Things Change, But Mostly They Don't

Let's jump into the wayback machine and drop in to see what we were talking about 25 years ago.

This is a column I wrote for Guns & Ammo and Petersen's Hunting magazines for the August, 1999, issues. Several things stand out to me.

Long before the 6.5 Creedmoor solidified the idea of using a lower-powered rifle (with reduced recoil) to hunt big game, I was saying to use the .270 Winchester instead of your magnum. You simply will shoot it better.

It's a bit quaint to see talk of a 300-yard shot being "long distance" for hunting, isn’t it?  

Honestly, I had forgotten about the Congressional hearing on "sniper rifles," but it does point out that pasting evil-sounding names to categories of guns ("assault weapon," "ghost gun," etc.) has long been part of the gun banners' playbook. Oh, note that I coined the term "gun banner" more than a quarter century ago to help our side keep pointing out that's what the so-called "commonsense" crowd really wants.

And, yes, the call for joining the NRA is just a bit dated. Who knew the folks behind the wheel there would drive it off a cliff? And writing a letter to the editor? Perhaps that should be put on the wall alongside the buggy whip.  

At any rate, here's what I was writing a quarter century ago.  Enjoy the stroll down memory lane. -- Tom Gresham

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AUGUST, 1999

           It's time to shape up and get ready for hunting season.  No, I'm not talking about running 10 miles a day.  This "shaping up" is to make you a better shot.  Yeah, yeah, I know, you can hammer the center out of a target from the bench.  Then why didn't you hit that deer right where you wanted last year?  And why weren't you able to get a shot off the year before?  Not enough time?  The deer moved?  Maybe.  Then again, maybe you just weren't good enough.

           How about setting up some fun drills that will help you be a faster shot, and a better shot?  Most of it doesn't even involve going to the range, but it can pay off this fall.

           How you shoot off a bench doesn't matter much.  In fact, shooting from a bench all the time can hurt your game shooting.  On the bench, you are working to get the crosshairs exactly on the precise point where you want the bullet, and you won't pull the trigger if the crosshairs are so much as a half-inch off.  That's fine for target shooting, but it's a bad mindset and technique for hunting.

           In the field, you will rarely be rock solid, but you'll probably be fairly stable, and that's good enough.  Are you comfortable shooting when the crosshairs are moving?  Not many hunters are.  Sometimes that's what it takes.

           The first drill is for you to dry fire your rifle at home.  Keep it handy.  Triple check to make sure it's unloaded.  You can even tape a picture of a big buck on the wall, for an aiming target.  Practice moving from a standing position, with the rifle slung over your shoulder, to a sitting position, and then shooting as quickly as possible.  (Keep the scope set to a low magnification for this close-up practice.)  Don't wait for the crosshairs to stop moving, because they won't.  Get comfortable shooting with the crosshairs drifting across the target.  Not moving wildly, of course, but accept the inevitable wobble.  Do it over and over.  

           Remember that fast is not fast.  Smooth is fast.  Move smoothly, and you'll be moving fast.  If you rush, it actually will take more time.  The goal is to be able to sit, get into a shooting position, and squeeze the trigger all in one fluid movement.  A suggestion. If you like TV, make it a point to get off 10 good shots during each commercial break.  That's a lot of practice.  

           Try it "shooting" from the standing position, leaning against a door frame, and even prone.  When you get to the range, do the same thing.  Don't use a regular target.  A paper plate works great.  Any hit on the target will take a deer.  Let the crosshairs drift and just pull the trigger.  If you have been doing dry-fire practice at home, you'll be amazed at your new ability to put the bullet where you want.

           Work with a buddy, and time each other.  Walk toward the target with your rifle on your shoulder.  When your buddy says "DEER!" you drop to a solid shooting position (your choice) and fire.  To make it even better, have several targets of various size, down to a Ritz cracker.  If he says "cracker" you better get into a really solid position, much as you would if that trophy appears at 300 yards rather than 75.

           A big trophy doesn't hang around.  Your ability to shave seconds off the shot can make the difference between venison and KFC.

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           Trying to decide between two rifle calibers for that big game hunt?  If you already own the rifles, figure out which one you would shoot, regardless of the animal, if you absolutely, positively had to hit a small target.  That's the one to take.  Many a hunter has left his .270 at home and taken his new .338 on an elk hunt, only to miss or make a bad shot.  

           "If I only had my .270," he'll say, "I could have gotten him."  

           He's right.  A .270 will anchor any elk on earth, if you put a good bullet in the right spot.  If you shoot both rifles equally well, just take the one you want to hunt with.  Hey, it's your hunt, right?

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   It continues.  The demonization of various firearms by the gun banners took on a new, but anticipated twist in May when a Congressional committee held a media-hearing on "sniper rifles."  The same people who came up with "Saturday Night Special," "Junk Gun," and "Assault Weapon" have decided they can identify another segment of firearms which can be given a frightening name, and then can be banned.  This time it's the long-range rifles firing the .50 BMG cartridge.  These rifles are used primarily for long-range competition.  The rifles cost from $2,500 to $6,000, and the ammunition runs close to two bucks per cartridge.  Serious stuff for serious shooters.

           I liken it to the few people who buy expensive race cars and run them around the track on weekends.  Very powerful, but not a problem when used correctly.  

           But you don't care, right?  After all, you don't own one.

           All these demon-names for guns have one thing in common.  They lack a definition.  That means they are infinitely expandable.  A Colt single action revolver that sells for $1,500 is a Saturday Night Special under the criteria in some proposals.  Don't you think that a .300 Magnum with a 10X scope (hey, that's what the SWAT team uses!) can't and won't be called a "sniper rifle."

           Then it's any rifle with a "telescopic sight."  

           So, what are you doing about it?

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 It chilled me to the bone to hear a bird hunter, on the heels of the mass murders in a Colorado high school, say that he was okay with President Clinton's new gun control proposals because he didn't have any of those kinds of guns.  

           Let's review.  Australia. Only two years ago.  Following a mass murder.  Gun owners kept saying "It'll never happen here."  The country BANNED all semi-auto handguns, all semi-auto rifles, all semi-auto shotguns, all pump-action shotguns.  Yep.  Winchester Model 12s, Browning Auto-5s, Colt Woodsman pistols, the Winchester Model 100 (which I killed my first deer with when I was 11).  

           In the U.S, gun banners now feel safe saying in public what they have only whispered before.  They want a total ban on the ownership of handguns.  That's confiscation.  They want your long guns to be stored at the police station.  You would be "allowed" to check them out to go to the range (this will be verified by the authorities), but then you would be required to store your guns back at the police station.  You would not be able to keep any firearms in your home.

           Further, the gun banners think now is the perfect time to get as much of that as they want.  And watch what will happen.

           If they are able to pass any additional gun restrictions (beyond the 20,000 gun laws now on the books), at the televised signing, they will say, "This isn't the total answer, but it's a good first step."

           A gun law that follows thousands of other gun laws enacted over the last 100 years can not be a "first" step.  But I ask this . . . a "first step" toward what?  What is their ultimate goal?  We know, but they should be forced to say it in public.

           So, what are you doing about it?

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   Frankly, I don't care if you like the NRA.  At a minimum, you should belong.  It's a baseline for any gun owner, in my opinion.  No, they aren't perfect. Sometimes they aren't even very good.  But they are still the big player, and they can do more when they walk in representing five million than they can when the membership is half that.  You are either helping to pull the wagon or you are sitting in it.  

           But there's more that must be done.  If you aren't comfortable writing a letter, you can at least call your congressmen. The Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121.  Tell 'em where you live, and that you want to talk with your congressman and your senators.  If you don't know their names, the switchboard will help you figure out who it is.  Frankly, if you won't spend three bucks for three calls, there is little hope of retaining our Second Amendment rights.  Not someone else.  You.

           Did you ever write a letter to the editor?  It's time to do it again.   And again.  Every time they write an editorial advocating stripping away more of your civil rights, challenge it.

           The biggest challenge is also the best opportunity.  The media talks as though there are no gun laws, and the public believes it.  The public doesn't know felons are prohibited from buying a gun, that minors may not buy guns, that all gun sales at dealers are recorded, that every gun sale at a dealer must be approved by the FBI, that all gun laws apply at gun shows.  Tell them!  Write a letter to the editor.  Call the news director of the local TV station.

           A lie left unchallenged becomes the truth.

           So, what are you going to do about it?

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Tom Gresham‍

‍Author, outdoorsman, gun rights activist, and firearms enthusiast for more than five decades, Tom Gresham hosts Tom Gresham's Gun Talk, the first nationally-syndicated radio show about guns and the shooting sports

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