Innholdsfortegnelse for June/July 2023 i Handguns

S&W 645 With reference to “Back Page Beauties” in the April/ May issue, the S&W 645 was a 2nd Gen pistol from 1986 and had slab grips. The 4506 was 3rd Gen from about 1989 and had the thin Xenoy wraparound grip. The gun in the photo is definitely a 3rd Gen, and if marked 645 it is a rare very early 3rd Gen pistol, per Standard Catalog of S&W. My first 4506 was identical to the photo pistol. It and the 4566TSW that replaced it were carried working armored transport in the 1990s and early 2000s. DONALD WILSON Light Matters I just finished Richard Nance’s “Light Makes Right” article in the December/January issue. He did a great job explaining multiple options along with pros and cons of using a…

FIOCCHI 5.7X28 SUBSONIC Part of the company’s Range Dynamics line, the new subsonic load pushes a 62-grain full-metal-jacket bullet at 1,050 fps, making it a good option for suppressed guns. Thanks to its lower recoil and noise, it’s a fun load for the range as well. Packaged in 50-round boxes. {FIOCCHIUSA.COM} RUGER WRANGLER 6.5, 7.5 The popular single-action .22 gets two new barrel lengths: 6.5 and 7.5 inches. With a 6.5-inch barrel the gun weighs 32.1 ounces, and with the 7.5 it’s two ounces heavier. Like all the other Wranglers, the new models feature cold hammer-forged barrels and synthetic grips on the Single-Six pattern and hence can be swapped out if you wish. The guns feature a transfer bar and gate interlock for safety, and sights are a blade front…

When I got the assignment to review a new 9mm semiauto pistol from Rock Island Armory, I was neither surprised nor particularly inspired. 9mms are the lifeblood of the pistol market, and dozens of new nines appear on the pages of this magazine every year. But with so many 9mms being virtual doppelgangers of pistols already in production from other manufacturers, testing and evaluation becomes fairly routine. Occasionally, though, something turns up that is totally outside traditional lines, and that’s the RIA 5.0 from Rock Island Armory. If you assumed this pistol to be a striker-fired, polymer-frame gun you’d be dead wrong on both accounts. If you imagined it was very much like something you’d seen before, that’s not likely. The RIA 5.0 is a completely new and revolutionary semiauto.…

FN Herstal has been a marquee brand in the military hardware world for many decades. From the FAL battle rifle to the M240 and M2 machine guns and even the M4A1—a full-auto version of our M4—FN has been a leader in putting quality firearms into the hands of our troops and their allies. Meanwhile, FN America, the Belgian firm’s U.S. subsidiary, has been building its own brand on the civilian side. Its flagship 509 series of polymer-frame, striker-fired handguns has become an increasingly popular choice for defensive, competitive and recreational use. The company has consistently added new models with desirable features to its catalog. The latest is the 509 CC Edge, a subcompact handgun suitable for concealed carry but packed with design elements you’d expect to see on full-size pistols.…

MY VERY FIRST METALLIC HANDLOADING experience was with a hand press. I was working at NRA, and my office neighbor Doug Wicklund loaned me that press, gave me a powder scoop, some powder and other components necessary to reload for a newly acquired vintage 1911. During breaks at work (and to be honest, a lot of times when I was supposed to be working) I’d load a few rounds. By the end of the week I’d have enough to shoot for a bit on the indoor range we had there, and I was hooked on reloading. That’s how simple reloading can be, and many people would be surprised by how few tools and accessories it really takes to load your own ammo. While it can save you money, to me…

GASTON GLOCK’S POLYMER-FRAME striker-fired semiauto pistol forever changed firearms design, but while Glock’s “plastic” guns proved the critics wrong regarding reliability and performance, there was one area where these pistols could use a serious upgrade: their sights. You don’t have to be a gunsmith to swap out Glock pistol sights, although the right tool makes sight installation a lot simpler. Like most shooters, I started out punching Glock sights out by hand, and the results were less than spectacular. Then, like so many others, I switched to a sight pusher tool—one of the big, heavy, bulky versions with lots of knobs and pads and other accessories. So when I unboxed the new sight pusher from XS and started running through the accessories and features I nodded in approval. XS has…

With its LCP, LCP II and Max lineup of subcompact handguns, Ruger is a leader in the concealable self-defense handgun market. Millions of the company’s concealable semiauto handguns have been produced and are relied upon daily by a host of customers. There was a gap in this lineup, though, and Ruger’s engineers set out to fill it. Ruger acknowledged that not every person can reliably operate many of the firearms on the market, leaving them potentially helpless in the face of a violent crime. They set out to build a handgun with this reality in mind. The result is a compact semiautomatic designed to be safely operated with minimal physical force on the shooter’s part. Ruger has dubbed this handgun—designed for use by individuals with diminished physical ability—the Security-380. If…

BILL RUGER’S FIRST GUN DESIGN WAS A .22 semiautomatic that would put his company on the map and on the road to becoming a dominant player in the firearms industry. His .22 Standard gave way to a series of Mark pistols, culminating—at least to this point—in the Mk IV. The Mk IV itself has two branches, one of which is the 22/45 series. It gets the name for its 1911-like grip and controls. To me, the 22/45 Lite reviewed here is the coolest of the bunch. It is indeed light at 25 ounces, more than nine ounces lighter than the standard Mk IV 22/45 thanks to its aluminum receiver. This receiver/barrel shroud on my sample is clear anodized, silver in appearance, and sports four round lightening holes on each side…

AT 24 OUNCES, 0.967 INCH WIDE, LESS than four inches high and just under six inches long, the five-shot stainless steel AMT Backup .45 is about as small as a conventional semiautomatic pistol can be made in this caliber. As the name suggests, it’s intended as a backup to a full-size service pistol, and the little gun has no safety—relying on its double-action-only trigger for that. The gun has a checkered history in terms of ownership, and it’s kind of tough to sort out. It was originally manufactured by Ordnance Manufacturing Corporation out of California and then Arcadia Machine & Tool (the AMT part), which was later acquired by Irwindale Arms. Galena Industries purchased that company in 1988 and produced AMT models for a number of years. According to the…

OF ALL THE PLACES ON YOUR BELT TO wear a holster, forward of the hip—in what’s often referred to as appendix carry, even if it’s worn on the left side—is one of the most controversial. The prevailing fear is that when carrying this way, the muzzle of your handgun is uncomfortably close to your groin. While it’s true that appendix carry places your gun’s muzzle near your groin, it’s no more dangerous than any other carry position. In fact, when correctly executed, appendix carry can be one of the safest, most efficient and most comfortable ways to carry a concealed handgun. Safest? Yes, here’s why. You won’t shoot yourself in the groin (or anywhere else for that matter) if your trigger finger is properly indexed along the frame of your…

SIG Sauer has been on a hot streak lately. In addition to winning U.S. military contracts for its striker-fired pistol (M17/M18) and rifles (XM5 and XM250), the company’s P365 pistol has also been one of the hottest-selling guns for the last few years. Now SIG is entering another hot market, the 10mm striker-fired semiauto segment, and has plans to dominate that space with the launch of its P320-XTen semiauto pistol. As the name implies, the SIG P320-XTen is derived, at least generally, from the company’s popular P320 9mm. Both are members of SIG’s XSeries line of striker-fired pistols, and the XTen shares the same beefed-up polymer grip module you’ll find on .45 ACP models. The new grip module offers plenty of space and a comfortable modern microtexturing that wraps around…

WITH ALL THE CURRENT HOOPLA AROUND metal-frame guns, it’s easy to forget a little number that Smith & Wesson launched before that became the big new thing. The CSX is a micro-compact 9mm built on an aluminum alloy frame that weighs a wee bit under 20 ounces. It sports a 3.1-inch barrel, and overall length is 6.1 inches. It’s a hammer-fired gun and a single action to boot. The gun features an ambidextrous thumb safety that operates regardless of hammer position, and it comes with an additional right-side magazine release that’s easy to install if you’re a lefty. The gun ships with a large backstrap installed and a small one in the box. Push in a plunger at the heel of the grip with the supplied tool to remove, although…

IN 2006, BOB MORRISON, THEN IN charge of Taurus, noted that in the high crime area of Miami, Florida, judges were purchasing the company’s novel revolver—one model in .410 and the other .45 Colt/.410—for self-defense in and out of the courtroom. Having observed that, Morrison came up with the “Judge” name, a moniker still used today. The Judge line has grown to more than a dozen models, and with its enduring popularity it was only logical the company decided to include it in its new Executive Grade line of handguns. It retails for $950. These guns are so fine-tuned and finished that they could almost be part of a custom shop from any manufacturer. The hand-polished satin finish is smooth as silk with a patina not seen on many production…