Guns America

You do not have to make your gun go bang to improve your shooting. This is good news because often you cannot go to the range and sometimes you just cannot afford ammo. Dry practice, practice with your firearm without ammunition, is a viable training tool and can help you master many aspects of the defensive handgun.

To help you find the perfect gifts this year, we have compiled a list of gift ideas for gun-loving women at various price levels. There are items for under $25, gifts in arrange of $25 to $50, and big gifts for over $50. Before we get to our recommendations, here is a tip: Get her a gift that is for her and her gun only. Translation: if you get to shoot it, shoot at it, or somehow carry your gun in it – it’s not the right choice.

We asked our writers to select the best holiday gifts for shooters, based on their extensive experience. There are gifts for less than $25, gifts priced between $25 and $50, and special gifts priced above $50. They range from accessories and apparel to scopes and guns -- and even one really big gift!

By Paul Helinski For urban combat and self defense, many would argue that there is no better choice in a firearm than a pistol-caliber carbine. It has almost no recoil or muzzle rise, little muzzle flash and plenty of punch to get the job done in close quarters. The H&K MP5 is legend when it [...]

When you think of laser sights, you think of Crimson Trace. A pioneer in civilian and law enforcement aiming tools, Crimson Trace has earned its place at the top by providing high-quality products at reasonable prices for a wide variety of firearms. Now, when I say ‘reasonable prices’, I don’t mean cheap. A decent laser sight for your pistol has been a decision that would set you back a few hundred bucks easily, making it a hard purchase to justify for a lot of folks. For 2013 however, Crimson Trace has created a new model line to address the market for a lower-cost but fully functioning laser sight. At a list price between $129 and $149, or roughly the price of a good set of night sights, you can now equip your self-defense handgun with an easy-to-use laser. it is currently available for all Glock and Springfield Armory XD/XD-M handguns, as well as the Ruger LCP and most Smith & Wesson and Taurus J-Frame and small revolvers.

By Wayne Lincourt If you like small guns, you’ll find the Bond Arms derringer both capable and versatile. Its capabilities stem from the fact that it’s not as punishing to shoot as you might expect. In fact, controllability and shootability are very good with every caliber shot for this review. Its versatility stems from the [...]

SHOT Show may be still over a month away, but there are several distributor shows before SHOT where the new products for the year sometimes start to leak out. Here are a few that we found that seemed interesting, and that aren’t any info-embargo until 2014. Some of them are actually available now, or soon, so if you see something that you’d like to be one of the first owners of, be sure to ask your local gun dealer to get in touch with their distributors for a pre-order. We hope that 2014 will not be as crazy as 2013, because 2013, though very busy for guns, saw an unprecedented attack on our 2nd Amendment rights, and one that we barely escaped from unscathed. Going into SHOT Show last year was really scary, and President Obama actually gave his gun control address on the 2nd day of SHOT, that Wednesday morning. Hopefully that stuff is over for now, and we can just enjoy all of the new and useful guns and gun gear for 2014. Stay tuned for reviews of some of these products below, and we’ll again be bringing you two weeks of live coverage from the SHOT Show 2014 floor, with our host, Julie M

This November 22nd will be 50 years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The shooting itself has been the subject of movies, documentaries and countless books and articles; the legitimacy of any of them, including the official government explanation, called the Warren Report, is not within our purview to say. But we thought it would be cool to try to find one of the rifles that came from the same batch as Oswarld's supposed murder weapon, and see what it looks like close up, and how it actually shoots. The 6.5mm Carcano we were able to find is serial-numbered C4880, and Oswald's was C2766. That puts it only a couple thousand rifles away in the production line, and our test rifle has the original scope mount and scope found on Oswald's as well, almost exactly like the rifle/scope combo he bought out of the February 1963 American Rifleman ad from Kleins for $19.99. We don't know if the parts were originally on this gun and that they were part of that small batch of imports for Kleins, but it s

The finer things in life are sometimes just those things that technology can’t capture. If a gun is a classic, like the 1911, modern updates are great to carry an effective design forward. But there is a magic to the old guns that Cerakote and Picatinny rails can’t match for some. Doug Turnbull has been restoring classic 1911s, cowboy guns and classic shotguns for decades, with the correct bluing, case coloring and even the original roll engravings. If you missed our first article on Turnbull restorations, you really should read it. The problem with the old guns, though, is that there are only so many of them that are good candidates for restoration. And for 1911s, the further we get from the year 1911, the more any 100% original gun will be worth, regardless of condition. That is why Doug decided to bring the 1911 into his family of newly manufactured firearms, a list that includes the Winchester 1886, Colt Peacemaker style revolvers, and we recently reviewed the Turnbull steel version of t

By Robert Campbell Before there was a Sig P226 or a Beretta M92 there was a the Browning High Power. It was made by Fabrique Nationale in Belgium, and was designed by John Moses Browning, also the inventor of the 1911. The high power is different from the the 1911 because the first shot is [...]

By Chris Hickory Apex Tactical https://apextactical.com/mptrigger The Smith & Wesson M&P pistol needs no introduction at this point. Since its introduction the M&P has been one of the best striker fired guns in the market. An oddity about the gun is one of few complaints that you hear from competitors who shoot the M&P in [...]

There is no shortage of variations in the training methods and doctrines employed when it comes to the defensive handgun. Shooting schools are operated all across the country, police academies are in every state, and thousands military personnel are trained at various levels and locations. The only thing these different educational processes really have in common is that they place an emphasis on getting hits. Beyond that you will find differences, some subtle, some drastic. These differences apply to not just the doctrine that is taught but to the methods of instruction. The point of this article is not to offer one method or doctrine as the best, but to make you think about a few things that many defensive handgun instructional programs do the same. It seems to me that these programs make some mistakes. Here are some of what I consider the most common and egregious errors.

Sturm Ruger & Co. knew back in 2009 that they needed to be in the semi-auto rifle market with more than just the Mini-14. They wanted an AR-15-type rifle, but soon discovered that the“Mil-Spec” AR-15 left a lot to be desired. A standard AR sends its hot gases back to the bolt, pushing on the bolt carrier and opening it for the next shot. This makes for a very hot and very dirty bolt group after only a few rounds, and this can and does hurt both short and long term reliability. So while most of the market was busy copying the standard AR-15 design with their own branded product, Ruger decided to take the less beaten path, and create their own design. That design was the SR-556, in 5.56 NATO, or .223 Remington. Instead of just gas, the 556 employed a rod to move the bolt, this rod rode above the barrel, and was controlled by an adjustable gas block. The design is very similar to the rifle that used to be called “the right arm of the free world,” the FN-FAL. This new Ruger rifle contained the gas/rod system of the FAL, yet had the weight advantage and ergonomics of the AR-15. Out of the ga

By Justin Opinion Ladies, have you ever been advised to “just use a revolver” because you have trouble racking the slide on a semi-automatic handgun? Men, ever feel frustrated that you can’t grip the slide as firmly as you once did? Ladies in particular have often been advised away from the semi-auto handgun because they [...]

I first heard about the Kimber Solo from the new gun reports coming out of the 2011 SHOT show.  At the time it was big news and I was really intrigued to hear that a major manufacturer, which I only knew from its reputation in building high grade .22 rifles in the 1990’s and high end 1911-pattern pistols, was jumping into the increasingly crowded pocket pistol market.  I was even more interested when I learned more about the Solo and discovered it was a single action striker-fired pistol with a good set of sights, ambidextrous manual safety and magazine release.  As a fan of all pocket 9mm pistols, I made a mental note to watch my local shops and check one out as quickly as possible.Eventually, one of the largest Kimber dealers in our area received a Solo demonstration pistol.  I had a chance to handle the pistol and really liked the way it felt in my hand.  Constructed from stainless steel and aluminum, the all metal pis

by Bob Campbell The Walther P 38, caliber 9mm, was one of the most important handguns of World War II and became among the most influential pistols of the twentieth century. It earned a reputation for accuracy superior to most service pistols, and the P 38’s takedown lever made field maintenance and cleaning simple compared [...]

It was a huge surprise when this past Labor day weekend we started to hear that Springfield Armory had announced a recall on their XD-S series of concealed carry pistols If you are not familiar with the XD-S, it is a small, but not tiny, 45acp six shot, and this year Springfield brought out a 9mm eight shot, with the same external dimensions. The magic of the XD-S is ergonomics. The .45 shoots like a 9mm of any other brand, and the 9mm shoots like a .380 of any other brand. Springfield has never had a recall on any of their guns, so nobody knew what to expect. This article is something of an update, with the latest news, and we got to shoot a couple of the modified XD-S’s this weekend. An overview and review follow.This past Friday, October 18th, Springfield started shipping back the upgraded guns from the folks who had sent them in starting that first week in September, when we first sent out our notification. The guns will be upgraded in the order that they were received. Denny Reese, the Co-CEO of Springfield explained what’s going on with the upgrade process in an interview on Friday.

In a perfect world one gun will do everything you need. Well, the world isn’t perfect and who really only wants only one gun anyway? But a little FLEX’ability never hurts. When President Obama talked about people clinging to religion and guns, the gun he was probably talking about was the Mossberg 500 shotgun. If you are going to cling to a gun, the 500 isn’t the worst choice you could make, and it is probably the best. Last year Mossberg came out with a new addition to the 500 line, called FLEX, and it is indeed meant to bring a certain “FLEX’ability” to your Mossberg. At first glance you might think the various accessories in the pictures just screw on and off like normal hardware, but they do not. The FLEX system, in this first incarnation, is made up of three linkage systems. One is on the forend. Another is on the wrist of the gun, where the stock connects, and the third is on the butt of the stocks. With the FLEX system, one Mossberg 500 can be converted from a full length duck gun to a tricked out tactical to a bare bones pistol grip in about 30 seconds. Different recoil pads ad

The DoubleTap Tactical Pocket Pistol is an over/under break action derringer capable of delivering two rounds of 9 mm or .45ACP as fast as you can pull the trigger. It is sold as a simple and rugged option for deep concealment or backup. Make no mistake, this is not a range gun or plinker. It’s designed for one purpose and one purpose only – saving your life. We first saw the DoubleTap almost two years at SHOT Show 2012, but after some hiccups with manufacturing contracts and parts suppliers, the DoubleTap pistol is just now finding its way into the market. Our big question, and yours most likely, is the street practicality of the DoubleTap. The .45ACP is no kitten when it comes to recoil, and even though your followup shots are limited to one in the two shot pistol, an “ouch that hurts” after the first shot wouldn’t be the ideal in a concealed carry pistol. There are a lot of perfectly good pocket pistols on the market, and this gun has several red flags, as well as some outright user discomfort. At an MSRP starting at $499 for a two shot derringer, do we really need the DoubleTap?

There are a lot of guns in the market that gun nuts take for granted. They are basically good guns that have been around for a long time and sell a ton, yet they are really nothing special. But with all of the new shooters coming into the market, particularly women shooters, some old and extremely average guns are developing a dedicated following because they work, they fit great, and they are not expensive. Never one for big headlines, the Taurus TCP, also known as the Model 738, is a 10.2 ounce .380 6+1 that is carried by thousands of people every day, yet you rarely if ever see an interesting review or article on the gun. It is the lightest Taurus ever made, and since the arrival at Taurus of Mark Kresser and a new focus on consistency and quality control, the Taurus TCP deserves a fresh look. We asked our resident girl guru Carrie Lightfoot from The Well Armed Womanto take the gun for a spell, and have her whole crew shoot it and let us know what they think. Overall the gun did really well in the eyes of these very critical ladies, and they felt that the TCP was designed to be “just right” for the woman shooter. Here i