Arizonans! Independence Day Appleseed!

Ladies and Gentlemen, you've heard of these shoots on this forum. Now, those of you in the Phoenix/Payson/Show Low/Camp Verde/Winslow area have the opportunity to participate in an Appleseed Shoot.

Over the weekend of July 5th and 6th, you have the opportunity to be immersed in the tradition of the American Rifleman and the epic history of our country's founding in 1775.

You'll learn about the great personal sacrifices made by men and women of the day, the chain of events that led to our Declaration of Independence, and how the role of the American Rifleman played into that great saga.

You'll also put approximately 400 rounds down-range in an instructional course that will teach you to fire your rifle from real positions, accurately, and to be effective with your rifle out to the "Rifleman's Quarter Mile."

The best part of all, though, is you'll spend the Independence Day weekend with other Americans who have a deep respect for the sacrifices made by those 18th century patriots, and wish to preserve the memories of those who stood for us today.

For more information or to sign up:

General Info:http://www.appleseedinfo.org
Event-specific Info:http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=3032.0
Sign-up:http://www.appleseedinfo.org/as_schedule.htm

Payson is a great place to visit for Phoenicians looking to escape the summer heat of the Valley below. Camping is available as well as hotels.

The Tonto Rim Sports Club was gracious enough to offer their range for this event, and we get to use a quality NRA High Power range with sun shade for the event.

Directions to the range:From Phoenix, drive North on Highway 87 (Beeline Highway). Keep an eye out for milepost 248... it's about 2 miles just south of Payson city limits. Drive 0.6 miles north of milepost 248 and turn right onto Forest Road 208. The range is approximately 1.8 miles down the road.

From Payson, drive south on Highway 87. At milepost 249, go about 0.4 miles to the left-turn cutout in the highway and turn left onto Forest Road 208. The range is approximately 1.8 miles down the road.

map: http://www.tontorimsportsclub.com/pages/map_l.html

I hope to see you there.

Ammo budget looking grim? Afraid of a new AWB?

The AWB ending was the best thing in the world for Bushmaster/DPMS/Stag/RRA/Cavalry Arms/{insert favoritepoodlepopperplatform here}. Sales lifted through the roof under speculation that "Y'all only have a little while ta git 'em, so stack 'em deep!"We now have LEGIONS of EBR owners with everything from inexpensive SKS's to top-dollar M14 Match rifles or AR-10's. Daewoo's, AK's, PSL's, M1's, Keltecs and other evil rifles abound.

Those rifle owners, who thought that the rifle would be the target of the ire of Politicos, decided they might like to learn how to use these new-fangled doo-dads... so they bought ammunition for them.

They bought more ammo. Then still more.

The surplus .223, 7.62NATO and x39/x54 dried up in a hurry. Add in a war, and prices for new ammunition almost tripled in the last 10 years.

Gun grabbers realize there is a new glut of EBR's out there, with bullets for them. Their goal now is to regulate/ban/tax/hinder the ammo out of existence, helped by your desire to train and familiarize yourself with your rifle.

Don't help them.

The best political statement you can make right now regarding firearms (aside from membership in AT LEAST 2 prominent organizations of your pick) is to shoot a LOT. A lot of .22.

Trick out a .22 to handle like your EBR. It may be a 10/22 rigged like an M14/M1, or it may be a Ceiner conversion for your AR. Learn mag changes, learn to shoot from something other than the bench, and learn to make HITS rather than just to shoot for the thrill of shooting.

Take a rifle class. Appleseed, NRA High Power, Gunsite, Frontsight, anything... as long as you:
1. Build your skills.
2. Network with other shooters and likeminded folks.
3. Become involved in local politics as a result. ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL. Lexington and Concord were local.

Keep familiarity with your EBR, but keep your ammunition reserves at a secure level. Shoot just enough that you can afford to replace.

Then go shoot that .22 some more.

Victory At AZGFD Headquarters!

Common sense prevailed over raw emotion at the Arizona Game and Fish Headquarters last Friday as the board members elected to continue with the current voluntary compliance policy regarding lead ammunition and the California Condor.

NRA supporters, Second Amendment activists and outdoorsmen of all stripes showed up in force for the all-day public discussion forum that addressed a range of issues from the hotly debated lead ammo ban to poaching concerns to procedures to replace Duane Shroufe as director of the AZGFD.

Also present were approximately twenty or so Condor supporters of various stripes; some of scientific prominence in the raptor and birds of prey fields of study.

I spoke and presented my abridged findings (which were cut short by the premature failure of my bullet trap), but I hardly swayed the decision; AZGFD knows its duty to its constituency and needs to be congratulated in keeping their priorities in focus.

Box of Truth?

I went out in the desert this last weekend to experiment with various weights and versions of copper jacketed lead hunting bullets in response to the AZGFD's "discussion" on January 18th.

Here is my hastily constructed version of a "Box o' Truth." It holds up to nine 1-gallon jugs of water roughly six inches deep each. The box is ten inches wide and about five feet deep.

It turned out to be insufficient to the power of my targeted cartridge, the .308 Winchester. I loaded up one round of Federal's 150gr PowerShock ammunition and fired it into my BoT.

The bullet smashed three water jugs, then changed course and smashed through the 1/2" particle board wall and disappeared into my backstop.

It was immediately apparent that I would have to go back to the drawing board for measuring the expansion and mass retention of big game rifle cartridges. If the .308 did this to my box, then .30-06 and larger cartridges would be even worse.

After repairing my impromptu bullet trap, I left the .308 platform for awhile and moved on to centerfire pistol cartridges, hoping that the less powerful cartridges would be less damaging to my frame.

First up: the .44 Remington Magnum cartridge. This particular loading is a 240 grain Lead Semiwadcutter bullet pushed by 16.0 grains of Accurate Arms #7 powder with an overall length of 1.575" on the assembled cartridge. It is not a very aggressive loading. Recoil in general is fairly soft. I do not have a chronometer, but I would estimate velocity to be between 1250 and 1300 feet per second. The firing platform was a stock Ruger Redhawk with a 4" barrel, fired from 15 yards.

The bullet fully penetrated six jugs of water but moved off-center far enough to miss the final three jugs and embed itself into my dirt berm, unrecoverable. I examined each of the water jugs and found a perfectly circular entry and exit hole on each one. I also checked the bottom of each container for any lead shavings or bullet fragments. None precipitated to the bottom of the jugs. Despite not being able to retain the fired bullet, between these two observations, I can conclude that the LSWC bullet used in this test maintained 100% (or near enough) integrity and left no lead residue behind.

Next, I tried a .357 Magnum loading. This particular load was a 158gr LSWC design similar to the 44 Magnum above, pushed by Hodgdon Titegroup powder measured to 5.0gr. The cartridge measures 1.600" OAL. I'd estimate the velocity to be approximately 1100fps. The firing platform was a Ruger SP-101 revolver with 3" barrel.

This bullet performed almost exactly like the .44 Magnum; it penetrated five jugs of water and moved off-center enough to miss the remaining water jugs. It brushed against the right wall of the box and bounced off again, impacting into the dirt berm. Each of the entry and exit holes of the bullet were completely round, and there was no lead residue or shavings in the five perforated containers.

I would have preferred to retain the bullets if at all possible, and a redesign of the bullet trap will allow for this in the future. That being said, I am confident that the results I have extrapolated from available data regarding lead wadcutter bullets will hold out when a better trap is constructed.

I moved on to .22 long rifle cartridges. I was using an old Coast-to-Coast hardware rifle based off the Marlin model 795 as a test platform.

The first cartridge tested was the Winchester XPERT22 offering. This is an all lead bullet with a fairly prominent hollowpoint, weighing 36gr. The bullet completely penetrated the first jug leaving behind the lead walls of the hollowpoint, and the base came to rest inside of the second jug. I retrieved the pieces of the hollowpoint from the first jug and the base from the second jug for later weighing.

The second cartridge was the CCI Stinger offering. This is a copper jacketed bullet with a hollowpoint, weighing 32gr. This bullet performed almost identically to the Winchester XPERT22; the hollowpoint sheared away in the first jug and the base penetrated into the second jug. I retrieved the pieces for later weighing. The broken pieces of hollowpoint wall appear to be almost entirely copper in construction.

The third cartridge was the CCI MiniMag offering. This is a copper plated lead bullet with a very minimal hollowpoint, 36gr in weight. This bullet performed the most impressively out of the four tested. The bullet penetrated three water jugs. No bullet pieces were left in the first two containers, and the recovered projectile from the third jug was perfectly mushroomed to 0.325" diameter and weighed 35.8gr on recovery. This two-tenths of a grain difference in weight is easily explained by bullet weight variation; I don't believe any of the bullet is missing at all.

The fourth cartridge was the Federal Value Pack offering. This is also a copper plated lead bullet with a minimal hollowpoint, 36gr in weight. This bullet penetrated three water jugs, almost into a fourth. It penetrated the far wall of the third jug and lodged in, stopping the jug from draining. No pieces sheared off in any of the three jugs, and the bullet did not expand at all. It weighed 36.7gr on retrieval. Given the relatively inexpensive production techniques for these bullets, it appears that it retained 100% of its weight on impact.

The final cartridge tested for the day was a .30-30 Winchester offering, the 170gr Power Point. I hoped that since this cartridge was less powerful than the .308, it might be stopped by my weak bullet trap. The firing platform was a Winchester model 94 rifle.

The bullet penetrated five jugs, coming to a rest in the sixth. The water shockwave from jugs 1-2 completely destroyed the rest of my bullet trap beyond any hope of repair. The bullet came to rest in jug #6 and appeared to be intact. While the first 2-3 jugs were heavily damaged by the bullet's passage, no lead or copper sediment was visible in the bottom of each. The recovered projectile had sharp copper serations on the opened mushroom, with a diameter of 0.553". I have not weighed the projectile yet, but I expect it to weigh in excess of 160gr.

From these observations, I can reasonably conclude that:

The metallic material used has little or nothing to do with concerns over lead poisoning. If we were using pot iron or soft steel as a bullet core and designing these bullets to expand while hunting, we would be talking about tetanus or internal hemorrhaging of these birds rather than lead poisoning.

The culprit is bullet construction. A light, thin-jacketed bullet will sheer its jacket off on impact and collapse on any hollow cavity it contains. Barnes bullets and similar solid copper bullet competitors eliminate this problem by eliminating the jacket; they simply make the jacket and body the same material. Judging from my tests, the same exact result can be achieved by using a solid, hard-cast lead bullet. Other, longer-established premium bullet manufacturers such as Hornady and Speer have techniques to more solidly bind the jacket material to the lead core and eliminate separation or fracture of the bullet core.

Arizona Game and Fish to Entertain California-style Lunacy

I received the following email from the NRA Institute for Legislative Action:

Arizona Game and Fish Commission to Discuss Lead Ammunition and Shooting Range Issues!Commission Discussing Issues Concerning Gun Owners and Hunters!On Friday, January 18th, 2008, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission (AZGFC) will be holding a public meeting to discuss issues concerning gun owners and hunters. Of greatest interest are briefings on shooting range funding and development (Item #3) as well as general issues associated with lead from spent ammunition (Item #10). Since last year, when California passed its unjustified ban on lead ammunition for all hunting in condor range, the NRA has been keeping a close eye on the same issue in Arizona. The Grand Canyon State has an experimental population of condors and some extremists in Arizona are advocating for a California-style ban! While the Commission agenda does not specifically mention a potential ban in Item #10, gun owners and hunters must be vigilant to ensure that this bad public policy does not spread!Please take the time and attend the AZGFC meeting and make your voice heard on these important issues. The meeting will be held at the Arizona Game and Fish Department at 5000 W. Carefree Highway, Phoenix, AZ, beginning at 8:00 a.m. A copy of the agenda can be found on the Commission's website at http://www.azgfd.gov/inside_azgfd/meeting_agenda.shtml

I don't buy into this idea that Condors are bothered by lead ammunition; I think this is a horrible false assumption to take to an unsupportable conclusion that lead ammunition should be restricted or banned for use by hunters that pursue game in areas where Condors are known to exist.


Just so we all are on the same page, the left image is what the controversy is about. A vulture. It does the same thing as rats, coyotes, crows, ravens, maggots and worms (along with countless other species I haven't included). It eats dead animals.

Condors are present in Arizona in the northwest corner of the state, stretching up into the Colorado River Basin and into the Grand Canyon. If you hunt anywhere around Flagstaff, north of Prescott, or over towards Kingman, you can be affected by regulation concerning the Condor population in Arizona. This can affect thousands of elk, deer, antelope, javelina, game bird and varmint hunters from all corners of the state.

Due to the wide range of game that cohabitates in land where the Condor has been reintroduced, an ammunition ban can have the power to regulate the use of calibers ranging all the way in power from the large game calibers of the old west like .45/70 or the newer .338 Winchester Magnum, to the more commonly used .30-06 or 7mm Remington Magnum, to popular coyote and javelina cartridges like the .223 Remington or .22-250 or even the .22LR rimfire you used to hunt cottontails.

Gun Owners of Arizona, we can't allow this idea to gather any momentum at all. There are two reasons that we need to oppose any regulation of hunting ammunition in our state.

1. A bullet constructed of lead, by itself, does not necessarily imply contamination of a shot game animal for the Condor to scavenge. Bullet construction has an enormous amount of influence in the amount of lead left in an unretrieved carcass.
2. Condors are designated as an experimental and non-essential species in Arizona.

It is my goal to demonstrate that both large game and varmint hunting can be successfully accomplished with bullets constructed of lead without adversely affecting the unretrieved carcasses that a Condor might feed upon.