Categories
Category: All About Guns
Categories
DEADLY DEA By Bob Pilgrim
As an FBI agent, I was fortunate to be “loaned” to the DEA for three years in a training capacity. My tactical training and survival unit was supervised and populated by some of the finest agents I’ve ever known. Three of its members, Chuck Franklin, Victor Cortez and Frank White were legends.
NOT INVENTED HERE SYNDROME
The Bureau’s Firearms Training Unit (FTU) consisted of many talented and dedicated agents, but was plagued with a stagnating attitude of the “not invented here syndrome.” They were reluctant to even consider outside ideas especially from the private weapons training sector. Fortunately the DEA believed in training and frequently sought knowledge outside of the organization, resulting in the discovery of a lot of good ideas out there. As a result, DEA’s tactical and firearm’s programs were enriched and moved into the 21st century.
WHERE THE ACTION IS
As a Marine returning from Vietnam, a veteran federal investigator told me, “If you want action on regular basis, join DEA. They get into more gun battles with desperate dopers than any other agency and they have some of the toughest agents in the business. They kick butt all over the world.”
After two infantry tours and an extended advisory billet in SE Asia I wasn’t interested in more run and gun. After becoming an FBI agent instead, I discovered the DEA admonition was true. It’s even reflected in the differences for new agent Academy dress. DEA candidates dress like Darth Vader, with black BDU trousers, black combat boots and gray golf shirts. FBI agents look like models for the Lands End catalog. The NARCO hunters approach training with a military mindset.
Students double time everywhere and stand when an instructor enters the classroom. They’re told it’s not a question of if, but only when you will exchange rounds in anger with a criminal — some within weeks of a field office assignment. — Fiftyone federal agents have been killed in the line of duty.
INTERNATIONAL BATTLES AND TERRORISM
DEA Unit Chief Frank White, a Silver Star awarded air-borne veteran of Vietnam, had six gun battles to his credit be-fore arriving at Quantico. He also took over Operation Snow-cap, which sent Special Operations trained DEA agents to fight cocaine production and shipment in Latin America.
DEA agents are also wearing body armor, helmets and carrying assault rifles into the jungles of SE Asia and poppy fields of Afghanistan to take America’s war on drugs to the sources of production. Drugs and terrorism go hand in hand and DEA is intimately involved in fighting entities financing logistics and operations through drug sales. DEA agents have developed some of our most outstanding counter terrorism informants.
THE DATA
I thought it might be interesting to compare DEA’s stats with NYPD’s experiences in 2005. In 2005, NYPD had 35,000 members. While some may accuse me of comparing apples to oranges, I thought it would be an engaging exercise if only for academic purposes.
TIME OF WEEK
As the week ends, Thursday saw the most shootings for DEA with 13 and Sunday was a close second with 12. So much for those critics that claim government workers shut down for the weekend. Friday was third with 10 incidents. Compared to NYPD with 123 incidents in 2005, Saturday was their most active with 24 occurrences.
TIME OF YEAR
The beginning of colder weather ushered in the majority of armed encounters with September accounting for ten gun-fights followed by eight in May. December grabbed the three spot with only six. Obviously, in some parts of the world where these battles took place our winter is their summer.
NYPD experienced 16 shootings in October and July was next with 13.
TIME OF DAY/NIGHT
The vast majority of the gunplay, or 42 engagements, occurred during the day while the remainder took place at night. While most peoples’ work day was ending, DEA was just getting started and managed to contact violent suspects 17 times between 1601 and 2000 hrs. From there on to midnight, another 11 were accommodated, but 0801 to 1200 actually garnered second spot with 12. The Big Apple’s finest got most of their trigger time on the graveyard shift from 0400 to midnight with 38.
INVOLVED WEAPONRY
Handguns dominated as the agents’ weapon of choice during emergency response in 49 incidents. The 5.56x45mm rifle or carbine over-shadowed the 9mm sub guns in 26 and six incidents respectively. Shotguns still enjoy life in the DEA and were broken out for six engagements.
However, long guns were used to fire more rounds in anger than handguns with 176 versus 157 respectively. Sub guns came in a distant third with 64 directed at hostiles and shotguns launched the contents of 16 shells at suspects war-ranting deadly force.
NYPD used pistols in 156 conflicts, revolvers in 4, and submachine guns and shotguns in one each.
BAD GUYS ARMAMENT
Conversely, the bad guys opted for pistols or revolvers and peppered the LEOs with 11 rounds, followed by some type of rifle/carbine with seven shots and shotguns accounting for four.
MAN’S BEST FRIEND?
Dogs figure prominently in these confrontations and when I was working with the DEA, 25 percent of the shootings involved K-9s. In 2007 there were 31 encounters with dogs and 75 shots were fired. Three years ago, NYPD officers fired 93 rounds at the land sharks.
DREADED SEARCH WARRANT
DEA still encounters most of their resistance during the execution of search warrants followed by arrest situations with 25 and 10 discharges respectively.
CARELESS GUN HANDLING
Unintentional discharges reflect poorly on the weapons discipline of any agency. Unfortunately, they are the second most prevalent cause of weapons firings in DEA — noting an increase from 2006 to 2007 by a factor of five. DEA agents caused eight, and four were attributed to other personnel for a total of 12. Ten handguns and two rifles were involved.
Most occurred during care and cleaning and unloading procedures prior to firearms storage. Eight involved Glocks and one each with a Colt Commander and Smith and Wesson revolver. NYPD had 25 “accidental discharges.”
MOBILE WEAPON
Vehicles were used by suspects in 10 assaults and the majority occurred during buy/bust ops. Deadly force was employed primarily in cases where the suspects were able to defeat the attempted vehicle containment techniques.
LESSONS LEARNED
We shoot at people not cars. The car may be the target, but the person operating it is the X – ring. With the small arms available to law enforcement, the automobile is a virtual armored vehicle and the suspect enjoys a substantial amount of projection. Except for bonded ammunition, 5.56x45mm is not effective on auto glass and steel.
A fleeting target, vehicle glass must be compromised first before rounds can be effective against suspects. The only time the Israeli police use full automatic fire from shoulder weapons is when they encounter a hostile moving vehicle.
Gather intelligence and plan ahead for K-9 avoidance and or humane neutralization. Use non-lethal means if possible. Firing at a relatively small, rapidly moving and highly determined threat invites potential fratricide.
No matter how experienced you are, no one is above safety and safe weapons handling. Treat all guns as if they are loaded all the time. Check and recheck and keep your finger off the trigger unless you are preparing to fire. Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction or in the direction that it will do the least amount of dam-age should it go off. Never dry fire in the office and never dry fire when live ammunition is present.
Search warrants are particularly dangerous, because the fruits of the crime must be seized to make the case or culminate in an arrest. As a result, speed is often essential after the element of surprise is derogated. Speed can sacrifice control and lead to tactical mistakes that are advantageous for your adversary. Instead, try to gather enough evidence by other means and serve an arrest warrant in-stead. Careful. Hurry.
The Heritage Barkeep Boot may not be the first gun you’d choose for home
defense or concealed carry, but it would be pure murder on snakes at close range.
In 2020 Heritage Firearms introduced their Barkeep .22-caliber revolver. Heritage produces all those bargain-basement utilitarian Western-style rimfire wheelguns you see everywhere firearms are sold. The most expensive of the lot, a fascinating revolving rifle version of their basic Peacemaker design titled the Rough Rider Rancher, still sports an MSRP of only $333. The Barkeep was, until recently, the opposite lower end of the spectrum.
All Heritage revolvers sport a common action that apes the timeless Colt Peacemaker. Cast frames keep costs down and there are enough options concerning finishes, grip styles and barrel lengths to entertain the most discriminating narcissistic gun diva. The Barkeep sports either a 2″ or 3″ barrel. For those who feel 2″ might seem excessive, Heritage now offers the Heritage Barkeep Boot.
The barrel on the Heritage Barkeep Boot is indeed short, but no
shorter than the adorable little North American Arms mini-revolver (bottom).
Details
The Barkeep Boot uses the same 6-round alloy steel cylinder as the larger Heritage revolvers along with the generous Colt-style spur hammer. There is a classic bird’s head frame along with a bewildering array of grip options. The barrel is a paltry 1″ long.
The Barkeep Boot looks like a gun that had an unfortunate encounter with a meat slicer. It’s not that this barrel is simply short, it’s almost nonexistent. This whole gun will hide in the palm of your hand.
The barrel is way too short to accommodate an ejector rod, so there simply isn’t one. The gun comes with a nifty little wooden-handled tool you can use to push the empties out from the front. If you ever lose it, any handy nail would accomplish the same mission.
Takedown is the same as any comparable Colt revolver. Press the cylinder pin catch, remove the pin and drop the cylinder out to the side. The right-sided loading gate works just as you might expect. The Barkeep Boot will accept the Heritage .22 Magnum cylinder (a bargain at $30) but the stubby little tube is too short to stabilize most .22 Magnum rounds. The gun will run safely with these loads but the promotional literature warns keyholing might occur. I rather suspect the noise it would make thusly charged would be detectable by the Mars Rover as well.
There’s no room for a front sight. The top strap has the expected sighting groove but this is about it. Fret not, you’ll not be ringing steel a kilometer distant with this thing anyway.
The left side of the gun includes an additional manual safety lever ruining the trim little gun’s aesthetics. This rotating lever does indeed make the pistol safer to carry, but it looks about as natural as John Wayne in a tutu. I suspect some lawyer is responsible for it — the manual safety, not the tutu. To my knowledge John Wayne never practiced ballet.
Takedown is straightforward. The wooden-handled tool is used to press out empty cases. A nail or piece of coat hanger wire would do in a pinch.
Trigger Time
To be unrepentantly tasteless, the manual of arms is so simple even Alec Baldwin could manage it. Open the loading gate, put the hammer on half cock and fill the cylinder. Close the loading gate, point the gun at something you dislike, cock the hammer and squeeze. Repeat as necessary.
Accuracy is about what you would expect for a pistol with a 1″ barrel and no sights. Out to seven meters or so it shoots fairly straight. At 20 or more it becomes an area weapon system. However, there are lots of well-respected short-barreled pistols in the world. Your typical North American Arms mini-revolver or a Derringer of most any sort is in the same ballpark. Cut the Boot some slack.
The Barkeep Boot is indeed fun to shoot and just stupid loud. It also produces the most delightfully brisk muzzle flash when fired at dusk. With an MSRP of around 200 bucks and the cheap availability of rimfire ammo, the Boot represents an exceptionally cost-effective way to kill time on the range.
This seven-meter group was fired from a simple rest with
an aiming point in the bottom quarter of the target.
So, What’s It Good For?
Honestly, this is a good question. It really would ride in your boot if you were willing to leave the chamber under the hammer empty and didn’t wiggle around unduly. Likewise, the Boot would fit in the pocket of a decent jacket if you just didn’t want to wander about unarmed.
The real practical application I see for the Boot is as a snake gun. If you don’t live in the Deep South, just feel free to skip over to Mas Ayoob’s column now. Down here, however, we are blessed with poisonous snakes aplenty. The Boot is cheap enough to keep in your tackle box. Stoke the rascal with rat shot and it would be just the ticket for sending water moccasins to snake heaven while out drowning crickets for bream.
The Heritage Firearms Barkeep Boot is just weird enough to be cool. It’s not the gun you’d grab if you suddenly saw zombies staggering up your peaceful little cul-de-sac, but it has a legitimate place in a decent working gun collection. Cheap, quirky, cute and neat, the Barkeep Boot is indeed one nifty piece of iron.
Categories
Stevens Model 414 Armory Rifle
Dawn broke cold over the high country, with a threat of snow hanging in the air. Twelve cow elk grazed in a meadow at 11,500 feet, one small five-by-six bull still sleeping off his night of debauchery. I crept into place, rested my .300 Winchester Magnum atop a lightweight tripod, and squeezed the trigger. The bull never regained his feet.
Two years later I approached the same meadow, this time with a friend who carried a 6.5 Creedmoor on her shoulder and an elk tag in her pocket. Fresh elk tracks showed the way and we flushed another, bigger 5X6 bull. I cow called, my friend pressed the trigger, and another bull lay still in the snow. Both elk succumbed to a single shot. Only the duration of the kill was different. Mine died almost instantly; the other bull stayed on his feet for almost a minute, even though he was hit perfectly.
IS BIGGER BETTER?
For decades big, hard-hitting calibers held court across America’s hunting grounds. Recoil wasn’t considered the detriment it is today, indeed some shooters and hunters acclaimed hard-kicking rifles as superior, and accused those chambered in more mannerly cartridges as being sissified. This opinion was created by the projectile performance of the day. Simply put, the then-new high-velocity cartridges of the 20th century generated so much speed that traditional bullets struggled to maintain their composure when impacting heavy hide and bone. Bigger, heavier bullets had a better chance of holding together and penetrating deeply.
Today the pendulum has swung, and many hunters and shooters opine that bigger, harder-hitting calibers belong with folks of limited intelligence. According to these same hunters and shooters, anyone with enough electronic devices and high enough projectile BC (ballistic coefficient) can kill a mastodon at 1,000 yards with a 6mm Creedmoor. The one thing they do have right is that things have changed. Coming full circle, it’s all about bullet performance. Today’s premium projectiles are incredibly accurate and consistent. More to the point, they penetrate deeply and perform reliably at a wide variety of impact velocities. What this means is that today’s small, recoil-friendly calibers can kill as cleanly as yesterday’s bigger, harder-hitting calibers.
IS SMALL AND SWEET SHOOTING BETTER?
Smaller calibers and cartridges kick less. They tend to be accurate and are certainly easier to shoot well. Loaded with a premium bullet they penetrate deeply and create a devastating wound channel. They do everything a big, hard-kicking caliber can do, right?
Wrong. There are two things they can never do as well:
Hit Hard: Two elements affect how hard a bullet impacts. The first is frontal diameter. The greater the frontal diameter, the more surface area and tissue the bullet impacts directly. Remember; surface area in a circle increases exponentially as diameter increases. The second element is weight. The heavier a projectile is the harder it hits. Consider the difference between getting hit by a pencil eraser traveling at 100 feet per second (fps), and a softball traveling the same speed. Neither will penetrate your skin, but the softball will hit much harder due to greater weight and diameter.
Penetrate Deep: In a nutshell, bigger, heavier bullets penetrate deeper than smaller, lighter projectiles of the same design. That said, modern-day bullet design has leveled the scale, to a degree. Projectiles such as Barnes’ TTSX, (a monolithic, solid copper/alloy bullet), and Federal Premium’s Terminal Ascent (built with a rapid-expanding jacketed lead front and a solid copper rear portion) maintain weight and drive deep, even in lighter, more friendly calibers.
The final word, though, is that a 200-grain bullet from a .300 Win Mag will out-penetrate a same-design 130-grain bullet sent from a 6.5 PRC.
THE UPSHOT
Light/sweet-shooting calibers are easier and friendlier to shoot, and now (with premium bullets) perform and penetrate admirably. Bigger calibers kick harder, but also hit harder and penetrate better. So what is best? The answer is, of course, situation and species specific. The light/sweet crowd will say, “It’s all about shot placement. Just wait for a good broadside shot and place your bullet right in the boiler room”.
To an extent that’s true. But what if your quarry never offers you a broadside shot? Let’s consider a common elk-woods scenario: You’re on a dream hunt in the Rocky Mountains. You’ve hunted hard, and you want to kill an elk in the worst way. On the last day of your hunt, you finally find a bull, a good one with heavy six-point antlers. You’re set up on a little rocky outcropping, using your pack as a dead rest. The bull is going over a thick timbered ridge and isn’t giving you a shot at all. You keep your crosshairs on him, hoping against hope that he steps into a clearing and gives you a shot. Finally, it happens; 350 yards away he stops, turns, and bugles back down the canyon. You can see his shoulder clearly between tree trunks, but he’s steeply quartered toward you. Your crosshairs are steady, your finger on the trigger. But you subscribe to the “wait till they’re broadside” strategy, and inside your rifle’s 6.5 PRC chamber rests a rapid-expansion 140-grain bullet. What do you do?
If you’re honest and ethical, you let the bull walk.
The chance that your soft, rapid-expansion bullet will make it through the many inches of hide, flesh, bone, and sinew protecting the vitals at this angle is remote. You pull that trigger, and you’re likely in for a long, heart-wrenching recovery effort. But if you continue to wait for that broadside shot the bull will likely walk over that ridge and out of your life forever.
Now, hit rewind and change your chosen bullet to a 130-grain Federal Premium Terminal Ascent. Suddenly, you’ve completely altered this scenario. You’re not going to hit a massive old bull elk very hard with a 130-grain bullet at 350 yards, but an accurate shot with this deep-penetrating bullet will kill him, even through the point of the shoulder. And that’s what has changed. That’s the new difference.
Rewind the scenario again, and change your rifle to a .300 Win Mag. Shooting a 200-grain Federal Premium Terminal Ascent bullet, you will hit that bull very hard and kill him very quickly. No doubt about it, this is the better elk round. If you can handle the kick and shoot it well, by all means use it. But if the recoil loosens your fillings and crosses your eyes every time you squeeze the trigger, you better lighten up.
This scenario changes dramatically, of course, if the primary species you hunt is deer, pronghorn, or sheep. For smaller, lighter boned members of the big game family the 6.5 PRC and similar cartridges are optimal. Loaded with one of the premium bullets mentioned above they will penetrate into a deer’s vitals from any angle. Recoil is civilized, and terminal performance all you will ever need. But what if you use one rifle to hunt a broad spectrum of big game – elk one week, deer the next, and moose the third?
In my opinion, the ideal solution for an all-around rifle is a mid-level cartridge like the .280 Ackley Improved, .30-06 Springfield, or 7mm Remington Magnum. Recoil generated by these cartridges will not rattle your teeth or cross your eyes, yet they hit hard enough and penetrate admirably. Loaded with premium bullets, they’re cheerfully adequate for everything from coyotes to Alaskan moose.