Duane A. Daiker

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.

Sig Sauer is well known for making excellent pistols in a wide variety of sizes and calibers. Until recently, however, there was a noticeable hole in Sig Sauer’s traditional double-action pistol line-up—a double-stack, high capacity .45 ACP. The new P227 solves that problem and offers ten-round capacity with a grip size that still fits most hands. Sig’s ergonomic grip design puts a high-capacity big-bore pistol within reach for those with average size hands.

In 1982, Colt introduced the Mustang—a lightweight, single-action .380 ACP with a design very similar to the Colt 1911. The Mustang was an instant classic and was extremely popular as a back-up or off-duty gun for law enforcement officers. For a long time, it was hard to even find one to purchase. Colt produced the Mustang in a number of different versions before ultimately discontinuing it in the late nineties, when the company shifted its focus to military sales. As the demand for small, concealed-carry guns has skyrocketed in recent years, the market for used Mustangs has been very strong. Many of us have wondered over the past decade—why doesn’t Colt bring back the Mustang? Then in 2012, after a long hiatus, the Mustang officially rejoined the Colt stable. The new Mustang Pocketlight was an alloy-frame Mustang that revived the model line. The new Pocketlight met with rave reviews, but Colt did not rest on the old-school design. In 2013, Colt innovated with the new Mustang XSP—a polymer-framed version of the classic Mustang .380 auto-pistol.

It was by complete surprise that the Beretta Nano became one of my favorite carry guns. I reluctantly took an assignment to review the Nano even though I had never had much affection for Beretta firearms, and I had already reviewed a number of similar 9mm pistols. I could never have expected the Nano to become my favorite gun to carry among the micro-9s. In fact, the Nano sits comfortably in my pocket as I write this review. Despite my initial hesitation, I found the Nano to be a nearly perfect deep concealment pistol.

In many ways, the Beretta Nano is a typical micro-sized 9mm with a 3-inch barrel. It is a double-action striker-fired semi-auto with a capacity of 6+1 rounds. The pistol measures only 5.6 inches long and 4.2 inches high. The width is an impressive .9 inches, making pocket carry a realistic option. The gun tips the scale at nearly 20 ounces unloaded, which is certainly not a featherweight in this class of pistols, but is still manageable for deep concealment.

Smith & Wesson’s 2012 arrival to the micro-sized 9 mm-pistol market was fashionably late, about a year after just about every pistol company in the gun industry put out a pocketable 9mm. But while most of the competitors pared down their 9mm pocket gun, Smith & Wesson managed to keep most of the features of the full sized M&P, and this proved to be an instant hit with the army of M&P enthusiasts out there. It made perfect sense to retain as much of the M&P design as a micro-sized pistol would permit, but that took more time, and it was a tough judgement call for Smith & Wesson to debut the Shield at SHOT Show 2012 instead of 2011 when so many pocket 9mm pistols were released. A year later, just coming out of SHOT Show 2013, it seems to have paid off for Smith & Wesson. The Shield has been for the most part sold out since its introduction a year ago, and now with some serious range time on the guns, the Shield has shown to be very accurate and reliable. It is one of the few striker pistols on the market with a manual thumb safety, which almost puts the gun in a category by itself.