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I get a lot of questions as to how different guns work. One of the most common questions goes something like this…”So how does that fancy plastic Tupperware Glock work?” It’s no wonder, since this gun was the first popular weapon to use something other than the traditional hammer and firing pin system for a pistol. No other gun has created such love-hate viewpoints as the Glock. I think it is because of its sheer popularity. No pistol is more popular in law enforcement and there is not a gun shop in America that does not keep a healthy supply based purely on steady consumer demand.

There was a deluge of negative press about “plastic pistols” when the Glock first hit the American market. Some of it was about the plastic itself, because Glocks were cheaper than most steel and aluminum alloy guns of the era. Prior to polymers (plastic), the “cheap” material to make guns out of was something called “pot metal.” It melted at a lower temperature than the metal that made up the frames and slides of “quality” guns and a few states adopted laws banning guns based on melting temperature, labeling them “saturday night specials.”

So along comes the Glock made out of plastic and it is the safest and most reliable out of the box gun anyone has ever seen, blowing the whole “melting point equals quality” argument out of the water. Stories came out that you could carry one through an airport metal detector (you can’t because there is lots of metal in a Glock in addition to the plastic) and the anti-gun media fed a feeding frenzy about the dangerous Glock that actually fired every time you pulled the trigger, and that was safe and reliable.

As you may know, we occasionally sponsor UFC fighters from time to time. Recently we decided to pull away from sponsoring the smaller names and grabbing sponsorship deals here and there and put all of our UFC investment in one fighter who is a good role model for our sport.

Shane Carwin is who we decided on. Shane is a genuine gun guy, hunter, and shooting sports enthusiast. He is also known throughout the UFC community as a nice, personable and stand up guy. I have personally followed his career since his first fight and Shane is second to no fighter in the world.

Years ago I purchased a used gun in a box of old gun bits and pieces from an estate sale. It was one of those, “right place, right time” moments when the seller and the gun store didn’t want to bother with sorting out what was there – some assorted 1911 bits and pieces – and none of which seemed to work. The gun-store owner saw me coming in and since he knew I liked 1911’s, he told the seller I might be interested. I offered a few bucks for what looked like a bunch of parts and a frame, and did my paperwork.

After combing through the assorted stuff in the box I found that I was able to put together all the parts to a 1911, and under it all was a slide marked “Colt MK IV” on one side, and “Officer’s ACP” on the other side beneath the ejection port. Soon I realized in amongst the junk were all the parts to the Colt.

The first time I saw an Officer’s ACP, it was in the movie Heat with Al Pacino. While this is still one of the all-time great movies for shoot-outs, I just thought that gun in particular that Pacino’s character carried was the essence of “cool”. Now while the 1911 Government has made all kinds of movie appearances, the Officer’s models gets far less attention, and I am not surprised when some don’t recognize it, or know it for what it is.

I have to admit that this column was not really my idea. I stole the idea from Wayne Lapierre, the Executive Vice President of the NRA, who writes about this very topic in “America’s First Freedom” this month.
GunsAmerica is Booth 837 at the NRA Show this weekend. From the entrance you jog right and it is towards the back.

In his version of this article, Mr. Lapierre explains to a fellow airline traveler what he feels the NRA has done for this person to protect his gun rights over his lifetime. Apparently the guy is not yet an NRA member. Mr. Lapierre himself admits in the article that he is painting in very broad strokes, and I wonder if the guy got it. I wonder if he went on to join the NRA.

How do we reach people who own guns, hunt, and who are even avid gun enthusiasts but who are not NRA members. I am a life member of the NRA, but even ten years ago I was not, and twenty years ago, even though I carried a gun every day, I would have argued with you that nobody needed a gun with more than seven rounds in the magazine. I carried an NRA membership intermittently during my twenties and thirties, a classic “lapser,” and you would think that I would have some answers. I don’t know if a laundry list of what the NRA does and has does any good.

Hello and welcome to our first attempt at a “pro tip” column for GunsAmerica Magazine from the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU). If you haven’t been following the previous columns on the history and purpose of the USAMU, as well as a great article from the custom shop last month on Cartridge Overall Length, I suggest you check them out.
A few quarters in between your pad and the gun will allow you to test the proper pitch so that the gun is recoiling straight back into your shoulder. This is an example of adjusting pitch in the top of the stock with quarters.

My name is SSG Ryan Hadden and I shoot on the US Army Marksmanship Unit Shotgun team. As I write this I have just returned from China where I won a bronze medal for US in Men’s Trap. This is the second shotgun event in the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup Championship for 2010, and my teammates SSG Josh Richmond and CPL Jeffrey Holguin won gold and bronze respectively in Men’s Doubles Trap for the first event in March that took place in Acapulco. We shoot under the governing body of USA Shooting when we compete, but we are all United States Army Marksmanship Unit Soldiers. Medal winners in the ISSF World Cup earn slots for their home countries, and this is the first year that counts. So far the USAMU Shotgun team is coming out Army Strong.

In this time of war there is no room for second rate shooting. Exceptional marksmanship that was once expected of the elite, Special Operations and Infantry Sharpshooters, is now expected of every soldier. Today’s United States Army is considered the most lethal army the world has ever seen, and it is largely due to a more lethal Soldier who has undergone the most effective training in history. Training is the backbone of good shooting. And at the heart of marksmanship training in the US Army is the US Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU). Through “train the trainer” workshops, direct training of experienced units, recruiting assistance and community outreach, the USAMU acts as a “force multiplier” for the Army, and it is considered one of the most unique units in the entire US Army.

Located at Ft. Benning, Georgia, the USAMU trains for international shooting competitions while carrying out their duties as active duty soldiers as marksmanship trainers. The unit consists of current world champions, including Olympic world champions, and the members of the unit compete in every major international shooting competition the world over. They usually win, and for that reason the USAMU is referred to as “The Home of the Champions.”

The line between having a gun or two and becoming a collector is a fine and blurry one . . . and that is the magic of it all. You do not need a large bank account or carved-in-stone criteria to be a collector. We could use Webster to find a definition of a “collection”, but because I am writing this, I will make one up to suit. To me, a “collection” of guns and/or related items is simply when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. There is more good news, that “greater” need not be in my eyes or in the eyes of formal collectors or organizations; but in your eyes only. If, over time, you choose wisely there is a very high probability that your collection will please someone else also; and it may be a very good financial investment. With that in mind let’s look at the mental process that can lead you down the road to safe and happy collecting.

There should be two overriding criteria when you begin to invest. First, buy what you like. That is, do not try to keep up with the “Joneses.” Just because someone has a fine collection of all Damascus Nambus, or gold inlaid Iver Johnsons it does not mean that these would be right for you.

The cartridge first known as “Ball Cartridge, Caliber .30, Model of 1906” is without question the most famous American rifle cartridge, not only in our own country but throughout the world. In 1903 we replaced the Krag-Jorgensen in .30-40 Krag with the long-serving and much-loved 1903 Springfield and a new .30-caliber cartridge. The Springfield was a Mauser clone, its rimless cartridge similar to Mauser’s designs, but longer with more case capacity. The initial 1903 cartridge was loaded with the same 220-grain roundnose bullet as the Krag, but in 1906 the bullet was changed to a faster and more aerodynamic 150-grain spitzer. At the same time the case neck was shortened by .07-inch, thus the Model of 1906—the .30-06—went forward to make history. The .30-06 served the United States in both World Wars, the Korean conflict, the early years of Vietnam, and a dozen banana wars in between. It was chambered to the Springfield, the Pattern 14 Enfield, the Marine Corps’ Johnson semiauto, the Garand, the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), and several versions of the Browning machinegun. Clear into my time, the 1970s, the .30-06 was still seeing use both with snipers and in the Browning light machinegun.