This Week

Hot take time: semi-auto .22s are the new subcompact
striker-fired handgun. They’re everywhere! A different company introduces a new
angle on Ruger’s plinker every year, and given the increasing popularity of .22LR
competition, there’s no sign of slowing down.

Bergara joined the fray at this year’s NRA Annual Meetings
and Exhibits, and we swung by their booth to see what all the fuss was about.

One of the most popular concealed carry handguns ever made, Smith & Wesson’s line of Shield pistols has been steadily improving since its inception in 2012. Smith introduced the Shield M2.0 along with the new-shooter-friendly Shield EZ in 2018, and last month the company rolled out new models of both lines.

CZ-USA introduced a couple of significant upgrades at the NRA Annual Meeting. First up is the Orange edition of the Shadow 2 pistol, bringing it up to competition standards.

Vortex has been making their Ranger series of rangefinders for several years, but this new model changes everything. It’s got all new optics and all new electronics. And it ranges as far as 4,000 yards.

Small, powerful, convenient, and maybe even stylish, Bond Arms’ derringer handguns have been described using a wide variety of positive adjectives. But “lightweight” hasn’t been one of them. At something around 22 ounces, all-steel derringers are hefty little guns for their profile, especially when compared to half-polymer semi-autos.

That’s set to change in October, when Bond Arms plans to release an aluminum derringer that tips the scales at nearly half the weight of a standard model.

Yeah, yeah. We get it. It’s a suppressor-ready blacked-out lever gun with a pic rail and paracord loop. Your grandpappy is rolling in his grave.

But as much as we wanted to complain about the tacticool bros ruining classic Americana, we got a chance to handle (or fondle, as the case may be) Marlin’s new Dark Model 336 and Model 1895 at this year’s NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits, and we gotta admit—these guns are cool.

LWRCI’s submachine gun is finally ready for the public and looks like it may have been worth the wait. This is LWRCI’s first pistol caliber carbine. It takes .45 ACP cartridges and uses HK’s UMP magazines. It’s all made in the USA in Cambridge, Maryland, and the HK mags aren’t the only parts you’ll recognize.

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein reintroduced this week a bill that would raise the minimum age to 21 for anyone attempting to purchase an “assault weapon” and or a “high-capacity” magazine. The California Democrat introduced the same bill last year in the Senate, but has decided to try her hand again in the wake of a murder that took place at a San Diego synagogue last week.

Interim President Juan Guaidó of Venezuela is admitting that the populist push to remove the Nicolas Maduro regime from power is losing ground.