Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2024 i Firearms News

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While there is no way to verify the actual numbers, it’s estimated that ninety percent of potential problem situations are stopped with just the mere presentation of a firearm, without a shot needing to be fired. We don’t live in the John Wick universe—in the real world, when a gun comes out, normal people usually stop causing problems, because they don’t want to get shot. And yet…still, private citizens have to fire shots from their concealed carry pistols thousands of times a year. Private citizens are the real first responders, not whoever shows up after 911 is called. When it comes to lawful shootings involving private citizens the FBI is not as rigorous in collecting data as with shootings involving law enforcement officers, but we still have a good database.…

OK, suppressors are cool, but they do add length, even on a carbine. Starting with a 16-inch barrel, adding a suppressor makes it as long as a full-sized AR-15 rifle. The usual “solution” is to put a suppressor on an SBR. Except, that means two tax stamps. “Grrrrr.” Well, there’s one way around that. That is to go the “pin and weld” route. You get your barrel shortened to the needed length, and then you permanently attach your suppressor to it, making the finished length 16-plus inch of barrel. Or, you just go to Gemtech and get the Integra. They have done the work for you, taking a 10.5-inch barrel, and permanently attaching a suppressor that brings it up to 16-plus inches of barrel length. But they don’t just leave…

Now, in decades gone by, they used to say there were only two types of riflemen, those which owned Marlin Model 60s and those who fancied Ruger’s 10/22. Both of these designs have proven hugely popular, with over 11 million Model 60s and well over 7 million 10/22s being sold. Many a young shooter has cut his teeth on one or the other. My first semi-automatic rifle was a Marlin Model 60 and I still own a few today. So, I am an unabashed Model 60 fan. That said, there is no argument over which rifle series has greater aftermarket support. When it comes to receivers, barrels, parts and accessories, the 10/22 rules the roost. With that in mind, I decided to take a look at a new rimfire offering…

Anyone who has been married more than a week has experienced the joy of getting in trouble for something your spouse dreamt you did. Movies are sort-of the same thing. Sometimes they seem real, but they just never actually are. Even the good ones. Some are more compelling than others. The unique 2014 film Boyhood is a coming-of-age drama that chronicles the adventures of its protagonist as he develops from childhood through his teens. What makes Boyhood unique is that it was filmed in little snippets over the course of eleven years. As the kid in the film ages, that’s really happening. It would be easy to mistake the inimitable flavor of Boyhood for real life. On the absolute opposite end of the spectrum, one finds the 1976 James Coburn…

“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sent a notice letter to the City of Dallas directing it to withdraw the statement made by the State Fair of Texas, the organization contracted to run Fair Park during the annual event, that prohibits citizens from lawfully carrying a firearm on the premise,” an August 14 press release from the AG’s office declares. The catalyst was an incident from 2023, when a suspect since arrested on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon opened fire in a fair food court, hitting a man he said was approaching him along with two bystanders. Fair officials evidently believe citizen rights should hinge on how they can be criminally abused, and Paxton’s having none of it. “Texas law clearly states that license to carry holders…

If you have been shooting for years, you are likely aware of the ban on Russian manufactured ammunition, as well as the demise of traditional surplus ammunition. These two groups were long a staple of American shooters, providing blue collar workers with a vast amount of economical options for practice, personal protection, hunting and recreation. With the US Government banning Russian ammo from the US commercial market, and a dwindling supply of military surplus, the American gun enthusiast has been hit hard in the wallet, especially when it comes to rifle ammunition. While 9mm Parabellum and .22 Long Rifle ammunition prices have dropped back to saner levels, rifle ammunition remains at ludicrous over-inflated prices compared to just four years ago. So, what’s someone who loves shooting to do? Frankly, there…

The “Bent Buttstock” Machine Gun In the 1890s, the Imperial Japanese Army obtained a quantity of Maxim and Hotchkiss machine guns for trials purposes. They choose the air-cooled Hotchkiss heavy machine gun, numbers of which were purchased from France beginning in 1897. Licensed manufacture of a Hotchkiss gun — known as the Type 38 machine gun — began around the turn of the 20th century and these saw service in the Russo-Japanese War (1904 – 1905), one of the first times modern armies equipped with machine guns, faced each other on the battlefield. In 1914, the Type 3 machine gun, another Hotchkiss-type gun as modified by Captain Kijirō Nambu, was adopted. It was a gas operated, tripod mounted, air cooled gun chambered for the 6.5mm Type 38 cartridge and was…

The TISAS Fatih B380 is a very interesting pistol to me. Not just because I’m a huge fan of the Beretta 84, upon which this 13-shot .380 is based, but because I also recently in these pages reviewed the new Beretta 80X Cheetah, a modernized version of the 84. And I have to say…I actually like the Turkish-made bargain-priced Fatih better than I do the modernized tricked-out Beretta 80X. Which is definitely not what I expected. First off, it’s not Faith, it’s Fatih, which means Conqueror in Turkish. These guns are made in Turkey by TISAS, and imported by TISAS USA. Naming a .380 “Conqueror” seems a bit like calling a big guy “Tiny,” but I’ll leave that alone. I will say that this is not a tiny gun which…

Way back in the 1980s, the gunsmith I was learning the trade from and I schemed ways to win matches. One idea was to fit a hi-cap magazine into a 1911 frame. (I am sure we were not alone in this.) Our plans foundered on the Scylla and Charybdis of: no suitable magazines plus “How will we fit the trigger around any magazine we do find?” Well, some of those problems were solved back then, not entirely to everyone’s satisfaction, and some later, to somewhat better results. As Jim Tarr reported on earlier, Kimber now has found a sweet spot in the variables of “hi-cap 1911” solutions. Their new KDS9c has the good points of the 1911, and the good points of the various hi-cap 9mm pistols, and none of…

“Viral Harris-Walz camo hats riff on red-state style, draw ire of NRA,” The Washington Post reports. “The official campaign merch… sold out of its initial inventory of 3,000 hats within 30 minutes — with camo-hat sales totaling nearly $1 million Tuesday via its online store.” It’s not the first time Walz campaigned in a camo hat. Back in 2016, he wore one that had “NRA Endorsed” emblazoned under his name. Despite that, per leftist MoveOn Political Action, “As a gun owner and hunter, Gov. Walz now proudly has a F- NRA rating and supports universal background checks, an assault weapons ban, and Extreme Risk Protection Orders, and he has passed safe storage laws in Minnesota.” He says he “sleeps just fine.” That he does after betraying people who believed in…

It seems Low Power Variable Optics (LPVOs) are slowly overtaking older technology, overshadowing fixed powered prismatic optics such as Trijicon’s ACOG, and effectively bridging the gap between non-magnified red dot sights and traditional scopes. If a 1-6x or 1-8x are good, wouldn’t a 1-10x be better? While it sounds good in theory, getting a 1-10x scope to perform really well optically is a challenge not for the faint of heart. Many companies fall short, leading to 1-10x scopes often being held in low regard. Enter the Vortex Razor HD Generation III 1-10x24mm FFP. Utilizing a 34mm main tube, the Razor HD Gen III 1-10x24mm is definitely a bit bulkier than its 1-6x peers, but this plays largely into the usability of the optic overall. With this larger tube, it doesn’t…

Four days of non-stop trekking across high alpine peaks in Alaska’s Brooks mountain range with a 55+ pound pack and 7¾ pound rifle/scope combo was taking its toll. My hunting partner and I were hunting Dall sheep approximately 180 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska’s northernmost mountain range and everything necessary for surviving 14 days of this grueling brand of high-country hunting was secured in our packs. These necessities included a sleeping bag, ground-pad, mountain-tent, freeze-dried food, cook-stove, raingear, spotting scope, binoculars, and other critical gear. Every single ounce counts when it comes to pack-weight, and in that regard, I had even cut my tooth-brush down to a mere nub with some bristles attached. It was early fall, 2006, and while advances in mountain hunting gear had come…

I was at Smith & Wesson when they showed a room full of gun writers the first M&P pistols. That was in December of 2005. If you had told me then that at some time in the future the hottest new S&W would be an M&P in 10mm, I would have laughed so hard I would have snorted coffee out of my nose. The hot thing then was .40 S&W, 9mm was on the outs, and the 10mm was dead. As dead as a Blue Northern. Well, things change. And the change has been good. The M&P went from a compact .40 to an every-sized 9mm, and now it is a 10mm, with a comped barrel as well. The S&W M&P 2.0 Performance Center 10mm (a name almost as big…