold steady until the trigger pull begins. Instead of the expected single action mode, the gun has what appears to be a lighter double action mode: the excessively heavy trigger moves the already cocked hammer even further back, from where it releases to fire. While this almost guarantees no light primer strikes, this isn’t conducive to accurate fire. At best, I could get two inch groups at 7 yards with either gun, while firing the same 380 ammunition through Browning 1911-380 produced 1/2 inch group with overlapping holes. The same 9×18 ammunition fired through Bulgarian Makarov also produced 1/2 inch groups, so the culprits were the pair of CZs. OATH Tango (380, 75gr), HPR hollow point (380, 95gr) and Silver Bear hollow point (9x18, 94gr). Recovered bullets: OATH Tango (380, 75gr, expanded to 0.96″), HPR hollow point (380, 90gr, expanded to 0.44″) and Silver Bear hollow point (9×18, 94gr, no expansion). Velocity measurements, 380ACP: PPU FMJ 95gr 959fps OATH Tango 75gr 1072fps OATH Halo 90gr 1003fps HPR JHP 90gr 900fps Velocity measurements, 9x18Mak: PPU 95gr JHP 954fps PPU FMJ 95gr 946fps Silver Bear JHP 94gr 962fps Although 9×18 in its canonical milsurp form is supposed to be hotter than 380ACP, the numbers show the two to be roughly even in power. The initial bullet diameters are quite similar, .355″ (380) to .365″ (9×18). Expanded diameters favor 380, as neither Silver Bear nor PPU opened up. Hornady makes two expanding 9×18 loads, which are reputed to work better. Since the energy levels involved are limited, the nearly inch-wide Tango penetrated only 4 inches, with the BB-sized nose cap reaching 6.25″. HPR hollow point, while expanding far less dramatically, reached 10.75″ mark before bouncing back, with the bullet resting at the 9″ mark. To me, that seems like the best compromise of expansion and penetration. Strangely, another test of this ammunition done with a shorter barrel gave lower muzzle velocity, same expansion, and penetration exceeding 12″. I am not sure how that worked out, unless my re-melted gel was denser and out of calibration. Given that OATH Tango produced 7″ of penetration when tested in fresh gel, I suspect that my numbers would have to be scaled up proportionally. Neither of the 9×18 “expanding” bullets actually opened up, with penetration around 12″. All 380 and 9×18 ball rounds penetrated more than 16″ and were not recovered. Although felt recoil was about the same with all 95 grain bullets, 90gr HPR load and both of the OATH loads, the 90gr non-expanding Halo and the 75gr expanding Tango) were easier to shoot. One possible reason why Silver Bear gave more of a jolt may have been the hardness of its bi-metal jacket, requiring higher pressure at the same velocity to engrave on the rifling. Overall, I would favor the 380ACP variant due to better availability of quality ammunition. In picking between CZ82/83 and more modern locked breech guns, I would choose either a smaller 380 (such as Browning 1911-380 or G42 or Sig P238) or similarly sized 9×19 (such as CZ Rami), which hold similar amount of more powerful ammunition and show better accuracy with less kick. While I wouldn’t feel poorly armed with either 82 or 83, full-size blowback service pistols are best reserved for range use when better options are available for carry.

Girls With Guns

Girls With Guns: 5 Pieces of Tactical Gear That Fit Form and Function

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The popularity of sports shooting is on the rise, and the fastest growing group of new shooters is women. Once they’ve moved past simple, unstructured plinking at the gun range, girls with guns are finding that they want more of a challenge, and many are choosing to shoot competitively, attend regular disaster preparedness classes, or even teach. For this, they will need to invest in some basic tactical gear.

Here are five pieces of tactical gear that fit form and function:

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1. Tactical pants are a must because they have multiple pockets. If girls with guns are shooting competitively, or taking competitive shooting classes, they will need tactical pants for extra magazines and other accessories. The knees of tactical pants are usually reinforced for shooting in kneeling positions or lying prone.

2. A tactical vest usually has molle webbing, or special loops to facilitate the addition of magazine pouches and other tactical gear and supplies.

3. A high quality folding knife or multi-purpose tool is a versatile addition. In emergency situations, this could prove invaluable and may even save your life or someone else's. It could be used for simple repairs, opening things, or even to cut a seat belt after an accident to extricate the victim or yourself.

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4. A tactical flashlight is an essential. Many of these come in multi-mode, such as high, medium, and low intensity, as well a strobe function. These each have specific uses, from locating a lost person or object to disorienting an assailant. Some tactical lights come with interchangeable bezels. The crown or pointed bezel can be used as a defensive weapon.

5. A "get home bag" holds only what you need to sustain yourself for 72 hours. This can include some food, water, clothing, and perhaps a simple shelter, as well as extra ammunition and any other personal items you may need.