Feature Articles

I started thinking about my ideal qualities of an SHTF shotgun. You know, when the masses become all cranky and protesty because the Kardashians stopped doing reality TV. While pondering all the ways civilization could end, I came up with a list of ten things I really care about in a save-my-bacon and shoot-my-bacon shotgun.

In the American Revolution, the principle battle longarm was the Brown Bess musket. A musket is different from a rifle because it has no rifling, so the bullet doesn’t spin. The Brown Bess is .75 caliber, which is essentially an 11 gauge smoothbore shotgun, used to fire, historically, a cast .69 caliber lead ball weighing just over once ounce. The range on a Brown Bess is a couple hundred yards, but because the ball isn’t spinning, the musket wasn’t used as an aimed weapon past 20 yards or so. Companies of men fired batteries of musketfire to rain lead balls down upon the opposing force, hoping that someone would hit something. This would be followed by a charge with bayonets, because after a couple shots with traditional black powder (smokeless wasn’t invented until 125 years later), shooting a musket more than a couple times without cleaning can be difficult. This mode of war made for bloody battlefields, and a lot of hand to hand, in your face combat.

Fobus’s new tactical holsters are built to accommodate one gun with any of a wide range of lights or lasers–so if you’re having trouble making up your mind about options, you can still stick with the same holster. Talk about versatility….

Angled iron sights make a solid backup for traditional optics. They don’t take up much space and they make close target acquisition easy. Now XS Sight Systems has improved on the concept with low profile angled irons that include tritium. Read the review….

This is not a knife snob article. I am a big fan of cheap knives, and I don’t consider them really that inferior. To some degree, a knife is a knife is a knife. The point of this article isn’t cost or quality. My question is what style of knife or short sword is best for a survival situation. On one person you can carry a big knife and a little knife, and maybe an even bigger knife on your back, but coupled with a battle rifle, a pistol, ammo and supplies, a lot of blades sticking out of your form isn’t going to be a net positive. You have to choose, and choose well.

Henry makes guns that keep up the values established by the company’s namesake—traditional pistol caliber lever actions, mostly. These guns make versatile ranch guns, and are cowboy competitions. They’re adding to their catalog in a big way. If you are looking for an American made .30-30, or a hard hitting favorite .45-70, check out the new guns from Henry. These are hard-working lever actions, but miles away from the pistol calibers you might associate with the brand.

The AR pistol market got a huge shot in the arm when SIG released their arm brace. And the ATF had originally opined that shouldering the arm brace was beyond their control–an opinion that sold thousands of arm braces. Short barreled rifles became instantly irrelevant. But now, the ATF is singing a different tune, and offering a very different opinion. Read on…

FNH makes a competition shotgun? Indeed. The FNH SC-1 Over/Under is, you guessed it, a double-barrel beauty. It’s designed expressly for clays competition, although there is nothing about it that would discourage other uses. Personally, I wouldn’t hesitate to hunt ducks or geese with it. This is a versatile gun that can be tweaked for an exacting fit, and it is priced competitively, too.

When you think about it, we wear our guns a lot more than we shoot them, yet they are designed primarily for shooting. The new Taurus Curve fixes that. The grip on the gun is curved, so that when you were it on your hip or carry it in your pocket, the guns hugs the contour of your body. It is a 6+1 .380 ACP semi-automatic pistol with a consistent trigger pull for each shot. The MSRP for the introductory model is $392, and it will come with an integral LaserLyte light and laser combo built in. The Curve also comes with a Kydex pull-off trigger guard holster, and screwed onto the side of the gun is a steel clip for inside the waistband or inside a purse pocket carry.