Feature Articles

While Dan Wesson might have earned its reputation for radical revolver designs, it in recent years has developed a solid line of high-quality 1911 pistols. So what do you do when you have a product name known for high quality and demanding standards? Well, if you are CZ-USA, you double down on that quality and expand the line.

We are seeing some serious innovation in the firearms market, which is a nice change. LEt’s take a look at some of the emerging trends we are seeing today.

How would you feel about shooting a .357 Magnum revolver with virtually no muzzle flip? That’s exactly what the Smith & Wesson 586 L-Comp is all about. Let’s take a closer look.

One of the things I love about competitive shooting is that it doesn’t treat kids like children. Kids compete against the “grown-ups.” Not fair? Neither is life.

Hardly any of the other customers even notice the man, let alone the gun. But it’s just a matter of time before they do.

So, let’s discuss the topic of seating and crimping in the reloading process. Stated simply, the seating step simply means jamming a new bullet into a cleaned, resized, primed, and powder-charged cartridge case. Crimping “generally” refers to the act of bringing the neck of the cartridge case back to proper dimension after that bullet is stuffed in. There’s a lot more to both actions, especially if you want to be safe, so let’s take a closer look at both steps.

Premium self-defense ammo can cost over a buck a round. With this in mind, we decided to run Remington’s HTP 9mm through the wringer. Going price is about $23 per box. However, that’s a box of 50 rounds, not the usual 20 for most self-defense ammo. That works out to about 45 or so cents a round, less than half the price of other self-defense ammo.

When my editor gave me the opportunity to try out the new A350 XTrema Max5 from Beretta, I was happy to oblige. The last Beretta shotgun I looked at here was a prima donna – the Beretta 692 Sporting B-Fast over and under. While that one was certainly made to shoot and admire, I might have a little heartburn tossing it into a John boat in the middle of January. This 3.5-inch, 12 gauge A350 Xtrema Max5 model is all about maintaining a working gun reputation, but that doesn’t mean it skimps on classic Beretta features.

As I examined this new Canik, I was thinking “Is this gun really the giant-killer that people who are much more tactical and cool than me are calling it?” Well, I set out to determine that for myself.