by Phil Bourjaily
Mostly, I am of the school of thought that it’s best to make a turkey come look for you rather than put out a decoy that might make him hang up or even walk away. Nevertheless, I always have decoys in my gamebag just in case I am staking out an open field, especially late in the season when hens are not interested in going to toms. This year I used the new Primos P.H.D. (pocket hen decoy, about $55). It’s an inflatable hen with a non-shiny cloth photoprinted skin that shows iridescent feather detail.
The decoy squishes down to pocket size. It weighs very little, and while Primos says it inflates with three breaths, it takes me five or six. Still it only takes a few seconds to get it blown up and ready to hunt and even less time to deflate it and stow it in your vest.
It moves easily in the wind and looks very real – at least it does until a real hen comes and stands next to it, as one did on my hunt the other day. Then it looks kind of goofy compared to a live bird. However, what I think doesn’t matter: the hen thought the P.H.D. was real, as did this gobbler, who strutted all the way across a field to it. This picture was taken in bright midday sun, yet the cloth doesn’t shine which I had wondered about when I first saw this decoy.
While I still like the basic and cheap Featherflex hen which has fooled thousands of turkeys over the years, the P.H.D. weighs just a little more and looks better.
by Phil Bourjaily
Today’s tip: Have a backup plan, and have a backup to your backup plan.
This morning’s Plan A was to hunt a gobbler I found earlier in the week. The season is almost over and the wildlife area I hunt has been deserted for days so I was very surprised to find the only other vehicle on 6,000 acres parked at my spot this morning. So much for Plan A.
Plan B was to sit in the woods near the exit to a field where I know birds have been strutting first thing before they wander off into the woods. Plan B might have worked if I hadn’t had to stop and change a flat tire. The time it took me to change the flat put me behind schedule and I arrived at the Plan B location exactly when the turkeys got there. I was just picking out a tree to sit under when I noticed red heads looking at me. They went scuttling away. So much for Plan B.
Plan C was to go sit and blind-call at the edge of a field near the Plan B spot. Turkeys have been passing through the field at mid-morning and sometimes strutting there.
There was no Plan D, so I figured I would stick with Plan C for the rest of the morning. Two hours and fifteen minutes after I sat down this gobbler showed up. He may have been one of the birds I spooked earlier, maybe not. I don’t care. He strutted in just the way they are supposed to with the mid-morning sun on his feathers.
This morning, Plan C was the winner.
by David E. Petzal
Melvin Forbes started Ultra Light Arms (now New Ultra Light Arms) in 1986, and is still very much in business, which is a towering tribute to the quality of his rifles. Small gunmakers riseth up and are mown down, but Melvin is still turning out the best truly light hunting rifles in the world.
What stands between a New Ultra Light Arms rifle and most shooters is the price. It’s a handmade gun, and the basic Model 24 NULA is $3,600 before options, which are many. And so, because Melvin is a man of the people, he has found a way to get his rifles into the hands of the many at a price of $1,400, which puts it in the upper tier of factory rifles.
The Forbes Model 24 B consists of the same Kevlar/graphite stock, made by Melvin, a CNC-produced action turned out by Titan Machine Products in Maine, a Timney trigger, and a Shaw barrel instead of a Douglas. The barrel comes in 24 inches only, #2 contour, and at present the rifle is available only in .270 and .30/06, right-hand only, and one stock color, gray. Its weight is 5 ¼ pounds, and until you heft one, you can’t imagine how light that is.
Picking up a Model 24B is jarring because the rifle has not been hacked, chopped, gouged, bobbed, or otherwise mutilated to achieve that extraordinary weight. It’s a full-sized gun, and looks like a full-sized gun, so you don’t expect it to weigh that little. The stock is only a pound, and there is not a fraction of an ounce extra anywhere else. It’s extremely durable (Nosler had a NULA action on a test rifle and put a million rounds through it before it got tired.), accurate, and foolproof.
After some snorting and farting on everyone’s part, I got my hands on a production rifle in .270, and am pleased to report that it shoots as well as any of the $3,600 NULAs. Due to the very limited time I could keep it, I went directly to handloads, and found that I could get groups of .589-inch with 150-grain Hornady SSTs, Federal 215 Primers, and H4831. Even by the unearthly accuracy standards of the newest rifles, this is about as good as it gets.
Two words of caution: The Shaw barrel is pretty rough and collects copper very quickly, so be advised that unless you clean your Model 24B with great vigah, it will quickly cease to shoot well. Second, rifles this light place an extra demand on you; every little twitch or jiggle is magnified because you don’t have 8 or 9 pounds of gun to absorb it. If your marksmanship basics are not up to snuff, you might want to buy something heavier.
I’ve owned a number of ULAs and NULAs over 20-plus years, and have hunted just about everywhere and everything with them, and except for the stamp on the receiver, I can’t tell the difference between the Model 24B and my guns. It’s still the best light big-game rifle around…but at $2,200 less.
by Phil Bourjaily
As I mentioned previously, raising the comb of a field gun with moleskin or a slip-on comb pad makes it work better for clay target shooting--especially trap. The question arose in the comments to that post: Why should guns have different stock dimensions for clays or birds, seeing as how both are flying targets? Good question.
The gun in the picture is a Remington 1100 trap gun. I bought it (for $250. Score!) from a friend who used it as his duck gun for many years. It’s the gun I give to any kid who is having trouble hitting trap targets, especially kids who are struggling to hit trap targets with a field gun.
It has a stock that is straighter than a field stock but not aggressively high (1-3/8” at the comb, 1-3/4” at the heel). For most people, it shoots just high enough that you have to see the whole bird over the barrel to hit it. I believe it’s a lot easier to hit birds (whether clay or feathered) when you see them, rather than when you have to cover them with the barrel.
So, why aren’t all guns stocked this way?
I have no answers, only theories.
Here’s one: since so much of target shooting is done with a premounted gun, you have an opportunity to wriggle your cheek down onto the stock of, say, a trap gun. In the field, on the other hand, you throw the gun up hastily and rarely cheek it as firmly as you would on the target field. Therefore a field gun needs a lower comb to compensate for the fact that most people don’t have time to “get down” on it.
The man I bought the 1100 from was a serious sporting clays shooter. He has practiced his gun mounting enough that it was consistent, whether he was shooting ducks or clays with the 1100. For him, a gun with a target stock was perfect for hunting. Your mileage may vary, as they say, but it’s something to think about.
by Phil Bourjaily
Two years ago when I took my tour of Smith & Wesson, S&W’s Paul Pluff talked with me about current the boom in gun sales. He told that something like 50% of recent gun buyers were first time gun owners. He said the challenge the shooting industry faced was to turn those new gun owners into shooters or they would not be repeat customers, and the boom would be but a one-time spike in sales.
Pluff drew an analogy to Harley Davidson. A lot of people buy Harleys just because they are cool American icons. If they never ride their Harleys (and some don’t), they never have to buy new ones. Harley Davidson, therefore, puts on events and rides specifically aimed at getting people out and riding their bikes so they will buy more. The firearms industry, said Paul, needed something like it.
A couple of days ago I received a release about the Armed Citizen Alliance (ACA) which appears to be an initiative like the one Pluff was describing. The ACA, among other things, plans to offer shoots for carry guns. From their website:
“ACA “Practice & Confidence” recreational events offer an appealing alternative, designed specifically so people can “Shoot what they actually carry; the way they actually carry it.” Only store-bought handguns of carry-concealed configuration are allowed. No special-configuration custom guns, no non-standard refinements.
The format and structure of ACA events themselves will be simple, safe, and fun. Basic and necessary forward-looking rules will provide for the inevitable desire of returning participants to expect growth and improvement as they become “captured” by the challenge--and the enjoyment--of developing personal defense abilities and confidence, and seek ways to “keep track of how well they’re doing.”
It seems like a sensible idea all around. The shooting industry needs to sell guns, ammunition and holsters. People with permits should practice and become more familiar – and therefore safer and more responsible – with their firearms. They should have fun with them, too.
Discussion questions:
Would you shoot in an ACA event with your carry gun?
If ACA events catch on, do you predict they will become serious competitions in their own right the way skeet and sporting clays evolved from hunting practice to target sports.
by David E. Petzal
Here’s a good reason not to be a coyote, or any other objectionable form of animal life. Mr. Eichler, who is a varmint hunter of note, has collaborated with Rock River Arms to produce a totally cool MSR with all the right bells and whistles. There are a great many specs here, so let’s get to them.
Starting at the muzzle, the Predator has a tuned and ported muzzle brake (Why does the rifle in the photo not have one? We will get to that shortly.), a 16-inch, stainless, medium-heavy, lapped, cryo-treated barrel, low-profile gas block, free-floating handguard (whose vent holes are in the shape of paw prints, which I find almost unbearably cute), mid-length gas system, all sorts of rails, a truly superior (3.5 pounds, dead clean) two-stage trigger inside an oversized trigger guard, Hogue pistol grip, and a choice of an adjustable or non-adjustable stock. The barrel has a Wylde chamber, so it can use either civilian .223 or military 5.56 ammo. Twist is 1-8, and it handles 55-grain to 77-grain bullets just fine, although I found the rifle had distinct preferences about what it liked and didn’t like. Weight is 7.6 pounds, and overall length with the non-adjustable stock is a highly compact 36 inches. Excuse me; I need to catch my breath.
RRA guarantees that this rifle will group in ¾-inch at 100 yards. I found that with match ammo I could equal that, and with 77-grain Federal Match ammo, I could get ½ inch. However, the Predator will not shoot everything well; with some brands of ammo it didn’t like it would group in 2 inches.
Two things about the Predator jump out at you: First, it’s a very high-quality gun that’s put together with a lot of care. A collection of parts it ain’t. Second, you won’t have to go tearing off components and substituting other stuff. What’s on here, works, so leave it alone.
Now, why did my rifle not have a muzzle brake when it’s standard equipment? Because under the weird specs New York State imposes on MSRs, a muzzle brake would probably be illegal on this rifle. Or maybe it is legal. No one really is sure, so RRA acted on the side of caution. New York State assumes that if a semi-auto rifle with a muzzle brake fell into my hands I would be come a menace to the public. What can you say about that kind of thinking? In any event, if the rifle did have a muzzle brake, it would undoubtedly shoot even better than it did, and kick less, which was hardly at all.
The Predator lists for $1,395, which is fine. I look beady-eyed at the prices on a lot of MSRs, but not this one. It’s obvious where the money went. Also, Rock River Arms informs me that there is a wait on the order of 6 to 8 weeks for these guns. They can’t keep up with demand for any of their firearms, and the Predator is no exception. But I like this little rifle tremendously; it’s worth the wait. Rockriverarms.com
by David E. Petzal
Optics, like everything else in our world, are in a state of turmoil. On the one hand, you can now pay close to $4,000 for a riflescope or a spotting scope and $3,000 plus for a binocular, while on the other hand there are riflescopes and spotting scopes selling for $400 and $300 that are better than anything you could buy at any price 20 years ago. Yet on the third hand we now have optical devices that did not even exist 20 years ago, such as laser rangefinders, range-compensating scopes, and good red-dot sights.
And if you’re to spend your money on any of this gear, you will quickly become confused, and your confusion can take on ugly notes of fear and panic. “What is one to do?”, you will bellow, and your dog will wet the carpet in terror.
Not to worry. You can simply spend $19.95 on a new book by Tom McIntyre called the "Shooter’s Bible Guide to Optics," which will make all things clear. It’s not only a guide but a catalog as well, printed on good paper that resists much handling and streams of drool. Tom does the judging for Field & Stream’s “Best of the Best,” feature in the optics department. He knows everything about the subject, has worlds of hunting and shooting experience, and is a brutal and relentless tester. When I want to explain something that’s complex, involves glassware, and requires that I actually know what I’m talking about, I quote him.
Buy the book. It’s the only way you’re going to make any sense out of all this. Skyhorsepublishing.com
by Phil Bourjaily
I have posted this picture before but it gets a repost for good reason. It’s spring, and for many of you summer trap league is right around the corner. A lot of hunters shoot league trap with their field guns purely for fun and to hit more birds in the fall, and that’s great. However, you will shoot much higher scores (and get even better practice, as high scores beget confidence, and confidence makes good shooters) if you raise the comb of your stock a quarter-inch or so. A slightly elevated comb raises the gun’s point of impact, allowing you to see the target instead of having to cover it up with the barrel of your gun to hit it.
It’s simply easier to hit birds you can see.
That’s not to say it’s impossible to shoot good scores with a field gun. You can. I’ve done it, and seen it done a lot. But, it’s a difficult way to shoot clays, and what often happens is, eventually, the good shooter with a field gun starts to miss and doesn’t know why. Then he or she bears down, squishing their face even harder on the comb, which just makes the target even harder to see. A cycle of frustration, madness and despair follows.
Last night at practice I asked one of our shooters, who has been struggling, if he would let me use him for a guinea pig. I pulled the Beartooth products’ Comb Raising Kit onto his gun at the start of a round. He immediately broke his first 25 straight of the season. He’s a good shot. He had just been bearing down so hard he couldn’t see the targets.
by David E. Petzal
If you’d really like to depress yourself some evening, watch “Doomsday Preppers” on the National Geographic Channel. The show details the plans of normal, well adjusted people to cope with the aftermath of fiscal collapse, nuclear holocaust, the eruption of Yellowstone, solar flares, and so on.
The New York Times noted with outrage that many of these people were accumulating guns and ammunition in order to defend their 1,500 pounds of MREs and dried brown rice, but stockpiling guns is fine with me. My concern is that most of them seem pretty inexpert with guns. One prepper was counting on a Ruger Number One single-shot which, despite its many splendid qualities, is not what you’d pick to blast the mob at your door. Another managed to shoot off several fingers during a practice session. Yet a third, a resident of the Oligarchy of Bloomberg, took lessons in knife fighting because he was unable to get a gun, ignoring the fact that everyone in the Oligarchy of Bloomberg who wants a gun has one, or several, and when the pistol-waving mob comes to this fellow’s apartment I don’t think that he and his knife will last long.
A dose of reality was interjected into prepping recently when a resident of Washington State, one Peter Keller, shot his wife and daughter to death and then retreated to a heavily fortified bunker which he had spent 8 years digging into a hillside in the woods. The cops found his hole and waited him out. Then, after a 22-hour standoff, they brought in a breeching team and blew the door off his dugout. Inside were copious guns, ammo, body armor, and everything else a good prepper should accumulate. There was also the body of an apparent suicide whom the police believe is Mr. Keller. There went 8 years’ hard work in the time it took a couple of blocks of C-4 to go off.
I have nothing against prepping. I think a certain degree of preparedness is not only worthwhile, but necessary. Hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, ice storms, and Congress are facts of life that are all too real, and we must be able to deal with the havoc they wreak.
But if you have visions of accumulating tons of .223 ammo and dried corn and toughing it out by yourself after Life as We Know It ceases to exist, I suggest you watch a film called Threads, which was made by the BBC in 1984, and shows what life after a nuclear attack is bound to be like. You will not want to be around after the Big One arrives, your 5,000 rounds of 9mm ammo and food dehydrator notwithstanding.
by Phil Bourjaily
As we come up upon VE day (May 8) we should reflect that even the youngest WWII veterans are in their mid-eighties by now, a fact I’m well aware of, since my dad died in 2010.*
I was reminded of the “Greatest Generation” a couple of times last week. An Honor Flight was landing at the Quad Cities airport when I picked up my son the other night, and a few days before that I squeezed into my old tuxedo and attended a black tie event for my wife’s department.
Since I knew almost no one there and we were seated at a table with a wealthy donor and assorted VIPs, I feared a long evening. Wrong. The VIPs were all interesting and the donor – an attorney who sponsors an ethics essay award my wife administers – was a very lively 87-year-old who loves to fish and often travels to Brazil for peacock bass. He doesn’t hunt, though, having had enough of guns as an infantryman in Europe during WWII.
Besides being wounded in the war, he suffered from PTSD (“They didn’t have a name for it back then but I had nightmares for 50 years,” he said) until a few years ago. He cured himself by talking to schools, veteran’s groups and anyone else about PTSD and experiences he had kept inside for years.
Like many who fought in WWII he had grown up with very little. He was the son of a Greek immigrant who never had much to begin with and lost all he did have during the Depression.
He told me: “I once asked my father what were the best years of his life. He said it was the Depression, because then we had nothing but time for each other.”
*He drove an ambulance with the American Field Service attached to the British army in North Africa and Italy, then was drafted into the Army and was training for the invasion of Japan when the war ended. I always figured if it wasn’t for the atom bomb I might never have been born.
