Ruston Gun Club, Inc



Ruston Gun Club, Inc.

1954 Wafer Road

Ruston, La. 71270 C.M.P. 42041

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September 15, 2005

RANGE REFLECTIONS

SEASON CHANGE

Ah, but we once again find ourselves on the cusp of a change of the seasons. You may have noticed that we are experiencing a cool snap with temperatures plunging to near 90 during the day and the days are getting just a tad shorter. I trust that you have been putting your longer days from daylight savings time to good use. With the change of season now is the time to be busy preparing your hunting loads if you are inclined to hunt and to check your scope settings. Please do not go afield without having made sure that your shots on target coincide with the view through your telescopic sight. If your eyesight is still good enough to hunt with iron I commend you but also suggest that you check your zero whether you shoot optically enhanced or not. Recently I had the pleasure of spending a few hours shooting with several club members. I was very impressed with the safety consciousness and shooting ability displayed by all involved. Personally I shot with customary mediocrity. Even though my shooting was not extraordinary it was extraordinary to be doing again that which gives me the most pleasure, spending time in the company of the exceptional people you meet on the range at the Ruston Gun Club. Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to spend any time devoted to the shooting sports and it is good to be getting back into it. We should be scheduling concealed carry classes again after the first of the new year. In the meantime any family member who wants to take advantage of the opportunity to get a concealed carry permit is invited to contact me. We can arrange a date and time to conduct the necessary training. All men are reminded that it is our responsibility to encourage our wives to seek proper training and to take advantage of the right to carry. Too often we feel ourselves capable of taking care of ourselves but always remember that your most valuable possessions, your wife and your children, spend more time in the company of their mothers than their fathers. I recently saw some statistics that married women drove 21% more than their husbands. After reflection this is an accurate statement of the amount of time your children spend in the company of their mother alone. It is not enough that you have a concealed carry permit if you are not around when a confrontation takes place. You have to prepare for problems that may arise when you are not present. Self defense training is not an inherited trait nor is it transferable by osmosis, the individual must be prepared according to the individual students physical stature, physical strength and personal preferences. Some people are more sensitive to recoil than others. Some people have physical characteristics that make a certain pistol more appropriate for them than one you may prefer. Any pistol can perform the function as a self defense pistol. The key is to identify the pistol that meets the requirements and needs of the student. While a .40 caliber Glock may be your idea of a perfect self defense gun it may not be appropriate for someone else. If the pistol is not comfortable or if the student is not comfortable with the pistol it will be left behind. The most important feature of a self defense pistol is that you have it with you. The best self defense pistol is the one that you are comfortable with, provides the comfort that only comes from having it with you and is comfortable enough to carry with you always. So what the carry gun for you maybe may not be the carry gun for your wife or someone else. You can no more categorically determine what is the appropriate carry gun for your wife than you can wear her clothes or expect her to be comfortable wearing your boots. What will fit her may not fit you and what fits you perfectly may be inappropriate for her. That does not mean that the fit for you is right and all other choices are wrong but only that your choice is right for you. The choices go not only to action type but also to configuration and calibration. For some people a 9mm is the upper limit of recoil and muzzle blast that they can comfortably tolerate. This is no reflection on them but simply provides some parameters within which we need to work in order to make an intelligent selection. I recently had a conversation with a concealed carry permit holder who had an unusual defense piece, a Walther PP in .22 long rifle. I questioned him about his choice and his response was very informative. The action type is definitely a good choice, double action and with a hammer drop feature but I was curious as to why he chose a .22 long rifle. His response was that the presence of a gun would be a deterrent in the event of an armed confrontation and that he knew he could place his shots very accurately with the .22. He had determined what gun he was most comfortable with, that he knew he could shoot accurately and had confidence in. A man armed with a .22 long rifle can very definitely defend himself provided he is cool under stress and able to shoot very accurately. Multiple hits with a .22 in a vital area are far superior to a clean miss with a .44.

While on the subject of comfort, you should choose a pistol that you can and will comfortably practice with on a frequent basis. You should plan to shoot at least 100 rounds a month in ongoing practice. Not only does this increase your comfort factor it also increases the confidence factor in not only your defensive piece but also in yourself.

Howard and I have been continuing in our bullet performance testing and tested some more ammunition recently. The results of the tests were very encouraging. The manufacturers have heard the customer requests for more effective and reliable expanding self defense bullets. We are indeed fortunate to be living and shooting in the present with all of the excellent products on the market. When I started hand loading handgun ammunition there were few choices available. Speer marketed a jacketed hollow point that had a jacket a bit too thick and that was about all there was to choose from. In order to get expansion we loaded cup based wadcutters upside down. Believe or not that proved to be a good performer at .38 Special velocities. If you wanted something other than a hard cast lead bullet you had to be creative. We found that the upside down wadcutter could not tolerate the higher velocities of the .357 Magnum. At .357 Magnum velocities the bullet expanded until it just shredded itself. The jacketed bullets of the day gave spotty performance so generally we shot .357 Magnum cartridges with a hard cast bullet. A lot has changed in the last 30 years and overall bullet construction and performance has improved exponentially. We discovered an absolute bargain on the self defense market and that is the Winchester SilverTip load in .38 Special. Not only did it perform perfectly shot after shot it also comes in a box of 50 rather then 20 or 25 like most other self defense loads. Not only that but you can get them over the counter at Wal Mart. Most every brand of self defense load we have tested has performed well, it is just that some seem to consistently perform better. Several offerings from Winchester were tested in 9mm, Lawman and +P+. The Lawman rounds in 115 grains and 127 grains both performed as expected. Penetration appeared to be better with the 127 grain offering. One consistent fact has emerged and that is that the lighter bullet offerings in any caliber open up sooner and therefore make for a more superficial or surface wound. The 115 9mm rounds we have tested all seemed to open up right on the surface of the water tank resulting in a big splash of water. The big splash of water is impressive however what it indicates is that the energy of the round is being converted into expansion immediately upon contact with the water tank. The heavier bullets do not produce as great a splash effect and seem to expand deeper into the water tank. A bullet needs to stay intact in order to transfer its energy to the target but it also needs to penetrate enough to reach the vital organs in order to shut down the attack.

On the legal front there is good news to report. Texas has amended their statute to permit the carrying of a loaded firearm in a vehicle with or without a concealed carry permit. The statute is limited to a traveler meaning someone on a journey and the law requires that the handgun not be visible. Let me state it again so there is no misconception, there is no right to open carry in the state of Texas. It is a violation of their state law to not have your handgun concealed at all times. So a loaded self defense handgun in a carpocket or lying on the floorboard is still a violation of a Texas statute even though now it is possible to carry a loaded handgun in the passenger compartment of a vehicle. The Texas law now specifically requires you to be proactive and advise any law enforcement agent you meet in an official capacity that you are a carry permit holder. There is now a provision that makes it a violation of Texas state law to fail to inform the law enforcement agent yourself. Please take a look at for a complete text of the new statute. I should also point out that Texas prohibits knives with a blade length of over 5 ½ inches. You should also check carefully the prohibited carry locations if you are going to Texas. Hospitals are a prohibited location in Texas while here in Louisiana they are not.

Florida has also joined Louisiana in enacting amendments to their justifiable homicide statutes to recognize the castle doctrine that Louisiana was at the forefront in adopting at least 25 years ago. Florida now recognizes that a homeowner or lawful occupant in a residence is not required to retreat from his own home. This amendment will be benefit not only the people who live in the state of Florida but also visitors staying in motels in the state. As I read the amendment you can meet the intruder coming into your motel room at the front door rather than having to retreat to the maximum by hiding in the bathroom. Always remember that you are bound by the laws of the state that you are visiting.

I heard from Howard recently about a cannon firing episode involving him and fellow family member Ernie Stevens at a recent Cedar Creek football game. In case you do not know Ernie Stevens is the founder and director of the Military Museum in Ruston. He recently came into possession of a black powder cannon. They went to Cedar Creek’s first home game and exercised great sports enthusiasm by celebrating two Cedar Creek touchdowns with a cannon shot. Apparently their support for the home team was not shared by some neighbors. Can you imagine how anyone could object to celebratory cannon fire? Obviously some people have no pride in our local football programs. On a positive note, any symphony groups who wish to stage the Overture of 1812 we have the first and second chair in the cannon section covered.

I get a lot of funny stuff sent to me by family members and this month was no different. I am going to close with a clipping I received in a birthday card.

Why It’s Important to Listen Carefully

Osama bin Laden went to heaven and was greeted by George Washington, who slapped him and yelled, “How dare you try to destroy the nation I helped conceive?”

Patrick Henry then approached and punched Osama in the nose. James Madison entered and kicked him in the shin. An angry Thomas Jefferson whacked Osama over the head with a cane.

The thrashing continued as John Randolph, James Monroe and 66 other early Americans came in and unleashed their anger on the terrorist leader.

Suddenly, as Osama lay writhing in unbearable pain, an angel appeared.

“This is not what you promised me,” said Osama.

“Come on, Osama,” the angel replied. “I told you there would be 72 Virginians waiting for you in heaven.”

I heard recently from family member Walker Ross aka SkyKing that he has finally hung up his spurs and retired from Japan Airlines aka the fiendish little yellow devils after a 30 year career as an airline pilot. Regulations mandate that flying is a young man’s game and has a mandatory retirement age of 60 years of age. After age 60 a pilot can continue to contribute as copilot until age 63 subject to strict medical review. It seems a terrible waste of the experience of a 60 year old pilot to sideline him just because of age. Walker is in excellent physical condition for a man half his age. The fiendish little yellow devils have been engaged in an ongoing campaign to force Walker to retire by grounding him for questionable medical issues and putting him to a tremendous amount of inconvenience including scheduling medical examinations in Japan. Japan Airlines does not provide transportation for these mandatory medical examinations. Well Walker has refused to yield to the tactics for the last two years and has maintained that he is not medically impaired and is qualified to continue his career. Japan Airlines finally had to concede that he is medically and professionally qualified to fly. SkyKing never gave up and he never gave in. After a long running battle he won and returned to the cockpit. He had one flight and then in the immortal words of General Douglas McArthur at the conclusion of the surrender ceremony of the Japanese on September 2, 1945 said “These proceedings are concluded” and walked down the ladder one last time and out. They could not beat us then and they cannot beat us now. Americans do not run nor do we yield when we are in the right. Hi Ho SkyKing and well done.

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ALBERT W. BLOCK, JR.

P.O. Box 3096

West Monroe, La. 71294

318 397-8949

318 396-9511 Fax

E-mail address Legalworxs@

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