Ballistic Spring 2019

Think of Zen as being in a state of total focus where your body and mind come together seamlessly. Your actions are essentially guided by intuition rather than conscious effort. You are in the moment, ready to react. While this notion is central to Buddhism, it applies here—even though it might seem counterintuitive to “ballistic.” But when we learned about Zev Technologies going full-bore into making its own complete 9mm pistols, our editorial instincts kicked in, and we worked hard to bring you this worldwide exclusive. This is a game-changing business move for a company that once only specialized in aftermarket gun parts and custom upgrades to existing stock firearms. But what the guys at Zev Technologies do is also Zen. Their drive to achieve the highest quality requires total…

This past October saw Athlon Outdoors host its second annual Rendezvous in Greenough, Montana, just outside Missoula. For three days, dozens of gun manufacturers unveiled their latest and greatest wares—many still under wraps—to us Athlon editors and contributors, giving us plenty of trigger time to create more content for our various print magazines and websites in the coming months. But this amazing event wouldn’t have been possible without a few key sponsors donating goods for every participant. Here we’d like to show our support and fill you in on the great gear that made for an awesome Rendezvous in Big Sky country. 1 > AGUILA AMMUNITION There were plenty of new rimfire rifles and handguns to test at the Rendezvous event, and thankfully Aguila stepped up to the plate by…

“We typically do not coat rubber since the Cerakote will end up cracking and coming off, But we figured it would tie the build together to have it coated, and since the build was distressed anyway, the grip would just get ‘better’ with use.” WHAT DOES FREEDOM look like? Can an object reflect what it means to be free? To be unrestrained in action and thought, to show what it means to exercise our rights as American citizens? Can you hold liberty in your hands? If such a notion is indeed possible, I think our custom coating super-duo have clearly hit the mark. A while back, a pair of DoubleStar ARP7 pistols chambered in 300 Blackout left their birthplace of Winchester, Kentucky, and started their journey towards a ‘Merica! makeover.…

LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND sure has changed in the past few decades. Not long ago, gun manufacturers filled the Connecticut River Valley with industry-best firearms. Colts were made in Hartford, Parker Brothers shotguns were produced in Meriden, and Marlin Firearms were machined in North Haven. Oliver Winchester and Oscar Mossberg set up their shops in New Haven, while Sturm, Ruger& Company was a chip shot away in Westport. Drive north into Massachusetts and you’ll find Smith & Wesson in Springfield and Savage in Westfield. That’s an impressive list of some of the most innovative firearms manufacturers anywhere. Life in these bluest of blue states is a lot different now than it was a few decades ago, and that makes finding a shooting range pretty difficult. Open land in southern New…

Most visitors come to Boston to see the sights. In a town founded in 1630, tourists will discover no shortage of historical, cultural, social and athletic activities. But shooters find some of the most interesting historical sites, too. In front of the Old State House at the corner of State and Congress Streets is the site of the Boston Massacre, and several major battles occurred in the vicinity, with Bunker Hill, Lexington and Concord being the most famous for the “shot heard ’round the world,” signaling the beginning of the Revolutionary War. The poorly equipped, rag-tag farmers were no match for the British, and yet they improvised, adapted, survived and overcame; the Minutemen snipers all lived around Boston. Catch a ferry to George’s Island and you’ll hear ghost stories about…

THE FIREARMS WORLD IS A DIVERSE universe of companies, some of which are huge conglomerates while others are more boutique. Some focus on a few specific products, and others try to make everything under the sun. That’s the simplified, general lay of the land in the firearms industry. One company may leap into an “industry leader” role for a while but is usually replaced in short order as Company X releases its new blaster. All the while they seem to be chasing each other, and in many cases copying what seemed to work for someone else. However, there is one company that stands apart from this sometimes-predictable framework. A company that has charted its own path and decided that it is capable of truly being the epicenter for shooters. This…