The casual observer will have noted from the title of this blog that straight wall cartridges are most certainly firearms and that observation is correct in both connotation and denotation. There’s no alternative interpretation that is applicable. Now your mind jumps– “Is Umarex making a .45-70 or 360 Buckhammer rifle?”
Let me put your mind at ease. It is not April Fool’s Day and we haven’t gone off our rockers and turned the page on airguns. It isn’t that we have aught against firearms, but rather the prompt that started this sophomoric assault on the English language was buried in the details of the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission’s big news on deer hunting in the Natural State.
You see, the real story is that the AG&F took the deer seasons that used to be known as “Muzzleloading Season” and termed it “Alternative Firearms Season”. It wasn’t simply that straight walled rifle cartridges can be used here, but also that big bore air rifles can also be used during these spaces of time formerly dedicated to smokepoles.
Formerly, big bore air rifles were allowed only during modern rifle season, which is the shortest season for whitetail deer in Arkansas. Now, the airgun hunter can shoot with air for both Alternative Firearms Seasons AND Modern Gun season as well. This is really big news for airgunners in Arkansas.
As I type this I can’t help but think back on all the work Seth Rowland and the late Howard Robinson put into making airgun hunting in Arkansas happen. Seth and Howard put untold hours going to Little Rock to testify, setting up demonstrations, and otherwise getting in the ears of AG&F board members for the benefit of all of the Natural State’s airgunners. These two guys are really who are to thank for this change in Arkansas hunting regulations– at least in our book.
Arkansas required that airguns used for deer must be at least .40 caliber and produce 400 ft-lbs of energy at the muzzle. Most big bore air rifles of any make can achieve this provided they do meet the .40 caliber part.
While the emphasis is obviously on straight wall cartridges for the biggest part of the hunting public, the added benefit to airgunners is certainly welcome news for us!
Learn more about this announcement by clicking the link below.
https://www.agfc.com/regulations/new-this-year/