Innholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2022 i Tactical Life

Welcome to our first 2022 issue of Tactical Life. For those readers who found us on the newsstand, the fantastic Barrett MK22 is likely to have turned your head the minute you caught a first glance. If you’re a subscriber, you’ve no doubt admired the three great concealed carry handgun options on the cover—the Springfield XD-Mod.2 OSP, Kimber Mako and Taurus GX4 T.O.R.O. Fact is, that Barrett is one of the best-shooting rifles money can buy—that’s why SOCOM selected it for their Advanced Sniper Rifle. After some testing, author Robert Jordan discovered the rifle lived up to all the hype, and more. With the U.S. Supreme Court set to rule soon on a case about whether law-abiding Americans have a right to carry a firearm outside the home (of course…

It is claimed that the AR-15 can be chambered to fire more than 90 different cartridges with 7.62x39mm sitting at the top of the list. We love this round because it is almost exclusively made with inexpensive steel cases, and mother Russia just loves flooding our shores with it during times like these. Of course, picking up a $200 upper chambered in this short .30 caliber doesn’t end your ammo woes instantly. You’ll need some glass too. The Texas-based manufacturer Primary Arms hit it out of the park years ago with its 5.56mm-based GLx 2x Prism Scope, and, as if they knew what was coming, created a nearly identical option that tracks 7.62x39mm or 300 Blackout out to 500 yards. At the 2020 Athlon Outdoors Rendezvous, I got to lay…

It all began back in 2016 when SOCOM announced they wanted an Advanced Sniper Rifle. The guys who wrote the specs were clearly long-distance shooters with a lot of experience under their belts. When the competition ended, Barrett was awarded the $50 million contract for a version of their MRAD (Multi-Role Adaptive Design) bolt-action repeater. Per the contract, the MK22 came with three barrels: 7.62x51mm, .300 Norma Magnum and .338 Norma Magnum. The .300 NM is for anti-personnel, the .338 NM is for defeating material/armor plating and the 7.62x51mm is simply for short range urban environments and practice with the gun while shooting rounds that don’t cost $10 each. Speaking of ammunition, this gun wasn’t designed to be fed with a box of cartridges you picked up at Wally World…

When you think of Norway, what comes to mind? The obvious answer would be the fierce, large, bearded men with battle axes, pointy battle helmets, sail ships and shields. Vikings were born warriors, navigators, sailors, inventors and the first to discover North America. History shows that the Vikings may have landed on the shores of North America roughly 500 years before Columbus while sailing to find Greenland. Being the creative craftsman that they are, Norwegians created other well-known inventions used today. These everyday items such as cheese slicers, trolls, the god of thunder Thor and the ever-popular paper clip permeate our lives. From building their seafaring ships to filing papers, Norwegians have touched all corners of the globe. But what about firearms and the firearms industry? MEET OSCAR HAUGEN Let…

Whether you’re looking for a bit of fun at the range, doing some pest control on the land or working on some shooting fundamentals, it’s hard to beat the utility and versatility of a .22 LR pistol. Throw in the wide variety of competitive matches available across the country, and there’s a lot of solid reasons to have a quality .22 LR pistol at the ready. When it comes to current-production, semi-auto .22 pistols—and rifles—there’s no brand more esteemed than Volquartsen. Whether you’re looking for a top-tier rifle in .22 WMR or .17 HMR for varmint take-downs or a competition pistol in .22 LR, they’ve got what you need. One of the company’s most recent introductions is the Mamba-X, and like its namesake, this pistol is sleek, adaptable and fast…

Springfield Armory, Inc. has been around since 1968, designing and producing some of the finest weapons in the industry. When people think of Springfield Armory, most think that it’s the same company that was around since the times of the American Revolution and Shays’ Rebellion. This is not so, as back in 1968, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara announced the closure of the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was then turned over to the National Parks Service and designated as the Springfield Armory National Historic Site. Immediately following the change in status in 1968, the L. H. Gun Co. of Devine, Texas, was renamed Springfield Armory, Inc. In 1974. Springfield Armory was then sold to the Reese family of Geneseo, Illinois, and the rest, as they say, is history.…

With the R7 pointed in a safe direction, remove the magazine and clear the chamber. After ensuring the gun is completely unloaded, grasp the slide and pull it rearward 0.25 inches. Using your other hand, grasp the pull-down tabs with your thumb and forefinger and pull downward. Continue to pull down on the tabs while letting the slide go forward. With the gun pointed in a safe direction, pull the trigger and release the pull-down tabs and push the slide 0.25 inches forward. The slide assembly can now be lifted straight up off the frame rails. Remove the recoil spring assembly, which is captured on the recoil spring guide rod, and the barrel can be rocked out of the slide. Reassemble in reverse order.…

Since I was going to start carrying the Taurus GX4 daily, I needed to upgrade the sights and find some rigs to carry it in. I was told that Glock 43 sights would work well with the Taurus. XS SIGHTS The DXT2 Standard Dot is a perfect fit for this micro-compact 9mm. The front sight has a glow dot that absorbs light in low levels before it is dark enough to see the tritium. The rear v-notch has a white line with tritium in it down the middle of the sight that aids in the dot-the - “i” sight picture. The combination is quick and intuitive, which is a must have for those stressful situations. You can find them at xssights.com CROSSBREED For the holster option I chose Crossbreed’s OWD…

A while back a large federal law enforcement agency decided it was time to upgrade from their venerable Remington 870 shotgun to a semi-auto. They got a number of contenders from different manufacturers at the time with both 18 - and 14-inch barrels. Both tactical guns and competition guns were tested. I was front and center at the testing. Ultimately, we found they all lacked sufficient reliability with reduced recoil shells, which was what the agency issued. The project was shelved. At the same time, I was big into sporting clays. Mind you I never said I was good at it, but I loved going out each weekend to try different courses. They call it “golf with shotguns” for a reason. My wife would often accompany me. I bought her…

Along with new air rifles typically being released by most of the manufacturers each year, many of them also produce new air pistols. While they can run the gamut from expensive 10-meter competition guns to inexpensive spring-powered BB launchers, there is one niche that has grown more than the others: one-to-one replicas. While the U.S. airgun market has seen some fairly close representations of famous firearms over the years, they were limited by materials, costs and copyrights. The use of polymers in firearms opened avenues for replica makers and higher quality replicas followed. Licensing agreements with firearms manufactures protected copyrights and made even more replicas available. A couple of new one-to-one replica handguns deserve mention here. BARRA WESTERN COLLECTION A continuation of their “Western Collection” is a shorter five-inch barreled…

Following Alec Baldwin’s deadly shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie Rust, a film producers association has developed a list of gun safety rules to be followed on movie sets. “I don’t know why nobody ever put in the effort to think of these before,” NRA-hating Baldwin said in a press release detailing his group’s new guidelines. “Lives will certainly be saved in the future because of our diligent efforts following the Rust accident.” The new gun safety rules on set include: 1) Treat every gun as if it is loaded; 2) Always point a gun’s muzzle in a safe direction; 3) Be sure of your target and what is beyond; 4) Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to fire the gun.…

This past October saw Athlon Outdoors host its fifth annual Rendezvous in Victor, Idaho, near the Grand Tetons. For three days, dozens of gun manufacturers unveiled their latest and greatest wares—many still under wraps—to Athlon editors and content creators, giving us plenty of trigger time to create more content for our various print magazines and websites in the coming months. But this amazing event wouldn’t have been possible without several key sponsors donating goods for every participant. Here we’d like to show our support and fill you in on the great gear that made for another awesome Rendezvous. 5.11 TACTICAL 1. LEGEND LONG SLEEVE SHIRT Here’s a classic go-to button-up shirt for the range, office or anywhere in between. It’s made of soft, enzyme-washed cotton with a touch of elastane,…

When I added suppressors to my defense rifles, I did some run-throughs in my house and noticed a large shadowed area to the side from my rifle-borne light. This shadow diminished my ability to identify threats. It took just a second to determine that because the suppressor was mounted well in front of the light, it blocked its projection. Not only was that portion of the room dark, but the suppressor was lit up by the light just a foot from my eyes, which decreased my ability to see. My defense guns are chambered in 300 BLK, and my .30-caliber suppressors are 1.5 inches wide. Most handguards, like the ones that were on my guns, won’t fit over suppressors of that width, which means lights can only be mounted far…

Regardless of the sport, once the top player in the game releases their Signature piece of equipment, it becomes an instant hit. While often this equipment has zero effect on the purchasers’ performance (looking at you, Air Jordans), this isn’t always the case in the world of shooting sports. The Sig P320MAX falls into this category. Sig’s latest was developed with the input of USPSA champion Max Michel and has been his carry optics gun for the entire 2021 shooting season. Built on the XFive Legion footprint, this 9mm striker-fired beast has everything you need to dominate the production-based class. GET COMPETITION READY When you first pick up a P320MAX you will likely notice its heft. This is thanks to the tungsten-infused polymer grip module that has been getting tons…

“…R7 MAKO—A GUN BUILT FROM THE GROUND UP TO SATISFY THE NEEDS OF THE SAVVY CONCEALED CARRIER, NOT A RE-WORK OF AN EXISTING MODEL.” For many years I carried a Kahr PM9 pistol for personal defense. Introduced in the early 2000s, the gun was just 1 inch wide, had a 3-inch barrel and weighed just over a pound fully loaded with the 7+1 extended, single-stack magazine. Carried in a Crossbreed AIWB holster, I went blissfully about my business without any concern that I was somehow inadequately armed. I wasn’t alone. It seems every manufacturer offered a 9mm micro-compact, striker-fired, polymer-framed gun with a single-stack magazine. Sales were brisk among the CCW crowd, and the little guns proved reasonably accurate, reliable, and their light weight and slim profiles made them very…

It seems like just yesterday when Bill Wilson and the folks at Wilson Combat stunned the firearms market with the new EDC X9 pistol. A true revolution in the 1911-style, single-action pistol segment, the EDC X9 featured a host of ingenious innovations that distinguished it from the rest of the pack. From increased capacity to exceptional reliability, the EDC X9 became the new benchmark for single-action 9mm pistols. If you know anything about Bill Wilson, you know he doesn’t sit still very long. He’s up at the crack of dawn and always on the go, constantly working on some kind of project with the aim of building a better mousetrap. It’s the same with his EDC X9 series of pistols. Since its original introduction, not only has Wilson been updating…

IN MANY WAYS, the .380 ACP is one of the more underappreciated closerange defensive pistol rounds. This year, Ruger took a major step toward correcting what many have seen as the deficiencies of the .380 caliber by making a major upgrade to their Lightweight Compact Pistol (LCP). The new Ruger LCP Max has a tritium front sight and holds a maximum of 13 rounds. Yes, the 9mm is a more powerful cartridge, and there are some 9mm pistols on the market that are true pocket pistols. However, no 9mm pocket pistol that I know of can pack 13 rounds like the Max, and 9mm pocket pistols have a high rate of wear due to their excessive recoil. And, some of today’s modern .380 ammunition performs better than the older stuff…

The Galil enjoys an almost mythic status among American shooters for both its Israeli military heritage and combat-proven reputation for reliability. In fact, it’s one of the few designs based on the AKM to objectively improve upon it. Despite this, the original Galil did have a few shortcomings, mainly dealing with weight. The original Galil weighs in at an exhausting 8.7 pounds unloaded. With a loaded magazine, the weight quickly hits 10 pounds, and that’s without any optics attached. Not that shooters will have to worry about that because there’s no easy way to attach optics on an original Galil. Despite this, the Galil is still a formidable weapon and one with a proven method of operation. So, it was no surprise when the Israeli military developed the Galil into…

Part of the “magic” of moviemaking is convincing the viewers that what they are seeing on the screen is believable. Thanks to computer-generated imagery (CGI), monsters can come alive, buildings can be created digitally, and even explosions and mass destruction can be inserted while keeping the actors safe. However, one aspect of filmmaking hasn’t changed much, and that is how firearms are used in movies and TV shows. There are specialists whose jobs require them to provide the productions with the firearms and, more importantly, to ensure that the cast and crew are, in fact, safe from real danger. Like the most recent Alec Baldwin debacle on the set of the movie Rust (see sidebar) there have been some tragic accidents over the years during which actors have been killed…

RDS or Red-Dot Sights have started to become a default item on most handguns today. The primary benefits of the RDS are a large field of view downrange and quick target acquisition. Yes, it does take some repetitions to get your presentation aligned, but after that, it is a very fast system. As with anything that is popular in the firearms world, there is a spectrum of companies producing products to meet demand. Some of those are spectacular and some not so much. While there seems to be a new optic every week, I was very interested when I heard that a longtime sight company would be producing their own optic. Ameriglo has been making tritium, painted-dot, fiber-rod and custom OEM iron sights for the firearms industry for decades. They…

In the world of self-defense cartridges, there is a notion that we must stick to 9mm or better. While I’m not going to argue that the larger the round the more potential it has, the smaller cartridges do have their place and shouldn’t be discounted completely. .22 LR comes to mind as one of these cartridges. While it’s often regarded as anemic, it does fit the bill for a lot of special scenarios. These scenarios include use in a backup gun or as a viable option for those with diseases that affect grip strength. I once had a client who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis; as such her hands were so weak, she could not rack any pistol we gave other than a few select .22 LR pistols. You might say,…

It seems that every day there is a new gun or accessory to hit the market. That’s all well and good until it comes time to hang it off of your belt. 3i Holsters specializes in custom Kydex and made the southpaw rig that the author used in his test. This specially designed holster falls inside of both the USPSA Production and Carry Optics regulations yet can be drawn from nearly as fast as speed holsters typically only allowed in Open-Division. Visit 3iholsters.com for details.…

One of the neat features of the CTS-1500 is that it automatically adjusts its brightness to the ambient light. I went from the bright, sunny ranges of Gunsite into their dark Pit shoot house and never once lost the dot. It uses the common and cheap (just a couple bucks) CR2032 lithium batteries and claims 500 to 650 hours of run time. Crimson Trace includes a polymer, time-out hood for the sight. This red-dot uses the common Shield RMSc footprint and comes with a threeyear limited warranty.…

Alright, it is no secret that Taurus used to have a quality control issue. I remember when I first started in this industry, I heard stories of Taurus revolvers failing (cylinders falling out and rolling down the firing line) and semi-auto pistols jamming at media events. It wasn’t pretty, to say the least. Their reputation of lackluster quality began to follow them around. Now anytime someone mentions Taurus on the web, you can hear the echo chamber banging away on their keyboards, “I hope it doesn’t blow up on you,” “Good luck with the South American POS,” “Be prepared for fails and repairs,” “You’re better off buying X brand, because PERFECTION!” You get the idea. However, something happened at Taurus about eight years ago. They released the Taurus G2, a…

The Federal display at the annual Athlon Outdoors editorial Rendezvous held every year in the shadow of the Grand Tetons is a reliable crowd pleaser. This holy gathering connects industry-leading manufacturers like Federal with gun geeks like me to sample the current state-of-the-art in weapons, ammunition and accessories. I discovered Federal’s new 12-gauge Force X2 loads are brilliantly contrived. FEDERAL FOUNDATION The 12-gauge shotgun has been around for centuries. With a bore diameter of 0.73 inches and a payload unmatched by anything that doesn’t require a tax stamp or an impact fuse, the venerable 12 bore sets a hitherto unmatched standard for stopping power. One of the many appeals of the timeless scattergun is its extraordinary breadth of loading options. Federal has been churning out top-quality ammunition for a century…

“Once in a lifetime” is an overused trope these days. Who knows what the future might hold? The last couple of decades have certainly held their share of surprises. In September of 2021, however, Lloyd’s Classic Car Auctions in Australia liquidated a fleet of 13 vehicles with an unparalleled pedigree. The vehicles were used in the movie Mad Max: Fury Road. That’s never going to happen again. Like the vehicles themselves, this event was high stakes and high octane. It was a sealed bid auction open to anybody on the planet. As such, nobody knew the competition until the moment the envelopes were opened and the bids compared. Just like the movie that birthed them, the sale of these unique rides was winner takes all. CELLULOID PHILOSOPHY Movies imbue a…

RITTENHOUSE PROSECUTOR ASKS FOR LIFELINE After his star witness testified in open court that defendant Kyle Rittenhouse didn’t shoot at him until he had pointed his illegally possessed pistol right at Rittenhouse’s face from mere feet away, Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger, AKA Binger The Clown, became somewhat addled. “I want to phone a friend,” Binger told the judge, apparently mistaking the judicial circus he and his fellow prosecutors had created with the once popular game show “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” When denied, he sought permission to ask the audience, which was also frowned upon by the judge. Later while questioning Rittenhouse, Binger regained enough courage to try bullying the young defendant, drawing a sharp rebuke from Judge Bruce Schroeder, who shouted in court that Binger’s line of…