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Hogue HandALL Beavertail Grip Sleeve Fits Ruger Security 9

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Hogue Incorporated’s new Beavertail HandALL Grip Sleeve is specifically designed for a precision fit on the Ruger Security 9 mid-sized pistol.

“Due to its built-in grip frame, the Security 9 will not accommodate replaceable grips,” said grip designer Matt Hogue. “Our solution was to create a model of our HandALL Beavertail Grip Sleeve that works with the firearm’s existing nylon frame to add comfort along with a precision fit.”

The Beavertail Grip Sleeve is installed by slipping it over the Security 9’s grip frame until it seats perfectly into position. The sleeve matches the unique contours of the nylon frame for a more secure and comfortable fit.

Once installed, the HandALL sleeve provides finger grooves for instinctive handling and control of the firearm. These lead into a gentle palm swell that has been carefully designed to fit naturally in the hand. The beavertail built into the grip sleeve rises high along the backstrap of the frame. This provides full rubber contact for increased hand comfort higher on the grip. In addition to protection and comfort, the beavertail also cushions the hand during recoil by providing better distribution of recoil forces.

The HandALL is built from a durable thermoplastic elastomer compound. This rubber ages gracefully and keeps a firm, tacky feel throughout the life of the grip. It will not harden, split or crack with age or use. The surface is covered with Hogue’s familiar Cobblestone texture, a series of small circular bumps that provide an efficient non-slip, non-irritating grip on the rubber.

Hogue’s Security 9 HandALL Beavertail Grip Sleeves have an MSRP of $10.95 for black, and $12.95 for OD green, flat dark earth, aqua, pink and purple.

Hogue Grip Sleeves are manufactured in their family-owned and operated facilities under the direct supervision of the Hogue family.
 


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USA Shooting Announces SKB Cases as Official Case, Gun Protector

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To America’s Shooting Team athletes, very little is as important to them as the gun they use in competition to chase their Olympic and Paralympic dreams, which is why USA Shooting has partnered with SKB Cases as the team’s Official Gun Case and Gun Protector through 2020.

USA Shooting Team athletes will place their trust and confidence in SKB Cases while transporting their pistols, rifles and shotguns to ranges throughout the country and all around the globe. The first major event will be the International Shooting Sport Federation World Championships later this summer in Changwon, South Korea.

“Our athletes deserve to know that their equipment is well-protected and secure while representing America’s shooting sports culture in matches throughout the world,” said Kevin Neuendorf, Director of Marketing Communications for USA Shooting. “The competition is fierce and the travel is demanding and every athlete will appreciate the peace of mind that comes in knowing SKB is protecting that piece of equipment that is their livelihood.”

“As a small, California-based company that has spent over 40 years establishing its global reputation as manufacturer of the best cases in the world, SKB couldn’t be prouder to be an official sponsor of the USA Shooting Team, whose elite athletes walk a similar path toward the American Dream,” said Robert Wilkes, Chief Operating Officer of SKB Cases. “Our protective cases will help provide one less thing for these athletes to worry about —enabling them to focus instead on confidently meeting their challenges in pursuit of success.”

Founded in 1977, SKB remains family-owned and operated to this day, and has expanded its operations into three factories with over 300 employees. SKB’s innovative solutions can be found on all seven continents where they help diverse industries around the world to protect their livelihoods, build better products, and get the job done—usually in the toughest environments where protection of sensitive equipment is mission critical. Top companies in music, photography, sports, aerospace, military and more all look to SKB for support.

SKB cases used by USA Shooting Team athletes will include a customized USA Shooting logo on the outside of each gun case.

 

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Quick Look: Firefield’s New Verge M-LOK Series Rail System

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Accessorizing your modern sporting rifle or pistol is one of the great things about today’s variety in the market since you can find just about anything you want.

Whether you’re going afield hunting, hitting the range, heading to competition or setting up a self-defense weapon for personal carry or home, a multitude of accessories are available. All it takes is figuring out what you want and then finding it.

Firefield has added to its lineup of rail systems with the new Verge M-Lok Series. Ideal for MSR platform rifles and pistols, the tactical Verge M-LOK Series rail system is a slim, low-profile handguard designed to be lightweight and user friendly.

The Verge rail system features a skeletonized design and durable anodized 6061-T6 aluminum construction to ensure your rail can take a beating while continuing to perform.

Firefield Verge M-LOK rails are available in four different lengths: Verge M-LOK 7-inch (FF34064), Verge M-LOK 9-inch (FF34065), Verge M-LOK 12-inch (FF34066) and the Verge M-LOK 15-inch (FF34067). The Verge includes a 7-slot M-LOK rail piece to hold your accessories and fits most picatinny and weaver mounts.

 

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Viridian X Series Gen 3 Laser Sights Now Shipping

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Viridian Weapon Technologies is now shipping its recently introduced X5L Gen 3 Green Laser Sight, part of the X Series product line.

Available in black and flat dark earth, the new model can be purchased online or at select retailers across the country.

“We continually strive to produce the most advanced weapon-mounted lasers and accessories available, and the X Series Gen 3 family of products is no exception,” said Viridian President and CEO Brian Hedeen. “Introduced in 2008, the original X5L was the first-ever green laser and light combo to market. In 2011, we raised the bar again with the X5L Gen 2. Today, we’re excited to give customers a new generation of our popular X Series green laser with rechargeable batteries and a sleeker package.”

Viridian X Series Gen 3 weapon-mounted accessories, including the X5L Gen 3 Green Laser Sight, feature the brightest lasers, breakthrough momentary activation technology, brilliant taclights and proprietary INSTANT-ON activation. Gen 3 models also include a removable, rechargeable battery that eliminates the need to ever buy traditional batteries again. On-board charging with indicator lights allows users to know the exact battery power status in real time.

The X Series Gen 3 products boast sleeker bodies that fit in most holsters designed for the Streamlight TLR1. A universal mount, light output of 500 lumens and multiple modes of operation add to the list of features. These upgraded offerings fit most full-size handguns and include an industry-best seven-year limited warranty.

More information about the new X Series Gen 3 products can be found online.

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Review: CAA Roni Brace Elevates Pistol from Backup Weapon to Fighting Gun

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A short, buttstocked pistol offers tremendous advantages over a traditional one in terms of recoil control, modularity and accuracy. (Photo: CAA)

Pistols, by design, are a compromise. They lack the effective range and terminal ballistics of shoulder-fired weapons, as well as the controllability and magazine capacity of larger firearms. Pistols sacrifice these benefits in exchange for portability, convenience and concealability.

Despite this, engineers and gun makers have toiled for centuries to mitigate these shortcomings, and shoehorn the lowly pistol into a role of a personal-defense weapon (PDW). It hasn’t gone by that name until somewhat recently, but make no mistake, a stocked-black powder revolver served the same function then as a select-fire MP7 does now. Both attempt to give the wielder greater combat effectiveness without burdening them with a full-sized longarm. In that regard, they’re wildly successful.

A short, buttstocked pistol offers tremendous advantages over a traditional one in terms of recoil control, modularity and accuracy. The only downside for homeowners in the United States, is the National Firearms Act (NFA) restricts adding a stock to a handgun without first obtaining a tax stamp for $200.

For years, this left most shooters looking for a perfect home-defense weapon at an impasse. They either had to deal with the shortcomings of a handgun or pay a $200 tax and wait six months for its approval. This all changed with the introduction of the SB Tactical pistol brace in 2012.

The Roni features a full-length 12-inch optics rail that allows for mounting of reflex-type optics or holosights. (Photo: CAA)

Although the brace was designed by the company owner for a friend who lost the use of his support hand, it quickly gained traction in the AR-15 community for offering many of the same advantages of a PDW, without the tax stamp nonsense.

On the other side of the world, security and police forces in Israel were struggling with the fact that policies restricted their armament to pistols only. In response, CAA designed a new chassis for the most prolific sidearm in the modern world — the full-sized Glock pistol.

Since Israeli lacks any laws restricting short-barrel rifles (SBRs), police and security forces can attach foregrips and stocks to their sidearms without concern. But when CAA decided to bring these same Roni chassis to the U.S. market, they replaced the shoulder stock with an SB Tactical-style brace.

While this setup initially resembles an odd hybrid of a PDW and an over-sized pistol, it’s surprisingly effective at increasing the shooter’s ability to hit distant targets and control recoil. But not just, the Roni is practically dripping with features that elevate the pistol from backup weapon to fighting gun.

For instance, the Roni features a full-length optics rail that allows for mounting of both reflex-type optics like the Trijicon MRO, AimPoint PRO or even holosights like those offered from EOTech. Since the rail runs a full 12 inches, shooters can also install a magnifier for these optics if they wish to further extend the reach of their handgun.

The latter setup, however, won’t work unless the shooter intends to ‘cheek’ the brace. This is because the eye relief on magnifiers isn’t sufficient enough for the shooter to obtain a proper sight picture if held away from the face.

Another valuable addition to the host pistol is the inclusion of accessory Picatinny rails on the sides and bottom of the Roni Stabilizer. The bottom rail includes a small hook that functions as a handstop, preventing the shooter from extending their support hand past the muzzle.

For me, it provided the perfect spot to mount the newly released Streamlight ProTac HL-X weapon-light. Offering 1,000 lumens of eye-searing brightness, full-sized tac-lights like the ProTac handily outperform any pistol-mounted light.

Another valuable addition to the host pistol is the inclusion of accessory Picatinny rails on the sides and bottom. (Photo: CAA)

One note of caution with that bottom rail: installing a foregrip will change the gun (in the eyes of the Bureau of Alcolol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — ATF) from a handgun to an any other weapon (AOW). AOWs require a tax stamp and are subject to NFA regulations. In a nutshell, don’t do this without first getting a tax stamp.

Above this rail are a pair of side rails that are excellent for mounting lights or lasers without changing the handling characteristics of the Roni pistol combo.

Of all the design features of the Roni Stabilizer, the one most overlooked is how quickly and easily it is to install on a host pistol. The shooter just needs to turn two thumb screws and push out two AR-15-style push-pins, then toss their pistol into a small sled that guides the slide into the chassis. After that, just close the Roni and re-install the screws and push-pins. The whole procedure takes roughly 15 seconds.

Back to the handling characteristics of the setup. While the aforementioned features explain the increase in effective range, red dots are a little more precise for most shooters than pistol irons. None of this explains reduction in recoil, other than the added weight of the system.

Basically, there are two main factors that sharply decrease felt recoil on the Roni. The first is the aluminum, slotted compensator that surrounds the host pistol’s muzzle. While the recoil impulse of a 9mm Glock is fairly mild, the .40 S&W version is another story. The comp functions by diverting some of the expanding gas from the pistol skyward, countering some of the muzzle rise.

The other recoil-reducing feature is the SB-Tactical brace itself. Whether the shooter uses the brace as designed or braces their cheek on it, by adding more points of contact to the firearm, the gain increased control.

Overall, the Roni won’t magically transform your Glock, Beretta or CZ P08 into the ultimate fighting weapon/carbine replacement. But shooters looking to increase the potential combat effectiveness of their pistol will find a lot to love about the Roni Stabilizer chassis.

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Walker’s Shipping New XCEL Series Electronic Digital Muffs

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Damage to hearing is cumulative, which is one reason many people — especially men who hunt, shoot and weren’t health-conscience in their younger years — begin having issues when they hit middle age.

I know. I’m one of them, and at age 52 now realize that stuff I did in my teens and 20s and 30s was pretty dumb. Shooting a lot without hearing protection. Not sticking the muzzle of my rifle all the way out of the wooden shooting box blind (that was a doozy). Standing within arm’s length of the two-story speaker bank for Blackfoot, Molly Hatchet and .38 Special (couldn’t hear in my left ear for three days, very stupid).

Back then, wearing ear plugs to a music concert or muffs while mowing the yard wasn’t manly or tough. Maybe at the shooting range, but anywhere else? Nah, I’m tough!

Nope. I was just stupid. You don’t need to call your retail customers stupid, of course. But you can reinforce the good things hearing protection can do for them when they’re at the range or hunting.

Walker’s XCEL Muffs

I’ve used Walker’s products ever since the late Bob Walker founded the company almost 30 years ago. The first was his Game Ear behind-the-ear system, and later his company — then known as Walker’s Game Ear — included muffs and other items. Walker died a few years ago and I miss him. He was a good ol’ dude.

Today, Walker’s is part of GSM Outdoors and continues to offer a wide range of products for hearing protection. The latest is the XCEL Series digital electronic muffs. They’re an upgrade of the popular, slim Razor muffs.

Walker’s new XCEL digital electronic muffs offer greater hearing protection along with four modes, Bluetooth and a new design for less weight on the user’s ears. (Photo: Alan Clemons)

Whatever muffs you use — and you should — from whatever company, make sure you’re wearing them regularly. Now, I’m the guy doing my yardwork with the string-trimmer, mower and blower in muffs. I can’t reverse what’s already damaged but I can maybe help prevent problems in the future.

Here’s the press release from Walker’s:

Walker’s is now shipping to dealers and distributors its new XCEL Series digital electronic muffs in the 100 and 500BT models, which have advanced hearing protection design and digital sound management.

The XCEL muffs take a fresh approach to form and ergonomics by relocating the user interface and microphones from the ear cups to a slim control panel integrated into the headband. This design offers egonomic and performance advantages. Relocating the electronics and battery compartment to the headband removes weight from the ears while optimizing overall balance for hours of shooting comfort. This relocation also provides more air space inside the cups to help give the XCEL an impressive 26 NRR sound reduction rating.

The new XCEL muffs offer serious shooters and hunters more than improved comfort. Expanded audio control options and sophisticated digital sound engineering courtesy of a ground-breaking digital chipset brings new technology to the hearing protection segment. The XCEL’s next-generation Sound-Activated Compression, courtesy of a new Variable Dynamic Sound Suppression system, automatically adjusts compression time based on noise level intensity and duration rather than using conventional “fixed-time” compression for sound events. This means a greater level of hearing protection regardless of the sound environment.

As for user-adjustable features, the XCEL muffs provide four distinct listening modes the shooter can select via soft-touch operation buttons located on the control panel:

— Universal, for general sound amplification
— Speech Clarity, for discriminating voices and enhancing verbal communication in a noisy shooting range environment
— High Frequency, tuned specifically to hear steel target impact at long distances
— Power Boost, amplifies sound across the range of volume

For user convenience, an integrated voice prompt announces each listening mode as the shooter scrolls through the menu, making sound management selection easy and eliminating the guesswork of knowing what mode you are in.

Another convenience feature is the programmable auto shut-off function, which goes a long way toward saving battery life and money. The XCEL also includes a selectable wind noise reduction feature to help suppress the roar of wind passing across the microphones.

The XCEL is offered in two models: the XCEL 100 and XCEL 500BT. The XCEL 500BT includes Bluetooth connectivity so you can stream audio from your mobile device, hear notification alerts, and take phone calls.

XCEL 100 features:

  • Advanced Digital Circuit
  • Active Dynamic Sound Suppression
  • Hi-Gain Omni-Directional Mics
  • Four listening modes
    • Universal
    • Speech Clarity Mode
    • Hi frequency
    • Power Boost
  • Wind Noise Reduction
  • Voice Mode Navigation
  • Auto shut off 2/4/6 hours
  • New ergonomic head band design
  • Rubber bumpers on lower cup
  • Low battery warning
  • Powered by 2 (AAA) batteries (included)
  • MSRP: $99.99

 

XCEL 500BT features:

  • Advanced Digital Circuit
  • Bluetooth Connectivity for use with mobile devices
  • Variable Dynamic Sound Suppression
  • Hi-Gain Omni-Directional Mics
  • Four listening modes
    • Universal
    • Speech Clarity Mode
    • Hi frequency
    • Power Boost
  • Voice Mode Navigation
  • Wind Noise Reduction
  • Auto shut off
  • New ergonomic head band design
  • Rubber bumpers on lower cup
  • Low battery warning
  • Powered by 2 (AAA) batteries (included)
  • MSRP: $149.99

For more information on Walker’s products, visit Walker’s.  Walker’s is a division of GSM Outdoors. Learn more about their brands at www.gsmoutdoors.com

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Gender Reveal Party Leaves Happy Father With Another Big ‘Ohhhh!’

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As a certified Ranty Grumpy Curmudgeon, I find the trend of gender reveal parties to be more of a “Y’all come look at us and make us feel good!” deal more than anything else.

Some folks enjoy having a party. Some want family and friends involved in their pregnancy. And others are just vain youngsters who think the world revolves around them; less politely, they’d be called attention whores or drama queens.

I guess that covers things fairly well. Told you I was a curmudgeon.

An off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona got into the act with the gender reveal party in April 2017. But his big bang instead left more than 47,000 acres of scorched earth as a reminder. After packing a target with colored powder and some explosive Tannerite, his rifle shot into the target revealed not only the gender but also a flash that started a wildfire.

No doubt there were more than a few shouts of, “Oh! Oh! Oh!” after the climactic explosion.

Tannerite gender reveal color powder is one way to show your party guests whether you’re having a girl or boy. (Photo: Tannerite)

The Washington Post reported that the fire quickly spread through the dry brush, spurred on by unusually high winds and lower-than-average rainfall. By the time it was fully contained over a week later, the fire had done $8 million worth of damage.

Dickey immediately turned himself into U.S. Forest Service authorities and admitted he started the fire. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of causing a fire without a permit. Dickey apologized in court in late September 2018, saying he felt terrible about the situation. He was given five years probation and agreed to pay restitution of more than $8.1 million, although that’s unlikely. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona said he has paid $100,000 already and will pay $500 a month for 20 years.

Tannerite promotes the use of its product for these gender reveal parties. You can order a box with colored tannerite to tell your happy party guests whether the bundle of joy will be a boy or girl. Or maybe mix the colors together if you’re going to have twins.

Or, y’know, you can pass out cigars and tell everyone after the baby’s born if you have a son or daughter like we did in the olden days. Harrumph, harrumph.

Dickey’s formal sentencing is Oct. 9 in U.S. District Court in Tucson.

Featured image: Sawmill Fire, www.azcentral.com

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How To Sell Higher-End Hearing Protection

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The benefits of preserving what hearing we do have are incalculable. The hard part is convincing people that they need to invest in prevention of a long-term problem.

Making a sale is all about educating the customer to the point where the inertia against purchasing is overcome by their perceived benefit of the product. Resistance to buying is tough. Yes, the money is a factor, but so is risk. Buyers are always subconsciously evaluating the downside of an investment in some new product. Will it work? Is there a better option? Can I get it at a lower price? Should I bother investing my valuable time determining whether or not I need this?

Reasons stacked against buying are endless, so it’s up to us to find real problems, with real solutions, and educate customers as to the benefits.

The benefits of preserving what hearing we do have are incalculable. The hard part is convincing people that they need to invest in prevention of a long-term problem. I spoke with Rick Carlson of Etymotic Research, Inc. about this, and here’s his take.

“The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health scale standard dictates that 85 db is safe for eight hours of exposure time,” he says. “But, for every 3 db increase of environmental noise, it cuts your safe exposure time in half. By the time you get to 100 dB, your safe exposure time is limited to about 15 minutes.”

Think about that. Just the ambient noise from being near a shooting range firing line can cause permanent and irreversible hearing damage in minutes. Yes, if you’re standing at a distance, a single shot exposure probably won’t hurt you. However, repeated exposure to a number of shots can.

It’s a great case to sell electronic hearing protection, either in-ear models like the Etymotic GunSport Pro or external electronic muffs like those from Walker’s Game Ear.

Most earmuffs are certainly less expensive, ranging from $50 to $150, but as Carlson notes, “External muffs can be dislodged from recoil or the seal quality can be impacted by the frames of shooting glasses.” No matter what the electronics are, they won’t do a bit of good unless your ear is sealed from the noise blast.

For this reason, and for comfort, I prefer to steer people to in-ear electronic protection options. While shooters can order custom in-ear options that cost upwards of a thousand dollars, a number of companies are making one-model-fits-all versions for just a few hundred bucks.

Better yet, you can sell them in your store, as no custom fitting is required.

Etymotic’s GunSport Pro models can even exceed the sound protection of quality external muffs provided the user inserts them with a proper seal. For example, a proper fitting foam tip can provide up to 40db of sound reduction.

The benefit of either type of electronic hearing protection boils down to safety. First and foremost, a good solution will protect your customer from permanent hearing damage related to shooting.

While not as obvious, electronic options allow customers to stay protected for the duration of their shooting outing. Shooters can carry on a normal conversation without removing their ear protection, so they’re less likely to remove it when stepping away from the firing line.

Perhaps the most important benefit, according to Carlson, is that “Electronic hearing protection allows you to preserve your situational awareness. Strangely enough, too much hearing protection can be as dangerous as too little.”

If you can’t hear the range officers or other shooters, that can be dangerous indeed.

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Crimson Trace Now Shipping Lightguard for M&P Shield Pistol

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Just in time for the holidays, Crimson Trace has begun shipping the Lightguard LTG-770 light for the popular Smith & Wesson M&P Shield pistol.

This easy-to-install light secures onto the pistol’s trigger guard and is activated with dual-side Instant Activation pads. The 110-Lumen LED white light Lightguard offers constant light and strobe modes, and weighs about 1 ounce with the batteries installed.

The new Lightguard LTG-770 light is designed to fit onto Smith & Wesson M&P Shield and M&P Shield M2.0 pistols in 9 mm and 40 S&W calibers. Customers can purchase Lightguard lights in retail stores and outlets soon, as well as on commercial websites that sell Crimson Trace products. They also will be available at the company’s online store at www.crimsontrace.com.

The Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price is $89.

Crimson Trace also recently released several new Tactical Lights for long guns and continues to offer numerous models of lights paired with laser sights under its popular Rail Master, Rail Master Pro, Laserguard Pro, and LiNQ product lines, as well as others.

Crimson Trace leads the firearms accessory category by providing laser sights, lights, riflescopes and electro-optics sights through more than 2,500 dealers across America. Those dealers include gun stores, ranges, big box outlets and numerous on-line retailers. Crimson Trace products can be easily installed without requiring modification of the firearm — or special gunsmith skills.

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Three Ways to Help Your Hunting Customers Close the Distance

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Somewhere in the northern New Mexico prairie, in the middle of a sprawling, flat stretch of grass mixed with sage and desert foliage, Steve Jones pitches a series of teepees, sets up a cook tent and guides hunting trips out of this portable base camp every year. Last season, I hunted pronghorn there as a guest of Vista Outdoor, testing out gear from Bushnell, Federal Premium, Savage and more.

Having grown up in the woods of Pennsylvania and now residing in Alabama, I am accustomed to hunting in tight places — like thick hardwoods where shot distances tend to be 75 yards and under. The New Mexico prairie’s vast expanses were a new ball game for me, and I quickly learned that not all gear is up to the challenge of wideopen spaces. If you sell to customers who hunt prairies and other sprawling terrain, where shots might come quickly and unexpectedly and might be farther out, you’ll want to know what to stock to help your customers succeed afield.

Offering hunters and shooting enthusiasts optics, accessories and other items to use in the field is a great way to build long-lasting relationships between them and your business. (Photo: HIlary Dyer)

Optics

Much of prairie hunting is spot-and-stalk, which means hunters will spend a lot of time behind glass, searching for animals and evaluating what they find to determine if a certain animal is worth getting a closer look at. Good optics are a must — but that doesn’t have to translate to expensive glass. A $50 pair of binos will usually get the job done over a 100-yard greenfield, and there will always be customers looking to buy in this price range. Show them a pair that costs $300, $800 or $2,000, and they’re going to ask you exactly what all that extra cash is buying them over their bargain brand. The answer?

Good optics are a must — but that doesn’t have to translate to expensive glass. Find out what your customer will be using the binocular or spotting scope for, the conditions, their hunting or shooting plans, and then offer several options (Photo: Hilary Dyer)

“You’ll gain low-light performance, stretching your hunting hours,” says Bushnell’s Jake Edson. “You’ll gain color-resolution, making it easier to spot game.” That’s a crucial distinction, because as all hunters know, many of your best opportunities come in the low light of early morning and around sunset.

“What makes a more expensive optic even more important out West is the amount of time you spend glassing,” Edson said. “With better clarity, definition and resolution, you will have less eye strain, allowing you to spend more time in the glass and spotting game.”

On the antelope hunt, I tried out Bushnell’s Engage binoculars and found them crisp, comfortable and an overall great value. The entire Engage line features Bushnell’s exclusive EXO Barrier lens coating — it repels water, debris, oil and fog, making the optics more effective in any weather, including those legendary prairie storms and dry Western dust. ED Prime glass ensures razor-sharp images for picking out distant animals. They come in a range of models from 8×42 all the way up to 12×50 for maximum light and the highest magnification.

The Engage binos fall in the $350 range (MSRP). Quality optics in this price range are just a couple of steps up for the $50 bino customer, and won’t require you to pitch anyone on the idea of dropping a mortgage payment on new glass.

Bushnell’s G-Force DX rangefinder proved useful on the antelope hunt as well. It will give you not only the yardage to the target, but also the holdover for your caliber and the angle of the shot. It’s made to work with the Engage riflescopes — if the rangefinder reads “+3,” just go up three hashmarks in the scope and you’ll be dead-on. It’s a slick system that works well, but it might require a little demonstration to customers in-store in order to sell them on it.

Guns and Ammo

Customers who hunt wide-open spaces are going to want the ability to take longer shots, whether they actually ever do or not.

Just about any rifle in an appropriate caliber is capable of taking shots past 200 or 300 yards and beyond. What customers will want in a Western-capable gun is accuracy and comfort. That means they want a gun that fits them well and that carries nicely without being too heavy for all-day spot-and-stalk hunting. Off-the-shelf rifles are generally built to fit the average male — someone who is in the neighborhood of 6 feet tall and 180 to 200 pounds. Anyone who falls much outside those parameters — especially with regard to height — will benefit greatly from either a proper fitting or a gun that’s made with different specs.

Federal’s Edge TLR is engineered with a polymer tip that initiates expansion at long range, so you get great performance even at lower velocities. It offers an extremely high B.C. and match-grade accuracy. (Photo: Hilary Dyer)

I’m 5 feet 4 inches tall, so off-the-shelf guns are typically a bit too long for me and often need a bit of cast off as well, particularly when I shoot them from prone. On the pronghorn hunt, I carried a Savage Lady Hunter, which turned out to be an ideal gun for stalking the plains. It’s got a 12.5-inch length of pull and a Monte Carlo stock that better fits a woman’s cheekbones and our proportionately longer (compared to men) necks. And at 6 pounds, it was a breeze to carry on the 1,500-yard uphill stalk that eventually got me my antelope.

If you don’t offer stock fitting in your shop, consider it. An inch or two of length-of-pull and a few centimeters of cast or pitch adjustment can make world of difference in comfort and fit.

Now, about calibers. Customers will want a caliber that offers them uniform velocity, superior accuracy, and a high ballistic coefficient. What sells? Well, as you might expect, the classics never go out of style. “While the big magnums — 7mm Rem. Mag and 300 Win. Mag especially — are popular, the old standby .308, .30-06 and .270 Win. still account for most sales,” says Federal’s Jared Hinton. “6.5 Creedmoor is gaining popularity every day, and that growth doesn’t show signs of decreasing any time soon.”

That won’t be a surprise to any retailers, who have seen this caliber explode in sales volume among both hunters and long-range target shooters. In fact, I used a 6.5 Creedmoor on my pronghorn.

When it comes to the specifics of ammo, what are customers looking for? Because every rifle likes something different, you should stock a variety of options and brands. But accuracy, and in turn, uniform velocity, is paramount. Hunters will want a bullet that expands but holds together and offers great penetration. Federal’s Edge TLR is a great example — it’s engineered with a polymer tip that initiates expansion at long range, so you get great performance even at lower velocities. It offers an extremely high B.C. and match-grade accuracy.

“Deadly terminal performance has to penetrate straight through its target and transfer energy along the way. But, lethal expansion doesn’t always look the same at every range,” says Hinton. “A large expanded diameter is not always required for a bullet to make a clean kill. Edge TLR bullets accomplish terminal performance not through sheer expansion but by opening the nose consistently and creating a uniform frontal surface. From the muzzle all the way out to 1,350 feet per second, Edge TLR gives frontal expansion. This bullet transfers its energy into the animal and carves straight, lethal wound channels that bring down big game at any range.”

I personally used Federal’s Trophy Copper on my pronghorn and was very pleased with the results — though that stalk ended up putting me relatively close, and my shot was only 125 yards.

If you have a good base of hunters, consider offering processing equipment that will work for their traveling needs. That can include knives, bags and coolers, none of which have to be terribly expensive but they need to be of good quality. (Photo: Hilary Dyer)

Other Gear

What else might you want to stock? Spot-and-stalk hunters are likely to want shooting sticks —such as Primos’ handy Trigger Stick — or other bipods or monopods, to steady their rifle (for shooting) or their optics (for glassing) or both. If your customers hunt at altitude, they’ll need hydration options. Hydration bladders, easily filled reusable water bottles and even simple water purification options are a smart idea for add-on sales.

If you’re located in an area where many hunters are operating out of a base camp, you have an opportunity to sell them all manner of camping gear — from packs to camp stoves to cooking gear. At our teepee base camp in New Mexico, we spent the week cooking on a Camp Chef outdoor stove, which turned out to be remarkably versatile with a little imagination on the cook’s part. Propane water heaters, while certainly not found in every hunter’s camp, provide really nice options for cleaning up camp, meat and the hunters themselves. You could fill your entire store with camping gear if you’re not careful, so choose wisely, but it’s smart to at least stock the basics.

Don’t forget about meat care. Hunters in the wide-open spaces might be hours or days away from home. They’ll need knives and sharpeners and some other basic field-butchering tools. Meat bags will probably sell, too, and for base-camp hunters, a quality cooler that will keep meat for several days is a must. In antelope camp, we had the luxury of a generator-powered walk-in cooler to hang animals overnight.

Seven hunters tagged out on the first day. We spent most of the next day caping, butchering, wrapping and labeling seven antelope for easy transport home. My antelope meat spent well over 24 hours in a hard-sided Camp Chef cooler, surviving two flights home to Alabama without so much as losing its chill. Consider stocking some quality coolers in a range of prices for hunters who will need them.

Hunters who stalk their quarry on the wide-open Western spaces have different gear needs than those who hunt in tighter, thicker terrain. Consider stocking some specialty items to meet their needs, and consider marketing your gear as Western-friendly to appeal to customers who are headed out on that trip of a lifetime.

The post Three Ways to Help Your Hunting Customers Close the Distance appeared first on Shooting Sports Retailer.





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