Massad Ayoob was in the area the last couple of weeks for his yearly round of teaching up at Firearms Academy of Seattle. We generally try to get together for a meal during his stays, and finally managed to do so last Saturday evening. We had our usual good time, catching up on family news and the latest gossip in the industry.

Interestingly, for the first time in a long while he was actually teaching with one of his own guns as opposed to using a test/evaluation piece. The gun in question was a Langdon-prepped Beretta 92. I'm not a big fan of bottom-feeding handguns, as you know, and the 92 series is - for my little hands - the worst of the lot. I had to admit, though, that this one was pretty darned nice (for an auto, you understand.) I wouldn't have believed that a Beretta double-action trigger could get as light as this one and still ignite primers, but he reports it to be completely reliable.

When it rains, it pours, and Monday morning found me having brunch with AFGWWWTRA (who?!?), who was on a quick pass through the area. What did we talk about?

Cattle. Yes, cows. Well, there was also some talk about hunting, and of course the obligatory chat about how wonderful revolvers are, but cattle were the subject du jour.

Yes, this is a glamorous job alright!

-=[ Grant ]=-

Last week I told you about our trip to my cousin's ranch, during which we hoped to help rid the place of the nefarious Sage Rat (aka Ground Squirrel.) Today let's talk about the shooting aspects.

Normally a field infested with Sage Rats is a "target-rich environment." When they are at their peak, you almost can't reload the guns quickly enough! In those conditions, an open-sighted .22 rifle is more than sufficient for the plethora of targets that pop up in the 5-50 yard range.

In really good years, I've taken many with a Dan Wesson Model 15 in .22, shooting the bulk-packed Remington "Golden Bullet" load. This ammo doesn't shoot worth a darn in my rifles, but in the DW it is superb. (Anyone who has shot any real amount of .22 ammunition will immediately recognize the truth of the round: you never know what will shoot well in which gun, and there is no such thing as a prediction!) I usually use the 8" barrel, though I've also used the 6" to good effect.

Nevertheless, this is really a job for a rifle, and most Sage Rat shooters gravitate to the very popular Ruger 10/22 platform. I've shot one fairly frequently myself, but in the last couple of years I've been using a very nice early Marlin 39A (which I picked up for a song a number of years back.) The accuracy and 18-round magazine are much appreciated on those small targets, though it wears only open sights; somehow, a scope on such a classic rifle just seems "wrong."

Last year I ended up visiting two different cousin's ranches (my family is big in the beef business.) The first was heavily infested and the Marlin was the right tool at the right time. The second ranch, however, is at a higher altitude; their population comes out of hibernation later, and as a result they didn't have nearly as many to shoot. Most of the shots were well over 50 yards, and the open-sight Marlin (coupled with my aging eyes) was severely handicapped. I wished that I'd had the presence of mind to bring along the scoped 10/22!

As a result of that experience, I installed a Marble's tang sight on the old Marlin. This year I was ready - and good thing, too! This trip was just as the rodents were emerging from their burrows, and once again long shots were the rule. The tang sight greatly extended the range of the unscoped gun - I made quite a few shots in the 90-100 yard range, and a couple that were actually verified to be 115 and 128 yards. Not bad for a .22!

My ammunition preference is for a hollowpoint round to provide a quick, clean kill at all ranges. (Regardless of the problems the little buggers cause, I still live by the old hunter's credo of causing no more suffering than is absolutely necessary.) Since so many rounds are expended - on a good day it's not uncommon to shoot several hundred rats - I look for the most accurate bulk-packed ammunition. This usually limits the choices to a high velocity 36gn load.

For the last few years my choice has been the Winchester Xpert hollowpoint bullet. The wide hollowpoint cavity gives it some of the best terminal effects I've seen in a .22 cartridge. Accuracy is a bit better than average in this rifle, and It's available in bulk at very attractive prices. That doesn't stop me from desiring something better, of course; I'd like to find a load that is a little more accurate but not much more expensive. I've heard good things about the Federal Champion hollowpoint loading, and when I get time I plan to take some to the range and test it against the Xpert.

The search for the "perfect" .22 ammunition never ends!

-=[ Grant ]=-

Well, I had a nice weekend...took Friday off, went to Eastern Oregon (so capitalized because it is like a completely separate state.) The destination was my cousin's ranch, where we were to exercise our trigger fingers in decreasing the population of a local pest known as the Sage Rat (spermophilus townsendii mollis kennicott, aka "Townsend's Ground Squirrel".)

Many folks live their lives in the city and are unfamiliar with the problems ranchers face in producing the food they eat. To those who think that beef originates in the supermarket, this may seem to be a barbaric blood sport. It is anything but.

The Sage Rat is widely distributed in Eastern Oregon. They prefer to burrow in irrigated fields, and they eat green grasses. (Beginning to spot the problem?) If that's not enough, their muli-tubed burrows can be up to 100 feet long.

Imagine, now, that you're a rancher who has spent a not inconsiderable amount of money turning the desert into an oasis; you've dug a deep well, bought the necessary irrigation gear, and plowed and seeded the field. Remember, you're doing all this out in the middle of nowhere, in what's known as the High Desert (and for good reason.) Your green and tender alfalfa shoots are just poking out of the soil, and you anticipate being able to easily feed your cows during the long, cold desert winter.

Along comes the sage rat, who promptly sets up shop in this wonderfully soft soil you've toiled to prepare. He meets a cute female sage rat, nature takes its course, and they are soon blessed with a litter of junior sage rats. Like all adolescents, the kids are eating machines - and they just happen to have made their home in the middle of a rodent supermarket!

You can only imagine what a large number of sage rats can do to a field; it's not unusual for a good sized field to harbor many thousands of the little critters, every one of which is bent on eating everything he can get his little incisors around.

That's not the end of the problems, though. Their burrows, which are below the root level of the alfalfa, take the irrigation water and channel it away from the plants that need it. The sage rats attract badgers, which dig huge holes in the fields, holes that can easily break a large animal's legs. They also attract the coyotes, who bring assorted problems of their own.

When you consider this, you can see why the ranchers and farmers need to control the artificially large populations of sage rats. Hence, the reason for our seven-hour drive out to my cousin's ranch.

To be continued....

-=[ Grant ]=-

I know you've always wondered: how does a jet-setting gunsmith work with all of those adoring fans hanging around? Well, I hate to disappoint you, but unless you count an overindulged rabbit, no one is hanging around waiting for me to pay them any attention!


Tyler, the spoiled rabbit

Since my shop isn't open to the public, I get to dress and arrange my environment as suits me. I usually work in sweatpants and a sweatshirt (rarely matching), over which goes my little green grocer's apron.

(You read that correctly; I have two old-fasioned green cotton grocer's aprons, which I acquired when I worked in a grocery store during high school. How long ago was that? Well, let's just say the White House refrigerators were stocked with Billy Beer!)

My shop has no windows, so I'm forced to entertain myself as best I can. I usually do so by playing music at somewhat louder-than-normal volume. One might think this would be a rock-n-roll custom, but not usually - I've been known to play Scottish dance reels, Aaron Copland, Baroque trumpet concertos, and Red Rodney at the same transducer-destroying level. (Eclectic? Hey, I was a music performance minor in college - I'm allowed!)

So if you call and I don't answer the phone, it's because I can't hear it over the noise of the shop equipment. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

-=[ Grant ]=-

This last weekend was the large wedding of one of my close relatives. Since we're known as the "Second Amendment Family", the day would not be complete without some sort of ballistic celebration. What we came up with fit the occasion perfectly.

One of my cousins handloaded some special 12ga shotgun shells with birdseed. (That's right, SEED, not SHOT!) He used a 100% cotton wadding for biodegradability, and a very small amount of powder. (We had originally thought that primers alone would be sufficient to propel the lightweight charge out of the barrel, but that proved to not be the case.) The resulting rounds sent their payload out of a vertical barrel some 25 to 30 feet, and the sound level was approximately that of a .22 Short - just enough to attract attention but not so much that anyone's hearing would be in jeopardy.

After thoroughly checking the shotguns for non-approved ammo, and making sure that no one had any such ammunition on their person, our little Matrimony Militia (a grand total of 4 people) met the happy couple at the entrance of the reception area. We announced them, and (with the best military precision that a bunch of civilians could muster) fired our rounds straight into the air - muzzles held high, well above anyone's head, of course.

The effect was perfect - the birdseed rained down and thoroughly covered the bride and groom, who were surprised and greatly amused at their "shotgun wedding." Their photographer even stifled her laughter enough to thoroughly document the prank, and I'm quite certain that this was a first for her too!

If you are moved to try this, remember SAFETY FIRST. We made sure that everyone involved behaved in a safe manner, from the loading of the rounds to the storage of arms afterwards. The rounds were completely biodegradable (save for the hulls, naturally) and we made sure that all of the standard safety rules were obeyed. Of course, this was well before the bar was opened and absolutely no alcohol was permitted until after the arms were stored in locked trunks. (The fact that this event was held outdoors on private property made the whole thing possible. DO NOT try this at a church or indoors!)

-=[ Grant ]=-