Innholdsfortegnelse for February/March 2025 i Handguns

More .44? You ran an article on the .44 Special in your August/ September 2024 issue. Did you ever consider doing an article on the .44 caliber itself? In my opinion it may be the most versatile handgun cartridge ever made. The available bullet weights in .44 go from 125 grains all the way up to 355. The usable velocities go from 400 fps gallery loads to 1,950-plus fps hunting loads. I am not aware of any other pistol or rifle cartridge that has so many bullet weights or applications available in factory guns with factory ammo. I think a well-researched article on the .44 cartridge might be interesting and different for your readers. MARC RICHMAN, TEXAS Pistol Legend Ed Brown Passes If you’ve been reading this magazine for any…

A FAVORITE REVOLVER FROM SMITH & Wesson’s glory days is the Model 18 .22. This is a four-inch rimfire revolver intended as an understudy to the Model 15 .38 Special Combat Masterpiece. It must be noted that while every cop of my generation called the Model 18 “the .22 caliber Combat Masterpiece,” this was slang and not an official designation. Introduced in 1949, the Model 18 is based on the K-frame size. The K or medium frame is among the most popular handguns of all time, with millions manufactured. Originally produced in .38 Smith & Wesson Special, the K frame was later offered in rimfire calibers including the .22 Long Rifle and .22 Magnum. It took several decades before the K frame was offered in .22 rimfire, and the first…

HUMANS RELY HEAVILY ON OUR SENSE of sight to navigate the world, and it is our reliance on vision that makes adding a light to your firearm such a smart decision. Texas-based Nightstick (NIGHTSTICK.COM) offers a full range of lights that blend threat-stopping illumination with long battery life and simple operation. The company’s pistol-mounted lights are available with outputs ranging from 150 to 1,200 lumens, and some models have green lasers. Nightstick’s trim, affordable TSM-11W 150-lumen light is one of my favorite lights for my Glock G43X, but I had not previously had an opportunity to test Nightstick’s larger duty/home-defense lights until the company sent its TWM-30-T and TCM-10 for review. The TWM-30-T ($218) features a “turbo” beam with 900 lumens, 66,000 candela, and a listed beam distance of 514…

The folks at Springfield Armory are good at a lot of things. Resting on their laurels is not one of them. In the space of about two years, the company has introduced the double-stack Prodigy, refreshed the well-respected TRP, developed the AOS sight system for 1911s and, oh yeah, reimagined its polymer-frame striker-fired pistol with the Echelon. And that’s just on the handgun side of the business. Trying to keep up with them is enough to give a magazine editor fits. One of the things Springfield is good at—aside from designing solid, dependable firearms—is building out a product line, and that’s what it has done with the new Echelon 4.0C. If you’re keeping score at home, the original Echelon was just called the Echelon. With the introduction of the Echelon…

There’s no shortage of striker-fired 9mm pistols on the market, and Kimber knows that. But while most pistol companies have manufactured pistols that closely mimic other guns in this segment, Kimber has pushed the design limits with its Mako pistol, and this year the company is adding a whole new element to its striker-fired pistol design: carbon. Kimber senior product manager Carlos Martinez told me the new Carbon Compact pistols feature a grip made from 22 percent carbon fiber. By infusing carbon fiber into the frame of the new Carbon Compact Mako, Kimber says it can increase the tensile strength of the frame to 60,000 psi, which is roughly twice the tensile strength of most polymer frames. This increase is due to the incredibly high strength-to-weight ratio of carbon fiber…

TAURUS HAS AN EXTENSIVE LINE OF small-frame revolvers, and one of its latest additions is the 327 Defender T.O.R.O. The 327 Defender itself has been in the line for a couple years; what’s new is the Taurus Optics Ready Option, or T.O.R.O. aspect. The 327 Defender T.O.R.O. has a three-inch barrel—which is what puts it in the company’s Defender family—an overall length of 7.5 inches and a weight of 23.5 ounces. Width across the cylinder is 1.4 inches. You may or may not be familiar with the .327 Federal Magnum. Federal introduced it 16 years ago to provide nearly .357 Magnum-level performance without all that recoil. It’s based on the .32 H&R Magnum case, and revolvers chambered to .327 Federal can safely fire the H&R round as well as .32…

MENTION THE NAME KORTH TO ANY DEDIcated handgunner and watch his or eyes light up because they are likely thinking of someday owning this finely tuned, well-made precision revolver. While I may never own one, it was a pleasure to just hold and review a Korth Super Sport GTA—a gun I have seen under glass at gun shops and at shows. Korth was established in Lollar, Germany, in 1954 by Willi Korth, who had a strong desire to manufacture the finest revolver in the world. Today the guns are made available to the U.S. market courtesy of Nighthawk Custom. The Super Sport GTA .357 is built from parts machined from billet steel that are then mated to a six-inch hammer-forged barrel. The finished product is flawless in execution, no machining…

BILL RUGER WAS INDEED A BRILLIANT gun designer, but Bill Wilson is equally adept at helping fine-tune and improve upon existing firearms. Wilson is known for producing superb custom 1911 pistols, and he was also an outstanding competition shooter. What fewer people may know about Wilson, though, is he is an ardent handgun hunter, having hunted big game around the world with a wheelgun. Wilson wasn’t satisfied with factory guns and components, so he began offering his own spring upgrades for revolvers like the Super Redhawk. The term “reduced power” may not appeal to every .44 Magnum owner, but Wilson Combat’s custom spring kit with reduced-power springs might be just the thing you need to smooth out the rough edges on your Ruger Super Redhawk. This is an affordable and…

WHETHER YOU USE IT FOR COMPETItion or not, this range bag delivers the goods. Made of a tough PVC-coated material, the Competition Range Bag ($40, MIDWAYUSA.COM) is constructed with heavy-duty zippers and reinforced stitching. All the pockets are lined with closed-cell foam to protect your gear. The main compartment is 17x10x9 inches with internal dividers. These dividers run laterally inside the bag. I haven’t been shooting competition lately, so I’ve used this as a range bag, and the lateral dividers make it handier for storing my notebook, smaller targets and supplies like target pasters, staples and staple gun—with plenty of room left over for eyes and ears. The exterior front outer pocket runs the length of the bag and has eight loops for magazine storage. One area where this bag…

THROUGH THE FOGGED PLASTIC MASK, I saw the assailant charging with a knife held overhead. As I backpedaled to create distance, I raised my pistol and pressed the trigger. This action produced only a click. Without missing a beat, I tapped the bottom of the magazine, racked the slide, and pressed the trigger again…and again. This time, my rounds found their mark, painting the assailant’s upper chest blue. Although this was only a scenario at the Simunition instructor course I was attending, it proved that my prior training was on point. I didn’t stare at my pistol to determine if the problem was due to a failure to feed, a failure to fire, a failure to extract or a failure to eject. I didn’t care because contrary to what’s commonly…

Ever since Gaston Glock introduced his polymer-frame striker-fired pistol to the United States in the mid-1980s, handgun designs have progressively moved away from double-action/single-action semiauto pistols. Today, the vast majority of semiauto 9mm guns on dealers’ shelves are striker-fired, but this doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t a place for DA/ SA 9mm pistols. At least that’s what CZ is betting. The company recently unveiled the Nocturne series of semiauto DA/SA pistols, which are updated versions of its P-09/P-07 pistols. The new Nocturne guns are available in two versions. There’s the C (compact) model with a 3.74-inch barrel and 15-round capacity as well as an F (full size) pistol with a 4.53-inch barrel and a whopping 19-round capacity. Both are priced at $549. I tested the F model. My scale put…

Not long after I received a sample of the Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 2.0 last year, I was reading an article in a gun-industry trade publication discussing prevailing handgun sales trends. The piece was commenting on the flat sales many gun shops were experiencing, but it singled out a few pistols that were bucking the trend. One shop cited Smith & Wesson’s .380-chambered Bodyguard 2.0, and now that I’ve had a chance to shoot and carry this gun, I can see why. The original Bodyguard has been with us for about a decade now, so a refresh was inevitable. But even Smith & Wesson didn’t expect the path it would take. As Smith & Wesson’s Vince Perreault explained, in 2021 the company was doing an insight survey on its hardcore…

ON THE HEELS OF THEIR SUCCESSFUL STR-9 pistol series comes Stoeger’s STR-9 Combat X. The Combat X is designed to pass the most stringent military and law enforcement testing protocols. Although clearly belonging to the STR-9 family, the Combat X has several upgrades that make it the most robust, feature rich STR-9 to date. Like all STR-9 models, the Combat X is a polymer-frame, striker-fired 9mm pistol. But having been developed for NATO tenders, the Combat X is beefed up internally. In addition, it boasts improved ergonomics for optimal comfort and control when firing. The STR-9 Combat X is a full-size pistol, with an overall length of 7.46 inches. It measures 5.5 inches from the bottom of the magazine well to the top of the rear sight. The beveled magazine…

VENERABLE. ICONIC. TIMELESS. THOSE words are apt descriptions of the Walther Polizei Pistole Kriminal or PPK. Developed more than 75 years ago, it’s often credited as being the first true concealed-carry pistol. And it’s famous as the choice of legendary fictitious spy James Bond. The PPK has been been available in .380 along with a .22 version, but with the reintroduction of the .32 chambering, it’s now even more Bondian. (He transitioned from a Beretta .25 to the PPK in .32 ACP beginning with 1958’s “Dr. No.”) The PPK/s—the “S” for Sport—has a slightly longer grip for better control. It’s a double-action/single-action semiauto, and this particular model is all stainless steel with black grips. I’d fired the .380 PPK/s before, and while I enjoyed it, the .32 is way more…

FN MANUAL SAFETY REFLEX FN America has added new versions of the Reflex—its 2023 entry into the micro-compact 9mm pistol market—equipped with an ambidextrous manual safety. The new guns will be available in both the MRD red-dot-ready model as well as the standard Reflex in both black and flat dark earth finishes. The Reflex has a 3.3-inch barrel, an overall length of 6.2 inches and a weight of just 18.5 ounces. Sights are three-dot, with a day/night front with an orange ring surrounding a tritium insert. Magazine capacities are 10, 11 or 15 rounds. {$599 (Reflex), $659 (Reflex MRD); FNAMERICA.COM} SUREFIRE STILETTO PRO II Dual outputs delivering 1,500 lumens and a 35,000-candela hybrid beam on the high setting allow the Stiletto Pro II to punch deep into the darkness for…

IF YOU SIMPLY CAN’T GET ENOUGH GUNS and shooting, the My Outdoor TV (MOTV) app is a resource like no other, a curated treasure trove of firearms- and outdoor-oriented television shows and videos. For example, MOTV offers nine seasons—102 episodes—of “Handguns” (formerly “Handguns & Defensive Weapons”) alone. The show focuses primarily on personal protection and includes plenty of recreational shooting activities such as plinking and action-shooting competitions. It features reviews of the latest firearms, ammunition and shooting accessories, as well as advice on marksmanship, gun handling, self-defense techniques and a host of other handgun-related topics. But wait, there’s more! There are 10-plus seasons of the popular “Guns & Ammo” television shows, encompassing more than 200 episodes available on the app. You can also check out past episodes of shows like…

If you were designing the ultimate competition pistol, it would make sense to elicit feedback from one of the best pistol shooters in the world, and that’s just what SIG Sauer did. Designed with input from Team SIG captain Max Michel, the new P320-XFive SXG represents the highest evolution of the P320 platform. It’s also the heaviest. Preceding the P320-XFive SXG was the P320 TXG, which featured a tungsten-infused polymer grip, and the aluminum-frame AXG. Both are heavier than the standard, polymer-frame P320. But compared to the P320-XFive SXG—SXG for stainless steel X grip—those P320 models are lightweights. Tipping the scales at just over three pounds, the steel-frame P320-XFive SXG is certainly a heavyweight 9mm. I knew the gun would be heavy, but when I picked it up the first…

RUGER HAS MADE ITS SR1911 SERIES OF pistols for nearly a quarter-century now, and it has grown into a complete line with Government, Commander, Officer’s, Target and Competition models. One of the newer offerings is the Lightweight, a Government model available in .45 ACP and 9mm Luger. My sample is the 9mm version, a 9+1 pistol weighing just 32.2 ounces courtesy of an aluminum frame. The slide is stainless steel with a low-glare finish. It has chevron-shape slide serrations on the rear only. They’re fairly aggressive and offer a good grip. Sights are Novak—not “Novak-style” but actual Novak combat-style three-dots set in dovetails. The rear is drift adjustable, with a set screw to keep it from moving during recoil or handling. Controls include an extended single-side thumb safety and an…

DEDICATED HANDGUN SHOOTERS MAY NOT immediately recognize the Dickinson name, but the brand has been importing elegant Turkish shotguns for some time. I was understandably a bit surprised when I learned that Dickinson’s most noteworthy new product for 2024 was a handgun. Its new Adam series guns are Turkish-made 1911 pistols chambered in both 9mm and .45 ACP. Adding a 1911 to its lineup is an effective way for Dickinson, which is based in Moorpark, California, to expand its U.S. audience. But there are certain expectations when you build a 1911 handgun. This is, after all, a John Browning original design and a pistol that has served as the sidearm of soldiers in several major American conflicts. If you build a good 1911 you’ll get a tip of the hat…