Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2020 i Guns & Ammo

Deer Gun A rare and desirable Vietnam War-era Deer gun realized a respectable $8,820, including premiums, at the August 13, 2020, Morphy Auctions sale. Manufactured by American Machine and Foundry Company in 1964, this single-shot 9mm pistol was designed to be dropped to South Vietnamese guerillas. Some 1,000 were manufactured, though their existence has been denied by the CIA. Apparently, they were never delivered as intended. Most were reported destroyed and only a few remain. For more information about this and future sales, contact Morphy Auctions at 877-968-8880 or visit morphyauctions.com.…

GUNS & AMMO EDITORS, contributors and staff are set to declare the firearms industry’s award recipients for 2020. New for this year’s event are categories for technology and holsters. Only products made commercially available since the fourth quarter of 2019 (and were not considered for last year’s awards) qualified for nomination. Products were evaluated and discussed by G&A’s staff through the COVID-19 pandemic, while several editors and contributors managed to attend events held around the world during the last 12 months. Nominees’ products that were deemed to be all-new designs, as well as those possessing the greatest potential impact to the greatest number of readers were given additional merit when scored. When having to decide between two otherwise equally important new products, the more affordable choice broke the ties in…

Looking back at missed opportunities. TO SAY THAT 2020 has been “interesting” is an understatement. The firearms industry was not immune to forces of the global COVID-19 pandemic and, within weeks of the new product announcements at January’s SHOT Show, some areas in manufacturing came to a halt. An unprecedented demand for anything related to personal defense was brought on by civil unrest, and now the stress surrounding the presidential election has resulted in a perfect storm of product scarcity. Because of these events, and the space constraints of a print magazine, Guns & Ammo didn’t get to test every new firearm worthy of being reviewed. Therefore, these are the dreamguns I would have liked to evaluate in 2020, but never got the chance to. None of these are inexpensive…

PolyOne becomes Avient, and it likely affects you. ON JULY 1, 2020, it was announced that PolyOne would change its name to Avient, a new word for a new kind of specialty materials company. Who are they? Besides developing and manufacturing thermoplastics that are widely used by the automotive, aircraft and marine industries, Avient’s polymers are also found in such benign products as flexible toothbrushes, waterproof boots, solar panels, and even casings on X-ray machines! You may not have realized that one company was behind so many everyday items, and it’s likely that you were not aware that Avient also supports the firearm and outdoor industries. Located in Avon Lake, Ohio, Avient has a “challenge accepted” approach to developing next-generation materials. Avient creates sustainable material solutions for their customers, which…

Paramount “Potato Digger” When the United States entered World War I, film director and patriot Cecil B. DeMille organized the Paramount Home Guard to train and equip actors, stage hands and crews to help deal with the national emergency. Uniforms were supplied by Paramount’s costume department and arms were supplied by James S. Stembridge, founder of Stembridge Gun Rentals. One of the pieces fielded by the Guard was this Colt Model 1895 “Potato Digger” machine gun in .30-40 Krag. Though outmoded by 1917, the belt-fed “Potato Digger” provided practice and familiarity with autos to the tyro Hollywood warriors. Courtesy of Cinema Weaponry and the National Firearms Museum.…

“It’s a tough call , but as the Colt has always felt better in my hand, I believe that’s the one I’d opt for.” RELIC REVOLVER Q: I was reading the latest issue that described a Colt Frontier Single Action Army; interesting history. I decided to see if you can help solve a mystery. My dad has this pistol and never told us about it or where it came from. The only discernible marking was the “497” on the cylinder. I’m sure there’s no market value, but I would be very interested in any factual information. L.L. Email A: Well, that old fellow has seen better times, but it certainly exudes a lot of character. From what I can make out beneath the pitting and rust, it is a European…

And why every rifleman benefits. NOBODY WANTS TO SUCK. Get a bunch of guys together for a friendly shooting match and, sooner or later, it’ll get serious. I’ve never known a guy to give even a friendly competition his half-effort. The best way for all of us to get better as riflemen is to compete with others. I learned this lesson while I was in the military. When I was on the combat pistol team at West Point, the matches we attended were against other service academies, and the sport was still new. While the competition was serious for us, it was a far cry from what occurred at the national level. Still, competition helped me identify areas where my shooting needed improvement. My next foray into competitive shooting occurred…