I’m often asked what the best concealed carry handgun is. The answer is simple: the one you will carry. I know many, many CCW/CHP permit holders. Only a small handful actually carry every day. Some are not permitted to carry at work but fail to carry everywhere except at work. Some don’t believe that self-defense is …
I recently had the privilege to visit the SIG Sauer Academy in New Hampshire. What a great team of folks work up there for SIG. I was surprised by what appeared to be a “loose” teaching style. The NRA harps on several shooting fundamentals, including Aiming; Hold Control; Breath Control; Trigger Control and Follow-Through. The …
I learned this practice drill from Adam Painchaud’s SIG Sauer Academy YouTube channel. It’s improved my skill immensely. The drill combines live fire with dry fire making for some excellent training time. Start with your pistol locked and loaded with a round in the chamber. Remove the magazine. Now fire two shots. The first will …
The first automatic pistol designs were blow back operated. This design has a frame-mounted, immoveable barrel which demands a heavy slide. This provides sufficient inertia to hold the slide in place long enough for the bullet to leave the barrel and gas pressures to reduce to safe levels. If the slide isn’t heavy enough, it …
The Army’s specifications of 1906 for its next round of automatic pistol testing required an “automatic safety.” This requirement was satisfied in the Model 1907 test pistols by what we now call the “grip safety,” designed by Ehbets at Colt. The grip safety that we now know was the last significant modification to the Browning/Colt …
I’ve shot dozens of different handguns. I’m trained to care for several different manufacturer’s firearms. I talk to anyone and everyone about guns. That said, I can say the following with no concern for contradiction. The GLOCK pistol has fewer parts than other brands. The parts in today’s GLOCKS fit in model generations which are 30 …
When John Moses Browning perfected his 1898 design into the Model of 1911, adopted by the US Army as it’s primary sidearm (M1911), he had given the world it’s first semi-automatic, short-recoil handgun. An accomplishment which, but for the addition of a picattiny rail, is virtually unchanged from 1911. His hammer-fired pistol had a single-action trigger. This means …
Assault Rifle The U.S. Department of Defense defines assault rifles as “selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between sub-machine gun and rifle cartridges.” The AR-15 and other civilian carbines, errantly called assault rifles, do no such thing. They are semi-automatic, non-battlefield firearms. To add further clarity, “AR” also does not stand for …
This study is old, but a 10 year study by the Police Policy Studies Counsel showed that 80% of officer slayings (from firearms) between 1991 and 2000 occurred within 6 feet. Depending on the study, more recent studies show that 80% of shots fired by officers are within 11 feet. Because of the layout of …
In order of timing: Action noise required to ignite the round. (The click you hear from a misfire.) Muzzle blast resulting from the discharge of propellant gas from the end of the barrel. (Thunder.) Sonic signature of the projectile in flight for supersonic velocity rounds. (Sonic boom.) Action noise in some firearm variants as the …
