{"id":15295,"date":"2018-11-16T21:47:14","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T21:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/?p=15295"},"modified":"2018-11-16T21:48:06","modified_gmt":"2018-11-16T21:48:06","slug":"a-text-book-for-rifle-loonies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/a-text-book-for-rifle-loonies\/","title":{"rendered":"A Text Book for Rifle Loonies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back before Wal-Mart and big box sporting good stores ran the little guy out of business, you could walk into a real\u00a0<\/em>gun shop and become educated. Often there was no one behind the counter; you\u2019d find several gents huddled around the wood stove pontificating on things like growing green beans and politics, but mostly on guns. If not there, they\u2019d be sitt\u2019n at the window, watching the pretty girls go by. But they\u2019d still be talking about vegetables, liars, and shooting stuff.<\/p>\n

Those old gun shops were where folks shared knowledge. Knowledge maybe useless to many, but damned appreciated by rifle loonies. You could spend hours there; long enough to be late for things you didn\u2019t really want to be on time for anyway. With the absence of these retreats, those conversations have moved to Internet chat rooms and message boards. But, you should treat the information you get there with the same trust you give to see-through scope mounts.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re desperate to become educated beyond your intelligence with regard to sporting rifles, there\u2019s still a reliable option. John Barsness\u2019 new book, The Big Book of Gun Gack II<\/u>, is chocked full of information, delivered in an entertaining, easy to read manner, that will make you feel like you\u2019re sitting by a wood stove \u2013 or a window \u2013 with several old rifle hands.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Interested in new powders and bullets for the 30-30? Gun Rack II is where you will find that information.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The book contains a lot about handloading. Technical stuff like case trimming, neck turning, pulling bullets, reduced loads, annealing brass, and improved cartridges. But there\u2019s also lots of generalized information on various types of sporting rifles, with essays on accurizing, stock materials, triggers, and safeties. My favorite chapter deals with that often debated subject of killing power, where John writes, \u201cEventually I gradually (and grudgingly) came to the conclusion that bullet placement is by far the most important factor in killing power, with the specific bullet second, and the cartridge far behind in third.\u201d (I learned a long time ago to never trust a gun writer or gun expert<\/em>who claimed a certain cartridge superior to all others when it came to killing stuff.)<\/p>\n

Early in my writing career, Barsness was big influence. I liked how he could meld amusement into an instructive article on a topic as dry as teenage boy\u2019s mouth right before his first kiss. His writing flows with the easiness of a lesson from grandpa, but educates like a lecture from a trusted professor. This comes naturally to John, partly because he\u2019s educated, but also partly because he lives the life of a rifle loony. Shooting, handloading, hunting, and tinkering with guns are not<\/em>John\u2019s hobbies<\/em>; they\u2019re the only damn things he does. If he writes it, you can trust it, because he\u2019s learned it, the hard way.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Curious about how temperature can alter rifle powder performance? That’s a gun gack topic if there ever was one.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Barsness also took me on my first western big game hunt. I flew to Montana and we spent our first day loading ammo in his garage, and then testing it on the range. We then headed into the high country, found a bear, and killed it, with the ammo we\u2019d loaded. We\u2019ve hunted in Montana, West Virginia, Texas, Ireland, and New Zealand together. I\u2019ve listened, I\u2019ve learned, and I\u2019m a better writer, shooter, and hunter because I paid attention.<\/p>\n

Barsness is not the reason I became a gun writer, but he for sure helped with the craft. He\u2019s one of my favorites around the campfire because he\u2019s full of gun gack, enjoys sharing it, and knows how to tell a story. And, if you\u2019re a guy like me, you can never get enough gun gack. John\u2019s new book has 400 pages of it. If that\u2019s not enough, get his first Gun Gack book too. Read \u2018em both and you\u2019ll be busting with knowledge and desperately seeking an old gun shop \u2013 or some younger-than-you rifle loony \u2013 so you can share it all.<\/p>\n

Order your copy of The Big Book of Gun Gack II<\/strong>, and other great books by John Barsness and his wife Eileen Clarke HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
John Barsness with Richard Mann on his first mule deer hunt. This buck was the first animal taken with Nosler’s – new at the time – 130-grain AccuBond. Handloaded ammunition and a 264 Winchester Magnum. It was a gun-gacky kind of hunt.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back before Wal-Mart and big box sporting good stores ran the little guy out of business, you could walk into a real\u00a0gun shop and become educated. Often there was no one behind the counter; you\u2019d find several gents huddled around the wood stove pontificating on things like growing green beans and politics, but mostly on guns. If not there, they\u2019d be sitt\u2019n …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2821,2522,2820,2500],"tags":[1308,2823,395,63,2730],"class_list":["post-15295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-empty-cases-exclusive","category-hunt","category-latest","category-shooting","tag-gun-books","tag-gun-gack","tag-hunting","tag-john-barsness","tag-shooting"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/barsness.jpg?fit=1180%2C1631&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5hujZ-3YH","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7010,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/end-of-week-quiz\/","url_meta":{"origin":15295,"position":0},"title":"End of Week Quiz","author":"gunwriter","date":"May 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the end of week intelligence test for gun loonies. Score 5 out of 5 and you get the Empty Cases - smarter than the average gun guy - award as long as you did not use Google for help. 4 out of 5 and you can brag about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "HUNTING"","block_context":{"text":"HUNTING","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/category\/hunt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7740,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/that-smell\/","url_meta":{"origin":15295,"position":1},"title":"That Smell","author":"gunwriter","date":"November 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Humans are mostly creatures of sight but there are some sounds and smells we find very alluring. Some caffeine aficionados will perk up when they hear a pot of coffee perking. The same can be said if they smell coffee brewing.\u00a0For gun guys there are other sounds and smells. Like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "HUNTING"","block_context":{"text":"HUNTING","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/category\/hunt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"327 Lever Gun S","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/327-Lever-Gun-S-300x103.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10688,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/cyber-monday-for-shooters\/","url_meta":{"origin":15295,"position":2},"title":"Cyber Monday for Shooters","author":"gunwriter","date":"November 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"They say that tomorrow is the biggest on-line shopping day of the year. It won't be for me; I'll be deep in the Allegheny Mountains looking for a buck and a bear. For those less fortunate who might be looking to pick up a gift for their shooting or hunting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Books on the AR\"","block_context":{"text":"Books on the AR","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/tag\/books-on-the-ar\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Scan","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Scan.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8879,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/tactical-zombies-and-the-modern-sporting-rifle\/","url_meta":{"origin":15295,"position":3},"title":"Tactical, Zombies and the Modern Sporting Rifle","author":"gunwriter","date":"April 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Here we are on the eve of the 143rd Annual Meetings of the National Rifle Association. Those in attendance will be prowling the show floor looking for anything related to zombies, the modern sporting rifle (MSR) or that has tactical as an adjective. While products and gear that fall into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DEFENSE"","block_context":{"text":"DEFENSE","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/category\/defense\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"AR Meopta","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/AR-Meopta.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/AR-Meopta.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/AR-Meopta.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7930,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/enough-gun-or-something-like-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":15295,"position":4},"title":"Enough Gun or Something Like It","author":"gunwriter","date":"January 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple years back I ordered a full-custom rifle. I had many decisions to make concerning the rifle and one of the hardest was what cartridge to have the rifle chambered for. The rifle was to be used mostly for whitetails were I spend the most time hunting them: Here\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \".223 Remington\"","block_context":{"text":".223 Remington","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/tag\/223-remington\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Select a cartridge you can shoot comfortably and then learn how to shoot your rifle.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/30-AR-150-Accubond-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7201,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/truth-or-fiction\/","url_meta":{"origin":15295,"position":5},"title":"Truth or Fiction","author":"gunwriter","date":"June 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I am interested to hear rifle sayings like these below which you have heard over the years, and if you believe them or not. This will help with a book project I am working on. Beware the man with only one rifle Only accurate rifles are interesting Always use enough\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DEFENSE"","block_context":{"text":"DEFENSE","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/category\/defense\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15304,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15295\/revisions\/15304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}