Bruce Flemings

The .380 ACP Ruger LCP Custom packs in a whole host of custom-style upgrades and features over the standard LCP pistol, and all for just a mere $10 extra over the price of the original.

Sometimes the realities of everyday carry are hard to accept. There are some places where guns are not allowed. So what do you do? Leave the gun at home, or lock it in the car? And then what do you have left? Bruce Flemings, a stay at home dad and gun writer, explains his EDC.

Long established firearm manufacturers, with catalogs of full-size models, went back to the drawing board to design smaller, lighter, and more concealable handguns. Some manufacturers executed flawlessly, while other struggled with reliability issues and safety recalls. Diamondback Firearms followed a different path, as is clearly evident in the new full-sized, budget conscious DB FS 9.

Littlestone Ammunition is a Monroe, Georgia, based company specializing in custom handgun ammunition for personal defense, hunting and competition. The Littlestone website currently lists loads for .380 Auto up to .460 Rowland. Sneaking a peek at their “Coming Soon” section reveals available caliber expansion will extend the product range from .32 Auto to .500 S&W at some point in the future. The Littlestone Excel Elite ammunition line is crafted by hand from the highest quality components. Every round of Littlestone ammunition is hand inspected before it gets packaged and shipped to the customer.

In early 2010, Florida-based Diamondback Firearms released its first pistol to the US market. That pistol was the Diamondback DB380 micro-compact 380 Auto. Over the last four years, there have been many additional variations of the DB380 released. Most of the variations featured colored grip frames, different sighting systems or additional finish treatments on the slide. The latest model, the DB380SL, can be considered the second generation of the DB380 and includes several functional and aesthetic improvements to the original design.

In the USA, CR Speed may be best known for their championship-winning IPSC competition race holsters. CR Speed’s parent company, Rescomp Handgun Technologies of South Africa, also manufactures the Secure2 series of duty holsters and EDC belts that are suitable for Duty, concealed carry, and IDPA competition. As an occasional IDPA competitor, I was very interested in comparing the CR Speed rig with the gear I currently use for IDPA matches. Can a retention holster really be as fast as a standard holster without retention? I couldn’t wait to find out.

The P-120 is the latest addition to the growing line of TriStar pistols. All TriStar pistols are manufactured by in Turkey Canik 55, a NATO-certified small arms maker that manufacturers small arms for many military and law enforcement organizations. All arms produced by Canik are manufactured to NATO specifications, with all internal parts chrome plated, and each model must pass a stringent 50,000-round durability testing protocol.

Fans of CZ pistols will immediately recognize that the P-120 bears a striking resemblance to the CZ 75 SP-01 pistol. The P-120 is a 9mm full-size pistol with steel frame and slide and an accessory rail, and it ships with two 19-round extended capacity magazines. Unlike the SP-01, all external controls on the P-120 are located on the left side of the frame. Even with this major difference, many CZ parts can be used with the P-120 pistol. The black P-120, reviewed here, has a very attractive MSRP of $489 with actual street prices less than $400.

Otis Technology makes a multitude of cleaning products and cleaning systems for firearms and optics. They offer task specific cleaning systems for Sporting, Law Enforcement, and Military applications. All OTIS products are made in the USA at the company’s facility in Lyons Falls, NY. One of the latest products, the RIPCORD one-pass cleaning device, was featured in the OTIS Technology display at the 2014 SHOT Show.

The RIPCORD is a pull-through-the-barrel dry cleaning system. Each end of the RIPCORD has a coated brass tip that is clearly labeled with the intended caliber. These tips feature 8-32 threading so they can accept most standard cleaning accessories like brushes, bore mops, and patch holders.

Liberty Ammunition recently reintroduced its Civil Defense line of ammunition in new packaging. Coinciding with the new packaging, the line was extended to include 380 Auto. Another notable change is that the 45 ACP load is now labeled as a +P load. These two loadings join the previously released 9mm +P and 40 S&W to complete the Civil Defense line-up.

Liberty proclaims the Civil Defense line to be the “World’s Fastest Handgun Rounds”. Published velocities range from 1500 feet per second for the 380 Auto up to a blistering 2000 feet per second for the 9mm +P and 40 S&W. Last year, I tested the 9mm and 40 S&W just after they were introduced (as Halo Point) and verified velocities exceeding 2100 feet per second from both loads when fired from 4.5” service length barrels. I was very curious to see how the Civil Defense bullets would perform at the lower velocities published for the 380 and 45.