Viewpoints

Nearly all the gun owners I know wonder how the world took on the character and flavor of Alice in Wonderland, especially in the last 20 years of the 20th century. By this I mean that up is down and right is wrong, and wrong is so horribly right these days, especially when it comes to guns. It wasn’t so long ago that kids took shotguns to school because they’d already been hunting that morning; it never crossed the minds of those youngsters to take potshots at their fellow classmates. Now, even high achievers take 9mm handguns to class and fire off a few rounds at their chums. One such miscreant, when asked why he did such a horrible thing, could only utter, “I don’t know.”

How utterly pe...

California wildlife programs will be dealt a serious blow if the Assembly passes a newly amended bill now in committee.

Assembly Bill 1010, introduced by Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-LA), would ban the distribution, drawing, or lottery of any firearm, component or ammunition at any California fundraising event. This is significant because nearly all California conservation organizations use sporting arms as prizes at their events.

“For a state that has a reputation for concern about the environment, California’s elected officials are close to selling their outdoors as well as their citizens down the drain,” said Bud Pidgeon, president of the Wildlife Legislative Fund of America (WLFA)....

Reviewing Guns
Since becoming a subscriber, I’ve been meaning to write and tell you how much I appreciate your tell-it-like-it-is style.

I’ve been a shooter and collector for many years, and have developed a “sixth sense” when reading the commerical advertising-driven gun magazines.

It is just so refreshing to hear the unvarnished, objective facts about a gun, which is a mechanical item when stripped of all its potential romance or image.Newer or less-skeptical readers must be in a virtual fog of confusion while trying to sort out all the facts surrounding the dizzying array of shooting-related products in the market place today. How ironic that just as we reach a high p...

The overwhelming tone of reader mail we get is gratitude for telling it like it is. As you’ll see when you read about 4-inch revolvers, custom .45 ACPs, turkey shotguns, and .22 rifles, hardnosed critiques are our exclusive franchise. You won’t read critical buy-this, don’t-buy-that comparisons of firearms products anywhere else.

We’re glad this approach is unique, but it’s always a little surprising to many shooters. If you go onto any shooting range anywhere in this country (or the world, I suppose), you’ll hear frank discussions of firearms performance. One shooter will say, “This gun is a sack of hooey [or words to that effect].” Another will add, “That gun shoots like a house afire.”...

The overwhelming tone of reader mail we get is gratitude for telling it like it is. As you’ll see when you read about 4-inch revolvers, custom .45 ACPs, turkey shotguns, and .22 rifles, hardnosed critiques are our exclusive franchise. You won’t read critical buy-this, don’t-buy-that comparisons of firearms products anywhere else.

We’re glad this approach is unique, but it’s always a little surprising to many shooters. If you go onto any shooting range anywhere in this country (or the world, I suppose), you’ll hear frank discussions of firearms performance. One shooter will say, “This gun is a sack of hooey [or words to that effect].” Another will add, “That gun shoots like a house afire.”...

H&K P7M8 Booster
I am a commissioned security officer in Dallas, Texas. My H&K P7M8 (October 1999) was $850 plus tax when I bought it several years ago. Was it worth it? The last time I requalified, I scored 146 (including a 2-point penalty for a flyer), on a shooting test with a maximum score of 150. Yup, it was worth it.I also used it to qualify for the state concealed carry permit. Out of 50 rounds fired, I had two flyers. My hand got tired with the squeeze cocker. And yes, I carry it concealed.

It seems to prefer 115-grain bullets best. But realistically, when you are looking at one ragged hole, whether it is a little bigger or smaller, is a pretty specious argument. I...

I received an email on March 23 at 5:26:48 p.m. from Phil and Sandy Harpine of Leesville, South Carolina. The email header read only this: “S&W sell out.” The body of the email message was nearly as short. It read: “Please do not use one cent of my subscription to test, write about or reference any S&W product!!!!!!”

And that wasn’t the first communication I’d had on the subject. Two days earlier, the Gun Owners of America group had issued an email alert whose header read: “Smith & Wesson Sell-out: Boycott!” The headline on the email read, “GOA Announces Boycott of Clinton & Wesson—Sell-out worse than originally reported.”

As you might expect, I’ve gotten nearly 100 pieces of email, fa...

Dunk-Kit Questions
Your article in the March 2000 Gun Tests about the cleaning product called Dunk-Kit was of significant interest to me. I do, however, have a few questions.Is there an effect on polymer-frame guns. Will the solution affect their integrity? Can a fully assembled slide be submerged and cleaned with the firing pin intact? Will this process completely clean the bore, eliminating the need for scrubbing? Is the solution environmentally friendly and easily disposed of? What is the life of the solution? Will it have any adverse effect on finishes.

Jim Calderio
via American Online

In our testing of Dunk-Kit, we find it is especially effective on...