Authors

After more than 1,300 rounds and 12 months of regular carry, the Kimber CDS9 has become my go-to EDC. It is accurate, distinctive, and flawless for me unsuppressed, although suppressor testing exposed one weakness worth knowing about.

The Tenet Vesper combines an 8-inch Grade 5 titanium body, sub-10-ounce weight and unusually strong sound reduction. After shooting both versions, it is subjectively the quietest centerfire rifle suppressor I’ve personally tested.

The FN SCAR 15P crams battle-proven SCAR DNA into a 7.5-inch 5.56 package that is compact, brutally loud, impressively reliable, and capable of groups just over 1 MOA with the right ammunition. After running it hard, suppressed, hot, and dirty, I liked it enough to buy it.

The VX-Freedom still proves you do not need mortgage-payment money to put dependable Leupold glass on a rifle. But in 2026, the harder question is whether the VX-3HD or VX-5HD gives you enough extra performance to justify climbing the ladder.

Herschel Grynszpan was seventeen when he walked into the German embassy in Paris with a tiny handgun. Five shots later, the Nazis had the excuse they wanted to unleash Kristallnacht.

The Zero Compromise Optic ZC210 is expensive, heavy enough to notice, and missing true 1x. After shooting it to 1,000 yards, into darkness, and behind a thermal clip-on, I also found it frustratingly hard not to like.

The Streamlight ProTac Rail Mount VIR Pro stuffs a powerful white light and serious 940nm IR illumination into one flexible rifle light for around $248. After testing it from dark barns to targets hundreds of yards away, I found plenty to like and a few limits worth knowing before you mount one.

The H&K VP9B backs German engineering with exceptional ergonomics, an optics-ready slide, and a factory trigger that only gets better as the rounds pile up. I started as a skeptic and ended up questioning my usual plastic fantastic.

Major General Smedley Butler collected two Medals of Honor, fought across the globe, battled corruption at home, and later claimed powerful businessmen wanted him at the center of an American coup.