The Truth About Guns

The Sako Safari is a gorgeous brute of a gun, a traditional dangerous-game rifle that will stop a charging…well, anything on Earth dead in its tracks. This gun would probably be my answer to Monday’s Question Of The Day, if I had my druthers. Nick and I both got to shoot it, but I think I flinched the best so it’s my video and not his that’s headed for YouTube immortality . . .

Even if you ignore the recoil (and that’s a assuming a lot) this gun isn’t for everyone. The rifle itself weighs nearly ten pounds empty, and costs at least

Aside from a ridiculous titanium Webley, the Korth .357 could well be the world’s most expensive production revolver. It costs . . . Price On Request. The salesman said the Combat model cost “something over $3k.” Why? “The frame, crane and even the sideplate are completely milled from drop forgings. All components are subjected to a proprietary process to achieve a surface hardness of up to 60 HRc (Rockwell c scale). Approximately 600 individual operations are required to manufacture one revolver. Of these operations, only about 30% are actual machine work. The rest, all of 70%, are true ‘man-hours’: Hand work, fitting, inspectio

Dan took a picture of Mr. Colion Noir and me today. The image (not shown) proves that there are some people in this world who are genetically destined for public adulation (Colion Noir, Kirsten Joy Weiss) and some who aren’t (Dan Zimmerman and me). Colion’s stock continues to rise, as the garrulous gun guy prepares for the debut of his new panel-based talk show Noir. Before testing a carbon fiber Proof Research rifle barrel, Colion showed me the show’s “sizzle reel.” It reminded me of nothing so much as Top Gear‘s in-studio schmoozing, with plenty o’ pithy guest gun snark. In other words, it’s a hit! The program will run on the NRA’s website starting next mont

Johnny, one of Kevin’s friends and subsequently one of mine, is part owner of a new silencer company called OSS Silencers. Their whole shtick is that the cans don’t increase back pressure, don’t blow any crap into your face, and can be tuned to either increase or even decrease the cyclic rate of the host firearm. Which is pretty nuts. I had the chance to try one of these puppies out for the first time on H&K’s 5.56 AR-15, and from the small test I had it seems to work flawlessly. Oh, and the gun is nice too.

Earlier today, the post-Newtown Newtown Action Alliance protested the gun industry’s unwillingness to throw the Second Amendment under the bus. They did so by demonstrating in front of the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s HQ – at the same time that all the NSSF big wigs (and 60k of their friends) are attending the 2014 SHOT Show in Las Vegas. The tightly-gathered-for-the-photo-op group singularly failed to make a fuss in Sin City, choosing instead to make their empty rhetoric in front of an empty building to empty-headed mainstream media minions. “We’re asking for them not to aggressively market guns to children and we’re asking for them to stop marketing assault weapons in an aggressive way,” said Dave Stowe. “They also say they want NSSF to join them in aggressively seeking a federal background check for all private gun sales,” wtnh.com added. What’s wit

This rifle is the runaway winner of the “What? You Mean It’s Not For Sale?” heartbreaker prize at this year’s Media Day At The Range. The Sako TRG is a multi-caliber precision rifle system, and it absolutely blew our minds. Even though (boo!) we didn’t get to shoot it . . .

With appropriate conversion parts, the user can switch the TRG chassis between .308, .300 Win. Mag. and .338 Lapua. Without tools. Actually that’s not quite true. It does require a few hex keys and a spanner wrench, but said tools are all part of the gun itself.

The crucial hex key is actually recessed into the bolt handle shown here. This hex key lets you remove the fore-end panel, which itself contains all the other hex keys you need to completely service t

It’s the dream of (almost) every AR-15 owner: having a selector switch that goes “all the way” to full auto. And while it’s possible to own, it’s extremely expensive and a massive bureaucratic nightmare. Enter the 3MR trigger from TAC-CON, which goes “all the way to 11″ and enables a nifty assisted reset feature that gets you to within a hair’s breadth of the trigger reset. It’s great if you want to fire really really fast, but it takes some practice to get used to the trigger. But man, when you do, it’s almost indistinguishable from full auto. Except it takes a lot more work and a lot less paperwork.

“Where’s the -” “It’s not here,” the Remington rep interrupted. For reasons left unexplained, the “this is what GLOCK should have built” Remington R51 single-stack 9mm was not in attendance at the SHOT Show Media Day. The no-show was quite odd given the buzz surrounding the new pistol, and the fact that Remington junketed journos into the hinterlands to run the gun ahead of SHOT (not including TTAGers, for some reason). “It’ll be here tomorrow,” the Remington guy promised. “At the booth.” Meanwhile, I got a chance to fire ye olde (in internet terms)

While we were only able to put seven rounds through it today – and they were .38s at that – Smith’s skilled custom smithies have turned out one seksi shootin’ iron. In their original press release, Smith referred to their Performance Center-made beauty as “a high-end personal protection revolver.” That’s kinda like saying a Bugati Veyron is a nice way to bop on down to the market for a gallon of milk. If there’s a more elegant way to tote seven rounds of .357 wheel gun-delivered dissuasion with a slicker-than-snake-snot action, we can’t think of it. And all for a comparatively reasonable

It looks like everything is still all smiles and rainbows at Armalite after being rolled in with McMillan and Surgeon to form one massive rifle manufacturing company. This year’s new offering is the AR-31, a scaled down version of their AR-50 rifle that uses the same detachable magazines that work in their semi-auto AR-10 rifles. It feels great and works great, except for the trigger. It still feels square and slightly sharp, just like on the AR-30 rifle introduced last year, and the AR-50 before that. I’ve made my displeasure known, because but for that issue it looks like a good rifle . . .

Remington unveiled their new 20/20 rifle a few weeks back, and for the first time we’ve been able to put our hands on the gun and see how it functions. And while it might just be that TrackingPoint’s real deal has spoiled me for life, I’m not a big fan . . .

The rifle I shot was a long action Remington 700 in .30-06 Springfield, and the only difference between this rifle and the bog standard Remington 700 is the scope. Just like the Burris Eliminator that came out years ago, it gives you a range to the target and adjusts your point of aim accordingly.

The only real difference between this scope and the Eliminator is that (A) the ammo is matched to the gun, so you have a more

First and foremost I apologize — we could not, in fact, shoot it. The guys running the booth had no ammo for it, or so they claimed. However, we did get a chance to heft it about and fondle the rifle, and it feels pretty damned good. For a semi-auto .338 Lapua rifle, that is . . .

There’s no doubt that the rifle is lightweight. In fact, I’m pretty sure that the scope is the heaviest component on the gun. Ever

“The Corps promulgated a regulation generally forbidding possession of a firearm and other arms (with exceptions for hunting and use at authorized ranges) on land it controls, including 700 dams and associated recreation areas,” armsandthelaw.com writes re: Morris v. US Army Corps of Engineers, D. Idaho, Jan. 10, 2014. “The court strikes down the regulation on 2A grounds. The court reasons that the regulation affects the core Heller right of self-defense, and that possession in a tent is as protect

We ran into Team GLOCK member Michelle Viscusi (left) and the colorful Tori Nonaka (right). The ladies told TTAG they loved the GLOCK 42. No surprise there: it’s an incredibly soft-shooting, pocketable pistol. Sure it’s a .380 but if anyone has a chance of proper shot placement during a DGU it’s these competitors. At least in theory. . .

Think that the AR-15 rifle isn’t customizable enough? Well good news! The guys at MGI have come up with a rifle that allows you to swap barrels, calibers, and even magazine wells with only the aide of a small tool such as a golf tee. It’s not technically new — they were at SHOT last year — but it’s still cool and we haven’t tested one yet. But we’re working on that.

“A filmgoer irked that other audience members were texting at a Mark Wahlberg war movie opened fire [with an as-yet-unidentified-but-definitely-not-a-GLOCK .380] in a Florida theater Monday, killing a man and wounding a woman,” nbcnews.com reports. “The Grove 16 Theatre in Wesley Chapel, north of Tampa, was evacuated after the shooting about 1:20 p.m. ET. A male suspect was in custody thanks to the quick thinking of a good Samaritan who detained the man until authorities arrived, said Doug Tobin, a spokesman for the Pasco County Sheriff&#82

At long last, Surefire is introducing a dedicated .22LR silencer designed solely for the consumer market. Previous silencer products had been commercial runs of military contract silencers, but this one is designed from the ground up for anyone but LEO/MIL. The can comes apart for servicing and runs about $450 . . .

Also being introduced is a replacement slide assembly for the Block handgun, by Zevi. With Surefire’s branding, of course. No word on price or availability yet, but stay tuned.

I was I working this weekend and I got a call from the good people in Leander, Texas. They said they had a 16 inch 7.62 OBR in the works and they wanted money. Okay, no big deal. I can sell that.  But what he said next made me think that you probably won’t see many LaRue rifles for sale in the near future. . .

FC: what’s my price?
LaRue: 3399.95
FC: but I’m a dealer
LaRue: we’re not doing dealer pricing anymore
FC: thanks but no thanks.

Now, let’s get something straight.

I like Mark LaRue. He’s in business to make money as am I. They make a fine rifle at a price some people would consider insane but I appreciate a well built firearm and I love selling high end guns. It separates the men from the boys. I have nothing against their company.

The net effects to consumers and retailers are the following:

With the elimination of dealer disco

Reliably, every single day, the Gun Reviews section of the website is in the top 10 for most pageviews. Which makes sense, since that’s what we’re known for. Almost a year ago I wrote and implemented a program that would let our readers parse through the massive reviews database to find the specific review they’re interested in reading, and it has been a massive success so far having been used literally millions of times. And it gets better.

Today I’m releasing the latest version, which includes a text based search function. You can now narrow your search to only specific models and manufacturers and find reviews even easier. You can find it under the heading “Search Reviews” on the Gun Reviews page. There are also a ton of optimizations that have gone on behind the scenes, but I

Caracal, the company in the UAE who makes Robert’s favorite carry gun, is extending their line of firearms. After introducing a 9mm carbine last year, they’re back with a bolt action .308 rifle. And man, is it nice.

The rifle hits all of my needs for a good precision gun, and then some. Not only is the stock fully adjustable, but the trigger adjusts too. And you can dictate the amount of roll in the second stage independent of everything else, even. Its a level of customization that one normally doesn’t see in rifles.

The gun also take