The 1911 has now been with us for a century and a decade. Throughout that lifespan, there’s been no point at which it was not beloved by huge numbers of soldiers, law enforcement agents, and civilian shooters. Astonishingly, perhaps implausibly, the 1911 remains a darling of serious pistol...
Another step, and two deer scooted from a foggy clearing. But their dash into the alders suggested they’d not go far. Circling downwind, I drifted onto a deer trail, pausing at each step, glassing not yards ahead but feet. Then: a glint from the shadows. Stay still! Presently, beside ...
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has signed a memo ending gun-free zone policy on U.S. military bases, allowing off-duty service members to carry privately owned firearms for self-defense. Here's what it means.
The USS Hornet (CV-12) stands as one of the most storied aircraft carriers in United States naval history, playing a decisive role in World War II as part of the Essex-class fleet. From its origins as a replacement for the lost USS Hornet (CV-8) to its participa...
This question shows up at gun counters more than just about anything else. Someone grabs a box of ammo, notices it says .223 Remington, but their barrel is marked 5.56 NATO, and suddenly they are wondering if they made a mistake. I have watched this exact scenario play out dozens of times, and ho...
My very first handgun was a Springfield Armory XD in 9mm. It was around 2007, I was shopping for a home-defense solution and I’d read positive reviews about the XD line in American Rifleman and Guns & Ammo magazines. At decision time, it wasn’t much of a competiti...
Handgun-mounted red dot sights have been around for a long time. I was first exposed to them in the late ’90s mounted on USPSA Open guns. These flat-shooting, compensated, red dot-adorned pistols ran fast when they were running, and Open shooters were most often at the top of the list at the en...
To say that no other handgun has been as celebrated, discussed, coveted and produced as much as the Model 1911 by gun designer John Browning is an understatement. Long past the century-old mark, this ubiquitous firearm design shows no sign of fading in popularity or practical use. Sprin...
As Bob Dylan once sang, “The times, they are a-changin.” I remember an era where bolt-action pistols were associated mainly with long-range metallic silhouette shooting. Magnum handgun cartridges offered a good amount of up-close knock-down power where steel pigs and rams were concerned, but ...
I’ve always been drawn to compact firearms. There’s something about the balance of size, weight, and capability that makes them not only practical, but genuinely enjoyable to train with. They occupy that space between a daily carry pistol and a full-size rifle, that compact yet capable footpr...