Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2024 i Gun Digest

I don’t know what it is about this time of year, but I tend to do a lot more reflecting now than I do while spending time on other pages of the calendar. It makes sense that year-end brings about a natural desire to reflect, but I also do a lot of hunting … which often leads to an excess of idle time with an idle mind. A few weeks back I was hunkered against a tree in a deep patch of timber, waiting on a whitetail that was clearly somewhere else: The warm and sunny weather was ideal for comfortable hunting, but less so for actually putting deer on their feet. I began finger-tracing the color patterns on my rifle’s stock (the rifle on the cover of this issue)…

WOULD YOU RATHER? With two teenage girls living under my roof, I get sucked into the occasional game of “would you rather?” It’s not an experience I’d wish upon any grown man, but because I do genuinely enjoy spending time with them (when they’re not trying to maim one another), I’ll play along now and again. After admitting that I’d rather listen to Rihanna than Taylor Swift—both are forms of cruel and unusual punishment, by the way—I tossed one out to my girls: Would you rather lose an eye or lose a leg? The universal answer was that they’d rather give up a leg than an eye, and I couldn’t agree more: You can always buy a new leg, but seeing … well, seeing is everything. It’s the last of…

A list that includes the best of anything is largely determined by the parameters governing the list. For example, a list of the best rifles could contain a collection of the most expensive and well-made, the most accurate or the best performing. The thing is, the most expensive, most accurate or best-performing rifles are not always the same. I worked with a lot of new rifles in 2024, and this list represents those I felt were noteworthy, that cover a broad price range, and that I’d readily recommend. Ruger American Gen II Ruger’s American rifle has been a great success because of the reliability and precision it offered at such an affordable price. The new Gen II Ruger American is just as reliable and accurate, but it also has a…

These days, it seems that if you’re a gun maker and you don’t offer a 2011, you ain’t sh*t. Rather than follow the crowd, Kimber decided to put its own spin on the double-stack, 9mm, singleaction-only formula, and we’re actually glad they did. Instead of being wedded to the 2011 magazine, the KDS9C manages to shave off a few millimeters from its grip dimensions by being built around a metal mag designed from the outset for the 9mm Luger cartridge, rather than swaging down a .45ACP tube. It’s the same tactic employed by Wilson Combat and their EDC X9 and SFT9 (see CONCEALMENT Issue 36), only at a lower price point. NUTS AND BOLTS Up top, the KDS9C uses a somewhat traditional 1911-style slide. Purists will turn their noses up…

The era of iron sights is far from over, despite what the red-dot guys are saying. Technology has a pesky way of marching forward, and we are therefore forced to adapt … or fall behind. That said, the concept that we are firmly in the electronic era when it comes to ways to aim a pistol is a bit distorted. We’re in a great time where there are more ways to customize and make your pistol better, but we also need to realize that this race to the finish line in adapting every single pistol design to use a dot sight is a lofty goal. Simply put: Some pistols are better off without electronic sights. Let’s address the pros and cons of both, and examine where the iron-sight market is…

When I got into law enforcement, I soon discovered one of my most important duties would be to write incident reports. I also learned that, to write an effective incident report that accurately conveyed the situation and provided me with a solid reference in court, it would have to be based on fact. In other words, like Dragne television series character Sergeant Joe Friday is so famously credited with saying, “Just the facts, ma’am.” That’s what you have here: a report without hype or hyperbole on the facts as they relate to Hornady’s new .22 ARC (Advanced Rifle Cartridge). Interestingly, Sergeant Friday’s original—real—quote was, “All we want are the facts, ma’am.” THE CARTRIDGE CASE In 1974, Dr. Louis Palmisano and Ferris Pindell created a wildcat cartridge for benchrest competition. It…

About 30 years ago, I met one of my best friends during a traffic stop. The first words he ever said to me were, “I have a gun.” During the next few moments, we sorted out the violation—nothing more than an expired tag—and then we had a long conversation about guns. I’m not saying you’re likely to meet your next best friend on a traffic stop, but I can give you some advice to keep you from having a dreadful experience and possibly ruining the rest of your day. But first, understand this: I live in West Virginia, which is a constitutional carry state. Here you do not need a permit to carry a concealed handgun or any loaded firearm in your vehicle. However, firearms laws about vehicle transport and…

01 Kimber CDS9 As a successor of Kimber’s KDS9c family of pistols, the CDS9 looks to continue to give armed citizens the best of both worlds. Not only does the all-metal, micro-compact 9mm offer up the time-tested design of the iconic 1911, but it does so in a modern package with all the bells and whistles you’ll find on a polymer striker-fired gun. Of all its assets, the hammer-fired single-action weight is among its most attractive, tipping the scales at only 21.8 ounces—perfect for EDC. Additionally, the CDS9 features an accessory rail, ambidextrous safety and mag release and, to top it all off, it’s optics-ready. Plus, 10-, 13- and 15-round magazines are standard. MSRP: Starting at $1,075 02 Gemtech Direct Thread Abyss and Neutron Series Suppressors Funny as it might…

If you’ve been paying attention to the bolt gun scene these days, you’ll have noticed there are lots of words and phrases that have started to pop up that you might not be familiar with: pre-fit barrels, RemAge, small shank, large shank … and many more. The baseline point here is that bolt guns are officially entering the drop-in-ready world, much like how the AR platform did two decades ago. However, much like in the early days when everyone was still figuring out how to work on these guns at home, the modular bolt action is still in its infancy, and there will be something of a learning curve for both consumers and manufacturers. THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN Bolt-action enthusiasts arrived at a problematic point in the recent past:…