Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2022 i Combat Handguns

All of us have met people at shooting ranges, gun shops or gun shows who love to give advice about the best handgun, cartridge or ammo. But have you ever seen anyone extolling the virtues of “the best” paper target? I’ve rarely heard advice about targets in 60 years of shooting. The simple fact is that except for matches that require specific paper targets like IDPA and bullseye, targets are usually considered to be the least important aspect of shooting, if they’re considered at all. Most of us just focus on placing our shots into small groups no matter what the target looks like. This kind of thinking led to the development of “Center Mass” silhouette targets. Unfortunately, the center of mass in the human body is just above the…

Remember the good old days? They really weren’t that long ago. Days when we could carry a single-stack pistol or revolver and not feel under-gunned? Those days are long gone, along with our innocence. For many years, I went about my business with a Kahr PM9, a single-stack 9mm with a 6+1 capacity. Later I switched to a S&W Shield with a 7+1 capacity because its slightly larger grip frame enabled me to shoot it a little more accurately. When Sig introduced their P365 in 2018 with a 10+1 capacity, I thought who in the world needs all of those rounds for a concealed carry gun? But then we witnessed the riots of 2020 and in this topsy turvy world, our new reality was watching cops stand by helplessly while…

The year 1999 marked the end of an era. One of the most beautiful revolvers to have ever been manufactured went out of production. The legendary Colt Python would be no more, save a very limited number coming out of the Colt Custom shop until 2005. The lure of the Python is strong. Since its birth in 1955, it became one of the most coveted revolvers ever produced. Sporting a barrel with a heavy underlug and a sexy ventilated rib on top, oversized combat grips, high polish and royal blue or mirror-like nickel finish and a hand-tuned action, the Python was the epitome of American craftsmanship. Unfortunately, it was beauty that killed this beast. The amount of handwork required to build each Python pushed the cost of the revolver so…

Approximately 21.5 million Americans now have state-issued concealed carry permits. In addition, the number who carry legally in public places increases by an unknown amount when considering retired police officers carrying under HR 218 and others who carry in accordance with state “constitutional carry” statutes. Combine this with the number of active law enforcement officers and military personnel who carry handguns on a daily basis, plus those who keep guns for home-defense, and it’s clear why the market for handgun ammunition in the United States is very large, especially at this time of uncertainty. All of this has stimulated significant competition among ammunition companies to come up with new products, extend existing lines of ammunition and re-introduce older lines, often repackaging them in smaller boxes to make them more affordable.…

Late last December, theage-old argument once again rose to the surface. Itwas not the classic 9mm vs. .45 ACP, or even about 1911s and two WorldWars. It was much more serious than those. This holiday season, the debate raged onwhether Die Hard was a Christmas movie. Thismovie has become iconic in the gun world fora number of reasons. One that stands out isJohn McClane’s use of our beloved H&K MP5. There are even shirts available that simply say“Ho-Ho-Ho, Now I have a machinegun.” Whileactually owning a true MP5 is out of the graspof most shooters, we are able to find alternatives that give us the same look and feel. New to this corner of the gun world is theteam at Quarter Circle 10. They are well knownfor their pistol-caliber carbine…

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then it was most certainly flattery that killed John Moses Browning and not heart failure. Browning’s firearms designs, many of which still serve our military today, are testimony to his incredible genius, and his iconic 1911 pistol is probably the most copied gun of all time. Over the years there have been many imitators, some good and some horrible. Jeff Cooper’s popularization of the 1911 as a defensive fighting tool in the 1970s and ’80s was the impetus for many manufacturers to offer their own versions of the venerable war horse. It wasn’t always like this, however. Back in the late ’70s when I started shooting 1911s, the only real choices were Colt and Springfield Armory. There were some peripheral players like…

For concealed carry, belt holsters remain the most popular choice. Such a holster worn either inside or outside the waistband affords the user the most efficient draw stroke and can be very low profile with the right covering garment. But “most popular” doesn’t necessarily translate to a universal choice, and for some lifestyles or missions, something other than belt carry may be the better way to go. As the name implies, a shoulder holster distributes the weight of the gun across the upper body rather than the belt. The holster itself is positioned under the support-side arm and secured to the torso via a harness. s. Categories include horizontal, with the butt facing forward and the muzzle to the rear, and vertical, with the gun on a north-south axis. Muzzle…

THE HELLCAT PRO is the latest iteration of the extraordinary line of Springfield Armory Hellcat micro-compact defensive pistols. Incorporating everything that is righteous and wholesome about the original Hellcat into a slightly elongated chassis, the new Pro strikes the sweet spot between micro-compact defensive pistols and service-sized handguns. The Hellcat Pro represents the cutting edge of modern defensive firearm design. Why would anybody need a concealed carry pistol with a 15-round magazine, you ask? Here’s a good anecdote that explains my answer. In 1994, my wife, toddler son and I were in an urban shopping mall. After enjoying a meal at the food court, we retired to the restrooms. I was standing in front of the urinal doing what guys do when they came barging in. There were about a dozen…

FIGHTING HI-POWERS GIRSAN MCP35 VS. SPRINGFIELD ARMORY SA-35 CALIBER 9mm BARREL 4.87 inches OA LENGTH 7.75 inches WEIGHT 32.24 ounces 32. (empty) GRIP Synthetic SIGHTS White dot/bar Wh ACTION Single action only FINISH Cerakote CAPACITY 15+1 MSRP $567 CALIBER 9 mm BARREL 4.7 inches OA LENGTH 7.8 inches WEIGHT 31.5 ounces (empty) GRIP Walnut SIGHTS Front dot, blacked-out rear ACTION Single action only FINISH Blued CAPACITY 15+1 MSRP $699 During the past century, one of the most popular pistols in the world has been the Browning Hi-Power. During its storied history, the Hi-Power was used by over 50 different armies and was used by both the Axis and the Allies during World War II. Despite its historic legacy, FN shut down production of the Hi-Power line in 2018 due to its high manufacturing costs and…

Have you ever had a difficult time trying to find a gift for someone? It might be that the person doesn’t ever want anything or won’t tell you what they want. Or it could just be that they buy everything they want throughout the year, and there is nothing left to buy for those special occasions. I am here to tell you that I fall into one, if not all of those categories. This year I had to try really hard to come up with something special for my wife to celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary. Thoughts went through my head about a vacation, a nice date night out and even a new Bronco. But then I began thinking that I wanted to get her something that would make her…

AS calendar flipped over from Asthe 2021 to 2022, it seemed questionable whether the 2022 SHOT Show would be realized. Although a number of “Big Name” manufacturers and distributors stayed away, the annual NSSF event was, in my opinion, a resounding success. I’ve done a number of these “Roundup” articles over the years, and I have to state for the record that while some years I’ve had trouble coming up with a decent number of new guns to introduce, this year proved to be the easiest yet. I was able to shoot a number of these guns during Industry Day at the Range and even shoot a few others at portable ranges that had been set up outside the display areas. Quite a few of these handguns had some very…

GUNS FOR UKRAINE BUT NONE FOR YOU YOU JUST CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP. In an incredible example of his gross misunderstanding of true freedom, former Vice President Joe Biden recently used his first State of the Union address to call for a ban on so-called “assault weapons”—at the very same time the president of Ukraine was handing out such firearms in hopes his citizenry might be able save their country from invading Russian troops. Ironically, a ban on such weapons, which was just lifted after the Russian invasion, had left many Ukraine citizens clueless as to how to operate the firearms, much less how to battle a superior force with them. Let’s hope that the Ukraine disaster will lead many on the other side of the Second Amendment debate…