Innholdsfortegnelse for October/November 2018 i Handguns

Lifesaver Your article on speedloads for revolvers (August/September) was spot on. In 1974 I was involved in a gunfight as a police officer with three armed robbers, when I had to reload my revolver with a speed-loader. They were pretty new then and not something I was issued, but thought it might be a good idea to have with me. I ran out of ammo in the middle of the fight and was able to reload very quickly while other officers were reloading, two at a time, from issued dump pouches. One uniformed officer was shot in the chest while trying to reload. Speaking from experience these are must-haves for anyone carrying a revolver today. KEN HOWARD ALEXANDRIA, VA A Rigid Approach I read the excellent article by Jeff Chudwin…

IN THEIR RUSH TO CONDEMN GUNS and gun owners, the mainstream media has overlooked—intentionally or otherwise—a critical statistic regarding firearms-related deaths. According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control, accidental firearms deaths dropped by 24 percent from 2006 to 2015. Firearms are involved in less than 1 percent of all fatal accidents in the United States, and the current number of firearms accidents, per capita, is the lowest it has been since record keeping began in the early 1900s. Part of that decrease in gun deaths can likely be attributed to improvements in manufacturing technology, but there’s little doubt that the driving force behind the reduction of accidental firearms deaths is that shooters now have the insight and the tools they need to keep their firearms…

ONE OF THE NEWEST SECURITY PRODucts from Hornady is the RAPiD Vehicle Safe. This is far from the first small portable safe Hornady has made, and while the others would work for vehicle use, this one is specifically designed for it—and it retails for just $227. Actually, calling this a safe seems almost an insult to the designers. It is a complex secure vehicle storage system that includes a safe and a mounting system with an inflatable air bladder much like a blood-pressure cuff. The bladder is meant to hold the safe in place using the gap between the seat and the center console or between two seats. A steel cable hooks to the safe and is looped around the chair frame to prevent anyone from ripping out the safe.…

Imagine a gun company taking one of its most successful pistols and chambering it in a smaller, weaker cartridge. That is exactly what Smith & Wesson has done with the new M&P380 Shield EZ. The original M&P Shield was offered in 9mm and .40 S&W, and this new pistol is “only” a .380 ACP. However, after spending a lot of time with the gun, I have to say Smith & Wesson probably has another success on its hands. Chambering a pistol in a less-powerful cartridge seems to be counterintuitive to a lot of people. Or just plain dumb. After all, this is America, where we supersize everything and stuff bigger and bigger cartridges into smaller and smaller pistols—a place where somebody makes a derringer chambered in .44 Magnum. However, not…

IN 1949, BILL RUGER WANTED TO PROduce and market a .22 semiautomatic handgun. He acquired a Japanese Nambu from a returning Marine and duplicated the gun in his garage, calling it the “Ruger Baby Nambu.” He later modified the design—changing the profile but retaining the Nambu’s basic operation—but he lacked the money to pursue his dream. He approached his wealthy friend Alex Sturm, who immediately jumped on the bandwagon with a contribution of $50,000 to produce the gun, which they named the Standard model. Aimed at hunters and target shooters, it was priced at $37.50, which was much less expensive than the competition. It sold well because of its resemblance to the famed German Luger pistol—although Bill Ruger later said the Colt Woodsman was also an influence. Ruger was able…

THE MODEL 1883 REICHSREVOLVER WAS a hefty solid-frame single-action revolver. It was based on the first Reichsrevolver, the Model 1879. That gun weighed 2.5 pounds and measured a foot long. It was the first centerfire handgun adopted by the fledgling German Empire—a simple design in line with similar European revolvers of the period. As mentioned, t had a seven-inch barrel, and the subsequent Model 1883 featured a shorter 4 5/8-inch barrel (some reference say five-inch). It was notable for being one of the few military revolvers with a safety lever, which could be placed in the Safe position when the hammer was at half cock. The gun was in use until 1908, when it was replaced by the 9mm Luger—although it saw service in World War I and to a…

IN THE GUN WORLD, YOU HEAR THE damnedest things. I’ve heard people claim they would never strike an assailant with their gun for fear of damaging it. Are you kidding me? A gun is a tool. If you were holding a shovel and someone attacked you, wouldn’t you use the shovel to fend him off? The advantage of a handgun is it enables you to stop someone armed with a knife, bat or similar weapon without being in range of that weapon. But not all armed encounters go by the script, and if your gun jams or you run out of ammo, at that moment your gun is merely a paperweight—or a bludgeon. And it’s the assailant, not your gun, likely to be damaged when gun and flesh collide. When…

From 1938 until the early 1960s, Daniel B. Wesson—great grandson of the Daniel B. Wesson who lent his name to Smith & Wesson firearms—served as the quality control czar at that company. And under the younger D.B. Wesson’s careful watch, Smith & Wesson became a leader in the production of high-quality handguns for military, police and recreational shooters. But by 1963 America’s industrial landscape, including gun manufacturing, was changing. Smith & Wesson was sold to Brazil’s Bangor Punta in 1963, and Dan Wesson wasn’t impressed with the company’s new leadership and manufacturing protocols. So, in 1963, Wesson walked out the doors of the corporation his grandfather helped build, intent on starting his own firearms manufacturing company. That new company, which would become known as Dan Wesson Firearms, began in 1968.…

I have a confession to make. The guns I have carried have not always been chambered in “manly” cartridges. You know, the rounds whose designation starts with the numeral 4. Sometimes the weather, what I’m wearing or the need for ultimate concealment called for something smaller. When I was a gunsmith, I also counseled some of my customers to go with calibers that were smaller than what some “operators” might consider adequate. Not everyone can handle a magnum. Kel Tec has an option for that: the P-32. For size, it is difficult to get something smaller. At less than seven ounces, just over five inches in its longest dimension and flat as a pancake, the Kel-Tec P-32 is in the same size league as a smart phone, and who complains…

If you’re a movie studio these days, the money is in superhero flicks. If you’re a gun manufacturer, the money is in handguns meant for concealed carry because those are the only ones selling steadily in an otherwise flat market. However, the modern firearms market is flooded with excellent small, concealable, reliable carry pistols, so any company looking to introduce a new concealed carry handgun—and get any traction with it—needs to introduce something that gets attention. That was SIG’s marketing plan with the P365, and it seems to have paid off. As I said, the market is flooded with quality compact and subcompact carry guns, several of which are made by SIG, so SIG knew it had to bring something to market that could capture the spotlight—and the resulting sales.…

SPRINGFIELD ARMORY CONSIDERS the TRP Series its most elite production line of 1911s. The company has expanded the line with two brand-new versions of the TRP Operator: one five-inch Government-size gun and one longslide six-inch pistol. Both are chambered in 10mm, which is ironic. A cartridge thought to be dead just a few years ago is now the hot new chambering in full-size semiautos. These 10mm TRP Operators are identical except for overall length, the rear sight and the barrel bushing. After shooting buckets of ammo through each of these new models at a media rollout, I requested one of the six-inch 10mms to test because I think it is the most intriguing. This 10mm TRP Operator has a forged-steel frame that has been treated with corrosion-resistant Black T coating.…