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Going Old School: Carrying The Browning Hi Power

By
Patrick Sweeney
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3

Hi Power 4

The world is not yet all polymer. Classics, such as the Browning Hi Power, have tried and true place in concealed carry.

There was a time when blued steel and walnut ruled the planet; when “plastic” meant crappy things made in Japan; and when the FBI actually trusted its agents to carry personally owned firearms.

A Tale of ‘Disappointment’

I was at work one day at The Gun Room in the very early 1980s, a storefront gun shop on Telegraph Road just a major league ball throw from the Detroit border. A woman walked in, looked around and marched up to the counter.

“I went next door, and no one was there. I heard a man’s voice in the back room.”

Next door was a florist’s shop, run by women, most or all of whom had experienced messy separations from their ex-spouses. This was not good.

When the author was testing the Hi Power, he brought a box full of magazines he’d load for the range trip. They included early 13-round, a fistful of 20-round and even a few orphan 10-shot magazines. Hey, they all work, and they’re all good for practice—even the 10-shot mags.
When the author was testing the Hi Power, he brought a box full of magazines he’d load for the range trip. They included early 13-round, a fistful of 20-round and even a few orphan 10-shot magazines. Hey, they all work, and they’re all good for practice—even the 10-shot mags.

Mike, another Gun Room employee, got on the phone to call the police department, and Dave (another shop employee) and one of our customers—an FBI agent—headed out the front to see what was up. I went to the back door, grabbed the nearest shop gun on the way and cracked open the back door to take a peek. All I could see was that the back door of the florist shop was open.

What I did have time to grab was a Colt Detective Special—not exactly comforting, but I figured I’d have the drop if things went badly, and I could always yank the door shut, regroup with a shotgun and re-join the “festivities” if things went past six rounds.

I saw movement, and just as I was about to push the door open some more, I realized I was looking at a brown delivery uniform. The women had gotten a delivery and had forgotten to put up the counter sign that read, “In back; back in a minute.”

Dave and the FBI agent had gone in the front door, and when the women and UPS guy came out from the back, the look they gave Dave and the agent was priceless. This was Detroit, remember, back when it was wilder than the Wild, Wild West. Our neighbor was apparently a little put out—not at armed men, but that the armed men who had come to “rescue“ her hadn’t at least brought shotguns!

You can tell the MKIII from the others: The bottom of the frame is grooved to denote the MKIII model.
You can tell the MKIII from the others: The bottom of the frame is grooved to denote the MKIII model.

What the FBI agent did have was a Browning Hi Power (this was before the FBI Hostage Rescue Teams had adopted it).

The Browning Hi Power

The FBI Hostage Rescue Team Hi Powers were built by Wayne Novak, with Wayne’s sights, stippling, reliability work (not that the Hi Power needed much, even back then) and some judicious polishing where it made things run better.

Wayne still makes Hi Powers to this spec, if you want one; and if you do, the one to have built is the MKIII—not the earlier ones. (Wayne offers a package for the MKIIIs he has on hand.)

The MKIII differs from earlier P35s in a few ways. The main one is that the frame is no longer made from a forging. Forged steel can be strong, but when you have to machine away over 90 percent of the steel from a forged lump, you can’t get too enthusiastic about high-strength alloys. The tool wear becomes prohibitive. In fact, when FN decided to make .40 S&W models, it had to go with castings, which could be made of much stronger alloys.

5 Shot Leather’s LFA-1 holster the author had made for his Novak HRT Hi Power.
5 Shot Leather’s LFA-1 holster the author had made for his Novak HRT Hi Power.

You can tell an MKIII from earlier models by looking at the base of the frame, where the magazine well opening is. MKIII pistols have a series of scribed lines in the direction of the muzzle to indicate their provenance.

Now, this only matters if you plan on putting a lot of ammo through your BHP. Yep, this pistol has been around so long that it has a slew of monikers—BHP, P35, Hi Power—and that’s before we get to the really old ones, such as the World War II models (the Inglis, for example).

Wayne built mine on an MKIII, and in the course of testing it and writing about it for various articles, I ended up putting 23,000 rounds through it (well, that was the count some years ago. I stopped counting. Now, it could be a few thousand higher).

In all that time, I only experienced two malfunctions. One was cartridge-caused: I was putting 400 rounds per shooting session through it, and a lot of those consisted of lead bullet reloads. (The math is grim and, had I known, I might not have said “yes” to the project. Four hundred rounds a range trip, once a week, means 57.5 weeks of nonstop shooting. Yes, I spent a year shooting that pistol!) One reloaded round had a big glob of bullet lube on the side of the case, and that meant it would not fully chamber.

5 Shot Leather’s LFA-1 holster the author had made for his Novak HRT Hi Power.
5 Shot Leather’s LFA-1 holster the author had made for his Novak HRT Hi Power.

The other was magazine-related: A bunch of the magazines were 20-round mags. One of those was high mileage, and the spring in it finally decided to give up. A new spring, and it was back to new.

Takeaways

So, what did I learn in a year of shooting a BHP?

First, it still bites if you aren’t careful. Wayne trims the back of the hammer to almost eliminate the bite, but if your hand is big or fleshy or your grip is really high and tight (like mine), you might get nipped. You can adjust; it just takes a bit of practice.

Second, most of the sights are archaic. One glance at period-correct sights in a Hi Power, and you’ll happily have them changed to Novaks.

Novak’s installs night sights, because half the time, it’s dark outside.
Novak’s installs night sights, because half the time, it’s dark outside.

Third, the factory-equipped safety is as small as the sights. The P35 dates from (you guessed it) 1935, and back then, militaries were in the habit of packing pistols with the hammer down on an empty chamber. A thumb safety was almost superfluous to them.

The good news? Better safeties can be had. The Novak HRT model comes with a better safety. Cylinder & Slide makes better safeties—and even ambi safeties—for the Hi Power. It’s a bit more involved to install than the 1911 safety, so it would be prudent to have an experienced P38 pistol smith do the work.

Some feel the P35 is not up to a diet of 9mm+P ammo. Yes, the older ones, I’d agree. The MKIIIs are better-suited to such ammo, but most people find a +P load to be more work than it’s worth, even in other pistols.

BHP Care and Feeding

Taking care of the BHP is easy. Older guns might have what is called a “hump” or “angled” feed ramp. The BHP has one angle at the start, and then, it pitches over to a different angle on the approach to the chamber. Newer models have a single-angle ramp, and the old ones can be cut to the new (and better) shape.

This is the kind of accuracy you can expect from a Hi Power. Find what yours likes, feed it that, and life will be good.
This is the kind of accuracy you can expect from a Hi Power. Find what yours likes, feed it that, and life will be good.

Recoil springs are easy; Wolff has them, and you’ll want the standard 17-pound spring. The BHP is known to be hard on springs, but at $8 per spring, is it really an onerous cost to replace it every 5,000 rounds? (Realistically, that’s at least $900 in ammo costs … and your buddy whines about spring prices?!)

The original magazines were listed as 13 rounds per, and the old information had us believing the SAS only loaded 12 rounds for reliability. Mec-Gar makes two modern magazines for the Hi Power that hold either 13 or 15 rounds and fit flush to the frame. Every pistol is different, and your hold, ammo and who-knows-what could change things. So, test and know.

Holsters

Really—you have to ask? The beauty of classics such as the Browning Hi Power is that they’ve been around for so long and produced in such numbers that anyone who makes holsters offers a holster for them.

If you’re a fan of classic leather to go with your classic pistol, Galco has all the choices. When I had my HRT pistol built, I contacted John Ralston of 5 Shot Leather to build me a carry rig. I asked for an LFA-1 (a design pioneered by Lou Alessi) and a matching spare mag pouch.

The original thumb safety is small and not usable. Novak’s installs a proper one.
The original thumb safety is small and not usable. Novak’s installs a proper one.

If you’re not a fan of leather (those in seriously hot and damp climates might find leather to be suffering), Kydex is the answer. Blade Tech offers a classic OWB (outside the waistband) that will stand up to hard use better than you will. And, if you want a combination of leather for comfort and Kydex for durability, CrossBreed has a number of options for you.

Old-School Gets the Job Done

Do I carry my Novak HRT Hi Power? Not really. I like it too much! I’ve written about it and would hate to have it languishing in an evidence locker—with some officer’s initials scratched into it—for years until any case against me were settled. But I do have an MKII built to much the same specs; I have no such attachment to it.

Hi Power Range Results

A BHP, along with a spare magazine, gives you 27 to 31 rounds of 9mm problem-solving solutions. Old-school got the job done then; it’ll get the job done now.

Oh, and the HRT Hi Powers? As far as anyone knows (those who do aren’t saying much), when they were retired from active service, replaced by 1911s, the Clinton administration had them fed into choppers and smelters ( … just one of the lesser crimes committed by that tawdry group).

Browning Hi Power Specs
Type: Locked-action, self-loading pistol
Caliber: 9×19
Capacity: 13+1 rounds
Barrel: 4.6 in.
Length: 7.75 in.
Weight: 35 oz.
Trigger: 5 lb.
Finish: Blued steel or stainless
MSRP: Price varies
Maker: Browning/FN
Novak Custom: $2,995 package, complete with pistol

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the 2020 Concealed Carry issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.

Bone Up On Browning:

5 Lost Secrets Of The Combat Handgun

By
Massad Ayoob
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5
Power stance, high hand, crush grip and front sight, smooth roll – recover these lost secrets and watch your combat handgun skill increase.
Power stance, high hand, crush grip and front sight, smooth roll – recover these lost secrets and watch your combat handgun skill increase.

Wielding a combat handgun effecitively is no mystery, simply put these five fundamentals into practice to master your self-defense sidearm.

What Are The Five Lost Secrets To The Combat Handgun:

Combat-Hangunnery-7ED
This excerpt is from Massad Ayoob's Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery, 7th Edition, now available at GunDigestStore.com.

There are secrets the Old Masters of combat handgunning knew, secrets that have been lost to most because they weren’t incorporated into this or that “doctrine.” Just because they are lost doesn’t mean they don’t still work. Let’s look at a few of them.

Combat Handgun Secret #1: The Power Stance

In true combat handgun training, as opposed to recreational shooting, you are preparing for a fight. This means you should be in a fighting stance. Balance and mobility can never be compromised in a fight. Accordingly, your primary shooting stance should be a fightghting stance.

This shooter controls the recoil in the Glock G35 with good fundamentals of Stance, Position and Grip.

When the body has to become a fighting machine, the legs and feet become its foundation. You can expect to be receiving impacts: a wound to the shoulder, a bullet slamming to a stop in your body armor, and certainly the recoil of your own powerful, rapidly fired defensive weapon. Any of these can drive you backward and off-balance if you are not stabilized to absorb them and keep fighting. The feet should be at least shoulder-width apart, and probably wider.

Whether you’re throwing a punch or extending a firearm, you’re creating outboard weight, and your body has to compensate for that by widening its foundation or you’ll lose your balance. We have long known that humans in danger tend to crouch. It’s not just a  homo sapiens thing, it’s an erect biped thing. The same behavior is observed in primates, and in bears when they’re upright on their hind legs.

In his classic book “Shoot to Live,” Fairbairn observed how men just on their way to a dangerous raid tended to crouch significantly. Decades before Fairbairn had noticed it, Dr. Walter Cannon at Harvard Medical School had predicted this. Cannon was the ?rst to attempt to medically quantify the phenomenon called “fight or flight response” as it occurs in the human. While we know now that Cannon may have been incorrect on some hypothesized details, such as the exact role that blood sugar plays in the equation, we also know that on the bottom line he was right on all counts.

When threatened with deadly danger, the erect bipedal mammal will turn and face that danger, if only to observe and quantify it before fleeing. Its torso will square with the thing that threatens it. One leg will “quarter” rearward. This is seen today in the boxer’s stance, the karate practitioner’s front stance, the Weaver stance of pistol shooters, and the “police interview stance” taught at every law enforcement academy.

The head will come forward and down, and the shoulders will seem to hunch up to protect it. The knees will flex, lowering the center of body gravity, and the hips will come back, coiling the body for sudden and strenuous movement. The feet will be at least shoulder-width apart laterally. The hands or paws will rise to somewhere between waist and face level. This, and not the exaggerated “squat” of the ancient FBI training films, is the true and instinctive “combat crouch.”

The body is balanced forward, rearward, left and right, its weight forward to both absorb and deliver impact. There is no good reason for the combat shooter not to stand like this. Indeed, there is every reason for him or her to do it.

A key element of the power stance as we teach it at Lethal Force Institute is the application of the drive leg. In the martial arts, you generate power in a punch by putting your whole body behind it. Whichever leg is to the rear is the drive leg. Beginning with the knee slightly flexed, the practitioner digs either the heel or the ball of the foot into the ground, straightening the leg. This begins a powerful turn of the hips.

The hips are the center of body gravity and the point from which body strength can most effectively be generated. The punch and extending arm go forward along with the hip. The forward leg has become the weight-bearing limb; it needs to be more sharply flexed than the rear leg because as force is delivered forward, it will be carrying well over half of the body’s weight.

Learn From The Master–Massad Ayoob:

Combat Handgun Secret #2: The High-Hand Grasp

The Turkish-made Sarsilmaz SAR 9 is a full-size polymer pistol with a modular grip and ambidextrous thumb safety.

It’s amazing how many people come out of shooting schools and police academies not knowing the most efficient way to hold a handgun.

The primary hand’s grasp, which some instructors call “Master Grip,” needs to be able to stand by itself. In a shooting match that calls for a two-handed stage, we know we’ll always be able to achieve the two-fisted grasp.

In the swirling, unpredictable movement that occurs in close-range fights, however, we can never be sure that the second hand will be able to get to its destination and reinforce the first. It might be needed to push someone out of the way, to ward off the opponent’s weapon, or simply to keep our balance.

That’s why the initial grasp of the handgun with the dominant hand must be suitable for strong control of one-handed as well as two-handed fire.The hand should be all the way up the backstrap of the grip-frame. With the auto, the web of the hand should be so high that it is not only in contact with the underside of the grip tang, but pressed against it so firmly that it seems to shore up a ripple of flesh.

On the revolver, the web of the hand should be at the highest point of the grip-frame’s backstrap. There is only one, easily fixed potential downside to a high hand grip. If the grip tang has sharp edges, as on the older versions of the 1911, this can dig painfully and even lacerate the hand. Sharp-edged slides on very small autos, like the Walther PPK, can do the same. Simply rounding off sharp edges or installing a beavertail grip safety fixes that.

Now let’s count up the many advantages of the high-hand grip. (1) It lowers the bore axis as much as possible, giving the gun less leverage with which to kick its muzzle up when recoil hits. (2) It guarantees that the frame will be held as a rigid abutment for the auto’s slide to work against. With too low a hold, the whipsaw recoil that follows moves the frame as well as the slide, dissipating some of the rearward momentum needed to complete the cycle.

The result is often a spent casing caught “stovepiped” in the ejection port, or a slide that does not return fully to battery. (3) On most handguns, this grasp allows a straight-back pull of the trigger. If the gun is grasped too low, a rearward pull on the trigger becomes a downward pull on the gun, jerking its muzzle – and the shot – low. Draw is hastened because (4) the grip tang of the auto is the easiest landmark for the web of the hand to find by feel.

Pick up a gun magazine with one or more stories on action shooting championships, and watch how the winners hold their guns. The webs of their hands will be riding high. Now you know why. The champions know what so many other shooters have missed.

Combat Handgun Secret #3: The Crush Grip

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In target pistol shooting, light holds are in vogue. The bull’s-eye shooter is taught to let her pistol just rest in her fingers with no real grasp at all as she gently eases the trigger back. The IPSC shooter is taught to apply 60 percent strength with the support hand and 40 percent with the firing hand (occasionally the reverse, but 50 percent of available hand strength in any case).

Common sense tells us this will not do for a fight. For one thing, it is dexterity intensive, and dexterity is among the first things we lose in a fight-or-flight state. For another, the genuine fight you are training for always entails the risk of an opponent attempting to snatch your gun away.

We know that action beats reaction. If you’re holding your handgun lightly or with only half your strength and it is forcibly grabbed or struck, it will probably be gone from your grasp before you can react. But if you have conditioned your hand to always hold the gun with maximum strength, you have a better chance to resist the attack long enough to react, counter with a retention move, and keep control of your firearm.

A third tremendous advantage of a hard hold, one that world champion Ray Chapman always told his students, is that it’s the ultimate consistency in hold. “40 percent hand strength” is one thing in the relatively calm environment of the training range. It’s something else when you’re at a big match shooting for all the marbles, and it’s something a league beyond that when you’re fighting for your life.

One effect of fight or flight response is that as dexterity goes down, strength goes up precipitously. Even in target shooting, marksmanship coaches agree that a consistent hold is a key element of consistent shot placement. There are only two possible grasps that can be guaranteed to stay truly consistent: no pressure at all, or maximum pressure.

A fourth big advantage for the crush grip is that it prevents “milking.” When one finger moves, the other fingers want to move with it. The phenomenon is called “interlimb response.” As the trigger fingers tighten, so do the grasping fingers, as if they were milking a cow’s udder, and this jerks the shot off target, usually down and to one side. But if the fingers on the gripframe (NOT the trigger finger!) are already squeezing as hard as they can, they can’t squeeze any more when the index finger separately pulls the trigger, and milking is thus made impossible.

Finally, the hard hold better controls recoil. If you had me by the throat and were holding me against a wall, and I was struggling, would you relax your grip or hold harder? The harder you hold me against the wall, the less I can move. Similarly, the more firmly you grasp your gun, the less it will move in recoil, in terms of both overall gun movement and the stocks shifting in your hand.

Detractors of the concept call this “gorilla grip,” and warn that it interferes with delicate movement of the trigger finger and can cause small tremors. Those of us who advocate crush grip answer, “So what?” Delicate manipulation of the trigger disappears once the fight is on. The hands are going to tremble under stress anyway, and the shooter might as well get used to it up front in training. If the sights are kept in line, the gun’s muzzle won’t tremble off a target the size of a human heart.

Combat Handgun Secret #4: Front Sight

When you shoot a handgun properly, you focus on the front sight (F8-2). With traditional sights — especially combined with bad eyes — this can make the rear sight a near-oblivious blur. With the F8 sight, the front and rear sight stand out, regardless which one you focus on.

Every marksman who is accomplished with open sights remembers the day he or she experienced “the epiphany of the front sight.”

The phrase “watch your front sight” doesn’t mean just have it in your field of view. It doesn’t mean just be aware of it. It means focus on it as hard as possible, making sure it’s on target, and that it’s not moving off target as you stroke the trigger.

Pistol champions and gunfight survivors alike have learned that this is the key to center hits at high speed under pressure. As discussed in the chapter on point shooting, you don’t need the perfect sight picture of the marksmanship manual. But remember that the handgun is a remote control drill, and it must be indexed with where we want the hole to appear, or the hole will appear in the wrong place. The sights, at least the front sight in close, will be the most reliable such index.

Combat Handgun Secret #5: Smooth Roll

Shooting Stance 6

A smooth, even, uninterrupted roll of the trigger, as discussed in the last chapter, is critical if the shooter is going to break the shot without jerking it off target. Note that the last two elements, “front sight” and “smooth trigger roll,” are not listed as “to the lines of secrets four and five, prior.” This is because it’s debatable whether they are really lost secrets, and if so, who lost them.

Every competent instructor will teach the students how to use the sights and how to bring the trigger back. The problem is, these things are very easy to forget until the student develops the discipline to first think about doing them, and then finally ingrain the concepts through repetition so they are done automatically.

Power stance. High hand. Crush grip. Front sight. Smooth roll. I try to go through it in my mind like a pre-fiight checklist before I even reach for the gun. You don’t even have to think about it all at once.

As soon as you know there may be a stimulus to draw the gun, slip into a power stance. It might be a thug giving you the bad eye as you wait for a bus, or it might be that you’re on the range awaiting the “commence fire” signal. If you’re in the position to start, you don’t have to think about it any more.

Condition yourself to always begin the draw by hitting the high hand position. Once it’s there, it’s done and you don’t have to think about it any longer.

Crush grip? I tell my students to think of the eagle’s claw. When the eagle sleeps, it does not fall from its perch because its claws automatically clutch it with a death grip. If we condition ourselves to do this whenever we hold the gun, it’ll happen on its own when we need it without us having to think about it.

Editor's Note: This excerpt is from Massad Ayoob's Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery, 7th Edition, now at GunDigestStore.com.

First Look: Grizzly Cartridge Company 124-grain 9mm +P JHP

By
Elwood Shelton
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0

Grizzly Cartridge

Aimed at top terminal performance, Grizzly Cartridge Company's new 9mm +P gives shooters an overpowering self-defense option.

Hit your favorite ammo retailer—brick and mortar or virtual—you’ve most likely noted a disturbing trend. Empty shelves are the norm, for every caliber, but especially 9mm. Fueled by 2020’s turmoil, new and seasoned shooters snatch at ammo every time the opportunity presents itself draining the market bone dry. In short, the time is ripe for a savvy manufacturer to introduce a new round. Enter Grizzly Cartridge Company.

While the Oregon ammo-maker most likely didn’t plan its new 124-grain 9mm +P JHP to land in the midst of a buying panic, it’s a safe bet company isn’t complaining. Neither should shooters. What Grizzly Cartridge cooked up appears downright nasty, pushing the limits of the Luger for an overpowering self-defense option. Pushing the 124-grain projectile 1,200 fps at the muzzle, the new round on par with or surpassed a majority of +P 9mm ammo currently on the market.

“If you read some of the chatter on social media, it seems the 9mm doesn’t get enough respect,” said Mike Rintoul, Grizzly Cartridge Co. Founder. “We set out to produce a 9mm +P factory load that shows just how capable the caliber can be when loaded right.”

This isn’t Grizzly Cartridge’s first foray into souped up 9mm loads. At present, the ammo-maker has eight offerings in all, ranging from 115-grains and 147 grains, all but two rated +P. However, the JHP defensive round is only the second 124-grain option the company  produced, preceded by a FMJ-FP.

Currently, Grizzly Cartridges offers the 124-grain 9mm +P JHP in boxes of 20, with an MSRP of $18.99.

For more information on Grizzly Cartridge Company, please visit grizzlycartridge.com.

Load Up On 9mm Ammo Knowledge:

The Supreme Versatility Of The Blaser R8 Ultimate

By
Philip Massaro
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1

Blaser R8 10

One gun to do it all? The Blaser R8 Ultimate switch-barrel, straight-pull rifle might not cover every base, but it gets pretty darn close.

What Sets The R8 Ultimate Apart From Other Straight-Pulls:

  • Interchangeable bolt heads, magazines follower and barrels makes it capable of chambering nearly any cartridge.
  • Conversions require a minimum of tools.
  • Radial lugs offers extremely fast and strong lock up.
  • Adjustable buttstock allows a supreme fit.
  • Optics are quickly mounted via proprietary scope mounts.
  • No matter the caliber, the rifle knocks out the bullseye.

I have a safe full of rifles. I probably have too many rifles. No, wait! My wife sometimes reads my stuff, so let me rephrase: I have all the rifles I need and some for hunting buddies. From .22 LR to .470 NE, I’ve got a rifle for just about any occasion.

They all have a sling, mounts and optics (well, most of them) and, after a while, they start to take up a considerable amount of room. Not that I’m getting rid of any of them … .

While I was at the Dallas Safari Club convention, I wandered past the Blaser booth and paused to consider the benefits of owning a rifle capable of covering all—or at least nearly all—the bases. After chatting with the Blaser folks, I think I might have found a definite answer.

About the Blaser R8 Ultimate

The Blaser R8 Ultimate is the latest iteration of the R8 straight-pull bolt-action rifle and gives about as much flexibility from a shooting system as anyone could ask for. If you’re unfamiliar with the basic design, it’s a magazine-fed repeating rifle with interchangeable bolt heads, magazine followers and barrels, as well as a proprietary scope mounting system. The rifle is fast—once you get used to the straight-pull bolt—and is well-suited for both precision shooting and fast follow-up shots.

To attach the barrel, the provided Allen key is used to hand-tighten the barrel-fastening nuts onto the threaded bolts of the barrel.
To attach the barrel, the provided Allen key is used to hand-tighten the barrel-fastening nuts onto the threaded bolts of the barrel.

The action locks up using a set of radial lugs, and while it’s a radical departure from the traditional dual locking lugs of the Mauser 98, Winchester 70 or Remington 700, it’s strong and reliable. The modular design of the action might take some getting used to, but with a few tries, you’ll be assembling/disassembling the action quickly. In fact, removing and installing any part of the system is relatively “mindless,” and the only tool required is the Allen key that locks down the barrel.

Take Aim At Hunting Rifles:

It all goes together in a relatively simple manner, with the parts either sliding or snapping into the receiver, which, itself, is permanently mounted in the stock. The barrel is screwed to the forend with two Allen-head bolts; the manual indicates that “finger-tight” is sufficient. The magazine is snapped into the trigger assembly, which is then snapped into the bottom of the receiver. Then, the two rails of the bolt assembly (with the proper bolt head installed) are slid into the rear slots of the receiver. This unit contains the cocking/de-cocking lever.

You’re now ready to shoot.

Switching bolt heads is just as easy. There’s a retainer latch underneath the bolt assembly. Using a fingernail, small screwdriver or the tip of a pocketknife, move the latch to the left and outward (while keeping the slightest amount of rearward pressure on the bolt). Twist the bolt a small amount to the right, and it’ll slide out easily. Reverse the process to replace the bolt head.

The straight-pull, push-feed action of the Blaser R8. The splines act as locking lugs.
The straight-pull, push-feed action of the Blaser R8. The splines act as locking lugs.

I find that when using this straight-pull design—although it might be initially awkward to those of us used to a conventional Mauser-style turnbolt—it’s easier to keep the butt of the gun on the shoulder while reloading. While most of the R8 rifles have a more traditional, pistol-grip-style stock, the R8 Ultimate uses a thumbhole-style design with a palm swell grip and a nicely textured grip.

The comb and buttstock are both adjustable, providing all sorts of flexibility to the unit. A spring-loaded button on the left side of the stock allows the shooter to raise and lower the comb height, and a lever on the lower left side of the butt releases the recoil pad to customize the length of pull. In the middle of the recoil pad on the left side is another spring-loaded button to raise the recoil pad up and down. In short, a perfect fit is easily attainable in a matter of seconds.

The proprietary scope mount uses four recesses on the barrel and a rail attachment to quickly and easily attach the optic to the rifle. The test rifle came with a Blaser Infinity 2.8-20×50 scope that featured a fine duplex reticle and an illuminated center dot. While rather heavy—the Infinity weighs in at 27 ounces—it was crystal clear and took adjustments just fine.

The Cartridge Trio

With all this in mind, I thought of the best choices in cartridges to maximize the effectiveness of this rifle … without overdoing things. While I was staring off into space at the Blaser booth, I was informed of the new .22 LR conversion kit.

“I’m sorry; the what?!?”

The appropriate bolt head is installed and fastened into the bolt carrier.
The appropriate bolt head is installed and fastened into the bolt carrier.

“Yes, Phil,” the Blaser folks confirmed. “We’re now offering a conversion kit for the R8 to allow the same stock, receiver and trigger system to be used for a .22 LR.”

This system is slick.

So, in the name of universal availability, I chose the trio of .22 LR, .30-06 Springfield and the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum. I can’t think of too many scenarios that couldn’t be effectively handled by that trio. Yes, a serious prairie dog hunter might opt for a speedier small-bore, but these three cartridges are among the most popular ever developed and work wonderfully.

Range Time With The Blaser R8 Ultimate

I packed up a big box of ammo (because I had three cartridges to test) and my range bag to head over to the proving grounds (better known as “Dad’s Backyard”).

The stock of the Blaser R8 Ultimate is adjustable for comb height, length of pull and recoil pad pitch.
The stock of the Blaser R8 Ultimate is adjustable for comb height, length of pull and recoil pad pitch.

Ol’ Grumpy Pants’ initial reaction to the Blaser R8 was what you might have come to expect: “What the hell is that thing?”

After going through the barrel/bolt head/magazine changing routine, he started that raised-eyebrow-cocked-head look he gives when he’s thinking about giving his approval. And, once I had 15 rounds downrange, he was on board with the whole idea.

I started with the .30-06 barrel and took a few shots to get the gun zeroed. Because both barrels were sporter barrels, I decided on three-shot groups for accuracy testing. I had a couple of Federal loads, a pair for Sig Sauer and a Nosler factory load that I’m particularly fond of.

It was apparent from the first group that this gun was a shooter. I like bullets between 165 and 180 grains for an all-around load for the .30-06. The worst group—coming in at an average of 1.1 MOA—was Federal’s new 175-grain Terminal Ascent load. The best load was Federal’s 165-grain Fusion load, which put three shots into just over ½ MOA.

The Sig Sauer Elite Hunter Tipped 165-grain load and 175-grain Elite Performance load each averaged right around ¾ MOA, and the Nosler 180-grain Ballistic Tip load printed just a bit bigger. The 22-inch barrel gave velocities just a bit below the advertised values on the boxes, but nothing to the point of concern.

The Blaser R8 Ultimate .30-06 barrel shot very well with all five types of ammo tested, with the worst three-shot group measuring 1.1 inches.
The Blaser R8 Ultimate .30-06 barrel shot very well with all five types of ammo tested, with the worst three-shot group measuring 1.1 inches.

Next up was the .375 H&H barrel, with which I decided to test Federal’s Cape-Shok 300-grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw softpoint and the Norma 300-grain Oryx load. This was an eye-opener: I know the .375 can be an accurate cartridge, but the group size rivaled that of the .30-06 barrel. The Federal load printed three shots at exactly 1 inch, and the Norma load measured .65 inch, with the best load at ½ inch. The 24-inch barrel showed 2,520 fps for the Norma load and 2,415 fps (advertised 2,400 fps) for the Federal load.

Using the same scope for the two calibers, I had to make an 8-inch elevation adjustment and about 2 inches of windage. All things considered, it was pretty consistent.

I next converted the rifle to handle the .22 LR—just about as radical a departure from the .375 H&H as you could ask for—and moved from the 100-yard target board to the 50-yard board. Federal’s Gold Medal 40-grain bullets put five shots in a dime, and Remington’s Thunderbolts put five in a nickel.

This rifle is the bane of limb rats everywhere. When using the .22 LR conversion, the bolt throw is shortened up to about half the distance of the .375 throw. While I had no issues whatsoever with feeding or extraction, I will say that loading the .22 LR magazine was a bit of a chore, because the cartridges tended to roll to one side or the other of center instead of in the loading groove. I found it easier to remove the trigger assembly, load the magazine and replace the assembly.

Pros and Cons

Is the Blaser R8 Ultimate the ultimate rifle? It’s a matter of taste. The Blaser is a great system, especially for the traveling hunter. It can be broken down and housed in a compact case and is wonderfully repeatable. And I suppose the price ($5,428) will play a major role in your decision-making process. Does the Blaser, with two or three barrels, satisfy your needs as a hunter?

Federal’s 165-grain Fusion load printed just over ½ inch at 100 yards.
Federal’s 165-grain Fusion load printed just over ½ inch at 100 yards.

If you intend to hunt a wide variety of game animals, which will require a number of different calibers, the Blaser R8 will certainly fit the bill and provide you with a wonderful level of consistency. The trigger pull will be the same for all your chosen cartridges: My Lyman digital trigger scale indicated the test rifle’s trigger broke at just under 2 pounds. And, with the fast flexibility of the Ultimate’s stock, you can modify the rifle for the amount of clothing you’ll be wearing. The bolt location, safety, stock feel, balance, trigger pull and other features will all be the same every time you go hunting. There’s definitely something to be said for that.

If you enjoy the driven hunt—during which multiple running targets are a strong possibility, if not a certainty—the speed of the R8 is an assured benefit. This rifle can send the lead downrange faster than any turnbolt and second only to an auto-loader. It’s more than accurate enough for precision shooting at nearly any distance and is both ergonomic and portable.

All that said, you probably know I’m a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to rifles. I love the old cartridges, their history, and the rifles and actions in the style of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. A worn walnut stock, replete with the scars of many hunting adventures, grabs my attention. I enjoy a stock with a good figure and flat top checkering, as well as the simple warmth of walnut. I enjoy the craftsmanship and hand touches of a Gewehr 98 Mauser or pre-1964 Winchester Model 70.

Does the R8 Ultimate have those characteristics? Well, no, but that might be a good thing in your book. The Blaser R8 is its own animal and doesn’t try to be something it’s not. Being completely honest, I prefer a Mauser-style action or double rifle for dangerous-game work. That said, I know a good number of professional hunters who rely on the R8 for guide work among Africa’s most dangerous animals.

The Blaser R8 Ultimate has an ergonomically designed stock that’s adjustable for length and comb height, making it easy to keep it on the shoulder while reloading.
The Blaser R8 Ultimate has an ergonomically designed stock that’s adjustable for length and comb height, making it easy to keep it on the shoulder while reloading.

If I had to find one major issue with the rifle system, it would be in the safety/cocking system. It’s undeniably safe, but I’ve seen hunters have issues pushing the lever into the “fire” position. It takes considerable effort and, with cold hands, it can be a struggle.

Blaser’s R8 Ultimate could end up being a “new classic.” Col. Townsend Whelen said it very well: “Only accurate rifles are interesting.”

The R8 is most definitely an “interesting” rifle. For those who are forming their own opinions about what a rifle is or isn’t, the R8 has the potential of being one of the quintessential designs.

If you appreciate flexibility, I can’t think of a better system for you than the Blaser R8 Ultimate.

Blaser R8 Ultimate Specs
Action: Straight-pull, bolt-action repeater
Caliber: Wide selection—from .22 LR to .500 Jeffery (tested: .22 LR, .30-06 Springfield and .375 H&H Magnum)
Length: +/- 42 in., depending on stock configuration
Weight: +/- 10 lb. scoped, depending on barrel
Magazine capacity: Cartridge dependent
Length of pull: Adjustable from 14 to 15.25 in.
Sights: Barrels drilled for Blaser rail scope mount; some barrels have iron sights
MSRP: R8 Ultimate with one standard barrel: $5,428; .22 LR conversion kit: $1,499; Extra standard-taper barrel with magazine insert: $1,299; Blaser R8 scope mount: $459; Blaser Infinity 2.8-20×50: $3,895

For more information on the Blaser R8 Ultimate, please visit blaser.de/en/.

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the June 2020 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.

Christensen Arms’ Ultralight CA9MM 9mm Carbine/Pistol

By
Elwood Shelton
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1

Christensen Arms CA9MM 2

Boasting Christensen Arms carbon-fiber wrapped barrel, the pistol-caliber carbine/pistol CA9MM lightens up the already nimble AR-15 configurations.

What The CA9MM Has To Offer:

  • Lightweight carbon-fiber wrapped barrel.
  • 9mm carbine and AR-pistol configurations.
  • Single-stage match trigger.
  • Rugged aircraft-grade aluminum receivers.

Christensen Arms is no stranger to AR-style rifles. For years the cutting-edge Utah gunmaker has churned out top-shelf semi-auto rifles with a particular bent. Lightweight and accurate , what the company calls its Modern Sporting Rifle line were dialed in primarily as game getters. Especially its AR-10s, which Christensen Arms offered in several superb hunting calibers. Though, with the latest expansion of its MSR line, the gunmaker has more than shown its rifles aren't exclusively wed to putting meat on the table.

Much more home defense than hunter, the CA9MM is a marked break for Christensen Arms. In fact, the gun is the company’s first foray into pistol-caliber ARs. And its timing to break new ground couldn’t be better. Fueled by recent events, pistol-caliber ARs and carbines have only lagged behind handguns and pump-action shotguns in sales. Perhaps the one factor that might temper CA9MM going red hot right off the bat is a somewhat hefty price tag, with Christensen Arms putting $1,495 MSRP on the 9mm. Steep for the class of gun, but Christensen Arms isn’t offering just another off-the-rack PC AR.

Christensen Arms CA9mm

For one, it comes outfitted with what the gunmaker is best known for—a lightweight and rugged carbon-fiber barrel. Available in both pistol and carbine configurations, the CA9MM comes with 16-, 10.5- and 7.5-inch barrel options. Regardless of particular design, the barrel does a number on the platform’s overall weight, in its smallest form tipping the scales at a scant 5.5 pounds. In all cases, it comes topped off with a three-prong flash hider, definitely welcome to knock down the shorter configurations’ muzzle flash.

Furthermore, Christensen Arms offers several other high-performance features on the straight-blowback operated gun, including aircraft-grade forged aluminum receivers, aluminum and carbon-aluminum hybrid handguards (3-, 6- and 9-o’clock M-Lok real estate), top Picatinny rail, QD mounts and black nitride finish bolt carrier group. The CA9MM is also equipped with a single-stage match trigger and comes with an MFT Battlelink Minimalist Stock in its carbine configuration and SB Tactical SBA3 brace as a pistol. Finally, the CA9MM is available either in black anodized or Cerakote finish of Tungsten and Burnt Bronze. And yes, the gun is compatible with Glock magazines.

Get On Target With The AR:

Why Mils Are Superior To MOA For Long-Range Precision

By
Frank Galli
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1

Mils? MOA? Europeans have been doing it right for years. We need to step up and join the rest of the world.

What Are The Advantages Of Working In Mils:

  • Working from a base 10, mils are quicker and easier to use.
  • Adjustments on Mil-based scopes are virtually as fine as MOA.
  • You can dope the wind with mils without long-hand math or a ballistic calculator.
  • The system is much easier to communicate through, helpful when using a spotter.

In previous articles discussing optics, I’ve gone to lengths to give the reader a buyer’s guide that goes beyond brand loyalty toward something more substantial: features. 

When we move beyond the brand name, we can start talking about the defining elements of the optic—tube size, objective diameter, weight, turret design and what I believe to be one of the most critical aspects: reticles. Notice that I left out a key feature: milliradians (mils) versus minute of angle (MOA). 

Before diving into this bottomless “pit of despair” regarding which one is better, let’s change the subject from “which optic is better” to “which communicates most clearly.” Every day, the Internet forums see a mils-versus-MOA debate that turns into a 10-page free-for-all. It’s the first question a lot of new shooters ask, because we no longer have one choice. Let me explain. 

Communication for Success

Communication is a crucial element in order to be a successful long-range shooter. It can be shooter/spotter dialog. It can be communicating the system to a younger shooter. Or, if you’re shooting competition, speaking the same language as the other competitors might be necessary. 

We have a lot of different disciplines out there: F class, benchrest and now, PRS or NRL matches. Benchrest and F class are pretty simple; they shoot known distances on fixed targets, which happen to be in MOA. However, PRS and NRL are different animals: steel targets at varying distances shot very quickly—which requires quick and concise communication.

Mils vs. MOA

Today, the military has moved to mils, while the local law enforcement teams are still largely using MOA-based scopes. Because of the military’s push in this direction, manufacturers have boosted the work done to promote mils over MOAs, which carries over into the civilian market.

The fact of the matter is, mils are quicker and easier to use. There—I said it.

Right: Here, we’re painting our wind-training target during a precision rifle class. The training target is graduated in mils, and each color is .2 mils wide. That translates to 4 inches at 675 yards.
Right: Here, we’re painting our wind-training target during a precision rifle class. The training target is graduated in mils, and each color is .2 mils wide. That translates to 4 inches at 675 yards.

A base-10 system is a much better way of doing business: 10 fingers, 10 toes. And it’s included in our money system: Mils are dimes, with scopes adjusting in pennies. I have 10 pennies per mil. Sliding a decimal point is always going to be easier to work with than fractions. 

A Buyer’s Guide Approach

Sure, there are pros and cons to each unit of adjustment. It’s crucial to put both into context. So, let’s take the buying guide approach to break down how we look at this choice: 

Factors to consider:

  • Do you shoot with others?
  • Do you shoot competition? If yes, what kind?
  • Do you understand how each works with the wind?
  • How high can you count? (Yes, I’m trolling a bit … but not really.)
  • How do you take your reticles?

The two major debate points: 

  • I’m an American, and I think in inches.
  • MOA is finer, because 1.047 inches are smaller than 3.6 inches.

Well, I solved the inches debate, because every American knows what a penny is and how to count to 10. The smaller-graduation debate is real if you worry about semantics, but technically, you can get scopes that adjust smaller than your standard 1/10-mil adjustments

Determine the wind speed using the first number in the G1 BC of the bullet you’re shooting. This, combined with your muzzle velocity and density altitude, will determine your miles per hour.
Determine the wind speed using the first number in the G1 BC of the bullet you’re shooting. This, combined with your muzzle velocity and density altitude, will determine your miles per hour.

For the most common scopes out there, there are ones that adjust in .262 MOA. A mil is .36, so it’s less than ½ the bullet width. If this is what they mean when talking mils versus MOA, I say that you can’t hold the difference. The reality on the ground reads that three clicks with a mil-based scope is 1.08 inches and four clicks with a MOA-based riflescope is 1.047 inches—hardly worth mentioning.

The Wind Differences

Wind is the great equalizer, and how we engage it will determine much of our success. As an experienced shooter recently pointed out, mil-based shooters will call the wind in .1 increments; that’s .36 inch. Most MOA-based shooters will use a full MOA or only go down to a ½ MOA. That’s not a huge difference.

Get On Target With Frank Galli:

However, they don’t stop here.

In addition, MOA shooters have a couple of choices when it comes to wind solutions. Most of them use longhand math formulas that only work with a specific bullet at a pre-determined muzzle velocity. People like to interchange this formula, but it doesn’t work. I point to these shortcomings as a reason that wind has become such a trick for most shooters. It can be solved much easier using mils. 

The first number in your G1 BC determines a rifle’s wind speed. I’m using Prime Ammo’s 130-grain bullet in my 6.5 CM, which means a G1 BC of .589. A muzzle velocity of more than 2,850 fps will round it up to .6, giving me a 6 mph rifle. Using this validated wind speed, I can then line up my wind calls using mils. It’s simple to check using a ballistic calculator so that it lines up as follows:

100 yards = .1
200 yards = .2
300 yards = .3
400 yards = .4
500 yards = .5
600 yards = .6 

With this in mind, we can then use multiples of 6 mph to successfully dope the wind without a calculator or doing longhand math. 

Speaking in miles per hour for wind calls is easier than telling a shooter with a different caliber what your hold was. Instead, speak to everyone in miles per hour.
Speaking in miles per hour for wind calls is easier than telling a shooter with a different caliber what your hold was. Instead, speak to everyone in miles per hour.

An 8 mph wind is a .8 hold at 600 yards. The MOA guys have the British method, which uses a base-10 mph wind—but, again, caliber-specific. In this case, we add up the multiples of 6 mph. Another example: A 12 mph wind speed would be 1.2 mils.

This system works until the bullet begins to slow down. Then, there’s a small, .1 to .2 offset the farther out we go, specific to your rifle system. The better the bullet, the higher the rifle’s mph will be.

Practical Application

In practical terms, both mils and MOA are angles, and when used as such, they can successfully hit any target. If you’re shooting on your own, it doesn’t matter.

However, as more shooters enter the long-range game, communication at the line is increasingly important to simplify this process. We can repeat the mistakes of the past, but why would we want to?

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the November 2019 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.

.380 Vs 9mm: Reasons To Consider The Small ‘Nine’

By
Elwood Shelton
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Yes, there is still a .380 vs 9mm debate and some reasons to still consider the smaller option to keep you covered.

How Does the .380 Beat The 9mm For Self-Defense:

  • More manageable recoil improves its shot-to-shot accuracy potential.
  • Pistols chambered for it generally use lighter recoil springs, thus are easier to manipulate.
  • Cambered in some of the smallest pistols, it's more suited for a backup gun role.
  • Advancements in ammunition have improved its terminal performance.

Is the .380 vs 9mm debate over? Given the introduction of the Sig Sauer P365 and comparable 9mm models, it sure seems any sizzle to the conversation has quickly cooled.

From the start, armed citizens understood what they were getting into when they chose .380 ACP: an under-powered and marginal self-defense round chambered in pistols convenient as all heck to carry. Among the smallest semi-autos available, what the .380 lacked in Thor’s-hammer power, it more than made up for in expediency. Try to make excuses to leave a Ruger LCP II or Colt Mustang at home. If you can carry a cell phone, you can carry a .380 ACP.

Except, now 9mm pistols are as compact and easy to carry. Head to head, the LCP II is only marginally more pocket-sized than the P365 or micro 9mm Springfield Hellcat. Nearly as small .380 options, yet more powerful—you almost have to be plum loco not to level up. Right?

For most, the answer is yes. But that doesn’t mean the .380 vs 9mm conversation is dead and buried. Diminished, the good old .380 still has some fight left. While it might not be the top self-defense choice, it still lands some punches against the 9mm Luger.

.380 vs 9mm: Recoil
Among the most blatant arguments for the .380 ACP is the caliber is much milder. It makes a world of sense. The cartridge holds a bullet the same diameter as the 9mm (.355”) but in a smaller case with diminished capacity (roughly speaking, 15% less than the 9mm in grains of H2O). In turn, out of guns of equal weight the .380 produces nearly half the recoil energy.

Given its diminished recoil, the .380 ACP is easier to handle shot to shot.
Given its diminished recoil, the .380 ACP is easier to handle shot to shot.

Now, this doesn't always mean a .380 pistol won’t buck around the hand. Given the small options, many are downright jumpy, punching above their weight in felt recoil (the recoil shooters perceive). But if you think tiny .380 pistols are skittish, wait until you take hold of an analogous model in 9mm.

Recoil shy know which side they take in the .380 vs 9mm debate and the lack of kick it’s no small advantage to them. Flinch is a bear to tame, but less likely in tamer cartridges. Since accurate hits carry more weight than other variables, anything enhancing it—even if it's for a certain segment—has to be counted as a plus.

Read Also: Flinch! 3 Tips to Overcome It

.380 vs 9mm: Manipulation
Dovetailing off recoil is how simple most .380 pistols are to run away from the trigger. Primarily, we're talking slide manipulation. Lighter recoiling cartridges require lighter recoil springs, the side benefit, the slide is that much easier to rack.

Don’t scoff. There’s a cohort of shooters precluded from semi-auto pistols—striker-fired especially—due to this factor. Elderly, infirmed and a number of other individuals with diminished hand strength, for instance. While some gunmakers have developed easier to manipulate pistols as of late—such as Smith & Wesson and Walther—powering down to the .380 ACP in many cases eliminates this issue.

Take Aim On The .380 ACP:

.380 vs 9mm: Backup Gun
While the 9mm has encroached on the .380’s turf as a primary carry option, the smaller ‘nine’ still cuts the more dominant figure as a backup gun. The caliber continues to offer the tiniest options on the market, without dropping to an inadvisable caliber. And next to adequate caliber and reliability, size is generally considered the most important factor of a backup gun.

Additionally, petite .380 pistols are legion and come in a slew of different configurations. This opens up options. In all likelihood, no matter your style of backup carry—be it ankle, belly band, pocket or otherwise—there’s something in .380 that fits the bill.

Read Also: Should You Carry a Back-Up Gun?

.380 vs 9mm: Ammunition
The 9mm has and will always have a power advantage over the .380. Physics dictates nothing less. A quick comparison.

It still under performs compared to the 9mm, but improved defensive ammunition will achieve desired results.
It still under performs compared to the 9mm, but improved defensive ammunition will achieve desired results.

Most .380 ammunition of the defensive variety kicks an 80- to 100-grain bullet out at the muzzle anywhere from 900 to 1,150 fps, generation around 162 to 294 ft-lbs. of energy at the muzzle. Conversely, the 9mm spits out a 115- and 147-grain bullet anywhere around 1,000 to 1,300 fps at the muzzle, with energy ranging from 294 to 495 at the muzzle. In most cases, there’s a marked difference in bullet mass and the velocity it’s moving. Given, velocity is the main variable dictating defensive ammunition’s performance this is a big deal.

That said, like all ammo, .380 ACP self-defense options have improved vastly in recent decades. Where the tiny 9mm once struggled on the FBI penetration (12 to 18 inches) and expansion (1.5 times the original diameter) tests, there are select loads that pass. Are they a numerous as 9mm Luger? Not by a long shot. But they exist, making the caliber more viable for self-defense … at least relative to the past. The wrinkle here, if you choose a .380 ACP ammunition homework is imperative.

Parting Shot

You’d be hard-pressed to find any firearms instructor worth his or her salt suggesting the .380 ACP over the 9mm. On paper, the Luger is a more potent and capable self-defense option no matter how you cut it. And it has a much more complete self-defense resume as compared to the .380. Yet, there are wrinkles to every argument.

Load Up On 9mm Ammo Knowledge:

For some, the 9mm Luger proves too lively to accurately make hits shot to shot. And its pistols can be a prohibitive handful to troubleshoot malfunctions promptly. OK, maybe not for you. But how about your aged mother or arthritis-stricken grandparent? In this light, the logic of the continued .380 vs 9mm debate (or .38 Special vs 9mm, for that matter) shines through.

Most can agree, the .380 isn’t the top choice for concealed carry or self-defense. But with some considerations, the caliber is still a practical one. You simply have to decide if it’s sensible for you and your particular circumstances.

Ammo Brief: .32 ACP Ballistics And History

By
Gun Digest Editors
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0

.32 ACP ballistics are hampered by a light bullet and middling velocities. Nevertheless, it remains among John Browning's most popular pistol cartridges.

What You Need To Know About The .32 ACP:

  • Gained popularity in America in the Automatic Colt Pistol
  • Known in Eurpoe as the 7.65 Browning
  • Small-game loads can be made by using 100-grain, .30-caliber rifle bullets

Historical Notes
Designed by John Browning for his first successful automatic pistol, the .32 ACP was first manufactured in 1899 by FN in Belgium. It was marketed in the United States when Colt turned out a pocket automatic on another Browning patent in 1903.

The .32 Automatic Colt Pistol (ACP) is one of the more popular pistol cartridges ever developed. In the United States, Colt, Remington, Harrington & Richardson, Smith & Wesson and Savage chambered pistols for this cartridge. In Europe, every company that made automatic pistols chambered the .32 ACP. It was also used in the German Pickert revolver. It’s known in Europe as the 7.65mm Browning.

Read Also: Classic Guns: Colt Model 1903 Pocket Pistol

General Comments

The cartridge uses a semi-rimmed cartridge case and a .308-inch-diameter bullet. The .32 Automatic is the minimum cartridge that should really be seriously considered for self-defense. In the United States, it’s used exclusively for small, pocket-type guns and is not considered adequate for police or military use. However, across “the Pond,” it’s often used in police pistols and as an alternative—but unofficial—chambering for military sidearms. As a hunting cartridge, it’s not powerful enough for anything larger than small game.

Loading tables generally give the bullet diameter of the .32 Automatic as .312 or .314 inch. It’s actually closer to .308 inch; and this is important if you hand load. Effective small-game loads can be made by using 100-grain, .30-caliber rifle bullets intended for light loads and plinking, such as the Speer .30-caliber Plinker. All major ammunition makers offer this cartridge. Winchester recently introduced a load with a jacketed hollow-point bullet. Other makers have followed suit.

.32 ACP Ballistics And Load Data

32 ACP Ballistics And Loading Data

Editor's Note: This article is an excerpt of Gun Digest's Cartridge's Of The World.

Raise Your Ammo IQ:

Competition Shooting Vs Defensive Training

By
Richard A. Mann
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1
Defensive handguns and the skills to run them are applicable to many combat-style competitions. However, the tactics to win a match are not the same as those used to win a fight.
Defensive handguns and the skills to run them are applicable to many combat-style competitions. However, the tactics to win a match are not the same as those used to win a fight.

Competition Shooting and defensive training may seem similar. However, winning a shooting match and a real-world gunfight are not—and never will be—the same thing.

Why Competition Shooting Doesn't Replace Defensive Training:

  • Competition puts an emphasis on planning beforehand, not responding to unfolding events.
  • It's easy to get caught up in winning and not improving practical skills.
  • Matches de-emphasize important aspects, such as using cover and concealment.

Many shooters hypothesize that competition is a great way to train with the defensive handgun. There’s some truth to this: The speed and accuracy associated with competition shooting is a shared skill with the practical use of a defensive handgun. And, the stress involved in competition can show you how you’ll react under pressure. However, too much competition shooting can create bad habits.

After I became a cop, I realized the handgun training provided to police officers was seriously lacking. Looking for a solution, I became involved in competition shooting. I won several local and regional matches and even the West Virginia National Guard State Pistol Match. Competition was the vehicle that drove me to the place where I could get hits on targets swiftly.

But, as I thought more about it, I realized I was becoming a gamer, as opposed to someone skilled in the practical application of a defensive handgun. I was not making the best—or any—use of cover. I was solving problems before the shooting started, as opposed to working them out as they developed. I was standing out in the open with an empty pistol as I conducted a reload (granted, it was a fast reload). And, I was approaching situations from the standpoint of how I could get the best score instead of what would offer me the best chance of survival.

This might not seem all that important, but the problem was that some of my responses were becoming conditioned. In other words, I was training myself to react to the competition arena, as opposed to the survival arena.

As a result, I stopped competing and started attending defensive handgun training classes. And, I changed my practice from how to improve my chances of winning shooting matches to how to improve my survival chances.

In a competition, you must play by the rules or lose. In a fight, there are no rules, and the winner is often the person who has the proper mindset and exercises the best tactics.
In a competition shooting, you must play by the rules or lose. In a fight, there are no rules, and the winner is often the person who has the proper mindset and exercises the best tactics.

An example of what I’m talking about was exemplified at Gunsite Academy while I was shooting some video of world champion handgun shooter Travis Tomasie. At the time, he was the captain of Team Para-USA. I’d recently completed the Gunsite 250 Pistol class, at the end of which they have a man-on-man shoot-off. I figured it would be easy to show Travis’s skill with a handgun while he embarrassed me on the shoot-off—a shoot-off I’d won at the end of my 250 Pistol Class.

We stepped up to the line, and on the “go” signal, I drew my handgun, engaged the first two targets, conducted a reload and hit the last target. While this was happening, I realized I was the only one shooting. After conducting a tactical reload (so I didn’t holster a handgun that wasn’t fully loaded), I looked over at Travis … who was standing there, smiling.

Laughing at himself, he said, “I forgot my pistol wasn’t loaded!”

Get On Target With More Handgun Training:

We both chuckled, Travis loaded his handgun, we ran the drill again, and he crushed me: Before I hit the second target, and before Travis’s last one had hit the ground, he’d cleared his handgun and shoved it back in the holster.

This perfectly illustrates what I’m talking about. With the competition/safety mindset deeply ingrained, Travis was walking around with an unloaded gun. Also, his first response after the drill was to clear his pistol of any ammunition. Now, I’m not suggesting Travis would do the same thing with his carry gun before or after a lethal encounter, but it does show how competition can condition you to do things that aren’t applicable to a self-defense setting.

Fast and accurate shooting applies to both competition and self-defense. However, an overly conditioned competitor might very well make tactical mistakes that could be very costly in a real fight.
Fast and accurate shooting applies to both competition and self-defense. However, an overly conditioned competitor might very well make tactical mistakes that could be very costly in a real fight.

Competition can be a great way to enhance your ability to shoot accurately and swiftly under stress. It can help you develop your presentation, reloading and stoppage-clearing abilities as well. Competition can also allow you to attempt to perform under stress. However, the reluctance to be embarrassed in front of other shooters will very likely lead you to start doing things that aren’t tactically sound.

For those who carry a handgun for personal protection, make sure the competition shooting you do doesn’t create bad habits—habits that might get you killed.

An Obvious Takeaway

A gunfight is not the same thing as a shooting match. A perfect analogy is the boxing match between mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Connor McGregor and boxing star Floyd Mayweather, who ultimately won late in the match with a technical knockout.

In a boxing match—just as with a competition shooting event—there are many, many rules. Had the contest been conducted under the MMA rules where almost anything goes (much as in a gunfight), McGregor would have been the clear and early winner. As a fighter, he was poorly equipped to win a boxing match, but Mayweather—conditioned to win matches—wouldn’t have had the necessary skills to survive a real fight.

The takeaway here is really very simple: If you’re going to carry a gun for personal protection, learn how to fight with it. If, like Connor McGregor, you want to do some “boxing”—that is, competition shooting—on the side, go for it. Just remember that although both are similar, winning a shooting match and a real-world gunfight are not, and never will be, the same thing.

The article originally appeared in the December 2019 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.

Self Defense: When A Trigger Upgrade Becomes A “Hair Trigger”

By
Massad Ayoob
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Any modification done to lighten the pull of a trigger is likely to become a "hair trigger" in court.
Any modification done to lighten the pull of a trigger is likely to become a “hair trigger” in court.

Is a trigger upgrade on your self-defense handgun worth it? Not when politically motivated prosecutors are likely to twist it into the mythical “hair trigger”.

Avoid trigger pulls lighter than factory specifications for duty guns. Jargon alert here: when I say “duty guns,” I mean firearms intended for police/military service or self-defense as opposed to target handguns. “Factory spec” means the specifications of the manufacturer of the firearm itself, not the company that made the drop-in aftermarket trigger kit.

There are two definitions of “hair trigger,” either or both of which can come up in court. One is “lighter than factory spec,” and the other is “different from common custom and practice among those who use such machines daily.” The same, really, as if there had been an industrial accident or a car crash involving machines that were alleged to have been negligently adjusted, injury or death resulting.

This can come from an unintended discharge, but what a lot of people miss in the gun world is, it can also come from a false allegation of a negligent discharge.

Why would a prosecutor allege that you fired unintentionally when you in fact deliberately used your gun to save your life? If it’s a politically motivated prosecution, it’s because an established case of self-defense is what’s known in court as a “perfect defense,” but there’s no such thing as a “justifiable accident” or “accidental self-defense.” You won’t be getting any gun experts on your jury, you’ll be getting a dozen or so people selected by the accusing side for their lack of knowledge of firearms and self-defense law and tactics. Opposing lawyers know it’s a lot easier to convince a jury of good people that you did something careless and stupid that resulted in a death or an injury, than to convince them that a nice person like them suddenly turned into a murdering monster. A so-called “hair trigger” feeds right into their false allegation of an indefensible, unintended shooting.

Roughly speaking, 4 pounds is the factory-spec pull-weight basement for single-action semi-auto pistols and 5.5 pounds for striker-fired pistols.
Roughly speaking, 4 pounds is the factory-spec pull-weight basement for single-action semi-auto pistols and 5.5 pounds for striker-fired pistols.

Why would a plaintiff’s lawyer use the same false argument in a lawsuit? Different reason. In a civil suit, they’re looking for deep pockets. They know that if they win a seven-figure judgment against most people, the money just isn’t there to collect. But they know that most of us have at least a million dollars in homeowner liability insurance and automobile liability insurance. If you shot a home invader or a burglar who came at you when you caught him in the act, the homeowner’s insurance company has the money! If you shot the carjacker or road-rage attacker in self-defense on the highway, the auto-liability insurance company has the money! But if they allege that you did it deliberately, they’ve sewn the deep pockets shut, because most if not all such policies expressly exempt the insurance companies for having to pay for what is called a willful tort, that is, your intentional act that harmed another. (See Terry Graham v. Texas Farm Bureau for an example.) Self-defense by definition is an intentional act: a false allegation of “hair trigger” gives them the element of negligence, which is what liability insurance exists for. Thus, the motive, and once again, the “hair trigger” feeds into that allegation.

Learn From The Master–Massad Ayoob:

When in doubt about “factory spec,” call the manufacturer of the gun and ask their customer service department. As to “common custom and practice,” with striker-fired guns the standard seems to be the one long established by Glock: 5.5 pounds minimum pull weight. For single-action autos or traditional double actions in single action mode, figure roughly 4 pounds as red-line minimum. With revolvers, I would strongly recommend double action only. If you have a conventional DA revolver capable of being thumb-cocked to single action, I would recommend having it modified by a gunsmith or armorer to double action only. This means removing the single-action cocking notch internally, not just grinding down the hammer spur.

Author has done multiple “cocked revolver/hair trigger” cases, in some of which the allegation was false. He recommends defensive revolvers be rendered double action only.
Author has done multiple “cocked revolver/hair trigger” cases, in some of which the allegation was false. He recommends defensive revolvers be rendered double action only.

The reason is, back when the double-action revolver was standard in law enforcement, it became almost a cottage industry among unscrupulous lawyers to falsely claim the gun had been “negligently cocked, creating a hair trigger effect.” There were, of course, cases where that actually did happen (see New York v. Frank Magliato), but there were also cases where it was falsely alleged (see Florida v. Luis Alvarez). This is why back in the service-revolver days, so many police departments (such as LAPD, NYPD, Miami, Montreal) modified their service revolvers to double action only. We would be foolish to ignore the decades of institutional history, and tragedy on both sides of the gun, that led to those policy decisions.

Note that I’m not saying never modify your gun or even its trigger in any way. Want to have a professional smooth up your trigger pull? Be my guest. I do. I’ve been an expert witness for the courts in weapons and homicide cases since 1979. I’ve done a number of “hair trigger cases.” Never once was the allegation that the trigger pull was too smooth. Every single time, the allegation was that the trigger pull was too light.

Editor's Note: This excerpt is from Massad Ayoob's Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery, 7th Edition, now at GunDigestStore.com.

Vang Comp Systems Retro Remington 870 Tactical Upgrade

By
Yamil Sued
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Remington 870 Upgrade 5

Surprisingly simple and incredibly impactful, a full tactical upgrade brings a 1960s Remington 870 up to today’s standards.

The Remington 870 is one of the most widely recognized firearms in all history. Designed in the early 1950s, the 870 is a bottom-loading, side-ejecting, pump-action shotgun with a tubular magazine underneath the barrel. There are hundreds of variants of the Remington 870 shotgun in 12-, 16-, 20- and .28-gauges and .410 bore. After its release, the 870 became an essential tool in hunting, as well as for police, military and home-defense use, with millions of them sold to date.

My Remington 870

In the early 1990s, I was told that a local gun store in Mesa, Arizona, had received a large shipment of trade-in law enforcement Remington 870s, so I immediately paid it a visit. When I entered the store, I was greeted by a wall full of Remington 870s with wood stocks in various levels of cosmetic wear, both on the metal and the wood. I told the clerk I wanted to purchase one, but I wanted to shop around the store before doing all the paperwork.

I soon came to the same clerk with a Pachmayr pistol grip and forend kit I‘d picked up to accompany my new purchase. At the time, I wanted something compact and fun (I honestly didn’t know what I wanted), but this sounded like a cool idea at the time.
The clerk asked me if I wanted the Pachmayr kit for the shotgun I was about to purchase, I nodded.

He said, “Well, then, I have just the right shotgun for you.”

The clerk went to the back and retrieved one of those used police trade-in shotguns. But it had neither a stock nor a handguard. It only had a long screw coming out of the back of the receiver.

He explained that a couple of the guns came in with broken stocks or forends, so parts from several guns were cannibalized to repair others. As a result, there were some guns with no furniture. He then offered me a significant discount on the purchase.

I went home with my new purchase, and I was thrilled. I tried to find out as much as I could about my new 870—but this was the early ’90s, so there was no Google, and the Internet was in its infancy. Consequently, I had more questions than answers.

The first one involved the “OHB” stamping on the left side of the receiver. Years later, I learned that the OHB was actually an overstamp: The “O” was originally a “C,” and the “B” was originally a “P”—making the original marking “CHP,” as in “California Highway Patrol.” That made my purchase even cooler.

I enjoyed shooting my Remington 870 for many years … until I made the boneheaded decision to sell it to a friend. Years went by, and I moved out of the Phoenix area.

However, I returned seven years later. One day, I became nostalgic about my old 870, reached out to my buddy and got the 870 back from him. It was still decked out with the same Pachmayr pistol grip and forearm.

I tried several combinations of stocks and forearms. I eventually decided on a SpeedFeed stock and synthetic forearm—and continued to enjoy my 870 for several years.

But, like many gun owners, I can’t leave things well enough alone; I have to mess with them and make something good, such as the Remington 870, into something cool, something special.

I started to do some research. I also remembered that Vang Comp Systems, which had completed decades of excellent shotgun work, was only 100 miles away. Wanting something totally cool, I drove to its facility and asked the folks at Vang to do what was necessary to bring my old, 1960s 870 to today’s standards—and make it something … awesome.

A Complete Tactical Upgrade

The Remington 870 received Vang Comp Systems’ “full tactical upgrade.”

However, before starting with the upgrades, the 870 needed some TLC to get it up to modern reliability standards. The Vang staff installed the Flexi Tab updated bolt, bolt slide, forend tube assembly and carrier latch. They also installed a 3-inch ejector with new rivets. In addition, both shell latches were replaced and triple staked—per the new standard.

Why the Flexi Tab? Well, for more than 30 years, production 870s had a design flaw: The user might fail to press a shell all the way into the magazine tube when loading. As a result, the shell latch didn’t engage the shell and would cause a malfunction. When a shell slips out of the magazine under the bolt in the receiver, it binds the action, and the shotgun must be disassembled to complete the remedial action.

This issue was resolved with the introduction of the Flexi Tab carrier. Shotguns with this modification can be identified by the U-shaped cutout on the carrier, visible from the bottom of the shotgun. The cutout, combined with a modification on the underside of the slide assembly, allows the action to be opened with a shell on the carrier.

After the Flexi-Tab upgrade was performed, Vang went to work with the really cool stuff:

VCS barrel with ports. This includes the patented Vang Comp System barrel modification of backboring and lengthened forcing cone to reduce recoil impulse and tighten up the shot patterns. Vang also added the compensation ports to reduce muzzle flip, disperse muzzle flash and further reduce recoil.

Ghost ring sights. Vang’s wing-protected ghost ring sights are installed on the receiver, featuring a click-adjustable rear sight with an integral Picatinny rail. The kit also features an AR-15 front sight post from XS Sights.

Dome head safety. Vang’s dome head safety is also included in the full tactical upgrade. Made of 4140 steel and finished in Nitridox, it’s a bulletproof upgrade to any Remington 870 on which you want to be able to find the safety button without looking.

Draw A Bead On The Remington 870:

Stainless steel magazine follower. Vang’s stainless steel magazine follower is also included with the full tactical upgrade. This piece offers a solid reliability upgrade over the “dinky” plastic follower that comes from the factory … and requires replacement every two to four years. Ridges are cut into the outside diameter to reduce the bearing surface and to passively clean your mag tube (it scrapes dirt and debris into the recesses of the follower). My Remington 870’s follower now has a witness hole in its face, so when you feel a hole in there, you know the shotgun is empty without having to look.

+2 magazine extension. The magazine tube extension is also included. It’s made from a single piece of American steel, so it’s not prone to breakage. There are no seams or welds that can crack or split. In addition, a magazine clamp isn’t required: It comes assembled with a removable and reversible steel sling plate. A high-power Wolff magazine spring is included with every 12-gauge magazine tube extension for increased feeding reliability with heavy recoiling loads, such as buckshot and slugs.

D.S.A.C. Finally, Vang added a detachable side ammunition carrier for a removable, onboard ammunition source. Vang’s specialized bolts can’t be overtightened, and they don’t require any special tools to install or remove. A steel insert in the aluminum side plate is used to ensure a tight hold and remove the possibility of stripping threads. 

By the way, all Vang parts and components are made in the United States and are guaranteed for life.

Furniture for a Classic Look

The last detail was the furniture.

Originally, I wanted a modern, tacti-cool look for my Remington 870 but, after careful consideration, I opted for a more classic look; something that would’ve been used by the California Highway Patrol in the early 1960s.

I asked the guys at Vang if they could help me with my request. The answer was a resounding, Yes! They quickly searched through their parts bins and found me the perfect stock set … with enough scuffs and scratches to give it the perfect look and feel. The sling stud is even mounted on the stock pistol grip—the way a California Highway Patrol armorer would have installed it in the 1960s or ’70s.

After I retrieved my completed Remington 870, I had to admire the effort and craftsmanship the Vang crew put into my shotgun, starting with a silky-smooth action, crisp trigger pull and impeccable finish. I couldn’t believe this almost-60-year-old shotgun looks and feels as if it just came off the assembly line.

Upgraded Remington 870 At The Range

I made a quick trip to my local indoor range (C2 Tactical in Scottsdale, Arizona) for a quick test-fire-and-pattern test. I used Remington Ultimate Defense 9 Pellet 00 Buck Shot with a muzzle velocity of 1,325 fps. After a few rounds of test firing, I decided to pattern the shotgun at 5, 10 and 15 yards, because I wanted to find out how the improvements done by Vang would perform at these distances.

At 5 yards, all nine pellets were clumped into a group not much larger than 1 inch, with the wad impacting about 2 inches above the pellets. At 10 yards, the group spread out a little to an impressive 2½ inches, with the wad impacting about 3 inches to the left of the group. Finally, at 15 yards, the group increased to 5½ inches—all within the vital center-of-mass area of the standard Gunsite target and with the wad not impacting the target.

I’m aware that depending on ammunition, results will vary, and I’m planning to test various types of ammunition to figure out which one will be the optimal round to match the improved performance of this old warhorse.

Looking back at the last 25-plus years since I purchased this shotgun, a lot has changed: Equipment has changed, as has ammunition. Even so, the shotgun is still one of the most utilitarian tools for hunting, recreational shooting, law enforcement and self-defense.

This particular shotgun is about 60 years old, but all that tender loving care by the group of professionals at Vang Custom gave it a new life. My Remington 870 will now serve me and members of my family for many decades to come.

For more information on the Remington 870, please visit remington.com.

For more information on the Vang Comp System, please visit vangcomp.com.

The article originally appeared in the July 2020 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.

Conviction Ti Rifle Proves A Heavyweight Tactical Contender

By
Elwood Shelton
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Conviction-Ti 2

Utilizing cutting-edge materials, the Proof Research Conviction Ti rifle provides the utmost in mobility and accuracy.

What Set The Conviction Ti Apart From Other Precision Rifles:

  • Lightweight and rugged titanium receiver
  • Rigid, featherweight carbon-fiber wrapped barrel
  • Weight reducing laid carbon-fiber stock

If you haven’t heard about Proof Research, you haven’t been paying attention. The firearms world lousy with the cutting-edge manufacturer’s lightweight, high-strength barrels. Seem nearly every featherweight rig to hit the scene recently—whether destine for backcountry adventure or match gold—wears one. A little secret, you don’t have to turn to another gunmaker to reap the benefits of Proof’s carbon-fiber wrapped gems. They’ll sell you the complete package—lock, stock and, of course, barrel.

The latest in the Montana concern’s impressive and growing lineup is the Conviction Ti Long-Range Precision Tactical Rifle. A lightweight precision bolt-action, the rifle is long on carbon fiber, not unusual for a company that has made its name working in the material. What is is the composition of Conviction Ti’s receiver. If you paid attention to the gun’s name and are up on the Periodic Table you might have already guessed, it’s titanium.

Known for its low density and high strength, as well as corrosion resistance, the metal is an ideal material for a lightweight and rugged shooter. It goes a way in keeping the Conviction Ti frivolous in heft, despite sporting a sizable precision stock. Tipping the scales at 6.4 pounds to 8.1 pounds depending on caliber, the rifle weighs a fraction of most in its class. Even when decked out with optic, suppressor and bipod, the rifle comes in under 13 pounds, nearly half of other traditional tactical systems. An asset that makes it a superlative option where accuracy and mobility are at a premium, be it hunting or a tactical endeavor.

Take Aim At Precision Shooting:

Mated to the sturdy receiver is a Proof Research match-grade carbon-fiber wrapped barrel (20 to 28 inches depending on caliber), which is then precision bedded via twin pillars to the company’s laid carbon-fiber stock. Fully adjustable for comb height and length of pull, and rigid as set concrete, with a near-vertical grip and wide fore-end, the stock is designed for repeatable accuracy, no matter who gets behind the trigger. Proof Research further enhances the Conviction Ti with a Trigger Tech Trigger, integral optics rail, oversized ball or tactical bolt handle and low-profile flush cups. At the outset, Proof Research is offering the Conviction Ti in a healthy cross-section of long-range favorites and up-and-comers, including 6mm Creedmoor, 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 PRC, 7mm Rem. Mag., 28 Nosler, 308 Win., 300 WSM, 300 Win. Mag., 300 PRC and 300 RUM. Additionally, the stock is available in nine different colors, though six of them come at a premium. As do some other extras, such as custom barrel length.

Speaking of money, the Proof Research Conviction Ti rings up at what most would consider a pretty penny with a starting price of $8,499. A small price for mobility, ruggedness and accuracy.

Conviction Ti Specs:
Weight: 6lbs-6oz – 8lbs-2oz
Barrel Length: 20 to 28 inches (Custom lengths available)
Twist: 1:7 to 1:10 depending on caliber
Barrel Contour: Sendero
Magazine Type: DBM
Cerakote Action Colors: Flat Dark Earth, Olive Drab, Black, Tungsten, Sniper Gray
Stock Color: One color standard. Two, three, and four-color options also available
Bolt Knob: Modified ball or Tactical
Muzzle: Finished/Unthreaded (Muzzle Brakes available for an additional charge)
Length of Pull: Standard 13 5/8 inches (custom options available)
MSRP: Starting at $8,499

For more information on the Conviction Ti, please visit proofresearch.com.

What’s New And What Really Matters In Bullet Design

By
Philip Massaro
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1

Bullet Design 9

Bullet design improved by leaps and bounds in recent decades and continues to get better. See what are the hottest projectiles for 2020.

The projectile has been a part of mankind’s culture since the first rock was hurled though the air. While so many of us quibble over cartridge conformation, wood versus synthetic stocks and the barrel length of our EDC carry gun, the only part of the equation that touches a game animal, hits a target or neutralizes a threat is the bullet.

The pure lead bullet was the most popular choice (and still remains in use to this day) until the copper-jacketed bullet came into play in the late 1880s. Adding a jacket of copper drastically reduced fouling, allowed the bullet to handle velocities a lead bullet couldn’t and slowed the expansion rate.

With few exceptions, the cup-and-core bullet design remained the standard for the next 70 years or so, and the performance of this bullet style heavily influenced our cartridge choices, in both handgun and long gun, whether in expanding soft-point or full-metal-jacket configuration. John Nosler’s Partition was among the first—if not the first—radical change to the standard cup-and-core bullet design.

01. A 140-grain Berger Hybrid loaded in 6.5-284 Norma makes a great long-range target load.
01. A 140-grain Berger Hybrid loaded in 6.5-284 Norma makes a great long-range target load.

In addition to the construction of our bullets, the conformation has also changed radically. Many factors have allowed us to take our rifles to unprecedented distances, and the bullets have most certainly evolved with the science of long-range shooting.

Likewise, handgun bullets have experienced a parallel evolution, with the lead projectiles of the late-19th and early-20th centuries sharing time with the engineered marvels we have today. Whether you’re a hunter, target shooter or handgunner, your choice of bullet design is paramount to getting the job done.

Meat Making Bullet Designs

Nosler’s Partition sparked a revolution. We have bonded-core bullets, monometal bullets, hunting bullets designed to fragment and hunting bullets with better ballistic coefficient values than yesteryear’s target bullets; some of them have a combination of these features.

Modern match bullets: the Hornady A-Tip Match, Sierra Tipped MatchKing and the Berger Hybrid.
Modern match bullets: the Hornady A-Tip Match, Sierra Tipped MatchKing and the Berger Hybrid.

For most of us pursuing whitetail deer, a good cup-and-core bullet such as a Sierra GameKing or Hornady InterLock will definitely get the job done … if it has enough sectional density. Heavier game will surely benefit from a bonded-core bullet—which fuses the copper jacket to the lead core—because the expansion is slowed and the penetration is deeper.

Monometal bullets, such as the fantastic Barnes TSX and TTSX, Hornady GMX, Federal Trophy Copper, Norma EcoStrike and Nosler E-Tip, have no lead core (a legal requirement in some areas), so bullet separation isn’t a concern. Remember that these bullets will be longer than their lead-core counterparts of the same weight and caliber. This changes the center of gravity and, in some instances, a standard twist rate won’t stabilize a monometal bullet of common weight.

Get On Target With Bullets:

The polymer-tipped bullet design is extremely popular as well. Nosler’s Ballistic Tip, the Norma TipStrike, Hornady’s SST and ELD-X, and Sierra’s Tipped GameKing are all excellent examples of tipped cup-and-core bullets. These bullets often use a boat tail, are wonderfully accurate and deliver rapid expansion. All these bullets are seriously accurate and work well under windy conditions, as well as at longer ranges.

Federal’s Trophy Bonded Tip is a stout and accurate bullet, making it a great choice for an all-around hunting bullet.
Federal’s Trophy Bonded Tip is a stout and accurate bullet design, making it a great choice for an all-around hunting bullet.

Cutting Edge Bullets uses a fragmenting design, in which the ogive of the bullet is designed to break into a set of blades that cause severe trauma for about 6 inches into the wound channel while the base of the all-copper bullet remains at caliber dimension for excellent penetration. Many of CEB’s Raptor series offer the options of using a polymer tip or for the bullet to remain a hollow-point. They, too, are seriously accurate bullets.

The bullets that mix some of these features have become incredibly popular. Federal’s Trophy Bonded Bear Claw and Trophy Bonded Tip use a lead core for the front half of the bullet—bonded to the thick jacket—with a solid-copper base. The Bear Claw is a stout bullet, even if it does have a lesser ballistic coefficient than the Trophy Bonded Tip.

I find the Trophy Bonded Tip to be a sleeper. I took this bullet to Namibia last spring in a .300 H&H Magnum and a .280 Ackley Improved and had perfect results. In fact, I didn’t recover a single bullet on the safari, even in animals as large as eland. The Trophy Bonded Tip evolved into the Edge TLR—a great bullet design for long-range hunting—and finally into this year’s new Terminal Ascent from Federal.

The Hornady ELD Match, loaded in 6.5-284 Norma, makes an excellent long-range choice.
The Hornady ELD Match, loaded in 6.5-284 Norma, makes an excellent long-range choice.

With its Slipstream polymer tip, an AccuChannel groove on the bullet shank (to reduce drag and fouling) and a boat-tail design, Federal has a winner here. The Terminal Ascent will give good expansion at velocities as low as 1,350 fps. In some cartridges, this will translate to more than 1,000 yards.

Now, I don’t shoot at game that far away, but it’s nice to know there’s no question of expansion at the outer limits of my own range. This bullet might just be the quintessential blend of a high ballistic coefficient, weight retention (from its bonded core), accuracy and terminal performance.

Bullets such as the Swift Scirocco, with a thick copper jacket that’s chemically bonded to the full-length lead core, along with a polymer tip and boat tail, will surely earn the favor of magnum shooters: It will hold together on close shots and yet still expand at farther distances. The Norma BondStrike is similar, making it a good choice for those who hunt at longer ranges.

The Nosler E-Tip is a much-too-often-overlooked monometal hunting bullet.
The Nosler E-Tip is a much-too-often-overlooked monometal hunting bullet.

Heavy-for-caliber bullets are highly popular for hunting at longer ranges, because they retain much of their energy and resist wind deflection well. Berger’s Extreme Outer Limits Elite Hunter line uses heavyweight bullets (sometimes requiring faster twist rates) for long shots. Berger’s 170-grain, .277-inch bullet in the new .27 Nosler should make for a wonderful combination for fans of that bore diameter, giving a breath of fresh air.

So, what do you actually need? I suggest mating the choice of bullet to the game at hand. A .308 Winchester with a 150-grain cup-and-core bullet design might be perfectly acceptable for deer, even at longer ranges. Nevertheless, when you’re headed out for moose or elk, I’d sure feel better with a 175-grain Federal Terminal Ascent or 180-grain Norma BondStrike.

For bear over bait, for which shots are surely inside of 100 yards, the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw, Nosler Partition or Swift A-Frame would be well-suited, because the lesser ballistic coefficient value isn’t nearly as important as the structural integrity of the bullet.

The Sweet Ring of Steel

Like hunting bullets, target bullets have experienced the same evolution. For example, the Sierra MatchKing has been the benchmark of the target community for decades—and rightly so. Some shooters feel we need look no further, yet even Sierra has seen the wisdom of modern advancements with its Tipped MatchKing bullets. Berger’s target line, including its VLD and Hybrid bullets, and featuring the excellent J4 bullet jacket, have been widely embraced.

Hornady’s A-Tip Match,—seriously consistent and truly accurate.
Hornady’s A-Tip Match,—seriously consistent and truly accurate.

Hornady has long offered target bullets but, in recent years, it’s seriously raised the bar. Its ELD Match, with the Heat Shield tip that’s resistant to melting from friction, is certainly a wonderfully accurate target bullet. Even so, I found Hornady’s A-Tip Match design to be a step above. Using a machined aluminum tip (you can’t feel the seam between tip and jacket), this bullet is seriously consistent—and very impressive.

What do you actually need? The answer lies in an honest evaluation of how far you’ll be shooting. If you’re into the one-mile game, I’d give that Hornady A-Tip Match a long look. It’s not cheap, but it performed better than anything I’ve ever used. This is not to say there are flies on the Bergers or the Sierras: Experimenting with different bullet designs at long ranges and arriving at that magical combination is a big part of the game.

Bet Your Life on It

More folks are carrying and training with their handguns than ever before, and those guns need to be fed.

The traditional training bullets—FMJs and lead soft-points—are still valid, but each comes with its own issue. FMJs can splatter on up-close steel targets, running the risk of injury; and the lead projectiles will make a mess of your barrel. As an affordable and effective training option, I like Federal SynTech, a polymer-coated lead bullet that’s available in loaded factory ammunition and as a component.

Cutting Edge Bullet’s PHD (Personal Home Defense), shown here in .45 ACP. Note the skived ogive, which breaks off upon impact.
Cutting Edge Bullet’s PHD (Personal Home Defense), shown here in .45 ACP. Note the skived ogive, which breaks off upon impact.

The defensive handgun bullet has come just as far as our rifle bullet. Sure, the jacketed hollow-point still works, but when you see that law enforcement adopts bullets such as Federal’s Hydra-Shok, there’s something to be said for the performance. I’m a big fan of the HST, with its consistent expansion and deep penetration.

Always pushing forward and armed with a team of brilliant engineers, Federal released the Hydra-Shok Deep, which features a redesigned centerpost in order to perform better in FBI protocol testing. The terminal performance of this bullet ranks among the best available.

Traditional designs, such as the Speer GoldDot and Hornady XTP, still work as well as they did decades ago, but even Speer has seen fit to update its design: It released the GoldDot 2, which uses a shallow hollow point filled with an elastomer for more-consistent expansion.

Monometal bullets have also made it into the handgun market. Barnes offers its XPB pistol bullet, and Cutting Edge loads its bullets in the Personal Home Defense line. Hunters can look at the Swift A-Frame line for revolvers, as well as Hornady’s FTX line.

So, with a whole bunch of great choices, both traditional and radical, what should you be carrying?

Quite obviously, the jacketed hollow-point has worked for generations and will continue to do so. But perhaps this will tell you how I feel: I carry Federal HST in my EDC gun.

The article originally appeared in the February 2020 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.

Taking A Spin With The Limited Edition Korth Mongoose Silver

By
Elwood Shelton
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Korth Mongoose Silver 2

A luxury revolver, the stunning Korth Mongoose Silver has the look and performance to match its price tag.

What Sets the Mongoose Silver Apart From Other .357 Magnums:

  • Defining DTC silver coating on all metal parts.
  • Available cylinder upgrade makes it compatible with 9mm Luger.
  • Extremely strong frame makes it among the strongest revolvers on the market.
  • Superb fit and finish thanks to Korth's one-at-at-time manufacturing standard.
  • Extremely limited run of the revolver adds to its exclusivity.

For the land of the 9mm Luger and some outright classic semi-auto pistols, Germany sure has a knack with revolvers. Case in point, Korth Waffen. Some chalk Korth revolvers as the best to ever come down the pike. Certainly, its handguns are priced that way.

The Teutonic titan of high-class wheelguns has upped the ante with its newest creation. A slicked-up version of its classic .357 Magnum Mongoose, the Korth Mongoose Silver adds BBQ good looks to high performance in what might be described as the total package. And, of course, along with the aesthetics comes a premium price tag of (a second to clutch your wallet) $5,199. Try to sneak that purchase under your significant other’s nose.

Korth Waffen is becoming a more common brand stateside, with the German manufacturer’s partnership with Blackhawk Custom. Since 2016, the American custom 1911 maker has offered a healthy selection of Korth revolvers on its site, including classics such as the Sky Hawk, Mongoose and Super Sport. All the revolvers are made in Germany, adhering to Korth’s stringent one-at-a-time manufacturing standards, but with input from Blackhawk. Across the board, it’s been limited to .357 Magnum options, though the German gunmaker does offer other calibers to its European customers.

As to the latest release, the Korth Mongoose Silver is a limited edition with a small production run planned. Much of this has to do with the manufacturing process, which entails extra steps over and above a run-of-the-mill Mongoose. In particular, the additional polishing is required on every surface that receives the gun's defining semi-gloss silver diamond-like coating (DTC). More than turning heads, the unique DTC also improves the longevity of the Mongoose Silver, reducing corrosion and general wear.

Korth Mongoose Silver 4

Beautifully designed, the revolver features a full-length round underlug, a full-length serrated top strap (reducing glare) and a set of high-grade Turkish Walnut grips complete with finger grooves. The Korth Mongoose Silver wears a fully adjustable target rear sight and gold bead front. And it is offered with a uniquely Korth feature (an additional purchase), an extra cylinder so it can shoot 9mm Luger. Clipless, the cylinder makes the revolver a triple threat—.357 Magnum, .38 Special and 9mm.

Both 4- and 6-inch barreled versions of the revolver are slated, though at present only the larger model is available on the Blackhawk website. For its size, the revolver is light, weighing in at 34 ounces. The model measures in at just over 6-inches tall and 11.5-inches in overall length.

Certainly, the Korth Mongoose Silver is a status revolver with a price tag to match. But, if you have the money to afford it, the .357 will most definitely turn heads.

For more information on the Korth Mongoose Silver, please visit nighthawkcustom.com.

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1986 Miami Shootout: The Aftermath

By
Edmundo Mireles
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1

The infamous 1986 Miami Shootout forever changed law enforcement training, equipment and tactics.

Editor's Note: On April 11, 1986, in Miami, Florida, eight FBI agents and two bank robbers engaged in a five-minute gunfight. One-hundred and fifty shots were fired during the incident. In the end, two FBI agents and the bank robbers were dead, and nine out of the 10 participants were shot. Infamously known a the 1986 Miami Shootout forever changed law enforcement training, equipment and tactics throughout the United States. The man who stopped the end the bloody incident—Special Agent Edmundo Mireles—chronicled the events in his masterfully written book FBI Miami Firefight: Five Minutes that Changed the Bureau. What follows is an excerpt from Chapter 16 of the book, titled: Five Minutes that Changed the Bureau.

Later in 1988, the FBI hosted the “Wound Ballistics Seminar/Workshop.” Very early in the Miami gun battle, (Agent) Jerry Dove fired a bullet that stopped about two inches short of (bank robber Michael) Platt's heart. After this supposed “non-survivable” hit, Platt continued to fight and went on to kill Jerry. All other things aside, the Miami Shootout was an ammunition failure. The FTU (Firearms Training Unit) gathered national experts on wound ballistics: military experts, homicide investigators, and medical examiners. It was hoped that these experts could come to a consensus as to how best to stop a “human target.”

It was important to understand that Jerry’s shot happened before any of the agents were seriously wounded. Jerry’s shot went through Platt’s right arm, severing his brachial artery, moving up and into the left side of his chest, traversing through his right lung, and stopping about two inches from his heart. It is speculated that this hit would stop 90 to 98 percent of most people. However, this did not stop Platt. He kept fighting. The shooting ended with Platt killing two agents and wounding five agents. Both subjects died. The 90 percent casualty rate led to the Wound Ballistics Workshop and an ammunition study.

Illustration of Jerry Dove's bullet path into Michael Platt in the early minutes of the Miami Shootout. The bullet stopped 2-inches shy of Platt's heart, yet, by most standards and most circumstances would have been considered lethal.
Illustration of Jerry Dove's bullet path into Michael Platt in the early minutes of the Miami Shootout. The bullet stopped 2-inches shy of Platt's heart, yet, by most standards and most circumstances would have been considered lethal.

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The group consensus was that, with the exception of a sniper using a rifle to make a “one shot, one kill” head shot or a spinal cord hit, it was difficult to stop a Human Target. The group consensus on handgun ammo was that “size” did matter. A larger handgun bullet caused larger wounds, which in turn generally led to rapid, faster bleeding. Rapid bleeding led to quicker incapacitation, either by passing out or death. This study dramatically altered the way law enforcement thought about handgun ammunition. However, this consensus caused its own problems. Large caliber handgun rounds were .357 magnum. .45, .44 magnum. Obviously these calibers required large frame weapons. Holding a large frame weapon requires large hands. Many small people don’t have large hands. Therein is the problem!

This led to another project that the FBI started to work on, which was the “ballistics” testing project. I had nothing to do with that project except observe. However, observing gives me partial credit for the research. Kind of like getting a trophy for being on a sports team even if you rode the bench. What the FTU did was prepare tests of 9mm, 10mm, .38, .357, .380, and .45 caliber bullets under reproducible conditions to see how they performed. Everything was documented for future reference so the tests could be reproduced by anyone with the equipment to validate the original findings. Ballistic gelatin, a testing medium scientifically correlated to simulate muscle tissue, was used in the testing. It provides a consistent and reliable testing material for ballistics testing.

The test events conducted were as follows:

Test 1: Bare gelatin at 10 feet, control test.
Test 2: Light clothing at 20 yards. (T-shirt, flannel shirt)
Test 3: Heavy clothing at 10 feet. (T-shirt, flannel shirt, 10 oz. down, cotton denim)
Test 4: Automotive sheet metal at 10 feet. (Two pieces of 20-gauge hot-rolled steel spaced 3” apart). This simulates the thinnest portion of an automobile door.
Test 5: Wallboard (drywall) at 10 feet. (Two pieces of standard 1/2” gypsum wallboard spaced 3-1/2” apart.) This simulates standard wall construction.
Test 6: Plywood at 10 feet. (One piece of 3/4” AA fir plywood.)
Test 7: Automobile glass at 10 feet. (Standard windshield glass mounted at a 45° angle.) Shooting was done from a 15° angle to simulate the position of an officer at the left front (driver’s side) of an automobile.
Test 8: Automobile glass at 20 yards. Same as Test No. 7, except the shot was fired from directly in front of the car.

While gelatin testing is commonplace, this was the first time that anyone had developed an objective methodology for the evaluation of law enforcement ammunition based upon real world shooting situations.
The tests using windshield glass and sheet metal were the most challenging. These tests eliminated the 9mm and .38 Special. If a law enforcement agency has a remote possibility of shooting around cars, it would be wiser to consider the heavier calibers.

Vehicle position at the start of the of the April 11, 1986 Miami Shootout.
Vehicle position at the start of the of the April 11, 1986 Miami Shootout.

The tests showed that kinetic (muzzle) energy isn’t a reliable predictor of bullet performance. Another issue was “hollow point” bullets. The study also proved something many law enforcement agencies have known: The expansion of hollow point bullets is unreliable. In the tests where hollow point bullets had to penetrate barriers like dry wall and plywood, expansion was rare. Shots through both wallboard and plywood showed that the hollow point was routinely plugged by material and the projectile performed as if it were a round nose (ball) bullet. Shooting through car doors and front windshield glass was telling. Most shots through windshield glass and car doors stripped out about 50 percent of the bullet weight as it passed through the barrier. If you fired a bullet weighing 150 grains, what came out the other end was a bullet weighing 75 grains or less. It has been a long time since I retired, so maybe bullet manufactures have improved their rounds to surpass the original test results.

Keeping in mind that the Wound Ballistics Workshop concluded that size does matter, and the ballistics testing demonstrated that shooting through barriers affects bullet performance, the FTU selected the .40 caliber round as the optimum service round to be carried by FBI agents. The FTU also had to take into consideration employees with small hands, so there had to be a balance between caliber and the size of the pistol frame. In the real world “one size does not fit all,” but the FBI tried to accommodate the largest percentage of the agent population without having to buy and fit each agent with a personal pistol. That cost would have been prohibitive. The Smith & Wesson gun company eventually produced a .40 caliber bullet for law enforcement and civilian use. Over the years, the Bureau went through several different gun manufacturers assessing which gun platform best served the FBI’s needs. However, the .40 round is still in use today.

To repeat, bullet size does matter when trying to stop a large land mammal like a human being. That is why the FBI’s ballistic testing was so cutting edge and important for law enforcement across the country. In that regard, rifles are better than handguns because rifles fire larger caliber rounds at higher velocity. As my old USMC drill sergeant use to say, “Getting hit by a rifle bullet will fuck up your health record!” Case in point was me: The rifle bullet that hit my left arm “fucked up my health record” and temporarily took me out of the fight.

Post-incident photographs of an FBI vehicle.
Post-incident photographs of an FBI vehicle.

Another lesson tied to the wound ballistics and caliber debate was the “bullet capacity” of law enforcement handguns. A revolver normally carries six bullets. Semi-automatic pistols at that time could carry anywhere from eight to fifteen bullets. A person with a revolver has to reload after shooting six times. A person with a fifteen-shot pistol can keep shooting while the revolver has to be reloaded. (Agents) Gordon (McNeill) and Jake (Hanlon) both stated that they felt the most vulnerable when they ran out of ammo and had to reload. They had to take their eyes off the threat and look at their weapon to reload. A person with fifteen-round magazines can keep fighting. Replacing a magazine is easier and faster than reloading a revolver. This led the FBI transition from revolvers to high capacity pistols.

The FBI Training Division at Quantico reviewed the Firearms Training Unit (FTU) curriculum, and the FTU started to add more “combat” shooting courses: Moving and shooting, shooting one-handed, reloading one-handed, shooting with your weak hand, shooting at moving targets, shooting from cars, and shooting at smaller targets. It added a more realistic style of training as opposed to shooting in straight lines at stationary targets. There was also an increase in car stop training.

The FBI also procured more shotguns and semi-auto 9mm MP-5 submachine guns with thirty-round magazines. The numbers meant that every two agents would have a shotgun or MP-5 with them in case they needed more firepower. The FBI also authorized agents to purchase their own assault rifles for use on duty. The stipulations were that the assault rifles had to be consistent with the FBI’s current issued weapons, which was the Colt M-16 platform. Regular FBI agents (non-SWAT trained) could only purchase semi-automatic assault rifles, had to register their weapon with the FBI, and had to qualify with their weapons a minimum of once a year.

The FBI also researched, designed, and procured “gun racks” for all these new long weapons. If you look at a standard marked police car, you may see a shotgun rack in between the front seats of the car. It is placed there for faster accessibility. FBI cars are not marked, so you can’t have a shotgun racked in the front seat area without drawing attention to the car. Plus this would mark the car as a target for a break-in to take the weapon. The FBI designed a gun rack that was secure and out of sight yet still accessible to the agents in the front seat.

Miami Shootout 4
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Concealed Carry: Point Shooting Vs Aimed Fire

By
Massad Ayoob
-
7

Ineffective and potentially dangerous, point shooting should be avoided at all costs and aimed fire employed in any lethal-force scenario.

Combat-Hangunnery-7ED
This excerpt is from Massad Ayoob's Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery, 7th Edition, now available at GunDigestStore.com.

For more than a decade, this is a topic that has been guaranteed to not only sell gun magazines, but to generate a flurry of angry letters to the editors. Gun expert Dave Arnold was the first to make a key point about it. “A lot of this argument,” Dave said, “is simply a matter of terminology.”

As one who has been in or around the center of that debate since 1990, I’ll certainly buy that! Let’s see if we can’t quantify our terms at the very beginning so we’re all working off the same sheet of music.

Two concepts need to be understood first: index and coordinates. Index is what lines up the gun with that which is to be shot. Coordinates are the things we have to accomplish to achieve index.

There are perhaps three possible indices by which we can line up our gun with the target or the threat:

Body Position Index: This would be the situation where you can’t see where the gun is aimed, so you’re using a certain body position to align the gun with the target. In the obsolete FBI crouch, the coordinates are backside low, upper body forward, gun punched forward to keep it from going too low. In the speed rock, discussed elsewhere in this book, the coordinates include leaning the upper torso all the way back to bring the forearm lateral as the gun is fired immediately upon levering upward away from the holster. In pure hip-shooting, you are relying on either long-term muscle memory developed through exhaustive practice, or by a degree of talent few of us could ever hope to possess. I would define any type of body position index as “point shooting.”

Visual Index: This is where you are indexing by seeing the gun or the gunsights superimposed on the target. If you can see the gun is on target, I consider this aimed fire. Whether you are superimposing the silhouette of the whole gun over the target, or looking over the top of it, or taking a classic sight picture, the only question remaining is whether it’s coarsely aimed fire or precisely aimed fire.

Artificial Index: This would be something like a laser sight. Let’s say you have a ballistic raid shield in one hand, and a gun in the other. It will be awkward and difficult to bend the arm into a position where you can aim through the Lexan view port using the regular sights. If you reach your gun around the side of the shield and see your red dot on target, the artificial mechanism of the projected laser dot has indexed the weapon for you, rather than you visually aligning the gun or aligning it by body position index.

Since the laser sight is by no means universal, this argument of point shooting versus aimed fire really comes down to an issue of body position index versus visual index.

Handgun Laser 7
The use of a laser site is not consider point shooting, given once you see the dot on target the device has indexed your weapon.

The middle-road position is, “practice both.” That saves controversy, but if you’re teaching cops or others with limited time who can’t waste even minutes on useless stuff because you don’t have as much time as you need to give them key life-saving skills, you can’t afford to have controversy any more. A great many police departments have either gotten away from point shooting entirely, or they have given it very short shrift. The reason is that their cops get into a lot of shootings, and they can quickly find out what works and what doesn’t. Departments that have learned to re-emphasize sighted combat fire include LAPD and NYPD, to name but a few. Both saw a significant jump in hit percentages in actual gunfights after renewing their emphasis on visually indexing the duty sidearms.

A book could be written on this topic — some have been, and more will be — but let’s cut to the chase. The bottom line is this; a lifetime of studying real-world gunfight dynamics has taught this author that true point shooting simply doesn’t work, except for a handful of extremely skilled and highly practiced shooters.

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Problems with Point Shooting

Dennis Martin, the martial arts and small arms expert who for some time was Great Britain’s coordinator for the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors, has little use for point shooting. He told me, “When the SAS had as their primary mission the eradication of enemy soldiers in combat, they taught point shooting with a high volume of gunfire. But as soon as their mission was changed to include hostage rescue, they switched from point shooting to Col. Cooper’s concept of the ‘flash sight picture.’ Now they had to shoot through narrow channels between innocent people, and it would have been irresponsible to do that without aiming their weapons.”

This is as clear an explanation of the problems with point shooting as I’ve ever seen. As an expert witness for the courts in weapons and shooting cases for more than 20 years, I realized early on that again and again, point shooting was culpable when the wrong people were hit by the good guy’s fire.

Special Agent George Zeiss and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. training for the TV series “The FBI.”
At one time, point shooting was an instructed technique in law enforcement.

One case, a man “pointed” his .38 for a warning shot and hit, crippling for life, a man he said he was trying to miss. More common are people hitting those other than the ones they’re trying to hit. I was retained on behalf of one police officer who “point-shot” at the tire of a car that was going toward a brother officer and instead hit in the head and killed a person inside the vehicle. I was retained on behalf of another who, at little more than arm’s length from a murderer trying to shoot him, resorted to the point shooting he had been taught and missed with all but one shot. The one hit, almost miraculously, nailed the bad guy in the arm and cut the radial nerve, preventing his attacker from pulling the trigger. But one of his misses struck, and horribly crippled for life, an innocent bystander — one of the potential victims the officer was trying to protect.

You don’t need too many cases like that to understand why true point shooting, firing without being able to see where the gun is oriented, can quickly pass the point of diminishing returns. Law school students are taught that the exemplar of recklessness is a “blind man with a gun.” A person who is firing a gun when they can’t see whether or not it’s on target is, in effect, a blind man with a gun. It could be eloquently argued in court that, ipso facto, firing without being able to see where the gun is aimed creates recklessness. In turn, recklessness is the key ingredient in the crime of Manslaughter and in a civil court lawsuit based on Wrongful Death or Wrongful Injury. Enough said?

Editor's Note: This excerpt is from Massad Ayoob's Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery, 7th Edition, now at GunDigestStore.com.

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