Gear Review: Gun Boss Handgun Cleaning Kit

June 30, 2015

There’s little excuse for not to keeping your handguns clean as a whistle with the convenience of the Gun Boss Gun Cleaning Kit.

Long ago, I got into the habit of carrying cleaning equipment nearly everywhere I went shooting.

It wasn’t just the idea of being able to quickly clean my gun in the field that motivated me to make sure I toted along a rod, patches, and what have you. It was also the thought that if push came to shove it could get me out of a pinch — say dislodging a bullet off a squib load.

I have to confess, however, the way I’ve gone about what should be considered a responsible attribute would get many to shake their heads in disapproval.

Most times, the gear was thrown into zip-lock bags and stowed in overfilled rucksacks or a range bag brimming with ammo. Here’s your dose of schadenfreude — I paid the price in bent jags and smashed brushes. When you’re done smirking I’ll go on.

There had to be a better way to make sure I had the tools I needed in the field, without damaging them in the process. Luckily, it appears that Real Avid has provided just such a solution.

The Minnesota company’s Gun Boss Handgun Cleaning Kit has everything you need to keep your gun in working order. And at the same time, keep it in order and protected.

Right Sized

When I first received the Gun Boss it didn’t take long to discover its greatest asset. Really, all it required was packing up to head to the range.

The weather-resistant hardcase that houses and safeguards the cleaning equipment stole little space from my range bag and didn’t add any noticeable weight. Overall the case is 5 inches in length, 3 inches in width and 2 inches thick.

What this boils down to is the kit only took up about one 50-round box of ammo’s worth of area in my range bag. Its weight, I would guess, was around a handful of .38 Special cartridges, in other words, almost nothing.

I only toted the Gun Boss to my local range, but with its convenient size I imagined it coming along on much longer excursions. Heck, even if I set out with the bear minimum of gear, I definitely could find a jacket pocket to throw the cleaning kit into — just in case.

With a slew of jags, brushes and other tools, there are few handguns out there the <a href="https://www.gundigeststore.com/gun-boss-handgun-cleaning-kit?utm_source=gundigeststore.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=gds-esb-at-150630-GunBossHG" target="_blank">Gun Boss Gun Cleaning Kit</a> can’t handle. — With a slew of jags, brushes and other tools, there are few handguns out there the Gun Boss Gun Cleaning Kit can’t handle.

Able to Tackle Any Handgun

You’d have to be a fan of a pretty obscure handgun to stump the Gun Boss. The kit is designed to handle the whole spectrum of today’s most popular handguns.

With bore brushes and jags for .22, .38 Special, 9mm, .40 and .45 the Gun Boss can tackle multiple calibers. And it offers a bit of flexibility in cleaning style, with two slotted tips.

I personally was able to give a snubby .38 Special, a subcompact 9mm and a .22 WMR revolver with a 9-inch barrel a once over without a hitch. That is because Real Avid hasn't turned a blind-eye to providing shooters with the tools they need for the job.

To this end, the anodized cleaning rod is among the most important. At 9-inches in length, the T-handled rod is long enough to tackle any handgun. But its size is not its only selling point.

It is also designed to help you properly clean your barrel. The rod’s lower portion is engineered to rotate when pushed and pulled through a bore. This is an important feature, properly cleaning of the barrel's rifling no matter the twist rate.

The rod has also been finely milled and is seamless when assembled. This is an top-end attribute, ensuring it does not mare any part of your firearm, if it happened to come in contact with it.

Everything In Its Place

Not only is the flexibility and convenience of the Gun Boss well thought out, but also its organization. Everything has a place in the kit, which puts everything at a shooter’s fingertips when they need it. There is no rummaging around.

An elastic holder keeps the jags in place, a plastic tray arranges the bore brushes and loops, and pockets stow cleaning patches. There is even room enough to include some oil and solvent, even a silicon rag, to round out your kit.

And given the Gun Boss’ hardcase, you don’t have to worry about any of this gear getting smashed or leaking on your other equipment, no matter how rough you are with it.

Final Verdict

Gun cleaning isn’t something we shooters do every once in awhile, when we have a spare moment at home. Mopping down the bore of a gun and lubricating the moving parts should be done religiously. Real Avid has made this a simple task anywhere you go with the Gun Boss Handgun Cleaning Kit. And at $20, there are few excuses not to make it part of your shooting kit.

AR-15 Training and Practice Drills

Richard A. Mann

June 30, 2015

The following AR-15 training drills are just a few you can use to develop your shooting skills.

These are drills I have used to improve my own shooting, and I’ve also used when instructing others. A benefit of these drills is that they offer a scoring mechanism, so you can keep track of your progress and evaluate your abilities. If you can meet the standards for a particular drill, you can consider your performance better than average, if not reasonably good.

Basic Prone

This is a basic sight alignment and trigger control drill, one designed to reinforce the basic principles of marksmanship. When you first conduct this drill, run it at 50 yards. When you can complete the drill miss free at that distance, increase the range to 100 yards. (If you are shooting an AR with open sights, work at 25 and 50 yards.)

Concentrate on the basics of your position—breathing, sight alignment, and trigger control—and, at first, go at your own pace. There’s no reason to try to complete this drill within the time limit if you cannot complete it while taking all the time you need.

Start in the prone position with the rifle loaded and the safety on. At the start signal, fire one shot each at 10 different 2-inch Birchwood Casey Shoot-N-C circles placed at 50 yards. Each hit is worth 10 points and the goal is to get 10 hits—100 points—within 60 seconds. Subtract 10 points for every miss and one point for every second over 60 seconds. Once you successfully complete the drill without any misses at the 50-yard range, move the targets out to 100 yards.

Practical Prone Precision Drill

The purpose of this drill is to establish that you can make precision shots at various ranges; you’ll have to compensate for bullet trajectory. This can be done by holding high or low, depending on how your rifle is sighted in. You can also click-in the trajectory compensation with the target turrets on your rifle scope or you might employ a ballistic reticle with additional aiming points for each distance.

You’ll need three Birchwood Casey 5½-inch Shoot-N-C circle targets, one each placed at 100, 200 and 300 yards. (If you are shooting an AR with open sights, adjust the distance to the targets to 50, 100 and 150 yards.) Start in the prone position with the rifle loaded and the safety on. You can use a bipod or sandbags as a front rest, but nothing but body parts as a rear rest.

At the start signal, fire one shot at the 100-yard target, two shots at the 200-yard target, three shots at the 300-yard target, and then four more shots at the 100-yard target. The goal is to obtain all 10 hits within 30 seconds for a total score of 100 points. Subtract 10 points for every miss and one point for every second over 60 seconds.

Regardless how your AR is sighted in, the bullet’s point of impact (POI) will be different than your point of aim (POA) at each range. The key to completing this drill within the time limit and obtaining hits at each range is to use the correct point of aim at each distance.

Basic Sitting

Start in the seated position with the rifle loaded and the safety on. At the start signal, fire one shot each at 10 different Birchwood Casey 5½-inch Snoot-N-C circle targets placed at 100 yards. (If you are shooting an AR with open sights, restrict the maximum range to 50 yards.) Each hit is worth 10 points and the goal is to get 10 hits within 60 seconds. Subtract 10 points for every miss and one point for every second over 60 seconds.

Practical Sitting Drill

You’ll need 5½-inch Birchwood Casey Shoot-N-C circle targets placed at 50, 75 and 100 yards. Start in the seated position with the rifle loaded and the safety on. At the start signal, fire one shot at the 50-yard target, two shots at the 75-yard target, three shots at the 100-yard target and then four more shots at the 50-yard target. (If you are using an AR with iron sights, adjust the distance to the targets to 25, 50 and 75 yards.) The goal is to obtain all 10 hits (each hit is worth 10 points) within 30 seconds for a total score of 100 points. Subtract one point for every miss and one point for every second over 30 seconds.

Basic Standing

From the standing position, fire one shot each at 10 different 5½-inch Birchwood Casey Shoot-N-C circle targets placed at 50 yards. Each hit is worth 10 points and the goal is to get 10 hits within 60 seconds. Subtract 10 points for every miss and one point for every second over 60 seconds.

Practical Standing Drill

You’ll need 5½-inch Birchwood Casey Shoot-N-C circle targets placed at 25, 50 and 75 yards. Start in the standing position, either in the indoor or outdoor ready position, with the rifle loaded and the safety on. At the start signal, fire two shots at the 25-yard target, two shots at the 50-yard target, two-shots at the 25-yard target, two shots at the 75-yard target and two more shots at the 25-yard target. The goal is to obtain all 10 hits within 30 seconds for a total score of 100 points. Subtract 10 points for every miss and one point for every second over 30 seconds.

Practice Makes Perfect

As with all shooting drills, practice makes perfect. The more you’re able to get out to the range and work on perfecting these skills, the more improvement you’ll see in your shooting performance. To find a range near you, check out WhereToShoot.org. Just enter your zip code and desired distance from your location and an updated list of range options will appear.

Market Trends: Hollywood Helps Drive Bidding for Vintage Remington M40

Brian McCombie

June 29, 2015

Dave Bushing – Morphy Auctions, Denver, Pa.

At its most recent sales event, Morphy’s Auction saw a huge amount of interest in a Remington M40 sniper rifle of the type used by the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam.

The rifle came with its original case and documentation, and it was no surprise that veteran collectors were eager to acquire the rifle. But many of the bids were from newcomers to this segment of the collector’s market, and Morphy Auctions firearms division expert Dave Bushing gives much of the credit to Hollywood.

“The sniper rifle appealed to a whole other breed of collector,” he noted. “Because of the
movie ‘American Sniper,’ a lot more people are getting into this category who may not have been gun collectors before.”

Those new collectors helped drive the price of this rifle to just shy of its pre-auction estimate of $26,400.

A much earlier sniper rifle went for a very strong price, too. The auction featured a rare Sharps New Model 1859, one of 2,000 such rifles issued in 1862 to Hiram Berdan’s 1st and 2nd Regiments of the U.S. Sharpshooters.

Its serial number fell within the range confirmed to have been used in the Civil War by a specially organized sniper unit documented in many articles and books. Accompanied by a Springfield Research letter, the rifle went for $10,800.

What Bushman terms “the blue chips” of gun collecting — Winchester lever-action rifles — held up their end, too. Among the best sellers were a Winchester rifle Model 1873 in .44 caliber and manufactured in 1892, for $8,400; and a .405 caliber Model 1895 made famous by Teddy Roosevelt and nicknamed “Big Medicine,” for $7,800.

Set Your Crosshairs on these Sniper Resources

Sniper Shooting Basics

The Ultimate Sniper

Mastering the Art of Long Range Shooting

Lighting Up Your Handgun with Tritium Sights

Kevin Muramatsu

June 29, 2015

Tritium sights give shooters the advantage of maintaining their sight picture in low light situations. Photo: <a href="https://www.trijicon.com" target="_blank">Trijicon</a> — Tritium sights give shooters the advantage of maintaining their sight picture in low light situations. Photo: Trijicon

The trouble with most factory handgun sights is when it gets dark, you can’t see them, unless you possess infrared-detecting eyes. For those heat blinded members of society, like myself, then shoot for the tritium sights.

Of particular interest to those who purchase HD or SD guns is the existence of these “glow–in-the-dark” sights. While there are phosphorescent painted sights available (you shine a light on it for a few seconds and it glows), this is not the style of which I speak.

No, I mean the radioactivity glow-in-the-dark kind. I mean putting nuclear physics to work for little ole you. If the light is so subdued that you can’t see your sights, then you really can’t shoot effectively. Sights that are powered by Tritium are the solution. In the dark, these sights produce a low-power eerie glow that is easily seen in the dark and will not destroy your night vision.

It is difficult to overestimate the availability of tritium sights. There are tritium sights made for just about every handgun ever made. The commonality of 1911 pistols has generated a market all of its own, with no less than ten manufacturers offering tritium sights for that pistol.

For the most part you are looking at simple dots that illuminate in the dark and they are surrounded by a white ring for day usage. Actually the dots are constantly illuminated, but that illumination is washed out by daylight or by the intensity of the artificial lighting that most non-cavemen have come to appreciate, to the point that the enhancement can’t be seen except in very low light conditions. You don’t want them to be too bright or your own night vision will be ruined as well.

Sight movers, like this Glock model from MGW, are the best way to shift sights around or remove them

Instillation
You might find a sight slot that is loose fitting and the sight is held in by a set screw tensioned against the bottom of the slot. These sights are easy-peasy movable, but if that set screw walks your sight will just fall off. The large majority of sights are press fit into the sight slot and you will then have two not-so-great options for moving them, or for that matter installing them at all.

Let’s say that you want to do it yourself. The first option is to take a hammer and a punch (brass or plastic, NOT steel) and tap the sight out of its slot. Then you tap the new sight back in, preferably with the correct side with the dots facing the rear. Ahhh, crrraaaap!!! You went too far! Now you have to beat it back the other way, at which point you will go too far again. You do this a couple more times then take it to the range, shoot it, it’s still two inches to the right at ten yards, and you go back home and adjust it again. Pain in the old caboose, that is.

The second option is to purchase a sight pusher tool. There are some high-quality examples but the hitch is that they are easily as expensive as your new tritium sights, and with few exceptions, they are made unique to each gun. The Glock sight tool that I have works very well. But it is only made to use Glock factory sights and their unique shape, and Glock slides.

You can insert other sights but not as smoothly, since the contours on the sight engagement interface don’t match anyone else’s sights. Theoretically, other slides could be stuck on the tool, but again, not perfectly, and perfectly is the whole point to having a gun-specific sight pusher. These tools mitigate or eliminate damage caused by the switching process by exactly fitting the parts to be joined or separated.

The front sight on most pistols is inserted in a dovetail slot and should be drifted out gently to one side, according to the directions in the new sight package. Others need to be staked, like some 1911 front sights. Glock front sights are retained by a screw in the bottom of the slide roof that goes up into the sight body. Most replacement Glock front sights will come with a tool for installing this. You can also get one in the Wheeler Engineering screwdriver kit or from Brownells.

Editor's Note: This article is an excerpt from the book Maintaining & Accessorizing Firearms.

Carry Law: What Is A Righteous Shooting? Part II

Marty Hayes

June 26, 2015

A look at two very revealing self-defense cases in which the good guys were prosecuted despite apparently doing everything right.

The late Harold Fish was a retired schoolteacher who was forced to act in self-defense, yet was still prosecuted and found guilty of second-degree murder.

Fish was hiking alone on May 11th, 2004 in a remote part of Arizona, when he was set upon by two aggressive dogs and a larger and much younger man. The attacker—later found to be mentally ill—rushed Fish while threatening to kill him.

You should be thoroughly familiar with the Harold Fish incident. If you are not, you’d be well advised to spend some time at www.haroldfishdefense.org to see a real-life example of what can happen to good people after they use deadly force in self-defense.

Harold Fish’s conviction was appealed and ultimately reversed, but not before he was jailed for a substantial time for what was arguably a perfectly justified shooting.

While the Fish case was an anomaly, what if you get a prosecutor, like the one in Fish’s case, coming after you? That prosecutor yielded to public pressure to charge, and resorted to demonizing the type of pistol Fish carried—a 10mm. Or what if a prosecutor tries to argue that you were using super-duper killer bullets (Federal Hydra-Shocks)? Or how about a prosecutor claiming you should have fired a warning shot first (never mind the fact that the man running at you was only 10 feet away and closing fast when you shot)?

Fortunately, it has been my experience in dealing with and researching self-defense cases that normally the system works correctly. But we don’t train and carry guns for the norm. Likewise, we cannot approach the likelihood of being prosecuted for a “righteous shooting” based on the percentages of wrongful prosecutions.

It was my involvement as an expert witness in several court proceedings that led me to believe that an organization like the Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network, Inc. was necessary.

I have been involved in several cases where the majority of the evidence pointed to legitimate use of force in self-defense, but the person was prosecuted anyway.

Also Check Out:

One example was a 4th degree assault case involving a correctional officer. He was charged following an incident in which he slammed an unruly inmate against the jail door to get him under control!

There was no injury to the inmate, and at the time the other inmates in the jail said they thought the use of force was reasonable, but the officer was prosecuted anyway. In my opinion the officer was only charged because he was viewed as a troublemaker and was unpopular with his supervisors. We were able to get that case dismissed and get the officer’s job back, and he has since gone on to bigger and better things.

Consequently, while in law school I started working on a support organization for armed citizens who had to use force in self-defense.

My goal was to provide members with peace of mind, knowing that in the event their case becomes the anomaly, and they are singled out for prosecution for a righteous shooting, they’d have the power of the Network behind them.

But, having said that, Network members would need to do their part, too, by researching their own state’s case law, so they are up to speed about what conditions allow them to justifiably use deadly force. Thus education is a key benefit of ACLDN membership.

You need to train, so if you’re faced with a split-second decision of whether or not to shoot, you can make that decision based on training, instead of making the decision out of blind fear.

You need to be polite to everyone you meet, so you will never be accused of being overly aggressive, or, even worse, painted as the initial aggressor in a confrontation.

And you need to have an attorney you can call who understands how a self-defense case works—someone who will spend the time necessary to understand the nuances of your case.

When all this is in place, I believe armed citizens like you have a reasonable chance to avoid prosecution, but there are no guarantees, of course. And it’s for those times that the Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network, Inc. exists.

Click here to read Part I.

Video: Birth of a Holland & Holland

Elwood Shelton

June 26, 2015

It is comforting there are those who buck the age of instant gratification. To be sure, Holland & Holland is one of them.

The English best gun maker has been creating custom masterpieces in hardwood and metal for going on two centuries. And while the company has embraced some modern manufacturing processes, a lion’s share of the work is still done the way it was when Harris Holland founded the company.

In short, Holland and Holland’s shotguns and rifles are born through craftsmen’s skill, sweat and steady hands. The above video gives you a brief glimpse of this truly beautiful process.

There is nary a word in this video. There doesn’t need to be. The file, the chisel, the checkering cutter speak louder than any voiceover ever could.

On-Target Resources

2015 Standard Catalog of Firearms

Vintage Guns: Collecting, Restoring & Shooting Classic Firearms

Gunsmithing: Rifles

Vital-Shok High Density Buckshot Now Available to Consumers

Elwood Shelton

June 25, 2015

Hogs beware! Federal Premium Vital-Shok High Density Buckshot is now available to consumers.

Anyone who has chased the pesky porcine plaguing much of the country knows one thing — those dang hogs are tough critters.

Too light a round or one without a properly constructed projectile doesn’t bring home the bacon. But Federal Premium is shooting to solve this dilemma with its latest release.

The subsidiary of Minnesota-based Vista Outdoor has introduced Vital-Shok High Density buckshot purely with pigs in mind. And while the shells will be new fodder for most smoothbore hunters, they have already proved their worth in the field.

The nine-pellet 00 shot has been utilized by a number of government contractors in hog culling operations. And if the tungsten-alloy pellets live up to Federal Premium’s specs, it is understandable why they have gained favor with this crowd.

The company lists a blistering 1,600 fps muzzle velocity on the buckshot, which should provide enough hitting power to persuade even the most determined hog to give up the ghost. The Vital-Shok rounds also feature Federal Premium’s Flightcontrol wads, meant to produce tighter, more consistent patterns.

The new buckshot seems to be a solid option for those who hunt where lead ammo is restricted. Presently, the company is only offering the ammunition for 12-gauge, in 2 3/4 shells. Vital-Shok High Density buckshot doesn’t come cheap, the MSRP on a box of five is currently $16.95.

A Little Something For Smoothbore Fans

Gun Digest Book of Shotguns Assembly/Disassembly

Gun Digest Guide to Modern Shotgunning

Understanding Ballistics: Complete Guide to Bullet Selection

Reloading Ammo: Bullet Bearing Surface, What Difference Does It Make?

Philip Massaro

June 24, 2015

Can something as minute as bullet bearing surface — how of it much comes in contact with the barrel’s rifling — make a difference? You bet.

Bullet bearing surface can often be an afterthought for many ammo reloaders. This shouldn’t be the case, given it can play an important role in an accurate load.

With the plethora of different shapes and construction available today, we handloaders need to pay attention to the amount of bullet bearing surface for each projectile.

Just to explain, the bullet bearing surface is that portion of the bullet which comes into contact with the rifling of the barrel, to give the bullet the necessary spin to stabilize it. The amount of bearing surface has a direct correlation to the amount of pressure generated within your barrel, be it a pistol or a rifle.

As a quick example, a .308 caliber 180-grain cup-and-core boat tail spitzer bullet will have less bearing surface than a monometal 180-grain flat base bullet with a smooth shank. The cup-and-core bullet features a lead core, which is a denser metal than copper, and therefore will be shorter than its all-copper counterpart.

Conversely, the copper bullets, being lighter, will be longer than a lead-core bullet, as the weight differential between copper and lead must be made up in length (the bullet diameter must remain a constant).

The load data for these different bullets is as different as the bullets themselves. You must do the proper homework to find safe data for the particular bullet you are using, as the old adage that “weight is weight” doesn’t work when the bearing surfaces change so radically.

When doing load development for my Savage Model 116 in 6.5-284 Norma, I found an interesting pattern, based on what I believe to be the difference in bearing surfaces. I’ve gone on record as saying that Savage is producing one of the best barrels on the market today, and I stand by that, but this one is a little more ‘particular’ than others.

I used several different bullets, some of my usual favorites: North Fork 140-grain hollowpoints, Swift A-Frame 140-grain pills, a 130-grain Swift Scirocco II (a polymer tipped boat tail), a 140-grain Berger VLD and the 160-grain Hornady Interlock round-nose bullet.

While all of them gave excellent accuracy – I seriously couldn’t get the rifle to choke – the velocities of the boat tail bullets were 150 to 200 fps lower than what I would have expected, while the flat base bullets gave velocities much more along the lines of what the test data in the manuals had indicated.

My opinion: This barrel likes bullets with a longer bearing surface. I had buddies tell me the crown might be playing a part in the equation, but I disagree, because my experiences have shown me that a crown that is far enough out of whack to affect velocities to that degree wouldn’t print boat tail bullets into those tight little groups that this rifle does. I’m going with the bearing surface theory.

There’s no easy cure in dealing with bullet bearing surface and accuracy. The only answer is doing your homework.

In doing some research for Handloader’s Digest No. 19 (due out early in 2016!), Marty Groppi and I were developing loads for the .357 Magnum pistol using Barnes’ fantastic 140-grain all-copper XPB bullet. Load data used mostly Accurate and Ramshot powders, as opposed to the classic Alliant 2400 or Hodgdon 110 loads that have become a staple for this handgun.

The reason? The Barnes XPB has a bunch more bearing surface than does a standard 140-grain .357 bullet, say like a Hornady 140-grain XTP. And those powders from Accurate and Ramshot, particularly Ramshot’s Enforcer, respond best to the pressure curves that the XPB generates. We got some impressive performance from this bullet/powder combination, but Marty will tell you all about that in Handloader’s 19.

Speaking of Barnes bullets, the original X bullet, which gained a huge following, was revised to the current TSX — or Triple Shock X- featuring grooves cut in the bullet perpendicular to the axis of the bore. This reduces the bearing surface of the bullet, as well as reduces the pressures.

I’ve found that using a powder on the faster burning side of the spectrum will bring those pressures and velocities back up, and will optimize performance with these bullets. The same can be said for the North Fork bullets, with their little tiny grooves in the shank.

Using these different designs will take a bit of experimentation to get right, but once you do you’ll have a better understanding of how bullet bearing surface affects the equation.

Springfield Introduces Suppressor-Ready XD(M)

Elwood Shelton

June 23, 2015

Outfitted with a threaded barrel, the new Springfield XD(M) is suppressor ready.

Whether as a way to protect hearing or get a jump on game, suppressors have a firm toehold in the shooting world.

A day doesn’t seem to pass without another company adapting one of its firearms to accept the noise-reduction device. The latest among them is Springfield Armory, which has released one of its most popular handguns ready to be decked out with a can.

Earlier this month, the Illinois company introduced a threaded barreled version of its XD(M) pistol. While there are many applications for this model, perhaps more than anything the big plus it could get shooters more trigger time.

One of the great benefits of suppressors is the protection the devices allot, significantly reducing a firearm’s report. In turn, the new XD(M) could allow for longer, more comfortable and safer shooting sessions.

Springfield has done a pretty respectable job producing the threaded barrel model without veering away from the pistol’s original specs. The 9mm and .45 ACP both weigh the same as the non-threaded full-sized XD(M) and both have all the features of the original.

The pistols, however, are a bit larger than their forebear. Each pistol has a 5.28-inch barrel, topped with a ½”x28 TPI thread, which makes them ready to accept a majority of suppressors on the market today. The guns are also a bit taller than the original since their sights have been extended to compensate for the accessory.

Even with the modifications, the threaded barrel version of the XD(M) still looks like it could be a manageable carry gun — particularly for a full-sized piece. The 9mm is two-tone with a flat dark earth frame and black Melonite finished slide. The .45 is tactical black.

Presently, the 9mm XD(M) threaded barrel has an MSRP of $695, while the .45 is listed at $725.

Heckler & Koch Expands Striker Fired Line with VP40

Elwood Shelton

June 23, 2015

Heckler & Koch is set to offer more caliber choices when it comes to striker fired pistols with the introduction of the VP40.

Apparently Heckler & Koch has struck a cord with striker fired pistols fans.

After decades away from the design the German manufacturer jumped back into this style of pistol around a year ago with the VP9. And it has not taken long for the company to follow up on the success of the 9mm.

Earlier this month, Heckler & Koch expanded the VP line, introducing the pistol in a new caliber. As its name implies the VP40 is chambered .40 S&W. And while the new pistol isn't an exact carbon copy of the 9mm, it does have all the features that have built the line's popularity.

The main changes H&K has made to its new pistol are to accommodate the larger round. In particular, the slide is slightly thicker to handle the higher pressures generated by the .40-caliber cartridge. This has made the VP40 a hair heavier and a bit taller, but not so much so as to make it unwieldily.

And perhaps one of the most important measurements to concealed carry practitioners has remained identical to the VP9 — width. At 1.32 inches wide, the double-stack pistol should be simple and comfortable to keep clandestine — in or outside the waistband.

The other difference H&K's new VP has from the earlier iteration is capacity. This is to be expected, given the .40 S&W is a larger round. But able to hold 13+1, few shooters are going to find the VP40 lacking on this front.

From those differences, the tale of the tape on the VP40 is pretty similar to the flagship of the line.

What should be one of the more popular aspects carried over is the trigger, which has a good share of the attributes shooters look for in a striker fired pistol. The pull weight on the trigger is a manageable 5.4 pounds. And it has a short, thus a fast, reset after firing. Heckler & Koch puts it at .12 of travel before the pistol is ready to fire again.

Similar to the 9mm, the VP40 comes with interchangeable side panels and back straps. These features give shooters the ability to tailor the pistol to their hand size.

Heckler & Koch has set out to make the VP line extremely manipulatable, cutting cocking serration both on the front and rear of the slide. But the company hasn't stopped there, also outfitting the gun with its patented charging supports.

Basically these are struts that stick out wider at the rear of the gun allowing for a firmer grip when the slide is racked. The feature also has the potential to be dynamite if a shooter is in a fix, say having to rack the slide one handed.

The VP40 was designed with righties and lefties in mind. Both the slide and magazine releases are ambidextrous.

Heckler & Koch has decked out its VP40 with all the features that made the VP9 popular.

Following trends in the self-defense firearms, Heckler & Koch has made its new pistol ready to accept accessories by including a Picatinny rail. The feature allows shooters to deck out the handgun with a flashlight or laser sight in a flash.

Like many striker fired pistols on the market today, the trigger is outfitted with a blade safety. This restricts firing of the gun, unless depressed completely.

The pistol also comes with a firing pin safety that helps guard against a discharge if the gun is dropped. And it features a frame-mounted disconnector that ensures the VP40 is completely in battery before it can be fired.

Presently, the MSRP on the Heckler & Koch VP40 is $719. The pistol is also available with a law enforcement configuration tritium night sights and three magazines for $819.

Heckler & Koch VP40 Specs
Caliber: .40 Smith & Wesson
Capacity: 13+1
Length: 7.34 inches
Width: 1.32 inches
Height: 5.45 inches
Barrel Length: 4.09 inches
Weight (Unloaded): 28.93 ounces

Traveler's Insurance

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Video: The Basics of the Infamous AK-47

Elwood Shelton

June 22, 2015

Think you know everything about the AK-47? Well, find out as this short video hits some of the major points regarding this influential rifle.

When it comes to modern rifles, there are few that have gained the fame and infamy of the AK-47. During the latter half of the 20th Century, perhaps no other firearm has been used in more conflicts worldwide than the Soviet-designed rifle.

With a history as a long and intriguing as that, it should come as no surprise Mikhail Kalashnikov’s invention has an interesting tail to tell. And the Military.com does a pretty good job of touching upon some of the more interesting points of the 7.62x39mm rifle in this short video.

By no means is this an exhaustive exploration of the firearm. Truly, a multi-part series could be made about the AK-47 given its lengthy record. But in the span of 7 minutes, it does hit upon some of the rifle's high points and intriguing trivia.

Sauer 404 Offers Flexibility in a Bolt Action

Elwood Shelton

June 22, 2015

The Sauer 404 offers bolt-action fans plenty of flexibility.

From style of stock to caliber to trigger pull, nearly everything on the Sauer 404 can be modified.

Sauer has been making firearms for some time now. And in that span, Germany’s oldest gun manufacturer has always been innovating.

The company's latest leap forward is in its rifle lineup with the introduction of a new bolt action. The Sauer 404 definitely is designed with European shooters in mind. That said, its features have the potential to have crossover appeal State side.

For Yankees hunting for a Teutonic gun, the biggest selling point of Sauer’s new creation is its eminent flexibly. The gun can be fully adjusted to fit a shooter and their preferences in the blink of an eye.

The new Sauer 404 can make the jump from medium to magnum calibers by swapping bolt heads.

Along these lines, perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the 404 is its ability to jump between calibers, a feature popular in Europe and known in some corners as a switch-barrel system.

While the concept is nothing new, the way Sauer executes it is rather forward looking. The 404's appeal is it literally only takes minutes to convert calibers due to the rifle’s modular design.

For most caliber conversions only the barrel needs to be swapped and is quickly removed and replaced through loosening and tightening of three retention screws. But the 404 can also jump from medium to magnum calibers through a removable bolt head that can be taken off and replaced via a release switch.

For shooters who have grown accustom to the fast caliber switches of AR-style rifles, this could strike a cord.

Sauer has also put a lot of engineering into the 404’s Quattro trigger, making it among the most tunable in the world of bolt-action rifles. In addition a pull weight that can be modified from 1.7 to 2.7 pounds, its position can also be changed.

The trigger has .3 inches of adjustment on the length of pull and can swivel left and right 5 degrees. The latter feature is meant to give shooters more solid finger placement.

The 404 breaks down into an extremely compact package with the fore and butt stock both removable with a few turns of some screws. This has the potential to go over big with hunters who tramp deep into the backcountry, given the firearm can be reduced to fit into a rucksack.

A handy aspect of the rifle's disassembly is Sauer has integrated the breakdown tool into the rifle. The front swivel pulls out and doubles as an Alan wrench that can be used nearly everywhere on the gun. The only feature it is not compatible with is the trigger’s length of pull and side-to-side adjustment.

With a modular design, the Sauer 404 can be tailored to nearly any shooter.

The one aspect of Sauer’s new rifle that some American shooters might find a bit out of the ordinary is how the rifle is cocked. Instead of cocking upon the bolt opening or closing, the 404 features a manual system.

The rifle is cocked by a slide at the rear of the gun, similar to systems found on other European bolt actions. The rifle then can be un-cocked moving the slide down again, making for an incredibly safe system.

The rifle’s furniture is interchangeable. It has a new universal scope mount. And it also features a magazine lock, which prevents losing its detachable box magazine in the field

The Sauer 404 is available in four different models and 13 calibers. Presently, the rifle’s MSRP is $3,800.

Market Trends: Intensive Bidding on Classic Guns at RIA

Brian McCombie

June 19, 2015

Pat Hogan — Rock Island Auction Co., Rock Island, Ill.
At its most recent 2015 auction for firearms and related items, Rock Island Auctions (RIA) sold over 7,000 items, on over 20,000 sealed bids plus another 3,700 phone bids, for an auction total of $5.6 million in sales, noted owner Pat Hogan.

One of the auction’s surprises was the intense back-and-forth bidding for a gold — finished Auto Ordnance Corp Thompson Model 1927 A1 semi-automatic rifle that came with its own drum mag and “violin” case.

A phone bidder and an Internet bidder duked it out, with the Internet bidder taking the Thompson for $5,175.

Colt “snake guns” — those high-quality Colt revolvers with names like Python and Boa — continued to shine, with a pair of popular Colt Diamondbacks easily exceeding its high estimate and selling for $4,025.

Classic collectibles did well, too, at this RIA auction, including a Civil War Henry rifle, which sold for $25,875, and a scarce Smith & Wesson model 320 Revolving Rifle, with a 16-inch barrel, that pulled in $12,650.

Also, an Ulrich engraved, silver-plated Winchester 1866 rifle accompanied by its factory letter crossed the auction block at $25,875.

Ruger Redhawk Revolver Now Available in .45 Colt/Auto Convertible Model

Elwood Shelton

June 18, 2015

Ruger gears up the Redhawk Revolver to graze off two popular .45 cartridges — Colt and Auto.

The Ruger Redhawk revolver is now geared up to graze off two popular .45-caliber cartridges — the .45 Colt and .45 Auto. For personal defense or as a hunting revolver, it's a formidable comb.

Few cartridges can suck the air out of the room like the .45 Colt.

From history to hunting to hot loads, the round has sent wheelgun fans’ hearts soaring for generations. And recently, one company has teamed up the fabled cartridge with perhaps one of the few rounds that can share its stage.

Ruger has unveiled an intriguing expansion of its Redhawk Revolver series with a model chambered for both the .45 Colt and .45 ACP. This is an interesting move by the New Hampshire/Arizona manufacturer, given it has the potential to increase the usefulness of the handgun.

The .45 Auto should prove to be a soft shooter in the 44-ounce Redhawk, thus opening up the revolver to more casual shooting. As pointed out in the video below by Ruger, the rimless cartridge is also a popular competition round and could make the revolver a top choice among that particular crowd.

At the same tick, shooters still get all the advantages of the hard-hitting .45 Colt — including the litany of handloading recipes.

Ruger has set its double-action revolver grazing on the rimless cartridge though a simple and elegant modification. The company has recessed the cylinder, allowing .45 Auto rounds to be loaded via a moon clip. Colt cartridges headspace off the cylinder, Autos off the moon clip.

The new convertible Redhawk Revolver is a bit different than the established .45 Colt model in other ways. One of the most obvious is the new handgun is a hair lighter — 2 ounces — than the earlier model of .45.

This, in part, is due to a redesigned grip. The laser-cut hardwood grips not only trim material, but also should facilitate a positive purchase on the handgun.

The new kid in the Redhawk lineup, however, appears to be built as tough as the rest of the Ruger revolvers. The six-shooter features a heavy stainless steel frame and barrel that boasts the line's satin finish.

The revolver has fully adjustable sights, for both elevation and windage. It has a 4.2-inch barrel. It also has Ruger's patented transfer bar mechanism, a safety feature that guards against negligent discharge.

Presently, the revolver has an MSRP of $1,029. Ruger is also selling moon clip 3-packs for $14.95 on its online store.

Wilson Combat Introduces the New Protector 2015 Line

Elwood Shelton

June 17, 2015

Wilson Combat’s Protector 2015 gives shooters an updated version of the popular pistol.

The Protector has been a bread-and-butter design for Wilson Combat for some time now. But recently, the workhorse pistol received what looks like a pretty slick makeover.

The legendary Arkansas manufacturer has released the Protector 2015 series, a lineup of three semi-customizable pistols that are an update of the original. And for those who are hunting after a 1911 with all the bells and whistles — along with the name to back it up — these might be right down your alley.

Comprising the Protector 2015 line are Full-Sized (5-inch barrel), Professional (4-inch barrel) and Compact (4-inch barrel) models. The pistols are all available in either 9mm or .45 ACP and feature a number of refinements to the original design.

One of the more notable tweaks is the inclusion of a light rail, which should make the pistols a bit more operationally flexible. And given the proliferation of accessories nowadays, it also has the potential to make the line more appealing to a wider swath of the market.

Wilson has outfitted the line with bull barrels, a move that could likely make the guns a bit more pleasant to shoot. The heftier barrels' added weight should help reduce recoil. This feature also has the potential to mitigate muzzle flip, placing more material toward the front of the guns.

The barrels have aesthetic appeal as well, featuring attractive fluting, an attribute that extends back to the chamber. Finally, they have been topped off with a flush cut reverse crown muzzle.

One of the major customizable features of the Protectors — at least in their Full-Sized and Professional iterations — is frame material. Shooters can choose either steel or aluminum, depending on if they are after a range or a carry gun.

Wilson Combat’s Protector 2015 line from left to right: Compact, Professional and Full-Sized.

The Compact version, on the other hand, is more tilted to carry and is only available with an aluminum frame. But like its compatriots, it has a steel slide that features cocking serrations fore and aft.

The whole Protector 2015 line is outfitted with Wilson’s Battlesights, with fiber-optics front sight. They boast countersunk slide stops, extended Bullet Proof magwells and G10 Starburst Grips, among other features.

The pistols have a 3 ½- to 3 ¾-pound trigger pull and weigh in at between 28.22 (Compact) and 37.54 (Full-Sized steel frame) ounces. The Full-Size and Profession models have 10+1 capaticity in 9mm and 8+1 in .45. The compact has 8+1 in 9mm and 6+1 in .45.

The base price of the protector series is $3,875 for the .45 models and $3,985 for the 9mm.

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The following AR-15 training drills are just a few you can use to develop your shooting skills.

Practical Prone Precision Drill

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Set Your Crosshairs on these Sniper Resources

The trouble with most factory handgun sights is when it gets dark, you can’t see them, unless you possess infrared-detecting eyes. For those heat blinded members of society, like myself, then shoot for the tritium sights.

A look at two very revealing self-defense cases in which the good guys were prosecuted despite apparently doing everything right.

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A Little Something For Smoothbore Fans

Bullet bearing surface can often be an afterthought for many ammo reloaders. This shouldn’t be the case, given it can play an important role in an accurate load.

Think you know everything about the AK-47? Well, find out as this short video hits some of the major points regarding this influential rifle.

From style of stock to caliber to trigger pull, nearly everything on the Sauer 404 can be modified.

The Ruger Redhawk revolver is now geared up to graze off two popular .45-caliber cartridges — the .45 Colt and .45 Auto. For personal defense or as a hunting revolver, it's a formidable comb.

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