Sportsmans News

The May Gun of the Month is the Smith& Wesson M&P 340 .357 Magnum revolver. To enter to win this gun and all of the gun of the month giveaways, go to our forum by clicking here and register. You receive one entry for registering and an additional entry for every 25 forum posts. The drawing will be at noon on May 31. Good luck.

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Here is last week’s episode recap from Gary, who works at the gun counter in the Reno, NV Sportsman’s Warehouse.

This week we come back to the range fully rested having the previous day completely off from production. The six of us are feeling good and very comfortable in our new green jerseys. As we walk up to the practice range, I can see a familiar pistol sitting on the table next to Colby. It is the FNH 5.7 chambered in 5.7x28mm. It is a pistol I have fired on several occasions and it is one I am confident with. In fact it is a weapon in which we stock here at Sportsman’s Warehouse although they are considered exotic. Continue Reading

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The gun giveaway for April is the Taurus Millennium Pro 140SSp. To register to win this great pistol and for all of the gun of the month giveaways, log onto our forum and register. Additionally, you will receive an additional entry for every 25 forum posts you make. Make sure you register so you can join our long list of other winners. Check them out here.

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This week on Top Shot was one of my favorite episodes of the season.  I love exhibition style trick shots! My father and I have studied the best and have duplicated some of their most entertaining shots, so as Colby explains the practice and what we will do at the challenge, I find it hard not to smile.  I know that precision shooting is something everyone in this competition is capable of, but some of the types of trick shots are not what most people practice, especially in a crowd of military/law enforcement trained shooters.  Advantage: Gary and the Red team! Continue Reading

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This week on Top Shot as we walked up to the practice range, I could see Colby with a big smile on his face standing with an enormous tarp-covered weapon behind him.  At this point I knew it had to be either a cannon or a Gatling gun.  Colby unveils an 1898 3.2 inch bag gun that quite possibly was at San Juan Hill during the Spanish American War!! I’m thinking to myself, this is why I wanted to be in this competition! Although I have fired cannons before, during my Civil War reenactment days, I have never fired one for accuracy. Continue Reading

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Congratulations to Bethany Faber of Minnesota on winning the Smith & Wesson M&P15 in the March gun giveaway. Bethany, please give us a call on Monday so we can arrange to ship you your prize. (435) 865-1680.

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This week on Top Shot Red team is coming off two consecutive wins and we are flying high! We are up two members to the blue team — seven of us and only five of them.  As I am walking up to the practice range, I can see Colby’s big smile and to his side is a flintlock pistol!  I’m thinking to myself, finally a gun that gives me, and thus my team, a distinct advantage over the Blue team.  I have a feeling few people in this crowd of experienced shooters have shot black powder firearms, let alone a flintlock.  However, I know that since we are up two members, Blue team gets to sit two of us out. Continue Reading

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By Gary Shank
The Red team is confident after a huge victory that the Blue team will continue to implode, leading to continued Red team domination.  They just lost Michelle, a member who meant a lot to many of the members of the Blue team.  Our spirits are high and we feel ready for whatever Colby will throw at us! Continue Reading

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Television Producer

Do you love the great outdoors? Is hunting and fishing your passion? Do you have experience in non-linear video editing, social media networking, and web programming? Have you never uttered the words “that’s not my job”? Sportsman’s News Television is looking for a talented and eager producer to help film, edit, and promote this expanding television program.

Applicants should:

• Be familiar with non-linear video editing with Apple Final Cut Pro
• Have experience using Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and other social media networking to promote our programming
• Have experience with website design and use of WordPress and PHP
• Have a flexible schedule that allows them to work weekends and odd hours
• Love to travel
• Be familiar with hunting and fishing
• Be artistic and creative
• Be teachable and desire to learn new skills
• Live in or be willing to relocate to Cedar City, UT

Interested applicants should send their resume, salary requirements, and two (2) sample videos to Sportsman’s News, 2322 W. Industry Way, Cedar City, UT 84721 or email them with links to their videos at info@sportsmansnews.com.

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Congratulations to NEILT, winner of the Smith and Wesson Governor in .45 LC, .45 ACP, and .410 shotgun. NEIL has 543 posts to the Sportsman’s News Forum, giving him a total of 22 entries in the drawing.  The username NEILT belongs to Neil Thompson of Montana. Neil, give us a call at the Sportsman’s News office at 435-865-1680 to arrange for us to send your prize to the nearest FFL.

Here is the video you have been waiting for. We caught up with Red Jacket Firearms owner Will Hayden at the SHOT Show and got a brief interview with him. Sorry about the sound quality, but the camera lacked an external microphone. I will be heading to Baton Rouge in February to get a better meeting with him and his crew and tour the Red Jacket shop. Watch for that interview right here. Thanks to all of you who helped us get the interview.

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Today at the Shooting Hunting Outdoor Trades (SHOT) Show, media were given the chance to test fire some of the newest guns introduced by manufacturers. One stand out was the newest small pistol by Ruger chambered in .22 LR. The SR22 is a double action semi-automatic pistol. It has a small frame, great double action trigger, with a super light single action follow up.

Built on a small frame, the SR22 has interchangeable grips to accommodate those with small hands as well as those with larger mits. The gun is incredibly accurate and for fun we took our turns shooting at a silhouette steel target set out at 100 yards. I’ll take 4 out 10 shots with a 3.5 inch barreled .22 at a 100 yards any day.

This gun is full of features and I expect that it will be a big seller for Ruger in the coming months. Look for us to do a more comprehensive review in an upcoming issue of Sportsman’s News.

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Do you wish you were going to the Archery Trade Association, Shooting Hunting Outdoor Trades (SHOT) Show or the Outdoor Retailers Winter Market? Well, we are going and the staff of Sportsman’s News Magazine will be providing updates on new products, the latest gear, and anything we find interesting, right here in our blogs. Keep checking back through the next week for updates. We’ll keep you abreast of all of the cool things coming up for 2012, including an exclusive interview with Will Hayden of Discovery’s Sons of Guns television show.

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Congratulations to Bomber, the winner of the December Gun of the Month drawing for the M&P 15.  Bomber has has 736 posts, putting him in 4th place in the posting standings and giving him 30 entries in the drawing. Bomber, give me a call at the office at (435) 865-1680 so we can arrange to ship you your prize.

And for those of you who didn’t win, we still have another chance if you join the NRA through this link. If you join through us, it is only $25. And if you are already a member, you can renew and they will add the extra year onto your current membership. Right now the odds of winning are about 1:40. Also, if you purchase a gift membership, send me an email to info@sportsmansnews.com with your screen name, your real name, and the name of the person you bought the gift for so when I get the report, I can give you an extra entry. Good luck.

http://sportsmansnews.com/join…..son-mp15t/

Cover Art: The Nativity of Christ by Vladimir Borovikovsky

From all of us at Sportsman’s News Magazine, we offer you and your families our warmest wishes for a Merry Christmas. May God bless all of you and may you each receive your heart’s desire this Christmas.

“And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.

He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”

Luke 1:30-33

Sportsman’s News would like to wish all of our Jewish friends a warm, happy, and healthy Hanukkah. For those of you who are not Jewish, read about the tradition of Haunakkah below.

From Wikipedia: Hanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BC. Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar.

The festival is observed by the kindling of the lights of a unique candelabrum, the nine-branched Menorah or Hanukiah, one additional light on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the final night. The typical Menorah consists of eight branches with an additional raised branch. The extra light is called a shamash and is given a distinct location, usually above or below the rest. The purpose of the shamash is to have a light available for use, as using the Hanukkah lights themselves is forbidden.

From About.com:

The Hanukkah Story

In 168 B.C.E. the Jewish Temple was seized by Syrian-Greek soldiers and dedicated to the worship of the god Zeus. This upset the Jewish people, but many were afraid to fight back for fear of reprisals. Then in 167 B.C.E. the Syrian-Greek emperor Antiochus made the observance of Judaism an offense punishable by death. He also ordered all Jews to worship Greek gods.

Jewish resistance began in the village of Modiin, near Jerusalem. Greek soldiers forcibly gathered the Jewish villages and told them to bow down to an idol, then eat the flesh of a pig – both practices that are forbidden to Jews. A Greek officer ordered Mattathias, a High Priest, to acquiesce to their demands, but Mattathias refused. When another villager stepped forward and offered to cooperate on Mattathias’ behalf, the High Priest became outraged. He drew his sword and killed the villager, then turned on the Greek officer and killed him too. His five sons and the other villagers then attacked the remaining soldiers, killing all of them.

Mattathias and his family went into hiding in the mountains, where other Jews wishing to fight against the Greeks joined them. Eventually they succeeded in retaking their land from the Greeks. These rebels became known as the Maccabees, or Hasmoneans.

Once the Maccabees had regained control they returned to the Temple in Jerusalem. By this time it had been spiritually defiled by being used for the worship of foreign gods and also by practices such as sacrificing swine. Jewish troops were determined to purify the Temple by burning ritual oil in the Temple’s menorah for eight days. But to their dismay, they discovered that there was only one day’s worth of oil left in the Temple. They lit the menorah anyway and to their surprise the small amount of oil lasted the full eight days.

This is the miracle of the Hanukkah oil that is celebrated every year when Jews light a special menorah known as a hanukkiyah for eight days. One candle is lit on the first night of Hanukkah, two on the second, and so on, until eight candles are lit.

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