PostBulletin.com: Outdoors
Gary Clancy: Be careful with ARs, or you'll give hunting a black eye
Posted: Thursday, March 21, 2013 7:44 am
I don't own a "black rifle," but I have had a lot of experience with military assault rifles. In 1969 and 1970, while serving as a combat infantryman in the U.S Army in Vietnam, I carried either an M-14 or M-16 rifle for 423 days and nights.
On more than 300 of those days, I used my rifle to take out the enemy and to protect myself and my fellow grunts. And on one especially unforgettable night, when our platoon was overrun by a far superior force of well-trained and well-armed North Vietnamese soldiers, I spent a good share of the night fighting with both AK-47s and SKS rifles that I took off of dead enemies after I ran out of ammo for my own weapon.
No, that combat experience does not make me an expert on assault rifles, but it likely gives me a perspective few writers have gained.
Personally, I am baffled by all of the interest in ARs. Possibly because of my experiences in Nam, or perhaps because I am hopelessly old-fashioned, I do not understand why many coyote hunters, for example, now carry ARs instead of Winchester Model 70s, Remington 700s, Ruger Model 77s, the sturdy and very accurate rifles built by Savage, or the classy Ruger #1.
And why anyone would choose an AR for hunting deer or other big game is, for me, a bigger mystery still. The only advantage I can imagine is that, depending upon what magazine you are using, you have nine, 14, 19 or 29 follow-up rounds at your fingertip if you miss with your first shot.
If firepower is your main reason for using an AR-style rifle for hunting, then all I can say is shame on you. Learn to make the first shot count and you won't need to follow up with a half-box or maybe even a full box of ammo.
On the range when you and your buddies are punching paper or tipping over silhouettes with your assault-style rifles — hey, have at it. Use any gun and any magazine you want. But out in the woods or the fields is a whole different ballgame.
The wrong message
Imagine what a non-hunter, not to mention an anti-hunter, must think when they are driving down the road and meet up with one of us toting what to them looks just like the M-16s they grew accustomed to seeing every night on the TV during the Vietnam War, long magazines and all.
You and I know that they are not M-16s, that the M-16 has full-auto capability and the AR-style rifles used on the range and in the woods today do not. But to most people, that rifle you are toting sure looks like a military assault rifle, just like the ones carried by soldiers at war and by some law enforcement personnel.
Let me stress that I am not against hunters and target shooters using AR-style rifles. I don't choose to do so, but that is their right — and as long as they follow the law and use the rifles ethically, I have no problem with those who choose to use AR-style rifles for hunting or shooting on the range.
The problem, as I see it, is that too often a handful of coyote hunters toting AR-style rifles get a little trigger-happy. I've been close enough to several groups pushing sections who have gotten a coyote going and the ensuing barrage of fire sounded like a firefight minus the RPGs and mortars. Imagine what a homeowner or farmer thinks when he hears that kind of gunfire.
I know what some of those farmers think, because I have spoken with them. "We used to welcome coyote hunters onto our land," one farmer told me, "but since they have started carrying those M-16s and spraying bullets all over, I've tried to keep them off. There is no reason for that much shooting."
A big dairy farmer I know has twice had rounds ricochet off the slanted tin roofs of his barns. Another had a round come right through the fiberglass wall. Luckily none of his cows or his workers were hit.
Hunters are not allowed on either of those farms any longer. Who can blame them?
And this winter, while I was out coyote hunting myself, I was driving to a new calling location when I came upon a group pushing a section. They had a coyote on the run, and it made a hard 90-degree turn and crossed the road maybe 100 yards ahead of my pickup, then ran just outside the windbreak of the farmstead across the road.
A pickup came roaring over the hill just as the coyote was dashing across the road. The driver gunned the engine, then skidded to a mostly-sideways stop in the middle of the road. Two guys dressed in white bailed out of the cab, both of them with AR-style rifles, and they started pouring lead at the coyote racing along the windbreak. Thirty, maybe 40 shots later, the coyote dipped over a not-so-distant hill, untouched. The farmer's house was probably 200 feet away from that windbreak.
Imagine what that family was thinking. I started toward the pickup to try to get the license number, but they blew past me so fast I never had a chance.
Incidents like that are more common now that many predator hunters have switched to AR-style rifles. All hunters are getting a bad rap for the actions of a few irresponsible "wannabe Rambos."
Give the heroes a chance
For that reason, it would not bother me a bit if high-capacity magazine sales are controlled. No, such a law will likely not deter the next mentally ill mass murderer, but it might save a few lives. After all, each time a bad guy has to change magazines, that is a few seconds when he is not firing. There is also an increased chance that the rifle will jam up each time he loads a new magazine, and that might just give some hero an opportunity to get the jump on the shooter. Or better yet, time enough for a teacher or administrator to put him down, if we are smart enough to arm school teachers and administrators.
I know I'm going to take some heat from fellow NRA members. So be it.
When I walked point in Vietnam, which was quite often, I would tape two 20-round clips together and put eighteen rounds in each clip. M-16s jammed less often with eighteen rounds in the clip rather than 19 or 20.
With the clips taped together, all you had to do was hit the release button, release the empty magazine, flip it end for end and stick the new one back in. It might have only saved three to five seconds, but there are times when a few seconds can make all of the difference.
Today, if we force the bad guy to change magazines in his weapon, those few seconds could mean some 6-year-olds go home with their parents, rather than ending up in a bloody, huddled mass in the corner of their classroom.
Gary Clancy: Be careful with ARs, or you'll give hunting a black eye
Posted: Thursday, March 21, 2013 7:44 am
I don't own a "black rifle," but I have had a lot of experience with military assault rifles. In 1969 and 1970, while serving as a combat infantryman in the U.S Army in Vietnam, I carried either an M-14 or M-16 rifle for 423 days and nights.
On more than 300 of those days, I used my rifle to take out the enemy and to protect myself and my fellow grunts. And on one especially unforgettable night, when our platoon was overrun by a far superior force of well-trained and well-armed North Vietnamese soldiers, I spent a good share of the night fighting with both AK-47s and SKS rifles that I took off of dead enemies after I ran out of ammo for my own weapon.
No, that combat experience does not make me an expert on assault rifles, but it likely gives me a perspective few writers have gained.
Personally, I am baffled by all of the interest in ARs. Possibly because of my experiences in Nam, or perhaps because I am hopelessly old-fashioned, I do not understand why many coyote hunters, for example, now carry ARs instead of Winchester Model 70s, Remington 700s, Ruger Model 77s, the sturdy and very accurate rifles built by Savage, or the classy Ruger #1.
And why anyone would choose an AR for hunting deer or other big game is, for me, a bigger mystery still. The only advantage I can imagine is that, depending upon what magazine you are using, you have nine, 14, 19 or 29 follow-up rounds at your fingertip if you miss with your first shot.
If firepower is your main reason for using an AR-style rifle for hunting, then all I can say is shame on you. Learn to make the first shot count and you won't need to follow up with a half-box or maybe even a full box of ammo.
On the range when you and your buddies are punching paper or tipping over silhouettes with your assault-style rifles — hey, have at it. Use any gun and any magazine you want. But out in the woods or the fields is a whole different ballgame.
The wrong message
Imagine what a non-hunter, not to mention an anti-hunter, must think when they are driving down the road and meet up with one of us toting what to them looks just like the M-16s they grew accustomed to seeing every night on the TV during the Vietnam War, long magazines and all.
You and I know that they are not M-16s, that the M-16 has full-auto capability and the AR-style rifles used on the range and in the woods today do not. But to most people, that rifle you are toting sure looks like a military assault rifle, just like the ones carried by soldiers at war and by some law enforcement personnel.
Let me stress that I am not against hunters and target shooters using AR-style rifles. I don't choose to do so, but that is their right — and as long as they follow the law and use the rifles ethically, I have no problem with those who choose to use AR-style rifles for hunting or shooting on the range.
The problem, as I see it, is that too often a handful of coyote hunters toting AR-style rifles get a little trigger-happy. I've been close enough to several groups pushing sections who have gotten a coyote going and the ensuing barrage of fire sounded like a firefight minus the RPGs and mortars. Imagine what a homeowner or farmer thinks when he hears that kind of gunfire.
I know what some of those farmers think, because I have spoken with them. "We used to welcome coyote hunters onto our land," one farmer told me, "but since they have started carrying those M-16s and spraying bullets all over, I've tried to keep them off. There is no reason for that much shooting."
A big dairy farmer I know has twice had rounds ricochet off the slanted tin roofs of his barns. Another had a round come right through the fiberglass wall. Luckily none of his cows or his workers were hit.
Hunters are not allowed on either of those farms any longer. Who can blame them?
And this winter, while I was out coyote hunting myself, I was driving to a new calling location when I came upon a group pushing a section. They had a coyote on the run, and it made a hard 90-degree turn and crossed the road maybe 100 yards ahead of my pickup, then ran just outside the windbreak of the farmstead across the road.
A pickup came roaring over the hill just as the coyote was dashing across the road. The driver gunned the engine, then skidded to a mostly-sideways stop in the middle of the road. Two guys dressed in white bailed out of the cab, both of them with AR-style rifles, and they started pouring lead at the coyote racing along the windbreak. Thirty, maybe 40 shots later, the coyote dipped over a not-so-distant hill, untouched. The farmer's house was probably 200 feet away from that windbreak.
Imagine what that family was thinking. I started toward the pickup to try to get the license number, but they blew past me so fast I never had a chance.
Incidents like that are more common now that many predator hunters have switched to AR-style rifles. All hunters are getting a bad rap for the actions of a few irresponsible "wannabe Rambos."
Give the heroes a chance
For that reason, it would not bother me a bit if high-capacity magazine sales are controlled. No, such a law will likely not deter the next mentally ill mass murderer, but it might save a few lives. After all, each time a bad guy has to change magazines, that is a few seconds when he is not firing. There is also an increased chance that the rifle will jam up each time he loads a new magazine, and that might just give some hero an opportunity to get the jump on the shooter. Or better yet, time enough for a teacher or administrator to put him down, if we are smart enough to arm school teachers and administrators.
I know I'm going to take some heat from fellow NRA members. So be it.
When I walked point in Vietnam, which was quite often, I would tape two 20-round clips together and put eighteen rounds in each clip. M-16s jammed less often with eighteen rounds in the clip rather than 19 or 20.
With the clips taped together, all you had to do was hit the release button, release the empty magazine, flip it end for end and stick the new one back in. It might have only saved three to five seconds, but there are times when a few seconds can make all of the difference.
Today, if we force the bad guy to change magazines in his weapon, those few seconds could mean some 6-year-olds go home with their parents, rather than ending up in a bloody, huddled mass in the corner of their classroom.
