Since its debut in 2017, Mossberg’s short-barreled, bird’s-head grip smoothbores have sparked plenty of debate. Are they range toys? True defensive tools? Does it even matter? Because a 14-inch scattergun with serious firepower is just plain cool.
Now, Mossberg is cranking the Shock series—what the ATF classifies as “Firearms”—up to 11 with the latest evolution: the 990 Aftershock. This time, it’s built on the company’s battle-hardened 940 semi-automatic platform making it faster, harder-hitting and a lot more fun.
Wrists, beware—the 990 Aftershock is here to test your mettle. But let’s be real: a little extra wear and tear might be worth the sheer firepower packed into this compact beast.
Mossberg nickel-boron coated the piston ring of the 990, ensuring it’s corrosion resistant as well as self-lubricating.
I got my hands on a 14.25-inch barreled Aftershock for testing ahead of its 2025 NRA Convention debut. But this wasn’t my first rodeo with the platform.
Back in 2022, a group of gun writers—myself included—were invited to Gunsite Academy in Arizona to test an early prototype. Those early Aftershocks felt like pre-production models—functional but unrefined. Mossberg took its time perfecting the design, ensuring that the final product wasn’t just another novelty but a legitimate defensive option.
The result? A more polished, user-friendly version of the original concept, albeit as “user-friendly” as a bird’s-head 12-gauge can be.
990 Action: The Game Changer
One of the best things about the 990 is the oversized port, beveled and sporting an elongated elevator. In short, it's easy to feed.
The real reason to get excited about the Aftershock? Its action. This isn’t just another semi-auto—it’s powered by Mossberg’s proven 940 gas system.
When Mossberg introduced the 940 series, it changed the game for the company’s semi-autos, which had previously struggled to gain traction. By extensively testing the 940 with high-volume shooters and refining its gas system, Mossberg created a shotgun that eats everything from light target loads to heavy magnums without a hiccup.
That same reliability is now packed into the 990 Aftershock, making it not only a blast to shoot but also surprisingly controllable. Unlike its pump-action predecessor—the 590 Shockwave, which is often fired from the hip—the 990 Aftershock is manageable enough to be fired at eye level with confidence.
Aftershock Grip: Taming the Beast
The Aftershock’s bird’s-head grip includes a rubberized saddle that improves your handle on the gun, while not proving over aggressive.
What sets the Shock series apart is its signature injection-molded bird’s-head grip. Unlike traditional pistol grips, which direct recoil straight back into your wrist (and possibly your face), the bird’s-head design angles recoil downward, making it far more manageable.
Mossberg wisely opted for a smooth grip surface with a rubber insert on the backstrap for extra friction, ensuring a secure hold without shredding your hands under recoil. Up front, the fore-end features a textured grip and a strap for added control—borrowed from Mossberg’s pump-action models.
While the strap aids in stabilizing the gun, I personally would have preferred a hand stop instead, as it would feel more natural and solid in a semi-auto platform.
Aftershock Controls: Built for Defense
Mossberg nailed the controls on the Aftershock, carrying over the battle-tested layout from the 940 Tactical. The oversized charging handle, bolt release and tang safety are all designed for quick and easy manipulation under stress. But the real standout feature is the loading system.
Mossberg widened the loading port, elongated the elevator, smoothed out the magazine follower, and removed any sharp edges on the port that might snag your thumb—making reloads lightning fast. Truth be told, I wish every shell-fed firearm had a loading gate this slick.
Upgraded Aiming System
Even if you go without an optic, the gun’s fiber-optic piping for the bead is plenty visible and all you need in close quarters.
Early Aftershock prototypes were equipped with a simple brass bead sight—not ideal for a defensive firearm. Thankfully, Mossberg upgraded the commercial version with a fiber-optic bead for improved visibility.
Even better, the receiver is drilled and tapped, allowing shooters to mount a rail and optic. While I appreciate the flexibility, I would have preferred a direct optic cut, like the 940 Tactical’s RMSc footprint, for a more secure mounting solution. Given the Aftershock’s high-recoil, bump-prone nature, a milled optic mount would be a sturdier option.
At the Range with the Aftershock
Given the gas-operated 990's reduced recoil, the non-NFA firearm can be shot at eye level with out worry of catching the grip in the face.
Between my time at Gunsite and my personal testing, I’ve put hundreds of rounds through the Aftershock, and it’s left a lasting impression—though not without some reservations.
First, let’s address the obvious: the Aftershock is undeniably badass. In a sea of cookie-cutter ARs and polymer handguns, this smoothbore stands out. And with its proven 940 gas system, it runs like a dream. I fed it everything from light target loads to 3-inch slugs, and it cycled flawlessly, save for two minor malfunctions within the first 20 rounds—a break-in issue that quickly resolved itself.
In terms of accuracy, the Aftershock delivers where it counts—close in.
At 10 yards, Hornady Critical Defense 00 buckshot put nine out of nine pellets on target, with eight landing in center mass. Move beyond this range and the pattern loosens and hits don’t land where you want them.
As a sidenote, shooting slugs at Gunsite the Aftershock could technically hit a target at 100 yards—but it was far from a tack driver. At this distance and payload, hits were counted as anything that landed on the 18-inch by 30-inch target—including outside the silhouette.
Still, it’s impressive for a 14.25-inch barrel with a cylinder bore choke. For home defense, this precision is more than sufficient.
The Learning Curve
Mossberg outfits the 990 with the same strap found on the 590 Shockwave, giving shooters a firm handle on the gun.
That said, shooting the Aftershock from an aimed position requires some practice. The compact beast requires a push-pull technique: push forward with your support hand while pulling back with your strong hand to maintain control.
I found the technique effective but takes getting used to. I would wager many shooters would find it infeasible or unappealing—it is hard on the wrists. Good news is Mossberg does offer the short stack with a Crimson Trace Lasersaddle, so aimed hip shots are possible with the gun.
My two-cents on the matter, if the Aftershock is your defensive iron of choice it’s well worth the $200 investment to Form 4 the gun and make it into a Short Barrel Shotgun by adding a stock.
Final Thoughts
The trigger on the 990 is solid and nearly impossible to outrun.
The Mossberg 990 Aftershock is a niche firearm, but that’s part of its appeal. It’s compact, powerful, and fun as hell to shoot.
Is it the best home-defense option out there? That depends.
If you’re willing to put in the time to master it, the Aftershock is a formidable gun. But if you want something more traditional and accurate, Mossberg’s full-sized 940 Tactical might be a better fit.
Either way, the 990 Aftershock is a testament to Mossberg’s innovation, proving that even in an age of ARs and striker-fired handguns, there’s still room for something different. And let’s be honest—sometimes, different is just plain awesome.
3D printed suppressors are extremely popular these days, but do they live up to the hype?
It’s often said that seismic levels of innovation in the firearms space are rare. Certainly, companies and individuals come up with great new ideas all the time. But sea changes that affect an entire segment of the industry don’t happen very often. The advent of using additive manufacturing—the fancy name for 3D printing—to produce suppressors is one of those key industry-wide developments.
Types Of Manufacturing
Suppressors are devices that are made of metal with specially designed geometry designed to trap, redirect, cool and slow down the gases from a gunshot, thus reducing the sound signature of a firearm, among other things.
The traditional method to manufacture devices like silencers is by machining them. Think of it like Michelangelo sculpting the statue of David—starting from a solid block of stone, he painstakingly chiseled away chips of marble to reveal the masterpiece within. CNC (computer numerical control) machines are programmed to take a block of material, such as stainless steel, and use tooling to remove material from it until you’re left with the desired component. You can then weld and screw them together into the final product. Since you’re removing material to create the desired result, this is called subtractive manufacturing.
On the other hand, additive manufacturing works in the opposite manner. Think of building up something from LEGOs, where you combine small elements to create a larger composition—like that rocket ship or race car that you made out of LEGOs when you were a kid. DMLS (direct metal laser sintering) machines use high-powered lasers to selectively fuse layers of metal powder into the desired final product. They’re controlled by sophisticated software, forming the end product out of the powder, layer by layer. Thus, you start from nothing and keep adding material until you have the final product, hence the term additive manufacturing.
A cutaway rendering of the CGS Hyperion QD 762. Note the annular cavity at the perimeter that acts as a bore evacuator.
The key advantage of this process is that it makes it possible to create precise, highly complex geometries that would otherwise be either impossible or excessively expensive to achieve with traditional manufacturing.
The Speed K’s 3D-printed finned blast chamber is designed to disperse energy as quickly as possible.
In preparing this article, we interviewed executives at Dead Air, Huxwrx, Primary Weapon Systems, Radical Defense, Silencer Central and SureFire to gather the latest insights and perspectives from those in the thick of it.
Characteristics of Suppressors
To understand why the capabilities of additive manufacturing make such a big difference in enhancing the performance of suppressors, let’s discuss some key characteristics and design goals of suppressors.
First, they’re intended to reduce the sound signature of a gun as much as possible, to mitigate permanent hearing damage to the shooter and others nearby. Not only is this a health and safety concern, but it also makes shooting much more pleasant, especially for new or sensitive shooters. Once you try hunting with a silencer, you’ll never want to go back. For society, there’s less noise pollution in the community. And for those in harm’s way, it makes it easier to communicate and harder for opposing forces to locate the operator.
Second, flash reduction is also desirable, helping to protect your vision especially in low light and under night vision. Warfighters can also minimize their visible footprint during engagements.
Modern silencers strike an ever-better balance between sound mitigation, back pressure, flash reduction and other key characteristics.
Ideally, suppressors would have minimal impact on the functioning of the host weapon, so that it operates the same (or better) with the suppressor attached than without it. For instance, it’s better to avoid affecting bolt speeds and requiring adjustable gas systems; nor do you want to pull away too much gas and induce malfunctions. For full-auto platforms, it’s best not to change cyclic rates and accelerate wear on parts. When it comes to impacts downrange, the less zero shift the better and every time the silencer is removed and reattached it should return to the same zero.
Back pressure deserves its own mention, though it technically falls under the previous category. This is a very hot topic these days, as folks have realized the negative effects of back pressure from suppressors over the years. Not only is the toxicity of increased gases coming back to the shooter a major health concern, back pressure also increases wear and fouling, thus decreasing reliability. Lowering back pressure in modern silencer designs is a key priority for many companies and a common ask from end users, agencies and militaries.
Then, there’s fundamental characteristics like durability, concentricity, physical dimensions and weight.
Juggling multiple parameters almost always involves trade-offs and compromises, as nothing comes for free. Making a change to optimize one factor will typically affect others. And everything needs to balanced against the cost to manufacture the product, as it needs to be priced appropriately for its target market with enough margin for the manufacturer.
A perfect example of those trade-offs is Silencer Central’s Speed K suppressor, which is offered in two variants: a very lightweight, non-full-auto-rated model printed from titanium and a hard use, heavier, full-auto-rated model made of Inconel. The end user can decide for themselves which mix of characteristics best fits their needs.
Benefits of Additive Manufacturing
Additive manufacturing is so valuable because it enables the complicated geometries that can achieve good performance across the key metrics described above, especially low back pressure. Randy Stumph, COO of Huxwrx, explained that the company had been attempting to implement various ideas for low back pressure designs for years but were unable to achieve the desired performance until they tapped into the capabilities of 3D printing. “We had a geometry problem to solve. You can print things that can’t be or aren’t practical to machine.”
It also enables rapid prototyping, as you can quickly and easily go from model to print.
The diminutive Silencer Central Banish 9K is 3D printed from titanium and weighs just 2.7 ounces, so no piston is required.
By definition, it’s more efficient in raw materials consumption, as you only use what you need with not that much waste. This is in contrast with subtractive manufacturing where you can mill away a ton of material, perhaps 80 percent of a billet. That swarf goes straight in the trash, whereas excess metal powder from printing can be processed and a good portion recycled. Printing isn’t totally efficient, as you’ll need to remove support structures and do other post-processing.
There are also materials like Inconel and Haynes 282, prized for hard-use applications, that are very difficult to machine but can be printed like any other powder.
Printing is extremely consistent and repeatable, creating extremely straight final products—this is great given the importance of concentricity with silencers. Machining is capable of even tighter tolerances, but it’s demanding to do it consistently.
Additionally, you can continually make incremental improvements from one production run to the next if desired, since the printer just works off the file you program it with. With typical high-volume production by machining, it can be harder to make refinements to products along the way when you’ve already premade large batches of components for assembly.
Limitations and Concerns
There are some limitations and concerns related to 3D printing.
If you think about how printers put down layer after layer, from the build plate upward, this imposes some limitations on geometry such as angles and overhangs. Additionally, all of the powder needs to be evacuated from the end product, so you can’t have designs that block excess powder from getting out. All of the companies we talked to said that you just need to be cognizant of these limitations and can effectively design around them.
Surface finish is also rougher; besides the cosmetic difference, it can provide enhanced grip, heat dissipation, and shapes and textures that would be impractical to achieve traditionally.
Certain operations are still best done traditionally, such as machining threads and producing muzzle devices and adapters.
Diligent production processes and quality control are critical to ensure consistent and proper grain structure, porosity and so forth, as well as to avoid and/or detect bad layers. Many companies offer hard-use models that are 100-percent printed suppressors and heartily stand behind their durability and reliability for mission-critical use. Anyone familiar with SureFire’s product philosophy shouldn’t be surprised that they still have an outer Inconel tube wrapped around the new RC3’s mix of printed and machined innards that’s also welded to the front and back, acting as a fail-safe. Barry Dueck, their VP of suppressors and weapons, said, “As a military product, if you’re downrange on a mission, even if something happens to break, it’ll still all hold together.”
The hard-use SureFire RC3 mixes traditional and additive manufacturing methods.
As you’d expect, the cost to manufacture printed suppressors is higher than their machined counterparts.
Vertical Integration vs. Outsourcing
Accordingly, 3D printing machines are also extremely expensive. Not only do you need to invest in the machine itself, easily $1 million and more, you need a big footprint around it in your facility; infrastructure, hazmat and support systems; argon gas; staff; learning and knowledge; and the list goes on. It’s a huge capital expenditure and commitment to do your own printing, though the payoff is capturing that extra expertise and margin. It’s no surprise that not many companies have vertically integrated in this manner. Mike Pappas at Dead Air doesn’t get too worked up over it—“Nobody’s smelting their own ore. Many manufacturers use production partners.” Dead Air’s newest Lazarus 6 is printed with ultra-durable Haynes 282.
Silencer Central sells and ships products from a wide range of brands direct to consumers, but they’ve also stood up their own product line. After initially outsourcing product development, they’ve now brought engineering in-house. Lukas VanLaecken, director of engineering, described how extremely carefully they screened and selected manufacturing partners. “It’s not just the equipment but the workforce that are important, and we’ve found partners to work closely with who are experts.” Everyone we talked to stressed the importance of being very thorough and diligent in assessing potential production partners. Dueck recounted sending the exact same sample file to several print houses and receiving prints back with different dimensions.
The software systems driving these machines are critical, and print houses learn their intricacies and how to coax the desired results, so working together closely during the design process is important.
The Primary Weapon Systems BDE suppressor is 3D-printed titanium with modular removable baffles.
Primary Weapon Systems, on the other hand, felt a strategic imperative to own their machine and build that manufacturing capability in-house. COO Jason Curns explained, “It was a huge learning curve and so much to set up. It could go wrong in a lot of ways. That was about three years ago, and it’s already paid off. Buy once, cry once. We’re looking at buying another machine, a quad laser.” Their machine runs 24/7, cranking out nothing but PWS suppressors.
Huxwrx is synonymous at this point with their flow-through, printed silencers, but they don’t own any printers. With the volume they do, they’ve settled in the middle ground, essentially leasing dedicated manufacturing capability. They’ve contracted with key preferred manufacturing partners to have machines dedicated solely to Huxwrx production, sort of a hybrid form of vertical integration.
Radical Defense’s 556-GPS suppressor is specifically designed for belt-fed machine guns. It’s printed with Haynes 282 superalloy.
Radical Defense is an interesting case study. They initially bought a printer to work on prototyping machine gun suppressors, after tiring of paying high fees to other companies for help. After some time working with it, learning a lot of lessons, and starting to help others in the industry with their prototyping projects, Radical decided to pursue the OEM opportunity, helping other manufacturers design and print their suppressors. Five years ago, Radical Defense broke off from the original firearms business, and now over 80 percent of their revenues come from OEM customers. Less than 20 percent comes from Radical’s own suppressor line, which is primarily driven by military and law enforcement requirements both domestically and abroad.
Rocking and rolling with a Silencer Central Speed K printed from inconel on an FN M249.
Ross Aguirre, VP of business development, and Nick Kostin, director of testing and evaluation, talked about the tremendous growth they’ve experienced. “We have seven quad-laser machines and will be growing to nine or 10 by the end of the year. They’re all running 24/7. Our OEMs keep us so busy, we often run out of inventory of our own products.”
With so much production capacity, they can also do prototyping exercises where they print a bunch of variations of a design to test and optimize it.
Looking to the Future
Just like the broader technology market, 3D printing is evolving and changing very quickly. Software is improving even quicker, adding additional capability and nuance, such as detecting spots where an abnormality like a bulge will be created and automatically compensating for it. Even with the same machines, many significant improvements have and will come purely from software upgrades.
Higher throughput will be greatly welcomed because there’s a whole lot of waiting involved in 3D printing, and shorter print times will boost production and reduce unit costs. Radical expects continuing progress on optimizing run times, laser paths and so on. Pricing for printers will likely decrease over time too, also pushing costs down.
This isn’t the death knell of traditionally machined suppressors, though. Especially if silencers are deregulated at some point, demand for low-cost options will likely increase, and machined suppressors will probably fill that segment. It would likely be a huge boom for the whole industry too, and companies won’t be able to print cans fast enough.
SureFire used computational fluid dynamics modeling and simulation extensively throughout the RC3’s development process.
Engineers are constantly learning more about flow and geometry, and what capabilities can be pushed further for better performance. Computational fluid dynamics modeling systems keep getting better. There could be more optimization of materials for specific applications too.
There’s so much to be excited about in the coming years, as additive manufacturing continues to unlock better performance across all of the key parameters for suppressors.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the 2025 suppressor special issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
More On Suppressors:
The Suppressor: How They're Made, How They Work, And How To Buy One
A quick look at Vortex’s Pro Rifle Clamp Tripod Mount, a simple piece of kit that will help steady you in the field.
There are a few different methods for mounting a rifle to a tripod, but many of them require specialized components or tools in order to mate the two. Sometimes, simpler is better, and the new Vortex Pro Rifle Clamp Tripod Mount looks like it’s a simple yet solid option for hunters and shooters looking to get steady in the field.
The Pro Rifle Clamp can be attached to any tripod that’s compatible with either Arca-Swiss or 3/8″-16 mounts, and its soft durometer rubber jaws are adjustable enough (1.3 to 3.2 inches) to accommodate most rifle, shotgun and crossbow handguards. The soft rubber jaws provide a secure hold on the weapon without marring it, and they absorb some recoil too. Also, thanks to its magnesium construction, the mount only weighs 14.4 ounces. This will help keep tripod setups lighter for hunters who need to carry their gear far afield.
The Vortex Pro Rifle Clamp Tripod Mount has an MSRP of $224.99 and it’s available now.
Looking for a .270 rifle? Here we go over what makes for the best .270 Winchester rifles and a few top models to consider.
There was a time when choosing a good .270 rifle was simple. You either got a Remington 700, a Winchester Model 70 or had one made custom by someone who knew what they were doing. Whichever route you went, your rifle was guaranteed to be solid.
Today, while the .270 rifle shopper is spoiled lousy for choice, he can also be easily led astray by models that don’t suit his intended purpose.
How I Chose The Best .270 Rifles
I'm a big fan of .270 Winchester, and resultantly, I've spent a good amount of time behind a variety of different .270 rifles. Like any other caliber of rifle, some are better than others, and some are simply better suited for certain tasks than others. Drawing from my experience with several of the different models on the market, I've narrowed my list of top .270 rifles down to these options based on their accuracy, triggers, ergonomics, prices and general features.
Christensen Arms makes some of the best modern hunting rifles money can buy. Ultra-light, ultra-precise and exquisitely crafted for the utmost performance in the field.
The stock is a carbon fiber sporter stock with steel bedding pillars. It has a Remington 700-based action, a TriggerTech trigger and Christensen Arms' carbon fiber-wrapped 20-inch barrel which has a 1:10 twist. Christensen also hand-laps the barrel and installs a side-baffle muzzle brake, which is removable.
It's available in multiple colors and camo patterns. The rifle weighs in at 5.3 pounds and comes with Christensen Arms' Sub-MOA guarantee. There are few .270 rifles as light, as accurate or as up-to-date.
You'll pay for the privilege, as Christensen Arms rifles don’t come cheap, but if you wanted a lightweight, state-of-the-art rifle, I'd argue that it has no peer.
If bang for your buck is a concern, the Savage 110 Trail Hunter is nigh-on unbeatable. It may not be the fanciest .270 rifle on the list, but it can absolutely get the job done without breaking the bank.
The rifle has a 22-inch barrel with a 1:10 twist, an OD green Hogue Overmolded rubber stock and a Tungsten Cerakote finish. I also appreciate that despite being a budget rifle, the 110 Trail Hunter comes suppressor-ready with a 5/8×24 threaded muzzle. Other nice features include its 3-position tang safety, its 2-piece Weaver-style scope bases and, of course, an AccuTrigger.
Magazine capacity is 4+1 in a flush-mount detachable box, and the gun weighs in at 8.2 pounds. You'd be hard-pressed to find more value for the money, and the only additional thing you'll need to get out in the field is a scope.
Savage 110 Trail Hunter Deals
Bud's Gun Shop
$543
Best Classic Model: Winchester Model 70 Featherweight
Famous Mauser-derived controlled-round-feed action
CONS:
Expensive
Wood stock isn't most durable material
Barrel not threaded
If you prefer classic hunting rifles, there are few better than The Winchester Model 70 Featherweight. Jack O'Connor made this gun in this caliber famous over half a century ago, but I'd argue that today's Model 70 Featherweight makes a compelling case for itself on its own.
You get a walnut stock and a 22-inch blued barrel and receiver with a 1:10 twist rate. The stock has fleur-de-lis checkering (a homage to O'Connor's rifles, which were thusly engraved) and comes with Winchester's MOA adjustable trigger. It has the same Mauser-derived controlled-round-feed action as the vaunted pre-64 guns. Capacity is 5+1 rounds in an internal box magazine.
The new-production rifles are every bit the equal in accuracy, reliability and quality (if not superior) to the much-ballyhooed pre-64 guns.
The Remington 7600 is an oddity, a pump-action rifle partially based on Remington's shotguns. Never a favorite of western hunters, but it was beloved in the upper Midwest and the Northeast. Oddly enough, it even had a cult following in Australia as well. If you wanted a .270 rifle for timber hunting, look no further.
The 7600 has a 22-inch barrel with a 1:10 twist, and it weighs in at 7.5 pounds. The standard box magazine holds 4 rounds, but aftermarket 10-round box mags are available too. Irons come on the rifle, but the receiver is tapped to mount whatever you'd like, even a red dot if you don't care about being traditional (fun fact, the first electronic red dot was the Aimpoint Electronic, and it was designed for hunting).
What's so great about this oddball rifle? It's based on a shotgun, so the gun mounts the shoulder wickedly fast and with the sights aligned. If you needed to make a fast shot, there are few rifles that get on target as quickly, which is part of what endeared them to so many people. The only catch, this model was discontinued in 2020, so you'll have to find one of the second-hand market.
The Howa 1500 Carbon Stalker is a lightweight rifle that's perfect for backcountry hunts. The carbon fiber-wrapped stock brings weight down to 6.4 pounds before optic and ammunition. It's offered in black carbon fiber or a Kryptek camo pattern.
The action is Howa's 1500 bolt-action, a rugged and accurate platform that's excellent for the intended purpose. It's fed by a 4-round magazine and has a 22-inch barrel with a 1:10 twist rate and a threaded muzzle in case you want to mount a suppressor.
It's a near state-of-the-art hunting rifle, and it’s close to 1-pound lighter than most other bolt-action rifles. I was already a big fan of the Howa 1500, and dropping the weight with a carbon fiber-wrapped only makes it better.
There are almost no compact rifles chambered in .270 Winchester, but one of the few that qualifies is the Savage 111 Lady Hunter. It has a 20-inch barrel with a 1:10 twist, and a slightly shorter length of pull (12.5 inches) compared to most rifles, which are usually 13.5 inches.
The stock is made of oiled brown walnut and is sporter-style with a Monte Calo cheekpiece. The action is Savage's vaunted 110 action, with a detachable box magazine that holds 4 rounds. Like most of Savage’s rifles, it features the AccuTrigger system.
This light rifle may have been designed with female shooters in mind, and it is an excellent choice for them, but don't shy away from it just because you're not a lady. Despite the Savage 111's classic wood aesthetics, it's incredibly light at only 6.5 pounds, and the shorter length of pull will make it faster in handling. This would make for an excellent backcountry hunting rifle regardless of what sex you are.
Savage 111 Lady Hunter Deals
Sportsman's Warehouse
$950
What To Look For In A .270 Rifle
All rifles of any caliber should be accurate and reliable, otherwise, they aren't the good kind of interesting. The good news is reliable and accurate bolt-action rifles can be had for a song. Today's budget rifles are often better than the top-tier factory rifles of even 20 years ago.
Here's what you should consider.
Stocks, stock materials and weight are a good things to pay attention to. .270 Winchester is one of the dominant hunting calibers for people who hunt game in open country and lugging a 9-pound rifle and scope around isn’t very pleasant.
Synthetics are lighter than wood, after all! You may also want to eschew blued guns if you live in an area that gets a lot of precipitation. Many shooters also find the factory length of pull to be too long on modern factory rifle stocks, so features like adjustability can be important as well.
If you're going to carry this rifle for any length of time or distance afield, bear those things in mind.
As far as action types, there are very few rifles chambered for .270 Winchester that are not bolt-action rifles.
There are only three non-bolt action rifles made in this caliber by a major manufacturer. Browning's BAR and BLR (semi-auto and lever-action, respectively) and the Remington 7600 pump-action. If bolt-action guns are not your cup of tea, your .270 rifle options are limited.
A Browning BLR.
Almost no factory rifles are offered with a twist rate other than 1:10. If you intend to get a rifle for the light varmint bullets or heavy long-range bullets, such as Berger's Extreme Outer Limits bullet, you'll likely need to find a custom barrel maker.
As for barrel length, there aren't many compact rifles offered in this caliber. Classically, 22 to 24 inches was the sweet spot. Any shorter than 20 inches, and you're just converting powder to noise and getting kicked harder than you would by a 7mm-08 or .243. You might as well not bother.
Then you have the sighting.
Whether you want to use a Picatinny rail or traditional scope mount mostly comes down to personal preference. Some guns will have factory-standard iron sights, and some will not. Having them or not is, again, a personal preference, but having a backup or a close-range sighting method to go with an optic is never a bad idea.
After determining how exactly you plan on using a .270 rifle, you can begin narrowing down features. After deciding on your preferred stock material, barrel length, optics mounting style and anything else, the final consideration is your budget. Rifles in this caliber can vary greatly in price, so regardless of how deep your pockets are there should be a model out there that’s perfect for your needs and means.
.270 Winchester Rifle FAQ
What is a .270 Winchester rifle good for?
A .270 Winchester rifle is most ideally suited for hunting medium-sized game such as deer. It offers a flat trajectory, making longer range shots easier, and it doesn't have too much recoil for the amount of power it provides. The cartridge is available with a wide variety of different projectiles as well, helping to make it even better suited for specific tasks.
Does .270 Winchester have a lot of kick?
Generally speaking, no, most shooters find .270 Winchester very tolerable in terms of recoil. However, the weight of the rifle effects this as well. Most common .270 rifles will weigh 7 to 8 pounds and result in manageable levels of kick. With very lightweight rifles, some shooters may find that it does have too much kick for their liking.
What's the effective range of a .270 rifle?
While .270 Winchester can reach out much farther with plenty of accuracy and power, for most shooters, it's a good idea to not try and harvest game with a .270 Winchester rifle beyond 400 yards.
Aero’s largest suppressor to date—the Lahar 30L—does a number on a long-range rig.
It’s more than about keeping quiet.
Sure, sound suppression is the main selling point of suppressors—heck, it’s there in the name. Yet there’s more to the high-tech tubes than simply protecting your hearing and among the most beneficial, shooting performance.
This attracted me to the Papa Bear offering from Aero Precision’s almost newly minted Lahar line of suppressors. Supersized, built as tough as old boots and—in the world of suppressor—light on the pocketbook, the Lahar 30L has everything to make it a dandy addition to a precision rig. But does the can take a tack driver to new levels?
The 30L’s large Inconel blast baffle—along with its overall large internal volume—offers ample space for muzzle gases to expand and slow down, thus giving the can excellent attributes.
Like an old friend, Aero has been there for shooters over the years offering up dialed-in, yet affordable, AR components. It was only recently—in 2023 to be exact—the company took advantage of the sizzling suppressor market and began making the muzzle devices—the Lahar series.
At present, the line of 30-caliber suppressors is comprised of three suppressors, essentially identical except for baffle count and length:
Lahar 30K: 4 baffles, 5.1” in length, 12.9oz. weight
Lahar 30: 6 Baffles, 5.9” in length, 15.4oz. weight
Lahar 30L: 9 baffles, 7.7” in length, 19.9oz. weight
What the line brings to the table is a rock-solid design, fully-auto rated and tested to put up with more abuse than you or I could dole out. This starts with Lahar’s baffle design, with an Inconel blast baffle and stainless-steel secondary baffles. Stainless steel provides the ruggedness the suppressor requires at the muzzle end, while the Inconel (nickel-chromium alloy) gives the can excellent thermal and corrosion-resistance qualities.
The front cap is removable, a nice touch when it comes to cleaning the suppressor.
Next, the Lahar design is tubeless (welded), with the dual benefit of lightening up its overall weight while creating a larger internal volume—thus making it better at its job. There’s debate on whether welded suppressors are as robust as their tubed counterparts, valid especially when joining two materials as in the case of the Lahar. Aero understood this problem and invested a good deal of sweat equity to get it correct and use a laser joining system able to withstand U.S. Special Operations testing.
One final point on the design, Aero made the line somewhat user-serviceable, not always the case with tubeless suppressors. The company opted for removable front and end caps, allowing some access to the stack and making cleaning a world easier.
A quick note on the end cap, it’s threaded 13⁄8×24, or “HUB”, in turn, it is compatible with a number of muzzle devices on the market making QD compatibility painless. If you like to keep things simple, it comes installed with a 5⁄8×24 direct-thread end-cap.
At the Range With The Lahar 30L
The can is long—7.7 inches, thus it excels on firearms generally shot from a supported position
I opted to mount the Lahar 30L on a Stag Pursuit Bolt-Action in 6.5 Creedmoor. While the 30L is suitable for any rifle, depending on usage, it's particularly suited this rifle given its 20-inch barrel and precision bent. Additionally, a slightly smaller caliber than the can’s upper limit also helped put Aero’s factotum design approach to the test.
Overall, I walked away impressed with what the can brought to the table, particularly in the Lahar 30L’s accuracy enhancement potential. With handloads, the Stag is typically a .75-inch rifle at 100 yards—if I do my part. With the suppressor on the muzzle, it trimmed the groups down to an average of .68-inches through 50 rounds. Much of this is thanks to its impressive ability to mute the gun’s recoil to roughly what I gauge as a souped-up .22—something like a .22-250 Remington or .223 Remington.
Sound suppression was also top-notch, but I was expecting this. We torture-tested a load of cans at CANCON Carolina and the Lahar 30 came out the quietest at the muzzle quieting a 5.56 NATO down to 141.9 dB. The larger 30L did the same number on the 6.5 Creedmoor, the proof in the pudding being hearing shots hit the target—paper and plywood—at 200 yards. Impressive in my book.
The end cap is threaded 13⁄8×24, or “HUB”, in turn, it is compatible with a number of muzzle devices on the market making QD compatibility painless.
One last positive on the Lahar 30L worth mentioning, it blew heat off like a champ. I ran the can fairly hard on a hot day, getting it hot enough that I couldn’t handle it bear-handed. But on average, a 3-minute rest was all the suppressor required to come back down to manageable temperatures.
The only chink I found in the Lahar 30L’s armor is its size. Given it has a substantial amount of stainless steel in its construction and is 7.7 inches long, this is of little surprise. In the case of the front-heavy Pursuit, it moved the rifle’s fulcrum well forward. This isn’t an issue on this particular iron, given I shot supported—bipod or shooting bags—the entire day. However, for rifles shot offhand, particularly those meant to remain nimble, this might not be a shooter’s first choice.
So, where does the 30L fit in?
In my opinion, a precision rig would benefit greatly from the big-dog suppressor—be it aimed at casual, competitive or varmint long range. The can makes a substantial difference in felt recoil, takes a spell to throw up a heat mirage and reduces shooting fatigue. Thus, if support concerns aren’t an issue the Lahar 30L does its job and well.
Parting Shot
Aero didn’t just scale up a suppressor—they refined it. The Lahar 30L tames recoil, tones down the report, and tightens groups, all without breaking the bank. It’s big, sure, but for a supported precision rig, it’s a beast worth threading on. For those chasing hits at distance and consistency in every trigger pull, this can isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a smart move.
Springfield Armory has just announced the Kuna, a roller-delayed 9mm pistol made by HS Produkt of Croatia.
The MP5 is great, but it’s getting pretty old. For parties interested in roller-delayed 9mm PDWs but want something a bit more modern, they now have the Springfield Armory/HS Produkt Kuna to consider.
Featuring a 6-inch cold hammer forged barrel, the Kuna is sold as a pistol either with or without a Strike Industries folding brace. The brace attaches via Picatinny rail on the rear of the receiver so you can install whatever brace model you desire, or stock if you choose to SBR it. Like the MP5, the Kuna uses a roller-delayed operating system. The smooth, low-recoil shooting experience that roller-delay provides is one of the big reasons why the MP5 was and is so loved, so odds are the Kuna will be a great shooter too.
Other features of the Kuna include a 1/2×28 threaded barrel (comes with multi-port brake installed), a monolithic aluminum upper with integral M-LOK slots and a flat-faced trigger. The charging handle is folding, non-reciprocating and reversible, and the controls are ambidextrous and similar to an AR-15’s. The grip is also AR-15 pattern and can be swapped. As for iron sights, the Kuna ships with a set of adjustable flip-up hybrid sights. When folded down they’re similar to handgun notch sights, and when flipped up they’re more precise aperture sights.
The Kuna uses proprietary 30-round magazines that are made out of a translucent polymer and have a round count molded into both sides. They have metal feed lips and Springfield is selling them for $25 a pop.
Steve Kramer, Vice President of Marketing for Springfield Armory, said this about the new 9mm:
The performance of the Kuna speaks for itself … With its roller-delayed operating system and ruggedly durable design, the Kuna represents the new benchmark of capability.
The Springfield Armory Kuna is available now and has an MSRP of $999 without a brace and $1,149 with a brace included.
CANCON Arizona 2025 is wrapped up! A weekend of fun, sun, and a whole lot of CANS! Here is just a small smattering of what was there this year. Missed it? Join us in South Carolina in November or back in Arizona in 2026!
If you want to see all of CANCON in action, take a look at our RECAP video!
We know what you're thinking; yes, these shirts are for sale, but we've sold out! More coming soon…
Belt-fed alley was a huge success! Did you take a turn on the Minigun or M240?
VIP BAG
Arizona 2025 was our best VIP bag EVER!
PROs Vs. JOES
Pros Vs. Joes was back again with even more Joes going home with some awesome prizes!
BASE CAMP
Something totally new for CANCON Arizona 2025 was the OFFGRID BASECAMP!
A unique hub for outdoor enthusiasts, survivalists, and adventure seekers alike. At OFFGRID Basecamp, you'll discover skill sessions taught by seasoned professionals. These quick, focused lessons cover essential topics like fire-starting, navigation, emergency first-aid, and more
CONGRESS COMES TO CANCON
We were honored to host Congressman Abe Hamadeh at CANCON Arizona last week. While at CANCON, Congressman Hamadeh, a former U.S. Army Reserve Intelligence Officer, learned firsthand about the health and safety value of suppressors and reiterated his pledge to support our Second Amendment rights.
“The muzzle may be quiet, but the message is loud: liberty belongs to the people, not the ATF,” stated Congressman Hamadeh. “For too long convoluted policies and misguided definitions have caused confusion and concern, putting targets on gun owners in attempts to weaken our Second Amendment rights. Enough is enough. I for one, know that we can never do enough to protect our coveted God-given rights, but we must try.”
RONIN WOMEN
We were excited to welcome RONIN WOMEN to CANCON 2025!
“Partnering with Ronin Arms, a leader in integrally suppressed platforms, Ronin Women eliminates common barriers to learning. By reducing noise and recoil, we create a training environment where women can focus on fundamentals without unnecessary distractions. Without the overwhelming sensory overload, shooters aren’t flinching or hesitating—they’re building precision, confidence, and control.”
Thor Targets took one monster of a beating this weekend, but they didn't break! Thousands of people shooting tens of thousands of rounds is an impressive test.
Do you know how to shoot wet? How suppressor wipes work? Here we give some tips and tricks to make your silencers more stealthy.
Suppressors, often called silencers (don’t listen to idiots on the internet—both terms are correct), are a fantastic firearm accessory and can make shooting a significantly more enjoyable experience. Manufacturers have improved silencer technology vastly over the past decade, and cans are getting quieter, more durable, and more affordable. Our selection is easily the best in human history. Still, there are ways to eke out more performance. Here we outline a few ways you can boost your cans’ abilities and dispel a few internet rumors along the way.
How Suppressors Work
For the uninformed or misinformed, one of the main reasons to use a suppressor is to mitigate sound and flash. A simple way to think of this is in two parts: first, the rapidly expanding gases that escape the barrel, and then the sonic crack of the bullet traveling down range. Both sounds can be reduced, the gases with the silencer and the crack with subsonic ammunition.
Subsonic ammo makes everything sound great, and heavier subsonics hit with authority. Israeli 158-grain FMJ and 165-grain Freedom Munitions HUSH are some of our go-to rounds if we want to maximize silencer performance.
A firearms suppressor works by trapping the expelled gases that follow a bullet leaving the barrel. Chambers, created by baffles or other means, trap the gases, causing them to cool and dissipate inside the suppressor and preventing or mitigating them as they exit.
It’s important to note that “first round pop” (FRP) is also something that occurs when the initial shot burns the existing oxygen inside of a suppressor, causing a noticeably louder first round. Though FRP exists with all normal silencers to some amount, people focus on it more with pistol-caliber and rimfire suppressors.
Shooting Wet
Now that we established silencers take hot gases and cool them, let’s talk about ways to allow them to do that more effectively. The most prevalent is making a can “wet” or adding something to the inside of the suppressor to cool the gas quicker. We should note that this practice is only meant for rimfire and pistol-caliber suppressors. Rifle cartridges carry much higher pressures, and adding liquids to the inside of the suppressor can make for a potentially very unsafe environment—so it’s best to leave them out.
Water is an obvious choice for an ablative for a suppressor, though any nonflammable liquid will work (some even swear by Coca-Cola). Placing a tablespoon[ish] amount of water inside the first chamber of the can and swirling it around will help negate the FRP issue, and the next few shots will be quieter. However, the water will burn off quickly, and the suppressor will return to normal function with a magazine. Another popular option is using petroleum jelly inside the suppressor. Once again, about a tablespoon amount in the blast chamber works well. An added benefit is that the jelly will not evaporate or run out of the can, so it stays in place much longer. The petroleum jelly will also take away from FRP problems and last significantly longer than a liquid.
As no good deed goes unpunished, the drawback to making a wet can is that the host firearm will get much dirtier, much faster. When petroleum jelly is used, it will seep back into every crevice of the host. Gas blowback and pressure are also significantly increased; this is particularly painful for shooters whose handgun has an optic. Debris will splatter on the optic, and often cause it to be unusable. This can also happen to your eye protection.
With those downsides, why would anyone want to make a can wet, you ask? Well, according to Blake Young, CTO for Primary Weapon Systems (and holder of nine suppressor technology patents), making a suppressor wet can gain anywhere from 1 to 5 decibels of sound reduction on a 9mm can, and even more with rimfire.
The wipe-and-ablative GSL Pill Box is a perfect pair to the Beretta 21A Bobcat chambered in .22LR.
Suppressor Wipes
Introducing a substance into the suppressor can help cool the gases faster, but what about keeping the gases in the can more efficiently? This is where the old-school wipe comes into play and, in many cases, really shines. Wipes are a consumable, physical barrier the projectile must first pass through and can tremendously aid in containing the explosive gases.
Wipes aren’t a new technology—they’ve been seen in World War II homebrew suppressors using many types of materials, like leather.
Modern suppressors using this old technique have upped the game with modern materials. The most popular is Neoprene 70A. This is currently used in many models from different manufacturers. The Gemtech Aurora II is a great example of both wipes and petroleum jelly, previously discussed. The wipes are pliable and allow a projectile to pass through and essentially seal behind trapping the gases inside the silencer slightly longer. This concept is similar to self-healing targets. The wipes are scored with an X to help the bullet pass through. Dead Air, Lone Wolf, Thompson Machine, Energetic Armament, and numerous others have or currently do use wipes to make suppressors more effective.
The Gemtech Aurora II uses wipes to quash the noise. Since wipes are consumables, the Aurora II can go from looking new (left) to blown out (right) in fairly short order.
Wipes are most commonly used with pistol-caliber and rimfire silencers, but not all. The Energetic Armament Vox S is a rifle suppressor that incorporates a wipe. Pew Science, a newer organization that’s revolutionizing suppressor testing, featured the Vox with and without a wipe. Their findings regarding wipe performance with subsonic 300 Blackout are impressive. With the wipe installed, the suppressor received a rating of 58.9dB and without it received a rating of 48.4dB. This may not mean anything to you right now (you should absolutely go check out pewscience.com), but this is a significant increase in performance. Pew Science provides impressive and exhaustive data sets, so if you’re any kind of silencer nerd, again, go check them out.
Now for the downsides. Wipes wear out—and quickly. Even with the fabric-reinforced materials, wipes generally last between 20 and 50 rounds. When talking to Mike Pappas of Dead Air Armament, he states, “I think the best application is when subsonic ammo is being used, and it may not be as effective as making a can wet, but it also doesn’t create a mess.”
An endcap with a disposable wipe (above), such as the Dead Air Ghost-M, can help take the edge off.
As previously mentioned, wipes create a physical barrier the projectile has to pass through. This means that bullets designed to expand may start the process while still inside the can. In the case of the wipe-and-grease-only Gemtech Aurora II, ammunition must be considered. A small silencer like that seems like a great option for a self-defense situation, before you understand only FMJ ammunition can be used. Any type of expanding ammunition will inevitably expand inside the suppressor, causing catastrophic damage. Accuracy is another topic for wipes. Because the bullet literally touches the wipe, there can be a negative effect on accuracy.
Loose Rounds
It’s possible to assist a suppressor in mitigating sound through outside means. In the old days of Hush Puppies, it’s rumored those operatives would purge oxygen from the suppressor with nitrogen and seal the end of the can with a postage stamp to assist in the reduction of FRP. Using dB foam, shaving cream, water, petroleum jelly, etc. can all achieve similar results. Wipes are useful and, when designed into the suppressor, can mitigate some of the downsides; however, also be aware of the safety concerns when using these.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the 2025 suppressor special issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
More On Suppressors:
The Suppressor: How They're Made, How They Work, And How To Buy One
Less velocity means less power, but it can also mean a lot less noise. Here we discuss modern subsonic ammo.
Slowing down isn’t something that I am particularly good at. The nature of my life and work makes it fast-paced, often to the point of exhaustion, and the ability to take a minute isn’t always available when I want it. See, slowing down means that some things don’t get done, there is more room for error in the long-term schedule, and the cracks I left become more noticeable if I have a chance to look at them instead of just breeze past.
There’s an art to taking it easy, and it involves being comfortable with the pace. Before I delve too far into my undiagnosed issues, I do want to draw the comparison between this outlook and the subject of subsonic ammunition. We’re taking away the main benefit of bullets—speed—and deliberately seeking to reduce our range and power in the name of staying under the supersonic barrier.
Making things work at these slow speeds is an art, and it comes with challenges that will make you see your cracks as a rifleman.
Left to right, .45 Colt, .450 Bushmaster, 8.6 Blackout, .338 ARC and .300 Blackout. Each of these rounds is great for subsonic use in different base rifles
An Objective Look At Subsonic Ammo
For the purposes of this article, we’re going to be talking about rifles and rifle ammunition. Where handguns are concerned, there’s perhaps only a relative discussion on suppressed hunting with larger-bore pistols, such as .45 ACP—arguably the only real choice for use suppressed in subsonic form for medium game. I’ve had great success with pistol hunting with .45 ACP at close range, say inside 40 yards, and the big, slow bullets easily punch through a deer while being paintball gun-like in noise level.
This is very specialized hunting, and most people would be trying to get a lot of speed from something in 10mm, .44 Mag, .357 Mag, .45 Colt and others. You can really crank a 270-grain hardcast up in a Ruger-frame .45 Colt, but that’s just not a suppressor proposition.
In general, when I’m talking about subsonic use, I’m talking about suppressed use. When it comes to subsonic loads without a suppressor, there is—at least to me—no real point unless you want the challenge.
The main issue surrounding this is that subsonic loads are still really loud without a suppressor. People get in their head that firing a subsonic .450 Bushmaster is going to be something like firing a subsonic .22 LR, but it’s not even close … or hearing safe at all. Ballistics with subsonics aren’t great across the board, and there stands to reason that if you’re firing without a suppressor, there’s no actual reason to use subsonic ammunition considering you’ll need ear protection.
The .450 Bushmaster is a great example of a round that benefits from mass in subsonic and supersonic form, but does neither all that great.
Suppressors and subsonic ammo are a match made in heaven, but it isn’t all roses. There are a good number of considerations to make, and picking the right combo of rifle, barrel length, cartridge, suppressor and ammo is important. You need to see subsonic ammunition in the modern sense as a part of a wider system.
It’s only recently that we’re seeing specialized ammunition emerge that’s largely dedicated to subsonic use. These ideas have taken a while to enter the mainstream consciousness of American shooters and hunters, and there’s still a great deal of misunderstanding involved that might trip people up.
For starters, every subsonic chambering I can think of still has a supersonic ability. For instance, you can shoot some really heavy .300 Blackout loads but still use the cartridge in 110-grain form supersonic. Bear in mind that many pistol-only suppressors can handle the mild .300 BLK subs but aren’t to be used with supersonic versions. This has to do with the pressure that the suppressor can handle. Now, you can simply adapt many rifle-rated cans to pistol use, but the other way around isn’t feasible unless you’re absolutely sure an errant round won’t make its way into your magazine, or your buddy wants to give it a go with his own ammo.
Most subsonic cartridges also have supersonic abilities. Here’s an assortment of supers, notable are rounds that have virtually no subsonic utility, such as 6.5 Creedmoor and 5.56 NATO. The BHA 77-grain OTM is pretty hard to beat. Don’t handicap it to .22 LR levels.
The next and more important point is that people tend to look at this type of ammunition as a function of the cartridge, not the bullet itself. Take for instance the .450 Bushmaster, a widely used straight-walled cartridge. In supersonic form, it’s still of somewhat limited range, and I consider it to be good to around 200 meters from a 150-meter zero. Even with excellent ammo like Hornady and Remington, it still has a good amount of drop. In general, I am zeroed a mil high at 100 meters, right on at 150 meters, and 1 mil low at 200 meters.
That’s easy math, but compared to something like a .308 Win., 6.5 Creedmoor or 6 ARC, this is abysmal.
However, at short range, the .450 is known to be an absolute hammer of a round out of compact guns. I see no reason to ever go over 16 inches in barrel length, and out of that length you get the best performance for both supersonic and subsonic loads. Of note, the 395-grain Hornady Sub-X is arguably the best option for this caliber in subsonic form, and it’s quite different from its supersonic counterparts. The drop from zero is not just inches, but entire mils. If you plan to shoot both supers and subs, you’ll need an optic that can track this, such as the Leupold MK5 HD I use. It’s very simple to dial up your subsonic zero off your super zero, but don’t forget to pop it back down, otherwise you’ll be firing quite high.
Of note is that all subsonic loads suffer thusly. The velocity is by necessity under the sound barrier, so most ammo is loaded just a touch north of 1,000 fps. Regardless of caliber, you’ll need to compensate for some substantial drop off your zero. The issue here arises from the fact that gravity is utterly unforgiving, and even our most technologically advanced subsonic loads have essentially the same shortcoming.
Now, it’s arguable how far of an effective range subs have. This is a pretty hotly debated topic, and I lean toward the more conservative side of the argument: Subs are a short-range proposition and should be treated as such. Flight time matters a lot, as does ammunition consistency. If you’re following along, these are some of the cracks that appear as you slow down. Minor variations in distance to target and velocity can dramatically impact where your bullet … well … impacts. The longer the distance, say 100 to 200 meters, the more variables come into play that, with a supersonic rifle cartridge like .308 Win., you wouldn’t begin to experience until ranges of 500 yards or more.
180-grain .308 Win. round-nose subsonic, 168-grain Hornady Match and 150-grain Remington Tipped Core-Lokt. The .308 is a very versatile round but is a poor choice for subsonic use.
Subsonic loads past 100 yards will show you what kind of rifleman you are, just like shooting at 1,000 yards with a supersonic load will. Your mistakes and the faults in your ammo will be shown.
What is ‘Proper Power?’
I’ve killed a fair amount of medium to large game animals with subsonic loads. In my experience with the topic, I’ve seen no real indicator that the game being hit knew if they were tagged by a bullet under the speed of sound compared with being hit with a supersonic load.
In my experience, if you can master the drop of a subsonic load, in general, you can kill anything. There’s a notion that you need a certain number of foot-pounds to kill animals of a certain size. This is a great thing to consider as a baseline, and there are plenty of writers with decades of experience on me that can give insight. However, the writers of the era prior were racing to talk about speed and power—here I’m talking about deliberate handicaps.
Subsonic pistol loads, especially old designs like these in .45 Colt and .44 Special, are known performers at close range, especially with Keith bullets.
Subsonic loads will rarely, if ever, generate the “proper” number of foot-pounds for game. We’re talking rifle bullets going slower than most common 9mm practice loads. The subsonic game in my view throws conventional rifle bullet ideas out the window; it’s a somewhat new field all things considered. It’s only because the system of rifles, cartridges, bullets, suppressors and optics exist on the same level of advancement that we can begin to explore their combined benefits.
What needs to be addressed about subsonic loads is that, in most cases, we are taking a bullet out of a conventional rifle that’s simply slow. Take for instance the old 180-grain .308 Win. loads in the article photos: This was what we had before .300 Blackout, and it wasn’t altogether great. There wasn’t really a good way to stabilize heavy .30 bore loads in a common 1:12 or 1:10 twist; all these barrels were made for supersonic loads. The disparity in technology wasn’t a downside. Nobody was really serious about this type of load without suppressors in common usage. The thinking had to change, and as time wore on, it certainly did.
However, the ideas about the bullets themselves would take time to evolve.
The only general ways to increase effective lethality in subsonic loads is to increase mass or experiment with bullet materials to get a desired result. In my view, .30-cal subsonics are anemic for game, even with bullets of high mass for the caliber. To be absolutely frank, a 300-grain class, .338 bore is about the current technological peak of subsonic development. That said, I have been working with the 8.6 (.338) Blackout since commercial barrels came out, and the .338 bore represents a sweet spot that can be defined by the concept of sectional density.
Thirty-caliber subsonics are anemic compared to .338 bore. The .338 ARC is 50 percent heavier than .300 Blackout and .308 Win. subsonics.
In layman’s terms, sectional density is a very important aspect of bullet performance in flesh. Think of it like a train. For the given width of a train car, you’re fixed. Now, keep adding train cars behind it, and you have more behind it in a linear fashion. The more cars you have, the harder you hit given the width of your initial car. This is a simple illustration, but it works.
Large-bore subsonics pack a lot of weight but are short in terms of sectional density. This is the difference between dedicated subsonic rifle bullets and slower bullets made for supersonic use. Thirty-cal subs lack enough mass to be firmly in that sweet spot, despite many having great sectional density. Forty-five-cal and 9mm-class rifle subs tend to be high mass, but short and fat, with wide frontal areas, making them less than ideal for penetration and velocity retention—not that you’re losing much being under the speed of sound as it is.
The .338 ARC, with its 307-grain Sub-X bullets and highly efficient case design, makes for very little powder consumption and a very effective, high-mass bullet that retains energy very well over the ranges subs are effective. Of note is the moderate twist rate it has as opposed to 8.6 Blackout, which itself has a super-fast 1:3 rate, making solid alloy bullets somewhat of a necessity to prevent jackets from stripping. The .338 ARC is, at least in my point of view, the superior cartridge in that it launches a more flexible bullet at the same speed with less powder in a smaller case. Larger bore subsonics take a lot more powder to push a less efficient bullet at the same speed.
The 338 ARC (right) and 8.6 Blackout. These two rounds play in the same arena, but the .338 ARC launches a more commercially viable bullet in a gentler twist with a more efficient case design. For subsonic use, it’s objectively superior to 8.6 Blackout.
There’s a larger debate on the merits of .338 ARC against 8.6 Blackout, but the former is a SAAMI-approved design, whereas the 8.6 is still a wildcat. Wildcats, of course, have merit, but in terms of what generates commercial success, the 8.6 likely has a limited lifespan, all things considered. We see this happen in many arenas where competing companies developed similar rounds for similar platforms at the same general time.
Case capacity is a thing to consider when looking at subsonic efficiency. Note the size of these bullets compared to their brass.
The 8.6 is a nice round; make no mistake that wildcats have been the basis for many of our favorite rounds. The twist rate is just, well, a bummer. The .338 ARC has the potential to be “the” subsonic chambering with all its many substantial benefits for reloaders and hunters. Picking an area to win is paramount today as we stray from jack-of-all-trades cartridges. Trying to accomplish too much has become something of a death sentence for otherwise great designs.
The Future
I suspect the .338 ARC will continue to develop as the premier subsonic field round. The jury is still out, as it’s very new—but the era of the dedicated subsonic cartridge is only beginning. In the realm we’re operating, there’s a lot being asked of a bullet, and, if the velocity is a fixed variable, the rest becomes subjective and open to experiments and trials.
We’re realistically working inside a fixed set of dimensions: the AR-10 and AR-15 mags, long and short bolt actions, and commercially viable bore diameters. The spectrum of what we can accomplish in terms of commercial success is limited and, for as much thinking we do outside the box, we need to see that within the box is where we’re innovating.
I look forward to seeing how these modern .338 bore rounds perform after several seasons and some more development by third party companies. I’m excited to slow down a bit and enjoy life inside 200 yards for a change. The fast stuff will always be getting faster, but there is a certain level of satisfaction that comes from waiting for something a bit closer and quieter.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the 2025 suppressor special issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
More On Suppressors:
The Suppressor: How They're Made, How They Work, And How To Buy One
When it comes to the 10mm vs .45 ACP, application decides the winner.
Points to consider when deciding between the 10mm vs .45 ACP:
Cartridge application
Recoil sensitivity
Potential need for fast follow-up shots
Handgun size (.45 has more compact options)
Average engagement range
Price per round (one is a bit more spendy than the other)
The quest for the perfect handgun is ongoing and always evolving. In recent years, at least among those with a yen for powerful semi-automatic pistols, a gauntlet of sorts has been laid down: 10mm vs .45 ACP. Funny thing, go back 40 years or so and this debate wasn’t really … well … a debate.
Proof of the 10mm's popularity, Colt has reintroduced its classic Delta Elite, now with a rail.
The new kid on the block, an oddity at that, the 10mm never really got out of the shadow of the grand old .45 ACP. Closing in upon its centennial birthday, John M. Browning’s masterpiece stood alone when it came to big-bore semi-auto cartridges. The 10mm, with all its potential, looked ready to fade away from early glory, following the likes of the .44 Auto Mag and other powerhouse semi-auto cartridges.
Then a funny thing happened. In the early years of the 21st Century the 10mm rose from its ashes. And while Col. Jeff Cooper’s darling has never become quite the belle the .45 Auto has remained, it certainly has turned heads enough to become a consideration among those who yearn for big and bad.
So, in the grand battle of 10mm vs .45 ACP, which is it to be? The answer — like everything in the gun world — isn’t as clear-cut as simply jumping on one team or the other. Both are excellent, with plenty of crossover application. But at their quick, each excels a little more than the other at certain tasks.
For more than a century the .45 ACP has been a standby, and likely will be for a century more.
If your answer isn’t “Give me one of each!” then you need a long hard chew on what you plan to do with your new 10mm or .45 ACP before getting one. Doing so, you're more likely to find the brute that best serves your needs.
10mm vs. .45 ACP Comparison
10mm Auto
Bullet Diameter: .400 Max COL: 1.26 Case Length: .99 Common Bullet Weights: 155gr, 180gr, 200gr Velocity Range: 1,050-1,410 fps Year Developed: 1983
.45 ACP
Bullet Diameter: .452 Max COL: 1.17 Case Length: .898 Common Bullet Weights: 185gr, 230gr Velocity Range: 770-900 fps Year Developed: 1905
Energy: The 10mm delivers more energy on target compared to the .45 ACP. An example, a 200-grain 10mm load delivers around 500 foot-pounds of energy, whereas 230-grain .45 ACP delivers around 375 foot-pounds. Winner: 10mm
Velocity and Trajectory: 10mm has a much faster velocity, thus have a flatter trajectory than the .45 ACP. However, at most handgun ranges this trajectory is negligible. Winner: 10mm
Recoil: Generally, the 10mm loads produces significantly more recoil than the .45 ACP when fired from pistols of similar weight. Winner: .45 ACP
Cost and Availability: The cost of 10mm ammunition is similar to .45 ACP, however, specialized 10mm loads tend to demand a premium price. Winner: Draw
Self-Defense: Both the 10mm and .45 ACP are proven self-defense rounds, however, given the 10mm’s recoil it can prove more difficult to place accurate follow-up shots. Winner: Draw
Animal Defense: Given its high-velocity and ability to deliver a massive amount of energy on target, the 10mm is among the most popular backcountry pistol rounds presently. Winner: 10mm
.45: Close-Quarters Star
Purpose designed as a man stopper, the .45 ACP has shined in the role for more than century. Most know the story, at the turn of the 20th Century the .38 Long Colt had a poor showing against determined opponents in the Moro Rebellion. In turn, the U.S. Military went searching for a more substantial replacement. Looking forward by looking back, it was decided something along the lines of a .45 Colt would fit the bill.
A match made in heaven, the .45 ACP and M1911.
As luck would have it, John Browning was working on the perfect cartridge at the time — the .45 ACP used in the Colt 1905. Eventually matched with his legendary 1911 pistol, the cartridge and handgun went on the make history. Both served the U.S. Military with distinction for the better part of the 20th Century, including both World Wars and numerous smaller conflicts. Standard bearer statue achieved, it continues today as a favorite of armed citizen and a law enforcement alike, offering manageable power with proven results.
Aside from its ability to dissuade an attacker with sizable chunks of copper-jacketed lead, the large-bore round won favor because of a less recognized asset — it isn’t a bear to shoot. Certainly out of most pistols it generates more recoil than say the 9mm, but not a universe more. Give time, practice and willingness to learn, only the truly recoil sensitive are nixed from the .45. The vast majority of other shooters can master it.
The effort to become competent with the cartridge out of the many pistols chambered for it is worth it. In the skilled hands, the .45 ACP absolutely sings. Watch a practical pistol or steel challenge match and consider, the majority of the pistols being accurately redlined are chambered for the short, fat cartridge.
How does the .45 ACP achieve the seemingly contrary ends of power and manageability? Simple, it’s a low-pressure cartridge that shoots heavy bullets slowly. Take, for instance, a relatively average .45 ACP self-defense round, such as a Remington’s 230-grain Golden Saber. It leaves the muzzle at 875 fps, yet at this velocity it’s working with 391 ft-lbs of energy. Not blistering hot by anyone’s standards, but within typical self-defense ranges it has more than enough punch to get the job done. The Achilles’ heel of the cartridge, the further you have to shoot, the more difficult it is to achieve accuracy — the .45 drops, a lot, fairly quickly.
.45 ACP Ballistic Data
Load
Bullet (grains/type)
Muzzle Velocity (fps)
Muzzle Energy (foot-pounds)
Federal Premium Gold Medal Match
185gr semi-wadcutter FMJ Match
770
244
PMC Bronze
185gr JHP
900
333
Fiocchi Defense Dynamics
200gr JHP
890
352
Blazer Brass
230gr FMJ
830
352
Speer Gold Dot
230gr JHP
890
404
As a self-defense option, particularly with today’s bullets, the .45 is Mojave rattler potent. While research is required to ensure satisfactory penetration from a defensive round, most bullets they're loaded with have mind-blowing expansion potential. At the extreme end, such as Winchester’s Ranger T-Series, the projectiles are fully capable of mushrooming to 1 inch in diameter. That equates to undeniably devastating wound channel.
Furthermore, the .45 ACP's common use also gives it the advantage of ample handguns and ammo options. The iconic 1911 still soldiers on, not only made by Colt, but a slew of other manufacturers — Kimber, Springfield, Remington, SIG Sauer and many more. Additionally, the .45 is also available in a number of other makes and models, such as the Springfield XD, Smith & Wesson M&P, Glock (21, 30, 36, 41) and nearly everything else not considered a pocket pistol. There’s even a healthy selection of compact pistols in the caliber, given the .45’s popularity for concealed carry. Rounds for those guns? If a store sells handgun ammunition it is a safe bet they’ll have .45 — at the bare minimum ball.
10mm: Multitalented Masterpiece
10mm Auto Specs:
Famed firearms instructor and all-around firearms guru Col. Jeff Cooper set out to do the impossible in the early 1980s — improve on the .45 ACP. A fan of the cartridge, he aimed to design an option that had superior ballistics and improved barrier penetration performance. Inspired by a wildcat, the .40 G&A, Cooper believed he had found a model to dethrone the king.
Ready for the field, a Glock G20 Gen4 SF hunting set up with a 6-inch barrel and Leupold Delta Point reflex sight.
In concept, his “.40 Super” would pitch a 200-grain bullet at velocities in excess of 1,000 fps, more than enough to dust the .45 on all counts. Roughly, it would achieve 20-percent more velocity at the muzzle than the .45 and flirt with doubling its energy. Hard hitter fails to capture Cooper's ultimate goal. The idea eventually transformed into the 10mm and became a reality when he teamed up with gunmaker Dornaus & Dixon and Swedish ammo manufacturer Norma. As good as it looked on paper, in execution the “Big Ten” stumbled out of the gates.
The first gun chambered for the round — the Bren Ten — became notorious for its production issues and was priced like it was cast from gold. Then the 10mm round itself had its issue. By all accounts, it lived up to Cooper’s billing. The original 200-grain loads screamed from the muzzle at 1,200 fps, with a bone-crushing 759 ft-lbs of energy. In FBI testing, a 170-grain JHP from Norma ended up with the best “Wound Value” score. But it proved a handful.
Hot whiplash to shoot compared to semi-auto pistol at the time, 10mm shot-to-shot split times were painfully long. Not exactly ideal in the FBI's eyes, who adopted it for a short time in the 1980s and 90s. And the recoil was none too easy on the guns either, with a tendency to break them down before their time. The final nail in the coffin — at least in professional use — was a mid-velocity round that achieved the same terminal performance, while creating a highly shootable 10mm. The thing was, less powder meant excess case, a problem solved with the advent of the .40 S&W.
The Bren Ten Handgun, designed by Jeff Cooper, enjoyed a lot of buzz in the 1980s. However, the 10mm pistol was a bulky and expensive product in a market full of small and cheap alternatives.
Colt with its Delta Elite and Glock with its G20 and 29 — along with a handful of diehard ammo makers — kept the 10mm from slipping into obscurity in the dry years after the FBI abandoned the caliber in the mid-1990s. Then, almost miraculously, interest in the 10mm peaked again after the turn of the century and in recent years has flirted with fever pitch. Difficult to say why shooters have re-kindled love for the nearly forgotten handful (most likely versatility), but in the past few years the market has responded.
Though not as widespread as the .45, nearly all the major gunmakers and a few boutique outfits offer the 10mm. Of the more notable are the Ruger SR1911, SIG Sauer P220, Remington R1 Hunter, Dan Wesson Bruin and Springfield Armory 1911 TRP RMR. Colt even dusted off its Delta Elite and Glock added the G40.
An interesting twist, while the 10mm is still popular as a self-defense option, it has punched a toehold in the hunting world. Reaching further with a substantial payload, the cartridge has been found chasing whitetails up north and hogs down south. Some even used as bear insurance out west.
10mm Auto Ballistic Data
Load
Bullet (grains/type)
Muzzle Velocity (fps)
Muzzle Energy (foot-pounds)
Hornady Custom
155gr JHP
1,410
684
PMC Bronze
170gr JHP
1,200
543
Sellier & Bellot
180gr FMJ
1,165
542
Blazer
200gr FMJ
1,050
490
Speer Gold Dot
200gr JHP
1,100
537
Buffalo Bore Outdoorsman
220gr Hard Case Flat Nose
1,200
703
Given varied applications, ammunition selection has blossomed along with its popularity. Since it fills certain niches, not every round is suitable for every application. A sledgehammer hunting round, such as Buffalo Bore’s 220-grain Heavy Outdoorsman, will make a hole in an attacker, no doubt. But if pass through is a concern, it might not be a wise choice for self-defense.
10mm vs .45 ACP Terminal Performance
When it comes to affect on target, the short answer is that 10mm is the winner. Its greater velocity simply translates to more energy transfer and more damage. But that's not the entire story.
Velocity and energy aren't the only things that impact terminal performance, as the diameter of the projectile plays a factor in what the wound cavity will look like as well.
Obviously .45 ACP has the edge there, but how much does it really matter? When looking at Lucky Gunner's ballistic gel tests of hollow point ammunition, the most expanding load of 10mm only achieved an average diameter of .81 inches, and it took a lightweight 155-grain load to achieve that. Meanwhile, the most expanding .45 ACP achieved an average diameter of .99 inches. That's over twice that of the original projectile's diameter and it was with a standard-weight 230-grain load. That means the .45 is making a hole that's almost .2 inches bigger than the 10mm, and depending on the ammo the difference can be even more extreme.
Does that mean that .45 ACP actually has better terminal performance? No, because expansion isn't the whole story either. The reality is that when it comes to effect on target, the wound cavity created is the best metric to look at, and 10mm's velocity still beats out .45's larger diameter in that respect. A good, modern expanding .45 ACP bullet will create a wound cavity almost as devastating as a 10mm, but at the end of the day the wound cavity made by a defensive 10mm round of the same quality will simply be a bit bigger.
10mm Vs. .45 ACP Ballistics
As far as reaching out and touching things goes, 10mm Auto wins again due to its higher velocity. While neither of these heavy handgun rounds were designed for long-range precision, their drop is relevant to both self-defense and hunting, so let's see how a .45 ACP and 10mm Auto Speer Gold Dot load compare to each other.
If my math is right, at 25 yards the .45 ACP will have only dropped .3 inches more than the 10mm, but at 50 yards the .45 will hit 1.5 inches lower than the 10mm. For typical self-defense distances, .3 inches doesn't matter too much, but if you're looking for a handgun hunting cartridge that can reach out a bit farther the 10mm is the clear winner. Plus, you never know when you might have to make an Eli Dickens-tier shot, and the 10mm's flatter trajectory will help with that too.
Who Wins Out In 10mm vs .45 ACP?
If you're in the market and weighing the 10mm vs .45 ACP, the question shouldn’t be “Which one should I buy?” That will get you nowhere. To get the right cartridge and the gun to launch it you should ask yourself, “What do I plan to use it for?” Arguably anticlimactic, fully admitted, but most sober decisions play out that way.
Ruger's 10mm SR1911
Economical and excellent up close, the .45 ACP is an exceptional choice for a self-defense, plinking and competition. The cartridge hits hard close range, makes big holes and has a proven track record saving lives. A more lenient recoil, it is also easier to become competent within a shorter amount of time and potentially is a faster option if follow-up shots are a concern. Less recoil also makes it a more logical choice if you’re looking for a compact carry gun.
Given its long lifespan, there are simply more pistol options to choose from for the .45 ACP. In turn, you have a greater likelihood of finding exactly the right pistol for your purposes, whatever they might be. And in the long run, it will prove cheaper to shoot. Ammo, at least at time of writing, is abundant and easy on the pocketbook. There are a lot of options, including self-defense, that falls below the 50-cents per round mark.
Conversely, if you have a yen for a handgun that reaches out, hits hard and — if you happen to reload — has more room to work with, your money might be better spent on a 10mm. Definitely, it’s the choice if you’re aiming at handgun hunting or need protection against four-legged predators, instead of simply two. Not that the “Perfect Ten” isn’t a capable self-defense cartridge — it is. Only it requires more time and effort to become truly proficient with, outside its lightest loads. This is especially the case if you opt for a smaller-framed model.
Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0 in .45 ACP.
Given the cartridge is in its renaissance, you’re also limited in your pistol choices. Certainly, there are more options every year, but they are a fraction of what’s available for the .45. You don’t get to be as choosy. Things are brighter on the ammo horizon, there are more choices, and, as mentioned before, it perhaps has more handloading potential. Overall, a 10mm is tougher on the pocketbook. There are options less than 50-cents per round, but mostly range fodder. The self-defense stuff quickly gets up to $1 and above each trigger pull.
In either case — and like with all guns and cartridges — you should practice due diligence. Not only consider what you plan to use your 10mm or .45 ACP for, but also test drive the makes and models that get your trigger finger itching. Only after you drop the hammer will you know if you have found the right gun and cartridge. Do enough legwork and whether you settle on 10mm or .45 ACP, you will find either rock solid if they match up with your needs.
10mm & .45 ACP FAQ
Is a 10mm more powerful than a 45 ACP?
Yes. 10mm Auto has a higher muzzle velocity and more energy than .45 ACP, it also retains more of that velocity and energy over greater distances. That said, “more powerful” is pretty vague when it comes to comparing handgun cartridges, and .45 ACP's larger diameter and typically heavier projectiles lends itself to potentially better expansion with hollow-points.
Is 10mm Louder Than .45 ACP?
Yes, all else being equal 10mm Auto is louder than .45 ACP primarily due to its higher muzzle velocity. Standard 10mm ammo is always supersonic, which results in more noise as it breaks the sound barrier. Standard .45 ACP on the other hand is naturally subsonic, making for a quieter shooting experience and a more ideal round for use with a suppressor.
Will a 10mm Stop A Grizzly Bear?
Yes, but only with proper shot placement. 10mm is on record as having killed grizzly bears before, but you still have to do your part to hit the right spots.
Why Did The FBI Get Rid Of 10mm?
While the FBI did adopt 10mm Auto and then subsequently decommission it, it's only partly true to say that they “got rid of it.” The cartridge's hefty recoil combined with the large grips of the Smith & Wesson 1076 pistol were too much to handle for most average FBI agents, leading them to adopt .40 S&W instead. However, FBI HRT and SWAT teams did continue to use it, at least for a period.
What is a 10mm handgun good for?
10mm handguns are relatively versatile in their usefulness due to the several different styles and sizes that are now available. Boasting significantly more power than 9mm, 10mm is capable of putting down grizzly bears, bandits and everything in between. That power also makes 10mm handguns viable for hunting game like whitetail deer and boar. As long as you can handle the stronger recoil, a 10mm handgun would be a good choice for certain kinds of hunting, bear defense, some forms of competition shooting and even for protection against human attackers as a home defense or concealed carry gun.
Galco has just announced the Masterbilt Master Agent Shoulder System for small-frame revolvers.
Even in our modern world of micro-nines, snub-nose revolvers are still excellent concealed carry guns. For those who still rock a small-frame wheelgun, Galco has just announced the Masterbilt Master Agent Shoulder System for seven different models.
As part of the Masterbilt series, this holster is made with premium quality leathers and constructed by Galco’s most experienced craftsman. That not only makes it extremely handsome, but allows the holster to have an excellent fit out of the box with little or no break-in period. The Master Agent features an open front design and a diagonal gun angle to provide a smooth, fast draw and good concealability. The system also features an elasticized nylon strap with an alligator clip and an optional belt loop for securing the rig to your other side.
The Master Agent is currently offered for the Charter Arms Undercover 2-inch model as well as for six Smith & Wesson J-frames including the M36 2-inch, M60 2 1/8-inch, M640 2 1/8-inch, M640 PRO/M642 UC, M642 and the M649 Bodyguard 2-inch. A good selection, but I'd like to see them add fits for the Ruger LCR as well.
The Galco Masterbilt Master Agent Shoulder System is available in only a right-hand configuration and only in black. It has an MSRP of $280 and it’s available now.
Federal has just announced a new American Eagle .32 H&R Magnum load featuring an 85-grain Jacketed Soft Point bullet.
.32 H&R Magnum isn’t exactly the most popular cartridge, but there are still plenty of individuals out there who own revolvers chambered for it and they still need good ammo to feed them. That’s compounded by the fact that .327 Federal Magnum revolvers can shoot .32 H&R Magnum as well where it makes for a great reduced-recoil option. Now, shooters have one more choice in the form of Federal’s American Eagle 85-grain JSP load of .32 H&R Magnum.
Packaged in boxes of 50, the new .32 H&R Mag. load features clean-burning powders, Federal primers and brass and an advertised muzzle velocity of 975 fps using a 4-inch test barrel. Designed with practice and target shooting in mind, Federal says that the new load features similar recoil to self-defense and competition loads to facilitate the best training possible.
Chris Laack, Federal Handgun Ammunition Product Manager, said this about the new load:
This new 32 H&R 85-grain JSP load is a perfect target shooting and training load for use with all the new guns from Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Taurus, and more … It provides recoil and velocities similar to those of self-defense, offering a familiar feel and realistic practice.
MSRP is $47.99 per 50-round box and it is currently being delivered to retailers.
If you do low-light handgun training, you may want to take a look at the Strike Industries EMP With LED illuminated Glock baseplates.
Done any low-light training? Competed in a night match? I’ve done both—a bunch of times. Strike Industries now offers an LED-equipped baseplate for your Glock magazines: the EMP with LED. When I saw that, my reaction was, “I’ve gotta try one of those.” Strike Industries was happy to send some and the rep mentioned offhand, “We’ve gotten some flak on these.” I looked into it, and the flak can be summed up as: “Why would I give away my position with a light on my mag?”
I was stunned speechless—and those who know me know how rare that is. Really? Position? Were they not paying attention to the need for safety in training or competition? That’s the intended use of the LED baseplate. Anyone who thinks it’s a tactical tool needs someone to help dress them before they leave the house.
I’ve done night training. Besides not tripping over stuff and keeping the muzzle in a safe direction, I want the instructor and others to know where I am as I try to soak up the lesson. If that means wearing a set of glow-in-the-dark Mickey Mouse ears, fine. I’m there to learn. The same goes with a competition. I want to win, but I want to go home in one piece, with no extra holes. So, again, knowing everyone knows where I am at all times matters to me.
And then there’s the matter of magazines. Yes, Glock magazines (what Strike makes right now) are inexpensive, but they aren’t quite disposable. Everyone at the match has spent time getting their eyes night-adjusted (or using NODs). At the end of each stage isn’t the time to fire up a thousand-lumen tactical light to find dropped magazines.
The Strike web page also mentions using the EMP with LED as a low-level light, navigation aid, finding things in the dark, etc. Me? Not so much. I have other lights—ones that don’t have bullets attached to them—to use for searching or finding the keyhole in the lock. Just training and competition for the EMP with LED, thank you.
Simply swap your existing baseplate for the Strike, and you’re good to go. Be sure and assemble properly, as the battery only works one way.
Each EMP with LED adds length to the magazine, but doesn’t add capacity. It holds a 2032 battery (included—thank you Strike), and it’s kinda sorta water-resistant. I take that to mean it’ll stand up to the rain, at least as much as you’ll put up with in training or competition. Don’t expect to go swimming with it. Seawater is a specified no-no. The extra length makes it easier to pry a mag out of the pistol if it hesitates to drop, but the extra ounce and a half should induce most magazines to fall freely.
I’m knee-deep in snow right now, so I have no idea how well it holds up to being dropped on gravel. But the LED is recessed into the mag extension, so it looks pretty well protected. I suspect it’d take a peculiar set of circumstances to result in your LED getting whacked just right and thus quitting.
To repeat: This isn’t the baseplate you’d select heading out the door to fight the good fight or whatever. It’s what you select to train for the fight or the match you intend to win, in a safe and orderly fashion.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the May 2025 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
If you want to find the best 5.56 NATO suppressor, you need a lot of ammo, cameras, and a few people willing to risk bodily harm. RECOIL has all of that and more, and put it to good use testing a host of suppressors at CANCON South Carolina 2024!
We take a look at the history of the National Firearms Act, making and apprehending criminals through tax laws since 1934.
A hand-processed, paper-intensive, firearm background check system that costs Americans millions of dollars annually to implement is no doubt an archaic way of doing business today. But few, if any, people have ever suggested that government processes are the model of efficiency. Unfortunately, while change may be on the horizon, it’ll take much effort and many years to see improvement for the simple reason that far too many people still agree with the following statement:
“A sawed-off shotgun is one of the most dangerous and deadly weapons. A machine gun, of course, ought never to be in the hands of any private individual. There is not the slightest excuse for it, not the least in the world, and we must, if we are going to be successful in this effort to suppress crime in America, take these machine guns out of the hands of the criminal class.” Testimony of Attorney General Homer Stille Cummings as recorded in National Firearms Act: Hearings on H.R. 9066 Before the H. Comm. On Ways & Means, 73rd Cong 1 (1934) [NFA Hearing].
“Predatory criminals.” “A very serious national emergency.” “The armed underworld.” These dramatic emotion-provoking descriptions uttered by Attorney General Cummings in 1934 during the first few minutes of his Congressional testimony were designed to sway Congress into passing national gun control through America’s tax code. As the spokesperson for the Department of Justice, his focus on addressing crime by restricting and inconveniencing law-abiding Americans hardly differed from the gun-control rhetoric disgorged by today’s anti-gun politicians. In his effort to “sell it,” Cummings blatantly declared that law-abiding Americans needed to endure the inconvenience of the law to allow the government to deal with criminals.
Without any substantiation, Cummings told his audience that twice as many people existed in the armed underworld as there were in the Army and the Navy combined. His proposed gun-control law imposed a mostly unaffordable tax on importers and manufacturers of firearms, dealers, machine guns and most other firearms. Firearms excluded from the law were “ordinary shotguns or rifles.” It also created a national registration system that would easily allow the arrest, prosecution, and conviction of anyone in possession of a firearm without the proper paperwork.
One difference between Cummings and modern gun-control advocates is that Cummings admitted that a ban on any particular firearms, including machine guns, would be unconstitutional. But, he claimed, Congress could tax firearms instead. He urged Congress to impose a 100-percent tax on machine guns. And that is, of course, ultimately what they did.
The National Firearms Act (NFA) imposes a $200 tax on machine guns and other firearms (with a $5 tax on items classified as “any other weapons”). In 1934, when the NFA passed, this $200 tax was equal to the average cost of a machine gun. To set the stage for how much an imposition the tax was on Americans, keep in mind that according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 1934, the average person earned $1,524 per year. Also for comparison’s sake, the average house in 1934 cost $5,970, and a Studebaker truck cost $625. This 100-percent tax was extremely prohibitive for the average American, equivalent to over $3,600 today, according to the U.S. Inflation Calculator. [Editor's Note: As of January 1st, 2026, the $200 tax has been reduced to $0 for Form 1 and Form 4 applications regarding silencers, short-barreled rifles (SBRs), short-barreled shotguns (SBSs) and any other weapons (AOWs).]
But what caused the most concern from this initial draft of the NFA for Second Amendment supporters wasn’t the misplaced blame on sawed-off shotguns and machine guns or the 100-percent tax. The bigger problem faced by Constitution-loving Americans was that the bill proposed a tax on, and a national registry for, the ordinary pistol and revolver.
The initial NFA bill, H.R. 9066, defined “firearm” as “a pistol, revolver, shotgun having a barrel less than 16 inches in length, or any other firearm capable of being concealed on the person, a muffler or silencer therefor, or a machine gun.”
By including pistols and revolvers, the NFA followed the trend of the time. Gone were the days of the 1700s and 1800s when the law required Americans to be armed. In the 1920s, other bills had already been proposed to restrict pistols from crossing state lines. Ironically, the argument in favor of one of these pistol-restricting bills was that homeowners could instead keep a “sawed-off shotgun,” which, according to Senator John K. Shields, a Democrat from Tennessee, was “far more deadly and surer than the pistol.”
More handgun-restricting bills followed Senator Shields’s failed attempt. In 1930, several bills were proposed to restrict interstate commerce in pistols, revolvers, machine guns and shotguns or rifles that had their barrels sawed off or shortened (without specifying a length). Firearms: Hearing on H.R. 2569, H.R. 3665, H.R. 6606, H.R. 6607, H.R. 8633, and H.R. 11325 Before a Subcommittee of the H. Comm. On Interstate & Foreign Commerce, 71st Cong. 1-3, 7 (1930).
Clearly, H.R. 9066’s focus on pistols and revolvers was nothing new to Congress. But to date, the prior bills had failed. The old saying that laws are like sausages (no one should see them being made) held true in the makings of the NFA. The NRA and other opponents to the bill ultimately relented by accepting the tax on and registration of firearms, if pistols and revolvers were removed from the bill’s mandates. The compromised, restrictive NFA that gun owners live with today does very little, if anything, to deter crime, fails miserably as a revenue raiser, and costs Americans millions of dollars annually to implement.
Keep in mind that the central idea of the initial draft of the NFA was to skirt the Constitution and Congress’s inability to enact a federal ban of firearms, and instead use Congress’s revenue-raising power and its power to regulate interstate commerce to tax and register almost all firearms (except non-concealable rifles and shotguns). This end-run around the limitation on Congress’s power and the Constitution was admitted repeatedly during the hearing.
It’s interesting to note that H.R. 9066’s original definition of “firearm” failed to include items that ultimately wound up in the NFA as enacted. For example, the earlier bill didn’t include silencers for firearms not capable of being concealed on the person, such as for rifles or shotguns. It also didn’t include rifles with barrels under a certain length. Unnamed “experts” had purportedly been consulted about what the length of a “sawed-off shotgun” was, and reportedly, the bill was lenient in allowing barrels as short as 16 inches, because 18 or 20 inches was a “better maximum length.”
The current law exemplifies the arbitrariness of what constitutes a “sawed-off” length, as it allows rifle barrels of 16 inches, but shotgun barrels must be 18 inches. H.R. 9066 also had what can only be described as a “FUBAR” definition of “machine gun,” which included both automatic and semi-automatic rifles if their magazines held 12 or more rounds.
Gun Control Then and Now
Not surprisingly, the authors of the initial gun-control bill were similar to today’s usual gun-control suspects—ignorant of firearms, their forms and their functions. The bill was, like many gun control laws, a feel-good, emotional response on behalf of the ignorant to the crime problems of the time.
In the NFA hearing, Karl T. Frederick, president of the NRA, pointed out that the bill’s definition of “machine gun” was “wholly inadequate and unsatisfactory.” As mentioned, the proposed definition deemed a gun that fires automatically or semi-automatically more than 12 shots to be a machine gun. Frederick pointed out the distinguishing feature of a machine gun was not its magazine size, but its function upon a single pull of the trigger. During his testimony, one frustrated Congressman (Woodruff), in addressing Frederick, said “magazine or the clip or whatever they use to hold these cartridges.” If an image of Dianne Feinstein just crossed your mind, take a moment to delete it and read on.
Despite not having any data, statistics or even suggestion that these firearms were used in criminal activity (or that the tax would control the criminals), lawmakers advocated to add additional firearms that would be subject to the tax. For example, later in the bill’s hearing, Republican Harold Knutson from Minnesota suggested adding rifles with a barrel under 18 inches to the bill. There had been no suggestion that shorter rifles were a crime problem. Similarly, the record is completely devoid of any factual data that suppressors were used in criminal activity warranting any type of restriction, and no one bothered to bring this issue up.
Criminals Will Still Get the Guns
At the initial NFA Hearing, Adjt. General Milton A. Reckord, who was also vice president of the NRA, got directly to the point that the DOJ wasn’t approaching the crime problem properly.
Reckord compared the law to the Volstead Act: “The honest citizens are not going to be bothered with such restrictions. They won’t obey the law, and you are going to legislate 15 million sportsmen into criminals; you are going to make criminals of them with the stroke of the President’s pen.”
Both Major General Reckord and NRA President Frederick pointed out that any knowledgeable person knew that the criminals would still get guns, despite the new law. In fact, the famous gangster, John Dillinger, who was repeatedly mentioned during the hearing as a primary example for why the law was needed, stole his guns. Reckord and Frederick suggested that the correct solution would be for the government to focus on punishing criminals with guns.
Gangsters like John Dillinger were mentioned by name at the NFA hearings as a method of justifying its necessity.
The bottom line is that no one, not even the Attorney General, expected the criminals to comply. In agreeing that the criminals would not obey the law, Cummings argued that the bill was designed to make it easy to convict criminals for their noncompliance with the tax code—if a suspect has a machine gun and no paperwork, they could be prosecuted. He cited the arrest, prosecution and conviction of Al Capone as an example of a known, violent and slippery criminal who was apprehended because of the income tax law that he violated. The attorney general’s goal, and his logic, was that this new tax law would similarly help law enforcement apprehend the John Dillingers of the time for violating the tax code rather than any of their violent criminal activity.
Many of the arguments against the NFA were similar to the arguments made by Second Amendment supporters today: Gun control doesn’t affect criminals. Automobiles cause more deaths than firearms. Handgun owners with concealed-carry permits are law-abiding citizens, and crime will increase if you take guns away from them. Frederick also made the point that police forces in rural communities are inadequate, and the law would prevent people in smaller communities from obtaining weapons needed for self-defense. Those in favor of the new law replied that people don’t need pistols for self-defense, just rifles or shotguns, and the Committee Chairman claimed that he had “never heard” of anyone needing a pistol for self-defense.
Frederick pointedly stated that, “I do not think we should burn down the barn in order to destroy the rats. I am in favor of some more skillful method of getting the rats without destroying the barn.” He reiterated that gun-control laws don’t reach the “crook” at all, just the honest man. To support his position, and to combat the suggestion that people don’t use firearms lawfully for self-protection, Frederick had compiled and provided newspaper articles on law-abiding citizens using firearms in self-defense. His arguments, of course, had factual support, unlike the purely emotional arguments in favor of the bill.
What About the Second Amendment?
Not everyone was willing to accept an end-run around the Second Amendment to apprehend violent criminals for non-violent behavior. Some even saw the danger of criminalizing law-abiding Americans who simply didn’t have the correct paperwork. Rep. David J. Lewis of Maryland commented on what was to him a blatant attempt to violate the Second Amendment. He stated that he “never quite understood how the [gun control] laws of the various States have been reconciled with the provision in our Constitution denying the privilege to the legislature to take away the right to carry arms.” Cummings responded to Lewis that, “We are dealing with another power, namely, the power of taxation and of regulation under the interstate commerce clause. You see, if we made a statute absolutely forbidding any human being to have a machine gun, you might say there is some constitutional question involved. But when you say ‘We will tax the machine gun’ and when you say that ‘the absence of a license without payment of the tax has been made indicates that a crime has been perpetrated,’ you are easily within the law.” Cummings’s logic was simple: No prohibition of firearms was proposed, just regulation and criminal prosecution for those who did not comply.
Dealers and Manufacturers
The proposed law would not tax only the purchasers (transferees) of the NFA-defined firearms, but the dealers and manufacturers as well. One congressman put on the record that he would like to put pawn-brokers and dealers in used firearms (“those people,” in his words) out of business, if he could. Interestingly, W.B. Ryan, president of Auto Ordnance Co., manufacturer of the Thompson submachine guns, spoke in support of the NFA.
Merchants and law-abiding citizens continue to bear the burden of outdated, costly and unnecessary legislation.
When NRA President Frederick spoke to the issue of taxing dealers, he pointed out that an annual dealer tax of $200 would eliminate 95 percent of the dealers in pistols. Similarly, the proposed $5,000 tax on manufacturers was much too high for any smaller companies to pay.
Modern NFA
After the initial hearing on H.R. 9066, a modified version of the NFA was proposed in June of 1934, H.B. 9741. This is the bill that was ultimately passed and enacted as the National Firearms Act. Representative Robert Lee Doughton, a Democrat from North Carolina, introduced this bill. It passed the House and Senate and was signed into law by President Roosevelt all in the same month. It was, as suggested in the final hearing by Rep. Doughton, a law that was supposed to no longer put the citizenry at the “mercy of the gangsters, racketeers and professional criminals.”
He touted that the bill no longer affected pistols and revolvers, so that “law-abiding citizens who feel that a pistol or a revolver is essential in his home for the protection of himself and his family should not be classed with criminals, racketeers and gangsters, should not be compelled to register his firearms and have his fingerprints taken and be placed in the same class with gangsters, racketeers, and those who are known as criminals.” Congressional Record, 73rd Congress, June 13, 1934, 11400.
Due to the rise in crime that Prohibition and the Great Depression created, the laws to deal with their collateral damage quickly followed. Although the Volstead Act was repealed in 1933, the NFA was enacted in 1934.
The NFA, as enacted, defined “firearm” as “a shotgun or rifle having a barrel of less than 18 inches in length, or any other weapon, except a pistol or revolver, from which a shot is discharged by an explosive if such weapon is capable of being concealed on the person, or a machine gun, and includes a muffler or silencer for any firearm whether or not such firearm is included within the foregoing definition.” Since 1934, this definition has been revised and expanded through additional laws, such as the Firearm Owners Protection Act, as well as through the ATF’s interpretations of the statute (such as the ongoing “Sig Brace” conundrum). Suffice it to say that the NFA’s definition of firearm is a living, breathing beast that has not yet been slain.
Why are these particular firearms subject to the tax code and registration? Because in the eyes of the 73rd Congress, they were the firearms used by the criminals whom law enforcement were somehow unable to apprehend any other way.
Although the current NFA remains a gun control law written in a tax code (found in Title 26, United States Code section 5801 et. seq., which is the Internal Revenue Code and enforced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, formerly under the Department of the Treasury, but now overseen by the Department of Justice), it carries hefty criminal penalties. As intended, the law allows the apprehension and prosecution of those who don’t pay the tax or who otherwise fail to comply with the registration (paperwork) requirements. As predicted by Major General Reckord, it’s a pitfall for unsuspecting gun owners who can easily and unknowingly violate the NFA and commit an accidental felony.
While this “tax code” was touted as a law that wouldn’t place law-abiding Americans in the same class as criminals, it in fact does. Given our modern technology and the later passage of the Gun Control Act (which requires modern, computerized background checks), we should continue the effort to eliminate this costly and unnecessary piece of legislation.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the 2025 suppressor special issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
A quick look at the speedy but moody .17 Remington.
The .17 Remington was introduced in 1971 as a new chambering for Remington’s 700 series bolt-action rifles. The case is based on the .223 Remington necked-down to .17 caliber, with the shoulder moved back .087 inch to lengthen the neck while retaining the same shoulder angle. The .17 Remington is similar but not identical to the .17-223 wildcat developed about 1965.
Experiments with .17-caliber rifles go back to 1944, when P.O. Ackley, the well-known gunsmith and experimenter, developed the .17 Ackley Bee based on necking down the Improved .218 Bee case. There are a number of other .17-caliber wildcat cartridges made by necking down .22-caliber centerfire cases, such as the .221 Remington Fireball, .222 Remington and more. Remington, New Ultra Light Arms, Wichita and Sako offer rifles in this chambering.
General Comments
The .17 Remington has had a steady, though unspectacular, sales record since its introduction. Its greatest drawback is that it is a special-purpose cartridge suited almost exclusively for varmint shooting. For the sportsman who wants a rifle only for that purpose, this is not a disadvantage, but those requiring a rifle for both varmint and deer hunting would be better served with some other cartridge.
With the 25-grain hollow-point bullet loaded by Remington and similar bullets available for handloading by Hornady, the .17 Remington must be rated as a short-range varmint cartridge. On the other hand, it has certain advantages, such as minimal recoil and ricochet probability, and a very flat trajectory due to the high initial velocity of over 4,000 fps.
Disadvantages of the chambering include rapid barrel fouling, extreme sensitivity to slight charge weight variation and limited component availability. Factory-loaded ammunition is available from Remington and in the Nosler Varmageddon line. Moly-plated bullets and cleaner-burning powders can eliminate the rapid fouling problem.
.17 Remington Loading Data and Factory Ballistics
Bullet (grains/type)
Powder
Grains
Velocity
Energy
Source
25 HP
IMR4064
22.5
3,800
801
Hornady
25 HP
IMR4320
24.7
4,000
888
Hornady
25 HP
IMR4895
23.8
3,900
845
Hornady
25 HP
IMR3031
21.6
3,800
801
Hornady
25 HP
N135
22.8
4,040
906
Vihtavuori
20 AccuTip
FL
–
4,250
802
Remington 29162
25 HP
FL
–
4,040
906
Remington 28460
Note: Remington cases and Remington No. 7½ primers used in all loads.
Looking to go armed, but are stuck in the weeds as to what to arm yourself with? Here are 20 excellent concealed carry gun options that will keep you on the defensive.
