Innehållsförteckning för November 2016 från Gun Digest

Gun Digest|November 2016

The Suppressed Truth

It’s no surprise the mainstream media has earned a reputation for distorting the truth about firearms, something readily apparent with what has become the all-too-predictable cycle that starts with a public atrocity and ends with a knee-jerk reaction by anti-gun legislators to take away our right to bear arms. Every public atrocity seems to get blamed on the gun, an inanimate object, rather than the criminals who perpetrate the crimes, while law-abiding citizens get lumped in with terrorists and deranged psychopaths in the war against legitimate gun ownership. One of the prototypical victims of this agenda during last century has been the suppressor, first developed in 1908 by Hiram Maxim as a viable form of hearing protection. As Brad Fitzpatrick points out in his article, “Silence of the Cans” (p.…

2 min

Gun Digest|November 2016

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

.260 Remington Vs. 6.5 Creedmoor Gentlemen, I just got the September issue. Regarding your enthusiastic coverage of the 6.5 Creedmoor, I have one question: Have you ever heard of the .260 Remington? I have owned a rifle in that caliber for over 20 years. It does everything you say the 6.5 Creedmoor does, and looks like the same cartridge to me. A little more research on your part would be advisable. Please let us know the differences between the two cartridges. Earl S. Davis, Elberton, Ga. First off, let me say I’m a big fan of the.260 Remington. I have an AR-10-type rifle I’ve pieced together in that chambering, and it’s an effective cartridge when it comes to accuracy and lethality on game. The reason for the 6.5 Creedmoor is…

4 min

Gun Digest|November 2016

2016 Suppressor Roundup

Did you hear that? Of course you didn’t. That was the sound of a gun equipped with a suppressor. Whether used for hunting, for plinking or simply for protecting your own ears, suppressors are rapidly gaining in popularity where legal. Try one, and you’ll see why. They not only reduce noise, they can also reduce recoil, making them a great tool for beginning shooters. Thankfully, they are legal in 42 states. Most allow them for shooting and hunting, while a few restrict their use to the target range. Buying one is simple. It requires a few more steps than buying a gun, but if you can legally own a firearm, you can legally own a suppressor. Even better, there are more models available than ever. BLACKHAWK SUPPRESSORS This summer, Blackhawk…

5 min

Gun Digest|November 2016

Q&A with “Targeted” Director Jesse Winton

With elections just around the corner, gun rights are, or should be, on the minds of most shooters. Guns and gun control have been widely discussed in the years and months leading up to the 2016 presidential election, especially given some of the tragic events of recent years. In the aftermath of these events, the discussion surrounding firearms in the U.S. reached a fever pitch, and the topic has remained in the forefront of public discussion since. It was in this context that Jesse Winton decided to create a documentary to get to the heart of the gun control debate, and why the right to bear arms is such a crucial aspect of a free society. Winton’s documentary, “Targeted: Exposing the Gun Control Agenda” (TargetedtheMovie.com), premiered in a special one-night…

4 min

Gun Digest|November 2016

HiperFire HyperTouch 24C

Tons of people these days engage in customizing their ARs. Often these upgrades focus on the gun’s furniture: pistol grips, vertical grips, stocks, handguards, etc. However, one of the most critical functional improvements that can be made to any AR is installing a quality aftermarket trigger. HiperFire’s HyperTouch 24C, the competition version of the company’s high-performance HyperTouch drop-in trigger, represents just such an option. Installing and functioning similarly to the manufacturer’s previous HyperTouch 24 trigger, the 24C is the line’s top-tier trigger, offering half the pre-travel and a faster reset than its predecessor. The 24C is a single-stage trigger and comes with the ability to adjust between 15 distinct trigger pull weights ranging from around 2 up to 5 pounds, so the shooter has plenty of options to find the…

1 min

Gun Digest|November 2016

Now available at GunDigest®Store.com

Gun Digest Book of .22 Rimfire, 2nd Edition By James E. House The .22 is the most popular caliber in the world for a reason. Whether at the range or in the field it gets the job done! Now shooters can harness the full potential of this ubiquitous caliber in the Gun Digest Book of .22 Rimfire, Second Edition. This useful and informative reference covers all the bases when it comes to rimfire ammunition, ballistics and firearms. No true .22 fan’s library is complete without this resource. Gun Digest Book of .22 Rimfire, Second Edition thrills shooters and collectors alike with comprehensive coverage of new and vintage firearms. It uncovers technical secrets to the caliber, such as how headspace, rim thickness and other factors affect performance. And it covers all…

1 min

Gun Digest|November 2016

SUPPRESSOR SHOWDOWN

Suppressors have never been more popular than they are today, and for many good reasons: They prevent hearing loss at the source, they can’t be forgotten at home, they help people with flinching issues, they make hunting more natural, follow up shots are more viable, etc. Manufacturers have stepped up to meet this thriving popularity by offering suppressors configured to optimize against many parameters: sound suppression, cost, weight, quick-detach, accuracy, durability, flexibility, full auto rating, length, and zero shift. There is no suppressor that optimizes every parameter, period. As to the question of “Which is the best suppressor?” one must first answer the question, “What are you optimizing for?” To illustrate this point, in this article we compare two extremes in the.30-caliber suppressor category. The silencers used in this evaluation…

5 min

Gun Digest|November 2016

Surefire SOCOM 556 RC-2

“IF IT AIN’T BROKE, DON’T FIX IT.” Or so the old saying goes. One might wonder, then, why Surefire updated the SOCOM RC to the RC-2. The advancements of competitors may have been one motivator, but increases in technology and experience at Surefire were likely strong factors as well. When The Silencer Shop offered to send me the RC-2 to evaluate, I jumped at the chance. Back in 2013 I used a Surefire RC suppressor in a 3-gun match with good success. The RC had a solid quick-detach (QD) mechanism that attached to the Surefire muzzle brake installed at the factory on my Colt Competition CRP-18. The original RC was quiet, accurate, and performed well. It was marketed as the SOCOM556 RC, indicating it had been awarded a SOCOM contract…

3 min

Gun Digest|November 2016

Silence of the Cans

The late 1800s and early 1900s were a period of unprecedented financial growth in the United States, a boom that rode squarely on the shoulder of the nation’s growing manufacturing sector. In the days prior to World War I, the United States was blessed with a combination of two factors—a large and growing work force with a strong work ethic and abundant natural resources—that made this nation primed to lead the global industrial revolution. But the growing economy brought with it some unexpected side effects. For one thing, the world got louder. Vehicles now moved freight and people, and trains ran endlessly to keep up with the demand for goods in the farthest reaches of the country. Busses moved lots of people to new jobs, trucks carried consumer goods to…

6 min

Gun Digest|November 2016

.300 AAC Blackout

The intent behind the .300 AAC Blackout was to offer a .30-caliber cartridge that would function in AR-15 rifles without a reduction in magazine capacity, that was also compatible with the standard bolt, and would offer both supersonic and subsonic performance. The .300 AAC Blackout was developed by Advanced Armament Corporation (AAC), a subsidiary of the Freedom Group, and is almost identical to the .300 Whisper originally developed by J.D. Jones. AAC standardized the case dimensions and submitted the cartridge to SAAMI, which has established the cartridge with a maximum average operating pressure of 55,000 psi. From a supersonic standpoint, the .300 AAC Blackout offers performance similar to the 7.62x39 Soviet cartridge. One thing hunters should recognize is that heavy match bullets at subsonic velocities will not expand in game…

1 min

Gun Digest|November 2016

Knapsack AR

Compact, covert, and discreet—all words that describe the relatively new Ruger SR-556 Takedown. Takedown rifles have a cool allure with the metallic sound of multiple parts mating together to form an accurately shooting rifle. The Ruger Takedown has that same cool, incognito presence, and after a few pulls, twists and clicks, it’s all business. It’s a refined AR that can do a job and melt back into the scenery slung over your shoulder in a knapsack. The DNA of the AR-15 design essentially makes it a takedown rifle. After all, the upper receiver can easily and quickly be removed from the lower receiver, breaking down the rifle into two pieces. The issue is that the upper receiver makes up the bulk of length. By my estimation, the typical AR-15 with…

5 min

Gun Digest|November 2016

Quiet on the Set

“Quiet on the set!” People’s ears are tired of the loud report of rifles, and here in the States, we’re finally making a larger move toward embracing suppressed rifles. Unfortunately, they’re not yet legal in all states—here in New York State, for example, where fun is illegal and smiling is a misdemeanor, they’re definitely out—but it sure is nice when the fella next to you at the range has a can instead of a brake. Personally, I have ringing in my ears from too many years of exposure to gun fire (nobody wore ear pro when I was growing up) and from decades of playing in loud rock bands (louder is, in fact, better). I wear ear protection at the range—sometimes combining two types—and probably should while hunting. that in…

5 min

Gun Digest|November 2016

Day & Night Operator

Many shooters own or have fired a Ruger 10/22. For some, it was their first rifle, their first real gun. With millions of them sold since 1964, the accessory aftermarket for customizing Ruger 10/22s is very robust. These rifles can easily be transformed from stock, Plain Jane wood-stock-blued-barrel guns to nearly Star Wars status. This article covers the conversion of a stock Ruger factory 10/22 into a compact and stealthy day/night rifle designed to deal with daytime varmints and nocturnal pests. There are many versions of the 10/22 available from the factory. For this project, I used the bare-bones model 1103, essentially for the action alone. Immediately after purchase, I removed the stock as well as the trigger group and barrel. These items were later sold to cover part of…

6 min