Innholdsfortegnelse for February/March 2020 i Handguns

Just Plain Cool Like all Kel-Tec designs, the CP33 pistol is unconventional in a good way. I can see Hollywood movie property houses buying them by the dozens. I expect to see them used in sci-fi space movies as laser blasters and dressed up with a 9mm suppressor (to add bulk) and a red dot sight as the weapon of choice for movie assassins. I can also see the CP33 as a fun plinker and on every new teenage shooter’s wish list. What I cannot see it doing is working in the role of target gun. With accuracy results of two- to three-inch groups at 25 yards, it will win no prizes. Even the subcompact Springfield Hellcat, reviewed in the same issue, beats it when the Hellcat’s 15-yard accuracy results…

WHEN AMERICA ENTERED WORLD WAR I, we had perhaps 30,000 1911 semiautos. We needed to arm every soldier for what was shaping up as a pistol war. Colt simply could not fill the need for 1911 handguns and neither could Remington UMC or other contractors. Smith & Wesson had production capacity geared up and simply rechambered its big-frame 1917 revolver for the .45 ACP cartridge—as did Colt with its New Service. While the Smith & Wesson and Colt are each big burly revolvers, the Smith is slightly smaller and, in my opinion, better balanced. Since the .45 automatic cartridge does not have a case rim, the rounds simply fell into the cylinder. After early testing, a properly chambering cylinder design was implemented, although the ejector star would not eject a…

NO MATTER WHAT YOU THINK OF RED dots on pistols outside of the competition arena, it is clear they are here to stay. Every manufacturer of pistols seems to be making an optics-ready model, and every maker of red dots seems to be offering one small enough to fit on those same pistols. One of the newest models on the market is the Acro P-1 from Aimpoint. As red dots intended for pistols go, the Acro is pretty darn large, with an unusual shape. It is 1.9 inches long by 1.2 inches high and wide, and weighs 2.1 ounces with the integral mount. As a result of its size you get a big window. How big? The square window of the Aimpoint Acro P-1 measures 0.63 inch by 0.63 inch.…

“ What you need in a defensive pistol are sights you can see, a trigger you can manage, and 100 percent reliability.” Jeff Cooper wrote that because for a long time those three things were not givens on handguns. It did not take long for guys like Ed Brown to make them givens, and once we could be certain of getting those three aspects in a handgun, the market moved on. But there’s a lot to be said for the simple things in life. Brownells has teamed up with Ed Brown to build a 1911 that looks like the IPSC guns of old but which performs much better than many did back then. Brownells calls it ’80s retro, but really the look was en vogue back in the 1970s. I…

Ever wonder what it is like to be a gun writer? Once you get past the glamour the sexy cars, supermodels, the private jets and the free guns—there is real work. Actually, none of the things I just mentioned has anything to do with being a gun writer except for the real work. Accuracy testing means shooting groups. And shooting groups is the distinctly unglamorous part of writing. I can’t tell you the definitive way to do it, because every gun writer has his or her own method, but I can give you the essentials and the way I do it. The first thing you need to know is that no one is accurate and consistent enough to test accuracy without support. If anyone tells you otherwise, they are kidding…

Ever use those cotton swabs you buy at the local drugstore to clean your guns? Not great, are they? The cotton unravels pretty quick, getting fuzz all over the parts you’re trying to clean. Tipton’s Power Swabs are tightly wound, and they don’t come apart. The ones I use all the time—the pointed tip version—come in a 300-count bag ($11) and are great for cleaning tiny, hard-to-get-at spots. The flexible bamboo handle is 3.5 inches long. They do break if you try to bend them too far, but for the most part they hold up really well. Recently, I tried the 9mm/.38 Power Swabs (175 count, $11). With a 7.5-inch bamboo handle, they’re great for a quick bore cleanup. Squirt a little bore cleaner on one, run it down the…

ON A LOT OF MY HIKES I WEAR A PACK with a waist belt. Waist belts are are great because they help distribute pack weight better by taking some of the load off your shoulders. The downside is you can’t conceal a holster underneath the belt—at least not without discomfort. I experimented with a number of methods for carrying my primary CCW pistol, a SIG P365, but none turned out to be ideal. Then I tried a Sneaky Pete. The concept behind the Sneaky Pete is simple: It’s a gun concealment system that doesn’t scream “He’s got a gun!”—looking like a cellphone case or gear case. The Sneaky Petes can be had with either belt loops or belt clips. I ordered the version with belt clips so I could slide…

ED BROWN KC9 Ed Brown Products is releasing a tribute pistol to honor the legendary Col. Jeff Cooper. It’s an all-blue gun with Cooper’s signature inlaid in gold on the right side and “DVC” (initials for a Latin phrase that translates as “accuracy, power, speed,” which is IPSC’s motto) on the left. It has a fixed rear sight and gold-bead front, a shortened “carry” grip safety and cocobolo grips. The limited edition will be offered with an optional package of extras. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Jeff Cooper Legacy Foundation. {$3,170 ($3,420 with optional package), EDBROWN.COM } SIG SAUER P238 LEGION SIG is having great success with its Legion series of pistols, a “members-only” line featuring upgraded sights, finishes, grips and more. Now the family has…

Recognizing the increasing popularity of competition shooting, more than a few gun manufacturers have been making handguns for these endeavors. Two companies not known for focusing on this segment are taking it one step further, producing “factory custom” 1911s purpose-built for competition. Ruger’s is called the SR1911 Competition, and Remington has come out with the 1911 R1 Tomasie Custom. Let’s take a look at both, starting with Ruger. While Doug Koenig’s name isn’t in the title of the SR1911 Competition, it’s all over the pistol—literally, since it’s written on both sides of the slide. Koenig is one of the winningest handgun competitors in history, with more than 70 national and world titles across many different disciplines, including the Bianchi Cup and USPSA/IDPA. Koenig joined Ruger a few years ago, and…

BERETTA’S NEW APX CARRY IS THE trimmed-down, single-stack version of the brand’s full-size APX striker-fired pistol line that’s built in the company’s Gallatin, Tennessee, factory. Like the full-size APX, the Carry version comes with a nitrocarburized slide with aggressive texturing along its entire length and a polymer frame. But unlike the larger APX, the Carry model is small enough for inconspicuous carry, even under light clothing. The APX Carry is equipped with a 3.07-inch barrel with a six-groove 1:10 RH twist. Like the slide, the barrel is nitrocarburized for maximum durability and minimal maintenance. The reinforced polymer frame—available in black, OD green, wolf gray and flat dark earth—is serialized and measures just 0.9 inch wide. Length is 5.63 inches overall, and height is 4.17 inches, dimensions that compare favorably with…

COVER CAN BE LOOSELY DEFINED AS an object that has the capability of stopping bullets. However, there’s often debate over what is and what isn’t cover. For instance, it’s widely accepted that a large tree or a concrete wall stands a good chance of stopping incoming rounds, but what about a car door, engine block or wheel? What about a fire hydrant? Proper cover depends on several factors, including the type of bullet fired, the distance and angle involved, as well as the shape of the object being used as cover. While some objects may not completely stop a bullet, they may deflect it or at least slow it down and cause less injury. Therefore, anything you can put between you and someone shooting at you is a good thing.…

If you’re a prominent maker of high-end 1911s that wants to add a model to the ever-growing list of those pistols chambered in 10mm, how do you go about making a splash in the market? In Dan Wesson’s case, you do it by giving it a cool name and a sexy look. Like its stablemate Bruin, the Dan Wesson Kodiak is a long-slide 1911, and in this case the sexy look is the tri tone model I received for testing. The tri-tone boasts a matte gray slide, black frame, bronze controls and a set of tan/black G10 grips. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but to me this is one great-looking pistol. Like I said, it’s a long-slide, and the barrel is 6.03 inches long. This…

NORTH AMERICAN ARMS IN PROVO, UTAH, has taken the concept of ultralight, ultra-concealable defense pistols to a new level. The company’s .22 Magnum Pug, for example, weighs just over six ounces and measures less than five inches long. But minimalist design comes with its own challenges. Many NAA revolvers require removing the cylinder to reload the gun, and that slows the reloading and shooting process considerably. However, NAA has made reloading and case removal much easier and much quicker with the introduction of the new Ranger Break Top II revolver. As the name indicates, the Ranger II Break Top opens upward. Retract the spring-loaded lock on the topstrap and the hinged barrel tilts up. Tilt the barrel farther down and the star-shaped extractor is activated, elevating the spent cartridges for…

YOU WOULD THINK THAT AFTER MANY years as an outdoor writer I would have crossed paths with most of the single-action revolvers on the market, but I wasn’t familiar with the Heritage Rough Rider that showed up at my office. It brought back memories of my teenage years on the farm, a gun holstered to my side. I learned the company offers almost two dozen models with an assortment of barrel lengths—from 3.5 to nine inches—grips, finishes and variations to include an extra cylinder for the .22 Magnum. With an all-steel construction, at 34 ounces the gun has the heft that most like in a handgun. Decorated with the American flag, the grips seem to be a bit oversize, which is great for adult hands, and with the longer and…