Welcome to Saturday Shootaround, your weekly foray into the 2A news and notes. As usual, we start with a verse. This week it is the final stanza of ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, by Wilfred Owen (1893-1918). Owen was an English soldier who was gazetted the Military Cross – the second highest military honor in the British army at the time – for his actions near Joncourt France in 1918. He was killed in action exactly one week and one hour before the Armistice was signed.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Let’s start with the news that Wayne LaPierre is stepping down as CEO and executive vice president of the NRA. Before I get into this, I probably should disclose that I am a lifetime NRA member. I won the membership in a competition in the Army. Ok, that’s out of the way, now on to my thoughts. At some point in the past 10-15 years the NRA lost its way. A big part of the problem was Mr. LaPierre. It seemed to me that LaPierre was more interested in the perquisites of the job than the actual job itself.
While I consider the suit politically motivated, the legal actions by Letitia James, the New York AG, laid bare a lot of financial shenanigans at the organization. LaPierre and those around him used NRA donations as their private slush fund, spending hundreds of thousands on tailor bills and catering. Frankly, I haven’t sent the NRA a dime in a very long time because of rumors about just that. Maybe now the NRA can get back to doing what It was founded to do; protect and defend gun rights.
On a side note if you feel called to donate to a 2A group, consider the Firearms Policy Coalition or Gun Owners of America, both do yeoman’s work on the gun rights front. Your state and local gun rights groups are also a good choice.
There were some new options in optics announced this week.
First up from Vortex, two new Venom scopes have been released, a 3-15×44 and a 1-6×24 LVPO. The 3-15 is built on a 34mm tube and features a first focal plane reticle and an MSRP of $649.99. The 1-6 is built on a 30mm tube and features an illuminated second focal plane reticle and is listed at $449.99
Meanwhile, Trijicon has announced 3 (2 and a half really) new scopes. The new Tenmile HX 5-25×50 FFP scope has a red/green illuminated reticle, a 30mm tube and an MSRP of $2195. the other scopes are versions of the 34mm 1-10×28 Credo LPVO, one with a tactical style m-rad reticle and the other has a hunting friendly MOA reticle. Both have the same red/green illumination as the Tenmile. MSRP for the two Credo scopes is $2150.
The Illinois ‘assault weapons’ registration law went live on New Years day, but it seems there is mass non-compliance with the new regulations. According to the numbers I’ve seen, less than 1% of Illinoisans have actually registered their guns and magazines. It also seems that the Illinois State Police will not be actively looking to charge anyone under this new statute. That said, if someone gets nailed for something else and happens to have an unregistered gun or mag, expect them to get hammered. . .
Mossberg has just announced a new OU option, the 20 gauge Gold Reserve. This new chambering has an MSRP of $1135, so it’s not going to break the bank. It has 3″ chambers, 30″ barrels and comes with a set of 5 choke tubes. It is made in Turkey, but don’t let that scare you off, some Turkish guns are well made. I’ve handled the 12 gauge version of the Gold Reserve and it has a quality feel, I expect the 20 to be the same.
This week’s gun porn is a matched set of early 19th century French percussion duelling pistols. The starting bid is $2250. Here’s what the seller has to say:
Pair of French Percussion Dueling Pistols, Likely 1830’s – 1840’s
Set triggers
Nicely engraved and detailed.
.54 caliber
8 1/2″ finely rifled barrel
This is an intriguing pair of pistols. I have to wonder if they have any bodies. . .
The seller happens to be local to me, so I may take a trip to go check these pistols out in person. If I do, I’ll report back.