Gun Nuts

After doing this test, I’ll never hesitate to recommend a Troy Battlemag to an end user. Those damn things are tough as nails.

One of the new products for 2016 that I’m legitimately interested in is LiNQ from Crimson Trace. In simple terms, it brings the best feature of Crimson Trace’s laser grips, instinctive activation, to the world of AR15 pattern rifles. How does it do this? Dark sorcery Science. Here’s Crimson Trace’s explanation:

LiNQ™ combines a green laser sight and 300-Lumen LED white light with Instinctive Activation™ for AR-Type Modern Sporting Rifles. Utilizing a secure, individual connection, LiNQ offers complete wireless control of the laser and light module. The replacement grip is ergonomically designed for quick activation and mode changes, eliminating the need to reach for the rifle’s forend to operate.

Bluetooth in guns? What a fascinating modern age we live in. Hit up Crimson Trace’s website for more information.

Last night at Badlands Gun Range I ran the Springfield Armory Range Officer through the 10-8 Performance Function Test. The gun had a total of 3 failures to complete its cycle of operations during the test, meaning that it did fail. I shot an additional 200 rounds through the gun with no issues of any type. What does this mean? Not much, the gun clearly wants to have a magazine in it to function, other than that? No issues. We’ll see over the next 1750 rounds!

A million years ago, while the earth was still cooling, the California Highway Patrol made the decision to switch away from their .357 Magnum caliber revolvers to a modern semi-automatic pistol. In mid-1990, CHP officially selected the 4006 from Smith & Wesson as their duty, and 25 years later it’s still soldiering on in the holsters of over 7,500 sworn personnel.

I recommend competitive shooting, specifically action pistol type matches, to anyone with a CCW.  But there is always apprehension in people’s eyes.  What will they encounter?  Are they good enough?  Will they be laughed at?  Judged?  Yelled at?  With that in mind, here is a brief synopsis about what you can expect at your first match.

In the last couple of weeks a few instances of…well, idiocy is the best description I can proffer at the moment…made semi-national news. They are excellent examples of what The Tactical Professor would call “Negative Outcomes” that result from people who made the decision to keep a firearm handy but apparently did not bother to make the same effort to educate themselves about the law. Or, one could argue, apply any common sense.

Christmas is upon us.  A joyous time with hopes of peace and goodwill to all men; unfortunately that sentiment isn’t shared with everyone.  Criminals still abound during the Christmas Season.  So with that in mind I thought I would give everyone something to remember if the worse happens and you are confronted with evil.

Yesterday afternoon, the internet exploded when a custom gunsmith posted a cease and desist letter he received from Smith & Wesson’s outside counsel to instagram. Here are screencaps of the entire letter (more below the jump):

As I continue to work my way through the PT1911 Torture Test, I find I really genuinely enjoy shooting the Taurus. All-steel SAO gun with a good trigger in 9mm equals fun, and I can really drive this gun hard. On bill drills I’ve had splits down in 0.15 range, so…shooting it is pretty easy.

New for 2016, the Wilson Combat/Beretta 92G Compact Carry features sought after custom Beretta parts and features, specially selected by Bill Wilson to enhance performance as a concealed carry pistol.

After getting some feedback from viewers/readers on the PT1911 going through the 10-8 Function Test, I wanted to show how a modern service pistol performs on the same evaluation. So I ran my carry gun through the same evaluation, which is passed with flying colors.

The point of this is to point out that the test isn’t biased in any way to make guns fail. I’ve had Colt 1911s that have passed it, and I’ve had other guns that have failed it. The point of the test is primarily to evaluate how you gun will function under specific adverse conditions. Most telling are how your gun functions when you “limp wrist” it; I’m weird in that I believe that a gun I’m going to bet my life on should function even if I don’t have the most perfect grip ever. Sometimes things go topsy turvey in self-defense situations, and I want my gun to function reliably if my hands are slippery, or for whatever reason I can’t get a perfect master grip.

A few days back I posted about the rumors that have gone round the internet about Taurus purchasing Colt machining to start their 1911 production. At the time, I reached out to Taurus directly to see if they could shed some light on the situation; due the holidays and how busy everyone is prepping for SHOT Show, it took a bit for them to get back to me. I spoke with their PR/Marketing Director, Tim Brandt via email, and on the topic he had this to say:

Waco, Texas. A town that most people have only seen from I-35 traveling between Austin and D/FW.  It is a town my wife and I recently begin to visit on day trips because we discovered fun activities for the kids and lots of good food to eat.  But a recent incident in Waco, that was captured on video, was not fun and games and it sets a prime example of what NOT to do.

If you are a serious shooter you probably already know who Dawson Precision is; but if you don’t, you should.  Below are two fine examples of why I recommend them first, and no, they do not sponsor me.  Each time I have bought their products it has been with my own money,  and been impressed time and time again.  They have earned by business the old fashion way – Quality and Service.

Lately the US military’s push for a “Modern Handgun System” (aka MHS) has come under some fire from Capitol Hill for absurd levels of expense. It’s worth noting that MHS has been floating around in some form or another for about a decade now, and as yet without result. Although it looks like this time they are actually going to solicit samples and a number of manufacturers have already introduced potential candidates for the contract. You can expect at least one more potential candidate to debut at SHOT.