Grips That Fit From Hamre Forge
Spotting a revolver in a law enforcement duty holster these days is extremely unlikely. You might find one being used by the “shield bearer” on a SWAT entry team if you look hard enough. Uncommon as they may be in overt uniform roles, revolvers still serve in important capacities for cops. Small, lightweight revolvers excel as backup guns due to their real-world reliability, ammunition insensitivity, and resistance to neglect. Their lack of sharp angles helps [...]
In Praise Of Small Guns
I’ve always thought the advice to “carry enough gun” was sound. After all, all handguns pretty much suck when it comes to “stopping power” (a term which can’t be defined and can’t be measured, but we all know what it means). Really, if you want “right there/right now” stopping power, [...]
Sights For Rusty Eyes
When Your Eyes Go Fuzzy And You Aren’t Ready For Optics Atop Your Handgun, There Are Still Options In (More Or Less) Conventional Sight Setups. Ya know, for a lot of us, it really is the eyes that go first. Opthamologist friends tell me that somewhere around age 40, we [...]
Reliability VS. Round Count
This has long been an issue in handgun selection. It remains so today and can take many forms. Back when I was a young cop in the early 1970’s, the service revolver was standard issue for most of American law enforcement. When most officers asked their bosses for autoloaders, or [...]
Reconsidering The .357 SIG
Mas Wasn't Crazy About This Bottleneck Blazer At First, But After A While... Did you ever meet people you didn’t like at first, but after a while, you discovered they had redeeming qualities? Was there ever a job you disliked at first, but after a while you became comfortable with [...]
A Special Purpose Wheelgun
Yes, Even An 8-Shot 9mm N-Frame Has Its Niche. Smith & Wesson’s Performance Center recently introduced an 8-shot N-Frame revolver chambered for the 9mm Luger cartridge. Its barrel with tapered underlug is almost 7 inches long counting the removable recoil compensator at the muzzle, it weighs 44.2 ounces, it’s more [...]
The Comfort Zone
The 1911 Not Only Abides, It Flat-Out Thrives. So here I am in the front seat of a van with a laptop on my lap, remembering the student who asked me yesterday why more training staff than not were wearing 1911 pistols, when we were obviously familiar with more modern [...]
Silent Service
Gould & Goodrich B897 Leather Holster. In the time of Kydex and other holsters, some makers cleave to the old ways and make scabbards of good old fashioned leather. This is not a bad thing, and a reminder was found in Gould & Goodrich’s new B897 Tension Belt Slide Holster. [...]
Ayoob’s Law Of Necessary Hypocrisy
Sometimes, You Just Have To Make Do With What You Know Is A Less Than Ideal Solution… In my decades on masthead staff at GUNS magazine, I’ve been privileged to work with many fine editors and, to my great and enduring relief, no bad ones. One of those editors was [...]
The Accidental Southpaw
You don’t need to be in a gunfight to injure your dominant hand or arm. It’s a contingency best prepared for ahead of time. A thread on one of my favorite Internet shooting forums brought back memories. Fella lost the ability to use his dominant hand for a while, and [...]