Ballistic Fall 2018

OUTSIDE OF RECEIVING my first firearm when I was 11 years old, and killing my first buck a few years later, buying my first set of wheels brought on the ultimate rush of freedom. My used ’79 Chevy diesel pickup helped me get to and from high school, odd jobs washing dishes for a restaurant and working for a local construction company, and the hunting fields and fishing hot spots of upstate New York. Those days were easy. Crank the engine and Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath or AC/DC on the “upgraded” sound system, and let the wild rides begin! Those were my teenage years. What’s really changed? Not much as far as all the “likes” are concerned. That’s what we were thinking as we put together this special issue. We…

The firearms industry is known for its innovation and boundless energy. Dozens of manufacturers in this realm are constantly churning out new products—so many that it’s sometimes hard to keep up with the “latest and greatest” guns and gear. Thankfully, we at Ballistic spend considerable time keeping our fingers on the pulse to make sure you’re always up to date. We’ve cut through the clutter to bring you the best. So without further ado, here’s some of the hottest new stuff heading your way. 1> CORDOVA 125 XL The 125 XL is the largest cold-storage solution in Cordova’s hard-sided cooler lineup. This 32-gallon-capacity cooler can hold up to 120 pounds of ice or 120 cans with a 2-to-1 ice-to-content ratio. Measuring 46 by 19.63 by 19.75 inches and weighing 45…

LIKE BOURBON AND barbecue, or bacon and more bacon, custom guns and classic cars just go good together. The first time you turn over a freshly rebuilt engine—the straight headers pounding your chest, pissing off neighbors and rattling garage doors—feels similar to pulling the trigger for the first time on a custom rifle built piece by piece under the buzzing fluorescent lights of your friend’s shop. Both situations are driven by the need to set yourself apart, to be different, to be unique. Some people get it; some people don’t. So when we decided to have Pat McNamara spread his metallic awesomeness all over this issue, we knew that we had to bring a little noise ourselves. Keeping in line with the heavy metal/muscle car theme, we reached out to…

MAC’S FACTS THE WORD “ICONIC” HAS BEEN used to describe a handful of weapons, but the 1911 stands at the top of that list. Though I shoot various handguns and use a Glock 19 as my every-day-carry gun, I have a love affair with custom-built 1911s. The fit, feel, ergonomics and accuracy are unparalleled. Every gun owner should have a 1911 as part of his or her arsenal. Some scoff at the 1911, even calling it an anachronism, choosing their polymer Eurotrash guns over a 1911, but that’s probably because they’ve never fired a custom-built metallic sentinel of battle. They might argue that 1911s break, have too many malfunctions or are too bulky. My opinion couldn’t be more opposite. To be analogous, a custom-built pistol, such as my Blaze Ops…

ON A SCALE OF ONE TO GEORGE Washington, guns and heavy metal rank pretty high on the America chart. The Second Amendment needs no introduction here. Meanwhile, headbanging until your brain hurts dates back to the 1970s, but it really picked up steam here in the United States in the 1980s, when bands like Metallica and Anthrax started shredding Enter Phil Labonte, lead vocalist of the metal band All That Remains. He encapsulates that gun-toting American spirit with sniper-like precision. His support for the Second Amendment is well documented. He released a video soon after the Parkland, Florida, shooting detailing his thoughts on gun control and why passing a bunch of laws is more of a kneejerk reaction that simply won’t work. “The debate’s frustrating, at least on the internet,…

THE TURBULENT 1960s SAW AN amazing amount of change in American culture, with dramatic evolution in music, politics, education and civil unrest. Against that backdrop came the popularization of street performance cars. Like some of the firearms we enjoy, curbside iron like this was usually a case of “better to have it and not need it rather than need it and not have it.” For many, the launch point to this principle was Pontiac’s GTO. For true automotive enthusiasts, the letters first stood for “Gran Turismo Omologato,” and the domestic version’s terminology was a direct takeoff on the Italian-built Ferrari 250 GTO, of which less than 50 were ever built. Pontiac, considered the performance arm of GM in some circles, would later say the letters meant “Grand Touring Option.” However,…