Feature Articles

The wares at our local gun emporia are beginning to look a bit repetitive, my friends. There are AR15 variants for every taste, proclivity, and budget. The counters are awash to their gunwales in plastic pistols. There’s the obligatory smattering of scatterguns, precision rifles, and wheelguns, but that really is about it.

We hunters, especially those of you – who like me – enjoy carrying a bolt-action rifle for big game, owe a helluva lot to a German gentleman named Mauser. Peter Paul von Mauser, to be specific. A brilliant designer, Herr Mauser gave us not only the 7×57 and 8×57 cartridges, but the Gewehr 98 rifle, which would set the standard for bolt-action rifle reliability that stands to this day. The Mauser name – synonymous in the firearms world with the reputation that German engineering has secured – is one that hunters have come to rely on for a century and a quarter.

Several weeks ago I was walking around my favorite gun store, BMC Tactical in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when I saw a fancy looking Glock lower frame sitting in a plastic jig. “What is that?” I inquired. [one_half] [/one_half][one_half_last] [/one_half_last] The clerk working the gun counter pulled the assembly out of the case and explained that [...]

Yes, you read that correctly. IWI, a long time leader in bullpup design, now has a shotgun in the lineup and we spent time with it on the range. Given the history of the Tavor family of weapons, it should come as no surprise that the Tavor TS-12 is also a bullpup. The standard 18-inch barrel gives an overall length of 28-ish inches, keeping everything just above board for legal purposes.

Hunting styles vary greatly across our country, with spot-and-stalk in the west, sitting on stands in the east, corn feeders in the south and even deer run with dogs in certain states. Travel outside of our borders, and you can find an even wider variety of methods, not to mention specific customs, traditions, and expectations. What may seem natural to you or I can seem completely against the grain in a foreign land.

The Nazi’s inability to conquer Europe wasn’t their only failure of the Second World War. They also failed to invade Russia, exercise basic humanity, march-like normal people, and a host of other blunders. Suffice it to say that in 1,000 years they won’t be remembered as successful, virtuous, or honorable.

It is not often I find a firearm that actually changes my core preferences. Being a soldier is a strange mix of knowing when and where to adapt, without falling prey to every new whiz-bang improvement that comes down the line. It’s safe to say the SIG Sauer P320 X5 has me trading in my other favorite polymer pistols.

One of the hottest firearms introductions of 2017, announced at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas, was undoubtedly Mossberg’s 590 Shockwave, which was originally chambered in 12 gauge. Right on its heels came Remington with the 870 Tac-14, another wildly popular defense shotgun, and yet another confirmation of the worth of a compact shotgun that can be had without climbing a Mount Everest of bureaucratic red tape.

Today, we finally get to talk about the new XD-S Mod 2. This is a difficult gun for me to review, for a number of reasons. First, I have said about all there is to say about the Gen 1 XD-S. I have carried the 3.3 model since 2013, and I reviewed the 4-inch model.