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Gun Review: Nighthawk Custom T4 1911

December 22, 2017

Nighthawk Custom’s T4 is an elegant work of art, but it’s also a fine pistol that serves equally well in defense of life.

Why the Nighthawk Custom T4 is a serious consideration for defense:

Nighthawk’s “One Gun, One Gunsmith” approach ensures the highest quality production.
It features a shorter 3.8-inch match grade barrel.
This allows the gun to be concealed but remain highly shootable.
The entire gun is beveled and dehorned for comfortable carry.
The Tritium night sights are highly useful in low light, when most shootings occur.

The beginning of the 20th century was a classic age for shotguns. High-quality shotguns were being made here in the United States and around the world. Most guns sold were standard-grade guns, perfectly serviceable for hunting and recreational shooting, but during that time — and continuing on through modern times — there has been a demand for high-quality ”bespoke” guns. That desire for firearms that are a cut above the norm continues today in shotguns, rifles and pistols.

I’ve said many times that it’s harder today to buy a bad gun than a good one. Modern manufacturing techniques, the open information stream of the internet and a more educated gun buying public have stifled the sales of inferior, poor-quality guns, and such firearms simply don’t survive.

Of course, the computer-designed and machine-formed guns widely available perform reasonably well. They function reliably, they’re reasonably accurate, and they produce the same terminal ballistics as their handmade and much more costly counterparts, but they lack the feeling of being truly crafted by the hands of a true gunmaker.

On a practical basis, there’s no practical reason to spend several thousand dollars for a handgun, but there are several companies across the country who are doing a thriving business building them simply because there’s a demand for a firearm that’s a cut above the norm.

A Cut Above
Such are the 1911s built by Nighthawk Custom. According to Tim Lehr, Director of Marketing, “It all revolves around one gun, one gunsmith. Every Nighthawk Custom pistol is stamped with the initials of the gunsmith who builds it.” Forged frames and slides, machined parts, match-grade barrels and bushings, all hand-fitted by a master gunsmith, create a gun that’s not only functional and accurate beyond the capability of the best shooter, but also an heirloom that can be proudly handed down for generations.

Nighthawk’s T4 is such a gun. Designed for concealed carry with a 3.8-inch match-grade bull barrel for more reliability than the shorter-barreled T3, the T4 also features the Everlast flat spring recoil system for more manageable recoil and faster follow-up shots. It’s built on a forged Officer-sized frame, making it more compact — but still maintaining a seven-plus-one capacity in .45 ACP. Other features include a thinned frame for more concealability, weight-reducing cuts on the front of the slide and thinner G10 grips. It’s available in 9mm Luger and .45 ACP.

There are coarse cocking serrations on the rear of the slide and 25 lines-per-inch checkering on the front and back straps. The beavertail is generous and melted for comfort, as is the thumb safety. In fact, the entire gun is beveled and de-horned for comfortable carry.

The rear sight is a Heinie Straight Eight Slant Pro Tritium night sight with a Tritium front sight, and the blade width of the front matches the rear notch well for fast and precise shooting. To enable a higher grip, the front strap is cut higher than normal and smoothly contoured. Both hammer and aluminum trigger are skeletonized and adjustable for backlash.

Where Brawn Meets Beauty
As would be expected on a firearm of this level of quality, each gun is tested before shipping and comes with a target that reflects the name of both the builder and the tester. My test gun was built by K. J. Phillips and tested with three bullet configurations for reliability. The test group was a slightly elongated hole. I suspect there are few, if any, shooters capable of fully utilizing the accuracy capabilities of this gun.

Shooting the T4 was pleasant and comfortable. The front and rear checkering, along with the G10 grips, provided ample purchase but weren’t rough on my hands. The smoothly melted safety was positive in both engagement and disengagement, and the trigger was exceptional, breaking on my scale at 2.8 pounds, crisp and with no discernible backlash.

At my standard test distance of 15 yards, it was possible for me to shoot ragged holes in deliberate two-handed shooting. Fast shooting resulted in good groups and follow-up shots easy for a smaller 1911 in .45 ACP. Recoil was mild, partially due to the 34-ounce empty weight but also quite smooth, making it feel less abrupt for a downsized .45.

I fired more than 250 rounds during the test, mostly Winchester Win3Gun 230-grain ammo, but I also ran about 60 rounds of Winchester Kinetic HE 185-grain hollow-points. There were no malfunctions with either, and while this is hardly a definitive test, there’s no doubt of Nighthawk’s reputation for reliability.

Going For A Walk
While shooting targets is the standard method of testing a handgun, the Nighthawk T4 is designed for personal defense and concealed carry. If you live a t-shirt and soccer shorts kind of life, you might find the Nighthawk a bit bulky and heavy. If you wear a jacket or leave your shirt tail outside you pants, the T4 is easily concealable.

It’s slimmer than normal 1911s due to the trimmed-down frame and thinner G4 grips. Yes, it’s a bit heavier than some compacts, but if you like 1911 .45s, it’s only five more ounces than an alloy-framed Commander, and it has a forged and machined steel frame that will last several lifetimes.

Other features of the T4 indicate its dedicated mission to personal defense. The safety is easily disengaged, but unobtrusive, and engagement is positive in both on and off positions. When carrying single-action semi-autos with manual thumb safeties in position one — round chambered, hammer cocked, safety on — a vague feeling safety can become accidently disengaged while fastening a seat belt or other maneuvers. That’s not a concern here.

Disassembly for cleaning is a bit off the norm for 1911s, as are all bull-barreled 1911s. To disassemble, clear the chamber and remove the magazine, lock the slide to the rear, insert the disassembly tool in the guide rod, and slowly release the slide. You can then remove the slide lock, and the slide comes off the front. The guide rod and barrel will then drop out of the slide.

I carried the T4 for a few days in a Galco Concealable Belt Holster, and it was quite comfortable, though it would have been a bit difficult to hide in my normal summer dress of shorts and a tucked in shirt. Depending on your preference, a lighter and smaller striker fired gun might be more suitable, but no one will argue that a gun like the Nighthawk Custom T4 is a gun that’s a cut above the average and likely to be passed down to the next generation with pride. Pricing starts at $3,495.

Specifications:

Nighthawk Custom T4
Type: Semi-auto, single-action
Caliber: .45 ACP
Frame: Forged, Officer sized
Barrel: 3.8 in.
Overall Length: 7.4 in.
Height: 4.99 in.
Width: 1.32 in.
Weight: 34.3 oz.
Grips: Thinned, G10
Trigger: Skeletonized aluminum with backlash adjustment
Capacity: 7+1
Sights: Heinie Straight Eight Slant Pro Tritium Rear, Tritium Front
Finish: Black nitride
MSRP: $3,495

Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt from the December 2017 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.

Classic Guns: The Legendary 1911

Jerry Lee

December 21, 2017

Colt’s classic 1911 still remains America’s favorite handgun, and there are a host of different models that draw in premiums on the collector’s market.

Things to know about the classic 1911:

It was the official U.S. military sidearm from 1911 to 1986.
One of John Browning’s many designs, the 1911 proved itself utterly reliable.
During field trials, it fired 6,000 rounds without a single malfunction.
There are loads of different models and variants of the 1911 — perfect for collectors.

More has probably been written about the Colt 1911 series of pistols than any other handgun. Without a doubt, it’s the most popular handgun design in the United States and in many other parts of the world. The .45 Auto 1911 was the official U.S. military sidearm from 1911 to 1986 — through WWI and WWII, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars. To this day, the 1911A1 is still in service with some Special Forces units of the Army, Navy and the Marine Corps, in part because of to its popularity among the troops.

During the past 100-plus years, many manufacturers have made 1911-style pistols, but most of the collector interest is with Colt, where it all began. There are dozens of Colt variants — too many to include them all here — but we will cover some of the more significant models. Many collectors are interested in the U.S. Military Series made by Colt and several other manufacturers.

1911 -1 — This is one of the finest early production Colt Model 1911 pistols in existence. It sold for $109,250 at Rock Island Auction Co. in 2011. This pistol was assembled by Colt during the first week of production of its U.S. Government contract on December 28, 1911, and shipped to Springfield Armory on January 4, 1912. It has the high-polish blue finish on the hammer, thumb safety, slide stop and trigger. The serial number is 33.

The Birth Of A Champion
During the last years of the 19th century, famed firearms inventor John M. Browning was working on a self-loading pistol design that had a moveable breech block/bolt carrier that operated by sliding along the frame. In 1897, he received a patent for the design that would become Colt’s first successful semi-auto pistol, the .38-caliber model of 1900. This gun evolved into the Colt Model 1902 and then the 1905.

The U.S. Army Ordnance Corps wasn’t satisfied with the performance on the battlefield of the .38 caliber and decided that a .45 caliber similar to the .45 Colt Single Action Army revolver cartridge was the answer. Browning, working with Brigadier General John T. Thompson of the Ordnance Corps, developed a .45-caliber pistol cartridge that fired a 230-grain full-metal-jacketed bullet. The cartridge came first, and then the gun. (Thompson went on to develop the famous machine gun that came to be known as the “Tommy Gun.”)

1911 -5 — You have a piece of history in your hand when you pick up this 1911 A1 pistol. The simple rollmark “S. MFG. CO.” identifies the manufacturer as the Singer Corporation, maker of one of the rarest models of the WWII Military Series.

Browning worked on improving his earlier pistol designs and, in 1906, when the Army sent invitations to several manufacturers to compete for the government contract for the next-generation military pistol, he was ready. Among the competition were Smith & Wesson, Luger, Savage, Webley and several others.

Except for Colt and Savage, all the tested models had problems and were eliminated. When the final field trials were held on March 15, 1911, John Browning took a hands-on position and personally supervised the assembly of every part of every Colt pistol. Each Colt and Savage fired 6,000 rounds, and the Savage 1907 model had numerous malfunctions. The Colt had none. On March 29 of 1911, Colt’s Model 1911 became the U.S. Army’s official handgun.

1911 -3 — This is a Military 1911A1 made by Remington Rand during World War II.

A Pistol Of Many Faces
We want to thank renowned Colt 1911 collector Karl Karash for the following excerpt on the early days of the pistol from Standard Catalog of Military Firearms, 8th Edition from Gun Digest Books, 2016. Karash also provided a lot of the information on the various models and their values.

“The first 40 pistols were assembled on December 28, 1911, with an additional 11 pistols assembled the next day. The first shipment, a single wooden case of M1911 pistols serial number from 1 to 50 was made on January 4, 1912, was shipped from the Colt factory in Hartford, Conn. To the Commanding Officer, Springfield Armory. This single crate, marked on the outside ‘Serial Numbers 1 Through 50’ has become ‘the stuff that (M1911 collectors’) dreams are made of.”

The M1911 pistol was the most advanced self-loading pistol of its time, and in the eyes of many, it has remained so to this date. Yet, while this is probably an exaggeration, elements of its design have become adopted in most subsequent self-loading designs.

1911 -4 — The 1911’s flat surfaces have long been a favorite of engravers. This postwar Combat Commander shows the work of Dennis Reigel. Photo courtesy Dennis Reigel.

Colt’s manufacturing changes, Ordnance mandated changes (including M1911/1911A1 improvements), marking, commercial derivatives and part variations amounted to over 200 variations, enough to keep even the most ardent collector in pursuit for decades.

Students of the 1911 place these pistols into several different categories. Not long after the first military models were shipped in January of 1912, the Commercial “Government Models” followed. Technically, the civilian commercial pistol was a “Government Model” and the military version was the “Model of 1911.”

It should be remembered that military pistols would most likely have seen service duty on the battlefield. The condition standards should not be expected to be the same as those of Commercial Models.

ESTIMATED VALUES COLT 1911/1911A1 (courtesy Standard Catalog of Firearms 27^th Edition, Gun Digest Books 2017)

EARLY COMMERCIAL GOVERNMENT MODEL
Serial numbers through approximately C4500. All parts had a high polish with fire-blue finish on the trigger, slide stop and thumb safety. Pistols through about serial number C350 had a dimpled magazine catch. Mainspring housing pin rounded on both ends through about C2000. Add 30 percent for 3-digit serial number, 60 percent for 2 digits, up to 100 percent for 99 percent finish.

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$15,000 $10,000 $7,500 $3,500 $2,000

COMMERCIAL GOVT. MODEL WITH UN-NUMBERED SLIDE
Serial number C4500 to about C127300bgb

NIB Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$8,000 $5,000 $2,500 $1,500 $1,100 $850

COMMERCIAL GOVT. MODEL WITH NUMBERED SLIDE
Serial number C127300 to about C136000

NIB Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$8,500 $5,300 $2,700 $1,600 $1,200 $950

MODEL 1911 U.S. MILITARY SERIES
Serial No. range 1-17250 (aka Model 1912)

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$12,500 $8,500 $5,500 $3,000 $1,500

Colt 1913-1915
Serial No. ranges: 17251-72570, 83856-102596, 107597-113496, 120567-125566, 133187-37400

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$7,500 $6,000 $4,000 $2,000 $1,400

Colt 1917-1918
Serial No. range 137401-594000

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$4,500 $3,000 $2,000 $1,000 $500

Springfield Armory 1914-1916
Serial No. ranges 72751-83855, 102597-107596, 113497-120566, 125567-133186

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$9,000 $6,000 $4,500 $2,640 $1,600

Remington-UMC 1918-1919
Serial No. range 1-21676

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$7,500 $4,750 $3,500 $2,000 $1,300

North American Arms 1918
One of the rarest 1911 models. Less than 100 were manufactured. Made in Canada but none delivered to U.S. military forces. Beware of fakes. Get an expert appraisal.

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$110,000 $55,000 $40,000 $25,000 $10,000

COLT 1911A1 COMMERCIAL GOVERNMENT MODEL PRE-WWII
Manufactured from 1925 to 1942. Serial number range C136000-C215000

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$4,500 $3,500 $2,500 $1,000 $500

Super .38 1929 Model, Pre WWII
Identical to .45 ACP model in outward configuration. Chambered for .38 Super cartridge. Marked “Colt Super .38 Automatic.”

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$10,000 $7,000 $5,000 $3,000 $1,000

Super Match .38 1935 Model
Specially fit and finished target grade with adjustable sights. Only 5,000 made.

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$11,500 $8,000 $5,000 $3,000 $2,000

MODEL 1911A1 U.S. MILITARY SERIES
Manufactured for U.S. Military Forces between 1924 and 1945.

Colt
Serial number range 710000-734xxx
Add 100-400 percent for Army or Navy variations with blue finish, made 1937-1941.

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$3,500 $3,200 $2,500 $1,000 $500

Ithaca

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$2,500 $1,800 $1,200 $900 $600

Remington Rand

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$2,250 $1,700 $1,200 $900 $600

Union Switch & Signal

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$7,000 $4,800 $3,800 $3,000 $2,000

Singer Mfg. Co.

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$100,000 $70,000 $50,000 $29,000 $15,000

Only 500 models were made of this highly collectible variation. Beware of fakes. An appraisal from a Colt expert is advised whether buying or selling. Deduct 50 percent for un-serialed or presentation models.

COLT 1911A1 POST WWII 1946-1949
Serial number range C220000-C220500
No “Government Model” marking. Many parts are leftover military. Add 50 to 100 percent for 99-100 percent finish.

NIB Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$8,500 $6,000 $4,000 $2,500 $1,500 $1,000

Serial number range C220500-C249000
Marked “Government Model.” Add 20 to 30 percent for 99-100 percent finish. Deduct 30 percent for foreign markings.

NIB Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$4,500 $3,500 $2,500 $1,500 $1,000 $750

Serial number range 249000C-335000C
“Government Model” marking.

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$1,600 $1,100 $750 $500 $400

Add 20 to 30 percent for 99-100 percent finish. Deduct 30 percent for foreign markings.

Serial number range 334500C to about 336169C
BB marked for barrel bushing. “Government Model” marking.

NIB Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$3,300 $2,200 $1,750 $1,350 $1,000 $750

Add 20 to 50 percent for 99-100 percent finish.

ACE MODEL PISTOL
This .22 Long Rifle rimfire variant appeared in 1931. With a highly modified frame and a straight blowback operation, it was designed for use as a training firearm. Features include an adjustable target rear sight, 10-round magazine and “Colt Ace 22 Long Rifle” marking on the slide. About 11,000 were made. There were functioning and cleaning problems and in 1937 Colt introduced an improved version, the Service Model Ace.

NIB Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$7,000 $4,500 $3,000 $1,800 $950 $700

Service Model Ace
Approximately 13,800 were made between 1937 and 1945. Slide is marked “Colt Service Model Ace .22 Long Rifle” with serial number prefix “SM.”

Blue Finish up to serial number SM3940

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$11,000 $7,500 $4,000 $1,500 $1,000

Parkerized finish after serial number SM3940

Exc. V.G. Good Fair Poor

$5,000 $3,000 $1,800 $950 $700

SUGGESTED READING
Many reference and historic books have been published about the Colt 1911 pistol. Listed here are several that are recommended by the author. Most are available through Amazon.

Collector’s Guide to Colt .45 Service Pistols by Charles Clawson (AbeBooks.com, Note: rare and expensive)
1911 – The First 100 Years by Patrick Sweeney (Gun Digest Books, 2010)
The Model 1911 and 1911A1 Military and Commercial Pistols by Joe Poyer (North Cape Publications)
U.S. Military Automatic Pistols 1920-1945 by Edward Scott Meadows (IDSA Arms Books)
The Government Models: Development of the Colt Model of 1911 by William H. Goddard (AbeBooks.com)

Editor’s Note: This “Collector’s Corner” column is an excerpt from the January 2018 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.

Browning Firearms: The 9 Best Gun Designs Ever

Drew Warden

December 20, 2017

John Browning was one of the most prolific firearms designers in history, producing a number of great guns in his career. Here are nine of his best.

What are the nine finest Browning firearm designs?

Winchester Model 1885
Winchester Model 1894
Browning Automatic-5
Browning Hi-Power
Winchester Model 1897
M1919 Browning
M1911
M2 Browning
Colt Model 1903/1908 Pocket Hammerless
Honorable Mentions

John Moses Browning is one of the most prominent names in firearms design. He holds a place of reverence among shooters and firearms historians, and deservedly so.

Over the course of his life, Browning devoted himself almost fully to advancing firearms design. He was granted over 100 patents and is credited with developing some of the most influential and enduring guns within the past 100 years or so.

Many, if not most, of these truly innovative firearms are still in use today, either among civilian shooters or among military and police forces in the U.S and around the world. It’s been a little more than 90 years now since Browning’s passing, but his firearms legacy is certainly alive and well, and his contributions are still relevant.

As far as which of John M. Browning’s firearm designs are “best,” that’s a matter of some debate. Listed below are nine of Browning’s most timeless designs. These influential guns clearly don’t represent all of Browning’s important developments in firearms design (being more of an arbitrary “best” list), but they are a good sampling of some of his greatest works and cover categories ranging from single-shot rifles to fully automatic heavy machine guns.

Winchester Model 1885

Marking something of the beginning of John Browning’s long and productive career in firearms design, the Model 1885 was one of his earliest creations. He developed what would eventually become the 1885 at the young age of 23, and originally built the rifles by hand along with his brother before being approached by Winchester some years later, and thus beginning his longtime collaboration with that manufacturer.

Winchester engineers made a few tweaks to the design and began offering the rifle in both a Low Wall and High Wall configuration — the Low Wall being designed with an exposed hammer and intended for less powerful cartridges and the High Wall a beefier version built for more powerful cartridges.

During its heyday, the Model 1885 was believed to have one of the strongest actions available. It was a significant challenger to other popular single-shot rifles of the era from companies like Sharps and Remington.

Production on the Winchester Model 1885 ended around 1920. However, in recent years, manufacturers have begun offering modern Model 1885s for single-shot rifle fans. Uberti USA, Cimarron Firearms and, of course, Winchester are among those gun makers currently offering the 1885.

Winchester Model 1894

One of the most prolific and enduring lever-action rifles of all time, the Model 1894 first entered production the same year as its model designation, and a number of companies, including Winchester, still produce it today. Built originally to chamber and fire the metallic black powder .32-40 and .38-55 cartridges, the Model 1894 was later chambered in a number of smokeless cartridges. However, the most popular, and the one most closely associated with the rifle was the .30-30 Winchester, also known as the .30 WCF.

Over the years, the Model 1894 in .30-30 Winchester has taken countless whitetail deer. The gun is extremely lightweight, handles comfortably (especially in thicker brush) and packs adequate power for the hunter’s purposes, provided shots occur at reasonable distances.

This usefulness translated to a previously unheard of level of popularity. Well over 7 million Model 1894s have been produced since its release, and it’s still popular among Cowboy Action Shooters, as well as hunters who prefer the classic feel of a lever gun.

Browning Auto-5

Widely acknowledged as the first successful, mass-produced semi-automatic shotgun, the Automatic-5 design also marked a turning point for Browning, in which he ended his collaboration with Winchester. As it goes, he offered the design to Winchester first, but tried to negotiate for a royalty fee on unit sales instead of a one-time, up-front payment, as had been standard, which Winchester refused to do. He then tried to pitch the shotgun to Remington, but the manufacturer’s president died from a heart attack before he was able to do so. Eventually, Browning’s design wound up with FN Herstal of Belgium and the rest, as they say, is history.

The Auto-5 featured a unique long recoil operated design (patented by Browning in 1900) in which the barrel and bolt recoil together following the shot, then separate as the barrel begins to move forward again. At this time, the bolt stays behind to eject the spent shell, before moving forward again to chamber the new shell.

FN Herstal produced the gun for much of the 20th century, and it was also produced under license by a number of U.S. manufacturers such as Remington and Savage Arms, among others. The Auto-5 was produced from a bit after the turn of the 20th century until 1998; however, the Browning Arms Company reintroduced a version of the Auto-5, or A-5, a couple years back. This new version does use a different short-recoil operating system, though, which Browning refers to as Kinematic Drive. Both older and newer models of the “Humpback,” as the gun is endearingly called due to its distinctive high rear end on the receiver, have continued to remain popular.

Browning Hi Power

Also known as the Model 1935, P-35, HP35, GP, GP35 and High Power, this pistol was one of Browning’s last designs. In fact, being the devoted worker that he was, it is written widely that Browning died of heart failure while working at the bench on this self-loading pistol in his son Val A. Browning’s design shop. Belgian small arms designer Dieudonne Saive completed the design.

Chambered in 9mm Luger, the Hi Power was one of the first true high-capacity pistols, able to hold 13 rounds. This was roughly twice the capacity of other common pistols, such as the M1911 and Luger P08, at the time of its introduction in 1935. Like Browning’s earlier 1911, the Hi Power was a single-action design. And it operated via a unique short-recoil mechanism.

More than 1 million Hi Powers have been produced, and the gun has seen many years of service with foreign military forces. In fact, it remains a standard sidearm with the Australian and Canadian armed forces. Of course, it’s also popular among many civilian shooters here in the U.S. as well.

Winchester-Model97 - John Browning Firearms — The Model 1897 is considered one of the first truly successful pump- or slide-action shotguns.

Winchester Model 1897

Just as Browning is credited with designing the first successful semi-auto shotgun, so too is it with the pump gun. The Model 1897, also known as the M97 and simply the “Trench Gun,” was based on Browning’s earlier Winchester 1893 pump-action shotgun but addressed many of the flaws in that prior design.

Produced from 1897 until 1957, the M97 was viewed as kind of the standard by which later pump-action shotguns would be judged. The 1897 introduced a takedown design in which the barrel could removed — this is now a standard feature in pump guns today — and featured an external hammer and lacked a trigger disconnector. This lack of a disconnector permitted the user to “slam fire” the gun, or simply continuously depress the trigger while working the action to fire shots if so desired.

As a historical side note, the M97 “Trench Gun” was so effective and deadly during the First World War that Germany issue a formal protest against its use, stating the use of a shotgun violated the 1907 Hague Convention. The later Winchester Model 12 would eventually supersede the Winchester Model 1897; however, it can still be found in use.

Browning-M1919-1 - John Browning Firearms — The air-cooled version of Browning’s earlier M1917, the M1919 served U.S. forces in a number of wars, usually in a mounted support role.

M1919 Browning

An air-cooled version of Browning’s earlier water-cooled M1917, which saw some use in World War I, the M1919 was originally similarly chambered for the .30-06 Springfield. However, it would later be adapted to a host of popular military chamberings such as 7.62×51 NATO, .303 British and others.

This belt-fed, short-recoil-operated machine gun has served in many of the U.S. conflicts — World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War — and many foreign militaries have also used it over the years. However, the emergence of general purpose machine guns, like the M60, and squad automatic weapons, like the M249 SAW, in later years has largely relegated the M1919 to more specialized and secondary roles, such as mounted use on vehicles.

More than 5 million M1919s were produced, making it another of Browning’s top designs.

Turnbull-Heritage-1911-1 — Turnbull 1911 Heritage Edition Commander. Photo by Alex Landeen

M1911

The Browning design that Americans are likely most familiar with, the M1911, and later M1911A1, was the U.S. military’s standard sidearm until 1985, when Beretta’s M9 replaced it — a move that some still might argue against. In addition to its success as a military arm, it has been, and continues to be, wildly popular among civilian shooters. And a whole host of manufacturers ranging from large to small currently produce 1911s. In short, if there’s one Browning design that unequivocally deserves a spot on this list, it’s the 1911.

The M1911 is a short-recoil-operated single-action hammer-fired pistol. Like some of Browning’s other pistol designs, this one incorporates a grip safety, as well as a thumb-activated (for righties) safety lever on the frame.

The gun, as originally introduced, fired Browning’s .45 ACP, which he designed for the pistol. However, as we know, later 1911s and variants have been offered in a number of other popular calibers such as .380 ACP, 9mm, .38 Super and others. Coonan, Inc. even makes some to chamber the .357 Magnum, and Guncrafter Industries offers 1911s in its proprietary .50 GI for those looking for a true .50-caliber option.

BrowningM2 — The heavy M2 Browning has been serving the U.S. Armed Forces, and other foreign military forces, for many decades.

M2 Browning

Bigger and badder than Browning’s earlier M1919 machine gun, the M2 Browning was and is a potent heavy machine gun. Known by its official designation of Browning Machine Gun, Cal. .50, M2, HB, Flexible, and more colloquially as the “Ma Deuce,” this 80-plus-pound beast spits Browning’s .50 BMG (Browning Machine Gun) — designed for and named for this weapon — at a rate of 450 to 1,300 rounds per minute, depending upon the model.

The air-cooled, belt-fed M2 is a short-recoil-operated design that fires from a closed bolt. Due to its heavy weight, its predominant deployment has been as a mounted weapon on vehicles, naval vessels and aircraft and as a support weapon for troops on the ground. However, it has also been used as a sniping tool, most notably by decorated Marine Corps sniper Carlos Hathcock during Vietnam.

Like the 1911 and some of Browning’s other designs, the M2 has had a fairly long production life. Produced since 1933, the M2 Browning is still in service with the U.S. and a host of other foreign militaries.

Colt Model 1903 -3 — The Colt Model 1903/1908 Pocket Hammerless became popular due to its ease of concealment and streamline, elegant appearance. Photo courtesy of Steve Gash.

Colt Model 1903/1908 Pocket Hammerless

Sort of a culmination of some of Browning’s earlier pistol designs preceding and in the few years after the turn of the 20th century, the Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless in .32 ACP — and later Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless in .380 ACP — became quite popular with the military, law enforcement and civilians. Building upon earlier designs like the M1902 and M1903 Pocket Hammer pistol, the Pocket Hammerless featured a 4-inch barrel and, despite the name, utilized a hammer that was recessed and hidden from view under the rear of the slide.

Although it was only produced from 1903 to 1945, making it one of the shorter production lives of the Browning designs listed, more than 570,000 Pocket Hammerless pistols were made. It was popular in large part due to its ability to be effectively concealed due to the hidden hammer, which was less apt to snag on clothing.

Due to its classic, elegant appearance and its interesting history, both the 1903 and 1908 Pocket Hammerless remain popular collector items. Although it is currently not produced to the degree that some other guns on this list are, a few years back, Colt did license U.S. Armament Corp. to produce a limited run of new Pocket Hammerless pistols, for those looking to buy new.

Browning-Superposed-1 — Browning’s Superposed over/under shotgun was no doubt a looker. Its relatively high manufacturing cost eventually spelled its downfall, though.

Honorable Mentions

I feel obligated to mention a few other notable John Browning firearms that I did not include above and which were right on the edge of inclusion.

The Browning Superposed, an innovative yet classically stylish over/under shotgun, was the last firearm to be designed by Browning prior to his death, and probably one of his most elegant. It had a decent production run before it was ultimately decided that it was too expensive to manufacture and thus relegated to being a specialty, limited-production item from Browning Arms Company.

The M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) and its later variants represent another potential inclusion. The BAR saw some service in the First World War; however, its role was much more extensive in World War II and in Korea. More than 600,000 were produced.

Colt_Woodsman — One of Browning’s less-considered pistol designs, the Woodsman was a fine rimfire pistol with a decent production run.

Remington’s Model 8 was another of Browning’s celebrated designs, though production figures are lower than most, if not all, of the other firearms on this list. It was, however, one of the first semi-auto rifles to see true success. At the time, most were content with their lever guns or the increasingly potent and accurate bolt-action rifles available. Produced under various names from 1906 until 1950, the Model 8 featured a long-recoil-operated design not unlike that used in Browning’s Auto-5 and was chambered in .25, .30, .32 and .35 Remington, as well as .300 Savage.

Manufactured by Colt from 1915 to 1977, the Woodsman is also deserving of a brief mention. More than 690,000 of these little semi-auto .22 pistols were produced, and in a host of different configurations with varying barrel lengths and features.

As previously mentioned, this list is by no means comprehensive. There are a number of other excellent Browning firearms designs that were not included. If one of your favorite and deserving John Browning designs has been omitted, let us know about it in the comments. We always enjoy hearing our readers’ opinions.

Corey Graff contributed to this article.

Bone Up On Browning:

Browning Hi Power: Eulogy and Final Farewell
Browning Buckmark Review: Timeless .22 Rimfire Pistol
Browning A5 Shotgun: The First Autoloader
Browning Citori: The World’s Most Popular Over/Under Shotgun
Is There A Better Browning BLR Than The Lightweight ’81 Takedown?

New Gun: Remington 870 DM

Elwood Shelton

December 20, 2017

Remington has upped its popular pump-action shotgun’s game with the introduction of a detachable box magazine variation — the 870 DM.

What do the new Remington 870 DM shotguns offer?

The 870 DM’s box magazine permits faster reloads and more versatile ammunition.
Three- and six-round magazines are available for the pump-action shotgun.
The 870 DM’s receiver has been reworked and is not compatible with earlier models.
The controls and trigger remain the same, making it intuitive to operate.

You would think a gun that has sold in the tens of millions, wouldn’t need any improvements. After all, with that sort of production run, the proof is in the proverbial pudding that the gunmaker has plum figured the magic formula. But, as it pertains to the most prolific shotgun of all time, you’d be dead wrong about the potential for improvement.

Adding a detachable magazine variant to the Remington 870 pump-action line — the 870 DM — must have been obvious to many. But it has taken more than half a century to turn this elegantly simple shotgun daydream into reality. And, in most respects, the execution of the new variant and highly desirable ammunition-feeding system appears well worth the wait.

Remington hasn’t just slapped together a magazine attachment that turns the 870 into a shotgun lightning-fast on the reload. Instead, it has redesigned the receiver to work flawlessly with the mag system, while retaining all other design points and operation that make the scattergun a classic.

In the process, Big Green appears to have injected some fresh blood into the proven design, especially in an era defined by firearms versatility.

Why Box It Up?

You needn’t delve into the tactical applications — of which are legion — to discover the usefulness of the 870 DM. A duck blind on a late autumn day will do nicely.

Switching from 2¾-inch shells loaded with No. 4 shot for those ducks over decoys to say 3-inch shells loaded with BB or BBB for a pass-shot opportunity on some Canada honkers is now a reality. What was a missed chance or a mad scramble to empty and reload a shotgun with the appropriate ammo is now simply an exercise in trading one box magazine for another.

Now apply this concept to anything you might work the trigger of you’re 870 on, and the advantage of the DM variants become obvious. It has the potential to all but do away with the need for a side-rail on a home-defense shotgun. And Remingtion has done the utmost to make the 870 DM as fast as it is versatile.

Mercifully, the three- and six-round magazines do not require rocking to insert or release from the well. The large paddle release doesn’t drop the mag like an AR, it requires the operator to slide it out. But it does slam back in just like the popular rifle, making the system intuitive and fast.

Same Old Gun, Only Different

The 870 DM certainly cuts a different profile with a six-round box magazine dangling off its underbelly. But, for the most part, it’s the same old pump-action that’s been pelting coyotes and bad folks for decades.

The shotgun comes with the same trigger components, same cross-bolt safety and same dual action-bars. Nothing in particular has been moved around on the 870 DM — just the addition of the mag release — so shooting one is like slipping into an old pair of slippers.

The new shotgun, however, is not a carbon copy of the original. While the receiver of the 870 DM looks like the original’s, only with a mag well, it is not compatible with existing 870s. This is namely due to the other big difference with the detachable magazine variant to the line — the lack of a tubular magazine. It’s quite apparent the tube is still there, but it no longer feeds ammunition, it only acts as a mount for the charging forend.

This revelation is certain to disappoint some hopefuls on the Internet, who upon first release of the 870 DM postulated the gun operated off both ammunition-feeding systems. No such luck.

Full Magazine Of Models

Remington hasn’t held back with the release of the 870 DM, introducing six models of the box-fed beast. Given the configurations range from the short and stout Tac-14 to a classic wood-stocked model, it’s apparent Remington has no plans to pigeonhole the shotgun. And perhaps best of all, like the original pump-action, the DM doesn’t break the bank with models starting at $529 and running up to $799.

870 DM

Gauge: 12-gauge
Barrel Length: 18.5 in.
Choke: Fixed Cylinder Bore
Furniture: Black Synthetic Stock with Super Cell Recoil Pad
Magazine Capacity: 6 rounds
MSRP: $529.00

870 DM Magpul

Gauge: 12-gauge
Barrel Length: 18.5 in.
Choke: Rem Choke Barrel with Extended Ported Tactical Choke
Furniture: Magpul SGA Stock with Super Cell Recoil Pad, Magpul MOE M-LOK Forend
Magazine Capacity: 6 rounds
MSRP: $799

870 DM Tactical/Predator

Gauge: 12-gauge
Barrel Length: 18.5 in.
Choke: Rem Choke Barrel with two Trulock Extended Chokes (Boar Blaster and Turkey /Predator)
Furniture: Over Molded ShurShot Thumbhole Stock with Super Cell Recoil Pad, Tactical “Corn Cob” Fore-end
Magazine Capacity: 3 and 6 round
MSRP: $799

870 DM Tac-14

Gauge: 12-gauge
Barrel Length: 14 inches
Choke: Cylinder Bore
Furniture: Shockwave Grip and Magpul Fore-end
Magazine Capacity: 6 rounds
MSRP: $559

870 DM Hardwood

Gauge: 12-gauge
Barrel Length: 18.5 in.
Choke: Cylinder Bore
Furniture: Hardwood Stock and Fore-end
Magazine Capacity: 6 rounds
MSRP: $529

870 DM Tactical

Gauge: 12-gauge
Barrel Length: 18.5 in.
Choke: Extended Ported Tactical Choke
Furniture: Pistol Grip Buttstock and Tactical “Corn Cob” Fore-end
Magazine Capacity: 6 rounds
MSRP: $799

Trigger Upgrade — The Fastest Way To Improve Accuracy

Luke Hartle

December 19, 2017

The quickest and easiest way to tighten your groups is to improve the trigger in your gun. Without a top-notch trigger, your shooting skills can only take you so far.

Aftermarket replacement triggers fast facts:

Pull on a mil-spec trigger is anywhere between 5 and 9 pounds
Up to a pound of pull weight fluctuation can be present from shot to shot on mil-spec triggers
Mil-spec triggers travel dramatically — while safety is engaged
A drop-in trigger can be installed in less than 10 minutes
Velocity Trigger cost: $150

You don’t have to be the Head Line Leader of a TSA battalion to know that a poor-quality trigger will rob you of the true shooting potential both you and your rifle are capable of producing — especially in AR-style rifles. And although I might ruffle some feathers, I’ve ran enough A/B accuracy tests on a variety of rifle brands, models and platforms to say that upgrading the trigger is the first thing you should change on any and every AR you own, and it will enhance the performance of your rifle more than any other upgrade you can make.

If we break down this concept of spending money to replace a functioning piece of a gun that already comes standard on every single rifle manufactured, it all comes down to performance and price. How much will it help me, and how much will it cost?

The simple answer: a lot more than you think for a lot less than you think.

Allow me to come at this from another way. The key to mastering any shooting discipline is unwavering consistency — consistency in the gun (including optics and ammo), consistency in the shooter and, most importantly, consistency in the interaction between the gun and the shooter.

As a shooter, you could win the Guinness World Record for being the World’s Most Aggressive Flincher, but as long as you flinch exactly the same way every single shot, you’d likely find yourself on par with some of the best shooters in the world, too. That’s the truth. In our world of shooting — again, regardless of discipline — consistency is king.

Mil-Spec Triggers

In all fairness, I must disclose that there are some AR-style rifle manufacturers out there who are doing a good job with their factory triggers, but you’ll find those guns in the upper tier of the price scale. It’s a very easy argument to make for buying a gun in the middle of the price pack, building that AR exactly how you want it, and still saving money that’s equally well spent on ammo or firearms training.

The overwhelming majority of AR manufacturers today are outfitting their rifles with mil-spec triggers. You know this. It’s not good or bad — it just is — and the mil-spec trigger does help keep the final price tag lower than it would otherwise be. But how much do you really know about mil-spec triggers?

The mil-spec trigger is the lowest quality trigger that can purchased, but it’s also the cheapest. All components are cast with loose tolerances, and it’s rare that the finished surfaces are smooth.
Spec pull is anywhere between 5 and 9 pounds.
Up to a pound of pull weight fluctuation can be present from shot to shot, leaving you to always guess when the gun is going to fire.
You’ll feel a large amount of gritty creep and an inconsistent pull weight.
When the safety is engaged, the trigger can still travel a large amount.
With a mil-spec trigger, the trigger travels farther on safe than an after-market drop-in trigger does to fully function.

Have I made my point? A mil-spec trigger on a gun with a good barrel is exactly like buying a high-dollar precision rifle and putting iron sights on it. If you’re banging away at point-blank targets, then you might argue that none of this matters. Maybe. But I would argue that, in that instance, you’d be better served with a handgun anyway. For all other applications, you’ll be much better served with a replacement trigger.

So, as you’re reading this, you ought to be asking yourself, sweet, but assuming you have convinced me to upgrade my trigger, what’s this gonna cost me?

Look, I’ve got kids who keep taking food from my fridge, my bank still expects my mortgage payment every month and I have a chronic condition called trigger finger itchitis that can only be remedied with the smell of freshly fired ammunition. Aftermarket triggers are like ARs: There are some really good ones out there, but I won’t tell you to buy the top-of-the-line model because it’s not always necessary.

But here’s my short answer to your question above: $150.

I am intimately familiar with the triggers both Timney and Geissele are producing, and you’ll never catch me saying a bad word about either simply because they both make great products. However, when it was brought to my attention that Velocity Triggers is making an after-market, modular drop-in trigger of equal quality with a massively slashed price tag, I got curious.

The old adage you get what you pay for often holds true, but on the flip side of that coin, you can find yourself unnecessarily paying for a brand name — not necessarily a superior product — if you’re not careful.

The Trigger Family Business

Tom Vehr owns and operates Velocity Triggers out of Phoenix, Arizona, and when I learned that he builds topnotch triggers for substantially less than his competition, I figured we all deserved to know how — and why.

In 1981, Tom Vehr’s parents bought Timney Triggers, and for a full year after that purchase, Alan Timney — one of the pillars of aftermarket trigger innovations — mentored Tom on the nuances of building good triggers. And from his parents’ purchase until 1995, Tom ran Timney Triggers.

In 1995, Tom went to work for Knight Rifles, and for the next 13 years he built the tooling and oversaw the manufacturing of more than a half-million triggers for Knight during that company’s glory days when Knight was the standard all other muzzleloaders were measured against.

In 2008, Vehr left Knight Rifles and started his own custom machine shop before opening the doors to Velocity and building it from the ground up.

So why does all this matter? For starters, it’s interesting. I find the stories behind some of the oldest and most innovative brands in our industry to be fascinating. Want a good read? Do some research on the Mossberg or Beretta families.

But more importantly, this information on Tom’s background tells me two very important things in my mission to determine whether I can recommend a Velocity Trigger to you: The man at the helm of Velocity Triggers knows triggers better than most anyone else in gun world, and that gives immediate legitimacy to the Velocity brand.

So, I called Tom Vehr for some real answers:

LH: What inspired you to get into the aftermarket trigger business?
TV: I saw a need for a high-quality trigger, and just as importantly, it needed to be available at a reasonable price. There are no other aftermarket, drop-in triggers available well below $200. I knew I could manufacture a high-quality trigger at a fair price.

LH: So, Velocity has been around since 2013? Why have I not heard about you before earlier this year?
TV: It always takes time to build a brand. Velocity was started in 2013, and in 2015 I quit taking in outside machining work to focus on Velocity because of growth. In early 2017, we doubled the square footage of our manufacturing facility.

LH: How many triggers can you produce annually?
TV: I will tell you that we have two wire EDMs running 24/7 and we’re not keeping up. The wire EDM is the most precise way to manufacture internal components: — hammer, trigger and disconnect — and that precision matters. We also decided to bring all the manufacturing in-house so we could completely control consistency and maintain the quality of each and every part that goes into a Velocity Trigger. This also eliminates outside vendor costs. If it costs me less to make, then it costs the shooter less to buy.

LH: Generally speaking, when a shooter replaces a mil-spec AR trigger with a Velocity Trigger, what are the first things he or she is going to immediately notice within the first few shots?
TV:

Exceptional consistency — consistency is everything
There’s no creep and/or take-up
The pull is exceptionally smooth
Less than a couple ounces of pull deviation from shot to shot
Accuracy will improve dramatically; groups will generally be cut in half
Complete trigger change from AR to Velocity in 5-7 minutes.

LH: How many different triggers, or models of triggers, does Velocity offer?
TV: Velocity makes a few different triggers, but for ARs we offer both curved and straight models with either a 3-, 4- or 4.5-pound pull. The shape and pull weight is purely personal preference, but 80 percent of the Velocity Triggers that go out the door are curved, 3-pound AR triggers.

LH: After installing a Velocity trigger, what long-term maintenance is required?
TV: Blow it out with air annually with general use, or more often in very dusty conditions. There’s no lube required.

LH: You’ve recently introduced a new trigger. Give me some details on that.
TV: Yup, it’s the MPC: Marksman Performance Choice. The MPC sports a new design in which we moved the trigger forward a half-inch, which allows for quicker trigger engagement and a more ergonomic setup because the shooter’s finger isn’t forced to curl in so far.

Tom is clearly a modest man, and although he didn’t talk much about it, I’d argue that the coolest feature on the MPC is that the trigger shoe is 3/8-inch wide rather than the standard 1/4-inch. Because of an AR’s receiver design, the max width of a drop in trigger assembly is only 1/4-inch. By using a cap screw to simply attach the trigger shoe to the trigger itself after installation, a wide trigger can be achieved.

A quick peruse of the website also indicated that Velocity hangs it’s hat on “Diamond Like Carbon Coating,” so I dug deeper into what DLC is and what it does. In short, DLC is a surface treatment of the engaging area between the trigger and the hammer. Multiple passes with the EDM achieve a super-fine finish that creates a low fractional coefficient on the trigger. No hand-polishing is needed, it never needs lubrication, and it will never rust — and most importantly, it will never wear.

You heard me ranting earlier that consistency is king, and DLC seems to be the new industry standard upon which all others must now abide. In fact, I dug into DLC deep enough to find a testing report where a brand new AR was used. The gun’s barrel needed replacing just after 10,000 rounds. At about 40,000 rounds, the lower needed replacing … and the Velocity trigger showed negligible wear.

I like to lecture for as long as anyone will listen about how a drop-in trigger should be the first enhancement to every single AR they buy — and I haven’t yet heard a counter argument that holds up. But either way, whether you agree with me or not, you will never convince me that a $150 drop-in trigger, that can be installed by a first-timer in less than 10 minutes, is not worth every single penny.

I’d pay twice that amount of money for a trigger half as good — and I have — but I’ll never do it again.

New Guns: Ruger Releases Four New LCRx Configurations

Elwood Shelton

December 19, 2017

Ruger has drastically expanded its external-hammer line of lightweight, concealable revolvers with four new LCRx configurations.

What the new LCRx revolvers have to offer:

Ruger has added a new 9mm, .327 Fed. Mag and two .22 WMR models to the LCRx line.
The .22 WMR is available in a 1.87- and 3-inch barrel models.
The 9mm and .327 Fed. Mag. are optimized for concealed carry, with 1.87-inch barrels.

It’s difficult to improve on a design as tried and true as a revolver. Really, what can be done to polish a gun that has shined for going on two centuries? Honestly, not a lot, but a few years back Ruger went a long way to cracking that riddle with what has become a couple of its most popular revolver lines.

Turning to cutting-edge materials, the New Hampshire gunmaker redefined the concept of a lightweight wheelgun with the LCR and LCRx. Heavy use of high-strength polymers and aluminum and drastically milling down metal components made for one of the easiest-to-carry revolvers to ever hit the market.

And with a couple other slick feats of engineering — such as the trigger — the LCR and LCRx have found their way into more than just armed citizen’s holsters. The very shootable revolvers have become real players in the overall revolver market, even with shooters looking to punch holes into paper on the weekend.

The lines have continued to grow over the years, and the newer LCRx recently enjoyed a large expansion. Ruger added four new configurations, giving fans of the external-hammer variant three new calibers to choose from — 9mm, .327 Fed. Mag., and .22 WMR.

The company continues to turn an eye to the concealed-carry market, with all four of the new revolvers available in 1.87-inch barrel, snub-nose models. But the company saw an opportunity for the .22 WMR as a utility handgun, also introducing a 3-inch barreled model. Given its weight —17.8 ounces — this seems like a good move, with the 6-round wheelgun set to be a dandy backpack gun that takes up little space and adds little weight in a trek into the backcountry.

Ruger has had success with the 9mm and .327 Fed. Mag., chamberings in its hammerless LCR line and it’s logical it’d make the leap with each caliber into the sister line. In fact, the company has been pretty heavy into .327 for some time, counter to much of the handgun market, also offering the SP101 in the snappy, yet manageable magnum. As for the 9mm, it offers shooters a practical defensive wheelgun for the popular caliber. In particular, and making it more concealed-carry viable, the five-round revolver is moon-clip compatible, hastening reloads when the situation calls for it.

The small bore LCRx revolvers are built around an aluminum frame, while the 9mm and .327 Fed. Mag.’s more powerful rounds require stainless steel. All of the handguns, however, boast a polymer fire-control housing that drastically cuts down on their overall weight. They are outfitted with a highly fluted stainless steel cylinder and Ruger’s friction-reducing cam fire control, producing a much more manageable trigger pull.

The snub-nose models have a u-notch integral rear sight and replaceable pinned front. The 6-inch barreled .22 WMR, on the other hand, has an adjustable rear sight. The .22-caliber pistols both have MSRPs of $579, while the .327 Fed. Mag., and 9mm are each $669.

Specifications:

LCRx .22 WMR (3-inch barrel)
Caliber: .22 WMR
Grip: Hogue Tamer™ Monogrip
Front Sight: Replaceable, Pinned Ramp
Barrel Length: 3 in.
Cylinder Finish: PVD
Twist: 1:9 RH
Rear Sight: Adjustable Black Blade
Finish: Matte Black
Weight: 17.8 oz.
Height: 5.80 in.
Overall Length: 7.50 in.
Capacity: 6
Grooves: 6
Suggested Retail: $579.00

LCRx .22 WMR (1.87-inch Barrel)
Caliber: .22 WMR
Grip: Hogue Tamer™ Monogrip
Front Sight: Replaceable, Pinned Ramp
Barrel Length: 1.87 in.
Cylinder Finish: PVD
Twist: 1:9 RH
Rear Sight: U-Notch Integral
Finish: Matte Black
Weight: 15.4 oz.
Height: 4.50 in.
Overall Length: 6.50 in.
Capacity: 6
Grooves: 6
Suggested Retail: $579.00

LCRx .327 Fed. Mag.
Caliber: .327 Federal Magnum
Grip: Hogue Tamer™ Monogrip
Front Sight: Replaceable, Pinned Ramp
Barrel Length: 1.87 in.
Cylinder Finish: PVD
Twist: 1:16 RH
Rear Sight: U-Notch Integral
Finish: Matte Black
Weight: 17.7 oz.
Height: 4.50 in.
Overall Length: 6.50 in.
Capacity: 6
Grooves: 6
Suggested Retail: $669.00

LCRx 9mm
Caliber: 9mm
Grip: Hogue® Tamer™ Monogrip®
Front Sight: Replaceable, Pinned Ramp
Barrel Length: 1.87 in.
Cylinder Finish: PVD
Twist: 1:16 RH
Rear Sight: U-Notch Integral
Finish: Matte Black
Weight: 17.4 oz.
Height: 4.50 in.
Overall Length: 6.50 in.
Capacity: 5
Grooves: 6
Suggested Retail: $669.00

Modern Survival Guns: Beretta M9A3 Review

Jorge Amselle

December 19, 2017

Beretta’s most famous firearm might well be its Model 92 pistol, first offered in 1975 in 9mm. Now, the impressive new Beretta M9A3 model is a serious contender as a modern survival gun.

Beretta’s M9 is time proven, being the standard-issue U.S. Army pistol for many years.
Now it is back with refinements appealing to civilian shooters, especially preppers.
The Beretta M9A3 configuration holds 17 rounds and has an earth tan Cerakote finish.
It also has an extended 5.1-inch barrel, built-in 1913 accessory rail and improved grip.
Night sights are standard on the M9A3, which is a DA/SA design.

A Closer Look At The Beretta M9A3

Of course, military missions and doctrine change over time, and the Beretta M9 has kept pace. Now, they have developed the Beretta M9A3 with even further significant changes.

The M9A3 is a short-recoil, semi-automatic, hammer-fired pistol with a standard 17-round capacity magazine firing in double action for the first shot with the trigger pull both cocking and releasing the hammer, and single action for all subsequent shots.

The latest Beretta is the M9A3 (not officially adopted by the military), which features a desert tan finish, threaded barrel, night sights, and a smaller grip with interchangeable panels. - Beretta M9A3 — The latest Beretta is the M9A3 (not officially adopted by the military), which features a desert tan finish, threaded barrel, night sights, and a smaller grip with interchangeable panels.

The tilting locking block has been redesigned for a longer service life. The 17-round magazine itself is one of the many improvements, adding two extra rounds from the original mag design and a PVD coating.

To further appeal to combat troops in arid environments, the M9A3 has a two-tone earth Cerakote finish on the slide and barrel, which provides improved lubricity, corrosion resistance, and durability. This finish creates a reduced IR signature, too.

The steel components that are left in black feature Beretta’s special Bruniton finish, a Teflon-based paint finish that provides far superior corrosion resistance over bluing or Parkerizing. Tritium night sights are standard on the M9A3.

The Beretta M9A3’s barrel has a chrome-lined bore and chamber and has been extended to 5.1 inches and threaded with a 1/2 x 28-inch thread pattern to use with standard suppressor devices. A knurled thread protector is included as well.

The earth color anodized frame on the M9A3 has been significantly upgraded to respond to changing military needs.

At 25 yards this full-sized Beretta pistol is capable of solid combat accuracy. - Beretta M9A3 2 — At 25 yards this full-sized Beretta pistol is capable of solid combat accuracy.

At the front dust cover, Beretta has added a three slot MIL-STD 1913 accessory rail, a big improvement over the M9’s lack of any rail and the M9A1’s single slot rail. The traditionally squared trigger guard has been machined much flatter in the front to more easily accommodate rail mounted accessories.

Another improvement is the grip, with the backstrap now featuring a flat mainspring housing instead of the traditional bulged type. This significantly reduces the size of the grip, which was sometimes hard to handle for smaller stature shooters.

To further reduce grip size, the M9A3 uses slim Vertec Thin Grip panels that feature distinct and aggressive checkering. Beretta does include Hogue rubber over-molded replacement grips that provide an original grip size and feel.

Left-handed shooters will appreciate the reversible magazine release button, which has been enlarged for easier and faster manipulation.

The rest of the controls on the M9A3 remain standard, with a left-side slide lock/release and the takedown lever directly in front of it on the left side of the receiver.

The Beretta M9A1 is an improved version that adds a Picatinny rail to the frame, high-profile three dot sights, heavy checkering, and a beveled magazine well.

The use of polymer parts, reducing both manufacturing costs and weight, is minimal on the M9A3 and limited to the recoil spring guide rod, lanyard ring, magazine floorplate, and follower.

Beretta was established in 1526 and is the oldest continuously operating firearms manufacturer in the world. It is family owned, having been passed down through 16 generations. This gives Beretta a level of tradition and pride in manufacturing that is unparalleled.

The M9A3 continues this tradition and is made entirely in the United States. Today, after 30 years, the M9 is still serving the needs of our military both at home and overseas, and the new M9A3 shows no signs of slowing down.

Editor’s Note: This excerpt is from Modern Survival Guns: The Complete Preppers’ Guide to Dealing with Everyday Threats.

7 Great Rimfire Handguns For Pure Plinking Pleasure

Elwood Shelton

December 18, 2017

There are few things as accurate, useful and fun as a great rimfire handgun.

These are the precision plinkers that will get you on target:

Colt Woodsman
High Standard H-D
Smith & Wesson Model 41
Smith & Wesson Model 17
Ruger Standard
Ruger Single-Six
Browning Buck Mark

There can be a vicious cycle when it comes to a good rimfire handgun. Inherently accurate, these pistols and revolvers are like a spring meadow in their ability to sprout tidy little clover leafs. But once a shooter gets a taste for these firearms’ precision printing, they only want more and smaller. Then the obsession begins — check out a precision pistol match to see what I mean.

Thankfully, gunmakers have fueled this mania, turning out true classics in the genre of rimfire handguns. And a shooter needn’t be a competitor to truly appreciate what these guns bring to the table. Whether placing a dead-accurate head shot on a brushy tail high in a beech tree’s boughs or making soda cans dance up a hillside, precision plinkers are truly one of life’s small pleasures.

With that in mind, here are seven of the greatest rimfire handguns to ever pitch small-bore lead. If you don’t have at least one of these in your arsenal, then your collection isn’t complete.

Colt Woodsman

When John M. Browning’s influence over pistol design is considered, typically the 1911 comes to mind — rightfully so. However, the Colt Woodsman deserves its share of the spotlight, for much of the modern rimfire pistol world rests on its shoulders. From its fixed barrel to its blowback action to borrowing Luger’s raked grip, the Woodsman set the standard for what was expected out of a .22 pistol.

Though, in truth, Browning doesn’t get all the credit for this still intriguing gun design. Among his last handguns while employed at Colt, a number of other designers had a hand in bringing the Woodsman to the public in 1915 after his departure. And what they offered the shooting world was one slick little rimfire, ideal for an afternoon target shooting or bagging the odd rabbit in the field.

Browning and the Colt team did something right, given the 10-round Woodsman had a 62-year run and was only jettisoned after manufacturing costs exceed sales. There were three series of the hammer-fired Woodsman (one through three) over this time with three models available in each: Target, Sport and Match.

The differences between the models are minor, generally barrel length, sights, grips and frame (particularly the squared-off section at the front of the receiver). Later, Colt also introduced economy variants of the Woodsman — first the Challenger, then the Huntsman. While they lacked the refinements of the Woodsman, both had identical actions to the higher-end models.

With some hard searching, acceptable specimens of the Woodsman are available. And if you really want to break the bank, there are some extraordinary examples of the pistol complete with elaborate engraving and all the bells and whistles.

High Standard H-D

Rimfire pistols, at least in the modern era, are rarely associated with military conflict. However, the H-D was up to its cocking serrations in global conflict for the better part of a quarter century. Cutting its teeth as a military training pistol in World War II after its release in 1940, due to similarity in operation to the M1911A1, it would go on to cloak-and-dagger work.

The OSS (forerunner of the CIA) ordered around 2,000 of the integrally suppressed High Standard HD-MS models late in the conflict. And it continued to serve spy types into the Cold War or that can at least be inferred with one produced by the Soviet’s trial of Air Force pilot Lt. Gary Powers after his U-2 aircraft was shot down over the U.S.S.R.

The H-D was also a hit with everyday, average shooters and finished its run among the most popular pistols ever produced by High Standard. With a pinned barrel, Luger-style grip and weight of a full-sized pistol, the H-D was designed for accuracy and delivered in competition and plinking.

The Model HDs aren’t terribly tough to come by, if you’re willing to search, but they can tax a shooter’s budge. The HD-MS, well that’s a completely different story. Few were made and of those just a handful were ever registered with the ATF for civilian ownership. Translation: They are plum expensive.

Smith & Wesson Model 41

To many competitive shooters, pistols don’t get any sweeter than the Model 41. The high-end Smith & Wesson rimfire pistol has been a mainstay on the national competition stage for more than half a century, and doesn’t show any signs of letting up soon.

But producing a pistol meant to gun down gold required plenty of time at the drawing board — a decade in fact. Smith & Wesson developed two semi-automatic prototypes in 1947 — the X-41 and X-42, however, the company’s actual offering — the Model 41 — wasn’t unleashed on the shooting public until 1957.

To win hearts, the pistol has a familiar feel to handgun shooters. The angle of the Model 41 directly draws upon one of the most prolific pistols of all time — the 1911. And the similarities between the small- and large-bore handguns don’t end there. Smith & Wesson also configured the slide release and manual thumb safety in the same positions found on the 1911.

In addition to a fixed barrel (notice a trend here?), the 10-round pistol also has another element that makes it lights-out accurate — perhaps the finest trigger ever to grace a rimfire pistol. It has a smooth pull and a terse 3-pound break, as well as over-travel adjustment.

While the Model 41 has pulled disappearing acts from Smith & Wesson’s catalog in the past, it is now presently available. And the newest iteration has some intriguing upgrades, such as a switch-barrel design and micrometer click adjustable target rear sight. Just the tickets for competitive types to stay right on target.

Smith & Wesson Model 17

Smith & Wesson had dabbled in .22-caliber revolvers in the late 19th and early 20th Century, but got it next to perfect with the release of this post-World War II gem. The Model 17, introduced in 1947, is quite possibly the best double-action rimfire revolver of all time, combining rock-solid construction and lights-out accuracy. To boot, the rimfire looks unmistakably like a Smith & Wesson wheelgun — never a bad thing.

Much of the six-round revolver’s durability, accuracy and looks are thanks to the gun’s hefty construction. The Model 17 is a full-sized revolver built around S&W’s legendary K-frame. And it can be configured for everything from dropping squirrels to dominating a rapid-fire competition. The company offered three barrel options — 4, 6 or 8 inches — and outfitted the six-round revolver with an adjustable rear sight and an un-pinned, fixed ramp or Patridge style front sight.

In the past, serious marksmen could get the Model 17 with “The Three T’s”: target trigger, target hammer and target front sight.

The Model 17 did a disappearing act for a spell, with Smith & Wesson discontinuing the revolver for 11 years. The stainless steel Model 617 was available, but for the diehards it was no replacement for the blued-steel beauty. Wisely, in 2009 the company reintroduced the original again as the Model 17 Masterpiece, allowing an entirely new generation to revel in one of the true greats of the rimfire world.

Ruger Standard

The story is familiar to most .22 fans: Bill Ruger banged away in his garage on a pistol with the styling of the P08 Luger and the guts of a Japanese Nambu. With a little financial backing from Alex Sturm, he struck firearms gold in 1949 with the Standard — one that blossomed into an empire. But the Standard forms more than just the roots of a thriving manufacturer; it’s also fair to say it’s the origin of today’s booming rimfire pistol market.

The interest the best-selling .22 pistol of all time kindled has erupted into an inferno at this point.

Accuracy, not to mention a fair price, is how the Standard captivated shooters. The fixed barrel deserves the lion’s share of the credit for the pistol’s ability to launch bullets with deadly accuracy. Only the unique cylindrical bolt moves when the gun cycles, giving the pistol the rigidity required to stay on target shot after shot.

But there’s more to the Standard than just its barrel. The gun’s ergonomics are superb; there are few handguns that have better balance and point as naturally. The angled grip facilitates much of this, as does the gun’s overall heft — which is plenty for a .22.

If there is any one hitch in the pistol’s giddy up it’s the takedown of the early models — it’s a bit of a bear to field strip. Ruger, however, has done its utmost to rectify this in the most recent Mark IVs, with a simplified push-button takedown.

Ruger Single-Six

Credit Bill Ruger; he knew when he had a winner — and the self-taught engineer certainly had one in .22-caliber handguns. It didn’t take him long to realize this after the introduction of his masterpiece Standard, and he followed it up with one of the truly great single-action revolvers of all time — the Single-Six.

The rimfire, styled after the Colt Single Action Army revolver, Ruger harnessed the enthusiasm for America’s Old West percolating in the country in 1953. The popularity of the throwback revolver proved so great it eventually led to the launch of the legendary Blackhawk line of centerfire single-action revolvers.

A gun, however, doesn’t rise and then stay on top off nostalgia alone, and the Single-Six offered wannabe cowpokes a whole bunch more, including an affordable price. Ruger pulled off this minor economic coup by manufacturing the frame through investment casting. In fact, the Single-Six was among the first firearms the company produced utilizing this process, one it still relies on heavily today. The results were magnificent, providing backpackers, campers, plinkers, competitors and every other rimfire enthusiast a strong and accurate revolver, with a dash of American history.

Despite its timeless design, the Single-Six continues to remain relevant to today’s shooters through a number of upgrades over the years. Among the weightiest was the addition of the transfer bar safety in 1973 (these revolvers are known as the New Model) that allowed the safe loading of every cylinder.

More recently, Ruger has embraced other popular rimfire cartridges, offering a .22 WMR along with a .22 LR cylinder in its Convertible model and expanding the Single-Six to the red-hot .17 HMR rounds. Available in barrel lengths from 4.62 to 9.5 inches, the Single-Six is truly a revolver for all occasions.

Browning Buck Mark

Though released in 1985, the Buck Mark has a lineage that can be traced all the way back to the company’s namesake. The pistol was the evolution of the Browning Challenger, which was a tweak on the Nomad, which was a redesign of John M. Browning’s Colt Woodsman. With this sort of pedigree, it’s no wonder the company believed it could stand tall against the heavyweight of the rimfire pistol world — the Ruger Mark series.

While it has not enjoyed the absolutely stratospheric success of the Marks, the Buck Mark has held its own. The 30-some models that have come down the pike have captivated shooters, whether drilling bullseyes in rapid fire or dispatching coyotes on a trap line.

The Buck Mark turns to a successful formula of many rimfire pistols — a fixed barrel. This one simple design feature ensures the gun stays on target by doing away with all potential play. On top of that, for American shooters, the gun is extremely familiar to operate, given its slide.

This somewhat unusual design for modern rimfires bestows an admirable attribute, often overlooked — less fouling. Since the action opens more than many pistols in its class, it kicks out more carbon — making the Buck Mark as reliable chewing through cheap ammo as it is the top-shelf stuff.

Ballistics Basics: Addressing Air Pressure On Bullet Flight

Ryan Cleckner

December 18, 2017

At extended ranges, air pressure alters bullet flight — and impact — more than you might think.

How does air pressure influence a bullet’s trajectory?

Denser air slows a bullet, thus exposes to more of gravities effects.
More air pressure, due to elevation or weather patterns, results in denser air.
For shooting purposes, barometric pressure is of little use.
Instead, station pressure provides the data required.
Ballistic calculators are often required to figure out effects of air pressures on a bullet.

In past articles, I’ve dissected how gravity and wind are the two main variables that affect your bullet’s path. Yes, other environmental variables matter, too; however, they only change how much of an effect gravity and wind will have.

The reason your bullet falls more by the time it reaches a 900-yard target than it does for a 100-yard target is because it was exposed to gravity longer. Therefore, the longer it takes a bullet to reach the target, the more gravity and wind will move the bullet off of its original flight path.

A Bullet’s Speed

There are three variables that determine a bullet’s speed on its way to the target:

The initial speed of the bullet
The efficiency of the bullet
The external and environmental variables

In discussing a bullet’s speed, we’ve already covered the initial speed of the bullet and the aerodynamic efficiency of the bullet. Now it’s time to explore environmental variables.

The environmental variables that affect a bullet’s path are:

Air pressure
Temperature
Humidity

There are also things called “spin drift” and the Coriolis (and Eötvös) Effect that can change your bullet’s path. However, we’ll save those for future discussions.

Air Density

Each of the three listed variables can change the density of the air. Simply, a bullet doesn’t travel as well through denser/thicker air.

Therefore, a bullet will slow down faster in dense, thick air than it will in less-dense, thinner air. Why does this matter? A bullet that slows down more will take longer to reach a target — and be moved off of its original path more by gravity and wind.

RifleShootingMyths-4 - air pressure — If you are recoil-sensitive, it is always a temptation to let someone else sight-in your rifle, but it is much better if you do it yourself.

Remember this:

Denser air = slower bullet = lower impact on a target

Going forward, we’re going to explore each of the three variables that affect air’s density individually because each are extremely important to understand. In this column, we’re going to explore air pressure.

Can You Handle The Pressure?

More air pressure results in denser air. The air’s pressure will change based on certain weather patterns and also the altitude. As a general rule, air pressure is lower the higher you are above sea level, and vice versa.

This is because air actually has some mass and is pulled down by gravity. At higher altitudes, there are fewer air molecules being pulled down on your head than there are at lower altitudes. Compare this to water pressure. The deeper you go into water, the higher the pressure. The same phenomenon causes this — there’s more water above you that gravity is pulling down on.

However, it’s not always true that a higher altitude will have less air pressure. Weather patterns can also have an effect. Typically, when a storm is coming, the air pressure drops.

Therefore, you could be hiking a mountain with an altimeter in your hand, which measures the air pressure and tells you your altitude. As you hiked up the mountain and watched the altimeter, you’d see your elevation measurement go higher as you hiked into less dense, lower-pressure air. If you stop to take a break and you notice that the altimeter keeps going up, that’s a sure sign that a storm is coming — the air pressure is decreasing even though you’re not changing altitude.

Air pressure is typically measured in the amount of mercury that’s pushed up a measurement column (in either inches or millimeters). For example, an air pressure of 29.95 inHg (inch of mercury) means that the actual pressure of the air on the mercury in a gauge is enough to push the column of mercury 29.95 inches up the measurement column.

Barometric vs. Station Pressure

Air pressure is usually measured and described as “barometric pressure.” Barometric pressure, which you probably hear about on your local weather report, is useful in day-to-day life because it has been corrected to remove altitude as a variable and instead only focuses on the weather patterns. This is helpful for weather reports because the barometric pressure reading allows for the air pressure to be compared between Denver and New Orleans. This is not helpful, however, for shooting long range.

When shooting long range, we want to know the actual pressure of the air through which our bullet is flying. An artificial number that has been “normalized” to help compare different cities is not helpful for shooting.

Instead of barometric pressure, I encourage you to pay attention to “station pressure,” which is the actual measurement of the air’s pressure on mercury at that specific location (weather station) where you’re at.

To convert from barometric to station pressure, subtract about 1 inch of mercury for every thousand feet of elevation. By using station pressure, you might see that the air pressure at position “A” is 29 inHg, while the air pressure at position “B” (3,000 feet higher) is 27 inHg. This shows that the air will be thinner at position “B” and you can expect your bullet to get to the target faster and not fall as much due to gravity if air pressure is the only variable that changed. If the weather patterns were similar between these two locations, the barometric pressure would be the same.

Air Pressure’s Effect On Your Bullet’s Path

There’s no standard change to every bullet’s speed and path due to air pressure changes. This is because bullets of different initial velocities, aerodynamic shape and weight will all behave differently. Despite the different behavior among individual bullets, the net effect is still the same — less air pressure results in a faster bullet.

To figure out how air pressure changes your particular bullet’s path, you are going to have to use ballistic software. There are many applications available for your smartphone that can compute this for you, and some manufacturers of bullets and scopes also provide free software. For example, I’m a big fan of the free software on the Vortex Optics website.

Long-Range-Challenge-1 air pressure — Cold dry air creates more resistance to a bullet in flight than warm humid conditions. Such environmental considerations must be taken into account when making an accurate long-range shot.

By recording the effect of gravity on your bullet at different distances at a certain air pressure, you can then adjust the air pressure in the various software solutions to see the change it will have on your bullet’s path. Also, there are tools that you can take with you into the field that will measure the air’s pressure at your location and also compute the corrections for your bullet.

The Bad News

Unfortunately, it’s not quite this simple. You can’t just look at air pressure and assume that shooting at higher altitudes will result in a faster bullet that doesn’t drop as much. Other variables are also going to affect the air’s density. The one we’ll cover in the next column, temperature, often has the opposite effect of air pressure.

Colder temperatures result in denser air and slower bullets. And where do we often find colder temperatures? That’s right — higher altitudes.

This article originally appeared in the September 2017 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.

How To Take Apart And Clean Your New Suppressor

Patrick Sweeney

December 15, 2017

Should you take apart your suppressor to clean it? The answer is yes/always for some and no/never for others. Knowing the answer for your suppressor can save you time, money and aggravation.

What you need to know about cleaning your suppressor:

Pistol and rimfire suppressors absolutely must be cleaned.
Those meant for centerfire rifles might or might not require it.
Centerfire rifles run so hot and burn power so completely they leave little residue.
Suppressor cleaning supplies are minimal; often they’re already part of a cleaning kit.
Baffles are easily hand cleaned with solvent and a little elbow grease.
A small diameter dowel is handy in restacking the baffles and sliding them into the tube.

There are two classes of suppressors: “must clean” and “never clean.” You absolutely must clean your rimfire and pistol-caliber suppressors. As a result, suppressors meant for those applications will always be of a design you can take apart. Let’s call them MC (must clean) suppressors. Centerfire rifle suppressors may or may not be of the take-apart design. We can call them NC (never clean) suppressors. Why?

Rimfire and pistol-caliber suppressors get really dirty. If you do not clean them, they will become one-piece suppressors.

Rifle suppressors (and again, centerfire rifle, not rimfire rifle) run so hot and the powder burns so completely that there is no real residue left behind to clean out. I had a graphic encounter with this while in a suppressor class being taught by Dr. Phil Dater.

There was a rifle-caliber suppressor that had been band-sawed down the center, splitting it into two. Once it had been passed around, Dr. Dater asked us “How many rounds do you think have gone through it?” We hemmed and hawed, and a few numbers were tossed out. In the spirit of full disclosure, there was a hard, thin, coating of powder residue on the inside, but it was about as thick as the brass thickness of the case mouth of an empty piece of brass, not really built-up at all.

I stuck my hand up. “Doc, the way you are suggesting we answer leads me to believe that we’re way under the number. So, how about ten to twenty thousand rounds?” With a smile, he said “Closer than anyone usually guesses. That particular silencer had 108,000 logged rounds of .223 and 5.56 through it before we cut it up.”

Here it is, a suppressor that had 108,000 rounds of .223/5.56 through it.

So, even if you take care of your rifle barrel, that suppressor had ten barrels worth of ammunition through it and was still working fine when they cut it open to find out what was going on inside.

At current ammunition prices, that suppressor was good for over $22,000 worth of ammo, at vanilla-plain, FMJ, import ammo prices. (108,000 rounds, at $205 per thousand, although I’d bet if you ordered 100,000 in one delivery, they’d give you a discount.) Twenty-two thousand dollars in ammo for the service life on a suppressor, and you’re sweating the cost of an extra QD mount to put on your second rifle? You will literally wear out several barrels each on those rifles before you even have to wonder, “Is my suppressor used up yet?”

So, rimfire and handguns, clean regularly. Centerfire rifles, run them hot at least once in a range session and don’t worry about it. (Unless you are reloading cast bullets for subsonic rounds, and then you treat it like a rimfire or handgun suppressor. And, obviously, do this only with a suppressor you can take apart.)

The Exception

There’s always an exception. What if, since the threads are the same, you used your centerfire rifle suppressor, meant for .223/5.56, on your rimfire rifle? What then? You will have built up residues inside of the suppressor, residues that cannot be easily cleaned out. One option is to use one of the ultrasonic cleaners (which we’ll get to shortly) but then you have liquid left inside. Unless you bake the suppressor to dry it out (and do not, I repeat DO NOT do this in the oven your wife cooks in), the liquid will be adding stress to the suppressor on every shot, until you burn it out. Not good, unless it was designed to be run wet.

The second way is to take it off the rimfire rifle, put it on a centerfire rifle, and shoot it enough to burn out the residues. Let’s take a moment and do the math on that. Let’s say you can (and I’m not saying this is the correct number, I’m just using it as an estimate) heat up the suppressor hot enough to clean it in 100 rapid-fire rounds. That’s one-tenth of a case of ammo, so $20. That’s one percent of the service life of the barrel, so there’s another couple of bucks there. We’ll overlook whether the range, gun club, buddy whose field you are using will be happy at three magazines straight of rapid fire.

How many “cleanings” like that can you do, before you’ve reached the cost of a rimfire-specific suppressor? Ten? Twenty?

This is what can happen if you do not clean your rimfire or pistol-caliber suppressor. Don’t be this guy.

Don’t be “that guy” at the range. Restrain yourself, save up the money, get a dedicated rimfire suppressor, one that can be taken apart and cleaned, and then use it on your rimfires.

Cleaning Essentials

At a bare minimum, you will need a plastic bristle brush, cleaning patches, (I’d suggest a roll of paper towels as well), cleaning solvents for powder and lead residues, and gloves. Gloves? Yes, you will be handling the baffles or monocore directly, and in rimfire and handgun calibers the residues will have a good dollop of lead in them. One might even be tempted to use the pun “a healthy dose” of lead. Keeping that stuff off your hands is a good idea, even if you diligently wash up afterwards, because it will take a lot of washing.

Avoid using brass or steel-bristle brushes, as the baffles might not like it. If you have aluminum or titanium baffles, a stainless steel brush will be entirely too harsh. Finding out the hard way will be expensive.

Cleaning a suppressor is like cleaning a firearm, only dirtier.

A cleaning apron specifically for this task is another good idea. The brush will splatter solvent, and your hands and arms will quickly be enveloped in a mist of solvent, with lead and powder residues mixed in. The carbon black of that mixture will stain clothes. (You know how we, other suppressor owners and I, know this, right?)

And it would not be a bad idea to invest in lead-specific soap, for cleaning your hands after you have cleaned your suppressor. You can get some basic soap, or abrasive soap meant specifically for cleaning lead off your hands from D-Lead. If the top of your workbench is not sealed, you should seal it before more solvents, lead and other stuff soaks in. Once sealed (any polyurethane will do, if the top surface is wood), you can use the D-Lead wipes to wipe the lead gunk up when you are done cleaning your suppressor.

Takedown

Every design is different. Some are threaded on the front cap, some on the rear, some on both. One thing you can be certain of is this: the manufacturer will have either included a special wrench with the suppressor, or designed one or both of the caps to accept a standard open-end wrench. Before you start, make sure you have all the cleaning equipment on hand – solvents, brushes, patches, gloves, etc. – and proceed.

Apply a few drops of penetrating oil to the joints of the front and or rear caps. These could be Kroil, Liquid Wrench, or whatever your favorite loosening liquid might be. While those drops soak in, assemble the tools you’ll need.

Use the tool the maker provided. Get it apart before it gets too dirty. Clean it, and put it together. It isn’t rocket science.

Hand-Cleaning The Suppressor

Use the provided wrench, or an open-end wrench if that is the appropriate tool, and remove the cap or caps. In the case of a baffle stack design, you will probably find the baffles wedged in tightly. Use a section of wooden dowel to push them out. You can find this at the local hardware or big-box store, and you’ll probably have to buy a three-foot section of it, for a couple of dollars. Choose one that’s a diameter that will fit inside of the tube, not to tight, but not so small it will flew. A dowel 3/4 inch will do for most sizes, but a quick check on yours will let you know what the maximum size yours can take. You can also use a similarly sized section of PVC pipe.

While you’re there, also pick up a section of doweling, or PVC, that will be a snug but not tight fit down the center hole of the baffles. Don’t take the baffle with you, measure the ID of the hole, write it down, and get a dowel at the store.

The way to remove the baffle is not necessarily straightforward. To remove the baffles, place a shop rag or old towel on your workbench or the floor. Place the rod, standing up, on the towel, put the suppressor minus its caps on top of the rod, and grasp the tube. Push the tube down over the rod, pushing the baffles out of the tube. (Some suppressors might be directional, that is, the baffles go out only one way. Again, read the instructions.)

If you try to hold the tube in one hand and push the rod with the other, you end up not pushing the baffles out. When the alignment goes off-center enough, you can hurt yourself as you push one hand into the end of the suppressor tube.

The correct method will cause the baffles to pop up out of the tube and spill out onto the towel/bench/floor.

Some designs use a common tool, in this case the AR-15 carbine stock wrench, a tool we all have.

Gather them up, count them to make sure you have them all, and begin cleaning. How extravagant you wish to be with the cleaning solvent is between you, your wallet, and the space you clean in. You can simply put the baffles in a stainless steel pan, pour in solvent, let them soak, and then start scrubbing and wiping. Get off as much of the caked-on residue as you can from the baffle surfaces, but pay particular attention to the edges. That’s where they bind in the tube.

After you’ve given the baffles a once-over, use the solvent, brush and a piece of paper towel on the inside of the tube. Also scrub the end caps, especially their threads.

Now, go back and give the baffles another wipe with a paper towel damp with whatever cleaning solution you find works best.

Use a dry shop rag or old towel or paper towels to wipe everything dry.

Re-Stacking

Getting all the baffles to stack correctly, and keep them there while you slide them into the tube, can be a hassle. This is especially true if the baffles have index tabs or interlocking edges. This is where your smaller-diameter dowel comes in handy. Assemble the baffle stack over the dowel, keeping the tabs in their slots. Then, you can hold the assembly all in one stack, and slide the stack, with the dowel, into the tube. Once in place, with everything nestled correctly, you can pull the dowel out and screw on the caps.

On re-assembly, put a drop of oil on the threads of the end caps, before you screw everything back together.

Tighten to the manufactures specs (you did read the manual, right?) but not tighter. The powder residue and gunk will act to tighten the assembly once you do some shooting, and if you over-tighten you’ll simply make it that much harder to take apart when it comes time to clean again.

This stack of baffles on the rod is ready to go into the tube.

If you aren’t sure if you have it tight enough, don’t make it tighter. When you next shoot at the range, test the tightness of the caps after a couple of magazines of shooting. If anything is loose, you need to be a bit firmer the next time. If they are all tight, you have done it right.

Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt from The Suppressor Handbook by Patrick Sweeney.

New Gun: Savage’s MSR 15 Valkyrie Takes Flight

Elwood Shelton

December 15, 2017

Set to ring the gong from a country mile, Savage’s MSR 15 Valkyrie embraces the ballistic talents of Federal’s new cartridge.

What does the new Savage MSR 15 Valkyrie bring to the table?

The MSR 15 Valkyrie is chambered for Federal’s red-hot new cartridge the .224 Valkyrie.
The Valkyrie offers greater capacity than other .22 calibers and heavy-for-caliber bullets.
The projectile maintains supersonic velocity beyond 1,300 yards.
According to Federal, it outperforms all other AR-15 cartridges in terms of drop and drift.
The MSR 15 Valkyrie has a faster 1:7 twist and 18-inch barrel for improved ballistics.

Only gravity has been more constant than Savage Arms. Since the sunset of the Model 99, another release from the Massachusetts gunmaker meant one thing and one thing only — the market was growing by another bolt-action.

This isn’t to say the Massachusetts manufacturer hasn’t turned out tip-top rifles at more than fair prices — they have. But, for the most part, the company’s catalog is chalked full of riffs off its tried and true Model 10 and Model 110 bolt actions and not much else.

Things, however, have changed in recent years. Venerable Savage’s slow-and-steady ethos has begun to pick up pace and, a surprise to many, the company has begun churning out AR-15 and AR-10 rifles.

Now the company is going even further out on a limb with its newest rifle release. The MSR 15 Valkyrie embraces a brand new cartridge and is among the first rifles chambered for the small-bore wonder. Then again, the .224 Valkyrie might not be a big gamble at all.

If it pans out the way Savage’s sister brand Federal Premium promises and the new MSR helps it deliver, it has a real chance at putting an entirely new spin on the long-range shooting game.

Flight Of The .224 Valkyrie

Hot loads are nothing new in the world of centerfire .22 cartridges. But Federal has gone a step beyond just capacity with the newly minted .224 Valkyrie. It also has given it space for a projectile that can harness it.

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In addition to room for more propellant, the 30 Rem./6.8 SPC case also has the space for longer projectiles with their trim ogives. Not only does this mean the Valkyrie launches bullets with sexier ballistic coefficients, but also greater sectional density. And as every shooter learns sooner or later, these factors are key in defeating drag, and in turn gravity, as well as wind drift.

And from what Federal has released so far on the Valkyrie, they appear to have a winning recipe.

The company claims the round maintains supersonic velocities out to 1,300 yards, outperforming nearly everything in its class — 22 Nosler, .223 Rem., and 6.5 Grendel. Just so they didn’t leave any sacred cows un-tipped, the ammo company also said the Valkyrie produces less recoil than the 6.5 Creedmoor, while nipping at its heels in performance. To top it all off, aside from bolt and barrel, the round works in a standard AR-15.

Federal pitches the Valkyrie as a cartridge for all shooting situations, from small to medium game hunting to competition and plinking. And it has released a full suite of ammunition to meet all occasions: 90-grain Gold Medal Sierra MatchKing, 60-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip Varmint, 100-grain Fusion MSR and 75-grain American Eagle TMJ.

The American Eagle offering (rumored to run $14 per box of 40) brings up another potential advantage of the Valkyrie: affordability. That’s something not often associated to the long-range game.

At present, there is little hard data and specs available on the Valkyrie, aside from company-supplied ballistics (which are scant) and some backstage reviews by shooting’s mucky-mucks. In turn, time will tell if it lives up to Federal’s boasts.

Everyday shooters’ chances to give the .224 Valkyrie its day in court will come early next year, once approved by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute in January 2018. Reloading specs on the Valkyrie will then soon follow.

MSR 15 Valkyrie

Savage knows bolt-actions and, with the release of the MRS 15 Valkyrie, is proving it also knows ARs. The gunmaker has put together what appears a pretty solid package to set the .224 Valkyrie to flight.

Savage bills the MSR 15 Valkyrie as “competition ready.” At just under 8 pounds and 35.5-39 inches in overall length, it has the potential to hold down other duties. Given the range expectations of the .224 Valkyrie, this news should get coyotes shaking in their boots.

As would be expected, the rifle is optimized for the round, this is particularly seen in the barrel. While Savage didn’t go for a full 20-inch barrel on the MSR 15 Valkyrie, it got darn close at 18. This should provide plenty of bore to milk the round for all of its ballistic potential. On top of that, it boasts a faster 1:7 twist rate, logical given the .224’s heavier bullets. Following present black rifle trends, the rifling is 5R — a beveled land, meant to minimize bullet deformation and make the bore easier to clean.

The Savage has a mid-length gas system, which is becoming all the more common, even on shorter-barreled ARs. But there is solid reasoning for opting for mid over carbine length. In addition to dampening the recoil, the mid-length gas system’s extra 2 inches also keeps the higher capacity cartridge from battering the heck out of the bolt-carrier group and buffer. And there is little worry for shooters who plan to run every conceivable round through the rifle, as the MSR 15 Valkyrie boasts an adjustable gas block.

The rifle is set for precision work out of the box with an adjustable two-stage trigger, which is tunable between 2.5 and 6 pounds. It has a free-floating M-LOK handguard, with ample slot real estate around the circumference and is Cerakoted (same goes for the receivers) in FDE with the Valkyrie logo on the side. It has a full-length Picatinny rail, a UBR Gen 2 buttstock and Hogue pistol grip. And the MSR 15 Valkyrie is topped off with a with a muzzle brake similar to the one found on the 10/110 Stealth, attached with a 1/2×28 thread pattern.

While Savage has allowed word to slip about the MSR 15 Valkyrie now, interested shooters will have to show patience. The rifle’s official release isn’t until SHOT Show 2018, but the price has already been set, with the MSRP at $1,499.

Until then, long-range freaks and collectors of the latest-and-greatest AR will just have to ponder the rifle and cartridge and whether they will find shooting Valhalla with these Valkyries.

Ammo Brief: The Underrated .41 Remington Magnum

Gun Digest Editors

December 14, 2017

While it has yet to achieve widespread acceptance, the .41 Remington Magnum is a sharp all-around hunting cartridge that is more manageable than the .44 Magnum.

The .41 Remington Magnum is a true .410-inch diameter cartridge.
This is as opposed to the .401-inch diameter of the .41 Long Colt.
The round is a more practical hunting cartridge than the .44 Magnum.
And it’s more potent than the .357 Magnum.
The .41 Magnum has substantial recoil and muzzle blast, but less than the .44 Mag.

The .41 Remington Magnum revolver cartridge was introduced in June 1964 along with the S&W Model 57 revolver. Bore diameter of the .41 Magnum is a true .410-inch, rather than the .401-inch of the .41 Long Colt.

The new round was a more practical all-round hunting cartridge than was the .44 Magnum. The .357 is not entirely adequate for big game, except in the hands of an experienced handgun hunter. The .44 Magnum is overpowered for anything but big game, and most people do not shoot well with it. The .41 Magnum covers the small-game, medium-game, and varmint-through-deer classes quite adequately. Its effectiveness on anything heavier than deer would depend upon who was using it and under what conditions.

Recoil and muzzle blast of the .41 Remington Magnum are slightly less than the .44 Magnum, but still heavy. For the average shooter, mastering either will require about the same amount of training and practice. The .41 Remington Magnum is not quite as powerful as the .44 Magnum, but it is all the gun the average handgun hunter needs. All major domestic commercial ammunition makers have offered this cartridge, but, as of this writing, it has yet to find truly widespread popularity.

Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt from Cartridges of the World 15th Edition.

9 Top New Hunting ARs To Take Afield

David Hart

December 13, 2017

AR-style rifles aren’t only relegated to the range or competitive shooting. Here’s a list of new hunting ARs that could make your next season one for the hunting journal.

What are 9 great new hunting ARs to bring home game?

Colt Trooper Patrol Carbine
Daniel Defense Ambush 308
LaRue Tactical PredatOBR 5.56
LWRC Razorback II
Rock River Arms LAR-15 Fred Eichler Series
Predator LAR-8M HP 243
SIG Sauer M400 Vanish
Smith & Wesson M&P10 Sport
Yankee Hill Machine Hunt-Ready Carbine

Call them black rifles, ARs or modern sporting rifles. Call them anything you want, but don’t call the latest round of AR platform guns unsuitable for hunting. Thanks to a growing demand for accurate, reliable, high-quality and diverse semi-auto rifles, gun manufacturers are producing some of the finest hunting ARs available today.

Whether you prefer to pop prairie dogs at long ranges, thin out hogs on the Back 40 or hunt deer, bears or even elk, there are plenty of hunting ARs to choose from. Some are stripped down and affordable for everyone. Others are customized with the highest quality components. The good news is that with all these options available, you can readily find one that’s almost built custom for your needs.

Colt Trooper Patrol Carbine
It might not be wrapped in camouflage, but Colt’s Trooper M4 Carbine is everything you could want when it comes to basic hunting ARs. Chambered in 5.56 NATO, it’s fully customizable yet fully capable just as it is — and it’s an ideal starter gun for hunting everything from coyotes to prairie dogs. The Trooper is built with a direct gas impingement system. It comes with an M-LOK handguard and a flat-top upper that’s ready for lights, optics and other accessories to help you hunt more effectively. At just 32 inches and 6.5 pounds, the Trooper is the ideal gun to keep in your truck’s gun rack as you ride the ranch. Coyotes, hogs and other varmints don’t stand a chance. $1,049

Daniel Defense Ambush 308
Deer, hogs and just about any other big game animal in North America be warned: Daniel Defense’s new rifle is coming for you. Chambered in .308 Win. and built with the highest quality parts, this rifle isn’t just a workhorse — it’s accurate, thanks to a free-floating, cold hammer-forged, 18-inch barrel connected directly to the upper. It also comes with a KeyMod handguard with a four-bolt connecting system. All controls are ambidextrous, including the charging handle, and magazine and bolt release. The safety can also be converted. The Ambush comes with a two-stage Geissele SSA trigger and is available in Kryptek Highlander camo. $3,096

LaRue Tactical PredatOBR 556
It’s not just a great hunting rifle: The PredatOBR 556 is a great rifle that’s built to the highest standards. It’s also user-friendly and can be broken down in a matter of minutes, allowing for safe storage and transport. A locking stainless QD lever makes handguard removal a snap. The gun is available with a 14.5-, 16.1-, 18- or 20-inch barrel, so you can choose the perfect model for your hunting needs. It uses a direct impingement gas system, which is built with LaRue’s PST port selector. The PredatOBR comes with LaRue’s own MBT trigger, two 30-round magazines and three, 3-inch rail sections. Each rifle also shoots a sub-MOA group before leaving the factory. $2,245

LWRCI Razorback II
It might not be the most popular AR maker, but LWRC International sure knows how to make a high-quality gun. The company’s new Razorback isn’t just a good-looking rifle; it’s solid, reliable and accurate. It’s chambered in 6.8 SPC II, a proven and very capable big-game cartridge, making it one of the most capable hunting ARs on this list. The Razorback is also packed with features: All lower controls, including the magazine release, charging handle, bolt catch and release, and the selector are ambidextrous. It’s built with a Magpul MOE grip and PMAG magazine and a LWRCI Advanced trigger guard. The barrel measures 16.1 inches and the gun weighs 6.7 pounds. The rail is 12 inches long and is scallop-cut for weight reduction and versatility. $2,804

Rock River Arms LAR-15 Fred Eichler Series
If the Rock River name isn’t enough to convince you to buy this gun, then the Fred Eichler name ought to push you over the edge. Not only does RRA make some of the finest AR rifles available, Eichler is one of the most demanding hunters. If it’s good enough for Fred, then it’s most certainly good enough for you. Why not? The LAR-15 is ready to hunt out of the box, thanks in part to the Ghost Camo surface. It’s chambered in .223 Wylde, making it the perfect predator rifle. The 16-inch stainless-steel barrel is fluted, and the trigger is a two-stage match trigger. The free-floating handguard has a full-length rail and a 2.5-inch rail on the bottom. The LAR-15 measures 33.5 inches and weighs 7.6 pounds. $2,250

Rock River Arms Predator LAR-8M HP 243
Can’t decide on the perfect caliber for the perfect hunting AR? Rock River just made your life a little easier with its new Predator HP chambered in .243 Win. It’s a big enough caliber for deer-sized game and light, flat and fast enough for a variety of varmints and predators. Like all RRA guns, this one is loaded with features that help you shoot better and easier. It’s fitted with a 20-inch, fluted stainless-steel barrel, a low-profile gas block, a RRA two-stage match trigger and a RRA Operator A2 stock. The handguard is RRA’s own DLX with a free-float rail and three accessory rails. The Predator HP weighs 9.2 pounds and measures 42.25 inches in length. This is one of the most versatile hunting ARs listed here. $1,950

SIG Sauer M400 Vanish
SIG’s newest gun is a spin-off on the company’s popular, reliable and field-proven M400. The Vanish, however, is designed specifically for hunting and long-range accuracy, thanks in part to the 20-inch heavy-contour precision barrel, Matchlite Duo trigger and Kuiu Vias camo finish. It’s built with a Magpul MOE fixed stock and grip and comes with a Magpul 5-round magazine. Chambered in .223 Rem., it weighs 7 pounds, 4 ounces and is 38 inches in length. $1,336

Smith & Wesson M&P 10 Sport
No camouflage? No worries. The critters you hunt won’t have time to notice. Thanks to Smith & Wesson’s high standards and demand for accuracy, the M&P 10 Sport shoots fast and flat. Chambered in .308 Win., it’s the perfect hunting gun for a variety of game. The M&P 10 Sport includes a built-in sling swivel, ambidextrous features, an Armornite finish for reduced glare and added durability, and a flash suppressor for stealthy hunting. The stock is adjustable, and the receiver is optics-ready for your favorite scope. Overall length is 34 inches, and the rifle weighs 8 pounds. It’s also backed by S&W’s lifetime service policy. $1,049

YHM Hunt-Ready Carbine
Just in time for hunting season, Yankee Hill Machinery introduces a gun that’s ready to go, straight out of the box. All you have to do is buy some ammo. The gun comes with a sling and a Bushnell Trophy 3-9x40mm scope and is already zeroed at 100 yards. (Of course, it’s always a good idea to shoot a few rounds at some paper just to make sure.) It’s available in 5.56 NATO, 300 BLK and 6.8 SPC, giving you the option of the perfect caliber for a variety of large and small game. It’s built with a free-floating, fluted 16-inch barrel; an aluminum YHM upper and lower receiver; a rifle-length handguard; and a telescoping butt stock. It also comes with a forward assist and a flash hider. Even better, it’s covered in Kryptek Highlander camo, and it comes with a sling. $1,579

Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt from the October 2017 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.

5 Critical Elements Of A Handgun Training Program

Tom Givens

December 13, 2017

Tacticool instruction might be fun, but it won’t make you a more prepared armed citizen. Handgun training should focus on the skills with practical tools that will save your skin.

What should handgun training focus on?

State of Mind
Functional Handgun
Handgun Presentation
Keeping Your Gun Running
Solid Hits

Unfortunately, much of what passes for defensive handgun training these days is “edutainment,” a word coined by famous trainer Pat Rogers. It’s a combination of education and entertainment, and unfortunately, the entertainment side is often more heavily weighted.

If you want to go to man camp and spend five days crawling on the ground, shooting thousands of rounds through your AR or AK, that’s fine. It’s great fun. Chalk that up to your vacation budget, NOT your handgun training budget.

When you’re at your office or at the mall, you won’t have a chest rig and a rifle. You’ll have a concealed handgun and a spare magazine (unless you want to be another “forfeit”). The only gear you will get to defend yourself and your loved ones with will be that gear which is on your person when the incident occurs.

So, our handgun training program should be geared toward excellence in the following areas:

1) Develop an alert, aware state of mind, accepting the fact that violence can occur anytime, anywhere. Do not be surprised or astonished that someone is unlawfully attacking you. Instead of “I can’t believe this is happening!,” your mental response should be, “My day at bat.”

2) Acquire a reliable, functional handgun you can shoot well, a good carry system (belt, holster and ammunition carrier), and wear it on a routine, daily basis. You do not get to pick which day you will need your gun. Someone else makes that decision for you, and you will typically be informed at the very last minute!

3) Work on a safe, efficient, fast presentation of the handgun from its concealed mode of carry. Practice in the clothes you will wear daily. If you ever need that gun to save a life, you will need it quickly. You will have a very finite amount of time once the flag flies. The faster you can access your equipment, the more time you have to make life-altering decisions, and if necessary, get good hits.

4) Learn to keep your gun running. If it runs empty, reload it. If it malfunctions, fix it.

5) Do the bulk of your practice on getting solid hits in the 3- to 7-yard range, quickly and reliably. Do some handgun training at 15-20 yards, but not much.

In short, concentrate your handgun training on the skills we are most likely to need.

This article is an excerpt from Straight Talk on Armed Defense.

Ammo Brief: .223 Remington For Deer

Richard A. Mann

December 13, 2017

Does the small and speedy .223 Remington have what it takes to put meat on the table? With the right bullet, you bet.

- With the proper bullet the .223 Remington is more than adequate for deer.
- The bullets used must be tough, as they move at such high velocities.
- Contrary to popular belief, the .223 is a legal big-game cartridge in most states.

Some hunters think the .223 Remington is too small of a caliber, without enough bullet weight, for deer. I’d classify those folks as fools. Some hunters think the .223 Remington is only legal for deer hunting in a few states. Those folks are just wrong. Dozens of deer I’ve taken or seen cleanly killed with a .223 Remington stand as evidence of its capabilities, and the hunting regulations of all 50 states prove its lawfulness.

Remington’s new HTP Cooper load for the .223 Remington should prove to be ideal for smallish big game because of its velocity. Mono-metal bullets like the Triple Shock are very lethal and effective when pushed fast. — Remington’s new HTP Copper load for the .223 Remington should prove to be ideal for smallish big game because of its velocity. Mono-metal bullets like the Triple Shock are very lethal and effective when pushed fast.

When proper bullets are used, the .223 Remington is more than adequate for any whitetail or mule deer out to the other side of 100 yards. What type bullets are we talking about? With the .223 Remington, the tough bullets come into their own because the cartridge pushes them fast. Remington’s new HTP Copper load for the .223 Remington pushes a 62-grain Barnes Triple Shock bullet to 3,100 fps. Similarly, the Barnes VOR-TX 52-grain load can leave the muzzle 100 fps faster.

Mono-metal bullets such as the Triple Shock work very well at high speeds like this because their energy dump is increased. The downside to the .223 Remington is that these bullets have low ballistic coefficients, so they slow down quickly, limiting the effective range of the cartridge.

As far as legality, a few years back I took the time to research the hunting regulations for all 50 states in order to determine the minimum caliber allowed for big-game hunting. I found 35 states that permitted its use. That’s 70 percent, which qualifies as most in my book.

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the October 2017 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.

Classic Guns: The Winchester Model 65 In .218 Bee

Jerry Lee

December 12, 2017

Winchester’s Model 65 was produced for a relatively short time, but it was a big hit with lever-action fans.

The Model 65 had a relatively short run in the time-span of Winchester lever-action rifles. Manufactured from 1933 to 1947, the Model 65 could be described as a successor to the Model 53, which itself was an improvement on the design of the famous Model 1892. The Model 65 was the rarest of the 1892 family. Only about 5,700 were manufactured, compared to 25,000 for the Model 53 and approximately a million for the 1892.

These three models were built on short actions that were scaled-down versions of the Model 1886 and were chambered for several popular small-game cartridges of the day. The 1892 was offered in .25-20, .32-20, .38-40 and .44-40. The same stood for the Model 53 except for the .38-40, and the Model 65 originally in just the .25-20 and .32-20.

However, in 1938, Winchester introduced a new cartridge in the Model 65 that gave the rifle a special place in hunting circles, the .218 Bee. It had a rimmed, bottle-necked case based on the .25-20 Winchester necked down for a .224 bullet. The .218 Bee was named for the bore diameter of the barrel rather than the more common practice of using the bullet diameter for the name of the cartridge.

Winchester Model 65 -1 — Fancy wood stock on a Deluxe Model 65.

The Bee was the first competition for the .22 Hornet in the category of varmint cartridges. The Hornet had come to life in the late 1920s, and by the early ‘30s it was available in various bolt-action and single-shot rifles. While the Hornet had become very popular, the Model 65 had its own niche — a lever-action varmint rifle. To those with a fondness for lever guns and small game/varmint hunting, it quickly became an “I want one, too” item.

It should be remembered that the .218 Bee came along in the late 1930s at the end of the Great Depression, before World War II, and more than a decade before the introduction of the excellent .222 Remington. During this period, the Bee and the Hornet were pioneers: The only cartridges that were designed for those varmint and small-game shooters who wanted a flat-shooting round with higher velocity than the .25-20 and .32-20.

As can be seen in the comparison chart, the .218 Bee has a slight edge in velocity, but it was apparently not enough to beat the Hornet in the marketplace. There were many rifles chambered for the .22 Hornet, all either single-shots or bolt-actions. The Bee was only available in the lever-action Model 65 until Winchester introduced the bolt-action Model 43 in 1949, which was offered in .218 Bee, .22 Hornet, .25-20 Win., and .32-20 Winchester.

Winchester Model 65 -3 — Model 65s were chambered in .218 Bee, .25-20 WCF and .32-20 WCF. Most collector interest seems to be in the Bee.

Failure To Launch
Why did the .218 Bee never catch up with the Hornet in popularity? Some say the reason was because the bolt-action .22 Hornet models generally had a slight edge in accuracy over the lever-action Model 65. That might have been true, but for the avid lever-gun fan, the Model 65 was the preferred rifle. The limited number of Model 65s manufactured (5,700 compared to 62,000 for the Model 43) created somewhat of a “cult” of followers. Even though the .25-20 was the rarest caliber, there seems to be more interest in the .218 Bee.

In 1989, Browning marketed an excellent replica of the Model 65, made by Miroku in Japan. A faithful reproduction, 3,500 were made in Grade 1 and 1,500 in High Grade — all in .218 Bee. The High Grade came with silver-inlayed scrolling, gold-plated game animals and a checkered stock and forend. These models can be found on the used gun market at a fraction of the estimated values shown for the original Winchester rifles.

Editor’s Note: This “Collector’s Corner” column is an excerpt from the Winter 2017 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.

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GUN DIGESTWE KNOW GUNS SO YOU KNOW GUNS

Nighthawk Custom’s T4 is an elegant work of art, but it’s also a fine pistol that serves equally well in defense of life.

Colt’s classic 1911 still remains America’s favorite handgun, and there are a host of different models that draw in premiums on the collector’s market.

ESTIMATED VALUES COLT 1911/1911A1 (courtesy Standard Catalog of Firearms 27th Edition, Gun Digest Books 2017)

John Browning was one of the most prolific firearms designers in history, producing a number of great guns in his career. Here are nine of his best.

Winchester Model 1885

Winchester Model 1894

Browning Auto-5

Browning Hi Power

Winchester Model 1897

M1919 Browning

M1911

M2 Browning

Colt Model 1903/1908 Pocket Hammerless

Honorable Mentions

Bone Up On Browning:

Remington has upped its popular pump-action shotgun’s game with the introduction of a detachable box magazine variation — the 870 DM.

Why Box It Up?

Same Old Gun, Only Different

Full Magazine Of Models

The quickest and easiest way to tighten your groups is to improve the trigger in your gun. Without a top-notch trigger, your shooting skills can only take you so far.

Aftermarket replacement triggers fast facts:

Mil-Spec Triggers

The Trigger Family Business

Ruger has drastically expanded its external-hammer line of lightweight, concealable revolvers with four new LCRx configurations.

Beretta’s most famous firearm might well be its Model 92 pistol, first offered in 1975 in 9mm. Now, the impressive new Beretta M9A3 model is a serious contender as a modern survival gun.

A Closer Look At The Beretta M9A3

There are few things as accurate, useful and fun as a great rimfire handgun.

These are the precision plinkers that will get you on target:

Colt Woodsman

High Standard H-D

Smith & Wesson Model 41

Smith & Wesson Model 17

Ruger Standard

Ruger Single-Six

Browning Buck Mark

At extended ranges, air pressure alters bullet flight — and impact — more than you might think.

A Bullet’s Speed

Air Density

Can You Handle The Pressure?

Barometric vs. Station Pressure

Air Pressure’s Effect On Your Bullet’s Path

The Bad News

Should you take apart your suppressor to clean it? The answer is yes/always for some and no/never for others. Knowing the answer for your suppressor can save you time, money and aggravation.

The Exception

Cleaning Essentials

Takedown

Hand-Cleaning The Suppressor

Re-Stacking

Set to ring the gong from a country mile, Savage’s MSR 15 Valkyrie embraces the ballistic talents of Federal’s new cartridge.

Flight Of The .224 Valkyrie

Get Even More Savage:

MSR 15 Valkyrie

While it has yet to achieve widespread acceptance, the .41 Remington Magnum is a sharp all-around hunting cartridge that is more manageable than the .44 Magnum.

AR-style rifles aren’t only relegated to the range or competitive shooting. Here’s a list of new hunting ARs that could make your next season one for the hunting journal.

Tacticool instruction might be fun, but it won’t make you a more prepared armed citizen. Handgun training should focus on the skills with practical tools that will save your skin.

Does the small and speedy .223 Remington have what it takes to put meat on the table? With the right bullet, you bet.

Winchester’s Model 65 was produced for a relatively short time, but it was a big hit with lever-action fans.

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ESTIMATED VALUES COLT 1911/1911A1 (courtesy Standard Catalog of Firearms 27^th Edition, Gun Digest Books 2017)