Smith’s homepage cites the intended purposes of their guns, and they say the 686 with its 6 inch barrel is good for recreational shooting, home protection, and handgun hunting. I tend to concur. While it wouldn’t be my first choice for duck hunting, it can do just about everything else. If I could only own one gun (God forbid), my choice would be easy: I’d take this 686.
Revolvers
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Chiappa’s Rhino Revolver Redux—The Wheel-gun Reinvented
Updated: May 17, 2014Have you ever thought to yourself, I wonder what would happen if I took one of the most widely accepted firearms design principles and flipped it upside down? When Italians Emilio Ghisoni and Antonio Cudazzo moved the barrel of the revolver down in the frame, they upended almost two centuries of accepted wheel-gun gospel. At the very least, the resulting gun is a novelty that needs to be shot to be fully appreciated. Like a shotgun with three barrels, it feels unnatural. Are there practical benefits to the steampunk lines and unorthodox barrel placement of Chiappa’s design? As it turns out, there are.
Taurus View – Light, Pocketable Titanium & Lexan Revolver —New Gun Review
Updated: April 19, 2014The new Taurus View with the transparent Lexan side plate was unveiled at the January SHOT Show in Las Vegas. Since then there have been several brief but glowing reviews based on limited time with the gun at the show. We wanted to see for ourselves—is all the hype deserved? Or is it just a gimmick to sell guns? At scarcely over half a pound, with a titanium cylinder and barrel, there is hardly a gun in the market to even compete with the View at a street price of around $500. But with an extremely lightweight revolver, in the venerable .38 Special, always comes punishing recoil, which I’ll get to. The Lexan panel is nifty, and does have some actual use, but to me what makes this gun stand out is the extreme pocket-ability and light weight at a competitive price to the tiny semi-autos in the comparable 9mm. And while the gun isn’t perfect, all of these mostly positive reviews showcase a new direction for Taurus, with vastly improved quality control and customer service, at the same Taurus affordable prices. The View isn’t for everyone. She kicks pretty hard. But if an extremely lightweight and reliable revolver is on your bucket list, we found the Taurus View to be well worth your attention.
Smith & Wesson starts 2014 with strong new additions to their revolver line up: the 9mm 986 and 929—SHOT Show 2014
Updated: January 17, 2014Smith & Wesson is still the undisputed reigning revolver champ. Its standard production revolvers are better than most of the competition’s tricked out top end guns. Its Performance Center guns are even better, and much more expensive. The company just introduced a new 9mm revolver in their Pro Series line that is meant to offer more custom features at more manageable prices.
Kahr Introduces Three New Handguns and a New Kahr/Spyderco Knife Series—SHOT Show 2014
Updated: January 15, 2014Whether you are looking for modern polymer frame pistols or the enduring Model 1911, Kahr has you covered. When it comes to a self-defense carry gun, you have to find a balance between concealability and function. Kahr has done a remarkable job with their slim, lightweight CT45 and CT40. These two guns achieve excellent concealability through the use of a single stack magazine, narrow frame and clean, snag-free design. However, Kahr didn’t do it at the expense of shootability. Both guns feature 4” barrels, and a full length grip holding seven rounds of either .40 S&W or .45 acp. With the stopping power of these two calibers and the accuracy of a 4” barrel, eight rounds should be enough to win the fight. A polymer frame, stainless steel barrel & slide assembly and an MSRP of $449 makes for a winning combination.
Ruger’s External Hammer LCR, the LCRx – New Gun Review – SHOT Show 2014 Preview
Updated: January 7, 2014The widely acclaimed Ruger LCR (Lightweight Compact Revolver) just got even better. As you know, the LCR is one of Ruger’s best-selling guns. They hit a home run when they introduced the first polymer revolver in January of 2009, and since then they’ve added several new versions to broaden the market for this revolutionary snub nose. The latest is the .38 spcl./.38spcl+P version with an external hammer—the LCRx. Don’t worry, the addition of the hammer hasn’t changed any of the great handling and shooting qualities of the double-action-only (DAO) LCR. It still has the same polymer lower housing that holds the fire control components, the same aluminum alloy upper and the same stainless steel barrel liner and cylinder. However, with this model you have the option of pulling the hammer back and firing in single-action (SA) mode.
Ruger Single Nine .22 WMR 9-Shot Revolver – New Gun Review
Updated: November 7, 2012When it comes to handguns, I’ve encountered some folks who have all but declared revolvers extinct. They’re wrong, but their attitude is completely understandable considering the many autopistol introductions there have been in the past few years for defense or concealed carry and all the hype that always surrounds them. But there’s more to the handgun market than protecting yourself, and revolvers aren’t giving up much, if any, ground when it comes to other pastimes such as hunting and plinking.
One of the more recent introductions in the hunting and plinking category is Ruger’s new 9-shot single-action revolver chambered in .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire (22 WMR). It is stainless steel, carries and MSRP of $629, and is called the Single-Nine. The gun follows on last year’s introduction of the similar 10-shot single-action revolver chambered in .22 Long Rifle (22 LR) called the Single-Ten. The .22WMR cartridge has more pressure, so the walls of the cylinder need to be a little thicker, yielding one less round per loading. You may already be asking, “can you get it with interchangeable cylinders?”, and the answer is no, but we’ll get to that.
New Ruger SP101 4.2″ w/Adjustable Sights
Updated: January 15, 2012Introducing the newest addition to the SP101 line. It has a 4.2″ barrel and an adjustable rear, and fiber optic front sight. If you know and love the SP101 series from Ruger, This is the same bulletproof reliable gun in a gun suited for all day holster carry, as a truck or pack gun, or as a backup for dangerous game.
Ruger LCR-22 New Gun Review
Updated: January 15, 2012
Break out the party hats, Ruger’s LCR just got a little brother! The newest member of the LCR family shares all the great features of its brethren and is now available in .22 caliber. The LCR-22 is light, fast handling, and accurate for a 1.875” barrel, and it’s a ball to shoot.
If you’re not familiar with Ruger’s LCR (Lightweight Compact Revolver) which debuted in January of 2009, it is best known as the first production polymer framed revolver. Several others have come out since but Ruger was ahead of the pack with the LCR.
The polymer lower part of the frame houses all components of the fire control mechanism and is mated to an aluminum alloy upper which houses the stainless steel cylinder and barrel liner. Polymer is a rugged material, rust and corrosion proof, and light weight. The aluminum upper and heavy fluting on the cylinder contribute additional weight savings. My review gun came in at 14.8 ounces empty on my stamps.com electronic scale, but the reported weight is 14.9 ounces. The balance point is at the back of the cylinder which I consider ideal for a snub nose revolver. It comes on target out of the holster quickly, thanks in part to the great balance as well as the natural grip angle and excellent rubber grip from Hogue.
The hammer is completely enclosed making, this a double-action-only (DAO) revolver and eliminating a potential snag for anyone interested in concealed carry. The DAO trigger, like its bigger brothers, is very smooth with no stacking and little overtravel. It measured right around 12 pounds but didn’t seem that much thanks to the way they cam the trigger.
The LCR-22 is compact, little more than 6.25” long and 1.25” wide. It sits so lightly in a holster or in your pocket that you’ll forget it’s there
The big news, of course is that you can now get it in .22 caliber which opens the opportunity to do a lot more shooting since .22 ammo is inexpensive and widely available. The LCR-22 will handle .22 short, .22 long, and .22 long rifle ammo, including shot shells, which means that you can personalize it for your needs.
I see this fun little revolver filling a number of roles. The most important component to shooting any gun accurately, aside from the gun itself, is practice. No matter how good (or bad) you are, more practice will make you better. Unfortunately, center fire ammo can get expensive, especially if you want to shoot hundreds of rounds a month. With a .22, you can shoot for pocket change.
Cimarron Evil Roy Cowboy Colt Replica
Updated: January 4, 2012We are often so focused on the black guns these days that sometimes you miss what is going on in other parts of the shooting and hunting world. A lot of it is deeper and a more enjoyable than all of the tactical stuff combined. Cimmaron Firearms specializes in cowboy era firearms, from the percussion age of the 1830s through 1873, and the cartridge guns from Colt, Winchester, Smith & Wesson, Marlin, Sharps, and others through the turn of the century. The dawn of the repeating firearm is not only a lot of fun historically, you can actually live it and breath it through a very popular shooting organization called the Single Action Shooting Society, or SASS. Cowboy Action Shooting is a lot of fun, and if you are of the competitive bent, at the regional and national level the competition is fierce.
This “Evil Roy” model of the 1873 single action Colt Peacemaker is engineered to meet the needs of the discriminating SASS competitor. More than 90% of the people who shoot Cowboy Action are not competitive and have no interest in winning anything, but we all like to shoot good. And for that small percentage of serious competitors, they are really serious and like to shoot perfect, not just well, and win the prized trophy SASS belt buckles. All of the SASS shooting is on metal plates, not paper, and the plates are set as close to the shooter as is safe for splatter. This makes Cowboy Action really easy to shoot well, so the competition really boils down to speed. Hit the metal plates, every time, as fast as you can.