Gun Reviews

The Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0 is not just another striker-fired 9mm trying to chase the usual names. After range time, carry time, and real instructor use, this pistol proved flat-shooting, reliable, optics-ready, and good enough to make a longtime Glock carrier reach for something else.

The Mauser Karabiner 98k is not some dusty museum prop that only matters to collectors. It is a hard-kicking, history-soaked bolt gun that still shows exactly why the Mauser action became the gold standard for combat rifles and hunting rifles alike.

S&W’s Performance Center Bodyguard 2.0 Carry Comp is a tiny .380 that shoots flatter than it should, carries easier than most, and only needed one fix at the sights.

The Browning BAR Mk II Safari is one of those rifles that can make a bolt-gun loyalist raise an eyebrow after the first shot. It is classy, quick on follow-up shots, and surprisingly gentle in a caliber that still gets real hunting done.

The Altor 9mm is crude, awkward, and about as far from a refined carry gun as you can get. That’s exactly why this odd little single-shot pistol makes such a provocative modern echo of the FP45 Liberator, and why its implications reach way beyond the range.

The best Canik pistols prove you do not have to spend a fortune for a great trigger. The Turkish maker went from budget import to a serious player with striker-fired guns that ship with holsters, extra parts, and triggers that embarrass pricier pistols. Today the lineup runs from slim 17-round carry guns to steel frame [...]

Want a Staccato but not the Staccato bill? Join a very large club. The best Staccato alternatives of 2026 give you the things people love about a Staccato, a crisp single-action trigger, a double-stack magazine, a heavy bull barrel, and flat recoil, for less money or with a different set of features. Staccato is still [...]

The best Girsan pistols bring 2011 and 1911 features down to working-man prices. The Turkish maker, imported by EAA, builds the Witness2311 double-stack line, polished MC1911 single stacks, and a .380 inspired by the Beretta Cheetah. Not long ago, a budget double-stack 1911 sounded like a joke. Girsan made it normal. Our writers have shot [...]

Henry’s walnut-stocked 9mm PCC already stood out in a market packed with lookalike carbines. The M-LOK version adds just enough modern utility to make this brushed-bronze oddball feel even more at home on the range, around the homestead, and anywhere a traditionalist wants a carbine that still knows what century it lives in.

Few pistols get cussed and loved in equal measure like the Beretta 92. The best Beretta 92 pistols of 2026 span almost four decades of one design. The 92 family went to war as the M9 after the U.S. military adopted it in 1985, and today Beretta builds it as a classic service pistol, a [...]

Seekins Precision has redesigned their rifle actions and bolts for high pressure. Now, they’re rethinking the barrel itself for a new generation of cartridges that run hotter, hit harder, and punish old-school barrel design in a hurry.

Springfield Armory and Aimpoint did not just bolt a red dot onto an Echelon and call it innovation. The 4.0FC COA feels like a factory-built optic pistol that actually starts where most plate-mounted guns stop, with a lower, cleaner, tougher setup that makes a whole lot of sense the moment you pick it up.

The best 300 Blackout rifles of 2026 prove that a cartridge built for one very specific military job turned into one of the most useful rounds you can own. The 300 AAC Blackout was designed to put a .30 caliber bullet through a standard AR-15, using the same bolt and the same magazines, with supersonic [...]

The best Beretta shotguns come from the oldest gunmaker in the world, and the company still builds some of the softest shooting, most reliable semi-autos you can buy. The hard part is picking one. Beretta sells tactical guns, waterfowl guns and competition guns, and model names like 1301, A300, A350 and A400 do not tell [...]

Colt finally gave the Python its polished blue skin back, and the 3-inch version might be the sweet spot of the whole line. It looks like a safe queen, carries like a serious belt gun, and shoots well enough to make you forgive a few snake-like quirks.

A 6.2-lb Savage 110 wearing carbon fiber in all the right places, including a Proof Research barrel, then casually stacking a 0.46-inch best group in 308 Win. If you have ever wished the 110 could go full mountain mode, this is it.

In the last year or two, I’ve leaned into snub nose revolvers and have been lucky enough to test a variety of calibers and have come to adore both the LCR in 9mm and the S&W 940.

The best pump shotguns are the most versatile long guns most people will ever own. One 12 gauge pump with a couple of barrels can hunt turkeys in the spring, birds in the fall, and deer with slugs, then stand guard by the bed at night. Pumps are also forgiving: they cycle anything from light [...]

These guns might not be the best option compared to a custom, built-for-you rifle, but they give you a great place to start and make easing into competition easy. 

The best Browning rifles mix old-world fit and finish with modern accuracy. Browning sells the X-Bolt bolt action in dozens of flavors, the BAR semi-auto hunting rifle that has been in production since 1967, the BLR lever gun that runs pointed bullets from a box magazine, and the BL-22 rimfire that has taught a lot [...]

The best ranch rifle of 2026 is the one that rides behind the truck seat for years, gets dragged out for a coyote at 200 yards or a hog in the feed pen at 40, and never asks for anything in return. It is not a benchrest gun and it is not a safe queen. [...]

The Ruger LCP Max takes the old pocket .380 formula and finally makes it feel modern. For California buyers especially, this little pistol delivers real sights, real capacity, real concealability, and a price tag that makes it awfully hard to dismiss.

Uintah’s UP-10 blends AR ergonomics with bolt-action precision, staying compact, quiet, and flat-out useful with both subsonics and supersonics.

The best FN rifles come from the company that builds machine guns and service rifles for the U.S. military, and you can feel it. FN makes the SCAR, the FN 15 family of AR-15s and a semi-auto version of the M249 SAW, and its civilian rifles carry the same hard use DNA. Our testers have [...]

The best MP5 clones put the most famous submachine gun of the last fifty years in civilian hands as a semi-auto pistol, braced pistol, or registered short-barreled rifle. Heckler & Koch’s MP5 earned its reputation with counter-terrorism units around the world, and the reason is its roller-delayed blowback action. The rollers hold the bolt closed [...]

In most states, your squirrel hunting gun needs can be covered with either a rimfire rifle, a shotgun, or a muzzleloader. But which one do you choose? 

Fast to shoulder, light in the woods, and still pure Americana, the Winchester Model 94 remains a freezer filler and a bucket list lever for hunters who actually hunt.

Smith & Wesson’s M&P22X brings full-size ergonomics, a crisp 3.5 pound trigger, 20+1 capacity, and suppressor ready convenience to the .22 LR lane. We ran it with irons, a red dot, and a can to see if this rimfire really shoots laser flat and stays reliable.

If you live in the Golden State, you’re aware that there are significant limitations on which firearms you’re legally allowed to possess. That means Californians interested in exercising their Second Amendment rights must pick and choose from a CA-compliant roster of handguns