Weekly Digest

Sharp Shooter Supply has recently announced the availability of their new high capacity detachable magazines for centerfeed Savage centerfire rifles.  The magazines are available complete or in DIY kit form to use parts from your existing magazine.

The new magazine extension is CNC milled from aluminum billets and replaces the bottom plate of the factory magazine.  The follower spring consists of two factory springs fastened together with shrink tube.

Complete magazines come fully assembled and ready to use, while the DIY kit includes the extension box, a piggy-back follower spring, and heat-shrink tube to connect the spring halves.

Magazines are currently available for the .308 family of cartridges and increase magazine capacity to 9-rounds.  Magazines for the .223 family of cartridges are already in the works and should be available in the next few months.

Price for complete magazines will be $72.80 and the DIY Kit will set you back $54.80.

Ellett Brothers joins the elite team of Master Distributors for Savage Firearms. One of the select few in the country to obtain this status, Ellett now serves its’ customers with 100% offering of Savage made products.

Ellett Brothers looks forward to the continued success in providing the Savage products their customers need. This is clearly a “win-win” partnership for Savage, Ellett Brothers and Ellett Brothers customers.

Chuck Walker, VP Sales & Marketing proudly states, ”If  Savage makes it, Ellett Brothers carries it!”

ATK Acquires Weaver Optics - further heralds ATK’s return to the optics category

ANOKA, Minn.–April 25, 2008–ATK has announced its acquisition of Weaver® Optics from Meade Instruments effective April 24, 2008. This acquisition further heralds ATK’s return to the optics category and integrates yet another trusted and respected name into the well-known family of ATK brands.

This strategic move, coupled with the 2007 launch of Nitrex Optics™ establishes ATK as a significant and growing force within this product category. Mark DeYoung, President of ATK Armament Systems and ATK Commercial Products stated that “The opportunity to add Weaver optics into our growing portfolio of quality brands supports our strategy for growth. As we continue to expand our capability and product offering in the accessories category, optics will be a solid contributor to our success. Our company has a solid history with the Weaver brand and we are pleased to add Weaver optics back into our winning lineup.”

The legendary Weaver brand of optics, when combined with ATK’s existing Weaver rings, mounts and bases, positions the company for continued growth and operational synergies within their optics line-up.

For more information on ATK Commercial Products, visit www.outdoorwriters.atk.com.

About Weaver Optics
From the field to the range, Weaver® Outdoor Optics brings more than 77 years of innovation and expertise to the shooting experience. Engineered to be the most reliable optics, Weaver ensures accuracy—sshot after shot, hunt after hunt. So whether it’s punching paper at the local range or chasing game through the high country, Weaver optics are up to the task.

About ATK Armament Systems
Headquartered in Utah, ATK Armament Systems is the world’s largest ammunition manufacturing entity generating approximately $1.5B annually in sales. The organization manufactures small caliber military ammunition, medium caliber military ammunition, medium caliber gun systems, rocket motors, ammunition propellants, commercial and military smokeless powder, law enforcement and sporting ammunition, ammunition related products and is the operator of two U.S. Army ammunition manufacturing plants. The organization employs approximately 6,000 people. More information is available at www.outdoorwriters.atk.com.

About ATK
ATK is a premiere aerospace and defense company with more than 17,000 employees in 21 states and over $4.1 billion in revenue. News and information can be found on the Internet at www.atk.com.

BEAVERTON, OREGON –Leupold® & Stevens, Inc. announces the purchase of the Redfield® brand including all intellectual property and associated assets.

Redfield was originally founded in 1909, and spent many decades as a leading U.S. producer of riflescopes, spotting scopes, riflescope mounting systems and binoculars until it closed in 1998. The Redfield brand subsequently changed hands several times, before being acquired by Meade Instruments, from whom Leupold & Stevens made the acquisition.

Tom Fruechtel, President and CEO of Leupold & Stevens, declined to discuss the purchase price or plans for the Redfield brand under Leupold ownership, but did state: “Leupold & Stevens is pleased to have had the opportunity to acquire one of America’s leading sporting goods brands. For half a century, Leupold respected Redfield as a leading innovator and competitor in the sports optics industry. The opportunity for Leupold to rescue this American brand from dormancy could not be missed. As we carefully consider how to proceed, we will be very cognizant of Redfield’s historical significance and the position it fills in the hearts of millions of dedicated American Sportsmen.”

Leupold & Stevens, Inc., is the leading American-owned and -operated optics company, employs more than 650 people in its state-of-the-art Beaverton, Ore., facility where rugged, dependable, high-performance Golden Ring® sports optics are designed, machined and assembled. Leupold is a fifth-generation, family-owned company. Winner of the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers Accessory Manufacturer of the Year award for both 2006 and 2007, Leupold’s products are sold worldwide to hunters, wildlife observers, competitive shooters, law enforcement officers and special operations military personnel. The product line includes rifle, handgun and spotting scopes; binoculars; rangefinders; flashlights; mounting systems; and optical tools and accessories.

Sightron^TM, Inc.’s new SII variable power target scope gives shooters the choice of a dot, mil-dot or duplex reticle to match their personal shooting requirements.The new 6.5-20×42 scope features Sightron’s low profile target knobs and 720 degree adjustable objective for incredibly fine focus from 12 yards to infinity.

They are equally suited for both air guns and high powered rifles, providing a lifetime of precise shot placement.  SII target scopes come with a 3″ detachable sun shade for shooting in bright conditions.  SII scopes are built from a rugged one piece aircraft quality aluminum tube.  They feature Sightron’s unique Exactrack^TM system for precise no-drift windage and elevation adjustments.

The fully coated precision ground lenses use Sightron’s ZACT-7 Revcoat^TM seven layer multicoating throughout to provide some of the highest light transmission in the industry.  Sightron Scopes are waterproof; nitrogen filled and provide a lifetime of internal fog protection.  Sightron’s lifetime replacement warranty ensures consumers that if one of their products fails, they can return it to Sightron or an authorized Sightron dealer for a new one.  Suggested retail price is Plex-$513.16, DOT-$567.00 and MD-$602.88.

For more information on Sightron, Inc. products, visit www.sightron.com.

Strum, Ruger & Co. has released the following product safety warning and recall notice for it’s new SR9 semi-automatic pistols.

Bob Egelko, SF Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, April 10, 2008

17:19 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — The state Supreme Court dealt a final blow Wednesday to San Francisco’s voter-approved ban on handguns, rejecting the city’s appeal of a lower-court ruling that sharply limited the ability of localities to regulate firearms.

The court’s unanimous order was a victory for the National Rifle Association, which sued on behalf of gun owners, advocates and dealers a day after the measure passed with 58 percent of the vote in November 2005. The initiative has never taken effect.

The ordinance, Proposition H, would have forbidden San Francisco residents to possess handguns, exempting only law enforcement officers and others who needed guns for professional purposes. It would have also prohibited the manufacture, sale or distribution of any type of firearms or ammunition in San Francisco.

Lower courts ruled that the measure interfered with a statewide system of gun regulation, which bars certain types of weapons and allows others. The rulings did not address the scope of the constitutional right to bear arms under the Second Amendment, the focus of a pending U.S. Supreme Court case involving a handgun ban in Washington, D.C.

The state courts recognized that “law-abiding citizens are part of the solution, not part of the problem of violent crime,” said Chuck Michel, lawyer for the plaintiffs in the NRA suit. “The authority of local cities to over-regulate firearms is very limited.”

Alexis Thompson, spokeswoman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera, said the court’s action was disappointing.

“As violence continues to be a pervasive problem in our city, we hope that we can explore other ways to abate the prevalence of handguns on our streets,” she said.

In seeking state Supreme Court review, Herrera’s office urged the justices to declare that “local governments retain significant, meaningful … power to protect their residents against gun violence.”

The city’s lawyers said the use of guns in San Francisco homicides is rising, accounting for 61 percent of all killings in 2001 and 83 percent in 2005, and is particularly high in poor and minority neighborhoods. Gun violence costs San Francisco at least $31.2 million a year for hospital care, police and fire response and jail expenses, the city said.

But the courts said the ordinance was beyond the powers of local government.

Upholding a judge’s June 2006 ruling, the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said state law left room for some municipal gun control - such as bans on the sale or possession of firearms on public fairgrounds - but “when it comes to regulating firearms, local governments are well advised to tread lightly.”

The court relied on its own 1982 ruling striking down a San Francisco ordinance that would have prohibited handgun possession by anyone in the city limits. Prop. H drafters sought to comply with the ruling by limiting the ban to city residents.

In a 3-0 ruling Jan. 9, the appeals court said state law allows law-abiding Californians to possess handguns in their homes and businesses and lets them request a concealed-weapons permit or a judge’s permission to carry guns in public - authority that leaves no room for a local handgun ban.

The court also said a 1999 state law banning the sale of the cheap pistols known as Saturday night specials, and setting safety standards for legal firearms, implicitly prohibited local governments from outlawing all handguns.

The appeals judges also refused San Francisco’s request to allow enforcement of Prop. H’s ban on the manufacture or sale of rifles and shotguns, saying the city must first rewrite the measure to narrow its scope.

The case is San Francisco vs. Fiscal, S160968.

Written by C. Douglas Neilsen
Las Vegas Review-JournalOn any given evening, thousands of kids across the country load up their shotguns and hit the road. They look forward to hanging out with friends, having a good time and getting a chance to shoot. But what they don’t look for is trouble.

Instead, these young people prove themselves by shooting as many clay targets out of 100 as they can under the watchful eyes of trained coaches in a controlled environment, such as the one that soon will be available at the Clark County Shooting Park. These gun-toting kids are participants in organized shooting events like those provided through the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP).

Just 7 years old, the SCTP has grown since its inception in 2001. Participants now number more than 8,300 nationwide, compared with 700 in the program’s first year. And believe it or not, 25 percent are involved through their schools. For 11 percent, the program is offered as a varsity sport.

Natalie Hornbeck, a senior at Shadow Ridge High School, and Dylan Mitchell, a sophomore at Centennial, started their shooting careers before they were 10. Neither has the luxury of participating in a school-sponsored program, but both are active members of the SilverState-ClayBreakers, Southern Nevada’s local Scholastic Clay shooting team. They shoot at least once a week.

Both enjoy the competitive challenge offered by the shotgun shooting sports, but their reasons for getting involved reach far beyond the thrill of seeing a clay pigeon explode into powder. Hornbeck liked the fact that shotgun shooting was anything but a typical teenage activity.

“It was not your typical sport. It wasn’t baseball. It was something different and nothing I ever really tried before,” Hornbeck said. ”It’s a mental focus, not so much if you can hit a baseball. It’s pretty different.”

She competes in a local league as a member of an all-girls team called Trap Lovin’ Chicks.

For Mitchell, the attraction is people.

“There are a lot better people out there. You go to school, and many of the kids aren’t good people. And you get out there, and every one of them are hunters and fishermen,” he said. “Whenever you get hunters and fishermen, they’re always good people. So I think it’s just being around good people that keeps you there.”

He also said the scholastic program helps keep him focused on things that are truly important.

Cody Newberry, 10, has been shooting for two years and said he usually bests his father, Hoss Newberry, at the shooting line, regularly breaking 25 out of 25. The youthful shooter said one of his favorite events is the “Buddy Shoot” because he gets to shoot with his dad.

“Out there, it is very disciplined. They look like little men,” Hoss Newberry said of the young shooters. ”Their guns are pointed down, the breech is open. It’s all about safety and good sportsmanship. When they shoot 25 clay birds, it’s a big deal.”

Discipline and self-confidence are common traits of kids who participate.

“It’s all about self-discipline. As they become more disciplined and their self-confidence grows, their self-esteem grows,” said Brian Fisher, Mitchell’s father and an SCTP shooting coach. ”It seems to carry over into their school and their daily activities, their daily lives. It lets them know that they can accomplish what they set out to do with just some perseverance, some practice and some hard work.”

The cost to participate in the Scholastic Clay Target Program is $25 a month, which pays for four boxes of shot shells and 100 clay targets. Loaner shotguns are available for those who want to give the sport a try before investing in a gun.

More information is available at www.silverstate-claybreakers.com.

Doug Nielsen is an award-winning freelance writer and a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His “In the Outdoors” column is published Thursday. He can be reached at doug@takinitoutside.com.

From first time reloaders to competitive gun and archery shooters, MTM Case-Gard introduces a pocket sized scale that is sure to satisfy all level of sportsmen. Great for the reloading bench or a well equipped shooting box, the DS-1200 is packed with features that shooting sportsmen require. Features include: an extended, 3 minute auto shut-off• powder pan, custom designed to facilitate bullet, powder and arrow weighing &bulleasy to read, backlit LCD display • plus\minus .1 grain accuracy • up to 1200 grain capacity &bullmeasures in grains, grams, carats and ounces • stainless steel sensory platform • high-impact, plastic sensory cover that doubles as large powder pan • uses just two standard AAA batteries (included)• calibration weight and detailed instructions included • a high-quality, foam lined case for permanent storage and protected travel. Suggested Retail just $39.99.Catalog No.:DS-1200

For more information and availability, check with your local sporting goods dealer or contact MTM Molded Products at (937) 890-7461. See the full line of MTM products at http://www.mtmcase-gard.com

MADISON, N.C., April 7, 2008 - Remington Arms Company, Inc. (”Remington”), the United States’ largest firearms manufacturer, today announced a strategic manufacturing consolidation move that will result in the closure of its Gardner, Massachusetts plant (”Gardner”). This integration will be seamless and will not affect our customers or our product offerings.”While it was a difficult decision to close Gardner, we believe that this consolidation will enhance our ability to more efficiently provide quality products at competitive prices in an increasingly demanding global marketplace.” said Tommy Millner, Remington’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are always looking for ways to strengthen and optimize our business in order to stay competitive, while also creating additional opportunities for our employees and better products for customers. Our number one goal is to provide our customers and end-users with the best, most innovative products at a competitive price. Consolidation of manufacturing capabilities and migration to common operating systems are expected to create efficiencies that will achieve this goal.”

Throughout the remainder of 2008, the integration of Gardner’s operations is expected to result in centralized sales and marketing, streamlined operations, standardized information technology infrastructure, and common financial functionality while vigorously maintaining and promoting individual brand identity and products.

Unfortunately, an estimated 200 Gardner employees will be impacted by the closure, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2008. A number of employees will transition from Gardner to other capacities within the Company. For those not transferred, the Company will be offering severance, outplacement, and referral services in order to assist in this difficult transition.