Innholdsfortegnelse for December/January 2023-24 i Handguns

A Super 1911 Great article and superb sidebar on the .38 Super (“A Super 1911,” August/September). My personal favorite? My 1975 Colt Mk IV Series 70 Government model .38 Super Combat Commander Model. Original blue finish polished flats on slide. Two owners—a retired DEA agent and myself—for the past 20 years or so. S.V. SMITH A Keeper Great story on the Judge Executive Grade by Stan Trzoniec (October/November). My son has an older Judge that he loves. Two small mistakes. One, the story says the cylinder is 1.5 inches long and 2.6 inches in diameter. Those figures are reversed. The cylinder is actually 1.5 inches in diameter and 2.6 inches long so that the 2.5-inch .410 ammo can fit the cylinder. Two, in the picture of the Judge with the…

RULE 3 KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON TARGET TO MANY SHOOTERS, THE RUGER P85 IS an orphan handgun. The young don’t recognize the big 9mm, and older shooters chase after other more desirable handguns. However, the P85 is an important handgun for anyone interested in Ruger history. While awkwardly heavy, out of fashion and perhaps even out of date, the P85 is a reliable piece fit to ride in a bug-out bag. It is affordable enough that most anyone can afford the P85. The later P89 and the polymer frame P95 are similarly affordable. The Ruger P85 was designed when the “wonder nine” was in early stages of development. The SIG P226 and Beretta 92 were front runners, and the CZ 75 was difficult…

THE FILIPINO MARTIAL ARTS OF ARNIS and escrima are epitomized by the slashing and thrusting of sticks and knives, and this emphasis on bludgeon and blade are what set the Filipino arts apart. That said, one might assume the practitioner’s most important hand would be the one holding the weapon, but that’s not true. The off hand is as important as the one bearing the weapon—perhaps even more so, which is why these arts refer to the off hand as the “live” hand. Think of your off hand as playing a supporting role, enabling your dominant, weapon-bearing hand to do its job. When I was a new cop in the ’90s, most firearms instructors referred to the off hand as the “weak” hand. Because labeling one of your body’s primary…

Polymer-frame guns rule the day. They are usually reasonably priced, and they offer durability, light weight, high capacity and dependability. The Tisas PX-9 is no exception and checks every box including an attractive retail of $339 in the trim I tested. A Turkish firm, Tisas Trabzon Silah Sanayi began producing firearms in 1993 for domestic and export markets. In 2004, a variety of importers began bringing Tisas arms into the U.S., and in 2022 Tisas USA opened its own importing and service operation in Knoxville, Tennessee. Best known for an affordable mil-spec 1911 .45, Tisas also began making a copy of the Browning P35 Hi Power. In between those two iconic all-steel pistols, Tisas introduced the polymer-frame PX-9 pistol. The current iteration is the third generation PX-9 and comes in…

FOR MANY YEARS, SEMIAUTOMATIC handguns chambered in high-velocity, small-caliber cartridges were desired by shooters but difficult to make. The challenge of making a reliable .22 Magnum, for example, is easier said than done and kept engineers working late. Over the years, many have tried and failed. One of the first handgun manufacturers to effectively crack that code was Smith & Wesson. The company recently released its M&P 5.7, chambered in 5.7x28. On the heels of that release, the company has expanded its lineup to include the .22 Magnum. The M&P 22 Magnum is a polymer-frame, semiautomatic handgun with lots of capacity. This pistol feeds from a dual-column polymer magazine with an amazing 30+1 capacity. Two magazines are included. While this might look like a striker-fired handgun, it is not. This…

THE FOUR BASIC GUN SAFETY RULES RULE 1: ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED FOR SOMEONE WITH LITTLE OR NO experience with handguns, entering the world of shooting and gun ownership is intimidating, and that can be especially true for women. Newbies researching self-defense guns and basic shooting skills must sift through a dizzying array of online information, much of it questionable, and are often bombarded with “advice” from well-meaning acquaintances who may or may not know what they’re talking about. Enter Rose by SIG Sauer—a program created to help, encourage and inspire women to take responsibility for their personal safety through education, training and community. Developed with pro shooter Lena Miculek—an eight-time world champion who is on a mission to share her extensive experience and encourage other women to become…

RULE 4 BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET AND WHAT’S BEYOND IT RULE 5 SECURE GUNS TO PREVENT UNAUTHORIZED USE ROSSI BRAWLER You have of course heard of the Judge .45/.410 revolver, right? Well, now that versatility is available in a break-open single-shot: Rossi’s Brawler. It’s a hammer-fired gun featuring a Picatinny rail with a built-in rear sight and an ergonomic soft-rubber grip that soaks up recoil. The steel receiver and barrel are treated to a black oxide finish. We’ve got one on the way, so watch for our review. {$240, ROSSIUSA.COM} FEDERAL HST .357, .327 MAGNUM HST loads are loaded with specially designed hollowpoints that won’t plug up when passing through a variety of barriers, and the bullets promise nearly 100 percent weight retention. Cases are nickel plated for easy…

It’s tough to launch a new 9mm striker-fired pistol that turns heads in this crowded marketplace, but Springfield has done just that with its new Echelon. My first impression was that the Echelon looks and feels very much like a full-size Hellcat pistol, and I think the former has just as much potential to change full-size 9mms the way that the latter has revolutionized the micro-compact pistol. What makes the Echelon special? It doesn’t completely change the overall design for full-size 9mms, but it improves the recipe. I can cook a steak with salt, pepper and a little oil, and it will taste good. Give a Michelin chef that same cut of prime meat, and your entrée will be much better. That’s largely what has happened with the Echelon. Like…

Smith & Wesson’s M&P line of handguns has been a gold mine for the company, and that mother lode is not yet tapped out. Following close on the heels of the introduction of the metal-frame M&P in late 2022, Smith & Wesson has created a version that should be of interest to anyone who competes or is thinking about competing in today’s action-pistol sports: the Performance Center M&P9 2.0 Competitor. As part of the M&P Metal family, it features an aluminum frame, and in this case the stainless steel barrel is five inches long—three-quarters inch longer than the regular Metal full-size pistol. You’d think this would mean the Competitor is heavier than the regular full-size Metal, but it’s actually an ounce lighter at 29 ounces. How can that be? The…

ED BROWN, A TOOL AND DIE MAKER, came up through the ranks as a shooter. Frustrated by the lack of quality 1911 parts, he started a line of aftermarket parts that grew in time to the manufacturing of a complete line of 1911 handguns. In 2018, a milestone was reached when Ed Brown and his sons marked 50 years in business with the introduction of the second generation of their handgun line. It’s called the EVO, for their idea of “evolving the 1911.” The first EVO was the KC9, a svelte 9mm offering on a smaller, lighter and thinner frame. Now we have the EVO E9-LW, the LW for lightweight. It’s an aluminum-frame gun that takes advantage of modern technology to not only reduce weight but ensure durability and reliability.…

RULE 2 NEVER LET THE MUZZLE POINT AT ANYTHING YOU’RE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY THE DEFENDER-CCW IS THE LATEST offering from Vortex Optics, and it has tons to offer shooters whose carry guns have the Shield RMS/ RMSc footprint or an adapter plate for same. It’s offered in three m.o.a. or six m.o.a. Since I’m in the “big dot” camp for defensive uses, I borrowed a six m.o.a. sight for review. This sight is ready to roll right out of the gate. It comes with six sets of screws, which greatly simplifies the mounting process. The screws come in individual resealable plastic bags marked with screw size and what pistols they fit. Vortex supplies a shim for zeroing at less than 15 yards; an adapter to mount the sight on…

TODAY MORE SHOOTERS MOUNT WEAPON lights on their concealed carry and duty pistols than ever before, and that’s a good thing, as criminals often use low light conditions to stack the odds in their favor during an attack. Weapon lights allow you to get a clear view of your target while potentionally blinding an assailant. The only problem is there are few light-bearing holsters, and almost none of them are designed for concealed carry. Safariland (SAFARILAND.COM) offers the most robust lineup of light bearing holsters available today—including duty rigs and also more compact designs suitable for concealed carry. For this column I tested three different Safariland outside-the-waistband, light-bearing holsters: the Solis (level I retention), the 6287 (level II retention) and the 6360RDS (level III retention). The goal of the exercise…

Wilson Combat is a company that has continued to grow and evolve over its 45-year history. This willingness to adapt to ever-changing customer demands is no doubt one of the secrets to the firm’s success. Best known for building and accessorizing custom 1911s, Wilson Combat has increasingly focused its attention on other platforms. The latest addition to this collaborative lineup is the WCP365, Wilson Combat’s take on the popular SIG Sauer P365 micro-compact handgun. It is an impressive and capable little pistol. The P365 has been immensely popular since its release in 2018. The handgun has been a game-changer, combining a compact size with amazing capacity and surprisingly good shootability. In my opinion, the P365 has been the most market-disrupting handgun since the Glock hit the scene in the 1980s.…

SIG’S ROSE IS MORE THAN JUST A GUN; it’s an entire program. If you want to learn about that, check out this month’s “Speedloads” beginning on page eight. I’m going to focus on the relatively new .380 chambering in the SIG P365 platform, the Rose being one of several models offered in this caliber. When the P365 made its debut, it changed the landscape of semiauto carry guns—offering, at the time, unmatched capacity in a micro-compact pistol. In the years since it arrived on the scene, SIG has tweaked it every which way—longer grips, optics-ready slides and more. And now we have P365-380. The dimensions are basically unchanged from the 9mm. The barrel is 3.1 inches, and overall length is 5.8 inches. Width on versions without a manual safety is…