The Truth About Guns

There’s a family fight brewing up in New Hampshire and like many inter-family fights, this one is getting nasty. At issue is SB 244, a proposed bill in the state senate that would require people with court-determined mental illness to be added to the NICS system as ineligible to purchase a gun from a FFL.  Specifically people who fall into the one of the following categories would have their gun purchase rights suspended . . .

• Found incompetent to stand trial
• Found not guilty by reason of insanity
• Having a court-appointed guardian
• Involuntarily committed to a mental health facility.

I chose the word, “suspended” very carefully because the proposed legislation also has a proscribed and unambiguous procedure by which a person can have their name removed from NICS once their mental heal

Jeff Creamer, SIG SAUER‘s Director of Product Management, was pleased as punch to be handed TTAG’s Readers Choice Award from Chris Dumm yesterday for their SB15 pistol stabilizing brace. The popular gizmo was intended to help disabled vets, but it ended up being a smash hit with more than its original intended audience. And from the looks of things, we may be back next year to hand them a different award — for the handgun category instead of accessories.

We spotted the Ruger 10/.22 Takedown at the SHOT show two years ago, and Bill Ruger’s stepchild has certainly thrived since then. While the scarce little rimfire is certainly not lacking in awesomeness, there’s something to be said for an adjustable-length buttstock. Especially on a rifle that’s so ideally suited to younger, smaller shooters. Don’t worry: Tapco is all over it . . .

Your fore-end rail mileage may vary, but never accuse Tapco of skimping on the Picatinny. MSRP for the tactical takedown stock is $119-ish. And that’s a direct quote.

Redfield is the down-market more affordable brand for Leupold’s scopes, and they’ve been expanding the line pretty comprehensively in the last few years. Their latest addition to the family is a high magnification scope designed for benchrest and long range shooting with a 6-18x magnification range. The scope features a parallax adjustment ring, 1/4 MoA elevation and windage adjustments and a MIL reticle . . .

It’s still a second focal plane scope, which for me is frustrating, but makes sense at this price point. The scope will run you about $299.

Any gun geek should know about Poland’s history of high-quality arms manufacturing, although few of us have seen more than their Beryls, Tantals, and the collectible Radom 1911 clones. This year Beryl and Radom are displaying their BRS-99 carbines and pistols, along with several other guns (not pictured) which you and I will never see for sale. The BRS-99, however, has at least a tiny chance of making it here . . .

If you think you see a trace of UZI DNA in this design, you wouldn’t be mistaken. It’s a blowback 9mm carbine or pistol, modified from the original Polish subgun. It’s already for civilian sale in Canada (go figure) and its being imported into the US in limited numbers, but no US civilian distributor is lined up. That’s never a good sign.

Redfield contines to impress us with their lineup of working-class AR optics, including their new ‘Accelerator’ mini red-dot. This $199 (MSRP) unit will mount on carbines, shotguns and lots of handguns. But it won’t ship until May of this year. Details are few (grrr….), but a 6 MOA water-resistant micro red dot with a U.S. warranty could be a great aiming solution for those of us who need day jobs. 

One of my main complaints about the Tavor SAR was the trigger. It’s about average in terms of bullpup triggers, which means terrible when compared to a nice AR-15. Timney’s a company that makes triggers for every firearm under the sun, and they’ve just released their latest creation  –  a drop-in trigger for the Tavor SAR. To say that the difference between the stock trigger and Timney’s version is night and day is an understatement. The only quibble left is that there’s a touch more over-travel than I’d like, but the crisp, clean and light break means that all is once again right with the bull pup world. Needless to say we’ll review one of these ASAP.

“Teachers who obtain 24 hours of additional training could carry concealed handguns in schools under [legislative bill 879] introduced Tuesday in the Nebraska Legislature,” omaha.com reports. “The bill would create a ‘level II’ concealed carry permit that would require the holder to undergo training in addition to the roughly eight hours for a standard permit. The additional training would include best practices for active shooter situations, weapons retention methods and techniques related to barricading and evasion. The g

As in most of the rest of the country, trusts are commonly used in Virginia to acquire and possess NFA items such as automatic firearms, suppressors, and AOW. However, Virginia has a specific law with regard to machine guns that they must be registered with the Virginia State Police in addition to whatever ATF paperwork may be involved. That adds an unfortunate twist to a seemingly straightforward situation. According to then-Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a trust cannot register a machine gun under Virginia’s Uniform Machine Gun Act. . .

This situation was brought to light in answer to a letter from Colonel W.S. Flaherty, Superintendent of the Virginia State Police to the AG. In the letter, Superintendent Flaherty asked, in part, “whether a trust may register a machine gun in Virginia under the Uniform Machine Gun Act (the ‘Act’).” Cuccinelli’s response (pdf), dated November

“They’re going to wish they weren’t alive after I’m done with them” movie producer Harvey Weinstein [not shown] speaking to shock jock Howard Stern, quoted in Harvey Weinstein to Take Aim at NRA in New Movie [via swampland.time.com]

As I said in my review, the Tavor SAR is the perfect rifle for the job it was designed to do. If you want a home defense gun or a rifle for CQB scenarios, there is no finer option. Apparently our readers agreed, and bestowed the first Best Rifle of the Year award on the Tavor SAR. Accepting for IWI were Michael Kassnar, IWI VP of sales and marketing (above left) and IWI’s head man Shlomi Sabag (above center). I had the pleasure of handing the hardware to them this afternoon and Michael immediately hung it on the wall of the booth. And I dare say it looks smashing.

Adams Arms is a relatively new player in the AR-15 market, but they’re already making waves. Their guns use a piston system that’s dead simple to use, and their guns come set up pretty much the way you’d want them kitted out. Now they’re adding a new competition rifle to their lineup with the COR.

The rifle comes standard with Diamondback’s new flip-up offset sight, a Hiperfire trigger (which is pretty sweet), and Magpul furnature. Not to mention the lightened bolt carrier and operating parts for a quicker cycling acti

Star Wars fans know the score: “Do. Or do not. There is no ‘try’.” So when Team Taurus shooter Jessie Duff says she’ll try to blog for TTAG on a weekly basis, and underscores the word “try,” ours is not to wonder why. Ours is to do or die. Which is NOT the ethos Ms. Duff brings to this website. Still, Jessie is one of the smartest, funniest and most attractive women on planet earth, and she shoots pretty well too. We’ll take what we can get and say boy, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Which is literally true. If you’ve got questions of ideas for Ms. Duff’s initial posts hereabouts pop them below and we’ll try to get her to read them. See what I did there?

We’ve reviewed Black Rain Ordnance’s firearms before, and they have fared very favorably. Which is to say that I loved it and dreaded the day it needed to go back. Now, BRO is introducing their Model 602, a bolt action rifle based on an action that BRO has designed from the ground up. Everything from the barrel shank to the bolt face has been designed by BRO to their specs, and there’s a ton of customizable features.

The rifles aren’t even complete yet — this is a prototype, serial number one — but they should ship sometim

Tucked away in a corner of the ground floor of the SHOT show was a small but visually impressive display by Cabot Guns. I thought I had struck gun blogger gold and immediately took some photos of the some of the most beautiful 1911s I had ever laid eyes on. Of course, when I mentioned my achievement to Nick Leghorn a few hours later, he rolled his eyes and informed me that our very own Robert ‘Tex” Farago had blogged the latest Cabot ballistic eye candy a few days earlier. Undaunted, I am posting these pics anyway, because I hate to see perfectly good images go to waste . . .

For some situations, an AR-10 in 308 Winchester just isn’t enough gun. If you feel the need to stretch your legs and shoot out to 1,000 yards and beyond, but with quick follow-up shots, you need Miller Precision Arms’ new .300 Win Mag AR-10 style rifle.

The gun may be 80% parts compatible with existing AR-15 and AR-10 parts, but the oeprating mechanisms are all new. The magazines are stretched and polymer walled, but with an aluminum base plate and 10 round capacity. The barrel is a cut rifling Krieger barrel tailored to your desired length. The camo p

There’s no denying that the BAR is a dead sexy design. And if not sexy, then at least iconic. The guys at Ohio Ordnance Works realized this and have re-engineered John Browning’s iconic design for the modern age. The new design knocks a whole bunch of weight off the gun, increases the cooling capability, and makes it more accurate. They say that it’s 1 MoA all the way to 1,000 yards, but we’ll need to test that out for ourselves.

They’ve also re-engineered the magazines to have a 30 round capac

Chassis are heavy and expensive, but for long range accuracy they’re essential pieces of equipment. Especially chassis that give you the ability to adjust your gun to fit your body. KRG has been making chassis for long range rifles for a few years now, and they’re introducing a hybrid polymer and aluminum chassis that will not only cut down on weight but also the price.

The X-Ray Chassis is an adaptation of their existing top seller, and is interchangeable with many of the existing parts. It is built off the same aluminum spine as the other chassis, but where the original has an aluminum construction this one uses polymer. It allows for more recoil reduction and weight reduction, while at the same time giving the rifle the same rigid platform so it works perfectly.

The chassis will be available for the Remington 700 short action and Tikka T3 action initially, with more coming down the road.

Taking the title for best new ammo for 2013 as voted by you, the people of the gun, was Lehigh Defense and their intimidating 220 gr. .45 Long Colt rounds for the Taurus Judge and Smith Governor. Lehigh’s Rich Brauer was only too happy to accept a little something for his office wall. if you want to see what impressed the readership (and terrifies bad doods) so much, make the jump . . .

If Nick hates gun makers that change one minor thing and call it a new gun, he won’t be happy with the “new” Ruger LCRx. Why? All they’ve done is add a swept-back hammer spur so you can cock this eminently light, pocketable pistol and shoot it in single action if you fancy that. At least for now, you can only get a hammerized .38 version (+P rated). Same Hogue monogrip, same 1.875″ barrel, same great friction-reducing cam trigger. And no extra charge for that hammer spur – the LCRx has the same $529 MSRP as its hammerless sibling. Snubbies über alles!