The Truth About Guns

For ages, STI has dominated the competition handgun market. If you wanted an accurate and quick handgun, they were really the only game in town. Now Dan Wesson (distributed by CZ, or owned by by CZ, I can’t remember which) has come out with a competition grade 9mm handgun in their Elite Series Chaos 9mm. The double-stacked handgun feels pretty great — crisp trigger, smooth operation, and great sights — but the MSRP is right around $4,300. Pretty steep, but then again there are people with that kind of cash to throw around.

Well, I can honestly say I was glad I walked all the way to the end of the range yesterday, because the reps from Lancer were showcasing their new 7.62 x 51 L30 modern sporting rifle. And there was no line to shoot them. Bonus! I gotta say, I love me some carbon fiber: I once dropped a grand on a Dunhill carbon fiber fountain pen, so I was positively salivating over these beautiful precision rifles . . .

These rifles are available in five configurations: Heavy Metal, Designated Marksman, Long Range Tactical, Modern Battle Rifle, and Hunter. They feature ambidextrous bolt releases and oversized magazine release buttons.  They are designed to be used

Guns aren’t death rays, even with solid center-mass hits. A Houston homeowner is alive and safe after defending his home against a crazed robber Saturday night, because he kept shooting until the threat was neutralized . . .

From KHOU-Houston:

According to the Houston Police Department, the suspect smashed in the front window of the home, located in the 3300 block of Dennis near Sampson, with a piece of concrete. The incident happened just before 11 p.m.

Investigators said the homeowner heard the noise and grabbed his gun. He then saw the suspect at his front door.

The homeowner shot one time through the window, hitting the suspect in the stomach, police said. The suspect tried to get up and come after the homeowner, who then shot him a second time. The suspect was hit in the hand with the second shot.

The En

OK, stickers and hats are pretty typical items for swag here at the SHOT Show. But the ever-thoughtful folks at Knight’s Armament are going the extra mile and providing select SHOT Show attendees with PPDs. What, pray tell, is a PPD, you ask? . . .

Well, the KAC Personal Protection Device (“PPD”), is just the thing you need “when your life is on the line” here in Vegas. I can just hear someone shouting, “Cover me, I’m going in!” The tactical colors are a nice touch, but sadly  the “Magnum” versions are still in R&D. 

CNN is reporting that two people have been wounded in a school shooting in New Mexico. The 12 year old who committed the crime walked into school, whipped out a shotgun, and wounded two people before a staff member confronted him and stopped him. According to a terrified pre-teen witness that Piers Morgan was pumping for information the shooter had been bullied at school. No additional information was available at the time, but as a recent Washington Post article points out mass shootings are on the decline. Piers Morgan isn’t having any of it, and is currently interviewing a law enforcement officer who is flatly disputing Piers’ opinion that gun control is the only solution. One would think that the LEO would be the subject matter expert in this case, but obviously Piers’ years of experience in law enforcement is superior. Oh, wait…

This is not a hypothetical question. A mass shooting at a Portland, Oregon strip club ‘gentlemen’s club’ was brought to a screeching, bleeding halt by that supposedly nonexistent liberal bugaboo, the Good Guy With A Gun . . .

From KGW-TV:

Owners of a SE Portland strip club said a man who shot and wounded three people there Saturday night was denied entry because of belligerent behavior and racist comments, and returned about half an hour later armed with a gun and wearing a scary Halloween mask

The shooting happened just before 9 p.m. Saturday, when the gunman walked into the Mystic Gentleman’s Club at Southeast Stark Street and Southeast 99th Avenue and opened fire, said Sgt. Pete Simpson with Portland police.

The shooter hit three people, p

“I really love your blog,” the fresh-faced lad at the F4 Tactical booth said as if TTAG was a beloved pet. “I read it all the time in Afghanistan. Especially just after Newtown.” Oh great. What am I supposed to say? “I wouldn’t put that canister of pepper spray on my AR on a bet?” I bet you wouldn’t, either. So I slinked back to the Press Room and wrote it here. [Click here to watch the video.]

Like most things made in Germany, the Merkel RX Helix is an engineering marvel. The Merkel is the newest straight pull bolt action rifle on the market. What sets it apart from the crowd is the fact that the action uses cams to reduce the length of travel.  As an example, for a .300 Win Mag you only need to pull the hangle back 2.5 inches to get the bolt to move 4.5 inches.   I was really impressed how smooth and effortless it was to chamber and extract a round from the rifle. This is undoubtedly the fastest bolt action rifle I have ever handled, and second place finisher is not really close . . .

Another great feature of the Merkel is that you change barrels, calibers etc. without tools i

Featuring OSS Silencer’s new cans, the MR556SD and MR762SD will be shipping from the factory suprpessed and ready to go. Except you can’t buy one, because they’re LEO/MIL only. I suppose you could buy the relevant “civilian” versions of the guns and the cans and make one yourself… but why?

“A federal judge Tuesday granted the city the six months Mayor Rahm Emanuel said it needs to figure out where to allow gun shops in Chicago,” suntimes.com reports. “U.S. District Court Judge Edmond Chang said his decision balances the needs of the city to craft regulations with the public’s Second Amendment rights.” ‘Cause it’s really, really hard to figure out how to regulate private business selling legal products to legal buyers, legally. “After Tuesday’s brief hearing, [City attorney Andrew] Worseck told reporters he’s confident six months will be sufficient for the city to come up with rules regulating the sale of guns within Chicago.” What was that about a r

You can’t just select winners of something like TTAG’s first Readers Choice Awards and not, you know, give the winners something to commemorate the occasion. As we told you earlier, Springfield took the title of best new handgun for 2013 with their diminutive, concealable XDs-9 and I had the honor of presenting Chad Dyer, their marketing honcho with a little something for his office wall . . .

While I was there, I had a chance to fondle the new XDs-9 4.0, the winner’s newer, slightly bigger brother.

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The Calguns Foundation today won a handgun carry lawsuit against the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and Sheriff Lee Baca, indicating that the LASD must “consider the applications of all persons seeking a CCW permit in the first instance without requiring any applicant to first seek a CCW permit with his/her local police chief or city.” As indicated in that statement, the standard practice of the LASD was to require applicants to first obtain a carry permit from their local jurisdiction before the LASD would even consider their application. The plaintiffs claimed that this resulted in an effective ban on handgun carry permits in Los Angeles County. Unfortunately . . .

this decision doesn’t just mean it’s open season on permits, only that it forces LASD to begin accepting and processing applications. The requirements for the carry permit are still subjective, requiring that the applicant show “good cause for the issuance of the license” and be of good mo

Grief is a process: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. The Chicago Tribune, for example, is slowly coming to terms with the fact that Illinois residents will soon be able to exercise their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. They are at the beginning of their journey, moving out of denial. Permit to carry gun no license to shoot, the headline proclaims. “This spring, law-abiding residents of Illinois will be able to walk the streets with a loaded gun,” the lead announces with bated breath. “But those who decide to carry concealed weapons wi

If you’re like me, you can never remember how many rounds you have left in your magazines. I know that I should know, but I don’t. For those similarly afflicted, Radetec has started shipping a round counting grip system that will check your ammo levels every time you fire a shot and let you know how many trigger pulls are left until the gun runs dry. There are three versions: one with a single light that lets you know when there are three rounds left, a two digit display (above) that shows the total round count, and an AR-15 version for standard magazines. Prices are $160, $170 and $195 respectively. They’ve given us one to try so we’ll let you know how it works… as soon as I get some free time.

The H&K competition shooting team has been using MR556 rifles all year long, but more of a hodge-podge configuration using aftermarket supplies than anything “factory fresh.” Now H&K is releasing a competition version of their MR556A1 rifle with all the bells and whistles you want… for $2,947. It’s right up there with FN’s SCAR rifle in terms of price, for comparison’s sake. There are a couple minor changes which make it “new,” mainly the muzzle brake from OSS, the keymod forend and the Magpul stock. And my pet peeve about “new” guns continues.

The P320 has been kept under wraps for a long time, but I finally got my hands on SIG/Sauer’s new striker-fired pistol today. We’ll never know for sure until we get to shoot one, but I’m thinking SIG/Sauer has a winner on their hands here. Why? . . .

It keeps the three-caliber modularity and excellent grip ergonomics of the P250, but it replaces the unloved DAO fire control system with a modern striker-fired action.

Here’s the rear view. It looks just like a P250, but where’s the hammer? Gone. The striker mechanism has a smooth (yes, smooth) and short trigger pull, with a very short and very tactile reset point. For most shooters this will translate into quicker

AAC has been making .300 BLK rifles for quite a while now, but apparently the demand for an AAC branded 5.56 rifle is so great that they’ve gone into full production on those as well. The rifles will be available n the same configuration as the existing .300 BLK guns, but with a different barrel. Also “new” this year . . .

Originally developed for the military, this 5.56 silencer is designed to be mass produced and dirt cheap while still having the durability and effectiveness that we’ve seen in AAC’s other cans. The silencer will

We found it. Can somebody tell the New York Times?

Walther is getting closer to releasing the 5-inch barrelled version of the PPQ M2. I’ve been holding out on buying a PPQ to get this model. There’s something about a 7.2 inch sight radius that makes me happy, happy, happy. But what really made me happy was to find out that Walther is also releasing a .22LR that has the exact same dimensions and almost the same weight (22.4 oz. empty vs. 26.5 oz. for the 9mm version). The .22LR (top, above) even features a threaded barrel. Take my money, Please!

Ravin Perry (not pictured) is a great guy, and an amazing shooter. His teammates ain’t no slouches either. So when Ravin started hinting that Bushmaster was coming out with a custom built 3-gun rifle, I knew something good was coming. And I wasn’t disappointed. New for 2014, Bushmaster has released their 3-Gun Enhanced Rifle, and it might literally be the perfect 3-gun rifle.

The gun comes with a 16″ barrel, a Rolling Thunder muzzle brake, Timney trigger, extended magazine release, nickel boron coated bolt carrier, free floating carbon fiber handguard&#8