Tactical

This is an exercise in compromise to be sure. Reducing the cutting power of the knife increases its concealability (and vice versa). We’ve got two neck knives, one pocket folder, one ankle rig and one boot knife. Which would you carry and why?

Mechanical systems like small arms evolve in response to myriad forces both industrial and martial. Somebody has an idea that seems to work, and that idea is tweaked, adjusted, and improved over time until it becomes something better, more reliable, and more efficient. The astute student of modern small arms, however, can generally tease out the origins of a mechanism with a little study.

Imported to the United States exclusively by the Italian Firearms Group, the Urban Sniper sports a relatively short (for a long-range precision platform) 20-inch bull barrel. Even with that shorter barrel, the Urban Sniper isn’t a lightweight at 8.75 pounds, though few of today’s long-range rifles are exactly nimble. It is also very accurate, has a great trigger and fits on the shoulder well.

Krytos has run multiple slides past the 100,000 cycle test without issues. While not common, that is about the point you see steel slides start to crack. By that, I meant that it doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. In testing, they plugged the barrel, fired a round, and the slide survived to continue shooting.

For this review, I have chosen some gear that is better than shoving two 9mm cartridges into your ears but not quite the investment of electronic plugs or muffs. With that, here are my top five nonelectronic hearing protectors.

The Walther MPL is the ultimate example of a general utility submachine gun. In the roles filled by the wartime German MP40, American Grease Gun, Russian PPSh, and British Sten the MPL is quite literally ideal. The rate of fire is slow, and the gun is rugged and simple. By contrast, the MP5 fires much faster and is really a specialist’s weapon. In the hands of a trained operator, the MP5 puts a swarm of zippy little 9mm bullets into teacup-sized groups at bad breath ranges. When employed in a swamp or powdery desert environment, however, the complexity of the MP5 becomes a liability.

The G-42 and G-43 are Glock’s concealed carry optimized single stack pistols in .380 and 9mm. Both models have been highly successful, Glock recently produced the one-millionth Glock 43. That is a lot of happy Americans and bears closer examination. Glock claims that the G-43 was the most highly desired and anticipated release in GLOCK’s history.

Over the last 9 months of testing, the SIG MCX VIRTUS has proven to be a very reliable and useful weapon. In its 5.56 configurations, we saw it run in all weather conditions over the winter, a 2000 rounds suppressed test and many other shenanigans. The most impressive part to me was that we had a multi-configurable rifle, that consistently shot ½ MOA groups. This week, we finally got the long awaited 300 AAC barrel.

Following the Vepr pattern, the Legacy Sports Citadel RS-S1 is compatible with many Vepr-12-specific parts including magazines and furniture.