Category: Gun Schtuff

BLUF
Wilkins sees eye to eye with the three-judge 5th Circuit panel that upheld the bump stock ban last December. Like the D.C. Circuit panel, it said “bump stocks qualify as machine guns under the best interpretation of the statute.” But the 5th Circuit vacated that panel decision in June, and it is now reconsidering the case. If the full court goes a different way, the circuit split could prompt the Supreme Court to weigh in.

D.C. Circuit Upholds the Bump Stock Ban, Saying It Is Consistent With the ‘Best Interpretation’ of the Law
It is hard to see how, given the contortions required to deliver the unilateral prohibition that Donald Trump demanded.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit yesterday upheld the federal bump stock ban that took effect in 2019, approving the legal contortions required to justify it. In blessing the Trump administration’s redefinition of machine guns to include bump stocks and firearms equipped with them, the appeals court did not merely defer to regulators’ interpretation of an ambiguous statute. It concluded that the new reading of the law—which contradicts the position that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) consistently took before then-President Donald Trump demanded that the agency ban bump stocks by administrative fiat—is “the best interpretation of the statute.”

That is hard to believe. The ATF’s justification for the ban is so implausible that it seems clear the agency rewrote the law to accommodate the president’s policy preferences, criminalizing previously legal conduct without bothering to seek new legislation from Congress.

Bump stocks, which became suddenly notorious after they were used in the 2017 Las Vegas massacre, facilitate a rapid-firing technique in which recoil energy pushes the weapon backward, resetting the trigger, while the shooter maintains forward pressure on the gun, causing the trigger to bump against his stationary finger. Crucially, the gun still fires just one round each time the trigger is activated, and it continues to fire only as long as the shooter deliberately and repeatedly engages the trigger by pushing the weapon forward.

Those points are crucial because federal law defines a machine gun as a weapon that “automatically” fires more than one round “by a single function of the trigger.” The definition also includes “any part” or “combination of parts” that is “designed and intended” to convert a firearm into a machine gun.

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Ruger Reports Huge Drop in Second Quarter Sales Compared to 2021

The rising tide of gun sales has begun to recede.

That’s the indication from the latest sales figures for one of the country’s largest gun makers. Ruger reported sales dropped nearly $60 million in the second quarter compared to 2021. The company said the drop was the result of lower demand for guns.

“Consumer demand for firearms has subsided from the unprecedented levels of the surge that began early in 2020 and remained for most of 2021, resulting in a 30% reduction in our sales from the second quarter of 2021, which was the highest quarter in sales and profitability in our history,” Christopher J. Killoy, Ruger CEO, said in a statement.

The numbers are in line with the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s analysis of gun background checks for July, which found 2022 saw the third most ever but also amounted to a substantial decline from the two previous years. The signs point to a market still searching for a new bottom. The rate of decline has slowed significantly, though, and sales remain well above historical norms.

The past two years have produced the strongest sales on record across the industry. March 2020 saw more gun-sales background checks than any month on record, and 2020 saw the most of any year. Major brands rode the increased sales to record profits in 2021. Smith & Wesson also achieved the first billion-dollar sales year of any gun company on record.

Ruger’s sales fell from over $200 million in Q2 of 2021 to $140 million in 2022. Diluted earnings fell from $2.50 per share to $1.17 per share.

The first six months of the year saw a similar decline. Sales dropped from over $384 million in 2021 to $307 million in 2022. Diluted earnings fell from $4.66 per share to $2.87 per share.

Killoy said the brand also saw a decline in its profit margins as well.

“Our profitability declined in the second quarter of 2022 from the second quarter of 2021 as our gross margin decreased from 39% to 31%,” he said. “In addition to unfavorable deleveraging of fixed costs resulting from decreased production and sales, inflationary cost increases in materials, commodities, services, energy, fuel and transportation, partially offset by increased pricing, resulted in the lower margin.”

Still, Killoy said the decline does not threaten Ruger’s business, and the company remains low on some stock.

“Yet our broad and diverse product family helps us weather fluctuations in demand as we adjust production accordingly,” he said. “While channel inventory of some of our product families, including certain polymer pistols and modern sporting rifles, have been largely replenished, inventories of other product families remain below desired levels.”

Killoy said the company’s new products were a bright spot, though. Sales of the PC Charger, MAX-9 pistol, LCP MAX pistol, and Marlin 1895 lever-action rifles made up 11 percent of Ruger’s total sales.

BLUF
Politicians railing against MSRs might argue that recreational target shooters and hunters could use other rifles to do the same thing. The numbers, though, don’t lie. The MSR is filling their need – and the Second Amendment gives them the right to choose the firearm that meets their needs. It is not for the government to decide.

WINCHESTER AMMUNITION STUDY SHOWS TARGET SHOOTERS, HUNTERS CHOOSE MSRs

The time has come for President Joe Biden and the rest of the gun control politicians to pack up the worn-out line that “no one needs an AR-15 to hunt deer.”

Turns out, recreational target shooters and hunters do want Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs). That’s the family of AR-platform [semiautomatic] rifles that come in many calibers. According to the 2022 Ammunition Consumption Study by Winchester Ammunition, more than half of recreational shooters firing a centerfire rifle used an MSR. Of those who hunted with an MSR, 40 percent chose the MSR as their firearm of choice.

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BLUF
A little over 2400 rounds before it quits.

Ruger Security 9 Endurance Test, by Pat Cascio

Back in February 2018, I tested the then fairly-new polymer-frame Ruger Security 9  handgun. It was a stellar pistol, and very affordable, as well. I liked that gun so much that I added a second one to my modest collection. The first one resides in our bedroom, it is my “nightstand” gun – even though it isn’t stored in a nightstand. My second Security 9 has a trigger guard mounted laser on it, and that is the only difference between the two guns.

Look, we all know that, anything can be broken, under the right circumstance, and I stopped doing “to destruction” testing on just about everything I test. I’ve had more than a few firearms almost self-destruct without doing that type of testing. On the Ruger Security 9, I just wanted to put an obscene number of rounds through it, before it stopped working. Needless to say, no easy task, since we are still in the worst ammo drought in history. The nice folks at Black Hills Ammunition supplied me with a lot of the ammo used in this testing. I also purchased a lot of 9mm ammo out of my own funds, and quite a bit was donated to me – my local FFL often gets ammo in a gun trade – usually partially full boxes, and sometimes they get ammo in plastic bags – they’ve donated quite a bit of ammo to me over the years.

As stated, I wasn’t about to do an article or test to see if I could destroy the little Ruger Security 9, I just wanted to run a lot of ammo through the gun, without cleaning it or lubing it, after I first inspected the gun out of the box – at which time, I lubed it with Breakfree CLP and didn’t do any cleaning after that. I was going to terminate my testing, when the Security 9 had a gun-induced malfunction.

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Again, more confirmation that 20/21 is going to be the anomaly , like a basketball through the python, of NICS checks and that means we’re not in a real ‘decline’ of gun sales, but back to the historical near steady yearly increase.

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Kel-Tec Announces New Wyoming Plant
The facility is Kel-Tec’s first outside of Florida and will offer increased production capacity.

Kel-Tec CNC Industries has acquired a 33,000-square-foot facility in Rock Springs, WY, to augment its 125,000-square-foot industrial space in Cocoa, FL. The expansion will increase the company’s production capacity and allow it to address increasing demand for its firearms and accessories.

“I am thrilled to be a part of this new adventure in our story,” said Adrian Kellgren, Director of Industrial Production. “Wyoming has a rich history as part of the American frontier and it’s fitting for our brand, being that we constantly explore the limits of performance and design, to expand out here.”

Swedish-born George Kellgren—a former designer for Husqvarna, Swedish Interdynamics AB and Intratec—established Kel-Tec in 1991. Kel-Tec initially specialized in producing CNC parts for other gun companies, but in 1995 the firm’s first pistol hit the market. That polymer-framed, semi-auto P-11 chambered in 9 mm was the first in a long line of innovative and extremely popular models that now includes the KSG shotgun family. The P-15, seen above, is the firm’s latest introduction.

“This is a milestone for Kel-Tec CNC Industries,” said company Director of Sales and Marketing Derek Kellgren. “While steady expansion isn’t anything new to us, this is our first expansion into another state and we couldn’t be more excited about advancing our innovative designs and production processes in Wyoming.”

The company currently employs roughly 300 at its Florida location. The launch in Wyoming will be gradual, but it’s designed to host more than 250 team members across multiple industrial disciplines.

“In Wyoming, we value our open spaces, recreation and hunting and proudly defend our Second Amendment rights,” stated Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon. “Because of those values and our business-friendly environment I am pleased to welcome Kel-Tec firearms to Wyoming.”

“The future of our company is tied to the future of the American free spirit,” stated George Kellgren, Kel-Tec founder, chairman and CEO. “Wyoming has been a leading example of liberty and freedom for America, and it is right that we become part of it.”

NCLA Asks Full Fifth Circuit to Toss ATF’s Bump Stock Ban and Reject Deference to the Government

Washington, DC (July 25, 2022) – Today, the New Civil Liberties Alliance filed its appellant brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Michael Cargill v. Merrick B. Garland, et al. This lawsuit could determine who has the constitutional authority to change the criminal law if changes are warranted. The appeals court in June vacated the three-judge panel’s opinion upholding ATF’s legal interpretation and granted en banc review—that is, review by all 17 active judges on the court. Adoption of the rarely used en banc procedure is a sign that the appeals court views the issues in this case as highly important. The Fifth Circuit will be the third U.S. Court of Appeals to hear this issue en banc, but it could be the first to reach the merits. The Tenth Circuit dismissed the en banc over five dissents, and the Sixth Circuit split 8-8 on the questions at stake.

NCLA is seeking invalidation of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Bump Stock Final Rule, in which the agency declared that non-mechanical bump stocks are “machineguns” within the meaning of the relevant statute. Because the Final Rule is not a valid legislative rule, ATF may not seek judicial deference to its statutory interpretation. Moreover, the agency expressly waived any deference claim for the Bump Stock Rule under Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.

Plaintiff Michael Cargill alleges that: (1) the Final Rule conflicts with the statutory definition of a machinegun and thus exceeds ATF’s authority; (2) ATF’s construction is not entitled to Chevron deference; (3) to the extent that the courts determine that the definition of machinegun is ambiguous with respect to bump stocks, they should apply the rule of lenity to determine that bump stocks are not machineguns; and (4) if the statute were interpreted as authorizing ATF’s declaration that bump stocks are prohibited machineguns, then it would be an unconstitutional delegation of Congress’s legislative powers.

The district court’s erroneous construction of the statute has been rejected by a significant majority of federal appellate judges outside the Fifth Circuit who have considered the same question. The best reading of the statute is, in fact, the one espoused by ATF before December 2018: non-mechanical bump stocks are not “machineguns.” A separate NCLA lawsuit, Aposhian v. Garland, also challenges the Final Rule. That suit is pending in the U.S. Supreme Court on a petition for a writ of certiorari.

The current statute, adopted in 1986, prohibits “machineguns” in a manner that does not include non-mechanical bump stocks. The evidence at trial demonstrated conclusively that a semi-automatic rifle equipped with a non-mechanical bump stock is not a weapon that “shoots, is designed to shoot, or can readily be restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot … by a single function of the trigger.” It is impossible to square the Final Rule’s conclusion that bump stocks are machineguns with the uncontested evidence that every shot fired by a bump-stock-equipped semi-automatic rifle requires a separate “function” of the trigger. Furthermore, it is unlawful for a prosecutorial entity like ATF to rewrite existing law. Congress itself must initiate any change in gun control laws. The Court should enjoin ATF’s brazen effort to enact a new criminal law on its own.

NCLA released the following statements:

“Two appeals courts—the D.C. and Tenth Circuits—have upheld the Final Rule. But they did so only after placing a thumb on the scale by deferring to the Government’s interpretation of the ‘machinegun’ statute. Any court that conducts a truly independent analysis of the statute will quickly discern that bump stocks do not fit within the statutory definition of a machinegun.”
— Rich Samp, Senior Litigation Counsel, NCLA

“Like a majority of federal appeals judges who have weighed in on the merits, NCLA believes the federal statute banning machine guns does not encompass bump stocks. But if there is any ambiguity in the statute, then the rule of lenity still dictates construing the statute in Mr. Cargill’s favor to exclude bump stocks. Under no circumstance may ATF rewrite the statute to create new criminal liability for bump stock owners.”
— Mark Chenoweth, President and General Counsel, NCLA

For more information visit the case page here and the case video here.

Download the full document

First Time Gun Ownership Continues To Soar
Who is buying all of the guns? The answer might surprise gun control activists…

According to The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) nearly 30%, or 5.4 million of the 18.5 million firearms purchased in the United States in 2021, went to first time gun owners. This number is down slightly from 2020’s record breaking gun sales numbers that saw 40%, or 8.4 million of the 21 million total firearms sold, going to first timers. Retailers report that 23% of customers who bought their first gun in 2020 returned to purchase another in 2021, and that nearly half of first time buyers inquired about professional firearms training, meaning many first time buyers quickly became enthusiasts who are serious about gun safety and self-defense.

For decades, gun control groups have attempted to paint gun enthusiasts as “rednecks” living in rural areas, but the data suggests that this is not the case. The NSSF survey found that 33% of first time gun buyers in 2021 were women, and that the number of African Americans purchasing firearms increased by 44%. Hispanic Americans also increased their gun purchases by 40% in 2021. Mark Olivia, NSSF Director of Public Affairs, notes: “Gun owners no longer fit into the tiny little boxes gun control groups wish to put us in. Today’s gun owner is younger, more urban, and more representative of the different demographic groups we see across America.”

The surge in gun sales in recent years is not confined to “red states” or areas with lenient gun ownership laws. Michigan and New Jersey top the list of states that saw the largest increase in firearm sales from January 2020 to January 2021 with 306% and 248% increases, respectively. Even Washington D.C, which has some of the nation’s strictest gun laws, saw an increase in gun purchases of over 200% during the same time period. Year over year, blue-state Minnesota and red-state Alaska saw nearly identical increases in gun sales, over 100%.

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Can you make a 40 yard supported shot?

Practice and find out, seriously. If you can’t, you have a goal, worthy of attaining, and a demonstrated, not hypothetical, reason for getting there.

“Pistols made up the bulk of this surge, rising from 962,900 handguns being produced in 2000, up to 5.5 million by 2020. Where long guns used for hunting were once the gun of choice, handguns, which are primarily used for personal protection, took the lead in 2009.”

Infographic: U.S. Gun Production Has Tripled Since 2000 | Statista

Women Now Make Up the Largest Group of New Gun Owners

According to a recent study conducted by Harvard University, women now make up 42% of new gun owners accounting for nearly half of all new gun owners over the past 5-years. This number is up 14% from that same span of time and 3.5 million women joined the ranks of new gun owners between January 2019 and April 2021. An NSSF survey partially backs up this claim by the Harvard study by stating that 1/3rd of 2021’s new gun owners were women.

Keen observers of the firearms industry might have also noticed a distinct shift in the way that firearms companies are producing marketing material with many new products like the recent release of the PDP F Series being specifically marketed towards female shooters. Shooting organizations like “Shoot like a Girl” have also cropped up featuring female firearms instructors whose aim is to bring more women into shooting sports and provide them with a more comfortable environment to train in.

In the study conducted by Harvard University, one-quarter of the women surveyed said self-defense was the main reason they wanted to purchase a firearm for the first time with many citing the uptick in civil unrest and reduction of law enforcement assets during the summer of 2020. Another reason cited by many women as to why they’ve armed themselves is that many of them are now living alone and feel more comfortable having a firearm in the home for self-defense.

Regardless of what is spurring this increase in gun ownership amongst women, I think this is a net positive for the firearms industry as a whole and the women that the industry is trying to serve. Let us know if the ladies that you know are taking on an increased interest in firearms and what they are saying as to how or why they’re getting into firearms.

The original version is still a very good bullet

Tipped Triple-Shock X Ammo:
TTSX Bullets Explained

See the source image

The Tipped Triple-Shock X is an updated variation on Barnes Bullets’ popular Triple-Shock X (TSX) that debuted in 2003, as a premium hunting bullet. TSX was – and still is – extremely popular with a relatively large following, but this tipped version aims to improve upon it with the polymer tip and redesigned nose cavity.

These features offer better rapid expansion and a mushroom effect that splits uniformly into four “petals.” These petals spread away from the center of the bullet on impact, creating a massive wound channel and extreme damage if the shot is in or near any vitals on the target. This effect is similar to a hollow point, but more predictable and consistent due to the features explained below.

Tipped Triple-Shock X Features

  • Lead-Free: Like the standard Triple-Shock line, the tipped version is 100% lead-free. The entire bullet is made of copper, which is very corrosion resistant. And though lighter than lead, it has some benefits that lead and hybrid bullets simply don’t have. One of these is almost complete weight retention, leading to more uniform performance in flight and upon impact.
  • Grooved: Like other bullets from Barnes, these feature grooved rings that help performance at lower pressures. The grooves expand as the bullet passes through the barrel, creating a better connection to the rifling in the barrel. Because of this, accuracy is greatly improved. This is especially appreciated by reloaders, as they have specific uses in mind when creating their perfect ammo for hunting, defense, and target shooting.
  • Polymer Tip: Anyone familiar with aerodynamics knows that a tipped bullet will fly faster and flatter than one with a hollow tip, round nose or other “non-tipped” style. Most shooters describe this as a ballistic coefficient. While this is true, another vital role of the the polymer tip is that it actually acts as a “trigger” of sorts to initiate expansion on impact. When the bullet hits its target, the tip is driven back into the bullet, forcing the bullet to expand. The tipped TSX bullets have a wider and deeper hollow cavity that the tip rests in, so you get an even larger wound cavity with the tipped version. This is great for hunters who want to take down the largest game.

Tipped Triple-Shock X Uses

While this particular bullet is used almost exclusively in big-game hunting ammo, you can also use it for smaller critters – as it has the accuracy to devastate most critters at extreme range, which is good for skittish varmints that won’t let you get anywhere near them.

This bullet shines in the wolf, boar, deer, goat, moose and bear area – and with calibers like .300 Win Mag and .30-06, you will have plenty of knockdown power. If you live in an area with limited tags each season, you want every shot to count and this bullet in most calibers is going to get the job done beautifully.

Whether you’re a reloader, buying various ammo from Barnes directly, or know someone who uses these bullets in their own stock, this is going to be a favorite hunting ammo for you and people you hunt with. There’s quite a following for the TSX and most have jumped over to the tipped style, simply because it outperforms the standard in many ways.

Private Purchasers Clean Up at Fort Worth Gun Buyback

A few days ago, this correspondent wrote about the upcoming gun turn in event scheduled for Fort Worth, Texas. Police were offering $100 gift cards to people who turned in working firearms. As predicted, the police quickly ran out of gift cards. The event, scheduled for four days, ended in three and a half hours.

The private buyers did not run out of cash. They got some pretty good deals. C.J. Grisham, who founded Open Carry Texas spoke to a reporter.

From cbsnews.com:

“So we wanted to come out here and get some good deals,” Open Carry Texas President and Founder, CJ Grisham said.

Right outside of the event there was a group of people who were able to offer cash and buy guns themselves.

“We offered them $100 in cash, instead of one hundred in gift cards,” Grisham said. “And if they were just going to take it in there we might increase it a little bit but I think the average price we paid was maybe $150 today.”

Grisham said majority of the people they approached accepted his offer. CBS 11 asked Fort Worth police about guns they hoped would be taken off the street, remaining in the community.

The police said the private buyers were within their rights to make offers and purchase guns themselves. The private buyers purchased about 30 guns, according to Grisham, at an average of about $150.

From the image shown on the video, the private buyers did well. The firearms purchased appear to include an SKS rifle, a double barreled shotgun, a Freedom Arms mini-revolver, a Remington semi-automatic centerfire rifle, an Explorer II .22 pistol,  a Smith & Wesson Scandium revolver, and many more.

The police showed an image of 107 firearms they accepted in exchange for gift cards. Included in the guns turned in was a classic model 12 Winchester shotgun, a Colt revolver, and numerous other rifles and shotguns. As expected, there was the usual assortment of inexpensive pistols, single shot shotguns, and .22 rifles. One of those appeared to be a Marlin lever action model 39 in good condition.

Most of the guns turned in were worth more than $100. The Model 12 Winchester usually goes for over $400. A model 39 Marlin would easily bring $400. There appeared to be an antique Smith & Wesson model 3 top-break revolver. It might have been worth over a thousand dollars.

There was at least one air rifle. Air guns and blank pistols may help account for a slight discrepancy in the reporting of the number of firearms turned in. Some reports state 112 guns were turned in to the police.

Guns turned in to Fort Worth Police (courtesy of Fort Worth Police Department)

From wfaa.com:

“Maybe was inherited, maybe just lying around. They had no use for and they didn’t want it to fall into the wrong hands or the hands of a child,” said Carabaja. “We respect everybody’s rights, everyone that
came in here voluntarily and they got something out of it.”

Officers planned to collect weapons for four days. But they run out of gift cards within hours, collecting 112 handguns and rifles of almost every make and model, according to police. 

None of the funds used to purchase the gift cards came from taxpayer money. The program uses confiscated monies for gun buyback events.

One of their goals is to keep weapons like these out of the wrong hands. 

The academic response to these sort of events is uniform. They do not work to reduce crime or suicides. The only plausible effect is propaganda, to send a message to the public: Guns bad. Turn them into the police. The private buyers countered that message with another: Guns are good. We pay Cash.

T.J. Grisham and the other private purchasers had a good day. The guns brought in were “taken off the streets” and into the hands of the police or into the hands of responsible private citizens.

Some AmmoLand readers were considering attending the Fort Worth event. Comments from those who attended would be a welcome addition to our information about what happened at the event.

Shooter Development — the Eleanor Drill by Sage Dynamics

Making rapid transitions from precision to practical accuracy is what the Eleanor Drill from Sage Dynamics is all about, explains Aaron Cowan. He notes that there are thousands of shooting drills out there and that he uses those that suit his needs. If he can’t find a regular exercise that suits his needs, he will formulate a new one that does.

One of those needs that he sees is making the rapid transition from precision to practical accuracy, whether with a handgun or a rifle.

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