When to use steel cased ammunition?

May 21, 2013

by Dave Dolbee
Related Topics: General Gizmos & Gadgets Holiday Gift Ideas Hunting Uncategorized

During your preseason scouting this year try something new. Grab five or even 10 $20 bills and hang them on a local tree with a nail or bungee cord. Then, come back in a few days, and see which type of bucks you find—brown or green. It sounds crazy right? Yet that is exactly what thousands of hunters do each year when they strap a trail camera to tree with a simple tie down or bungee cord and walk away. We are all guilty and have felt that sick feeling when we went to check our camera and hoped it would still be there.

Attachment loops such as this may help, but will hardly keep your investment safe.

Manufacturers realized this problem some time ago and provided a handy hole for a padlock. This will deter many hunters and hikers as very few hike with bolt cutters. However, once discovered, there is little to keep them from coming back. This problem has been compounded with cheaper models and the shrinking size of the units. There is simply less room for a lock hole and less material to surround it.

The solution to protect your investment is to purchase a security lock box or add on security bracket. Several manufacturers make proprietary models to fit their cameras, but third party options will do just as well or better in some cases. I would have to agree with most reading this and shaking their heads right now. It is unlikely that someone would be on your hunting property, and even if so, would they see the camera and decide to steal it? While I agree with that, I’ll go back to my beginning challenge. Would you tack $200 to tree and walk away from it for a week or two without worrying?

Wildview’s Security Bear Box encases your camera in 10 gauge powder coated steel and features multiple mounting options including a direct bolt mount to tree, strap slots and Python security cable compatible slots.

If your answer was no, read on. Before heading out this spring, collect your cameras and see which ones have a security hole and note the size. Next, check to see if the manufacturer offers a security bracket that fits your specific model of game camera.

The remedy does not have to cost much. Masterlock’s Python cable does a fine job, but other commercial solutions costing less than $10 will also do the trick. The box-type holders can also protect your investment from four-legged vandals. I have seen cameras that have been torn apart and left on the ground. Once the card was retrieved, raccoon pictures identified the culprit others showed something a lot bigger.

Pictures of a buck or bull elk are the reason most of us place a camera on a tree in the first place. However, if your camera happens to be unluckily placed on the tree a big bull decides to rough up… well you get the idea—and a cable will hardly protect your camera under a scenario such as that.

Theft will always be a problem, and there simply isn’t a usable camera option that couldn’t be stolen or damaged. However, a few extra dollars spent on a security box or locking bracket is your best option to ensure your camera and pictures will be safely attached to the tree when you return to retrieve your camera. Don’t be a victim… plan ahead and protect your investment.

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The mission of Cheaper Than Dirt!’s blog, “The Shooter’s Log,” is to provide information—not opinions—to our customers and the shooting community. We want you, our readers, to be able to make informed decisions. The information provided here does not represent the views of Cheaper Than Dirt!

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February 18, 2013

.223 Remington for Hogs

by CTD Rob
Related Topics: Ammunition Hunting Rifle Ammunition Uncategorized

We get a ton of questions in our call center. The usual ones involve concerns over how to buy a gun on our website or something of that nature. However, with the rise of the AR-15′s popularity, we get a number of people asking about taking their black rifle out hunting. Not for squirrels, coyotes or prairie dogs, but hogs! Big aggressive invasive feral hogs. Wild hogs are a menace in the southern regions that reached epidemic proportions. It is difficult to put an exact dollar amount on the damage these critters have done to the local farmland, but some estimates reach as high as $1.5 billion annually. If the real world dollar amount sits close to that, our mission as responsible hunters is to load up and help out.

.223 Remington Works on Hogs

The rise in the hog population started over 300 years ago when Spanish explorers brought them from Europe. As their numbers increased, they provided an important source of cured meat and lard for settlers. In the 1930s, ranchers and sportsmen introduced a subspecies of hog to Texas called the Russian boar. They intended to hunt them for sport. However, most of these eventually escaped from game ranches and began free ranging and breeding with feral hogs. Because of this crossbreeding there are very few, if any, true European hogs remaining in the Southern regions. In Texas, feral hogs are unprotected, exotic, non-game animals. Therefore, hunters may take them by any means or methods at any time of year. You can hog hunt in the day or night and there are no magazine capacity regulations. You can also hunt pigs from a car, truck, or helicopter! It’s a great way to keep your skills sharp in the off season, or practice an easy way to obtain food in a SHTF scenario. There are no seasons or bag limits; however, a hunting license and landowner permission are required to hunt them.

A .223 hot round hits with 1,296 ft-lbs of kinetic energy

Is the .223 Remington powerful enough to drop a wild hog in his tracks? Why don’t we examine some ballistics to find out? Winchester just happens to have a round specifically designed for hogs. The Razorback XT in .223 has a 64-grain projectile that screams through the air at 3020 fps. At the muzzle, the projectile hits with 1,296 ft-lbs. For comparison, a 154-grain 7.62x39mm cartridge, a type of round for the AK platform, hits with about 1,516-ft lbs. When ranchers and farmers dispatch hogs in traps, they often use a .22 LR at point-blank range. These projectiles have widely varying velocities, but their energy delivered equals anywhere between 104 to 191 ft-lbs. Granted, this is a point-blank shot in the sweet spot, but they still penetrate that thick hide and drop them in their tracks with few problems. The bottom line is this, as long as you engage the pig inside a reasonable distance, have decent shot placement and the proper ammunition, hog hunting with a .223 is perfectly acceptable.

Are there better options for hogs? Absolutely! The .30-30, .308, .243 Winchester, and the 7.62x54R are just a few of the many rifle calibers that hit with more kinetic energy than the most powerful .223 projectiles. However, make no mistake that the .223 is more than capable of dropping a hog where it stands. If you’re hunting with an AR-15, you might even get some shots at the other pigs trying to run away!

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March 11, 2012

Scary Cars? Yes, Just Like Those Scary Guns!

by olegv
Related Topics: Gun Rights History Uncategorized

The original muffler manufacturer made a variety of products for all needs

Steam-powered street vehicles first appeared in noticeable numbers in England in the 1830s. They were eventually driven out of common use by legislation backed by their competitors and “self-propelled carriages” did not reappear until the late 1890s. At the time, gasoline and alcohol powered cars were not the obvious choice over the steam and electric competitors. While they had many advantages, they also suffered from a great disadvantage — the noise of un-muffled engines. The requirement for cars to stop upon encountering horses was based in part on the noise emitted and the possibility of it spooking the animals. The first US patent for a muffler was filed in 1897, and the classic Maxim Silencer mufflers were invented in 1902. At the time, the process of obtaining a muffler for a firearm involved sending funds to the manufacturer and receiving a tube containing the muffler by mail. Most of the early mufflers were eccentric, with the bulk of the device hanging below the bore line to enable the use of stock sights.

Cars and guns should be quiet

Part of this history may be traced through the different terms used to describe sound suppressors. “Silencer” was an American brand name that became generic, much like “Xerox” and “Kleenex”. In the UK, they are called “sound moderators”, while car mufflers are sometimes called “silencers”. The reduction of engine noise was an obvious contributor to the eventual success of gas-powered modern cars, with almost no one seriously claiming any evil intent in reducing the noise pollution from vehicles. I doubt that many people would want to wear aviation-style headsets just to drive to the grocery store. If we had an anti-car lobby that was as vicious as the anti-gun lobby, we’d hear claims like “mufflers would allow hit and run drivers to sneak up on pedestrians”, much like they claim that mufflers on firearms are only for murder and poaching.

Gun mufflers differ from car mufflers in minor details. They are less efficient because of the requirement for a straight path being open for the bullet. Like car mufflers, sound suppressors on guns add weight and trap heat. To compensate, they reduce felt recoil and greatly diminish the muzzle flash. So a firearm with a muffler is significantly more pleasant to use than one without. For that reason, I try to use only quiet guns when introducing new shooters to the sport. That serves a secondary purpose of popularizing the concept with people new to gun rights. Just as familiarity with “horseless carriages” made them less scary and more accepted by the public, the same is true with firearms and sound suppressors. If you have the ability to popularize the concept among new shooters, please use every opportunity to do so.

Most people reading this will probably say: “I would if I could”. Some live in restrictive jurisdictions, others can’t afford the $200 tax and the inflated cost of the suppressor. We read phrases like “The silencers were incredibly good, expensively muffled so that, from a hundred feet away, the plane was inaudible in cruising flight” in reference to engines, but it’s been a long time since that was applied to cars in daily conversations. Car mufflers are commodities, not worthy of even a model name, while firearm mufflers are branded goods precisely because the barrier to possession is so steep. But the prices do not have to be so high. In countries where they are unregulated, sound suppressors are inexpensive. $30US gets you a basic .22 suppressor in New Zealand. Let’s work on making this a reality in the US as well.

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February 19, 2012

“Amazing penetration and striking power!”

by olegv
Related Topics: Ammunition Ballistics Rifles Rimfire Ammunition Uncategorized

1908 Steyr-Pieper .32 tip-barrel pistol

This marketing slogan of the early 1900s described pistols chambered in the lowly 32ACP cartridge. The guns were touted as being good for everything from home defense to assassinating important persons to self-defense against brown bear. To the modern reader, such claims appear outrageous, but why were they taken seriously back then? The rounds that 32ACP superseded were mainly the black powder .320 revolver cartridges loaded with lead round nose bullets. 80 grain unjacketed bullet at about 550fps lacked penetration and typically did not expand. Five or six of those from a revolver were rather less likely to end a fight than eight jacketed pistol bullets propelled by smokeless powder at 900fps. Neither round would equal the performance of .38 Automatic or similar, but then neither would the larger guns fit pockets, whereas the .32 could. Note that neither the higher velocity nor the greater penetration were at all significant for target shooting, so the Olympic pistols use .32 S&W Long even today.

22LR ball, 22WMR ball, hollow point and varmint rounds

Much the same situation obtains with 22LR and 22WMR. The ballistic advantages of the higher velocity round are meaningless for target shooting and recreation plinking, while the lower cost of the 22LR makes it quite attractive. On the other hand, people who shoot things other than paper may find 22WMR worth considering. First, let’s look at the bullet construction. 22LR bullets are usually plain or plated lead, with a couple of pre-fragmented rounds available. 22WMR, on the other hand, comes in plain lead for plinking, as ball for penetration (capable of defeating the skull of a 300-pound wild boar straight on), hollow point for self-defense and frangible for varminting. Next comes the velocity difference. Although 22WMR appears to be a waste for use in pistols due to the slow powders used, it still gives the same performance from a pistol as 22LR out of a rifle. Out of the rifle, the faster cartridge pushes 1950fps with 40 grain bullets and at 200 yards (!) the velocity is the same that 22LR produces at the muzzle. That becomes significant both for resisting wind drift and for minimizing projectile drop. In sum, just the 32ACP in the early 1900s, 22WRM provides a valuable improvement in performance over 22LR without adding much weight or bulk.

RMR30 with Primary Arms 3x prismatic scope, Gemtech 22WMR sound suppressor

22WMR is obviously a marginal round for self-defense but it is far from useless. Its niche is similar to the 5.7×28 FN cartridges, for use in lightweight compact weapons. For example, the upcoming Keltec RMR30 is almost exactly half the weight of an AR15 with the same length barrel. If necessary, it may be fired with one hand. Each extra loaded magazine adds 6.4oz vs. 16oz for the standard AR15. This may be of small importance to professional weapon users, but paramount to backpackers or to those who cannot lift much weight due to a handicap. RMR30 itself is not designed as a front-line combat weapon. For example, the telescoping stock is lightly built and wouldn’t last in melee fighting, but then neither would the folding stock of the “paratrooper” M1A1 carbine. As configured, it proved 100% reliable over hundreds of rounds and quite accurate as well: at 25 yards, I can put the entire 30 round magazine into one 1/2″ hole using the 3x scope and CCI Maxi-Mag ammunition. That’s with my elbows rested on a table, not from a machine rest. The crisp trigger shared by RMR30 and PMR30 is a big help with the accuracy. The imperceptible recoil helps as well. When I take it to the range, I always end up with 10-11 year old kids wanting to try it — the light weight and the variable length stock make it a viable firearm for them. The sound suppressor works quite efficiently because the amount of gas at the muzzle of a 22WMR isn’t large but it exits at a fairly high pressure. The illuminated 3x scope works well for precision shooting — for defensive use, a red dot allowing co-witnessed backup sights would be more appropriate.

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