Guns

I often get asked by people what gun they should buy to carry. My answer is always the same. “Buy the gun that you will actually carry.” For most people that means a gun that fits into your front pocket. I would argue that for every one person who carries on the belt, that are at least ten who carry in the front pocket. The same thing goes for women when you compare on the body carry vs. purse carry. If you carry on the belt, all the power to you, but most of us find to be a giant pain in the butt, or waist, or armpit, or wherever else you might carry a firearm besides your pocket or purse. The problem with both pocket and purse, though, is that neither of them are good at distributing weight. And in the pocket, the thinner you are and the more form fitting your pants, the more the gun tends to stick out. Also, though a gun may be small and light, the cartridge may be too powerful to shoot the gun confidently.

Who makes the world’s most complete, most bad-ass combat shotgun? It is a question that will stir some heated debates. Pump guns almost always have a leg up over fickle automatics. Capacity is an issue. For civilians who don’t want to bother with registering an SBS, length is still a concern. Ultimately it comes down to two main discussion points: reliability and ergonomics. UTAS, makers of the UTS-15, hope to settle the debate once and for all. They’ve released an overhauled version of their bullpup that is shaking things up.

Mossberg’s MVP Patrol in 5.56 is a surprising rifle. The basic nature of this gun’s design makes it easy to use, and the two chamberings (5.56, and .308) make it a logical choice for preppers. If you’re looking for a compact rifle that shoots inexpensive ammo, and one that is imminently capable, check out the Mossbergs.

Polymer80 makes pieces and parts for the home rifle builder. If you’ve ever thought about finishing your own AR-15 lower, and avoiding all of the FFL paperwork, Polymer80 has a kit that is almost foolproof. And we’ve going built it, start to finish. Read the review…

[one_half padding=”0 0 0 0px”] Springfield Duel Contest [/one_half] [one_half_last padding=”0 0 0 0px”] [/one_half_last] Springfield Armory is winding down their August Duel promotion, but there are still ways to win. This week it is the XD(M) Full Size 9mm. Contestants can submit entries once an hour, every hour. And even if you don’t win [...]

General George S. Patton once called the M1 Garand the “best battle implement ever devised.” But was he correct? The run up to World War II saw a giant leap forward in technology for weapons of war. The jet airplane was invented for WWII. Of course the atomic bomb was invented for WWII. But more importantly, the weapons that saw the most combat, the infantry battle rifles of the war, changed considerably as well, worldwide. The SVT-40 never really got out of the gate due to the later popularity of the AK-47, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was an influential rifle on the Eastern front during the war, or the fact that it totally rocks. We got to test an actual 1943 SVT-40 side by side with an M1 Garand, and the results may surprise you.

When Savage called and asked if GunsAmerica would review one of their Youth rifles, I intended to do it right and have an actual kid do the shooting. Then they asked if they could send one in Muddy Girl. While this camo pattern won’t prevent boys from shooting it, I thought I’d try to find a girl who knew her way around guns. After a few phone calls, I lined up an 11 year old. But when the rifle arrived, it was a .308. How well can an 11 year old girl handle a .308?

While there are some 1911s out there that are less expensive, they are coming in from overseas. There’s something very American about the Mil-Spec which is, above all, a nod to a very American pistol. For that, Springfield Armory deserves a special kind of credit. Here’s an affordable American made homage to American history, one that can be both a nostalgic icon and a solid carry gun. Hard to beat that combination.

Gunslingers agree on very few things, but one of them is that bigger, longer guns are easier to shoot, and to shoot well. This is doubly true when you have to do a lot of shooting. Glock owners are a fierce bunch of gunslinging devotees, and now they have a Gen. 4 version of what is essentially a bigger, longer .45ACP Glock 21. This is the last of a competition trio that joins the G34, a long slide 9mm G17, and the G35, a long slide .40 G22. This new G41 has a barrel about .6 inches longer and it has about 3/4 inch more sight radius than the G21, but it actually comes in a couple ounces lighter.