Viewpoints

Bullet-Testing Disagreements
Re Survivor Bullet Testing: .45 ACP 230-Grain Hollowpoints, October 2004:

I was greatly disappointed to see this article. It contained several glaring errors, and is far below the standards I have come to expect from your magazine.

My first problem with the article is the statement that water does an amazing job of generating the same results, vis-a-vis penetration and expansion, as 10-percent ordnance gelatin. While properly prepared and calibrated gelatin does do a good job reproducing tissue, water does not. Water, tissue, and gelatin have similar densities and will generate similar expansion results, but because water cannot support...

BE THANKFUL YOU DONT LIVE IN D.C.

Gun owners across the county often grouse about how difficult it for them to own firearms in certain jurisdictions - or impossible in others.Certainly, one of the worst gun-rights offenders is the District of Columbia. There, sportsmen are liable to be arrested and imprisoned, no questions asked, merely for owning a gun.

There are cases in which firemen responding to fires have found unloaded rifles or shotguns in private homes. The owners have been threatened with prosecution. There are other cases where homeowners have kept hidden firearms for protection against intruders, and when they used the weapons, they were prosecuted for more...

To comment on Gun Tests articles, please email us at guntestseditor@earthlink.net.

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Tactical Shotgun Choice
Re January 2005, 20-Gauge Youth Shotguns: Are They Effective For Self Defense?:

As a longtime subscriber, Ive learned to trust your advice, and I need some now. I recently attended a tactical shotgun course taught by two police instructors at our local club. I discovered that under stress, the shotgun that I thought was ideal as a home-defense weapon was not the gun I needed. I took the course with my Remington 870, and it was a disaster.

The gun performed flawlessly, but I did not. I repeatedly for...

The Lead Boogeyman
There were 20 million metric tons of lead bullets fired in the United States in the 20th century. Is that lead having an environmental impact? Not according to research done by Virginia Tech geological scientists.

Analyzing samples from a U.S. Forest Service firing range near Blacksburg, Virginia, Donald Rimstidt, a professor in the Department of Geosciences at Virginia Tech, and other researchers found very little lead damage to the environment. This is a big issue for gun owners, who face opposition from environmentalists over lead deposits. There are 9,000 nonmilitary shooting ranges and a lot of military ones in the United States. Some 60,000 metric to...

Made in America
Re Short Shots, November 2004:

Thanks for the mention of SIGs DHS contract on page 5. However, I am a little concerned about the impertinent question. Is Gun Tests magazine implying that the pistols are not made in the U.S.? Because if that is so, thats news to us. As you can see from the press release and the article in the local paper, we are building the guns here in Exeter, New Hampshire, which, if nothing has changed since the last time I looked, is located in America. We explained in the release that we increased our production capacity by 25 percent with a very large investment in new equipment - six Okuma CNC machines to be exact.

If your i...

[IMGCAP(1)]In this space, I usually stick with discussions of politics or gun ownership that apply to broad audiences. This month is a departure from that formula, because of the unique nature of a stolen gun thats just come to light. That this priceless gun is one of a kind isnt so newsworthy; expensive firearms are stolen from individuals every day, here and abroad. No, this gun was stolen from a manufacturer, which itself is curious. And that the thief cherry-picked this specific item from among thousands is confounding as well. Heres the full story:

SIGARMS Inc. is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the individuals responsible for the theft and the...

Gun Tests reader Ben Shaw of Clarke County, Alabama, wrote me the day after the Clinton Gun Ban expired. His comments on the ban, the banners, and various talking heads on television parallel my own. I think youll enjoy reading what he had to say.

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The reason that gun experts laugh at these anti-gun legislators and lobbyists is that they do not know anything about firearms. An example: One of the features that was banned as causing a rifle to be an Assault Weapon was a bayonet lug. Will anyone please tell me when a bayonet mounted on a rifle was used in a crime?

How does one detect these ignorant anti-gun legislators and lobbyists? By knowing the proper terminology,...

Good Barrel Needed
Re September 2004, Mil-Spec .30-06 Bolt Guns: 03 Springfield Vs. 17 Enfield:

I just finished reading your Springfield versus Enfield article. It is too bad that you did not have an Enfield with a good barrel. I have owned both the 03 and 17 in .30-06 cal. for 30-plus years and have found them to be excellent shooters. The 17 made by Winchester has been the one that I have shot the longest distance. Some years ago I hit a target with my first shot at 950 yards. The sight had been changed to a Lyman 1000-yard open sight, so even though it was not military, it was a similar peep sight. Please dont sell either one of these weapons short. They will bo...

JOHN KERRYS GUN-VOTING RECORD

According to the National Rifle Associations Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), John F. Kerrys voting record makes him the most anti-gun presidential nominee in United States history. NRA records show that since his election to the U.S. Senate in 1984, Kerry has cast 59 votes (NRA did not score 4 of them) on issues involving firearms rights and hunting.

In addition, Kerry currently is a co-sponsor of S. 1431, which would ban all semi-automatic shotguns, all detachable-magazine semi-automatic rifles and many other guns, calling the whole lot assault weapons.

In a 20-year career, Kerry has voted on nine separate occasions on issues...

12-Gauge Defense Shotguns
Re January 2004, 12-Gauge Home-Defense Shotguns: Benelli Nova Tactical Pump and the Mossberg Model 500 Pump:

I was catching up on my reading and finally got to a comparison of the Benelli Nova Tactical Pump and the Mossberg Model 500 Pump. The article made valid points about the muzzle-heavy balance of the Mossberg with an extended tubular magazine, and the fact that a new Mossberg action is not as smooth as it will become when broken in.

The muzzle heaviness is indeed a factor when swinging to a target on the trap range, but it is not noticeable with the butt of the gun tucked under the arm and shooting at 20 feet. I am also confident that any...

.338 Magnum Showdown
Re Two .338 Winchester Magnums Vs. Remingtons .338 Ultra Mag, March 2004:

Read your article on the .338 Magnum Showdown with some interest, especially the accuracy and chronograph data. I noticed that the Remington 700 LSS had an average group size of 2.8 inches using the off-the-shelf Core-Lokt PSP ammunition. That is not a very good group for 100 yards. Here in northwest Florida I have talked to quite a few shooters about Remington 700 rifles. Most every shooter states that you cannot get a good group with a Remington 700 unless you put the bullet to within 0.004 inch of the lands.

A case in point: Last year I bought a Remington 700 VLS in 6mm Re...

Confused? Dont Be
Re Firing Line:

Im confused. You give the Kel-Tec Sub 2000 a good report, and then a writer to Firing Line says his specimen is a hunk of junk. You report lousy accuracy with the Remington 700 Titanium, yet a writer to said column reports excellent accuracy and thinks it is a great gun. You give good marks to the AWA Peacekeeper, and then one of your readers reports all the problems with his and a snotty factory to boot. Apparently, all your reports in Gun Tests should be taken with several grains of salt, since everything seems to depend upon which sample of a particular firearm is the subject of evaluation.

-Bill Heubaum

We report...