Winter is upon us again, and we cannot say that we are sorry. Cool weather has much to recommend it following the long, hot summer just past. We are getting good reports back from the hunting members, and our people in Mesopotamia can enjoy a welcome relief from that Mid-Eastern sun. I once spent a summer in the Persian Gulf and a winter in the Aleutians, and I remember that in both places we seemed to have arrived at the wrong time of year. Weather aside, there is a certain gratification to be found in fighting in desolate places. Smashing up civilization's treasures in war makes a bad scene worse, thus I am relieved to have fought my major wars in the depths of the Pacific - wrecking Tarawa and Iwo gave us no feeling of wastefulness.
The pistol seems to have come into its own in this Arab war wherein much action takes place at very short range in the dark. The Beretta 92 is not a good choice, but there are still plenty of 1911s floating around, and those fortunate enough to acquire them report continued excellent service rendered by this fine artifact after almost a century. It is interesting that the 1911 seems to work better in an unfriendly, sandy atmosphere than its GI successors.
We have a greater selection of sporting rifle cartridges than we need, and it is interesting to see how some succeed commercially where others fail. A correspondent recently wrote in extolling the merits of the 300 Savage cartridge, the merits of which are well deserved, but oddly unappreciated. The 300 Savage cartridge, which is practically identical with the 308, was introduced with the Model 99 Savage lever-gun and seemed to be too good for its market. The Model 99 offered the advantages of lever-action, which include both certain safe-carry conditions along with suitability for both right-and left-hand use. In college a fraternity brother approached me for advice about the acquisition of a deer rifle, which his father wished to present him for Christmas. Since my friend was left-handed, we opted immediately for the Model 99 in caliber 300. Since this piece did not usually come over the counter with a good trigger or sights, we sent it immediately to Bob Chow in San Francisco for a trigger job and to be fitted with a four-power Weaver telescope. In those long gone days there was no difficulty in checking out the piece right there on the Stanford campus, and it shot up a storm. The war came along and knocked everything sideways, so I lost track of that rifle and any field success it might have enjoyed, but it was one of the better items I have been able to play with. The 300 Savage cartridge, like the 308, may be considered a bit much for deer, but I packed a Model 99 in caliber 250-3000 on the Rio Balsas expedition many years later and it gave perfect service.
We regret to report the passing of F. Bob Chow of San Francisco, one of the preeminent gunsmiths of the 20th century. He did the trigger work on the award pistol I took to war and he lasted longer at his trade than almost anyone we can think of. Bob lived to the ripe old age of 96. Nobody lives forever, but he sure did try hard.
We have always insisted the most significant element in the "hitability" of the rifle is its trigger action, which should not only be light but crisp and displaying no creep. It seems that few people know how to evaluate a good trigger in a rifle. When asked to test the piece, they seek a target on the far wall, mount the butt into the shoulder and simulate a shot. This is not the best way. A trigger should be tested by sight, rather than by touch. It is not aimed-in, but rather held where the trigger finger and the trigger are clearly visible. With the two-stage trigger (which I prefer), the slack is taken up and then the trigger finger is watched as the striker is released. If you can see your finger move on let-off, your trigger has creep. Obviously the trigger must move in order to release the striker, but this movement should not be visible. All this is pretty obvious, but apparently it is not as obvious as it should be.
Gunhandling seems to be rather an obscure art at this time, if we can believe what we see illustrated in the shooting periodicals, but the lever-gun does offer certain advantages over the bolt in matters of safe handling. Specifically, the lever-gun may be carried ready for action in Condition 3 with a full magazine but no shell in the chamber. In skilled hands it may be loaded as the butt hits the shoulder with no time loss at all. We tried this on flying clays at Gunsite, to the considerable amazement of the half educated.
I am a firm supporter of President Bush, but on this religious matter General Boykin is right and Bush is wrong.
Dr. Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda, maintained that if a lie is repeated long enough it will eventually become accepted as the truth. This would pertain to the repeated reference to the "Constitutional separation of church and state." Nothing in the US Constitution establishes any such separation. The Constitution states that Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion. That is certainly clear enough. The US Constitution is widely available in booklet form and should be carried around readily available for every occasion. It is an admirably simple and direct preparation. It is not obscure. It would be nice if more politicians would read it.
There seems to be a surge of interest in the heavy sporting rifle at this time, which is a bit odd when you reflect that nobody needs one. In the great hunting days between the wars people who could afford it undertook classic safaris which occupied several months and bagged enough animals to complete a natural history museum. There was also the matter of expense, since elephant ivory was a semi-precious commodity which could be sold for enough cash to pay for the enterprise. In this case big ivory was sought for more than trophy value. The same license would entitle you to a hundred-pound elephant, as well as a fifty-pounder. So the hunter would shoot as much ivory as his license would permit, and the purpose of the entire exercise was elephant. So what was needed was an "elephant gun," a piece which was capable of downing a bull elephant consistently with one shot at short range. The elephant hunter took his beast at distances varying from arm's length to perhaps 30 paces, and this led to the popularity of the large bore double rifle.
The 223 cartridge (556 NATO) has now been with us for quite some time. I did not think it was a good idea in the first place, and time has not changed my opinion. If you ask just what is a 223 for, a good answer does not pop right up. The 223 is essentially a varmint cartridge, though I suppose it could be considered proper for the smallest of four-footed game animals such as chamois, reedbuck, or those half-size Texas whitetails. It also might do well for coyotes or baboons and, of course, we shoot people with it with moderate success. I note that Steyr Mannlicher has offered a couple of presumably sporting firearms in this caliber, but about all I can see in a purpose here is a means of employing the profusion of ammunition which is available throughout the world. It makes a pretty good ranch-patrol item, if you have a rifle to take it, but I certainly would not run out and buy a rifle on that account.
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"If you have a right to be respected that means that other people don't have a right to their opinions."
Thomas Sowell
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We are glad to see that "The Art of the Rifle" is enjoying a modest commercial success. I do not claim that it is the best book of its kind, but rather that it is the only book of its kind. Marksmanship is an imperiled art in The Age of the Wimp, but we do understand it, and we have made the theory available to those who desire it. Anyone who studies the matter, practices it on the range and in the field, and sets his mind correctly on the task at hand pretty well commands the action. We know of a recent case in which an African hunter, after observing four clean, one-shot stops in the bushveldt, opined that the Steyr Dragoon in action was "a very dangerous rifle." Well, yes, the Dragoon is a truly excellent rifle for the bushveldt - probably the best - but the rifle did not do the job, it is the shooter who was dangerous.
The Declaration of Independence - not the Constitution of the United States - declaims that it is a self-evident truth that all men are created equal. The more one thinks about that the more it is obvious that that statement may not stand as factual, but rather as theological. All men may indeed be equal in the sight of God, but they are by no means equal between the goal posts, nor at the wheel of the racing car.
Bear in mind that it is more blessed to give than to receive. I know a certain amount about naval gunfire, and I am certainly impressed with the truth of that proposition.
When we played with the Chase-Away drill at Whittington I discovered a proper niche for the new Smith & Wesson 500 Megawheely. If you choose to drive pop cans hither and yon across the landscape with a pistol, this may be your weapon of choice. I do not think, however, that it will necessarily facilitate repetition of Jack Weaver's nifty demonstration on this drill, at which, having hit the ground just enough to toss a tin can high in the air, he managed to hit it again as it flew with his second shot. I saw him do that, but I did not ask him to do it again.
The news people seem to think that the object of a military enterprise is to get home. They keep talking as if the only thing a soldier wants to do is to get back to base. If that is indeed true, he had best stay there in the first place. The objective of any military enterprise must be victory, at no matter what cost. When you put on that uniform you lay your life on the line - for reasons which must seem good to you. To maintain the ideals for which this country was founded, we must fare forth at least once a generation to wreak our will upon the enemies of liberty. This is the worthiest political effort, and it must be extolled rather than deplored. Men get killed in war, and often enough they die unworthy deaths lying in a hospital bed stuck full of needles. "Death comes at a crawl or comes with a pounce, but whether he's slow or spry, it's not the fact that you're dead that counts, but only how did you die." That may be an old-fashioned attitude, but that does not make it wrong.
There are five essential attributes of the soldier. The first two are skill at arms and discipline. Next come valor, hardihood, and pride. Above all else a soldier must be proud of his occupation. This will cause him not only to do his job perfectly, but to look and act the part. It is possible for a slob to fight well, but he will fight better if he is proud of his station in life. Unfortunately we have lost sight of this in this present rather scruffy age. The clothes we give to our soldiers in which to fight are in large measure more suitable for field hands on a second-rate rice paddy than for the champions of liberty. Clearly combat is an untidy activity, but that does not mean that we should make it appear any worse than necessary. I have seen many warriors fight, in many parts of the world, and I am convinced that pride in personal appearance is a vital aspect of morale, from the Guardsman to the Gurkha. Thus it is that I wish whoever it was who came up with that unseemly "booney-hat" now in evidence in Mesopotamia should go out and come in again. A soldier's aspect is dignified by some sort of helmet, and we wish that those in charge would give some thought to this matter. Our fighting man should look sharp, not just when he is on liberty, but also when he is in contact. This is not an unreasonable proposition (see George Patton).
