Gun Reviews

Sometimes mouse guns are too damn small. Not the Kahr CT 380. This pocket .380 is incredibly easy to conceal, but makes none of the compromises some guns make on the race to the bottom. If you are looking for a solid .380 for a back-up gun, the CT 380 may be it. And the price tag makes it look even better.

Daniel Shaw, head of firearms instruction at Thunerbird Tactical, is such a badass that PWS has built a limited number of rifles with his name on them. These MK114s with a personal touch. Check them out here, first.

Cowboy action shooting is growing in popularity. The guns are kind of like NASCAR race cars–stock, sort of. They begin as stock guns, but get all tricked out on their way to SASS competition. Now Ruger is making matched sets of SASS ready Vaqueros that are already tricked out and ready to rock the steel bad guys. So pistoleros–strap on your chaps and dust off your Stetsons. We’re getting all cowboy in this Vaquero review.

With Christmas approaching, it is a great time to think about all of those upgrades to your guns you have been thinking about. One I have been considering for some time is putting a scope mount on my M1A, but my assumptions were that it was both expensive and difficult, requiring a gunsmith. Turns out I was wrong on both counts. There are expensive options and inexpensive options for installing a rear scope mount on the M1A, and they work equally as well. I tried both the official Springfield Armory mount, as well as a couple exact copies, as well as a new design from UTG. They all worked, and some better than others.

The H&K P2000sk is the smallest pistol H&K makes. With its 10 rounds of 9mm, the gun offers better than average sub compact capacity and excellent ergonomics. This is easily one of the most robust pistols in its class, and one of the easiest to shoot. So why isn’t it more popular?

This Beretta 692 Sporting model shown here is the first one of its type to hit US shores. It’s got the B-Fast comb system for near-infinite adjustment and extra long barrels (32-inch) preferred by many trap shooters. Just to be clear, this is not a dedicated trap gun – it’s well suited for skeet and sporting clays. It just offers features that make it suitable for trap as well. Let’s take a closer look.

It would be absurd for me to review the Savage Rascal. My daughter Emma, though, is just learning to shoot. She’s the ideal test subject. So I passed on this review to her. Want to know what an 11 year old novice shooter thinks of the tiny .22? Read on…

I started thinking about my ideal qualities of an SHTF shotgun. You know, when the masses become all cranky and protesty because the Kardashians stopped doing reality TV. While pondering all the ways civilization could end, I came up with a list of ten things I really care about in a save-my-bacon and shoot-my-bacon shotgun.

In the American Revolution, the principle battle longarm was the Brown Bess musket. A musket is different from a rifle because it has no rifling, so the bullet doesn’t spin. The Brown Bess is .75 caliber, which is essentially an 11 gauge smoothbore shotgun, used to fire, historically, a cast .69 caliber lead ball weighing just over once ounce. The range on a Brown Bess is a couple hundred yards, but because the ball isn’t spinning, the musket wasn’t used as an aimed weapon past 20 yards or so. Companies of men fired batteries of musketfire to rain lead balls down upon the opposing force, hoping that someone would hit something. This would be followed by a charge with bayonets, because after a couple shots with traditional black powder (smokeless wasn’t invented until 125 years later), shooting a musket more than a couple times without cleaning can be difficult. This mode of war made for bloody battlefields, and a lot of hand to hand, in your face combat.

There’s a reason why so many people have gravitated toward polymer pocket pistols for concealed carry. 1911s, though beautiful, tend to be a bit bulky and temperamental. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve seen them fail. But what if you could have a single action custom built for your specific concealed carry wish-list, and one that would never fail? How much would that be worth? Today we’re looking at just such a gun, a 9mm CCO from Guncrafter Industries–and we’ve spent some time in their shop to see how this level of perfection is possible.

Henry makes guns that keep up the values established by the company’s namesake—traditional pistol caliber lever actions, mostly. These guns make versatile ranch guns, and are cowboy competitions. They’re adding to their catalog in a big way. If you are looking for an American made .30-30, or a hard hitting favorite .45-70, check out the new guns from Henry. These are hard-working lever actions, but miles away from the pistol calibers you might associate with the brand.

FNH makes a competition shotgun? Indeed. The FNH SC-1 Over/Under is, you guessed it, a double-barrel beauty. It’s designed expressly for clays competition, although there is nothing about it that would discourage other uses. Personally, I wouldn’t hesitate to hunt ducks or geese with it. This is a versatile gun that can be tweaked for an exacting fit, and it is priced competitively, too.

When you think about it, we wear our guns a lot more than we shoot them, yet they are designed primarily for shooting. The new Taurus Curve fixes that. The grip on the gun is curved, so that when you were it on your hip or carry it in your pocket, the guns hugs the contour of your body. It is a 6+1 .380 ACP semi-automatic pistol with a consistent trigger pull for each shot. The MSRP for the introductory model is $392, and it will come with an integral LaserLyte light and laser combo built in. The Curve also comes with a Kydex pull-off trigger guard holster, and screwed onto the side of the gun is a steel clip for inside the waistband or inside a purse pocket carry.

Bigger is sometimes better. That’s the philosphy behind the fixation with the AR-10. For a marginal increase in size and weight, you have a lot more punch on the terminal end of ballistic trajectory. CMMG’s Mk 3 .308 is a beast of a gun, and offers AR speed and ergonomics for those who want more than the 5.56 can provide.

I believe a new shooter should start with a fully functional gun and not some bargain basement piece of crap. Youth shooters would do well to check out a TriStar. These inexpensive shotguns work incredibly well, and don’t break the bank. Some of them are even pink–which got me some strange looks at the range.

Springfield Armory has overhauled the XD, and the new gun is worth a look. Start with the grip. Their new Grip Zone design is like Velcro for you hands. It is sticky in all of the right places. But that’s not all they’ve done. They’ve taken a good pistol and made it much more ergonomic and effective. And we have one to give away. Want the details? Read on….

The Troy Pump Action Rifle may look like an AR-15, but it isn’t. While Troy’s Sporting Rifle shares many of the same characteristics and parts, the basic operational mechanisms are unique, and built with compliance in mind. The Troy PAR is 50 state legal, and ideal for hunting, and capable of extraordinary accuracy. If you think this is nothing but an attempt to appease politicians, you need to think again. The PAR is fast and accurate.

There is a distinct appeal to a big bore wheel-guns. The .44 Magnum produces impressive terminal ballistics. Yet carrying a heavy revolver presents some practical challenges, and the recoil can be punishing. Gemini Customs has some solutions–their custom modifications make a good gun better, faster, and more reliable. Check out what they’ve done to this Ruger Alaskan.

Looking for a way to light up the night? Unwilling to give up that old wheel gun? No worries. Hyskore has the answer. Their new Compact Revolver Grip Light makes your J Frame an even better tool for things that go bump in the night.

Size matters. With mouse guns, everyone is racing to the bottom. How do you combine power and performance, while taking away weight and size? Beretta has done it. The Pico shoots like a bigger gun. What you give up in ease of control, you make up for in performance.

For urban combat and self defense, many would argue that there is no better choice in a firearm than a pistol-caliber carbine. It has almost no recoil or muzzle rise, little muzzle flash and plenty of punch to get the job done in close quarters. The H&K MP5 is legend when it comes to SWAT and SPEC-OPS deployment, and it has achieved that status firing the 9mm cartridge, despite concerns of many that the 9mm is underpowered. The Taurus CT9 and CT40 are new entrants into the pistol-caliber carbine market, and they look and work a lot like H&K’s follow up to the MP5, called the UMP. The civilian version was called the USC, and is no longer produced (it was too expensive). The Taurus CT9 is a more full-featured gun than the USC, and with an MSRP of $879 and street prices under $750, this new carbine should fly off the shelves. As this article is coming out, the .40 S&W version was released, but we were able to test the 9mm gun. Our results showed the CT9 to be extremely reliable and tolerant of different types of ammo. The accuracy is at least as good as other pistol caliber carbines we have tested, and the features on the gun are all you could want for home and personal defense. This year is going to see a new emergence from Taurus since Mark Kresser took over the company. With the new focus on quality control and great customer service, the affordability of Taurus products will finally be backed up by a company that puts customers as #1. The CT9 is the first truly new product from Taurus for a while, and minus a couple peeves, it seems to be everything you could want in a pistol caliber carbine.

Last week, I offered up my top 5 list of compact 9mms. Some of you took issue with my choices. That’s cool. I get it. So I’m trying it again. This time, I’m looking at 10 of the best single-stacks ideal for concealed carry.

Now that James Bond has an iron clad set of balls, it’s time he upgraded his arsenal. While there’s nothing uniquely gadget-like about the Primary Weapons Systems MK107P, it does come in a briefcase. Q would be a bit jealous. And a tuxedoed 007 would look sharp carrying the Kenneth Cole case, but to hell with Bond. The novelty of the briefcase evaporates when you pull the trigger. This AR pistol is a surgical tool–it’s better than Bond–the PWS MK107P is exactly what’s right about America.

When I think of the Henry brand, I don’t typically think about survival rifles. The company is much more well known for their lever-action powerhouses. But Henry makes other things, too, and the U.S. Survival Rifle, or AR-7, is a winner. It is compact, practical, and the AR-7’s accuracy will make you think twice about your go-to rimfire rifle.

Not very frequently does GunsAmerica post written reviews from other gun publications, but in this particular instance we felt posting American Rifleman’s original review of the Ruger 10/22 which appeared in the Sept. 1964 issue was warranted considering the celebration that is going on today at Ruger. If you haven’t heard, Ruger is holding a special sweepstakes today to honor the 50th anniversary of the 10/22. Check it out!

A couple of weeks ago, we ran a Top 5 Compact .45 ACP article that stirred up a lot of controversy. That isn’t surprising. A lot of you have already formed your own opinions. I expect this list will be just as contentious, if not more. The list of compact .45s is limited, as there aren’t that many out there. 9mm is a different story. There are a lot of compact 9mms–choosing the best five requires a lot more thought. But we’re up top the task.

At 1,000 yards, according to US Army research, first-shot-hit probability is less than 5%. TrackingPoint’s shooting system has improved that to 70% or better.

The .308 battle rifle is making a comeback. Ruger released their SR762 to high praise. Colt’s modular 901 can accept uppers in .308 and .223. The AR10 is still alive and kicking, and rocking throwbacks, like Springfield Armory’s MiA line, manage to be both nostalgic and innovative. What is it about the hard-hitting 7.62 x 51 that makes it so appealing? Wasn’t the high-pitched crack of the AR-15 sound the death knell of oversized, overweight, overkill? Apparently not. There’s more staying power in the old-school battle rifle than the slew of 5.56 rifles would have us believe. None of this is news to the fans of the H&K G3. Yet import restrictions make the G3, and the H&K 91 (the civilian version of the G3) hard to come by stateside. Don’t give up hope. At the upcoming SHOT show in January 2014, PTR will launch a new version of the Classic Wood 91, the KR. The K is for Kurz, which refers to the 16-inch barrel. The R denotes a welded rail. With a shorter barrel and a rail, the new iteration will appeal to those who respect the classic look of an old G3. It will also speak to those who want a hard-hitting CQB rifle with manageable length and the option to more easily add optics. If you are looking for heavyweight precision, with just a hint of German engineering, take a good long look at the PTR 91. These American-made 91s are taking the iconic H&K design to new levels of precision and reliability.

The Walker is a modern reproduction of a piece of American History. It is a sidearm you could carry during black powder season. It is an exaggerated wild west gun that is as much fun to handle and hold as it is to shoot, maybe more. And it is a revolver capable of .357 like ballistics that you can buy without filling out a 4473. It’s all of these things, I think, which makes it so compelling. On with the review~