Issue #2 OF 2001


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And here is #2 of 01.....

   Newsletter that is.. and as this is being rapped out on the machine, spring is in the air, with summer in the immediate offing.. Things up here on the hill are moving along, a couple of the big trees ‘tween’ us and the infamous water tower are beginning to leaf out, obscuring the view. We are thrilled (and dryer) with our new roofs on the store and the storage building. Our next bit of news is going to warrant a new paragraph as well as mention elsewhere...........Ladies and Gentlemen, as you are reading this, our new indoor archery range is done and operational. It is a modest affair, three lanes, 59 feet, but it is rather nice if we may say so. And of course it is located just off our year old new East Wing. As these words are being typed, the final touches are going in/on. And though we wish we could also tell you we have an indoor gun range , sorry we don’t, at least for now. BUT WE DO HAVE AN INDOOR ARCHERY RANGE. Call or stop in for more information,. .....And now on to the famous departments of Bills on the Hills Newsletter......

New Product News........

   Everybody or at least a lot of you all seem to be excited about the Winchester lever 410 gun, styled just like a model 94 30-30. And though its due soon, already Marlin is planning on releasing its lever 45-70 in 410 . Another gun for fun. And a slight digression here, many people ask if ‘those gun companies ever think about what the shooter wants. Well campers, Marlin DOES. They (Marlin) work hard at maintaining a quality product line that is what you want. .......Yet with all this diversification going on, I still think we might be the only store in America with a 24 gauge over and under for sale, .....Browning BT99 is still eagerly awaited, and overdue... Franchi has some great new over and unders that have just grand wood. And the new Browning straight pull centerfire rifle we’ve waited two years for. the Acera, just came in our door. Rugers new 480 Redhawk is going to be closely followed by the Taurus 480. Remingtons heavy barrel 22’s in long rifle as well as magnums are available NOW. Kimber rifles remain in very short supply, they hadn’t even caught up with the 22 orders when they introduced the centerfires, but all the 45s are available. Special prices on 450 Marlin levers. And fiber optic sights are available for even more models in more variations. Even the 2001 lineup of slings, mundane as that sounds, is slick and improved. The venerable Stoeger company has some nice side by sides in addition to their value over and unders. In a moment of weakness we even stocked a new 16 gauge double trigger for less than 300 dollars. America, what a great country ! This could go on and on but lets change departments.

Black Powder.....

   Really there is nothing particularly radical in this area. It seems as though the black powder companies aren’t worried as much about whether the world is going to go the inline or the side lock route. You hunters have switched to both sides. Its as though there ‘is enough to go around’. In other words the black powder market is big enough for both types of guns to not only survive but actually thrive. So on to other items;; to wit - Thompson Center has recovered from their factory fire and is pretty much in full swing. Knight-Traditions and CVA all continue with improving product lines. Big news is even more fiber optic sights to fit more of these guns. And Navy Arms has changed their method of distribution to make their products much more reliably as far as getting them. This has affected Pederosoli as well as Uberti. Black powder itself is still untroubled insofar as distribution. Clean Shot Powder is available in both powder or pellet. And Clear Shot still remains to be seen.

Reloading.........

   Shotshell loaders have got to be amazed and thrilled tho some times a bit confused at the huge number of powder and piston choices available. And the empty casings and primers have ‘uniformed’ a bit to keep the confusing variables within grasp. Rifle/Pistol reloaders have the same powder choices with lots and lots of bullets to pick from. You Steel loaders have it pretty good too with components available. Steel shot has not dropped in price the way loaded ammunition has, but it hasn’t gone up at all.

Holiday Weekend Special Hours....

   For the third year we are going to be closed on Memorial Day and Labor Day Weekend. We will be open that Friday night. reopen Tuesday.

Regular Hours.............

   Year round we are open 9 til 9 Monday thru Friday and from 9 til 5 on Saturday. We are closed on Sundays and Holidays. As noted above we are running different hours on the summer holiday weekends of Labor and Memorial Days, essentially we are closed on those two Saturdays.

The Almighty License Machine..

   Just keeps rollin, it don’t say nuthin, .... the color is a designer pinkish/orangish.. And the format is a bit different. It seems that the specially designed and subliminally embossed paper ran to short supply last year. And the DNR would have had to part with an arm and a leg for a late season resupply. So now some tags are combined and some are just the printed paper part. Fees remain the same. T zone tags and system are still in place tho the fine tuning details of same will become available/known soon this summer.

News Flash-- Smith and Wesson sold to Safety Hammer Corporation in Scottsdale AZ , back in American hands - took place on May 14- we will see just what will be

Sportswear.....

   Our hunting, clothes, hats ,and gloves have all been blessed by Himalayan Holy men. Thats why sports people outfitted up here on the Hill have 17 percent better hunting success rates not to mention far better fuel economy. We carry shirts of all types sizes and colors, jackets coats pant bibs hats caps gloves overalls and on and on. Buy one and be dapper, buy two and be durned fashionable, three and, well just be assured that three may well get you the presidency.

Optics.............

   Redfield is back. with a nice line of better scopes. C’mon in and see how they are. Nikon and Leopold have set a pretty high bar but Redfield is in the game. We are still waiting for our order of the new Zeiss models. Red dot scopes continue to grow with the Adco line being dependable for really reasonable prices. The evolution of scopes to even greater reliability and clearer optics continues. Scope buyers rejoice, for the product has never been better. C’mon in and take a couple out to the picnic table to study the field. Be amazed!!! A tech tip here- generally a scope with an AO (adjustable objective) lens will not have that option available when it is a 50mm size. The reason here is that parallax is not a problem with the larger lens. But since there is no free lunch, with the 50 lens you have a tougher time getting the gun/scope to ‘come up well’. Generally we’ll take the AO every time in order to keep the scope low to the gun.

Federal and State Regs.....

   Looking at the situation here shows nothing that looms on the horizon in a glaring manner. But we will remind you that THEY are out there working, in various parts of the country to usurp the rights of the responsible. One advantage we have also shows up as a disadvantage. Many of the anti gun rights groups are not there for the good of their members. Some of these anti gun groups are just fund raising con artists. So essentially they are rather ineffective. But con artists exist on our side of the fence as well. Before you subscribe to any group that claims to need you to save the world, get the facts. Real numbers showing what they do with what you and others give them. .

Archery.............

   Did we mention that we now have 3 indoor archery lanes ???well buckaroos we shore nuff do. Call or stop in for more about this. And when it comes to the new millennium archery lineup, well , just let us count the ways. Browning bows continue their evolution. Greater letoff, greater draw adjustability, more stability in the short bows. And Hi Country bows are our newest line. These are some really well made precision machines. At this writing we have many arrows waiting to be unpacked. If you all come on in for a new bowhuntin rig we think you will be just thrilled. Oh, and we now have some indoor archery ranges, I’m not sure if we’d said anything about that. And we are closing out a large number of brand new Reflex bows. Plus, now, NOW, you can try these out..........

Ye Olde Website.............

   Is up and on line and though we still describe it as being in a formative state, its looking pretty good. You can credit Dan the man for this. Dan is stepping into Wills shoes on this cause olde Will is moving to the plains of Nevada. The web site gives you the latest issue of these incredible newsletters, pretty current used gun lists, links to lots of factory web sites, and a host of other odds and ends you may find of interest or value. So this is working and looking good, but we still have to make it more valuable and usable for both of us.

El Department de Boots...

   Forget that we are in the throes of summer and imagine that is is frigid winter. (just for a minute here) and of how great life would be with a pair of boots that you could actually do some serious walking in. Without all the bulk. You can have this with a pair of Browning 1000 gram boots or a pair of Georgia 1000 or 1600 or 2000 gram boots. And if you don’t want your mind to wander to such a cold thought, Imagine 400 600 gram boots for more temperate times. And you would never guess who has such a thing in stock and available for sale.

Armory Guns.........

   Keep on being fun and interesting. One factor here is that these represent different eras and areas of pretty heavy historical import. And it is amazing that what was state of the art in weaponry both ballistically and mechanically, is so crude today. So we are going to keep on pursuing these where and when we can find them. while there are many references regarding these already published, we will try and come up with a succinct reference. An instance here, do you have any idea how many Mauser bolt variations were made under various sub licenses? Hundreds!

Hunters Safety............

   I realize that the title here could be taken as a typo, you could say that its a hunter safety course as opposed to hunters, but think about the fact that these courses are designed to protect not only the hunter taking the course, but all others as well. And going hand in hand with all this is the learning/teaching of responsibility in other aspects of life. It boils down to this being a heck of a great deal as well as a really positive thing both the short and long term. Probably a good thing to support....

Neat Guns and stuff...........

   This will be a sort of stream of consciousness thing- A Brazilian copy of the FN-FAL in 308 for less than $600- the new Browning Buckmark 22 Rifle in sporter or heavy barrel - And a Buckmark 22 pistol in green or royal blue color, not as weird as you may imagine. Titanium Taurus’s in 2 revolvers colored in gold gray medium blue or silver. Ported and appealing. -Browning over and under in 20 with an extra set of 28 barrels- a gran lightning 410 Citori- a new 20 gauge Benelli pump - Remington 375 ultra, ouch- Browning and Winchester 300 short mags- the new 10 gauge Lite Browning Gold- the 75 dollar rebate on all Browning 12 gauge 3 and a half inch pumps.

Dear Customer # r7238f9....

   In this day and age of calling a company and being placed on ‘drop dead’ also known as hold. Of punching buttons and entering numbers to get some sort of message across, of feeling like an unknown soul..... we strive to function in the other direction even as we grow at this incredible rate. Our phone rings at least 80 times a day during the spring and well over 125 times in the fall. Our in store traffic has increased greatly. So we work at the phone thing. We work at keeping parking space available outside. And we are trying to make sure we have sufficient qualified people in the store to answer your needs. As things get busier we will evolve our methods to meet greater demands. Your patience and suggestions are appreciated. Thank You!!

Gunsmithing.....

   We’ve waited a bit before touting this area, but can’t keep quiet any longer. Dick and Al are both such an asset to us. Dick has been factory trained by a number of handgun manufacturers. His ability to tune revolvers is a wonder to behold. Al applies his mind to making things work and his particular strengths include getting older Remington semi auto rifles to live again. He is also terrific when it comes to double shotguns and the intricacies within. We keep aware of our limitations as well as our abilities. And we look forward to helping you keep your irons running or making them better.

Over and Unders.......

   We are hereby declaring the summer of 2001. that is till labor day, to be the era of the Superposed, also known as the age of the Over and Under. Hereby stating that for these months we will be having extremely groovy prices on all of aforesaid guns. Frankly we think that the selection of these is greater than you will find anywhere else. Browning, Franchi, Stoeger, Ruger, Remington, Winchester, Beret, EAA, and a host of others both new and freshly traded in. Barrels from 24 to 32 inch, stocks in field ,clay, skeet, and trap configuration. And remember please that the ‘model proliferation’ taking place in rifle and semi areas has also happened here, So whatever you want in an over and under is probably available. If we haven’t got it on hand we probably have it coming or can come up with it in a very short time.

Fishin.......

   We continue to have more and more fishin stuff come in and then go out in the hands of smiling fisherpeople. We will continue to expand this with Musky hunters in mind next, You fly folks next.

Tech Tips........

  

    A couple of rapid fire shots here;;;;;;;;;; when adjusting open sights, remember to chase the target with the front sight, and run away from the target with the rear. --instead of asking yourself if you’ve flipped your mattress this month, ask yourself if you’ve removed, lubed, and replaced your choke tube this month.----that centerfire you have that doesn’t seem to shoot so great,, have you really worked at removing the copper fouling from the lands and grooves???--- after you shot all those lead bullets out of your pistol or rifle did you clean it out for the return of jacketed ammo?

Gun Clubs...............

   Are the best and most important investment you can make to ensure your sporting future. Gun Club memberships at 10 to 25 or whatever dollars, make sure you have a place to shoot for now and in years to come. During this, a harmonious election year, we urge you to ‘vote’ with a membership and some effort to help out you local and not so local club. These are nice places to hang out at. Prices are reasonable. And there are nice people to argue wads or chamber pressures with.

Some Special Values......

   Lots of instore specials going on this fine summer. Have lots of ammunition specials, both shotshell and centerfire. And look for the big yellow tags on long guns as well as the bitty yaller ones on handguns. Please remember that we are not running a museum here. And the incredible air conditioner is running like a champ.............

Gun Safes.............

   Here we will be dealing with a very heavy subject. (couldn’t resist a pun opportunity) We got our latest load in a bit late. But they are here and looking so majestic in our newly rehabbed safe building. The new Bridger models from Browning are starting to take off. Available as a fire safe or as a non fire rated. Either Browning streamlined out their safe line or else maybe we figured them out. In any case, these safes can successfully meet your needs

Last Round......................

   We once again wish to thank you for your patronage and look forward to you coming to see us again. We will continue to try and evolve to be a better and better source for your sporting satisfaction. Thanks from here on ye olde hill, Ken, Paul, Dan, Dick the elder, Kathy, Carolyn, Al, Diane, Andy, Joe and the Huck.


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