By Sam Trisler https://www.browning.com/customerservice/ownersmanuals/index.asp History There are a couple of good stories about John Moses Browning and the work it took for him to get the Auto 5 made. As with most of his long-gun designs of that era, Browning first took it to Winchester. They had a long working relationship at the time, one [...]

New for SHOT Show 2014, the GunsAmerica Kiosk is a great tool for the stocking gun dealer. Simply put, it is a table with a computer on it, but with your own shop graphics and a little guidance to customers, the kiosk can turn into a customer service center that will keep sales in your [...]

When I heard about the Relia-Bolt, I was skeptical. “Uhh, you angled the bolt lugs and are using different steel to improve reliability? OK, I am going to have to see this thing, because I am not getting it.” In the back of my head I started asking the question: is this a solution looking for a problem or a solution to a real issue? The answer is that is depends on you, your rifle and the environment in which you work. It’s an upgrade that can only improve reliability with the NP3 coating, decrease maintenance and in a worst-case situation still deliver functionality. The bolt is coated with NP3, which for all practical purposes is hardened Teflon. It is essentially self-cleaning and extends the life of the bolt. In addition, the use of S7 steel could prevent bolt breakage and the Relia-Bolt design could prevent the kind of jam an extremely neglected AR could develop, so I term the Relia-Bolt as an “extreme performance/environment upgrade”.

The DoubleTap Tactical Pocket Pistol is an over/under break action derringer capable of delivering two rounds of 9 mm or .45ACP as fast as you can pull the trigger. It is sold as a simple and rugged option for deep concealment or backup. Make no mistake, this is not a range gun or plinker. It’s designed for one purpose and one purpose only – saving your life. We first saw the DoubleTap almost two years at SHOT Show 2012, but after some hiccups with manufacturing contracts and parts suppliers, the DoubleTap pistol is just now finding its way into the market. Our big question, and yours most likely, is the street practicality of the DoubleTap. The .45ACP is no kitten when it comes to recoil, and even though your followup shots are limited to one in the two shot pistol, an “ouch that hurts” after the first shot wouldn’t be the ideal in a concealed carry pistol. There are a lot of perfectly good pocket pistols on the market, and this gun has several red flags, as well as some outright user discomfort. At an MSRP starting at $499 for a two shot derringer, do we really need the DoubleTap?

There are a lot of guns in the market that gun nuts take for granted. They are basically good guns that have been around for a long time and sell a ton, yet they are really nothing special. But with all of the new shooters coming into the market, particularly women shooters, some old and extremely average guns are developing a dedicated following because they work, they fit great, and they are not expensive. Never one for big headlines, the Taurus TCP, also known as the Model 738, is a 10.2 ounce .380 6+1 that is carried by thousands of people every day, yet you rarely if ever see an interesting review or article on the gun. It is the lightest Taurus ever made, and since the arrival at Taurus of Mark Kresser and a new focus on consistency and quality control, the Taurus TCP deserves a fresh look. We asked our resident girl guru Carrie Lightfoot from The Well Armed Womanto take the gun for a spell, and have her whole crew shoot it and let us know what they think. Overall the gun did really well in the eyes of these very critical ladies, and they felt that the TCP was designed to be “just right” for the woman shooter. Here is Carrie’s overview:

This year’s SHOT Show was overshadowed by an unprecedented attack on our 2nd Amendment rights by shameless politicians trying to pay back political favors from the 2012 election. Unfortunately a lot of the American public are actually buying the lies and the false hopes offered by the carpetbagging charlatans. Prosperity is what America needs to reduce the violence in our inner cities, and SHOT Show 2013 was a stunning banner of American ingenuity, creativity, and the seeds of prosperity. Firearms have always meant freedom, and we will lose our freedom in America if we don’t stand up for our firearms now. Thanks to Julie Mac, Mark Bealo and Eric Beels for great work on this year’s videos. Hopefully next year Julie will remember for once that shotguns are actually a part of the firearms world, but for now let’s all just keep it a secret. We’ll see you for next year’s SHOT Show, back in Las Vegas, for 2014.

The military contractor game has dried up some since the wars have slowed down so a lot of products that hoped for military trials are now trying to make it in the consumer world of guns and gun toys. Perhaps the most advanced at this year’s SHOT Show was TrackingPoint, a monstrous looking rifle and scope combination that is being marketed as fighter plane lock and launch technology for your deer rifle. Tag, Track, Fire.

The TrackingPoint system looks like a big huge rangefinder scope but it is actually an entire weapon system. You buy the rifle and electromechanical optics computer as a package, tuned to the ammo that comes with the gun. At first blush it felt more like the stuff of science fiction than that destined for the hunting camp, but TrackingPoint was the talk of SHOT Show 2013 for sure. The concept of this device is simple. Rifle accuracy and rifle ballistics have outpaced shooter ability for decades now, and most cartridges are generally not able to be shot at their effective distances because of potential shooter error. First shot hits at ranges of further than 600-800 yards are in the single digits for success percentages in human trials, even with ballistic computers, and if you think about it, there should be a technology that can make this better. From idea to finished working product, TrackingPoint is this technology.

Any fan of Mossberg pump guns will tell you, they are the greatest guns on the planet, except that they kick like a mule. When you try the 3″ and 3 1/2″ guns, meant for turkey and waterfowl, the effects can be downright punishing, and I have seen even 2 3/4″ buckshot send a 6 foot 3 inch grown man stumbling backwards. Granted, you can wield a Mossberg 500/590, or even the 835 effectively in both hunting and tactical situations, but you are going to know that you shot the gun. When someone says “eh, that .50 cal. doesn’t kick anymore than a 12 gauge,” keep in mind they are probably talking about a Mossberg pump gun. But hold the bus, Mossberg has a new product line they seem to be testing in the market that is a “harmonic damper,” built right into the stock of their iconic working man’s shotguns.

The system is made by a company called Mathews, which specializes in bows, as in bow and arrows. Somehow this company developed a “push back” technology that seems to work on something of a gyroscope methodology, turning the recoil on itself to push backwards. We are eager to get one of these guns to try, so for now all we can tell you is that there are going to be 7 introductory models, and all of them, including the tactical, will have a special stock with the recoil whosawhatsit and a special adjustable comb. The firearms community doesn’t take easily to new concepts, but it looks like Mossberg has a lot of hope for this new system, and it could revolutionize what we think of as a fixed amount of recoil in fixed breech (ie. pump and over/under and sxs) shotguns. They have a new recoil pad with this system as well, so it will be interesting to see the end result, which is hopefully the opposite of a purple and yellow shoulder after a day of shooting. Everyone’s favorite shotgun is learning some new tricks this year, comfortable ones, 100% made in the USA.

I saw something incredible today when I met Cabot Guns CEO Robert A. Bianchin. His company may not be a household name among gun enthusiasts, yet, but this niche manufacturer builds some of the finest 1911s I have ever held.

These are not old-school 1911s you shoot every weekend, or toss into the back of your trunk irreverently. They’d handle it and be utterly reliable, but you just wouldn’t do that to these handguns.

These are, as Bianchin put it, a functioning piece of precision art. These 1911s are developed and made by engineers, to critical tolerances, using standards typically reserved for the aerospace industry or in a nuclear lab…I’m not kidding. They are also utterly reliable.