Amsj march 2016

SPECIAL ISSUE

LAW ENFORCEMENT BODY CAMS A Privacy Issue PETS vs POLICE Catching a Poacher Defensive Training Turns On The Heat Humorous Beat Stories

GUN REVIEWS

PARAGON

GET THE

4-1-1 OON

Rule 41B How Does It Impact Our NFA Guns?

TALKIN’ TURKEY Calls & Decoys High-tech Ammo Season Preview

Double Barrel Shotgun

WINCHESTER .243 Rifle

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A MERIC A N

SHOOTING JOURNAL Volume 5 // ISSUE 7 // March 2016 PUBLISHER

James R. Baker ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Dick Openshaw GENERAL MANAGER

John Rusnak EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Andy Walgamott EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Danielle Breteau LEAD CONTRIBUTOR

Troy Taysom

CONTRIBUTORS

Jason Brooks, Robert Campbell, Moriah Combs, Andre Dall’au, Terry Dalton, Jim Dixon, Walt Hampton, Tim Hovey, Alex Kincaid, Randy King, Steve Meyers, Ben Mitchell, Troy Rodakowski, Bob Shell SALES MANAGER

Katie Higgins ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Donna Caskey, Mamie Griffin, Steve Joseph, Garn Kennedy, Mike Smith, Paul Yarnold PRODUCTION MANAGER

Sonjia Kells DESIGNERS

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Kelly Baker OFFICE MANAGER/ACCOUNTING

Audra Higgins ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

Katie Sauro INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER

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ON THE COVER Among the gear he carries on patrol, Officer Emy Delancey of the Hood River, Ore., Police Department uses an issued body camera. (BEN MITCHELL, HOOD RIVER NEWS)

MEDIA INDEX PUBLISHING GROUP WASHINGTON OFFICE P.O. Box 24365 • Seattle, WA 98124-0365 14240 Interurban Ave. S. Ste. 190 • Tukwila, WA 98168 OREGON OFFICE 8116 SW Durham Rd • Tigard, OR 97224 (206) 382-9220 • (800) 332-1736 • Fax (206) 382-9437 media@media-inc.com • www.media-inc.com

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CONTENTS 115

FIND SPRING TURKEY SUCCESS

VOLUME 5 • ISSUE 7 • MARCH 2016

special law enforcement issue 24

FOCUSING ON BODY CAMERAS The International Association of Chiefs of Police released their whos, whats, whens, wheres and hows of body camera usage, data storage and privacy. All is not what it seems.

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WHEN ROVER WON’T ROLL OVER When cops come knocking, pets of potential bad guys are often first to grrr-eet them. One officer recalls his brushes with dogs, cats – even a wolf!

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GET REAL WITH YOUR TRAINING Shooting paper is one thing, but after being involved in a gun battle, Officer Erick Gonzalez founded a training company focused on scenario-based training that can make the difference between winning or losing an encounter. Find out his strategies.

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SNIFFING OUT A LEGEND Bob Cameron has garnered a place among legends. Bloodhound tracker and breeder and search-and-rescue man of the mountains, Cameron and his dogs have located the impossible across the West.

features 105 WHAT IS BLACK POWDER, PART I Black powder has a fascinating story.

Kicking off his three-part series, Bob Shell shares everything you never knew you wanted to know about those little grains that go boom.

123 AIMING TO UPGRADE YOUR TURKEY GUN? You may not need to! Check out some of the latest high-tech turkey hunting ammunition – couple that with time spent patterning those loads and your old shotgun may just be good as new.

As winter’s cold lifts and flowers start to bloom, the toms begin to strut their stuff. Troy Rodakowski offers some of the latest insights into some of the nation’s top turkey hunting areas and what you can expect this season.

135 THE BRIT WHO MAKES HUGE GUNS Who says the British don’t like guns?!

Meet Giles Whittome, the big-bore man of the British Isles renowned for inventing the largest and most powerful sporting rifle ever made.

AMERICAN SHOOTING JOURNAL is published monthly by Media Index Publishing Group, 14240 Interurban Ave South Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. Display Advertising. Call Media Index Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Index Publishing Group and will not be returned. Copyright © 2016 Media Index Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher. Printed in U.S.A.

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CONTENTS law enforcement issue 35 55 97

BEAT STORY: Northern California bank-robbing bozo BEAT STORY: Utah drug-dealing first date Busting A Deer Poacher

THE 4-1-1 ON RULE 41F

ALSO INSIDE 83 87 147 153 157

Youth Shooting Sports Ambassador Moriah Combs RANGE REVIEW: Las Vegas’ Spectacular The Range 702 GUN REVIEW: Winchester .243 PRODUCT REVIEW: Cutting Edge Bullets COMEDY: A Hunter ‘Breaks Up’ With Geese

DEPARTMENTS 17 19 21 23 80

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Editor’s Note Competition Calendar Gun Show Calendar Top Shooters Salute To America’s Armed Forces

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Rule 41F specifically targets National Firearms Act guns in gun trusts and how they are managed and is the latest in new gun laws.

Attorney Alex Kincaid breaks through the legalese with what you need to know about this rule and how it might affect you.

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EDITOR’S NOTE

i

f you haven’t figured out by now that the American Shooting Journal is very supportive of and respects our boys and girls in blue, then where have you been? Each month we dedicate a special section of the magazine to tell their stories, trials and tribulations, and remind readers what funny and tragic events these protectors deal with every day.

Among this issue’s stories, the International Association of Chiefs of Police has come out with their much-anticipated report on body cameras and how they should be used. This is something the public should find very interesting. You can also ride along to help sack a poacher, deal with bad guys’ crazy attack pets, meet a living legend of search and rescue and his bloodhound and solve a bank robbery.

Spring hunting is here, or almost here for some. Can you hear the gobbling of the big toms as they woo their hens?

Or maybe that’s just a fellow hunter hidden in the brush!

In any case, things are fluffing up, and turkey hunters are in the thick of it. The season has come, and we encourage you to read about the latest high-tech ammo designed for

that perfect shot or learn the value of calling for your prize to bring him even closer. Everything you need to get ready for this spring’s hunt is here.

We also have a very special story that focuses (pun intended) on the latest gun-trust legislation, called Rule 41F. Second Amendment guru and attorney Alex Kincaid walks us through the changes, minor as they are, to help ensure we stay within Executive editor Danielle Breteau our legal limits. The best part?

She does it plain language, not legalese, so that it’s easy for those of us who aren’t lawyers to understand. Thanks, Alex!

If you know someone who is unique in the gun industry, email me at Dani@AmericanShootingJournal.com. I would love to hear their story.

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Fully engaged with his STI DVC 1911 9mm, Chris Costa of Costa Ludus Training is getting his students ready for the real world. (COSTA LUDUS)

Green Beret veteran Bobby Dove was severely wounded in Afghanistan in 2012.

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Thirteen-year-old youth competitve shooter Cheyenne Dalton picked up her first gun at the age of eight and she is unstoppable. (FAST FIVE PHOTOGRAPHY) americanshootingjournal.com 23

The race for the best body camera is on, and so are the regulations that will govern these little devices and how they are used. (REVEAL MEDIA)

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The Official Body-camera Policy Standards Are Out STORY BY TROY TAYSOM

echnology gives us instant access to information. If something happens such as a car accident, riot or tornado, for example, we can see it instantly through the power of digital recording and the Internet. If we need an answer to any question, we can type it into Google and within milliseconds have one – right or wrong. The public holds the same expectation now for interactions between law enforcement and the public.

What are the first two questions asked after a police shooting? Was the officer wearing a body camera, and where’s the video? The public want stransparency and answers.

The idea of officers wearing body cameras has been a topic that law enforcement agencies have been investigating for years, and some of the biggest policy makers in the business have now weighed in, including the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), as well as the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and a presidential task force with their policy recommendations.

EXPECTATIONS In a perfect world, a police shooting would be captured from multiple angles and all of the questions surrounding the event would be answered.

But this just isn’t possible. The difficult part is that body cameras, or more appropriately titled body-worn cameras (BWC), will not provide everything either.

BWCs are a natural technological progression for law enforcement, but at best the camera will only capture whatever is directly in front of the officer minus any obstructions such as outstretched arms in the firing position or another officer.

The camera cannot capture subtle nuances. Officers tend to develop a sixth sense through their experiences, and the camera cannot see what they are sensing or what is happening beside or behind them. Simply put, the BWC is a tool – just another piece to a very complicated puzzle. The biggest hurdle for law enforcement is managing the public’s expectations.

TECHNOLOGY The technology involved with BWCs is advancing quickly. The Safariland Group, a respected and well-known law-enforcement products company, has a line of BWCs and has developed new software which allows BWC video to be redacted. This means the video blurs the faces of bystanders or other objects captured in the footage. The software is made by VIEVU, which uses an advanced algorithm for this process. The software is available to departments that use VIEVU’s solution cloud-hosted evidence system.

Microsoft has partnered with VIEVU in developing this new cloud technology, and the CEO is a former Seattle police officer.

COST Budgets are finite, and many cities, counties and states have seen discretionary americanshootingjournal.com 25

budgets drastically reduced in recent years. These reductions are across the board and include law enforcement. The costs associated with body cameras are not insignificant, and in fact can be staggering. The initial purchase price of a body camera is close to $1,000 per unit. Money must also be budgeted for the replacement of these cameras over time.

Data storage is the biggest cost and only grows as time goes on. A department with 107 sworn officers including detectives and administrative types can expect to pay $70,000 per year for an off-site data-storage solution. If the department elects to host their own storage, the cost could be less, but then they assume all of the liability for security and data backup.

Many departments are opting for cloud-based storage, which puts the security and backup in the hands of the vendor.

PRIVACY This is a big concern for the officers and administrators.

Questions regarding when it’s appropriate to video are proving to be tough. Some departments have a policy where the camera is turned on for every callout regardless of its nature.

This may prove to be problematic when dealing with sensitive issues. It may also be problematic if the responding officers find that no crime has been committed but the call was still a private matter. Situations might include: calls where citizens are deceased; sexual assaults; or child-related incidents.

There is also the question of the officer’s privacy. This has been raised by multiple unions representing officers.

The fear, they say, is that supervisors will use the video to discipline officers who may be speaking ill of management.

There is also the fear that an officer who is a whistleblower can be tracked and punished by using video from the camera. The unions contend that officers have some expectation of privacy while on duty and while speaking with their coworkers.

POLICIES It isn’t practical for a patrol officer to run their body camera every minute of every shift. Deciding on when a BWC should be turned on is up to each agency, but is also heavily influenced by state law. Some states have laws that require consent from anyone being recorded. These laws provide an obstacle that must be overcome through legislation, thus delaying implementation.

Here are just a few of the many policy recommendations from the IACP: • Officers shall activate the BWC to record all contacts with citizens in the performance of official duties; • Whenever possible, officers should inform individuals that they are being recorded. In locations where individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as a residence, they may decline to be recorded unless the recording is being made in pursuant to an arrest such as while searching the residence or the individuals; • The BWC shall remain activated until the event is completed in order to ensure the integrity of the recording, 26

American Shooting Journal // March 2016

Not only is the privacy of the public in question, so is personal space of the officer themselves. These decisions have an impact on when the camera should be on or off. (SAFARILAND GROUP)

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Body cameras, like this VIEVU, can be a great solution for recording what is happening, but these devices cannot see and sense all the activity happening around the officer. (SAFARILAND GROUP)

unless the contact moves into an area restricted by this policy; • If an officer fails to activate the BWC, fails to record the entire contact or interrupts the recording, the officer shall document why a recording was not made, interrupted or terminated; • Civilians shall not be allowed to review the recordings at the scene; • Officers shall not edit, alter, erase, duplicate, copy, share or otherwise distribute in any manner BWC recordings; • Officers are encouraged to inform their supervisor of any recordings that may be of value for training purposes;

• If an officer is suspected of wrongdoing or involved in an officer-involved shooting or other serious use-of-force, the department reserves the right to limit or restrict an officer from viewing the video file.

• BWC recordings are not a replacement for written

Body cameras come in many different styles as demonstrated by TASER International’s Axon glass-mounted camera. The high priority for law enforcement is determining when a body camera should be on or off. Sensitive situations such as sexual assaults or those dealing with children may not be appropriate for the public viewing. (TASER INTERNATIONAL)

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The advanced software, such as the algorithm created by VIEVU, automatically redacts people’s faces and other objects from the video.

reports.

Here are some of the recommended restrictions of using BWCs: • Encounters with undercover officers or confidential informants; • When on break or otherwise engaged in personal activities; • In any location where individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as a restroom or locker room.

The IACP isn’t the only group to publish their research and recommendations. The BJA has created a national bodyworn camera toolkit for law enforcement agencies to use.

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This toolkit is free to departments and includes research, costs and other important information.

The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing included a section on body cameras in their report released in May 2015 too.

The resources are there for departments to design policies and procedures. Many questions still remain unanswered, but will be answered in time as situations and cases arise. The important point in all this is that technology is a tool that can be leveraged in law enforcement. But it is just that – a tool. It isn’t an answer to every problem or situation. ASJ

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‘CHECK’ YOUR M.O. BEFORE ROBBING A BANK ANONYMOUS LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER

A

bout 17 years ago, I was assigned to our street gang unit.

Our primary mission was to combat the growing gang violence. We also assisted detectives whenever they needed suspects, victims or witnesses to be found. My team in particular developed a great relationship with the department’s robbery unit, and helped them on numerous cases. One summer day, a bank robbery was committed by a lone suspect in one of the southern districts in the city. We responded to the bank to assist with the investigation. We were told that the suspect presented a demand note to the teller informing her that he was armed with a gun and was robbing the bank. Fearing for her life, the teller handed over the money, and the suspect fled the scene.

Our team was tasked with canvassing the area for witnesses, while the detectives interviewed the teller and bank staff. Within 15 to 20 minutes we were summoned by the detectives who told us that they had the suspect identified and that they were going to help with the apprehension of the suspect. As a young impressionable officer I was amazed how the detectives had identified the suspect in such a short time. We followed them to a

BEAT STORY Northern California

residential area, located the suspect and arrested him for robbery.

After the dust settled, I approached the lead detective and asked him how they identified the unknown suspect in a matter of minutes. He smiled and handed me the demand note, which was inside a clear plastic bag. I took the bag and read the note.

Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. It was an off-white piece of scrap paper with writing on it. I did not see any fingerprint powder, so I eliminated fingerprints as a method of identifying the suspect. I thought that these detectives were pretty good if they identified the suspect just by looking at the note. Then I happened to look at the other side, and the detective’s smile got bigger.

The piece of paper used for the robbery note was the suspect’s pay stub that contained his name and home address. Needless to say, the detectives quickly found that person in our data system, and compared the bank video surveillance to the database photograph – positive ID. The suspect later confessed to the robbery when they showed him the pay stub and surveillance footage.

The moral to the story? Don’t rob banks! ASJ americanshootingjournal.com 35

A new mandate titled Rule 41F is going to take effect on July 13, 2016. This rule will make changes to the current laws surrounding National Firearms Act guns in gun trusts and the new paperwork required to transfer them.

THE

FUTURE GUN TRUSTS OF

The 4-1-1 On Rule 41F

STORY BY ALEX KINCAID PHOTOGRAPHS BY OLEG VOLK

A

fter the new Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives rule affecting gun trusts was signed into law on January 4, 2016, I quickly turned to my newly published book, Infringed, to see how much information would now be out of date. I devoted several chapters to explaining the possession and transfer of National Firearms Act (NFA) firearms and the benefits of gun trusts.

After reviewing all of the chapters with gun-trust specific information, I smirked to myself. Only one paragraph out of the entire book would need to be updated.

Like much of the current gun-control measures, the new gun-trust loophole rule doesn’t accomplish much except to cause spontaneous, enthusiastic applause from those who believe the rhetoric.

It was asserted that Rule 41F will prevent gun violence, because it will require background checks “for people trying to buy some of the most dangerous weapons and other items through a trust, corporation, or other legal entity.”

The problem is, every person who uses a trust to purchase a firearm has always – even before this new rule – undergone a background check by completing Form 4473 at the dealer’s office, just as with every other gun purchase in America. It is also worth noting that criminals do not create gun trusts or submit paperwork to the ATF to purchase a firearm.

Even more, in a properly drafted gun trust, the trust terms specifically prohibit the transfer of firearms to anyone who is

prohibited under federal, state or local law from possessing a firearm. In fact, one of the primary reasons I draft gun trusts for my clients is to help gun owners and their families obey the gun laws by working within the confines of our government’s parameters.

The “most dangerous weapons” referenced by the Obama Administration are firearms subject to the NFA – silencers, short-barreled rifles and shotguns and fully automatic firearms, to name a few. These firearms are rarely used by criminals. The mass shootings that have supposedly prompted this new rule did not involve NFA firearms.

WHY DOESN’T THE NEW RULE AFFECT CRIME? Because it targets law-abiding Americans, not criminals.

Contrary to the proposed assertion that Rule 41F only succeeds in imposing a new tax burden on working Americans to the tune of at least $5.8 million a year, and imposing more bureaucracy on law-abiding citizens who wish to acquire NFA firearms, lawful purchasers of these items will now need to submit even more paperwork – photographs and fingerprints – to the ATF and yet more to local law-enforcement agencies – a notice that they are attempting to purchase an NFA firearm. All of this is in addition to the special ATF forms requiring personal information and undergoing the regular NICS background check, which has always been standard.

Targeting law-abiding citizens to effect gun control is not new. When Congress passed the NFA in 1934, it did so with the intent to tax certain firearms so they would be unaffordable.

The authorities knew the criminals would not register their firearms. Instead, they intended to make the purchase of certain firearms so expensive, due to the new tax, that the average American could not afford to purchase them. In 1986, another law affecting citizens was passed – the Firearm Owners Protection Act (FOPA) completely banned civilians from possessing or transferring machine guns manufactured after 1986. This law was passed even though approximately 175,000 machine guns were in circulation at the time, and not a single one was linked to criminal activity. The new law, however, made the limited machine guns that could still be possessed and transferred unaffordable for most. Despite the inconvenient effects of Rule 41F, rest assured that the rule does not affect the heart and soul of gun trusts. It does not change

When Congress passed the NFA in 1934, it did so with the intent to tax certain firearms, like this 12-gauge shortbarrelled shotgun, so they would be unaffordable.

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A $200 tax stamp is required when transferring any NFA-categorized firearm or instrument.

the primary reasons for creating a trust to hold your firearms.

The rule only creates an inconvenience that should prompt you to create a gun trust and purchase NFA firearms prior to the rule’s effective date of July 13, 2016.

WHY DO GUN OWNERS CREATE GUN TRUSTS? A gun trust is a special type of trust that is designed to hold all of your firearms and firearms-related accessories. Gun trusts make it much easier for your loved ones to handle your firearms should you become incapacitated or die, boosts your ability to share and transfer NFA firearms and helps ensure all state and federal laws are followed.

Gun trusts have become the planning tool for gun owners whose collections include NFA firearms. One of the primary reasons is the ability to share possession of the NFA firearms with other trustees. Unlike other firearms, unless restricted by your state’s laws, NFA firearms can only be possessed by fir the person to whom the fir firearm is registered. There is no exception for family members or other people with whom memb you live. If you leave your N NFA firearm at home where it is accessible to other people, yyou and the other people in your home are violating ffederal law.

Most NFA gun owners are aware of this gun-trust gun-tru benefit. But many gun owners are n not aware that gun trusts are important tools for all gun owners, imp whether or not a collection includes wh NFA firearms.

Gun G trusts are important for all gun owners, because they prepare you and your loved ones for your a

americanshootingjournal.com 39

Alex Kincaid (OLEG VOLK)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Alexandria Kincaid is a nationally renowned firearms law attorney and author. Her expertise on gun laws and the Second Amendment is relied on by gun owners, businesses and gunrights organizations across America.

Kincaid’s history with firearms started when she was young.

Her law-enforcement father taught her to shoot at the age of five. During her career, she’s relied on firearms for self protection amidst threats from the criminals she prosecuted while serving as an elected district attorney. Her favorite firearms are World War II collectibles, and her favorite shooting activity involves long-distance challenges from her deck at home in Emmett, Idaho. To order a copy of her latest book, Infringed or for more information visit alexkincaid.com.

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death and incapacity by responsibly addressing your firearms and keeping your affairs out of the court system. Planning for the possibility that you will be incapacitated (whether from age or accident), even if temporarily, is important for everyone. It is even more important for gun owners, because if you don’t plan, then government has a plan for you. The government’s plan is a public, expensive, judge-controlled system that will take away your right to own a firearm.

All gun owners should try to avoid the court system if they are incapacitated or die by creating general estate planning documents and a gun trust.

WHAT DOES A PROPERLY DRAFTED GUN TRUST LOOK LIKE? When properly written, gun trusts are powerful asset protection and estate planning tools. A well-drafted gun trust will achieve the following for the gun owner who creates the trust: 1) Ensure that friends and family can lawfully possess and

One of the primary reasons to have a gun trust is the ability to share possession of NFA items such as this AWC silencer.

(AWC SILENCERS)

transfer trust-owned firearms during the gun owner’s lifetime; 2) Create a private plan that completely avoids the court system for all firearms if the gun owner becomes incapacitated or dies; 3) Assists gun owners in sharing NFA firearms with other law-abiding gun owners; 4) Helps the successors and heirs understand the gun owner’s desires related to all the trust-owned firearms; 5) Helps the ones you care about to comply with firearms laws when they possess or transfer the firearms; 6) Assists the gun owner to own firearms in more than one state; and 7) Ensures that neither gun owner nor any loved ones commits an accidental felony.

All of these gun-trust benefits are not affected by Rule 41F. HOW WILL RULE 41F AFFECT GUN TRUSTS? Rule 41F only affects gun trusts that will hold NFA firearms. If your trust holds or will acquire NFA firearms, know that anyone

who is listed as a responsible party of the trust will need to provide additional information for the government registry.

All questions about the new rule cannot yet be answered.

This is because the ATF will be issuing further guidelines in the future. These guidelines will explain the ATF’s interpretation of Rule 41F. Until these guidelines are issued, some questions about how Rule 41F will affect trusts remain unknown. For now, we know the following: If your gun trust was prepared by my office, we may suggest a few revisions, but your gun trust is still a great tool and will not be invalidated by the new rule. Under Rule 41F, the only responsible parties in our trusts are the trust’s current trustees and the grantor (creator) of the trust. We are creating a method (and waiting for the ATF guidelines) to make the future acquisition of NFA firearms as seamless as possible for our clients. We will be updating you with more direction as soon as we believe the advice to be solid and unchanged by the new ATF guidelines.

If you do not have a gun trust, now is the time to get it done americanshootingjournal.com 41

and submit paperwork to the ATF for any NFA firearms you have been hoping to acquire. If you submit the paperwork prior to July 13, 2016, you will not need to submit an extra set of fingerprints or a photograph, or send a notice to your chief law enforcement officer (CLEO); If you acquire NFA firearms after July 13, 2016, you will need to submit a photograph, fingerprints and a CLEO notice, but you do not need to update the ATF when adding more trustees to your trust (responsible parties) after you receive your tax stamp. So, if you create a trust and submit an application to acquire these “most dangerous weapons” prior to the rule taking effect on July 13, then you will not need to provide additional information unless you make another purchase after adding responsible parties to your trust.

There is no need to update the ATF when adding responsible persons (more trustees) between applications.

My colleagues and I are actively working on materials to update trusts, advise if your trust needs to be updated, and provide future guidance on utilizing a gun trust.

If you have a trust provided by a gun shop or an online form, we can assist you in reviewing your trust to determine if any changes need to be made. For people who purchased an NFA trust from a gun shop or someone who isn’t a lawyer, you are likely in need of a lot of assistance.

THE BOTTOM LINE In summary, the undesirable effect on most individual gun

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owners of the proposed rule is that anyone considered a responsible person on a gun trust must submit a photograph, fingerprints and send notice to law enforcement to receive or make an NFA firearm.

Sharing the possession of NFA firearms through a gun trust remains a wonderful benefit of a properly drafted trust. However, our gun trusts are designed to provide this benefit and so much more: They are legal gun safes that will alert unknowledgeable citizens and attorneys to the restrictions on the transfer and possession of firearms, they outline a plan for the gun owner’s death and also for the gun owner’s incapacity, and they create a dynasty trust for the gun owner’s children. ASJ The ATF has not weighed in on their interpretation of Rule 41F. This means that the laws are still not fully understood or in place.

americanshootingjournal.com 43

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In the world of law enforcement, dealing with animals – pets and wildlife alike – is an almost daily occurence. Most are benign encounters, but sometimes pets try to get the upper paw.

PETS VS COPS

WHEN LAW ENFORCEMENT FACES OFF WITH MAN’S BEST FRIENDS

STORY BY STEVE MEYER • PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANIELLE BRETEAU

I

walked up the long dark driveway at 1 a.m., shivering in the cold Alaska winter night, and full of nagging thoughts that perhaps this wasn’t one of my better ideas.

Thirty yards from the dark residence at the end of the drive, something made me look down at my chest. Perhaps it was peripheral vision that alerted me. Whatever it was, there was no mistaking the bright red dot that was centered on my chest. “Damn wolf,” I thought.

DOGS AND THE LAW Law enforcement duties brings numerous encounters with animals that belong to folks from all walks of life, the most common being canines of one sort or another. Being a lover of dogs, most of these contacts made the day a better one for me during my years on the job in the Last Frontier.

Rare was the dog that couldn’t be convinced to be my buddy in a few minutes of visiting. With everyone else in the business? Not so much. Dogs readily sense fear and animosity from people, and they can and do respond accordingly.

Having the occasional partner who brought out the worst in dogs, it usually didn’t take much to convince them to just stay in the car when there was a questionable dog in the yard.

In recent years, pitbulls have become the trademark animal to own if you consider yourself a bad guy – or at least want to give that impression to others. It is easy to latch onto an impression of a particular breed by their reputation; a lot of the time, it is a mistake.

Dogs tend to be a reflection of those who own them

and how they are treated. One would suspect the criminal element would not treat their dogs well, even suggesting their masters would probably try to turn them into vicious beasts that would attack on command.

To be sure, those people are out there, but the vast majority, at least in my experience, treated their dogs well, and their dogs acted accordingly. For the most part the pitbulls were big sweethearts when it came to people, and their owners doted on them. But not always.

CHARGING BULLS My partner and I were at a probationer’s place conducting a search for drugs. The guy was upfront and met us at the door, confessing he had two pitbulls that were very unfriendly.

We requested he put them in their kennel, which he did. My partner and I were in a back bedroom searching when the dogs came bursting into the hallway. My partner chose the better part of valor, stepped into a bathroom and slammed the door.

The dogs were coming toward me, but they were clearly not pressing an attack – they were posturing. The owner grabbed them and locked them back up. One of his children had unwittingly let them loose and all was well, but it sure made for a great story to tell.

Once while serving a warrant on a drug operation there were two problematic Rottweilers. These dogs had been trained to attack, and anyone pulling into the yard of this place instantly had the two big beasts jumping on their vehicle, their intent clear by the baring of some rather large teeth. americanshootingjournal.com 45

As the dogs roamed the yard, there was no way to come in without alerting them; we certainly did not want to have to kill them. The solution came by way of a fully automatic paintball gun we had in the armory. The gun was for just such an occasion and came complete with paintballs that were filled with pepper spray, which works extremely well for deterring dogs that are misbehaving.

One of the operators on the team was assigned the paintball gun with the responsibility of neutralizing the dogs. We pulled in and bailed out, heading for the door as the two big canines charged. I glanced over on the run and I saw the first couple of bursts of pepperballs hit the dogs in the chest. They evidently decided they were not being paid near enough to continue trying to do their job, proceeding to turn tail into the woods.

With everyone rounded up and restrained in the yard, the two dogs did come back and skulked in, much different animals.

back, and the owner was a bit taken aback – and then the cat nailed me. He bit the web of my hand, sinking four front teeth all the way through; this feline was locked on.

So there I was, with the cat stuck to my hand, blood everywhere, and our guy is losing his mind. “Relax,” I told him, “it isn’t your fault.” The cat eventually got bored, released his grip and we were buddies again.

Two days later, I had red streaks running up my forearm.

A trip to the doc and week of antibiotics found me good as new, with yet another great story to tell. Every time I saw the guy, even a couple times while taking him to jail, he would apologize for his cat biting me.

ANIMAL CRUELTY Abused animals are intolerable to me. My partners would sometimes come back to the office and tell me about some horrific circumstance involving a dog, knowing that I didn’t worry too much about procedure or my job when it came to that.

On one occasion, two pitbulls were chained inside an unheated room in a ratty old trailer. The chains were a couple feet long and these poor dogs were sleeping in their own mess – cold and hungry. I’ll never forget the smell of these two poor dogs the night I went and rescued them in my personal vehicle.

While checking on a felon, my partner and I were in a small dirty apartment when a kitten came out and went to a litter box in the corner. The litter box was so full, there was excrement flowing over the sides, forcing the cat to desperately find a place to step around the edge and relieve itself Law enforcement officials may be called to a home where they inadvertently with some dignity. find animals being abused or improperly cared for. This is why they network Enraged, I lost it a bit with or often have divisions dedicated to handling this specific need. when I told the man that I would be back the next morning, and if there wasn’t clean RISKING NINE LIVES litter for that kitten, I would make him eat the contents Cats were often part of the fauna at criminal residences, and take the animal. but they didn’t cause trouble unless you asked for it. On When we left, my partner suggested I probably shouldn’t one occasion, one of my partners asked for me. We were say things like that, all things considered. That was true. conducting a check of a guy’s residence, and there was a big, old cat stalking around the house.

He came over and rubbed himself on my leg, and I THE MYSTERY RED DOT reached down to scratch his ears. “I wouldn’t do that; that So, back to the long, dark driveway that cold night with cat bites,” the man said. My partner replied, “Oh, Steve has a the red dot on my chest. The homeowner was a two-time gift with animals; it won’t bite him.” convicted meth user/dealer on probation. His place was Of course, I had to then prove my gift, and it seemed a sizeable chunk of ground and on my first check, it was to work real well. I scratched the cat’s ears and rubbed his littered with old cars and assorted other junk.

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American Shooting Journal // March 2016

Dogs are an important part of law enforcement agencies, but sometimes encountering unruly “pets� is another story. (U.S ARMY ALASKA PUBLIC AFFAIRS)

americanshootingjournal.com 47

had caught it as a pup and had kept it. His dad had brought it to him for company on the property.

The wolf never wagged his tail, didn’t jump up, didn’t lick my offered hand. Rather, he looked right through me with the coldest eyes you ever want to see. It wasn’t angry, mind you, just so distant, telling me that I meant nothing to him and that he would just as soon not be there.

That got to me a bit.

Destiny is what it is, and it seemed the big wolf and I were destined to have a history. Instinctively, I checked on the guy perhaps more than I should have because of the wolf, and there were always unsavory characters hanging around. Some went to jail, but it was clear the place was a hub of criminal activity.

It was a winter day when I took the man back to jail.

There was no one else around and I asked The author encountered quite the unique house pet on one call to a suspect’s house: a about the wolf. He said he had friends who would wolf that he ultimately took home to rescue. (KEN CONGER/NATIONAL PARK SERVICE) take care of him during his absence.

Knowing the average attention span of meth Sitting outside the house and attached to a heavy-duty users, that was no comfort to me. So I told him I would logging chain was the quintessential “junkyard dog” in the check, and if the wolf wasn’t being taken care of, I would form of a beautiful gray timber wolf. “What’s the story with take it, although I wasn’t sure what I would do with it. this animal?” I asked. “It’s a wolf,” he replied. “I know it’s a The next day, as soon as I could get away from work, I wolf; where did it come from, and why is it chained in your went back and this time I just drove right into the driveway. yard?” I asked as I approached the creature.

Nobody was there save the big wolf. His water and food He said his dad had gotten the wolf from a trapper who

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American Shooting Journal // March 2016

americanshootingjournal.com 49

dishes were both empty, and there was no evidence that it had eaten anytime recently. He got right into my truck, filling up the passenger seat, and sat quietly on the way home. Later that night after eating, the wolf was outside doing its business. I was inside and heard howling. Not dog-like howls you hear in the neighborhood, but bloodcurdling mournful howls you hear at night in the middle of nowhere.

The wolf slept on a rug next to the couch I was lying on.

I remember thinking that if he chose to, he could rip my throat out with one quick move, and I wondered later why he didn’t. It seems even canines from the wild still have a certain connection to man.

At the prison the next day, I told the wolf’s owner that I had taken him and why, and he thanked me.

The big wolf is gone now. He was never chained again, and if he had to be tied up, it was purely symbolic.

One day, before the opportunity to reintegrate the wolf into wild Alaska came, he left. I would listen for his howls at night, and two

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American Shooting Journal // March 2016

nights after he left, I heard him not too far from my house.

I’ll always think this wolf was letting me know that he made it. ASJ Editor’s note: The author is a retired Special Emergency Response Team leader and lives on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.

Even though there are “bad guys” who purposely train their animals to attack, people who might happen to have a criminal record usually take very good care of their animals.

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The dealer, however, was the female passenger. As we were ordering the driver out of the car we could hear the dealer yelling, “Leave him alone! He isn’t involved.” We continued as we would any other highrisk stop, and arrested both parties. The dealer was in tears. She kept saying that the driver of the car wasn’t involved. She said, “We were on a date, and he doesn’t know anything.”

She agreed to talk to us and tell us more about the drug deal in exchange for letting her date go. As it turned out they actually were on a date - a first date after having met in drug rehab.

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Dynamic training scenarios challenge defensive shooters to make quick and accurate decisions in a variety of situations.

REALITY

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What It Takes To Win Under Stress And Under Fire

A

fter unexpected losses of US aircraft by enemy interceptors during the Vietnam War’s Operation Rolling Thunder, the Pentagon looked for ways to increase American pilots’ ability to survive and prevail during a close-in fight. The US Navy started what was called Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT), made famous by the movie Top Gun. Now every major air force uses a version of this kind of force-on-force or reality-based training.

Why? Well, it works! After graduates from DACT were deployed in Vietnam, the Navy’s kill-to-loss ratio against the opposing MiGs between 1965 and 1967 rose from 3.7 to 1 to a whopping 13 to 1. Interestingly, the US Air Force, which had not yet embraced DACT, had its kill ratio worsen during a similar time period. The Air Force finally realized that if they could get a green pilot the equivalent of ten combat engagements using force-on-force training, their odds of surviving a tour of duty went up dramatically, so they started their own DACT program that was included with their world-renowned Red Flag exercises (an advanced aerial combat training) – which has probably saved more pilots than any other combat training offered.

THE USE OF REALITY-BASED scenario training (RBST) is as effective with defensive shooters on the ground as it is with the US Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor (SFTI) – more

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANDRE M. DALL’AU

popularly known as Topgun – graduates who now rule the skies. The biggest question, as was faced by Topgun and Red Flag organizations, was how do you realistically challenge someone without actually using live ordnance and drawing real blood? While the Navy and USAF used various kinds of aircraft – including acquired MiGs and other bad-guy equipment, a ground-based gun fight simulation posed a different set of problems.

One of the first solutions used by the military was the MILES System, which is basically a slaved laser projector

“THIS ENSURES THAT C.C.W. HOLDERS WILL NOT SOLVE EVERY PROBLEM BY USING A FIREARM” mounted on a rifle, machine gun or tank cannon, with related sensors on the opposing force vehicle or personnel that registered appropriate hits and alarmed if the target was disabled or dead. Law enforcement used the FATS system, which is a realistic computer-controlled projected image that americanshootingjournal.com 57

Students are put through an array of scenarios that require them to use their intelligence, skills and wit to make split-second decisions in active scenarios.

creates shoot/don’t shoot scenarios. The images reacted by appropriately responding to the student by surrendering or collapsing if hit. However, neither system gives much negative feedback beyond a noisy alarm or critique by an instructor.

For many decades competency with firearms was determined by demonstrating accuracy from a static stance with the only variable being the distance to a paper target.

Although useful for showing basic firearm competency, it did not provide any simulated stress of dealing with reactionary feedback in a shoot/don’t shoot decisionmaking situation.

Without a doubt, the value of shooting at paper bull’seyes or silhouettes on a conventional range is that it helps shooters verify their firearm’s accuracy, reliability and enhances shooters’ proficiency by repetition of correct fundamentals. There is nothing better to make a shooter comfortable with their firearm than by practicing a consistent sight picture and the repeated proper hold so that your muscle memory will perform when needed. But this kind of training does not exercise a shooter’s critical gun-fighting skills to continually evaluate and respond to what is happening around them, challenge their situational awareness or make deadly force decisions rapidly and correctly. Most people revert back to their training when under stress and will perform what they have practiced. If a lot of a shooter’s training was conducted

on a static range, then behaviors such as not seeking cover, administrative reloading and not maneuvering to lessen the threat will be a struggle in a life-or-death situation.

ERICK GONZALEZ, with 30 years of military and lawenforcement experience, notes that “reality-based scenario training is the answer!”

“RBST is designed to force students to make decisions under stress, and then regardless of right or wrong, good or bad, discuss those decisions and the actions afterwards during an honest critique. It is much better to do that during a scenario, to learn by doing and make your mistakes in a training environment than fail when it is real!” he says.

Gonzalez went on to talk about why he decided that range-based training did not sufficiently prepare him to prevail in a gunfight: “Right after Hurricane Andrew there was widespread lawlessness, almost anarchy in Miami. As we were pulling up to the scene of an active shooter, my seasoned partner told me matter-of-factly that we would be

“STAYING IN THE FIGHT AND PUTTING THE BAD GUY DOWN IS THE PRIORITY”

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in a shooting. Sure enough, the situation ended up being my first gunfight.”

“Almost immediately I realized my standard police department training did not completely prepare me for

americanshootingjournal.com 59

what I was experiencing; I was trained on maintaining a sight picture and focusing on the front sight, but I couldn’t help but keep my attention on the shooter! Then I remembered my military training, when an old E9 told me to keep my pistol slide centered on the middle of the target, which I did and won the fight. In addition it seemed that the event took forever, at least ten minutes, while in actuality the fight was over in seconds,” he recalls.

AFTER SURVIVING HIS FIRST SHOOTING Gonzalez questioned himself and his actions: “Why couldn’t I concentrate on my front sight, or even hear the person firing next to me, or why the shooting seemed to be in slow motion? That’s when I learned about time dilation and the effect of threat-based tunnel vision, and I realized that I had been taught how to shoot at paper but not how to prevail in a gunfight!”

Gonzalez continued to reflect on how that event led him to improve defensive gun fighting for citizens and law enforcement. “I realized that training in a realThe student’s decision to shoot or not are reviewed during the very important followworld environment, up critique where every action taken by the against opposing forces defensive shooter is discussed. with the same level of performance or better, would provide our officers with a unique perspective, which allowed for the development and improvement of tactical performance. After witnessing several good, law-abiding individuals in legal troubles due to poor and or inadequate training, I decided to start EMG Training & Consulting, Inc., and bring the many benefits of RBST to legal gun owners.”

TO ACHIEVE THE DESIRED realism and high level of knowledge retention, both the role players and students use lesslethal impact weapons and ammunition to provide kinetic feedback. Airsoft pistols (for role players) and plastic pellet projecting weapons (for the students) are used, allowing a complete 360-degree experience. The primer-powered pellets are accurate out to common gunfighting distances, and leave behind a splatter of paint to identify where the pellet hit. While impacting with a respectable force, the plastic pellets do not penetrate but reliably cycle the firearm and can be loaded and carried just like duty ammo. The plastic pellet training rounds are available in various major service pistol and rifle calibers, and usually can convert a

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American Shooting Journal // March 2016

firearm by simply exchanging the slide, bolt and magazine.

Once converted, the training firearms can no longer chamber regular ball ammo, but can be reverted at will.

That means that a user of a common service pistol can use the exact same model for training so that their sight picture, trigger control, recoil management and even reloading muscle memory can be enhanced instead of confused with a different system This training also emphasizes the need for the student to respond to hostile fire, even when one of the shots from a bad guy connects. When a student feels an impact, they learn not to look at the nearest coach, observer or trainer and ask, “Am I dead?” Why? Because when it is for real, staying in the fight and putting the bad guy down is the priority, while stopping midfight to focus on if and where you were shot might have deadly consequences.

Recently in Ohio, a shooter emerged from a vehicle during a routine traffic stop firing an AK-type rifle at the two

deputies who were in the unit parked behind him. During the brief exchange, one officer was hit in an extremity that was undoubtedly painful but not an incapacitating or fatal wound. The other officer immediately dropped out of the fight to concentrate on his individual trauma and took no further defensive actions, although the assailant was still actively shooting, eventually expending 37 7.62x39mm rounds towards the two officers. The officer who had sustained some minor injuries did not concentrate on his wounds but continued to engage the shooter with aimed pistol fire, fatally wounding him, which ended the rampage.

The second officer was the perfect example of staying in the fight, even while bloodied, until the threat was neutralized.

americanshootingjournal.com 61

That is the desired result of RBST. Gonzalez spoke about the EMG training curricula.

“Our RBST is a complete training methodology. It begins by familiarizing the student with their specific defensive equipment, which includes their handgun, holster, gear and choice of outerwear. Then the student is walked through the dynamics involving use-of-force in a selfdefense situation, emphasizing that just the display, let alone use of deadly force will most assuredly have legal consequences.” Gonzalez continued: “The student then performs live-fire drills designed to test their gear and

Motivated role players ensure that each student is provided a realistic situation that may start out innocently, and may or may not escalate into a deadly force issue.

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equipment, and once the student feels comfortable, he or she is introduced to real-world scenarios.”

THE USE OF APPROPRIATE and enthusiastic role players ensure that every interaction is responsive to the performance of the student, and that there is no preconditioning, so the student will not have any idea what their desired response will be before a scenario begins. Gonzalez has a portable, multi-room shoot house that he uses for on-site training that provides defensive shooters a real-world experience

“THE SCENARIOS ARE EXCEEDINGLY REALISTIC” of being confronted with various decision-making, shoot/ don’t shoot situations. Gonzalez further explained: “The scenarios are exceedingly realistic because the role players might or might not threaten or pose a deadly threat but just be annoying or intrusive. That is to ensure that a CCW holder will not be preconditioned to solve every problem by using a firearm.” Just as with every kind of simulator training, the post-scenario discussion is key for a successful training experience. Gonzalez noted, “The student’s response and actions are discussed during the follow-up critique so they can justify and explain their actions. Why did you shoot the guy who approached you shouting with

americanshootingjournal.com 63

SIMUNITION TRAINING AMMUNITION Simunition training ammunition is designed to be used with a standard sidearm, carbine or rifle to ensure retention of muscle memory and to enhance prior training and learned skills. The six-color FX marking cartridges are reduced-energy, nonlethal rounds that leave a detergent-based, water-soluble color-marking compound. The visible impacts allow accurate assessment of simulated lethality. The cartridges are available in .38 caliber and 9mm, and feature tactical accuracy up to 25 feet (7.6 meters).

The 5.56mm is tactically accurate with ball cartridges to 100 feet (30 meters). No special ballistic facilities are required. The FX cartridges can be used in most service weapons just like regular ammo so that reloading, misfires and jams can be addressed just like a live-fire situation or if a weapon goes down in a firefight. In addition, the Simunition technology will not chamber live ammo because of purposeful differences in headspacing and an offset firing pin. Each round uses primers only for power (no powder), has no plastic contact with the bore, cycles reliably with blow-back action and has an average point of impact within a 2-inch spread at 20 to 25 yards. –AD

only a cell phone in their hand? Why didn’t you engage the guy with a knife 10 feet away who kept yelling threats and wouldn’t heed your commands to stop? Why didn’t you seek cover that was just 2 feet away? Every student is evaluated during the scenario for performance under stress, the ability

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American Shooting Journal // March 2016

to maintain his or her situational awareness, their use of effective communication skills, and finally demonstrate the ability to perceive and identify threats and follow through by applying the appropriate level of force.” Gonzalez went on to discuss what his classes have shown him. “During our courses of instruction, I have had the opportunity to work with individuals of varying levels of training and experience.

Some of the students with extensive range experience seem to struggle with the most basic of dynamic engagements.

One of the most common issues I see is the inability to effectively draw the handgun from concealment once a role player is introduced into the drill. I’ve observed students stay flat-footed in front of the role player as they exchange fire just a few feet away from cover. That may be an unintended consequence of shooting thousands of rounds on ranges where hits count but movement is not allowed!”

Gonzalez and his EMG Training cadre teaches combat gun fighting in threat-based controlled scenarios so that when shooters revert back to their training it will save their life, not respond like they are squared on a motionless, harmless silhouette. Instead, they learn to move and seek cover, while effectively placing rounds on target in response to real-world, life-threatening situations that have become all too common place where we live, work and play. ASJ Editor’s note: For more on Erick Gonzalez and EMG Training & Consulting, you can visit them at emgtrainingconsulting.com

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BEHIND THE BADGE

THE FINDER: BOB CAMERON

SAR Veteran, Bloodhound Trainer Has Spent A Lifetime Helping Locate The he Los Lost STORY BY TROY TAYSOM • PHOTOGRAPHS PROVIDED BY BOB CAMERON

“

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all this guy! He’s lived an incredible life and has amazing stories,” my editor told me. So, I called Bob Cameron, a veteran of the US Air Force, an expert bloodhound trainer and handler, an expert witness for tracking, a legend in searchand-rescue (SAR) and the inventor of the most important $5 tool you will ever own. But first, to understand Cameron you have to understand bloodhounds and life in the rugged states of Montana and Idaho.

Cameron’s first experience with a missing-persons

search came when he was a young teenager in the mountains of northern California’s Alameda County. The local sheriff’s deputies were looking for a couplee of missing girls, and Cameron volunteered Cameron was an Idaho County, Idaho, to help. Sixty years deputy sheriff, but worked with law enforcement agencies all over the later, he is still actively country that needed his expertise. participating in searches, although according to him, “I don’t do the technical climbing anymore.” For all of those years, the only time Cameron wasn’t searching for people was during the three years (1951-54) he spent in the Air Force, stationed at Mather Air Force Base in Rancho Cordova, Calif. Like many men of his generation, he lied about his age – enlisting at age 16. He was part of the aircraft rescue and air police. His job was two-fold: respond to flight-line crashes and provide security for the base.

AFTER HIS TIME IN THE AIR FORCE, Cameron moved to the wilds of Montana. He became active with SAR at his local sheriff’s office, and his involvement with bloodhounds happened by accident – literally. Ralph McKenzie, Cameron’s best friend, had been working SAR in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He was hurt while on duty and could no longer care for a SAR bloodhound. He called Cameron and said, “I have a surprise for you.” That surprise was three-year-old Radar – Cameron’s soon-to-be best friend and partner in crime.

Bob Cameron has spent most of his life working with and for law enforcement departments, and is considered an expert in search and rescue and bloodhound capabilities.

BLOODHOUNDS HAVE an incredible sense of smell combined with a natural predilection to track. They have a long-term memory for scents, and can deftly distinguish one from another. According to Cameron, “Every sheriff’s office in this country should have a bloodhound for their SAR teams.”

We humans slough off 10,000 body cells a second. When we get excited, or scared, that number can jump to 100,000.

The cells are distinct in their smell. You and I can’t smell them, but bloodhounds can and use them to track. They follow the scent of the cells. Most of the time the handler americanshootingjournal.com 69

BEHIND THE BADGE cabin was green with moss, and inside they found mattresses uses what is called a scent article – a shirt, sock, pants, stacked on top of each other also covered in moss – except bed sheets or anything that the target person has come in for the very top one, which had been wiped off. Radar kept contact with will work. Once the dog has recognized and alerting to a ladder that accessed the attic. In the attic they imprinted the scent, the hunt is on. found the little girl’s Handlers don’t always have a scent article for nightgown. the hound, so they have a unique talent called Radar found this man who had been lost for two days.

Radar continued to drop-scent tracking. The dog is allowed to smell track from the cabin everyone present and then tracks the smell of the to the Clearwater person who is no longer present. It’s the dog’s River 3 miles away. process-of-elimination skill. Amazing!

At the river Radar began tracking down AS ONE CAN IMAGINE, SAR work can be very rewarding. a dirt road, eventually Reuniting missing loved ones, catching criminals losing the scent. and rescuing stranded people bring these workers After returning to the true satisfaction. However, not all searches have bank, Cameron was happy endings. Sometimes the work consists of speaking with other Radar was an unexpected addition to searchers when Radar Cameron’s life and changed it forever. took off running down the river’s edge.

The Clearwater was moving fairly quickly, so there was no way that the little girl could still be in the river – not after this long. But Cameron trusted his dog and asked the others if they had a boat or raft. Cameron and a couple of the men floated down the river in an inflatable raft until they came to a slow-moving eddy. They looked around and couldn’t body recovery and sometimes that body is of a child. see anything. As Jennifer, a two-year-old girl out of Grangeville, they were preparing Idaho, was kidnapped from her bed on October 31, to leave, Cameron 1979. The county sheriff spent several days looking looked straight down, for the girl with no luck. They called Cameron and in about 5 feet and asked him to come and assist with the search. of water he could see At the time Cameron lived in Hamilton, Mont., the shape of a tiny and worked as a deputy sheriff for Idaho County, child. They’d found Idaho. Cameron was understandably upset when Jennifer. Cameron he found out that the girl had been missing for a Deputy Bob Herring and his bloodhound Montana retrieved her mossweek. Three suspects voluntarily agreed to take featured in 1985 The Sheriff’s Review in Fresno, Calif. covered body and polygraph tests. Two came to the office, but the made history as third fled before testing. the first expert witness allowed to present bloodhound The third, Robert Howerton, became the prime suspect, evidence in a trial in Idaho. Howerton confessed to and using his T-shirt and a piece of little Jennifer’s bedding, the kidnapping and was sent to jail, thanks mostly to Cameron and Radar began their search. The dog tracked Cameron and Radar having found the child’s body. through a wooded marsh area to an old trapper’s cabin. The 70

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BEHIND THE BADGE Bob Cameron (in cowboy hat) with a boy and his Doberman who were lost for five days in eastern Idaho and eventually found, thanks to bloodhound Radar.

AS CAMERON BEGAN TO UNDERSTAND the incredible benefits of bloodhounds, he decided to start breeding these amazing dogs. His passion was so powerful that he gave a bloodhound to any law-enforcement agency or SAR team that wanted one, and all they would have to pay for was the transportation of getting the dog there – that’s it.

In the mid-1980s, he got a call from Bob Herring, a young deputy in Fresno, Calif. Deputy Herring wanted a dog, but

Radar and Cameron found the remains of a kidnapped two-year-old girl in the Clearwater River, in the southern panhandle of Idaho.

his sheriff wouldn’t allow it. Cameron wasn’t going to allow this to happen, so he pulled some strings and the deputy got his dog. The city of Fresno made a big deal of the dog coming onboard, and had all of the local press there to greet the bloodhound as he came off the plane. They named the dog Montana.

Herring and Montana made quite the pair, and went on to help locate dozens of victims during the Sanger, Calif.,

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BEHIND THE BADGE earthquake even while they were still in training.

These two also caught a pair of thieves while traveling home from training in the mountains.

Using the drop-scent technique, Montana was able to smell the store owners, then tracked the two thieves a couple of miles down the road, where Herring found them drinking their stolen beer.

Herring, now retired, still trains officers on the use of bloodhounds.

EVEN WHILE CAMERON was raising dogs he was actively being called out on searches. He tells of a time when he and his partner John Michaels of Hamilton, Mont., were called to find a missing airman from Malmstrom Air Force base in Great Falls, Mont. Within 42 minutes of arriving on scene and getting a scent article, they and Radar found the wanderer. Had the lost airman gone any further, he would have ended up in lost in the wilderness and more than likely have died. The airman’s friends were amazed at how fast and physically fit Cameron and Michaels were. They were thrown off guard because the men were dressed in many layers, giving the appearance of being overweight rubes. When one of the

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Idaho County, Idaho, was very proud to have Radar as one of its citizens.

BEHIND THE BADGE airmen asked how they had gone straight up the mountain in the snow and found the man in 42 minutes, Michaels replied, “We just sit in the bar and drink beer until they call us.” No further explanation was given as they packed up and went home grinning.

IN THE 1980S a wealthy family bought a summer ranch next to the Salmon River in Idaho. The father raised Doberman pinschers and one pup was born with floppy ears, hence not worth selling, but his nine-year-old son wanted to keep it. The dad allowed it, and one summer day the boy and his dog wandered off and got lost in some of the most treacherous country in central Idaho. The sheriff called Cameron and asked for his help. Cameron and the team searched for the little boy, who by this time had been missing for five days. The terrain was steep and dropped almost vertically down to the Salmon, which is also known as “The river of no return.”

Finally, when they had almost given up hope, Cameron stood on a point overlooking the river and called the boy’s name as loudly as he could.

A faint reply – “I’m down here” – led to the boy

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BEHIND THE BADGE and his dog being reunited with his family. The father, a striking fellow standing well over 6 feet tall, was overcome with emotion. He offered Cameron a handmade walnut box.

Inside was a rare S&W .357 revolver. Cameron explained that he could not accept the gift. After much discussion and negotiation – including a threat to throw the revolver in the river if it wasn’t accepted – Cameron took the gun on the condition he be allowed to raffle it off to raise money for a new SAR building.

CAMERON NO LONGER conducts technical searches, but he remains dedicated to people who might go missing, and has invented a must-have tool for anyone who goes outdoors. It’s a whistle, but not just any whistle. It’s a whistle that is capable of 120 decibels, which is the equivalent of a rock concert or a chainsaw 3 feet away.

This whistle has been adopted by the Coast Guard, Forest Service, National Parks Service, Army Corps of Engineers and Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), to name a few. The slogan for his company, named Whistles for Life, is “If You Can be Heard – You Can be Rescued!”

Blowing a whistle is much easier than screaming, and can be sustained for much longer periods. This whistle also makes a great personal-defense item. I blew one and it seriously attracts attention. The whistles come in bright

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colors and are lightweight, as well as flat, making them easy to find and carry. Cameron is also a charter member, patron member and golden eagle with the National Rifle Association. Whether it is searching for lost university students, backpackers in the mountains of Idaho and Montana, armed robbers or kidnapped children, Cameron has been there to help locate them.

I SPOKE WITH CAMERON for more than two hours, and it was some of the best time I’ve spent in my life. He is one of a kind. I told him that my son is studying recreation management, and is interested in doing SAR. Cameron immediately asked for my son’s name and told me to have him call. Bob’s knowledge of search techniques and bloodhounds is immense, but his heart is even bigger.

His life and experiences could easily fill a book, and it’s a book that needs to be written before his knowledge is lost forever.

In a world that often seems lost, it is thanks to people like Cameron and his partner Radar who are the light at the end of the tunnel. ASJ Editor’s note: If you are interested in more information about Whistles for Life, you can visit them at whistlesforlifellc.com.

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The American Shooting Journal and American Tactical salute all members of the Armed Forces who have served, fought and currently fight to protect our nation’s freedoms.

WE THANK YOU!

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TERRY DALTON Terry Dalton has been taking photos since the age of eight, and started with landscapes. Once his daughter Cheyenne started competing in shooting sports, he began photographing her matches, and refocused his interest. Within Terry’s portfolio, you can find landscapes, product imagery – licensed by numerous industry companies – and action shots.

His latest series features the process American farmers endure bringing food to our nation’s table.

Terry lives on a 1,400-acre farm in Missouri with his wife, three children and Dachshund puppy.

You can find more of Terry’s work at FastFivePhotography.com or on Facebook at Fast Five Photography.

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ADULTS!

STAND DOWN,

THE KIDS GOT THIS

Ohio’s Moriah Combs Is Thankful For Her Supportive Shooting Community

Moriah Combs is a cake decorator, photographer, high school senior and avid shooter.

STORY BY MORIAH COMBS • PHOTOGRAPHS BY AMY COMBS

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ast year, the American Shooting Journal featured a young lady named Moriah Katherine Combs in our July issue, introducing her as one of the new ambassadors of the shooting sports. Moriah is a charter member of Youth Shooters of America, former National 4-H Shooting Sports teen ambassador and competitor in rifle, shotgun and pistol classes. We asked her to contribute her own story in her own words. –The editor

From 2014 to 2015, Moriah was nominated as the 4-H Shooting Sports Teen Ambassador, representing and inspiring young shooters nationwide.

have also started to enjoy trap shooting, and this spring I plan on shooting in multiple competitions.

Between 2014 and 2015, I had the privilege of being the National 4-H Shooting Sports Teen Ambassador, and traveled around the US. I was invited to attend the 2015 SHOT Show in Las Vegas and presented thank-you plaques to the companies that sponsored the Ohio Shooting

Moriah’s most recent passion is mastering her shotgun in clay and trap shooting.

THE 4-H CLUB IS A YOUTH-DEVELOPMENT program that teaches leadership, interviewing skills and responsibility. I spent eight years shooting with 4-H Shooting Sports, and it has taught me how to properly hold a gun, understand gun safety and responsibility, how to handle a misfire and how to clean a rifle and shotgun, among so much more. I took six years of rifle courses, which was mostly just shooting at bull’s-eyes on paper targets or eggs, golf balls on a wire, bowling pins and playing cards. I held the title of grand champion during all six years. Over the past two years, I started competing in clay shooting and am enjoying mastering my shotgun. We always shoot straight and occasionally play back-up.

I recently started shooting in Scholastic Pistol Program challenges, and I took first place, becoming an Ohio state champion in the senior rimfire division with my team. I americanshootingjournal.com 83

Education Camp, and was honored to represent the 3,000 youth members of the 4-H shooting sports in Ohio. I went to Nashville, Tenn., for a photo shoot with Youth Shooters of America, attended the 4-H Shooting Sports National Championship in Grand Island, Neb., and I got to give out ribbons at the Ohio State Fair for Natural Resources Day.

All of the shooting sports activities helped Moriah build her confidence and leadership skills.

I’VE MET A LOT of people who are an inspiration to me, folks such as Jarrad Markel, Tom Johnston, Staci Moore, Ryan Bronson, Bob Hodgkins, Troy Landry, Frank Steed, Bob Ladwick, Phil Hanes, Tina Howser and Larry Harris. All of these men and women have taught me so much, including how to run shows, teach others, network and collaborate. These people are a huge part of my life, and have helped me mature into the young lady I am today.

This little power shooter is a perfect example of today’s youth who will soon represent the face of American gun owners. It is our job to support them and let them take aim.

Many of these experiences have helped me grow. I am no longer afriad to talk in front of crowds with hundreds of people, and I now take a leadership roles in activities.

I’ve gained so much thanks to shooting sports and have developed a special love for it all.

ALONG WITH MY shooting activities, involvement in 4-H and traveling, I own two businesses: photography and cake decorating. I am in a show choir, attend church and am currently a high school senior graduating this May at the age of 17.

That is my story!

I love sharing with people and hope to inspire others. ASJ Editor’s note: If you would like to know more about Moriah Combs, you can follow her Facebook page at facebook. com/moriah-combs.

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RANGE SPOTLIGHT

The Range 702 is Las Vegas’ biggest and most advanced shooting range. Not only are they over-the-top, they are a customer-service machine that includes personal chauffeur service to and from the range.

HOW VEGAS DOES A SHOOTING RANGE With Multiple Shooting Experiences, Machine guns, VIP Lounge, The Range 702 Goes All Out STORY BY DANIELLE BRETEAU • PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF DAWN ZLOTEK

A

lmost everyone has been to Las Vegas, and if you have not, there is an excellent chance you will some day. Las Vegas attracts millions of people each year, some willingly, some not and some subject to business conferences that they must attend.

Wherever you sit on this continuum, if you are shooter or even if you’re not, everyone – including visiting aliens – should stop by The Range 702. “Why?” You ask. What makes this range different from the one down the street? Read on.

my request for a martini was not fulfilled. This level of attention is not commonly found in many places, and gun ranges are no exception. Walking among the displays, guns and gear, they offered anything and everything I might have needed for shooting if I had, by chance, left my gear behind, which I would never admit to here. Anyway, one of the standard services they offer is a private chauffeur to and from the range for no fee at all. How is that for dedicated customer service?

THE RANGE 702 is the largest indoor shooting range in Las Vegas, and we all know that everything in Vegas is big … or is that Texas? It doesn’t matter. Everything in this town is epic, and this range is no exception. The owners have created a place that truly delivers the ultimate shooting experience.

When I first walked in, I stepped into a vast, clean open pro shop, complete with a concierge who quickly addressed my needs. Everyone who worked there said “Hello” as they walked by and made sure I was taken care of – although

SHOOTING PACKAGES This over-the-top range offers 16 lanes and four specific VIP lanes, an on-site gunsmith, and many other amenities, but the thing many people flock here for is the heart-pumping action this team puts together. These packages are what The Range 702 calls shooting experiences, and they boast titles such as Area 51, Femme Fatale – not sure what is involved here – Adrenaline Rush and Judgment Day, to name a few.

The lanes and space are state-of-the-art, with reverse americanshootingjournal.com 87

RANGE SPOTLIGHT airow in brightly lit, clean and open shooting ranges that ensure shooters breathe in comfort, and don’t walk out smelling like they have just been to war – come to think of it, maybe that is not a good thing.

VIP LOUNGE For the discerning shooter, their VIP lounge deďŹ nitely caters to the non-masses by offering a private hostess, bar, restaurant, LCD TVs and pool table. These high rollers even have their own private restroom facilities. The VIP route is literally the ticket to an unforgettable pampered shooting experience.

This area includes: • Four private 25-yard lanes; • Leather couches; • Kitchenette with complimentary soft drinks; • Viewing window from their suite into the range; • Did we mention the private bathroom?

All in all, not a bad setup.

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COURSES No range would be worth its weight in gunpowder if it didn’t offer a standard regime of courses for new and expert shooters alike. Courses such as concealed weapons permit classes, intro to handguns, women-only courses, even personal one-on-one instruction is available. These are just a few of the options this range offers.

This range prides itself on operating a clean, open, organized and friendly range.

americanshootingjournal.com 89

RANGE SPOTLIGHT MEMBERSHIPS There are many options for memberships, although you do not need to be a member to shoot there, and they even offer special law-enforcement and military rates. We at the American Shooting Journal appreciate anyone who supports our brothers in blue and military ranks. Other memberships include rates for individuals, family, family

plus, corporate rates and as we mentioned earlier, the VIP membership for those who need their own special place to pee.

Memberships include: unlimited use of shooting range; priority placement on range; The Range 702 T-shirt; free use of eye and ear protection; discounts on select merchandise; free machine-gun rental on your birthday; ďŹ ve guest passes per year; discounts on training courses; The VIP lounge offers its own private entrance, a hostess, personal range security one free FFL transfer; officer, big-screen TVs, bar, pool table and private bathrooms. shooting league discounts; two free handgun rentals; and one free gun breakdown and cleaning, among a few other beneďŹ ts.

These services alone make the low monthly fee worthwhile.

Speaking of fees, they vary, so I would suggest you check out their website at TheRange702.com. ASJ

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POACHERS

E R A W BE

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY TIM E. HOVEY

A Team Effort With The California Department Of Fish And Wildlife

T

he California Department of Fish and Wildlife enforcement division has a limited number of wardens available to cover the entire state. There are approximately 400 fish and wildlife officers responsible for protecting our natural resources from poachers. Considering that there are over three million sportsmen in California and a statewide population of 38.8 milllion, wardens are definitely outnumbered in maintaining order in the outside world.

To assist in their efforts, enforcement sometimes rely on the sportsmen themselves to report fish and wildlife violations through the CalTip program. Hunters and fishermen who witness crimes against the resource can call the CalTip hotline and report the violation anonymously.

“I TAKE GREAT OFFENSE TO THOSE WHO BREAK THE RULES” Having enjoyed the outdoors my entire life, I take great offense to those who break the rules. Being a biologist, I understand the reasoning behind seasons, size and take limits of our consumptive resources. These guidelines are established through sound science, and are applied to our hunting and fishing resources to provide a sustainable yield of that resource.

Poachers don’t follow the rules, and they don’t care about resources.

Poachers are a huge detriment to the resources that are carefully tracked and governed. With limited enforcement resources, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife relies on fellow sportsmen to report any illegal activity.

A FEW YEARS BACK I decided to pick up a deer tag down in San Diego County, very near my office at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. My plan was to wake early, hunt deer for an hour or two before work and then

head straight into the office. I mentioned my plan to another biologist, Jason Price, and he asked if he could tag along (no pun intended).

Early the next morning I met Jason at the parking lot americanshootingjournal.com 97

near the hunting area. We hiked in about a mile and started glassing just as the sun came up. We were late in the season and it didn’t seem like much was moving. After an hour of not seeing any deer, we were discussing our next move when we heard a single shot from the larger hunting area across the road. We had an hour left to hunt, and decided to

of oak trees. I had hunted this area the year before, and the small oak islands often held deer.

WE HAD BEEN GLASSING for a short time when I spotted movement under an oak tree about 200 yards out. A small buck stumbled out of the brush, dragging his back legs. He

Tim Hovey (right), here with his friend Jason Price and two feral swine they killed, is an environmental scientist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and an avid hunter who understands and respects the rules protecting our natural resources.

would drag himself a few feet and then fall over. I could see a back wound that had clearly damaged the spine. I also noticed that the young buck was a spike, an illegal age class to harvest during California’s deer season.

We made our way over to the young buck. He made several feeble attempts to escape, but the gaping wound had clearly severed the spine. He pulled himself up and then collapsed. To end his suffering, Jason dispatched the deer.

From what we deduced, the hunter we had seen leaving the area was probably responsible for shooting the illegal buck. Since we had finished the job, we knew that our hunt was over. We headed back to the truck and called the local warden to report the incident.

Walking back to our vehicle, we noticed that the other vehicle was still there, and the hunter was poking around the bed of his truck. We knew he was waiting for us to leave so he could go look for his illegal buck. I called the state dispatch and was patched through to Warden Sean Pirttle, the enforcement officer for the area. He was based out of our office and we had worked together on a few projects.

Pirttle came on the line, and I told him we were still on scene with the other vehicle. While I was on the phone I made sure I was out of sight of the other hunter. Pirttle

HE [THE DEER] WOULD DRAG HIMSELF A FEW FEET AND THEN FALL OVER head over to the larger parcel and finish out our morning.

We parked off the main road, several car lengths in front of another vehicle. We grabbed our gear and walked into the hunting area. As we crossed a walk-in gate, I spotted another hunter walking out of the area towards the other vehicle. Jason and I quietly hiked in and started glassing.

The area was a huge open field dotted with several groups

IT’S ALL IN THE NUMBERS According to the federal Bureau Of Labor Statistics, there were only 5,820 fish and wildlife officers throughout the US in 2014.

Almost all of these wardens are employed by their respective states, and some states do not have game-warden positions at all.

There are several states that place a great deal of value in their game wardens, which is reflected in their numbers. While still not adequate to address the constant need, Texas boasts 450, Georgia 390, New York and California each have 390 and North Carolina has 280.

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mentioned that he was about five minutes out and would be there shortly.

While we waited, Jason and I acted like we were packing up to leave. Since the hunter had remained there the entire time, I felt he must have known that the buck he shot was illegal or he would have dragged it out already.

A SHORT TIME LATER, a green warden truck pulled up between our two vehicles and Pirttle got out. This I expected. What I didn’t expect was the passenger side door opening up and two federal wardens getting out. Pirttle had been giving them a tour of the state wildlife areas when dispatch had contacted him about the illegally shot deer. I remember thinking that today was not a good day to be a poacher.

The two wardens walked to the other truck and Pirttle approached our vehicle. He smiled and winked as he got close. We reached into our wallets and handed him our licenses. Checking us as well made it appear that Pirttle had just happened upon the situation.

He asked us what had happened and what we saw. We told him the story. After a brief discussion, he mentioned that he may want us to accompany them out to the area.

After a few minutes, the wardens and the hunter started walking across the road to the hunting area. Pirttle looked to me and motioned us over. I still had my rifle shouldered and for a second I thought about bringing it with me, but I left it in the truck instead. The six of us hiked a short distance, led by the other hunter. He stopped at one of the oak groups and pointed towards another set of trees 200 yards out. I could hear him explain that he took a shot at a buck over by the distant trees. The area he was suggesting was over 400 yards from where we had found the crippled buck, and in the opposite direction.

Pirttle glanced my way as the hunter started talking

This little spike was not only shot illegally, the poacher had made a bad shot, crippling it by severing its spine. The poacher left the deer wounded but alive, and it was found walking around dragging its hindquarters behind him. A witness to the wildlife crime humanely dispatched the suffering animal.

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In California, as in many states, hunters can anonymously report crimes against resources. In California, this is called the CalTip hotline.

with the wardens. I subtly shook my head indicating that the suspect was lying. I also nodded my head back towards where the deer was really located. Pirttle nodded and reengaged with the hunter.

WITHIN MINUTES THE GROUP REVERSED course and was headed back towards the true location. We were approaching the oak grove where we saw the deer when Pirttle grabbed my arm. I looked over and he was pointing to a legal buck walking 90 yards from where we stood. The buck was a nice 3X3 and it had no idea we were there. Pirttle leaned in and whispered, “You should have brought your rifle.”

We finally reached the base of the grove, and the hunter admitted that he may have taken a shot at a buck in this area. I let Sean know that he was telling the truth. Up on the hill, we located blood and a pretty noticeable drag mark leading to where the dead deer lay.

The hunter finally admitted that he had shot at a buck in this area and couldn’t find it. He also admitted that he had no idea if it was a legal buck or not.

Pirttle escorted him back to his truck, issued him a citation and sent him on his way. We helped Pirttle load up the small buck as evidence. He thanked us, gave us a ride to our truck and drove off.

Before Jason and I headed back, we made plans to hunt the area the next morning. I got behind the wheel to head to work and thought about the big buck we had seen. I closed my eyes and realized I should have taken my rifle. ASJ

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Part I of III - Invention To Explosion

Black powder has a long history, and not all powder is created equal. It comes in an array of compositions and coarse ratings, such as the grains shown here, which are categorized as: (left to right) FFFFG L, FFFG L, FFG and FG R. These ratings help identify how the powder should be used.

americanshootingjournal.com 105

Black powder today is just that - black. But powders from centuries ago used to be gray and much weaker. Today, it is common to find powders that include a mixture of saltpeter, charcoal and sulphur.

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY BOB SHELL

One big difference between black powder and smokeless or substitute powder is that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms considers it an explosive. Smokeless powders are only categorized as propellants, requiring much less effort to store and sell.

I

t is believed that the Chinese have been using black powder for about a thousand years, and they are generally credited with its invention. After starting off with fireworks, around 700 years ago someone came up with the idea that if you put some black powder in a tube with a rock, it would expel the rock out at a sufficient velocity to make a weapon.

Another early idea was to use reinforced bamboo to shoot arrows and darts. No one knows who thought of this first, but this did indeed change the world. The general consensus is the Chinese and Arabs were among the earliest to use guns in war.

The guns of the 13th century bore little resemblance to today’s weapons, but the black-powder formula is essentially the same as it was then, although the older powders were weaker and gray in color. One of the few improvements included making powder with water so it could be made into a cakelike compound. That seemed to make it more reliable and safer. A popular formula today is 75 percent saltpeter, 15 percent charcoal and 10 percent sulfur. There are and have been other formulas used throughout the centuries, and as time went on, they improved the formula and strength. Even today, powders are better than just a few years ago.

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS of this ancient propellant?

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First, it is considered an explosive as opposed to a propellant like smokeless powders and black-powder substitutes.

This means that it is highly regulated and harder to buy. If you want to sell black powder, you have to obtain a special license issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE or ATF), and you must have special storage containers. Many gun stores don’t want to be

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Black-powder cartridges are made for all sorts of firearms.

These are for the (left to right) .50-70, .50-90 and .50-140.

bothered with these burdensome regulations, so they just sell the substitutes. I imagine there are areas where it may be prohibited all together. Because of this, many muzzleloading fans use a substitute such as Pyrodex, Cleanshot or Blackhorn 209. These substitutes work well; however, for someone who is a stickler for the authentic, they just don’t cut the mustard.

BLACK POWDER IS MESSY, so some shooters avoid it rather than learn to work with it. That is a shame because black powder is capable of producing excellent accuracy, and in the 1880s, black-powder rifles produced results that are respectable even by today’s standards. In 200-yard rifle matches, it wasn’t uncommon to have a competitor shoot a 10-shot 2-inch group.

I have done a lot of chronographing, and my accuracy with these loads has generally been excellent with both muzzle-loading and cartridge firearms. As a sidenote, when chronographing black powder, you usually have to stand at least 5 feet further away from the start screen, because the smoke will obscure it and prevent you from getting a reading. This is especially true with the larger calibers.

WHEN GETTING INTO BLACK POWDER there are a few things that you need to be aware of. First of all, as we mentioned, it’s explosive and you need to keep it away from open flames or sparks; static electricity can even cause a detonation. It will ignite with very little encouragement, so you need to keep that in mind.

Always use nonsparking and nonstatic electricity devices when using it.

Also, I shouldn’t have to say this, but never ever attempt to grind black powder to make it finer. This will cause an explosion and serious injuries to anyone in the area. From time to time people have made the six o’clock news attempting such a stunt. If you are careful, it is perfectly safe and stable. Black powder isn’t for the careless or negligent, so if you are such a person, I urge you not to handle it. Many shooters, including myself, have handled it for many years without incident. Terrifying, I know.

There are four basic grades of black powder, and a special Swiss grade, each with their own purpose.

In an effort to maintain simplicity, here are the basics from the most coarse to fine:

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Half of the fun of black powder is the large amount of satisfying smoke it creates. If you are chronographing your shots, however, you might consider standing back 5 to 15 feet further than you would normally, so that the smoke does not obscure the screen.

• •

FG - A coarse powder suited for small cannons and large-caliber rifles from about .58 caliber on up.

1½ FG - A high-grade Swiss powder used for match shooting.

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• •

FFG - Used for muzzle-loading rifles from .45 to .58 caliber, especially with mini or maxi balls. This powder can also be used for patched round balls.

FFFG - Used for cap-and-ball revolvers, cartridge

KNIVES

KNIVES handguns and small-caliber rifles. This powder can also be used for blanks and shotgun loads.

•

FFFFG - This is a very fine powder whose primary use is priming a flintlock.

It can also be used for blanks and in small derringers.

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There is a little overlap in usage, but I wouldn’t deviate a great deal from these recommendations for best results. If you can’t get black powder or prefer not to, there are some great substitutes that are available.

Pyrodex is the oldest known substitute available, and performs very much like black powder. It is corrosive, just like black powder, and should be loaded and cleaned in the same manner. It offers FFG and FFFG grades as well as a cartridge grade that is made for loading obsolete calibers.

A noncorrosive powder is Cleanshot, which has been around for a few years.

It is a coarse powder, but works well and gives somewhat higher velocities than black powder and Pyrodex. Like the others, FFG and a FFFG grades are available. This powder leaves a white residue in the barrel and cases, but doesn’t seem to harm anything.

A new product on the market is Blackhorn 209. Originally designed for inline muzzleloaders, I have found that it works extremely well in cartridge firearms. It is clean burning and gives the most velocity per grain than any substitutes out there. It is mildly corrosive, so cleaning is necessary. I am currently experimenting with it in a conventional muzzle loader. My only setback so far is that it seems a bit harder to ignite. I mention these substitutes because in some areas they are more readily available.

One thing to keep in mind is never load smokeless powders in a blackpowder muzzle loader. This is a recipe for disaster. They simply are not designed for the stronger propellants.

We will see you for Part II, Loading And Shooting Black Powder, in April. ASJ

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CAN YOU SMELL

DINNER? Turkey Hunting In The PaciďŹ c Northwest And Beyond

Author Troy Rodakowski admires a nice gobbler he waited out and harvested as the bird approached.

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY TROY RODAKOWSKI

M

y light yelping and purrs were apparently sweet music to the old bird as he slowly moved closer.

It had taken him almost 45 minutes to close the distance to a hundred yards. I was shielded by brush and

brambles with only one small window to shoot from once he came into view. By this time I had heard several hens squawking back at me, and yet another gobbler had joined in as well. This was going to be interesting, and I wondered what might go wrong as everything seemed to be falling perfectly into place. Time seemed to creep by ever so slowly. americanshootingjournal.com 115

My heart seemed to be trying to pound a hole through my chest, and sweat rolled down my nose under my face mask. By now the birds were only about 80 yards away, and I could hear the big boy drumming. A couple of hens had come through the window warning that he was theirs, and I needed to back off. I stayed silent as they slowly fed by at about 35 yards.

A red bobbing head was moving through the brush, and I could see that he would be in range within a few seconds. “Gobble-obble-obble,” he sounded off behind the A pack-out strap just for turkeys is a priceless addition to any turkey hunter’s gear bag.

CALLING & DECOYS

As that story shows, one of the most important elements of turkey hunting is your call, and you need to not only know when to use it but when not to. This takes some practice and experience in the woods. Remember that if birds are talking back, that’s a good thing. Early on, birds are very receptive to many different calls. They will readily communicate with you, and be a little more eager to respond to your calls, which might cause you to make a few mistakes. I prefer the use of a mouth diaphragm, which gives me the ability to produce different tones while keeping my hands free. Box and slate calls are also very effective in many instances. Learning the basic yelp, cluck, purr and some cutting will increase your chances in the woods.

Sometimes it is necessary to use a hen and jake decoy to get birds to commit. Of course, other times I have seen birds spook when they see the faux fowl. Usually, this is the result of heavy hunting pressure, so make sure to assess

Notching a tag is always satisfying.

brush. I slid my finger to the safety, and clicked it into the firing position. Just a few more steps and he would be mine. Another gobble and some more drumming came from behind the brushy cover. My heart raced as he finally stepped into the opening. His head was bright red and he had a nice snood, but I couldn’t see his chest to verify beard length. But I had no time to wait as he was about to disappear, so I fired. My shot was true, and the bird was flopping about crazily as I jumped the creek and blew through the poison oak to step on his neck. Celebration and some sort of backwoods dancing/ gyration ensued as I took a deep breath and peered down at the beautiful bird.

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Try to catch lonely birds searching for hens, especially late in the season.

every situation before throwing the decoys out of your vest.

Try to use gentle calling when you are able to locate birds, especially during the late season. Patterning birds both early and late in the season is essential if you wish to increase your chances, so start now.

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WEATHER & GEAR

Just like anywhere else, the weather in the Pacific Northwest where I live and hunt is very unpredictable. In the spring, I’ve seen it change from sunny and 80 degrees to pouring down rain and hailing with a 25- to 30-degree temperature drop within a matter of 45 minutes. There have also been spring mornings where it has snowed depending on the We can all keep our fingers crossed for some advantageous hunting weather as many of us take to the woods this coming spring to bag our turkeys.

elevation. Indeed, whether you hunt Oregon, Ohio or Oklahoma, I strongly recommend warm- and cool-weather clothing because you simply never know. Also, when going on extended morning or afternoon hunts, I like to take an extra undershirt for added warmth, or even to replace one that is sweated out. Keeping your feet from sweating or getting too cold is also important. Make sure to take a light pair of hiking shoes, as well as a good insulated pair of boots. A bottle of bug spray will keep the mosquitoes and ticks off. They both can be very bad at times.

Don’t forget your headlamp for hiking to your morning set-up or out of the woods in the evening. In addition, I like to take a pair of pantyhose. “Why?” you ask. Well, they actually work really well to drop a nice mature bird into and keep the feathers tight to its body for the taxidermist. In addition, I have fallen in love with my turkey strap, which makes hauling a bird out so much nicer. Let’s not forget the blaze-orange vest to wear both entering and exiting the woods.

ACROSS THE NATION

Turkey populations remain strong throughout much of the US, and continue to expand with habitat enhancement projects through the National Wild Turkey Federation, 118

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other conservation organizations and state agencies.

“Mast crops were average last year, but this winter has been mild,” reports Mitchell Blake, NWTF regional biologist for the NWTF in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware. “The large snowfall that occurred in the South is a concern, but warm temperatures following the event is relieving. Good body conditions as a result of a decent food source and a moderate winter should result in good productivity this spring. Spring hunting will likely resemble last year’s opportunities.”

However, Blake adds, “Turkeys across Pennsylvania, for example, are gently declining, and the population is a little lower than last year. The trend has been happening since the high-water mark in the early 2000s. Quality hunting and abundant populations are very much still available across Pennsylvania, but more localized than a decade ago.”

Rick Horton, regional wildlife biologist for the NWTF in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, says, “It’s looking like a relatively mild winter, so birds should come through in good condition despite the recent snowfall. Turkey populations in the south-central portion of the Minnesota have been experiencing a downturn similar to that of north-central Missouri. The state has been trapping and transferring a few birds to east Texas as part of an effort to restore the population in that part of the country. That should have no impact on the Iowa population, and we are proud of the role Iowa has played in turkey restoration!”

“In addition, our Iowa chapter has focused largely on land acquisitions to provide hunting opportunities for state hunters,” Horton adds. “Since 1988 we have dedicated over $1.4 million raised in Iowa to purchasing over 26,500 acres!

Our funds have served as critical match for grants and Iowa

WASHINGTON The National Wild Turkey Federation in Washington, cooperating with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, is sponsoring brass pins for any hunter achieving the “Washington Slam.” These pins are in recognition of hunters who harvest all three species of wild turkey throughout the state in a season. The NWTF has spent over $33,180 on enhancement projects in Eagle Rock, McDonald Mountain, Sneed Mountain and Tacoma Creek recently. In addition they have also spent over $40,000 on education including workshops, field days, newsletters and informative DVDs.

OREGON In Oregon, NWTF and the Department of Fish and Wildlife has completed several projects impacting well over 15,000 acres while spending $90,000-plus over the last few seasons. These projects have enhanced and opened lands in the Columbia River Gorge, Denman and White River Wildlife Areas, Deschutes, Ochoco, Siskiyou and Wallowa Whitman National Forests, and Willamette Industries land. Over 4,180 acres of wildlife lands have been opened thanks to many of these projects.

americanshootingjournal.com 119

Natural Heritage funds in this effort.”

“Hunters play the biggest role in conservation efforts across this country through purchasing licenses, firearms and ammunition,” confirms Doug Saunders, NWTF executive vice president of marketing and development.

“These days, a hunter may only have a limited time to prepare for and plan a hunt. We want to ensure they have the greatest opportunity for an enjoyable time in the woods, so they continue to carry on our heritage.”

It’s always nice going in light and coming out heavy – good luck this season!

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Turkey populations also continue to expand throughout the Pacific Northwest as birds continue to do well and thrive.

Now is the time to get involved and become a part of this exciting sport. If you haven’t been turkey hunting yet, I highly recommend giving it a try. It is safe to say we are calling and purring to all hunters to take up the commendable and resource-building heritage of turkey hunting, if for no other reason than having a non-GMO, cage-free and delicious bird for dinner. ASJ

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The Latest In Turkey-ammo Technology And Patterning Tips

AMMO

OLD GOBBLER GUN, MEET HIGH-TECH

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY WALT HAMPTON

Sometimes the next-must-have turkey shotgun is not the best option. Trying different ammunition and properly patterning your gun can turn an old classic into a finely tuned tool.

The penetration of your load is just as important as the pattern, and should be tested at your maximum shooting range.

I

t’s that time of year again, when grown men (and, yes, women!) begin a strange and wonderful ritual of late arrivals to work and practicing bird calls. I have to confess, I am a spring turkey addict; I simply love to hunt them. From my first experience in 1964 to this day, hunting spring gobblers is my favorite pastime.

There have been some wonderful advances in the shotgun and shotgunammo world for the turkey hunter, thanks to the sport’s great popularity.

A shotgun for turkey hunting differs from the standard field scattergun in that we’re looking for a gun that delivers a consistent, small, concentrated pattern of shot at a nominal 40-yard range. The premise may seem simple, but the engineering that has to take place to build such a gun is complicated, and is made further so by the construction of the americanshootingjournal.com 123

ammunition. In the old days, before the overshot polymer wad cup, the shotgun shell contained powder, a couple of cushion wads and the shot – end of story. Now we have found that the genius invention of interchangeable choke tubes (versus the fixed-choke barrel) may spin or strip the wad, causing wide dispersion of the shot column. This may be perfect for quail on the wing, but not what we want for wild turkey.

SINCE I HUNT with traditional single- or double-barrel guns, one of the best innovations, in my opinion, has been the invention of the new Flitecontrol wad, (which defies traditional wisdom and breaks at the rear first) and Heavyweight shot from Federal, which have given some of my old shotguns new life. If you have a traditional 12- or 20-gauge single-shot

A turkey gun can be any gauge, style or action type, as long as you understand its limitations.

shotgun with a fixed choke, or any shotgun where the choke does not strip the wad, you should give this ammo a look. Hornady followed Federal with their version of this new wad technology, and also now makes loads that are, in some guns, a turkey’s worst nightmare. A turkey gun is only as good as the pattern it will consistently produce, and our ammunition manufacturers have stepped up to the plate with this new thinking.

FINDING THE GUN/AMMO TURKEY combination is complicated because it’s nearly impossible to get a smooth-barrel gun to pattern multi-projectile ammunition consistently. It’s not like a rifle where we can reasonably expect some consistency in groups; indeed, I have yet to see any shotgun/ shotgun shell combination that would 100 percent of the time shoot the exact same number of pellets into a 3-inch circle at 40 yards. We have to set a number that we will deem acceptable for the killing shot at a standardized distance (40 yards) and work towards it, trying different choke constrictions, pellet sizes and power combinations. In a nutshell, we are looking for repeatable center density and killing power in the form of penetration.

A turkey shotgun has to deliver a consistent, small and concentrated pattern of shot.

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MY WORK WITH FACTORY AMMUNITION indicates that if your gun, regardless of gauge, will put at least 10 pellets – and the more, the better – into a 3-inch circle at 40 yards every time, and those pellets at 40 yards will penetrate a plastic 20-ounce softdrink bottle, you have a 40-yard turkey gun. Here is where things get sticky. There are more No. 6 shot

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Your turkey’s lights should be out before he hits the ground.

in an ounce than larger shot sizes, so the pattern of No. 6 should provide a higher density on the paper, but that is not always the case. I’ve seen some guns shoot No. 4 or No. 5 shot (I really like No. 5, by the way) with much better pattern density than No. 6. Also, the relatively new mixed-alloy shot

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like Hevi-Shot, Bismuth or Heavyweight in like sizes will outpenetrate lead. The question is, if it won’t pattern well in your gun, should you use it?

Let’s assume you have a turkey gun. Sight your gun in at about 20 feet with a low-brass shell to get a sense of where you

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Federal reinvented the turkey shotshell with their Flitecontrol wad, and Hornady followed suit.

will hit with a repeatable sight picture.

If you have adjustable sights – all turkey guns should have them – you can sight in your gun here, and know that you are getting the same sight picture with each shot. You should then shoot the shot sizes you wish to test at the 25and 40-yard range on standard pattern targets with a 3-inch circle aiming point. This will tell you, or should, what your gun prefers. You should shoot at least five shots on different targets with each shot size, and 10 is better to get a real picture of what your gun is doing.

You want tight, even patterns with no holes in them. The guy who fires one round at a turkey-silhouette target and pronounces his gun patterned has no business being allowed to buy camouflage. Pattern your damn gun before you shoot at a turkey.

ONCE YOU HAVE SETTLED ON A SHOT SIZE, you can try the short or long magnum shell loadings in lead or nontoxic shot if your gun is chambered for them. I’ve seen some guns pattern great with a standard load of one shot size, but with 128

American Shooting Journal // March 2016

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Proper sportsmanship requires that you make a genuine effort to pattern your gun.

magnum loads another shot size will pattern better. In almost every case I’ve seen the most consistent patterns with nonmagnum loads, and some of the new wad technology ammunition will pattern better from nonfull-choke guns – this was certainly true for my Savage 24V in 20 gauge, with its 24inch modiďŹ ed ďŹ xed-choke barrel.

Fire a shot with each shot size and pellet type (copper plated, pure lead, alloy combination, etc.) at a plastic 20-ounce soft-drink bottle at 40 yards.

You will see that some shot sizes and pellet types will penetrate the front of the bottle and not go all the way through, and some (like Hevi-Shot, Bismuth or Heavyweight) will go all the way through the bottle and keep on trucking. Remember, the pattern is worthless if the shot bounces o the turkey. You should test the penetration of your chosen load at your maximum shooting range.

What is important is the consistent delivery of no less than 10 pellets into the 3-inch circle at 40 yards. If pure lead will do it in your gun, then that is what you should shoot. If only lead-free shells will work, then there is your answer.

We want that gobbler dead before he hits the ground. Before you plop down your hard-earned dough for a new turkey cannon, give that old clunker in the closet a try with some of the new ammo technology; it might just surprise you. ASJ

americanshootingjournal.com 131

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American Shooting Journal // March 2016

Jack and Master

OF ALL TRADES

Among many talents, Giles Whittome is famous for creating giant 2-gauge rifles, some of the largest and most powerful sporting rifles ever made.

The Legacy Of British Gun Maker Giles Whittome

STORY BY JIM DICKSON • PHOTOGRAPHS BY GILES WHITTOME

W

hen we think of the leaders among quality gun makers from the British Isles, we tend to think of names like Purdey and Holland and Holland, but these men have been dead for over a hundred years. Only their firms survive.

For innovative leadership we must look to individuals in the trade today, and certainly no one has been a more innovative than Giles Whittome.

WHITTOME IS FAMOUS for his giant 2-gauge single-shot rifles. His 26-pound, 2-bore rifles are the largest and most powerful sporting rifles ever made. They are capable of shooting a ½-pound lead slug backed by a 24-dram powder charge. That is eight times the bullet weight and eight times the powder weight of a standard Brenneke 12-bore torpedo slug. This gun is capable of shooting a heavier charge than a shooter can actually handle, so every customer has to work up to their maximum load capabilities.

Giles stands 6 foot, 5 inches, and is quite accustomed to shooting big-bore guns. He remains the only man to have ever fired a 24-dram load through this gun. He pronounced it lethal at both ends.

Whittome’s 2 bore has a 1.05-inch-diameter frontal area and greater firepower than five .600-caliber nitro express

bullets hitting at once. It gives new meaning to the term stopping power. Technically, this is actually a cannon.

Swivel cannons were usually 4 bore because anything heavier tended to rip them out of their mounting on a ship’s rail. The recoil of a 4 bore is 295 foot pounds. This gun is twice that size, but no one has ever computed the recoil of a 2 bore. Suffice it to say that the 4-bore recoil is pleasant by comparison.

Proof firing shook the entire London Proof House building, and even with the smoke extractors running,

“[WHITTOME] PRONOUNCED IT LETHAL AT BOTH ENDS” americanshootingjournal.com 135

Whittome takes aim with a Walther .22, a rifle which was designed for use with silencers and is outfitted here with an original Maxim silencer. While normally a semiauto, this gun readily converts to manual operation for maximum silencing.

As a younger man, Whittome hunted Africa, but these days he’s mostly content to hunt game in England, where the use of a silencer is considered good manners so as not to upset the neighbors.

visibility in the room was only one foot 20 minutes after the test. It was truly a moment to remember for everyone present.

The huge action was copied from an old Alexander Henry harpoon gun. The standard 2-bore is a rifle

can also supply any sort of harpoon or bomb lance required for it. A smoothbore 2 bore would be quite a deck sweeper when loaded with buckshot, and would lose very little practical hunting accuracy, because large dangerous game is not shot at long ranges.

“THE EMBELLISHMENTS ARE THE MAXIMUM ALLOWED BY GOOD TASTE”

IN OTHER ARENAS and as one of the last experts on the Paradox ball-and-shot guns, Whittome has made new headway in increasing the accuracy of an already accurate and useful weapon. The old accuracy standard was 2½ minutes of angle at 50 yards and a handspan at 100. Whittome has managed to shrink that to 4½ MOA at 110 yards. He is one of the few men in the gun trade who understands the rifling subtleties a Paradox gun requires and the secret of regulating its barrels, which

Whittome would be glad to make a smoothbore version of for anyone who wants the option of firing harpoons; he 136

American Shooting Journal // March 2016

americanshootingjournal.com 137

is different from a double rifle. This is still considered a trade secret, and I am not at liberty to divulge it.

Whittome often traveled to Africa for large game, and has had to fight off hyenas. A hyena can take a prize away from any hunter, and keeping them at bay is a lot harder than folks might imagine.

The Paragon offers nitroproofed Damascus steel barrels and a downright abundance of gold inlay.

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American Shooting Journal // March 2016

The Paragon, a Whittome creation, is one of the most unique 12-gauge sidelock double barrel ever made. It features a unique double front and rear trigger system. The front trigger fires the right then left barrel with successive pulls, and the rear trigger fires the left barrel only.

He has had the pleasure of hunting with a dog and a cheetah that had been raised together and were inseparable. If the cheetah didn’t come when Whittome called for him, he would command the dog to “Kamata duma,” which means catch cheetah in Swahilli. The dog would then go sit on the cheetah until Whittome arrived. Cheetahs are prone to rickets, so Whittome would give it a calcium tablet and a spoonful of cod liver oil every day to keep it in perfect health, which also gave it a shiny coat.

This trio kept the jackals off of the local golf course, and brought many hares to bag. Catching a hare is easy for a cheetah.

Whittome once saw a Swedish missionary and his wife on a motorcycle running at top speed – over 60 miles per hour – trying to get away from his cheetah, which was easily running beside them having a good time. The riders just didn’t know what a big pussycat it was, and probably imagined a maneater was after them.

A famous African snake man named Ionides was a friend to Whittome who often helped him gather poisonous snakes such as black mambas and gaboon vipers to get their venom, which was sold to drug companies for anti-venom.

He was a gifted linguist capable of communicating in English, French, Swahili, Italian, German, Swedish and

americanshootingjournal.com 139

some Danish, Norwegian, Greek and Latin. He served as a second lieutenant in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry where he saw combat during the Cypris Rebellion and hunted Greek Cypriot terrorists, and for many years he taught the British military how to use exotic machineguns.

WHITTOME IS ALSO RESPONSIBLE for The Paragon, perhaps the most elaborate and best quality 12-gauge sidelock double ever made. It has every bell and whistle the gun trade can put on a gun: • The snap caps are made of Damascus steel.

• The barrels are nitro-proofed Damascus steel, and the gold inlays and embellishments are the maximum allowed by good taste.

• The double triggers are unique. They function as both single and double triggers. The front trigger will fire the right then the left barrel in turn with successive pulls, while the rear trigger fires the left barrel only.

• The grip and forend have borderless checkering, and the skeleton buttplate is blued and gold inlay. The frontsight is a solid gold Labrador retriever’s head with faceted diamond eyes.

• The velvet-lined rosewood case is airtight and emits an audible “whoosh” as air is expelled when it closes. It has its own velvet-lined canvas to protect it, and embeded inside the case are the Damascus steel snap caps, a horn-snapping block, three fitted screwdrivers and an ivory-handled chamber cleaning brush along with a three-section hardwood cleaning rod with engraved ferrules. There is a circular patch box carved with a high-relief elephant’s head and a ruby for its eye. Also included is a striker box, two glass bottles – one for gun oil and the other for stock oil – an extractor, a gauge and sundries.

• There is a rare and desirable disappearing flush-lock detaching lever, which is flipped up by a thumb and then unscrewed to remove the sidelocks, as opposed to the protruding projection on the lock screw normally found. They can snag on brush and begin unscrewing at the wrong times.

• The pinless locks have blind holes on the inside instead of being drilled all the way through where they can interfere with the artwork of the engraver.

• The self-opening action operates whether or not a barrel has been fired, and the strikers are made of stainless steel.

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American Shooting Journal // March 2016

Whittome’s 2-bore has a 1.05-inchdiameter frontal area and greater firepower than five .600-caliber nitro express bullets hitting at once.

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Whittome’s 2-bore rifles are capable of shooting a ½-pound bullet backed by a 24dram powder charge.

All in all, Whittome’s Paragon is perhaps the single-most elaborate example of the gunmaker’s art produced in the 20th century.

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TODAY, Whittome hunts mostly in his native England normally using a silencer on his rifles because they are not only legal in England, but it is just considered good manners not to disturb the peace with a rifle’s report when good silencers are readily available.

His interests are varied. He has flown state-of-the-art Russian fighter jets, made a horn to play in an orchestra and is currently preparing to make his own Bronze Age sword under tutelege of one of England’s last sword masters.

If you buy a gun from Giles Whittome, you are not only getting one of the finest guns made in the British Isles, you are also dealing with perhaps the most colorful gunmaker that the gun trade has ever known. ASJ Author’s note: If you would like to contact Giles Whittome, you can call him in England at 011 (441) 76-324-8708.

americanshootingjournal.com 143

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GUN reviews

THE VERSATILITY OF A CLASSIC

From Predators To Big Game, And For Young Shooters To Experts, The .243 Winchester Shines STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY JASON BROOKS The .243 Winchester is a highly versatile rifle, and great for everything from woodchucks to mule deer-sized game.

a

s a young man who ventured into southern Idaho’s scablands, I learned how to hunt predators on sage flats and rolling hills. The shots varied from extremely far to very close, depending on how sneaky the coyotes were. Back then I could only afford one gun, and when I decided to give up big-game hunting for a winter of fur hunting, I traded my 7mm Magnum at a local pawn shop for a .223 Remington. I never regretted that decision, though the guy behind the counter figured he had some kind of sucker for making such a trade. A few weeks later, when I was finally able to start harvesting coyotes and fox, I learned that I should have traded it for a .243 Winchester instead. I would never have needed another rifle come deer season.

For two winters I hunted and sold my furs to Bennet Mountain Fur Company in Mountain Home, Idaho.

The fur buyer became a good friend of mine, and soon I was helping him around his shop. I learned that he used a .243 Winchester for hunting, but not just furbearers, but for all of his game, including deer and even elk. I need to explain that I do not recommend the .243 for such large beasts as elk, but for everything from woodchucks to mule deersized game, the .243 Winchester does the job.

KNOWN FOR ITS LIGHT RECOIL, the rifle is often referred to as a starter gun for small-framed shooters. This really americanshootingjournal.com 147

gun reviews like the .204 Ruger or .17HMR. Recoil is very light with the does the caliber an injustice, as it has a wide range of bullet small pills in the .243 Winchester, but when they hit, the weights and designs that allow the rifle to be extremely impact is impressive. versatile, especially for the handloader. With a case that holds a reasonable amount of powder and bullets from 55 WHEN MY YOUNGEST SON, Ryan, passed the hunter-safety course grains up to 107, you can make the .243 Winchester perform at the age of nine, I knew it was time to dust off the Encore for a variety of game. again. This single-shot, with its light recoil and crisp trigger, I have been hunting the backcountry all my life, and got a workout during the early fall. Ryan used it every time finally decided on a lightweight mountain rifle instead of we went afield as if it were a .22 rimfire. I would often hike lugging around a long-action caliber that kicks like a mule. along the hillside and lay out clay pigeons. I would then tell After some research I began to think of that fur buyer again Ryan that each of the clay pigeons was a big muley buck. and decided to look into the .243 Winchester. At the time I He practiced his shooting skills from various positions didn’t handload but a coworker of mine did. Converting my until the clay targets were all destroyed. After a few boxes Thompson Center Encore over to the .243 and topping it of expensive ammo I changed over to a cheaper 100-grain with a lightweight scope. I found my rifle weighed in right at 6 pounds. My coworker worked The cartridge case holds a reasonable amount of powder up a load for the and bullet options from 55 grains up to 107.

100-grain Nosler Partition, and I later learned that Nosler makes this great bullet for the .243 in commercial ammunition, as well as their Premium line. Sighting in the rifle for 3 inches high at 100 yards, I knew that I could kill any deer up to 380 yards away without holding over my target. The .243 did its job well.

ONCE DEER SEASON was over, I took the rifle back out to the range and rezeroed the scope with Hornady’s 58-grain V-Max bullet. One inch high at 100 yards allowed me to shoot coyotes well beyond what the 3-12x50 Burris scope permits me to see. Fur damage isn’t an issue, as the V-Max enters and then explodes, usually only leaving an entrance hole, regardless of the distance. Fox have very thin skin and if they come too close, the 58-grain bullet will overdo the job, but if you keep your distance to around 100 yards or more, then it isn’t as much of a problem. When I set up for fur hunting, I often also take a 12-gauge shotgun. This allows me to have a close-up and long-range gun. I have yet to use my Winchester round on an Idaho wolf, but if I am ever given the opportunity, I know the .243 will suffice with either the 58-grain V-Max or the 100-grain Partition.

For rockchuck and prairie dog shoots you can step it down to the even smaller 55-grain, and winddrift still isn’t as much of an issue at it is for the super-small calibers 148

American Shooting Journal // March 2016

version to keep the zero close. When deer season finally opened, Ryan was ready.

AFTER CHASING DEER all morning long in wheatfield stubble, Ryan and I, along with my father, headed for the foothills.

Earlier in the summer a wildfire had swept across the mountain above and pushed deer down into farmers’ fields.

Just as we entered the public lands of the Forest Service I saw a buck walking on an open hillside. He was heading to his midday lair, and the brief glimpse of him was just enough to put together a game plan. Leaving my father with the truck, Ryan and I headed up the hillside and approached the cut the buck went into. After spotting him in his bed Ryan steadied the rifle on shooting sticks. This was a mature mule deer with wide antlers and heavy on the hoof. Ryan surprisingly pulled the first shot high, and the buck erupted out of its bed. The deer, perhaps confused by

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gun reviews Known for its light recoil, the .243 Winchester offers a wide range of bullet weights and designs that allow the rifle to be extremely versatile, especially for the handloader.

the bullet striking the cut bank behind him, decided to come straight at us.

Ryan’s next shot hit the mark in the front of the chest, but the old buck had enough stamina to make it over the ridge. Soon we caught up to him and for insurance, another shot was taken and the .243 Winchester accounted for another deer.

Just after deer season ended I took Ryan out to the mountains again and placed more clay targets on the ground. This time I told him they were all coyotes worth $50 each. He loaded the 58-grain V-Max bullets and shot each one, no doubt wondering when I would pay up. I tried to explain to him that the money was in reference to what he would get later for each coyote he got in the upcoming winter.

I learned that the .243 Winchester is and always has been a very versatile caliber, and that a nine-year-old doesn’t understand correlations. ASJ

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The Velocity AR Platform Trigger A high quality AR platform trigger (compatible with .22, .223/5.56mm, .30 cal) at an affordable price of only $150 Simply stated, The Velocity Trigger makes your AR feel like a bolt action rifle.

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*Do Not use with 9mm conversion or any open bolt face

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Product FEATURE

A BALLISTIC SHREDDER Cutting Edge Bullets Are Lethal By Design STORY BY ROBERT CAMPBELL • PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF CEB

A

s an enthusiastic handloader I enjoy testing and using new products.

Make no mistake, the ability to tailor a load to an individual gun and experiment with powder and bullets to produce good accuracy is one of many advantages handloads have over factory ammunition.

There has been quite a bit of development since round lead balls were used in black-powder revolvers.

There has been more innovation in handgun bullets in the past 20 years than the 100 years before that. We all want a good balance of expansion and penetration. Recently, my most interesting loads have included bullets from Cutting Edge Bullets.

Using a combination of Starline Brass, Winchester Primers and Winchester 231, Titegroup and Lil’Gun powders, I have arrived at a number of accurate and useful combinations. The This .40-caliber 120 PHD gel test shows exactly what this projectile is designed to do – cause lethal damage.

Cutting Edge Bullets has a dynamic line of expanding projectiles that actually shed their radial-cut sides, causing impressive damage.

hollowpoints are proportionately deep, and are a modern solid-copper design with cuts that radiate from the tip that will expand and actually shed the four scored portions of the nose. The result is a portion of the bullet that

WE ALL WANT A GOOD BALANCE OF EXPANSION AND PENETRATION penetrates deeply, while the other sections radiate from the primary wound channel and create further damage. The result is a more complex wound.

The bullets are lighter for the length than lead bullets. For example, the 150-grain .45 is americanshootingjournal.com 153

PRODUCT FEATURE about as long as a conventional 230-grain .45 bullet.

SHOCK MEANS LITTLE in a handgun cartridge, and neither does neural shock or other junk science. All that matters is actual damage. I do not always consider energy, but energy is useful in comparing one load to another in similar calibers. The combination of velocity and bullet weight is important. The right combination results in an ideal balance of expansion and penetration. Per my testing, the Cutting Edge Bullets does just that. The balance is important and these loads offer great accuracy. I tried several different combinations with a .38 Special and .45 ACP, settling on the loads using Winchester 231 powder. When the projectile was kept at 1,000 feet per second, the bullet performed well.

Obviously lighter bullets offer less recoil at a given velocity Gel test using the .44-caliber 200-grain projectile.

Gel test using the .44-caliber 200 HG Raptor.

than heavier bullets at the same velocity.

AS FOR ACCURACY, using first-class handguns such as the Smith & Wesson Model 19 Combat Magnum, the 105-grain Cutting Edge Bullets loads gave a 25-yard group of 2 inches or less.

With the 150-grain .45 ACP loaded in my Colt Combat Elite, five-shot groups hovered around 2.5 inches. In the end, these projectiles get a clean bill of health on accuracy and attention to quality. Terminal performance is impressive. ASJ Editor’s note: If you would like to know more about Cutting Edge Bullets, you can visit them at cuttingedgebullets.com

D G

Gentry Custom, LLC Custom Gun Builder

QUIET MUZZLE BRAKES! • Directs hot gas and noise down range away from the shooter • Makes guns user-friendly • We offer 5/8x24 threads

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WHY I’M GOING TO BRE K UP WITH YOU, GEESE

(GEORGE GENTRY, USFWS)

STORY BY RANDY KING

D

ear Geese, After a long and thoughtful consideration of our relationship, I would like to formally submit my break-up letter. While I would love to admit fault in this relationship, I just cannot. It is not me; in fact, it is you.

Please take a moment and read my complaints laid out

below that prove I am undeserving of such a difficult and tenuous relationship. Hopefully these words will help you discover your inner, better self, allowing for more meaningful relationships in the future.

COMPLAINT #1 – YOU ARE NOT CONSISTENT As a hunter, I often see wild creatures. When I do, they are often in no mood to be anywhere near me. Except americanshootingjournal.com 157

you, geese. You think I am going to give you bread in the park. You think that I am going to feed you my last bit of popcorn. You trust me – that is, until you are outside city limits. Then, as if by some miracle pill, you are suddenly so wild that my best antelope stalk can’t get me near you. I am in need of a consistent partner; you, my honking “friend,” cannot provide that aspect of the relationship.

with the loud honking, the wing buffs, the circling around the decoys. And I can’t even watch! What kind of a tease are you?! So I sit with my face looking down at my boots, listening to another grown-ass man call for you. I tremble at the thought of you actually stopping and committing to my decoys. My anticipation borders on neurosis. This is not a foundation for a relationship built on trust.

COMPLAINT #2 – OUR RELATIONSHIP IS IN THE PITS Look, the only time I ever hang out in a hole in the ground on the side of a farmer’s field in the middle of a snow/rain/ sleet storm is when I am chasing after you. While I enjoy the close quarters this often provides me to my gun-toting buddies and their smelly dogs, I just find the whole “pit sitting” thing a bit much to handle.

COMPLAINT #4 – I FEEL LIKE WE HAVE JUST BEEN COLD TO EACH OTHER It is often said that the “best goose weather is bad weather” – and by bad weather, they mean cold. Like freezing cold.

Like “What the hell am I doing here in a snowstorm unable to feel my toes?” cold. This is all you have ever known for a relationship, but as a human I need more. I don’t have what you have – the feathers, the ability to move when the mood strikes. Migrating might work for you, but the Northwest is my home. I can’t be in a relationship with someone who is just passing through. ASJ

COMPLAINT #3 – YOU WON’T EVEN LET ME WATCH Even when I do go through the pit sitting, I do not even get the common courtesy of watching you. You tease me

GOOSE PASTRAMI To make goose pastrami requires a few steps and a little time, but it is well worth it.

First, a note on Insta Cure – this is a pink powder that is available at most sporting goods stores and butcher shops.

The goal with “pink salt” is to properly, and safely, cure the meat. It also gives the meat its distinctive pink color. Otherwise, the meat will be a flat gray color, but will otherwise taste similar.

Some will argue that it causes cancer – I’ll risk that in the future to avoid botulism today.

Ingredients 2 skinless Canada geese breasts (specks and snows are too small) 1½ tablespoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon Insta Cure #1 1/8 cup “pickling spice” 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1½ tablespoon fresh ground black pepper, divided ¼ cup red wine (water will work, but wine makes most things better) 1 tablespoon ground coriander In a gallon-sized Ziploc bag add the salt, sugar, curing salt, pickling spice, brown sugar and half the black pepper. Shake the hell out the bag to mix up the spices. Next, add the goose breasts and shake the hell out of the bag again. This should evenly coat the meat in the mix. Place the bag in the fridge for 36 to 48 hours.

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Goose pastrami.

(RANDY KING)

Make sure to turn it over at some point in the process.

Remove the breasts from the bag and give them a quick rinse in the sink. A little bit of brine might be stuck to the outside, which is OK. Place on a wire rack and back into the fridge for 12 to 24 hours. This will make the goose breasts “sticky,” i.e., create a pellicle that will absorb the smoke. This step is vital to good smoked meat.

Next dip the goose in the red wine, and sprinkle it with the remaining pepper and the ground coriander.

Then smoke – I used mesquite and it was great – until the meat reaches 145 degrees. Cool before slicing and use the meat for a deli-meat applications – sandwiches, cheese boards and the goose pit.

For more recipes, see my website, chefrandyking.com.

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