Hot New Products for Christmas 2000 !!

.700 Weatherby Magnum

.224-378 Weatherby Magnum

Weatherby announced it’s long overdue response to, who they refer to as the “Beltless Wonders”. The new .700 Weatherby, based not so loosely on the 20mm cannon round, tosses a 1000 grain bullet out of the new Weatherby Mark VII at 3600 fps. The spring mounted anti-recoil action of the Mark VII was designed to absorb some of the rifle’s brisk 1700 ft/lbs. of recoil.

Not only does the Mark VII have a fluted barrel, but it’s also perforated, water cooled and capped with a new muzzle brake manufactured by Midas Muffler. Standard barrel length is 42″. The Mark VII, with it’s helium filled polymer stock, tips the scales at a hefty 7.5 lbs. Capacity is one in the chamber, and…well….just that one in the chamber.

While there isn’t actually any game that currently warrants the 700’s 28,770+ ft.lbs. of energy, the company points to global warming as a probable future cause of mutant whitetail, which may weigh as much as 40,000 – 50,000 pounds, have really sharp antlers, and would be tall enough at the shoulder to threaten hunters in tree stands all over the North Eastern United States.

 

Filling out Weatherby’s small and medium game application line, and joining last year’s .257-378, is the new .224-378. Loaded in Norma Partition 70 and 55 grain versions, with muzzle velocities of 7060 and 8,000 fps respectively, this round is intended for the mutant Texas jack rabbits that we are told will accompany the large, wild, mutant deer.

In support of the newest generation cartridges from Weatherby, Alliant is rushing to release Reloader 40 to go with Sierra’s new “Game Masher” controlled fragmentation 1000 and 750 grain Spitzer Boat Tail bullets. A spokesperson for Alliant, quoting early reloading data, suggested maximum performance would be achieved by using a .300 Winchester Magnum round in place of a Federal 215 primer. At 400 grains of RL 40 per round, Alliant suggests the economy size powder pony keg.

Barnes Bullets anticipates release of a solid, moly coated copper bullet for the .700 later this year. Unlike the Speer manual round, the Barnes bullet will take full advantage of Satellite GPS for guidance.

Colt Manufacturing announces Chuck as President

Colt Manufacturing, in the 7th year of a major sales decline, installed Charlton Heston as it’s 7th President in 7 years. A spokes person for Colt said, “This time, our President really, really, really, really isn’t an agent
for Handgun Control. We know our customers, and we listen to what they have to say. That’s why we’ll be introducing as standard features on all of our  products, every custom 1911 type part that appeared in Brownell’s 1994 catalog.”

Meanwhile, when Heston was asked why he left his lead position at the NRA, he commented, “I went to work one day, and everyone was gone. Seems they collected so much NRA Round Up money, they just went ahead and bought their own country, “Gunsight Thunder”, and made gun ownership mandatory. I thought I’d stay behind and help Colt launch their new paint ball “safe gun alternative” product line.”

SIG Introduces the .257 and the new P2299 Long Slide

SIG continuing on in it’s line of bottle necked pistol cartridges, following such memorable rounds as the .357 SIG and .300 SIG, introduced the .257 SIG for use in it’s new ultra compact, long slide P2299.

SIG hopes law enforcement will see the .257 SIG as an upgrade to the .300 SIG, which was an upgrade to the .357 SIG, which was an upgrade to the .40 S&W, which was an upgrade to the 10mm, which was a replacement for the 9mm. The 9mm was, of course, a feeble attempt at replacing the .45 auto.

The .257 SIG doesn’t actually use a .257″ bullet, but rather a .224″ bullet. SIG selected “.257″, keeping with their long term tradition of never using the actual caliber in the name of one of their cartridges. The cartridge is described as almost like a .40 S&W case, that has been run through 6 sizing operations, until it has a shoulder like a Weatherby and a little tiny 45 grain slug, that flies at 4,500 fps out of the compact P2299’s 10” barrel. Reloaders should not attempt to form brass from the .40 as the results will dimensionally look nothing like the loaded ammo you can purchase over the counter.

The P2299 is available in polymer, stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, aluminum-poly- titanium combo, and black carbon fiber. Sights are: fixed, adjustable, tritium, laser, sealed beam and radar locking. Accessories: Bipod, shoulder stock, modified and full choke, and saddle scabbard.

At press time, Glock indicated they would introduce a model chambered for the .257 SIG, only their pistol will be: cheaper, contain more tin stampings, have fewer machined and forged parts, and employ really cheesy plastic sights.

Remington introduces their hot new deerslayer .30-0-30

Continuing on with the spirit of retro cartridges that’s been so popular with ammo manufacturers the past few years, Remington has introduced the .30-0-30, or the “Triple Zero” as they like to call it. The Triple Zero joins the .260 Remington, and the moderate capacity .300 Ultra Mag in Remington’s line up as yet another cartridge that seems to have no apparent purpose that isn’t already covered, several times over, by other existing cartridges.

A company spokesperson advised, “Not only is the Ultra Mag almost as fast as the 40 year old .300 Weatherby, but the .260 Remington is almost as fast as a .243, and almost as powerful as the 7mm-08. This .30-0-30 can hit almost 2,000 fps with the new brush buckin’ 170 grain CopperHeadRattlerGetter® load. Wouldn’t surprise me if this round found it’s way into a short, scout rifle lookin’, lever action carbine, with a scope mounted way out on the barrel – sort of like it broke and slid down the receiver.”

Marlin is the first company to capitalize on the Remington Triple Zero with the just introduced Jeff Cooper Signature Series Scout Rifle. Each Jeff Cooper Signature Series gun is delivered with .5X powered scope, a genuine leather sling and a really funny looking hat.

The company went on to say, “The name of the game use to be velocity, trajectory and power. Today, the smart hunter who already owns more guns than he can use and can’t think of a reason to buy another, needs to learn that cartridge efficiency is the real key, and he won’t want to be caught unprepared.”

The triple zero uses less powder, than any other round for a given bullet weight and caliber, and Remington’s got both the results and, as seen to the left, the numbers to back them up. In field testing, 99% of the deer taken were the result of a single shot.

All shots entered from the top of the animal and penetrated downward with no exit wounds. The CopperHeadRattlerGetter® 170 grain bullet either drilled its way down through the top of the skull, or stunned the animal severely, causing it to fall from a cliff, and expire on impact.

Shakeometer Develops Your Personal Best

Personal defense is serious business. Being prepared takes hours and hours of hard work, drill, and developing the perfect stance for a rock steady hold.

Now from Hawaii Five Oh-Oh, “KeAloha”, tops in hi-tech personal defense training.

Pop KeAloha on your front sight, and accurately measure your level of shake as the gun is secured by your favorite stance.

Steady hold – Green Skirt
Moderate shake – Red Skirt
Heavy shake –  Ukulele plays and dancer breaks into what can only be called…well…a very spirited hula.

Law Enforcement Professionals – always remove KeAloha prior to going on duty.

KeAloha retails for $875 and includes a Colt Officer’s Model (so you can practice). Other models are available featuring fixtures from SIG, GLOCK, S&W, Tarus, H&K, but no Ruger auto’s – so don’t ask.

Merry Christmas Everyone
Joe