Innehållsförteckning för November 2020 från Gun Digest

“Well, you can try, but it’s a shot in the dark.” You’ve undoubtedly heard that saying before, and you’ve likely even used it a time or two. I know I have. In fact, my buddies overused it during our college years while seeking out members of the fairer gender. In most cases, they were right. But in the literal sense, taking a shot in the dark is wrong on so many levels that I don’t hardly know where to begin. In addition to that, it’s a terrible defensive strategy. So, with a motherload of statistics to prove that most violent encounters happen in the dark (or, just watch the news … all the really bad stuff takes place at night), what’s your plan? The invention of night sights on defensive…

No doubt you’ve seen articles or videos, or at least heard conversations at your local firearms emporium, about the Springfield Hellcat. If, by some inexplicable reason, this is your first-ever gun magazine, or if you’ve been living the bunker life trying to hide from the election flu or rioters, here’s a brief recap. The Springfield Hellcat is an ultra-compact, polymer-framed, semi-automatic pistol that’s only 6 inches long and weighs only 18 ounces. It comes with one 11-round magazine and one extended 13-round magazine. It also has a Tritium front sight and a tactical Rack U-Notch rear sight. Depending on the variation, the suggested retail price ranges from $569 to $643. I’ve spent a couple months working with this pistol and, after more than 500 rounds, I’m impressed. For an ultra-compact…

01 Aimpoint CompM5b It’s no secret that Aimpoint delivers the goods. But the respected optics maker might’ve outdone itself with the CompM5b. The red dot offers a truly tactical system, not only delivering outstanding accuracy, but also quick calibration. This, in part, is thanks to an interchangeable turret system adapted for different calibers at different target ranges. It’s also compatible with an array of Aimpoint magnifiers, including the 3XMag-1 and 6XMag-1 magnifiers, as well as all generations of Night Vision Devices. Its 2-MOA dot is excellent for precise close-quarters engagements, but fine enough to handle midrange work. And, as expected from Aimpoint, the 6.3 unit is tough. MSRP: $1,124 02 Viridian HS1 Laser-Sight Hand Stop Simple concepts oftentimes prove the most useful. That perfectly pegs Viridian’s new additions.…

The idea of having one gun you could trust to sort out all your problems is appealing and has merit. Like grandpa said, “Beware the man with one gun.” However, unless you only have a limited assortment of problems to solve, a one-gun answer will be, at best, a compromise. I don’t believe there’s a one-gun answer for everything—or even most things. But what if we took a different approach and instead of relying on one gun, we relied on one cartridge? This drastically changes the conversation, because by settling on a single cartridge we can rely on multiple guns to shoot it. Of course, it also limits possibilities. For a serious one-cartridge solution, we have to turn to a revolver cartridge that can serve triple duty in a concealed…

The movie scene is so common that we all let it pass without notice: The entry team goes through the door and into a dark space with multiple laser beams slashing across the interior. The team is here, and they mean business. Sound familiar? Well, there’s actually a lot wrong with that. First of all, the cinematographer has a real headache when the director wants it. Lasers don’t show up in clean air. Without something in the air, the laser being projected doesn’t “appear” until it strikes the object being aimed at, be it bad guy, wall or target. So, in order for the laser to appear for the camera, the space has to be flooded with smoke, dust or such a high humidity level that it isn’t so much…

HISTORICAL NOTES The 7-30 Waters was introduced in 1984 for the U.S. Repeating Arms Model 94XTR Angle Eject rifle and carbine. The cartridge was the work of Ken Waters, a well-known gun writer and ballistics expert. He began planning the cartridge in 1976 as a high-velocity, flat-trajectory round for short, handy, lever-action carbines. There are many problems to be overcome by those who’d improve on the performance of the .30-30 cartridge class in lever-action rifles. Severe restrictions are imposed by tubular magazines, the length of the action and permissible working pressures. However, by 1982, Waters had developed a cartridge that’d push the 139-grain 7mm bullet at 2,600 fps. At this point, U.S. Repeating Arms Co. became interested in the project and decided in 1983 to produce Model 94 lever-action rifles…

The world was clearer in the past. You were a Windows user or a Mac user. Your pickup was a Ford, Chevy or Dodge. Coffee came black, or with cream and sugar. Now? PC, laptop, tablet, phone. Windows, Mac, Android, U.S. or import. And coffee? Don’t get me started. Gun choices and the tools for them have undergone a similar process. OK, you need to scrape some carbon off of your AR-15. And you need to cut some 550 cord to fit your sling. Or you need to check the tightness of the laser or your trigger settings on your striker-fired pistol. You’re a 1911 user (good choice), and you need to take it apart to clean it. You grumble because the pistolsmith who fitted it made the bushing a…

With current events turning everyday life more unpredictable, making good decisions with your personal protection has never been more important. But how do we ensure that we make good decisions when our safety is on the line? Being an effective defender isn’t as simple as strapping a big iron on your hip and maintaining awareness. Firearm proficiency and maintaining a high degree of vigilance is only a piece of the puzzle: You should have several options available—beyond harsh words but before switching to guns. Some of the popular less-lethal options include pepper spray, hand-to-hand training or Tasers. I’m an advocate for carrying at least a spicy treat (OC spray, such as Sabre Red), as well as getting some hand-to-hand training. But there’s one non-lethal option that’s often overlooked: bright—really bright—…

If one has designs on relying on a single cartridge, a shotshell load adds versatility. CCI offers two shotshell loads for the .38 Special/.357 Magnum. The standard shotshell is loaded with No. 9 shot, and the BIG 4 is loaded with No. 4 shot. These shells can be very effective on snakes and even vermin as large as skunks. Of course, the range must be close. I tested the standard shotshell and the BIG 4 shot-shell loads in each of the .357 Magnum firearms, and even though the barrel lengths varied a great deal, the results were very similar. About 6 feet appears to be the maximum practical range with both loads, regardless of barrel length. I believe the shotshell would work very well for snakes from all three guns,…

The CZ 457 lineup of bolt-action rimfire rifles has a dedicated cadre of fans. Spend anytime behind one on the match line or in the squirrel woods, and it’s easy to see why. For those in the know, CZ remains the unquestioned best value in rimfire shooting. Simply put: You just get more for your money with CZ. To fully understand why, it’s best to consider the history. The earliest Czech firearms can be traced back to the 1370s, but like so much of modern European manufacturing, the most relevant threads spin out of Nazi Germany and the political fallout of World War II. In October 1918, the Czech and Slovak people declared their independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and established the new state of Czechoslovakia. The new government created…

I’ve seen it happen to a good number of avid reloaders—and I’ve had it happen to me. You get so wrapped up in the numbers, and you go so far down the rabbit hole, that the goal of what you’re doing gets lost in the mix. Our goal as reloaders is to produce the best ammunition available, but I’ve seen so many guys become completely obsessed by velocities, bullet runout, standard deviation or extreme spread. Yes, we need to have good information regarding the ammunition we create, but for those of us who load our ammunition for hunting, there’s a different set of tolerances that apply. What’s acceptable hunting accuracy? Well, we’ve got an impressive lineup of hunting rifles that offer a guarantee of sub-MOA accuracy. Is sub-MOA accuracy required…

When it comes to optics, “rimfire” is a nebulous term. The scope torqued onto a child’s first .22 LR isn’t anything like the feats of ELR engineering found at precision rimfire matches all across the country. Yet, in both cases, they’re riding a rim-fire rifle, steering the fire of a 40-grain hunk of lead. This shows that when picking a new scope for a rimfire rifle, you have to consider end use. Is the rifle a plinker, a hunter or a precision competitor? There are a few “rimfire” branded scopes that aren’t total junk—okay, just two—that work well for backyard plinkers and varmint hunters. For match shooters, the best rimfire scopes are simply the best precision rifle scopes, no matter the caliber. Taken together, these 11 scopes below are my…

Since the invention of the firearm, man has tried his best to develop a system for aiming the gun easily and accurately. There are a number of solutions, though none of them are absolutely perfect. The simplest designs evolved into the two-piece iron sights we’re all so familiar with. While that system certainly has a ton of applications, it’s handicapped by the user’s ability to focus both the target and the sights. As humans age, our eyes lose the ability to focus on tiny objects, especially up close. It will happen. On a defensive handgun, the mantra of “front sight-focus” is a glaring example of the obstacles encountered when using iron sights. Because of the difficulty of quickly focusing on both the target and the front sight, shooters train to…

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