Open Letter to Dan Cooper and Cooper Firearms

To Dan Cooper, (former) President/CEO of Cooper Firearms:

In the last couple of days, we have seen a whirlwind of activity in regards to your position on the election, your purported support Barack Obama, and now your requested resignation from Cooper Firearms.

While I have my opinions on the issue, I'd like to extend an open invitation for you to join us on Gun Nuts Radio at 9pm Eastern time November 4th to share your side of the issue with our listeners. I am willing to open my show up and present you with an opportunity to give us, the gun owners and 2nd Amendment community a look into a side of the situation that we have not yet seen.

If you're interested on taking me up on this offer, please send an email to me at admiralahab at gmail dot com.

Regards,

-Caleb

Gun Nuts: IDPA and Third-Party voting

If you didn't listen to last night's show, here's your chance. You can click the link right here to listen to the show, or download a copy at this link. You can also click the embedded player below to select your episode and listen.



We addressed a lot of topics last night, starting with an intro to IDPA. IDPA, as mentioned on the show, stands for International Defensive Pistol Association - you can find their website right here at www.idpa.com. That website contains links to the rules, and a way to find clubs in your area so you can get out and shoot a match. If you're in the Indianapolis Metro area, our local club is Atlanta Conservation Club, which holds matches once a month, and hosted the first Indiana IDPA State Championship in several years. On the show, we discussed the difference between tactical sequence and tactical priority, two of the most important terms to know if you're going to shoot IDPA, as they will dictate in which order you engage the targets.

After discussing IDPA, we moved on to talk about the short editorial by LTC RK Brown in the December edition of Soldier of Fortune. Here's a link to the .pdf file of the editorial, it is short and to the effective point. Discussing this editorial set off a small firestorm in the chat session, as several people whom I respect (including LawDog) took issue with my vociferous agreement with the editorial inasmuch as I feel that voting third party in this election is as effective as voting for Obama.

The quite correct point was made that the line of "don't vote third party, this election is too important" has been tossed around in every election since Bob Dole ran against Clinton in '96; and that many voters have reached a point of believing that the wolf no longer exists. Now, I have my position clear - I believe that this election, the boy is not falsely crying wolf, and that this election is a critical election for the preservation of our right to keep and bear arms.

Now, I don't want people to think that I'm 100% opposed to voting third party, depending on your reasons for doing so. I generally don't like it when people vote Republican or Democrat for 1) emotional reasons, or 2) because it's what they've always done. If you're voting for Obama because he represents your principles, then while I disagree with your decisions, I respect it. The same goes for voting third party - I may not agree with your decision, but ultimately I deeply respect people who make principled decisions with their vote, even if those principles run contrary to my stated goals.

Next week's show should be a blast - we're going to be doing live election coverage as the news comes in, and to be honest I think both Breda and I will be half in the bag as we're doing it. I don't know if I can handle CNN on election night without a few drinks. However, it should actually be a lot of fun. You can watch the results roll in and get all the snark you can handle.

Tonight on Gun Nuts: IDPA and more!

Tonight on the show we'll be discussing a topic near and dear to my heart, which is IDPA shooting. This brief primer will include a brief breakdown of categories, rules, etc, and then will conclude with personal observations from myself and other IDPA shooters.

After the IDPA section, we're going to transition into our last political discussion before the Live Election Coverage that we're going to do on Election day. As I'll be voting today, I'll share the voting early experience with you as well.

Tune in tonight at 9pm to www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts for shooting info, news, and political updates! As usual, you can participate in the show by joining the chat at the above link at 9pm Eastern time, or you can call in live at (347) 539-5436 and join the conversation.

Indiana IDPA State Championship

This weekend, I shot the Indiana State IDPA Championship Match, at Atlanta Conservation Club just 35-40 minutes north of my house. The match was shot over two days, although most shooters shot it all either on Friday or then on Saturday. All told there were over 100 shooters, and major sponsoships were provided by Starline Brass, Ruger, and a company with which I'm quite familiar, ParaUSA. There were a host of other sponsors for the match as well - we'll mention more of them on the radio tomorrow night, so don't miss the show.

This was the first IDPA State Championship held in Indiana since (I believe) 2004, and it's good to have a major match back in the state. Based on what I saw this year, next year will be even better. Obviously, for a club running their first major in a while, this was a learning experience for everyone - and I feel like the lessons learned from this year's match will go a long way towards making next year's state championship an even more successful. I don't want people to think I'm knocking Atlanta CC or the way the match was run. I feel that this match was a smashing success for Atlanta, and because of that we should be able to continue to see major caliber matches in Indiana for IDPA shooters for years to come. The chief driver behind that success was and is Jeff Brown, the area coordinator for IDPA. Jeff poured a lot of his blood, sweat and tears into this match, and without him it wouldn't have been possible. Also, in addition to having a passion for the shooting sports, Jeff is an all around good guy. We had the opportunity to chat for a bit about the match, and in every interaction I've had with him he's impressed me as a classy person, and someone who deeply cares about ensuring that our shooting sports and heritage are preserved. Kudos to Jeff Brown and all the staff at Atlanta CC for a great day of shooting.

As to the match itself, if I had to describe it in one word for my ADD readers, that word would be "cold". Match day it was about 40-45 degrees on the range, overcast and windy. I had not dressed accordingly, because the forecast was for 55 degrees and mostly sunny. Oh well; I shot through the cold, and while I didn't turn in my best performance (5th in ESP), it was good enough to beat the other media/press guys in attendance, earning me a win in the High Press Gun sub-category.

The courses of fire were for the most part very well laid out. Out of the 20 courses, there was only one COF that I personally wasn't a fan of, however as I said the other 19 courses were absolutely phenomenal. My favorite by far was COF number 8. You start from behind a table in the kneeling position, gun at the low ready - the idea is that you've already been in a gunfight and now you've reached the last guy who is holding your girlfriend/wife hostage. You have to come out from behind the table to the left or the right (no going over the top) and shoot the badguy in the head, as the rest of him is obscured by hard cover. Of course, you also shouldn't shoot the hostage. Now, that may sound pretty easy, except for one thing - you have one bullet in the gun. If you miss, you have to reload, which from that kneeling position would be pretty awkward. The fastest time on that COF for the day was 1.67 seconds, I had the third fastest at 1.79. Courses of fire like this are what made this such a great match, as they placed a strong emphasis on being fast and accurate.

I spent a lot of the "standing time" talking to other shooters, trying to get a feel for how other people thought the match was going. Everyone seemed pleased - from the greenest Novice class all the way to the dedicated Master class shooter, this match was a big hit. Again, it's a great pleasure from a personal standpoint to see IDPA major matches back in Indiana, and I'm looking forward to seeing more and more of these matches as the years come and go.

Here are the match winners and sub category winners:

CDP Champion: Chris Martin CDP - Master 194.38 (26)
ESP Champion: Larry Hill ESP - Master 202.14 (25)
SSP Champion: Dick Lichon SSP - Master 177.84 (30)
ESR Champion: Bob Briggs ESR - Sharpshooter 276.57 (17)
SSR Champion: Steven L. King SSR - Sharpshooter 313.48 (60)
High Senior: Larry Hill ESP - Master 202.14 (25)
High Lady: Roxanne Hill ESP - Marksman 340.66 (47)
High Law Enforcement: Jeremy VanGieson SSP - Master 238.54 (28)
High Press: Caleb Giddings ESP - Sharpshooter 303.06 (28)
High Military Veteran: Dick Lichon SSP - Master 177.84 (30)
High Distinguished Senior: Mike Hanlon SSR - Expert 375.80 (88)
Most Accurate: Rich DeMondo ESP - Expert 222.15 (9)

Congratulations to everyone who shot the state championship match this year. We'll have more coverage of the Indiana IDPA State Championship match tomorrow night on Gun Nuts Radio at 9pm Eastern - don't miss it!

Your favorite Gun on Gun Nuts Radio

And activism, which we discussed in the top half of the show. You can (of course) listen to the archive copy of the show here, or if you prefer download an .mp3 copy of the show or just click the embedded player below this to listen.



While the segment on activism and being informed was valuable, the part of the show that I personally enjoyed most was where we took call-ins from our dedicated listeners who told us their stories about their personal favorite guns. I talked about my Marlin 25M (which I promise I'll blog about soon), Breda talked about the 1911s she covets, and it just took off from there. One of my favorite stories of the night was Jay G, who talked about the Colt Official Police that was his grandfather's gun that he carried on the force.

The last half hour of the show was almost touching - the talking of all the guns that were passed down from generation to generation really struck a chord with me; and I hope that when you listen to the show, it will for you as well.

Tonight on Gun Nuts Radio - Activism!

We are doing a slight format change tonight on Gun Nuts Radio - instead of having one dedicated topic for the duration of the hour, tonight we'll be shifting to a "two-topic" format. Tonight at 9pm Eastern, tune in to the top half of the hour for a discussion of grassroots activism and how it can directly impact this extremely important election; then in the bottom half of the hour, stick around while Breda, myself, and our listeners talk about our favorite firearms and why.

For both halves of the show, if you'd like to call in and share your views and opinions, our listener call in line is (347) 539-5436 - and if you're listening live at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts you'll be able to participate in the conversation. Join Breda and I tonight at 9pm Eastern to talk a little bit of guns, a little bit of politics, and a lot of fun.

Smith and Wesson 5.45x39 MP-15R

Smith and Wesson has a new AR platform rifle out for their M&P-15 line of rifles. What sets it apart from the current platform is that it's chambered for 5.45x39, the Russian service rifle cartridge. The advantage here is that mil-surp Russkie 5.45 is cheap and plentiful, and according to S&W will feed reliably in the new MP-15R.

The rifle has all the standard doo-dads you'd expect to see in a modern AR, a six-position collapsible stock, flattop receiver, 30 round magazines, chrome lined barrel, etc.

Obviously, the biggest benefit to this new rifle are the huge and widely available supplies of surplus 5.45 Russian ammo; you can buy spam cans full and full of ammo for half the price of 5.56 ammo; and since the Russian round delivers similar ballistic performance you're getting pretty decent bang for your buck in terms of a defensive rifle.

One thing that S&W does caution about are the magazines. While the 5.45 and 5.56 cartridges are dimensionally similar enough that you can feed 5.45 in a standard 5.56 AR magazine, the feed lips and followers are different enough that it is likely that you'll encounter feed jams trying to run the 5.45 through a 5.56 magazine. S&W recommends that you stick with their 5.45 magazines for the M&P-15R.

With the economy being what it is, and ammo prices through the roof, the ability to shoot the cheap and readily available mil-surp ammo really makes the M&P-15R appealing for me. Since I'm starting the process of AR shopping, I'm going to seriously consider an AR in 5.45 Russian. It gets cool points for being an evil capitalist rifle chambered for the former Soviet Bloc service cartridge.

Action Airgun Update

We just finished shooting the third week of Action Airgun, and I have to tell you that I'm having a blast. This last week's courses of fire were all "speed courses"; draw from the holster and engage a single target downrange. Now, that sounds easy until you realize that the foam targets used in Action Airgun are about the same size as a playing card - not easy to hit in a hurry. My very fastest time was 1.01 from leather to target down; and I threw away a 0.95 run because I fired a second shot and my split was 0.20, which left me with a 1.15 or something.

But the very best part about Action Airgun is that I've finally got Mrs. Ahab shooting, and shooting regularly. She ran a 1.56 run, which was no slouch of a run herself, and is starting to get interested in doing more shooting with me on a regular basis.

We're 3 weeks into a 13 week season, and like I said, I'm having a great time. My wife's interest in the sport has only led me further conclude that Action Airgun is a perfect "gateway drug" in terms of shooting sports - she's having so much fun burning down targets with an Airsoft 1911 that the next thing you know she'll be smoking steel with a rimfire race gun, and then soon as you know it, shooting IDPA or maybe if I'm really lucky some Cowboy Action.

Hats are off to Action Airgun for creating a shooting game that is both easily accessible for new shooters, and a hell of a lot of fun for everyone.

Gun Nuts Radio: Competition Shooting

Last night's show was another good one - it's good to have The Breda back and co-hosting, because honestly I'd hate talking to myself for an hour like I did two weeks ago. Here's the player for last night's show, where we covered competition shooting, as well as a look at the traditional activism activities of an NRA-EVC.



If you'd like to download an .mp3 copy of last night's show, you may do so by visiting this link and clicking "Open in your default player", or by clicking here.

On the topic of competitive shooting, we were able to cover modern bullseye pistol shooting, as well as some information on metallic silhouette, a brief glossy look at IDPA and IPSC, some talk on Steel Challenge, and finally a look at bowling pins. Honestly, I could do an entire show about IDPA and IPSC, just because of the variety of guns and gear that you can use to compete in either of these sports. We ended up focusing primarily on the Production and Stock Service Pistol classes for IPSC and IDPA simply because those are the most accessible categories. For those, you can take your Glock 17, a Fobus holster and magazine holders and run that gun. Everything you need to play those games you can buy off the shelf at your local Gander Mountain and then go and get in the game.

After we finished talking competition shooting, I spent some time talking to my friend, and NRA EVC, Sebastian of Snowflakes In Hell about traditional activism, and what us gun owners can do to get involved. With the election looming, it's important that in this final month before the election we do everything we can to "get in the game" and push not only for the Presidential race, but for local races as well. We talked for a bit about how easy it is to lose sight of extremely important Congressional and State races because of all the focus that is being placed on the Presidential election.

As I said, last night's show was pretty good - and although we didn't pull in a lot of listeners do to the Presidential debate, I still strongly recommend you check it out at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts - and we'll be back next week with even more Gun Nuts radio!

Tonight on Gun Nuts Radio - Competitive Shooting

Tonight on Gun Nuts Radio at 9pm eastern time, Breda and I will be giving an introduction to competition shooting. The idea behind the show will be to give a newbie shooter a good idea of what they need in terms of guns and gear to get into one or more of any of the various pistol shooting sports.

Additionally, we'll be featuring an interview with an NRA-EVC from one of the battleground states during the later portion of the show. You can take part in the discussion live at 9pm Eastern time by calling in to the show at (347) 539-5436. Again, we're live on the air at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts starting at 9pm Eastern time.

Now, Breda and I realized this morning that the show would be on air at the same time as the presidential debate, so we understand if you blow us off to listen to McCain and Obama repeat the same talking points over and over again. That's why the show will be available to download, same as always, the following morning.

But tune in tomorrow night live at 9pm Eastern time, to www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts for all you need to know to get into the shooting sports!

Frangible Ammo

Last night's show on Gun Nuts Radio was one of my favorite shows; although we didn't have a lot of live callers (zero), the two guests we had were some of the best so far, and definitely most knowledgeable in the ammo fields. Thanks to Dan from International Cartridge Corporation, and Harold from DRT Ammo from coming on the show and talking about their products.

Like I said last night, I'm extremely interested in the concept of frangible and non-toxic ammo - I mentioned another lead-free round that I've used, the Magtech First Defense line of ammo, which utilizes an all copper hollow point instead of a copper-jacketed lead round. If you would like to download a copy of the .mp3 file of the show, you can do so by visiting this link, or you can listen using the embedded player below.



I really enjoy shows on topics like this; I'm a gun geek after all, so having the opportunity to talk about new products that other hunters and shooters may not be aware of is part of the reason that I started Gun Nuts Radio.

Next week's show is still up in the air - suffice to say we will have a show next week, however I'm not sure if it's going to be on Lasers as a training tool, Action Airgun, or competition shooting with a special guest. Hopefully I'll know soon. I'll see you all back again next week at 9pm Eastern time!