On the Air: The Gunslinger Syndicated Radio Network
Every Sunday night from 7 to 9 PM Pacific, the Gunslinger Syndicated Radio Show goes live across six AM stations and every major streaming platform. The AM network covers California from San Diego to San Francisco, stretches east to Phoenix and Las Vegas, and reaches listeners coast to coast through the livestream. The full broadcast footprint:
- KRLA AM870 serving Los Angeles and Orange County, CA
- KTIE AM590 serving the Inland Empire, CA
- KCBQ FM96.1 / AM1170 serving San Diego, CA
- KTRB AM860 serving San Francisco, CA
- KKNT AM960 serving Phoenix, AZ
- KXNT serving Las Vegas, NV
If AM radio is not your preferred territory, the show streams live and on demand across YouTube, Rumble, Facebook, X, Odysee, and Spotify. Hit like, subscribe, and drop a comment letting the crew know where you are tuning in from. If you want to talk live, the call-in number is 866-870-5752.
The show’s short-form clips, released six per day throughout the week starting the morning after each broadcast, have been pulling strong numbers. Each full episode gets parsed into clips that roll out through the following Sunday, when the next show resets the cycle. If you come across one on any platform, the share button is the best thing you can do for the show. New faces in the chat are always welcome.
The Blunderbuss: What That Bell-Mouth Barrel Actually Does
A caller named Richard raised a question worth settling: does the wide flared muzzle of a blunderbuss have anything to do with how the gun fires, or is it purely a loading aid? The answer, as the hosts laid out, is the latter. The bell-mouth opening functions as a funnel, making it easier to dump a charge down a short barrel in a hurry. That was the whole engineering idea.
The blunderbuss is reasonably described as the world’s first practical shotgun. The bore accepted just about anything you could load it with: lead ball, nails, rocks, or whatever else was within reach. It was a weapon built for close quarters and desperate situations, not precision. Firearms technology was still in early development, and the blunderbuss reflects that era’s priorities: get something lethal downrange fast, with whatever you had on hand.
How to Load and Fire a Flintlock Blunderbuss
The hosts walked through the full sequence of loading and firing a flintlock blunderbuss, start to finish.
- Pour the main charge: Measure your black powder and pour it down the muzzle from the top. The flared bell-mouth makes this easier than a standard straight bore.
- Tamp the powder: Use a ramrod or wadding to press the powder charge down and seat it firmly at the breech end of the barrel.
- Load your projectile: Drop in your shot, ball, or improvised load on top of the tamped powder. For a scatter load, add a wad over the shot to keep it from rolling out.
- Prime the pan: Open the frizzen and pour a small amount of finer-grained priming powder into the flash pan on the side of the lock. Close the frizzen down over it.
- Cock the hammer: Pull the cock back to full cock. The flint is held in the jaws of the cock, positioned to strike the frizzen face when released.
- Fire: Pull the trigger. The hammer falls, driving the flint across the frizzen face, which throws a shower of sparks into the priming powder. The primer ignites, and a jet of flame passes through the touch hole in the barrel wall, detonating the main charge and sending the load out the muzzle.
CCW in California vs. Washington State: 14 Months Against 11 Days
A caller named Frank, formerly from Ventura County and now living in Tacoma, Washington, offered a comparison that speaks for itself. Getting his first California CCW took 14 months. After relocating to Washington, his concealed pistol license, known there as a CPL, was issued in 11 days. No mandatory training course, no range qualification required by the state. Under Washington law, you do not even need to currently own a firearm to apply for the permit.
The contrast is not lost on anyone who has navigated California’s may-issue history or the reforms that followed Bruen. Frank noted that Washington’s political class has been working to import California-style firearms restrictions, and that Seattle has not elected a Republican mayor since 1932. The hosts did not find that surprising given how Seattle looks today.
For California residents working through the CCW process or keeping up with legislation that affects carry rights, the California Rifle and Pistol Association tracks active bills and court cases and provides resources for gun owners navigating the state’s regulatory landscape.