Welcome to Saturday Shootaround, your source for 2A news and notes.
As usual, we start with a poem. This week’s selection is High Flight by John Gillespie Magee Jr. A RCAF pilot in WWII, Magee died in a crash over Lincolnshire in 1941. This poem is engraved on the Challenger Space Shuttle monument.
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds,—and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air ….
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor ever eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
A gun control group in New Mexico is under investigation for a gun buy-back program they ran. It seems the organization, New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence (NMPGV), ran afoul of state law by not having background checks done as part of the buy-back. San Juan County Sheriff Shane Ferrari said “Reviewing the law I do not see where they are exempt from having to undergo a background check and are required to like anyone else. A sale is taking place (gift cards $100 and up), it is advertised as a purchase and called a ‘buy back,’”.
NMPGV issued a statement saying no transfers occurred because they dismantled the guns on site during the buy-back. Sheriff Ferrari said images NMPGV shared of firearms they collected may show that the firearms were not properly dismantled, as defined by federal law. “I know how many times a receiver needs to be cut to be considered destroyed,” he wrote.
Whoops.
I am not a fan of buy-backs in general. They do little, if anything, to reduce the number of gun crimes. That said, I have participated in a couple. Don’t worry, I was gaming the system both times. I got $350 for a collection of out-of-spec and worn out AK parts that I dropped into an incomplete receiver flat, and $250 for a non-functional Saturday night special my cop father had as a ‘drop piece’. That money went to one of my locals in exchange for an AR lower and a used Buckmark. . .
I make no secret that I am a fan of Bergara rifles. You can read my review of their B14 Ridge here. Well, Bergara has just announced a new chambering, the 6mm GT. It’s available in the Premier Competition rifle. This rifle is optimized for the production class in PRS (precision rifle series) shooting and is ready for competition right out of the box. It features a custom Trigger Tech trigger, a 26″ 1 in 7.5″ twist (in 6mm GT) stainless barrel and a chassis stock from MPA. Bare, the rifle weighs in at 12.7 pounds. MSRP is $2750, but I’ve seen it advertised for a couple of hundred less in 6 and 6.5 Creedmoor.
The 6mm GT round is capable of launching 100+ grain projectiles at 3000fps. It is popular in PRS for its high ballistic coefficient bullets and velocities with mild recoil. It is a newer cartridge that gained SAAMI specification in 2022.
This one irritates me. Jeramy Wilborn is suing the ATF to get his guns back. The ATF confiscated them because he might some time in the future, possibly be charged with domestic violence. Wilborn, a Michigan resident, had been convicted of a misdemeanor DV charge in 2008, and had his record expunged in 2022. A quick side note, expungement means it’s as if it never happened. The Jackbooted thugs ATF, despite not having a legal basis, seem to think the potential for future crime is reason enough to strip someone of their rights.
Don’t get me wrong, I do not think serial domestic abusers should have access to firearms. But in this case, and I’m sure there are others like it, there is no good reason to make him a prohibited person especially after an expungement.
Taurus has introduced its first 10mm (the best mm) pistol, the TH10. It’s a hammer-fired DA/SA, polymer framed rig. It has a decocker/safety and a 15 round capacity. MSRP for the 28.5 oz pistol is $529.99. That makes it the lowest priced 10mm gat on the market.
Frankly, I’d save another $100 and buy the Rock Island Armory Ultra FS in 10mm before I bought the Taurus, but I can see the appeal of a (relatively) inexpensive 10.
There are a couple of items of note in the shooting world. CSG, a Czech firm, just bought a majority stake in Armi Perazzi. You may know Perazzi from their high-end competition shotguns. CSG you probably don’t know. they’re a Czechia based firm with a variety of holdings including Fiocci ammo, Lyalvale Express(the largest British shot maker), Tatra cars and trucks, and a variety of defense and aerospace ventures.
Savage announced that a long-time employee will be promoted to CEO starting 1 January. Chris Bezzina who’s been with Savage Arms since 2007 when he joined as leader of the engineering team will be taking over for Al Kasper. Kasper has been with Savage for 25 years and will stay on the company’s board.
Today’s gun porn is another piece of history, the Borchardt C-93. The C-93 was the first mass-produced semi-auto pistol. Here’s what the seller has to say:
All original DWM Borchardt c-93 Matching numbers gun including the magazine SN 1660. Stock SN is different from the gun 1691. Not uncommon to be slightly off.
This gun is 125 years old and is in great condition 95% original bluing only shows sins of high point and holster wear. Wood is in very good shape, no cracks or splitting. Leather is not great but a lot better than expected for 125y and two world wars.
This is my personal gun. It can transfer directly to your C&R FFL. What you see in the pictures is what you get. Payment is do within 7 days of winning bid.Borchardt developed the high-velocity, bottlenecked 7.65×25mm Borchardtcartridge for the C93. His assistant at the time, Georg Luger, also claimed to have influenced its design. Machine tool manufacturer Ludwig Loewe & Companyof Berlin, Germany, produced the C93 in anticipation of military orders. With about 1,100 manufactured by Loewe and nearly 2,000 more produced by Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken (DWM). The Borchardt C93 was the first mass-produced semi-automatic pistol
