Gun Reviews

O.F. Mossberg & Sons https://www.mossberg.com/ I would argue that the Mossberg 500 Series platform is the best pump shotgun on the planet. I have used and shot them so much over the years that I can operate the gun in my sleep, and have had them in no less than six varieties. Until now the [...]

Making a gun cheaper doesn’t always add up to making a cheap gun. That is the point of the new Kahr CM9. Modeled after their extremely popular but pricey PM-9, the $569 MSRP clone CM9 has exactly the same external specifications, the same magazine capacity and is the same weight as it’s more expensive older brother.

This gun is how Kahr answers the question, how do you follow up a home run? The answer is “with another home run,” and they really have no choice. Coming out of SHOT 2011, where nearly every handgun company announced a new 6+1 tiny 9mm, the PM-9 now has much more competition in the marketplace where it had previously ruled the kingdom. The CM9 cuts corners only where the engineers at Kahr felt they could safely be cut, but is more competitive on price with the new entrants into the field in this size range. The CM9 still has the 7 patented features found in all of these small Kahrs, and it shoots exactly like the PM-9, recoiling lower in the hand than most guns this size, which drastically reduces felt recoil and muzzle flip. The CM9 differs from the PM-9 in 5 different ways.

Nobody wants to shoot someone by accident, not even if you already shot them once. But something that many people don’t understand is the criminal and civil liability that can arise from doing just that. It is hard to think about a concept such as “gunfight safety.” It is an oxymoron of sorts because a gunfight by nature is not safe. But when you choose a firearm, for concealed carry or as a duty gun, as a police officer or private security, you have to consider how likely is that gun to get you in trouble if you are in the heat of a potential or actual gunfight. Even if you are protected by statute from criminal liability as a police officer or if you live in a state with castle doctrine laws, lawyers can find a way to sue you regardless, and your ability to not fire the gun under stress could potentially effect your life as much as being able to fire the gun under stress.

Introduced in 2000, the Glock 36 is a thinner version of the Glock 30 subcompact 45 ACP pistol. Instead of the thick grip and slide that were made to accommodate not just the .45 ACP, but the much more powerful 10mm – both with double stack magazine so common in Glocks, the Austrians did something different. A single stack magazine holds six rounds – comparable to an Officer’s Size Colt, which is similar to the size of the 36 and a much slimmer slide and frame. This lets them make a slim pistol – in fact the G36 is thinner than any other Glock.

This is a CCW dream come true. The reliability of a Glock, in a package the size of a small 1911, using the potent .45 ACP cartridge. With its nearly indestructible Tennifer finish it’s easily carried anywhere, whether an ankle, an IWB holster, or wherever and in the harshest of environments. I thought this gun was immediately destined for greatness.

What is odd, the G36 isn’t the madly popular gun I expected. They are a “love it or hate it” gun. Either you love the characteristics and the handling of it, or you don’t. There really isn’t too much opinion in between. I recently spoke with a local gun shop clerk who noted the same thing; he was just amazed that the gun wasn’t far more popular. For those with small hands, who I hear often complain about the thick grips of the Glocks in 45, why weren’t they snapping these up?

For me, the gun made a lot sense, so I recently purchased one to evaluate as a CCW. I was immediately thankful for the slim grip, and easily concealable package. I also bought a third magazine and two Pierce +1 extensions as well as a +0 floorplate for one magazine to aid in concealment. I also added a single Glock night sight for the front sight of the gun, since this is a close-in gun, not something I plan for target shooting, but more on that later.

Carrying the Glock 36 was very easy, especially with the +0 floorplate. It was comfortable to carry, either in an Inside the Waistband holster, a standard belt scabbard, or paddle holster. I used a Fobus and Blackhawk Serpa holster most often, and the gun melted into my side. I cannot usually carry a semi auto that I conceal with only a T-Shirt over my jeans. The 36 was flat enough to do the trick. All day carry was never a problem, with no sharp edges to scratch you or tear up you clothes. It was far lighter than my Colt Commander, and felt much smaller. All the way around this pistol is a solid CCW choice for those who like the Glock.

Old vs. New in the classic battle for which pocket pistol is right for you. Join Brian Jensen in this head to head comparison of the classic Walther PPK and the new Ruger LCP. Read it now…

How is it that 100 years after John Browning invented the 1911, it can still be the gun that everyone is talking about? Well, since SHOT Show of 2011, that has been true for the Springfield Armory “Range Officer,” or RO as it is being called. This is not a gun that could be termed “yet another 1911.” It was developed with World Champion shooter Rob Leatham, and seems to have hit he sweet spot with both 1911 enthusiasts and new shooters alike as the gun to have if you want to buy a competition 1911.

The plan for the gun was to create a basic, stable, high quality platform for the shooting competitor looking for a 1911, without all of the bells and whistles of guns costing into the thousands. The RO is made from match grade components and will stand up to tens of thousands of rounds per year, that a normal serious competitor would shoot, without deteriorating the way a standard 1911 would. Read More…

New this year from Springfield Armory is their latest entrant into their line of XD(M) polymer framed striker fired pistols. This is what is being called the XD(M) Compact, and it is very similar to the XD(M) 3.8 that came out last year and that was built on their standard size frame with a shorter barrel and slide. The Compact has the same 3.8 inch barrel, and the slide is the same. But the frame is a new design for Springfield and it is made specifically for concealed carry.

Never to be left with a question about thinking about everything, Springfield gives you two different size magazines with the gun though. The flush magazine is the true “Compact” size and holds 13 rounds, but there is also a full size 19 round that comes with a sleeve to extend the grip. So with one gun you have both the new XD(M) Compact, a 2 finger grip for most hands, and the same gun with a full 3 finger grip, like the older 3.8 model. Read More…

Cool new guns always do well with the early adopter crowd, but seldom does a new firearm design last and thrive the way the KRISS Vector has since its introduction in 2007. You could not turn on the Discovery Channel back then without seeing the episode of Future Weapons that featured the KRISS. Now here we are in the future four years later, and the KRISS Vector has come into full consumer production, and it is again featured on TV. The Military Channel has named it the best close quarters combat weapon.

If you haven’t seen the KRISS on TV, it is truly a novel firearm. The patents are not just applied for, they are awarded. Compared to other pistol caliber carbines and rifles, the KRISS is just simply different. The bolt, upon firing, travels back and downwards, into the handle, and the recoil is absorbed in a spring in that downward position. The result is significantly reduced felt recoil and muzzle climb.

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Well, we’ve all seen the commotion about Glock’s new “Gen 4” version of their line of pistols. Some like it, some, well let’s just say aren’t jumping for joy. That shouldn’t be a surprise. Whenever a tried and true model gets an update, everyone wants to know how you improve on something that already works pretty well as is.

If you have an earlier model, we need to ask ourselves, “In today’s economy, is this really worth putting my hard earned money into?”

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As battle rifles go, probably the most misunderstood of them all is the AR-10.  It almost beat the M-14 in replacing the M1 Garand, and its design was actually copied for the AR-15.  Made by Armalite in 1956, when the company was owned by Fairchild Aviation and Eugene Stoner worked there, the Armalite AR-10 has a long and storied history. Fidel Castro even bought some. Today’s AR-10, brought back to life by Armalite Inc., is a more mature rifle than the guns of the  ‘50s and ‘60s. Read More…

Changing the way you think about polymer pistols is not an easy task, but this is exactly the goal of the new Springfield Armory XD(M) 5.25.  They have taken the world class XD(M) design and matched it with new features designed specifically for competition shooters. Designed by the Springfield Armory team and world champion shooter Rob Leatham, the XD(M) 5.25 is everything you could want in a competition pistol out of the box. At some point they will release a tactical version, but this first 5.25 was made to be on the cutting edge of what you expect from a target and competition pistol. It is made to change your view of what a polymer pistol can be. Read More…

I can pretty much promise you that you will not see another review of the Auto Ordnance “Thompson” TA-5 Pistol that suggests you buy one to use as your main tactical carbine, but that is the way I see this gun. If you want an effective close quarters combat carbine in a pistol caliber that hits harder than 9mm, I have not encountered a cleaner and more effective candidate than this in the sub-$2,000 category. At an MSRP of $1,377 and street price substantially less, the TA-5 is a lean, mean fighting machine that eats everything you put through it and shoots into a ragged hole at 25 yards. What else do you need?
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Many of us long for the days when technology didn’t rule our lives, yet we love the convenience of it. It’s the same thing with special muzzleloader seasons for whitetail. The antiquity of the technology is romantic, but better ballistics, better sights, and easier and more consistent components can make a hunt more likely to put a rack on the wall and fill a freezer with meat. The precious time we manage to actually get out into the woods in our busy lives is valuable, and going into the woods with a better gun during muzzleloader season has become the norm instead of the exception.
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Marching to the beat of your own drummer can be a challenge in the gun world. But over and over again, Kel-Tec CNC, the company we all know for their tiny extremely affordable and reliable pocket pistols, keeps showing up with a new beat, and the guns are some of the most interesting in the entire shooting world.

The Sub 2000 is a folding pistol-caliber polymer carbine, and that is about where standard descriptions run out of gas. At first glance you may try to compare it to a gun you already know, but quickly you realize that it is unlike any other gun you know.

You find yourself saying, “It’s kind of like a … um, no, it’s kind of like nothing.”

The Sub-2000 cocks in the rear, and all of the moving parts of the gun are located in the rear. If you look in the pictures, that whole front barrel assembly swings up from a release in the trigger guard and the entire gun effectively folds in half. It is pretty much a totally unique firearm.

At an MSRP of $409 and a street price well under $400, the Sub-2000 is loaded with features that you wouldn’t expect in such an inexpensive gun. It takes Glock 17 mags in the standard model, but Kel-Tec is also shipping them in Glock 19, Smith & Wesson 59 type, Beretta 92 & 96, and Sig 226 configurations, and the gun is available in both 9mm and .40S&W. The plastic rear sight automatically flips up when you deploy the front of the rifle, and the front sight is a completely adjustable fiber optic. The barrel is 16″, and the weight is only slightly more than a pistol at 4lbs. It fold down to 16″ long.

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At first glance you would think the Walther P99 and PPQ are the same gun, but when you look closer, the only things they really have in common are the way they fire (with a striker), their basic profile, and their weight, 1 lb., 8.3oz. The rest is different.

If your inclination is “Yawwwwwn” when you see a review of a modern polymer striker fired pistol, you aren’t alone. All but a few go bang every time, feel great in your hand, and don’t seem to break ever. They even mostly look the same. But there are differences, even major differences, and PPQ and P99 are two guns that deserve a hard look. Most of us think of Walther as an old time manufacturer of WWI and WWII pistols, and for the current PPK/PPKS, but both the PPQ and P99 are standouts in the polymer pistol world and should be taken very seriously.

The P99 is a totally unique pistol in the striker-fired world, and if given a chance by police armorers, could take a lot of law enforcement sales away from other brands. The PPQ will eat your Glock for breakfast at an MSRP of $729 and street price under $600. I was so impressed with both guns that I decided to put them in one article together in hopes that people would read about them both, rather than have to click two articles. Elite is the word that came to mind, and both pistols are truly elite in the handgun world.

Both the PPQ and P99 employ a unique Walther ambidextrous magazine release that is a part of the trigger guard. It is a little hard to get used to, but once I did, I liked it. The downside to it is that you have to alter your grip on the gun to drop the mag (or have really long thumbs), but the upside is that you won’t accidentally drop the mag in a gunfight because you whacked the button, or because the bad guy pulled a Jackie Chan and dropped it for you. I have accidentally pushed mag buttons my whole life so for me it was a welcome improvement.

The other features they share are an effective three dot sight, with a windage adjustable rear (nice feature), a standard 15 round magazine (17 available from Smith & Wesson), and loaded chamber indicators on the side of the gun. They both have interchangeable backstraps for different size hands, a front rail, and both come in a 9mm and .40S&W configuration.

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This year saw the flood of extremely small 9mm pistols into the gun market. I call them as a group, “the Micro-9mm.” Just about any gun nut will get excited about on the promise of 9mm firepower in a small package that will fit in your pocket. And with the wave of new concealed carry laws across the US, tens of thousands of new gun owners have come into the market, all looking for the best Micro-9mm. I can’t say I have tested in hand all of the different offerings out there, but after extensive testing, I have to vote that the Walther PPS, if you did go test them all side by side, would come up on top. I’ll try to explain why.

When you have a lot of products that essentially do the same thing (think TVs), you have to figure out what the differences are, and which of the differences are important to you. Trigger action, a manual safety, not having a manual safety, thickness, price, capacity, etc. all factor in and will effect your buying decision.

The most important difference, however, is obviously reliability. Everyone will claim that they have great reliability, and you won’t find a real review of any of the guns either in print or online that says “I tried this gun and it didn’t work.” But not all guns work all the time in every instance, and understanding when and how a gun can be relied upon is extremely important, more important than all of those other factors combined. I want to be able to pick up my carry gun and expect it to fire every time with every ammunition if possible, and cycle correctly, chambering the next round to fire as reliably as the last.

With ultra-compact, or Micro-9mm pistols, reliability is a particularly a huge factor. That size of pistol has traditionally been constructed to handle the .380ACP cartridge, and forcing it to handle the much more potent 9mm, or even .40S&W is a not a feat for the faint of heart. 9mm kicks much harder. The rounds are bigger and longer, and the barrel thicker. Yet “thin” is in when it comes to pocket pistols, so that means the parts have to be smaller. In many cases the Micro-9mm is smaller than any gun the company has ever made, even a .380. Add to this that many of the people making these Micro-9mm pistols have never made a small gun before at all, at least not that small, and you realize that the gun you buy to protect your life is actually just the realization of an engineer’s drawings that so far has worked, as far as you have heard. You may feel that this is true of most guns, but there is a huge difference between making a new model with variations on a gun you have been making for a while as opposed to a completely new gun with design challenges you have no experience dealing with at all.

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Do you want a shock? If you have an Android phone, go into the Marketplace and search for the word “guns.” Hundreds of apps will appear relating to every angle on guns and shooting you can imagine. What I found interesting was that by far the most common picture of a gun chosen for the thumbnail is none other than the Desert Eagle. As guns go, the Desert Eagle is not that common, but maybe due to video games, or movies, or just plain old coolness, it is one of the most notorious guns of all time.

Most people think of the Desert Eagle in the most famous .50AE (Action Express) caliber, but when it comes to actually buying a gun to shoot, I would suggest the far more affordable .44 Magnum. Brass is plentiful, and you can buy the ammo on the shelf at Wal-Mart or Bass Pro Shops. Ballistically, the .50AE is overkill in a pistol and rocks your world far too much to be an effective weapon anyway. It is more of a novelty cartridge that a functional participant in shooting sports, unlike the .44 Magnum that is used extensively and successfully in self defense, handgun hunting and as a backup for dangerous game.

To understand the difference in ballistics of the two cartridges, the standard 300gr. bullet in a .50AE travels at roughly the same 1400fps. that a 240gr. bullet travels in a .44 mag. In muzzle energy this equates to a 50% advantage for the .50AE, 1449ft./lbs vs. 971ft./lbs. for the 44 mag. With a similar weight 300gr. bullet, the .44 mag comes in at even less, at 881ft./lbs. But when it comes to hand cannons, how much is too much? Even against a Grizzly, the ability to aim a follow up shot quickly should you miss is more important that eeking out every foot-pound of energy from a gun when you are limited to carrying a pistol.

This is why I ordered a test gun in .44 Magnum. As romantic as the “Big 50” may be, I wanted to see what it was like to shoot this famous and enormous gun with a practical cartridge. My perspective is, most .44 Magnum shooters shoot revolvers, Smith & Wesson Model 39s, Ruger Super Redhawks, etc. With a .44 Magnum Desert Eagle, you have 8+1 rounds, not just six, and you can slap a mag if this isn’t enough to get the job done, or if you need to be ready for the next threat. Compared to a revolver the Desert Eagle is far more firepower, and let’s face it, the gun is among the coolest on the planet. It looks like a Battlestar Gallactica blaster for heaven’s sake!

Weighing in at nearly four and half pounds (70.5 oz.), the Desert Eagle .44 Magnum still has a good deal of recoil and muzzle flip. It may not be the biggest boy on the block anymore, but the .44 Magnum is still a beast of a cartridge. I would not call it punishing though. I have fired lightweight alloy J-frame revolvers with .357 Magnum loads that were a lot more unpleasant to shoot than this.

Using the gun successfully takes some practice though, and Magnum Research provides a picture guide to help you save frustration. The Desert Eagle is not a gun you can just take out of the box and shoot properly. Many of the good habits you may have developed from shooting large revolvers don’t apply to the Desert Eagle, and you have to consciously change them or the Desert Eagle doesn’t work so good.

With a big, .44 Magnum revolver, like a Ruger Super Redhawk, (for a right handed shooter), you hold your left hand under the grip to apply two handed counter pressure to shoot the gun. When you shoot it, you allow the revolver to roll backwards with the recoil. If you do this with the Desert Eagle, the next round won’t lock up correctly and it will behave like a standard failure to feed correctly. Two things about this you have to consciously change.

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Civilian gunfights almost always happen by surprise. You could argue that in home defense situations there is sometimes a warning that a threat is imminent. You may have dogs that bark, or an alarm system that wakes you in the night, or you may think to grab a gun if a stranger knocks at your door. But daytime threats, at the gas station, at the bank, in the parking garage, in the bad neighborhood you were forced to stop for a red light, can appear from anywhere at any moment.

In such cases, if you even have the ability to defend yourself, how fast you are able to get a projectile into your attacker may mean the difference between your life and death versus those of your attacker. For this reason, the Taurus Judge series of .410 shotshell double action revolvers has gained immense popularity. While researching for this article I googled around for holster options, and many holster makers now have the Taurus Judge at the top of their list to catch the eye of interested buyers. As a defensive handgun, the Taurus Judge has eluded all speculation. The Judge has arrived.

This polymer version of the 2″ Public Defender is the most practical of the Judge line for daily carry. Though the 23 ounce gun is only 5 ounces lighter than the steel Public Defender due to a steel under-frame, the 5 ounces is a welcome reduction in a carry gun, and the plastic coated frame is completely corrosion-proof. The cylinder is blued steel, which can rust, but the Taurus finish is extremely durable and in a holster will most likely last several years with no appreciable wear.

As you can immediately tell from the pictures here, I was really curious as to the actual ballistics of the 2″ Judge with the most popular load for the gun, the Winchester PDX1 .410 shotshell. This round was created specifically for the Judge line. It contains 3 plated disks and 12 standard BB gun sized BBs. I also wanted to look at some standard 000 buck shells in .410, as well as the .45 Long Colt, which is the cartridge that has the same external dimensions as the .410 shotshell (except of course shorter) and for which all Taurus Judge revolvers are made to shoot.

If you aren’t familiar with the Judge and you are wondering how on earth a pistol can be sold as what amounts to a “sawed off shotgun” in .410 gauge, the Judge utilizes a loophole in the gun laws that specifically applies to the .410 only. Because there is a genuine firearm caliber in the same head and body size as the .410, the .45 Long Colt, there have been for generations pistols and revolvers, and even derringers, made with rifled barrels and longer chambers that can specifically handle the .410 shell. The .410 in a handgun used to be a novelty, in the occasional small production revolver and most notably in derringers, but the Judge took the concept prime time, in a reliable gun with a built in gun lock and a lifetime guarantee to boot.

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The last time we saw the new Springfield Armory XD(M) 5.25 I was only able to try the gun for about an hour before having to send it on to the next reviewer. GunsAmerica was the first to have pics and tests of this exciting new competition pistol designed by champion shooter Rob Leatham. At the time it was only available in 9mm as well. Several of the comments that came in asked the question, when are they going to offer it in .40S&W and .45ACP? The answer is “right now.” The guns should be on your dealer shelves, and there is still some time on the 3 magazines promotion from Springfield.

For competition, Springfield Armory has upped the game on the 5.25 with these two new guns. Both calibers give you more flexibility than the 9mm in competition. They give you the ability to make what is called “major power” in USPSA and other competitive shooting rule systems, and you can make doctored loads for what is called the “power floor.” With the .45ACP you can experiment quite a lot, as you’ll see we did some, and the .40S&W just makes the floor for major power factor, and may be your best option if you want to use the gun in competition as well as self defense or duty.

Power factors are all based on published rules for what the individual competition organizations. The speed of the bullets is measured by a chronograph at the competition itself. To calculate the power factor and figure out the power floor you multiply the weight of the bullet, in grains, with the measured speed in feet per second, divided by a thousand. So for a 125 grain 9mm travelling at 1100 feet per second it works out to 135. A 230 grain 45acp at 850 feet per second is 195.

You will notice that the power factor computation is far different than the foot/pounds computation we have covered in a number of other articles. In the latter, velocity is squared before it is multiplied. In power factor it is simply multiplied. So while in foot/pounds calculations velocity is king, in power factor bullet weight has much more impact.

To “make major” in USPSA for the Open division the power factor is 160, and it is 170 for the Standard and Modified divisions. The minimum caliber to “make major” in the Standard division is .40, which gives you two XD(M) 5.25 guns to choose from. Note also that there is an absolute power floor for USPSA and other competitions of 125. So if you are concerned only with competing at the division level without shooting to make major, you can load to the absolute floor for little or no recoil, if you can get the gun to work properly with low powered loads, as I will explain a bit later.

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Zombies may not be taking over America yet, but in the world of shooting sports, 3-Gun competitions for sure already are. You can’t talk about shooting these days without hearing about the popularity of 3-Gun. STAG Arms, a sponsor of the TV show 3-Gun Nation, hopes to capture the rifle part of the 3 Gun market with a new rifle created specifically for competition in 3-Gun events. It is called the STAG Arms 3G, MSRP $1,495. All of the competitors in the finals of 3-Gun Nation this year, being held in Las Vegas next week, will be shooting the STAG Arms 3G, and I am pretty sure all of the competitors are going to ask to keep them or buy them after the event. It is a really nice gun.

The 3G is an 18″ barreled AR-15 with about all the bells and whistles you could want for 3-Gun and a lot more. It comes standard with a 15″ Sampson free floating handguard, a Magpull ACS stock and MOE handgrip, and a Geissele Super 3-Gun trigger created specifically for 3-Gun competition. The gas system is the full rifle length version, not the shorter M4 version. This makes for a lot less felt recoil and very smooth controllability shot to shot. STAG also makes one of the few reliable .22 conversion kits for the AR, and it works flawlessly in this new 3G.

I guess the question is, how many people would buy a dedicated gun for 3-Gun? The STAG 3G would answer that question,” it doesn’t matter. ” The 3G is a formidable battle rifle with almost perfect balance. The twist on the gun is 1 in 8,” which is capable of stabilizing a wide range of bullet types, and the 18″ barrel turns a corner as fast as a 16″ M4, but with a better gas system and more velocity. You also couldn’t ask for a better stock and hand filling grip than the Magpull product. STAG really didn’t skimp on this rifle and they made some important add-on choices that you may not have gotten as right forced to make the choices yourself.

I personally find quad rails annoying, even with too-fat rail covers. This smart Samson handguard comes with 3 short rail sections to mount whatever you like on the gun. It makes for a comfortable, hand sized forward grip and the flexibility to add whatever you like. You can see from the pictures I like the stumpy UTG/Leapers forward vertical grip, and I was able to mount this in less than five minutes. What I like about it most is that you don’t need a special AR wrench to take the handguard off. It utilizes a collar and two Allen screws, and slides off with little or no effort. For ease of use the Samson wins hands down.

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As the 2012 SHOT Show approaches, one of the guns that didn’t get as much attention as it should have from this past year’s show was the Ruger Gunsite Scout Rifle. If you haven’t seen this gun, it is based on a theoretical design from a shooting legend, Colonel Jeff Cooper, who started the Gunsite Academy. The premise of the gun is a “one gun solution, ” with a spec that it has to be a .30 caliber with an effective kill power on a man sized target out to the effective range of the shooter, and that is has to be short , light, and handy. This isn’t the first “Scout Rifle” design to hit the market, and Col. Cooper was involved with a Steyr project back in the day that is still sold today. But for the money, Ruger definitely has a very strong offering, and has nailed the Scout concept at an affordable price, MSRP $995.

Chambered in .308 Winchester, the 16.5″ barreled Ruger Gunsite Scout Rifle comes in at 7 lbs. empty and is 38″ long. This is basically to the spec of Col. Cooper, and this is with a wood, not plastic stock. The length of pull is adjustable with stock inserts from 12.75 inches to 14.25 inches, so it fits all sizes of shooters and can be adapted to body armor. Gunsite has a method of training shooters where length of pull is crucial, and this rifle is made to help you “settle into it.” I think that is the reasoning behind the wood composite stock as opposed to plastic. Laminated wood looks a little funny, but it is just as durable and weatherproof as plastic, and it is only about a half a pound heavier. The fine checkering on the beefy feeling forend and handgrip make you feel good with the gun, like it was made for you, and the weight distribution of the wood also just “feels right,” which is what the designers at Ruger and Gunsite were going for.

When you see the profile of this new Ruger Scout collaboration, a couple things immediately stick out. One is the ten round removable box magazine. To my knowledge there are no other bolt rifles in this price range that even have a box magazine. You are stuck with 3 or 4 rounds in the mag. The Scout also has a forward optics rail, for a special type of scope called, coincidentally, a Scout Scope. The Scout Rifle concept is 50 years old and the methodology of the Scout has been applied to experimental rifles for two generations now, using everything from standard Remington, Winchester and Ruger actions, to surplus Mosin-Nagants and Mausers. The forward mounted Scout Scope has what is called a “long eye relief.” That means you can see a full field with the scope 8 or 9 inches away from your eye. These scopes are also used on pistols to some degree by handgun hunters and long range target shooters.

The forward mounted scope allows you to take advantage of the optic, while retaining your peripheral vision for optimum situational awareness. It takes some getting used to, but most major optic companies make a Scout Scope model, and once you get used to it, the advantage is clear. In an unknown situation with nobody but you covering your back you don’t want your eye locked into a normal scope. Col. Cooper had this forward mount in his spec, long before long eye relief scopes were popular, and he was definitely on to something. The respect that his name commands in the gun world is well deserved. Most of us don’t have the ability to go out to Gunsite to train, but the expertise there has given us what amounts to the right tool for the job.

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When most people think of the classic deer rifle, they think of the lever action 30-30. Very few avid gunners don’t have one, yet this is a gun that is not the most powerful, not the most accurate, not the most quick shooting, and not the most reliable. For all the new gun owners, shooters and hunters that have come into the gun world over the last few years, you just have to re-ask the question, “why on earth would I ever want a lever action 30-30?” Is it just sentimental value in an old time cartridge that keeps the 30-30 going, or is there something there?

Guns are different from most things except maybe cars and guitars in that they have an “aura” about them. You won’t often see a rich businessman driving a Honda CRX “tuner” to the office, and you certainly shouldn’t play Ozzy songs on a Fender Telecaster, not that you can’t. Likewise, a lot of people feel weird stomping around the woods with an AR-15. It isn’t that the AR isn’t capable of taking a deer, a hog, or a coyote. It just doesn’t feel right.

The same thing goes for a high-powered bolt gun. In the thick woods of New England, Pennsylvania and other popular hunting grounds, you can feel like you are overdoing it with a high powered rifle. Most shots are under 100 yards and you don’t need all that power for a deer. For many hunters, a lever action 30-30 is “just right,” and it makes you feel like rough and tumble cowboy, which is always cool for a gun guy.

That is why there are literally millions of 30-30s are out there hunting this season, and one that has become very popular is the Mossberg 464. It is made in America by Americans, and we found it to be as accurate as most bolt guns for the first five shots in a cold gun. The point of balance on the 464 is right in the middle of the receiver, exactly where you want it to be for walking around the woods for hours, and right in the middle of a mounted normal length rifle scope, so it retains the balance. If you look at the 464, it looks like a Winchester Model 94, the most classic of all leverguns. But some of the features inside are much more like the Marlin 336, which is the other US made 30-30 still available today. The 464 is smoother than the 94, yet feels more like one than it does the Marlin.

Hornady revolutionized the 30-30 in 2007 with the introduction of their LeverEvolution ammunition. Prior to this, all traditional leverguns with tubular magazines had to use flat pointed bullets. Otherwise the tip of the bullet in the magazine would impact the primer of the round in front of it, setting it off inside the magazine and blowing a hole out of the side of your gun. LeverEvolution utilizes an aerodynamic spitzer type bullet with a polymer tip, so that they don’t set off the primer. They really actually work, and since the more than 4 years that have passed since their introduction, the LeverEvolution ammo has taken over the market for 30-30 deer rifles.

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Every gun nut looks for that perfect .22 pistol that will always be a staple of their gun collection. Even if you have more than one, and most of us do have several, a .22 pistol is lifetime purchase, so even though they are less expensive than most centerfire pistols, you have to choose carefully.

The “old” Ruger .22LR pistol, currently called the Mark III, is one of those guns you can always advise someone to choose and they will never regret it. The classic Luger lines of the gun and the hefty weight of 30oz. and up make it easy to shoot for novice shooters, and steady and accurate for a lifetime of punching paper and eliminating the dreaded grey squirrel. The Ruger Mark III will never let you down. But the world has moved on from steel guns, and most people want a .22LR pistol that looks and feels like the centerfire pistol they use for home defense, concealed carry, or competition.

We are often so focused on the black guns these days that sometimes you miss what is going on in other parts of the shooting and hunting world. A lot of it is deeper and a more enjoyable than all of the tactical stuff combined. Cimmaron Firearms specializes in cowboy era firearms, from the percussion age of the 1830s through 1873, and the cartridge guns from Colt, Winchester, Smith & Wesson, Marlin, Sharps, and others through the turn of the century. The dawn of the repeating firearm is not only a lot of fun historically, you can actually live it and breath it through a very popular shooting organization called the Single Action Shooting Society, or SASS. Cowboy Action Shooting is a lot of fun, and if you are of the competitive bent, at the regional and national level the competition is fierce.

This “Evil Roy” model of the 1873 single action Colt Peacemaker is engineered to meet the needs of the discriminating SASS competitor. More than 90% of the people who shoot Cowboy Action are not competitive and have no interest in winning anything, but we all like to shoot good. And for that small percentage of serious competitors, they are really serious and like to shoot perfect, not just well, and win the prized trophy SASS belt buckles. All of the SASS shooting is on metal plates, not paper, and the plates are set as close to the shooter as is safe for splatter. This makes Cowboy Action really easy to shoot well, so the competition really boils down to speed. Hit the metal plates, every time, as fast as you can.

What do you call a giant stainless steel .357 Magnum 1911 pistol? Well, if you listen to Coonan Arms, maker of this righteous beast called the Coonan Classic .357, the answer is that it may be many things, but it is for sure…

Not Your First Pistol!
The .357 Magnum is considered by many to be the most effective handgun round for human sized targets. But unfortunately the cartridge was created for revolvers, not pistols. So for fans of 1911 and other auto pistols, the .357 Magnum isn’t practical. It has a rim around the back of the case, unlike a .45ACP or 9mm that are flat and don’t. The extra lip that sticks out of the .357 Magnum and other rimmed cases creates trouble in semi-auto pistol magazines, and the .357 Magnum case itself is very long to fit lengthwise in the grip of a pistol as well.
This leaves 1911 fans who are also devotees of the .357 Magnum in a lurch, because though you can carry several guns at one time, you can only shoot one gun effectively at a time. Until now you had to choose between a 1911 and a .357 Magnum revolver. The Coonan Classic .357 seeks to combine these two choices, and they have done a really great job of it. If you are fan of both the 1911 and the .357 Magnum, you will be pleasantly surprised with this gun. It definitely isn’t for the uninitiated, but with a proper understanding of how the gun works and why, it isn’t a gun to be afraid of as a novice shooter . It works really well and is also a lot of gun for the money.

Break out the party hats, Ruger’s LCR just got a little brother! The newest member of the LCR family shares all the great features of its brethren and is now available in .22 caliber. The LCR-22 is light, fast handling, and accurate for a 1.875” barrel, and it’s a ball to shoot.

If you’re not familiar with Ruger’s LCR (Lightweight Compact Revolver) which debuted in January of 2009, it is best known as the first production polymer framed revolver. Several others have come out since but Ruger was ahead of the pack with the LCR.

The polymer lower part of the frame houses all components of the fire control mechanism and is mated to an aluminum alloy upper which houses the stainless steel cylinder and barrel liner. Polymer is a rugged material, rust and corrosion proof, and light weight. The aluminum upper and heavy fluting on the cylinder contribute additional weight savings. My review gun came in at 14.8 ounces empty on my stamps.com electronic scale, but the reported weight is 14.9 ounces. The balance point is at the back of the cylinder which I consider ideal for a snub nose revolver. It comes on target out of the holster quickly, thanks in part to the great balance as well as the natural grip angle and excellent rubber grip from Hogue.

The hammer is completely enclosed making, this a double-action-only (DAO) revolver and eliminating a potential snag for anyone interested in concealed carry. The DAO trigger, like its bigger brothers, is very smooth with no stacking and little overtravel. It measured right around 12 pounds but didn’t seem that much thanks to the way they cam the trigger.

The LCR-22 is compact, little more than 6.25” long and 1.25” wide. It sits so lightly in a holster or in your pocket that you’ll forget it’s there

The big news, of course is that you can now get it in .22 caliber which opens the opportunity to do a lot more shooting since .22 ammo is inexpensive and widely available. The LCR-22 will handle .22 short, .22 long, and .22 long rifle ammo, including shot shells, which means that you can personalize it for your needs.

I see this fun little revolver filling a number of roles. The most important component to shooting any gun accurately, aside from the gun itself, is practice. No matter how good (or bad) you are, more practice will make you better. Unfortunately, center fire ammo can get expensive, especially if you want to shoot hundreds of rounds a month. With a .22, you can shoot for pocket change.

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Introducing the newest addition to the SP101 line. It has a 4.2″ barrel and an adjustable rear, and fiber optic front sight. If you know and love the SP101 series from Ruger, This is the same bulletproof reliable gun in a gun suited for all day holster carry, as a truck or pack gun, or as a backup for dangerous game.

So far the biggest story I have seen at SHOT Show 2012 is the XDS from Springfield Armory. It is a single stack .45ACP that holds 5 rounds in the magazine and 1 in the chamber. The barrel is 3.3 inches, and the overall length is 6.3 inches. It is only one inch thick. Empty the XDS weighs 21 ounces, and it is a striker fired pistol in the tradition of the XD and XD(M), with a polymer frame and forged steel slide.

I don’t know how many times we need to say that Springfield Armory is always raising the bar, but Springfield Armory is always raising the bar. Last year at SHOT Show about a half a dozen companies came out with single stack 9mm ultra-compacts. Over the past year they have all come into the market, with mixed reviews on most (our favorite was by far the Walther PPS). This year some of those guns have now been released in .40S&W, and it is common for 9mm and .40S&W to share the same frame in pistols. But when you want to make a pistol that small in a .45ACP, you have to go back to square one and make a whole new gun, and that is what Springfield Armory did.

I can’t say that the Thompson Center Dimension rifle is the biggest story at SHOT Show 2012, but it is definitely the most interesting. Being from New Hampshire myself, I was an early Thompson Center customer (I had a White Mountain Carbine) and have been a fan since. In fact one of the early articles on the GunsAmerica Blog was about out of the box MOA guns, and both the TC Venture and Icon made MOA easily, and they are both great values in a deer rifle.

By far the most famous product of Thompson Center is the line of pistols known as the Contender, then later the Encore and G2 Contender. If you are new to shooting sports, the Contender pistol series is a modular system that utilizes one universal frame and interchangeable barrels and forends for varying calibers. You buy one Contender, and several, or even dozens, of barrels, from .17 Hornet to .416 Rigby in the later versions. Several calibers were invented specifically for the Thompson Contender series, including the .30TC and numerous wildcats. A whole cottage industry of making Contender barrels sprung up over the years, based on the overwhelming success of the Thompson Contender. For the hobby shooter, there has never been a finer instrument to nerd out on with your reloading press and bench rest.

Fast forward to now, since TC was bought by Smith & Wesson, and a lot of us TC fans out there have been wondering what would become of our old friend, especially since the plant in Exeter, New Hampshire was closed last year. Smith & Wesson is a public company, so what the gun nerds think doesn’t always count when you boil everything down to nuts and bolts shareholder profits.

So it is with gratitude to the folks at Smith & Wesson that I say, Thompson Center is charging forward with a completely new, and revolutionary rifle system called the Dimension. It has been two years in the works and the Dimension made its debut today at Media Day at the Range, SHOT Show 2012. Take a look through the pictures here, and I will try to explain how it works to the best of my ability.